Slim was exploring the warehouse where Jen and Log exercised and performed their strange experiments, when he noticed Jen feeding mice, rats, lizards, and some other pest animals, and he said, “I don’t need you to hunt for me, young one.”

Jen laughed, “These little guys are not for you, Slim. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to communicate with them and get them to let me see through their eyes for spying and gathering information.

Slim replied, “That will never work; they are too stupid. You need to dominate their minds and control them like puppets. Reach for their mind. You call it your onboard, and push out their consciousness completely.” Jen cringed at the idea of basically destroying the animal’s mind to control it.

Slim replied, “I don’t know why that bothers you; they are not thinking beings. Up to you.”

Jen grudgingly agreed with Slim and focused her psych ability toward the mouse’s onboard. However, she focused on simply pushing the mouse’s mind to the background and creating a remote terminal for her to access, in order to control the mouse’s onboard. It was strange, with her eyes closed, she was “looking” at her onboard’s screen and seeing out the mouse’s eyes. It was like watching a security monitor where you could control the direction the camera was pointing.

System Message – Psych Skill Level 50: Journeyman

==

For entering the journeyman rank you are rewarded with a new spell: Mental Manipulation – Level 1. Imbue your words with mana to get others to do your bidding.

==

While reading her system message, she barely heard Slim say, “You’ve got it. Vicki Chang just crushed the minds of animals she controlled, but I can sense you figured out a way to just push their conscious aside momentarily. I don’t know if you have as much control as she did, but I am glad I am with you now, gentle heart. I’m heading out for a bit, but I will be staying in the city. If I am not around when you are about to Deck jump, just call me.”

Jen called out blindly with her eyes closed, still looking through her mouse-eye video and thinking about her new spell, “Thanks for the help, Slim! Be safe!”

Slim snorted at her last comment, but he knew she meant well.

Jen was excited to try out her mental manipulation spell, but she was even more interested in controlling her little spy force.

It took her over a week of trial and error, but she finally figured out the best way for her to control her animals was by creating a “First Person Shooter” app in her onboard. With the app and keyboard, she would control the animal, just like in a FPS video game.

“This is awesome,” Jen giggled to herself as she wiggled under the door into Sam’s workshop. She was running this little mission with her lizard. She was narrating like those YouTubers back on Earth, “Up the wall we go. Now, we are going to look over Sam’s workbench, and we are waiting for just the right moment, and jump……”