The next morning, the recruits handed in all their survey data to Sergeant Callista, who collected it with a blank face, before storing it all away. The veteran squad would look over all the data later to grade them on it, comparing it all to the official map of the area to determine their grade. Sergeant Callista then handed out their next assignment, giving them four days to collect data on the surrounding populations, figuring out their species, group size, general hierarchy, and power levels. This task mostly involved observation, and thankfully, they were allowed to use technology for it. The veteran squad gave them a couple dozen hidden cameras to place in the various high traffic areas. The majority of the squad would be in charge of monitoring these cameras, noting down the types of creatures that passed by, as well as their numbers, while the recruits with stealth based abilities would follow the creatures to gather more detailed information.

Of course, thanks to the memories of his new subordinates, Chris already knew the information on most of the groups in the area, so he wasn't particularly concerned with this exercise, choosing instead to focus on his next goal: capturing an imp. Chris opened a portal as close to the imp's territory as he could, stepping out, accompanied by Jello and the female kobold, who he'd named T'ka, or click ka as the kobold pronounced it. The other three were still mutating, so they were left out for the moment. Just like yesterday, Chris simply took the path that seemed most likely to lead to the imps as soon as possible.

As they walked, Chris turned to T'ka. *So… how are you feeling?*

The kobold glanced at him nervously, before turning her gaze to the ground, fiddling with her hands. [B-Better, s-sir.] She replied nervously.

Chris glanced at her, frowning, before sighing and shaking his head. He couldn't really complain since the entire thing was his fault. *Just let me know if you need anything, alright? You're part of my tribe now, so I'll make sure you're taken care of.* T'ka simply nodded, continuing to follow Chris.

The three continued their journey, getting closer and closer to imp territory, until around lunch time, there was a reaction in the Immortal World, and the cocoons began to dissolve. Chris immediately perked up, returning to the Immortal World to see the results of the mutation. The three had yet to wake up after the process ended, so Chris took the time to study how their forms had changed.

First was Dyrdek. The small goblin had grown larger and more muscular, acquiring a set of long, vicious claws much like the ones on Chris's other form. Additionally, he skin seemed to have gotten thicker and more resistant to injury. His transformation had turned him into a bruiser, a classic front line warrior. Sidulpek's transformation had gone the other way. She'd actually gotten smaller after her transformation, her limbs becoming longer and more nimble. Additionally, her ears had grown larger, and her eyes had shrunk, becoming beady and piercing. Her fingers were tipped with long, needle-like claws, designed to pierce, rather than slash like Chris and Dyrdek's. As for Ka, the kobold hadn't actually changed much, except for his eyes, which had at least doubled, if not tripled in size. His mutation seemed to focus on taking advantage of his ability, making it harder for creatures to avoid eye contact with him.

Chris looked the three of them over, nodding slightly in satisfaction. "Outstanding." He muttered to himself, before clapping loudly, waking the three of them.

The three creatures groaned as they woke up, sitting up and going to rub their heads, all three freezing in shock as they encountered various obstructions. "Wh-what happened to my hands!?!" Sidulpek exclaimed after poking herself with her new needle-like claws.

"These are awesome!" Dyrdek exclaimed as he studied his own new claws excitedly, flexing his hands as if he couldn't wait to try them out.

Ka felt around his eyes, confused. [What- what is this? Why is my head so… lumpy?]

Chris chuckled, creating mirrors for the three to examine themselves in. "These are your new forms. What do you think?"

"Awesome!" Dyrdek exclaimed, flexing proudly in the mirror.

["I'm hideous!"* Both Sidulpek and Ka exclaimed at the same time as they studied themselves in the mirror. Suddenly, their forms shifted and they returned to their original forms, freezing in shock.

"Well, that answers that…" Chris muttered to himself, before coughing. "These forms are like mine. You can change back and forth between them, or even change partially, only altering one part of your body." He explained, shifting back and forth, as well as different parts, showing how it worked. Sidulpek and Ka breathed sighs of relief, while Dyrdek just changed his claws back into fingers. He was apparently very satisfied with his new form. "Alright then, let's go test out your new forms, shall we?" Chris grinned, opening a portal back to the Maze.

The first thing that became readily apparent was that each of the creatures had increased in strength. Even Sidulpek, who had gotten smaller, was twice as strong as she was previously. As for Dyrdek, he was a whopping five times stronger, fully unleashing his brutality as he tore through the creatures they encountered. As for Ka, his boost was only slightly more than Sidulpek's at two and a half times stronger. However, while Sidulpek and Ka hadn't received as much power as Dyrdek, their mutation had greatly increased their ability to utilize their abilities. For Sidulpek, her ears had become much more sensitive, allowing her to 'see' even when covered by her shadows, which had previously been her biggest weakness. Her eyes had also narrowed her vision, but made it much sharper, so that she could see better when she made small holes in her shadows. With this, she could actually sneak up on her enemies, before piercing their vitals with her new claws. As for Ka, his larger eyes made it easier to make eye contact, which was all his ability needed.

Chris frowned, as he realized his tribe had become rather focused on control. Sidulpek's shadows could blind their opponents, Jello could bind them by hardening itself around them, Ka could hypnotize them, and T'ka could bind them with her threads. Only he and Dyrdek had the ability to actually fight their opponents. Even with her claws, Sidulpek wouldn't fare well in a full on brawl, as she needed to pierce her opponents. She was more suited for an ambush than a fight. Thinking about it more, maybe this was a good thing? His main goal wasn't to kill his opponents, but to capture them. He wanted to bring more creatures under his control. Why? Well, why not? What's wrong with owning more and more creatures? Besides, they made things easier to do. He wouldn't be able to go off on his own so easily if he didn't have his subordinates.

After testing his subordinates' new forms, they continued to make their way towards the imp territory. Imps were a bit different than goblins and kobolds, so Chris was being a bit more cautious. Unlike the other two, imps actually had a flare for technology. Specifically, they liked to make traps. The annoying part was that they didn't like to make deadly traps. They were more like… pranks. They'd make pits and fill them with all sorts of nasty substances, or put them in bladders and set them to fling at whoever broke the trip wire. When you were in imp territory, a random misstep could send you falling into a pit of excrement.

*Siddy, stop!* Chris hissed as they walked, causing Sidulpek to freeze. Chris knelt down, examining a faint thread strung across the tunnel, motioning for the other to back off. He then took a few steps back, finding cover, and slicing the trap with his tail. Suddenly, a few bladders flew out from behind a pile of rocks, smearing the opposite wall with a substance that emitted a foul stench. *Ugh, imp piss.* Chris thought to himself distastefully.

Sidulpek shivered. "Disgusting creatures."

Chris shot her a strange look. *Uh, Siddy, you're a goblin. I know what you guys smear your weapons with.*

Sidulpek flushed. "That's different! That's to poison our enemies! We don't do it just for- for- for fun!"

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. *You do realize that's worse right? You're literally putting shit inside people's bodies. The imps are just getting it on the outside. I mean, if you had to choose, which would you prefer?*

Sidulpek grimaced distastefully. "That's not- it's only for our- ugh, forget it." She groaned, admitting defeat.

Chris chuckled, shaking his head. *Alright, let's keep going. We're close.*

As they continued, they ran into a few more traps, either avoiding or disarming them as they went. Occasionally they'd miss one, receiving the inevitable consequences, but a quick trip to the Immortal World would clear the situation right up. Still, Chris almost would have preferred the traps were deadly. Even dying wouldn't remove a few of those scents from his memory.

"Shhh!" Sidulpek suddenly hushed them. "I hear something." She whispered, motioning for them to hide as she cloaked herself in shadows, sneaking ahead to check out whatever she'd heard, before returning moments later. "Six imps. It looks like they've set up camp in the cavern nearby."

Chris nodded, knowing this was normal imp behavior. Imps had an extraordinary sense of smell, and were ironically very clean creatures. They used their noses combined with their traps to alert them whenever anyone else was nearby, giving them the initiative to ambush or flee as necessary. Their hunting methods involved setting up traps, and then returning to a central camp to wait for their prey to arrive.

Chris carefully considered how to deal with the imps. *How many entrances are there into the cavern?*

"Three." Sidulpek replied, raising three fingers in response.

Chris nodded along, looking over his subordinates, before his gaze landed on T'ka and a slow grin spread across his face. *How about we give these imps a taste of their own medicine?*

Chris quickly explained his plan to the others. Sidulpek would sneak around to the other entrances, then Chris would open a portal for T'ka, Ka, and Jello. T'ka would cover each tunnel in her threads, then Ka and Jella would wait behind the first obstruction in ambush, while Sidulpek and T'ka waited behind the second. Once the tunnels were covered, Chris and Dyrdek would enter from the last entrance, appearing suddenly to frighten the imps, causing them to flee. Imps were easily frightened when they lacked the initiative. They'd run right into the threads, getting trapped so that Chris could easily move them into the Immortal World. As long as none of the imps had any abilities to counter the threads, there wouldn't even be a fight, but even if one of them did, Sidulpek and the others would be lying on the other side, ready to deal with any stragglers.

Once everyone was in position, Chris and Dyrdek rushed into the cavern, roaring fiercely! The imps jumped to their feet in shock, not expecting the sudden intrusion, ready to flee at a moment's notice. However, once they noticed there were only two of them, they fell into a battle formation, ready to fight. One of the imps protected a few floating barriers that began to move in front of the group, ready to block any attacks, while another three moved to the back, positioning themselves for ranged attacks. The remaining two stepped forward, brandishing large clubs, ready to fight.

Chris and Dyrdek stumbled a halt as they were met with a not fleeing, but actually rather well prepared, and strong, group of imps. *Well, shit…* Chris sighed internally, as the imps roared, the three in the back motioning as they activated their abilities, bombarding him and Dyrdek with a fierce barrage of attacks. *Shit, shit, shit, shit!* Chris cursed even more as he dodged, scrambling behind a rock formation for cover, while Dyrdek rushed forward to attack the two in front, seeming almost excited by this challenge. He took a few seconds to think, before the other four were sent back to the Immortal World, and a new portal was opened. Sidulpek rushed out in her new form, black, shadowy smoke billowing around her as she melded into the darkness, moving to circle around and ambush the imps in the back. Meanwhile, Ka stepped out to fix his eyes on the barrier imp, while Jello and T'ka helped Dyrdek pin down the two melee imps, Jello rushing forward to latch on to one's arm, and T'ka shooting out threads to connect to them, before yanking on them to pull them off balance, slowly building them up to entangle them more and more. Then Chris pulled his bow out of the Immortal World, and carefully took aim, attempting to shoot the ranged imps in the arm or leg, trying to incapacitate them.

The imps formation quickly fell into shambles as the barrier imps went into a daze and the melee imps were bogged down. One of the ranged imps threw fire at the threads, trying to burn them, while the other two began to attack Ka, trying to break his ability, but before they could, an arrow shot into one's shoulder, sending him down with a screech of pain, while the other was jumped by Sidulpek, her claws piercing into its side. The flame imp immediately stopped attacking and fled as its comrades went down, a few arrows pinging off the wall beside it as it dodged erratically, scrambling for the nearest exit tunnel. It burned a hole in the threads, rushing through, sure it had finally escaped, when a portal opened and Chris stepped out in front of it, hand lashing out to pick it up by the throat, before tossing it through the portal.

Chris returned to the cavern through the hole in the threads to find the battle mostly over. The two melee imps were still struggling, but they were so covered in threads they could barely move. The only reason they could still go was because Chris's subordinates knew they had to keep them alive, so they were being careful. The barrier imp was still standing stiff, along with Ka, both immobilized by his ability as Ka kept it hypnotized. The other two ranged imps were doing the worst, one practically disemboweled by Sidulpek, lying on the ground as it twitched in pain, while the other was covered in shadow, unable to see or do anything, even if it didn't currently have an arrow in it's shoulder.

Chris dragged the injured imp into the Immortal World first, not wanting it to die before he could get to it, before moving on to the other one and the barrier imp, both going in with minimal issues. He then waited for T'ka to finish pinning the other two down with her threads, before tossing them in as well. His head shifted back as he let out a sigh. "Well, that didn't quite go as planned, but still, well done guys. Though… Jello, you really need to learn how to aim better."

Jello sent back vague feelings of disgruntlement.

"Well, I'm sorry, it's the truth. Maybe if you'd let me mutate you, you'd actually develop a few more senses, huh?" Chris retorted. Still, Chris had to admit, for a creature that literally had no senses besides touch and smell, it did do a pretty good job, so he couldn't be too hard on it.

Jello vibrated petulantly, looking like it would huff if it was capable of such things.

Chris shook his head and turned to the rest, looking them over as he considered whether there were any improvements that could have been made. The biggest issue was Ka. He was powerful, but if they couldn't protect him, his ability would become useless. This time, he and Sidulpek had managed to take care of the problem, but in larger fights, there was no way they could take care of everyone before they had a chance to attack. He needed a way too- Chris paused, before smacking himself in the head as he remembered the imps he'd just caught. One of them could literally create barriers! Problem solved.

"Huh… my ability really snowballs, doesn't it?" Chris muttered to himself. Everytime he defeated someone, he'd grow stronger as he turned their strength into his strength. As long as he took things slow, gradually collecting more and more creatures into his Immortal World, growing his Immortal Tribe, then his power would rise indefinitely, wouldn't it? What would the Maze mean in the face of an army of hundreds, thousands of creatures that couldn't die? That could be summoned out of nowhere, flowing infinitely against anyone who opposed him? "Is this… is this what an Omega-tier ability is like?" Chris muttered to himself, almost unable to believe his own supposition. At this level, it wasn't even a matter of strength! This… this was just an absolute, a fact. He would continue to grow stronger, endlessly. There was no stopping it, no containing it. It was… inevitable.

[Master? Are- are you alright?] T'ka asked, inching forward, looking at Chris with a mix of nervousness and concern.

Chris shook himself out of his megalomaniacal delusions, turning to T'ka with a chagrined smile. "I'm fine, sorry about that." He assured her, patting the kobold on the head, causing her to flinch slightly. He sighed, shaking his head. "Alright guys, that was a tough fight. Let's take a break for a bit, then we'll move on." He announced, sending them all into the Immortal World, before going in himself. He had some imps to subdue.

With Ka's help, subduing the imps became a lot easier. Ka's hypnosis couldn't directly force them to submit, but he could help wear down their willpower, so that Chris had an easier time bringing them under control. Under their two pronged attack, the imps were quickly subdued, none of them needing to be tortured or coerced, though Chris did have a bit of a headache by the end. One of the annoying things he'd discovered about his multiple forms was that mental strain was shared, so even if he got rid of this body and made a new one, it wouldn't help, unlike with physical pain and strain. Still, he wasn't about to repeat what he'd done to T'ka just to save himself a bit of pain.

After going through the imps' memories, Chris pondered his next move. He now had detailed information on all three of the nearby tribes, as well as clues about tribes beyond the three. He could go around and continue grabbing individuals from each tribe, slowly expanding his map and army, but the area he was in currently was the neutral zone between the three tribes. If he wanted to get to a new tribe, he'd have to take a huge arc around the tribes, which would take days, or go through them, which… Well, that would also take days, but for a different reason.

Chris sighed, leaning back in a recliner as T'ka served him a glass of cold water, which she'd managed to gather from the bottled water and one of the new imp's ice ability. She then moved to his feet, carefully massaging them as she watched him nervously, trying to make sure she wasn't causing him any discomfort. Chris sipped on the glass of water, eyeing her curiously, tempted to pry into her mind and see what was up with her, but deciding against it. Ever since he'd learned he could ignore his subordinates' thoughts, he'd decided to leave them to themselves on principle. Everyone deserved some privacy, even if they were essentially his slaves. Still, T'ka's behavior confused him. By all rights she should be terrified of him, doing her best to avoid him at all costs. Hell, he'd even get it if she was angry at him, yet instead, she almost seemed to be doing her best to ingratiate herself to him, going from completely defiant to utterly subservient, and Chris wasn't quite sure how to handle it, so… he ignored it. Besides, she was actually pretty good at this.

As he enjoyed the foot rub, Chris turned his thoughts back to what he would do next. If he had to make a choice, he prefered going through a tribe, subduing it, making it his own, before moving on. Not only would he increase his own power, but he'd also be helping to make the Maze safer. After taking a few of the more powerful creatures to add to his team, he could leave the rest to remain in the Maze, hunting dangerous creatures and collecting resources for him. The only question was, which tribe to hit first?

The weakest tribe was probably the goblins. They'd overhunted their territory and their food supply was limited, so they hadn't been able to expand very much over the last few years. It was a common problem for goblins as their greedy nature wouldn't let them pace themselves. They'd hunt everything they could, expanding wildly, then slowly starve themselves back down to a manageable size, before repeating the process.

The imps, on the other hand, were the strongest. They'd been steadily managing their territory, hunting in cycles, even growing a few crops, and they'd managed to expand to a decent size, enough to birth an elite with a high-tier ability. They were currently readying themselves to make the push for a higher level under the elite's command.

As for the kobolds, they were rather average. Kobolds were one of the main targets for regular culling among the scouts, due to a unique feature of their race which allowed them to become bigger and stronger as they grew older. There were legends that the oldest and strongest kobolds would grow into dragons, dominators of the surface world, but no one could actually confirm that. Still, it was true that any kobold tribe left alone for long enough would become more and more terrifying, so they needed to be taken care of early. This kept them relatively weak as they'd constantly face the threat of eradication for the Scouts.

Chris tossed all this information around in his mind, considering the issue carefully. He considered the goblins, but as he looked at the tasks the squad had been given so far, he figured the end result would be to attack one of the nearby tribes, and the weak goblin tribe was just too ideal for the trainees. He didn't want to step on the exam's toes by doing the final task early. As for the imps, their elite made it a tough task to actually subdue them. Chris was sure he could bring them down eventually, but not without a severe loss of life on their side, which would defeat the purpose. That really only left the kobolds.

"So, I'll go for the kobolds, but how should I actually go about it?" Chris muttered to himself, startling T'ka, before she went back to her massaging with a renewed vigor. Chris ignored her as he focused on what strategy he'd use. Slowly picking off the kobolds as they went out to hunt would be the safest, most effective method, but it relied too much on luck, and once the kobolds noticed their people going missing, they'd go on the defensive. On the other hand, a direct assault would risk killing the most valuable members of the tribe, and there was a good chance a lot of them would escape as well, so that wasn't a good option either.

Suddenly, something occurred to Chris: why did the hunting parties have to disappear? Once he'd subdued the creatures, couldn't he just send them back to their tribe? They could just go back like nothing happened. They could even spy for him, telling him where other hunting parties would be, or capturing others for him to subdue, until he had complete control of the entire tribe! Of course, he'd need to make sure no one escaped in the process. If anyone got away, then the tribe would catch on, and they'd go on the defensive anyways. Still, this plan had much less risk than any of the others.

Chris looked over his subordinates, considering how he should go about capturing the first hunting party. He had enough creatures under his command that he actually needed to be selective about who he brought along now. Obviously T'ka, Ka, and Jello would be involved. Their abilities were ideal for capturing creatures without killing them. He'd have to include the barrier imp Girolt as well, to keep Ka safe. Sidulpek was good for control and scouting, so she'd need to tag along. Finally, he'd need to bring the ice imp Fribolt as well. Her ice could be used to slow the targets down, or even trap them.

Chris paused for a moment. *What if I just make teams based on what I want accomplished.* The team he'd just outlined could be the capture team, while Dyrdek and the other four imps could be the combat team. Though, on second thought, Sidulpek would do well on either team… as would Girolt. Chris frowned, before shaking his head. He decided to keep Girolt with the capture team, but Sidulpek would form her own scout team, which he'd slowly build as he subdued more creatures. He'd make Dyrdek the leader of the combat team, and Sidulpek would obviously be the leader of the scout team. As for the capture team… he'd put T'ka in charge. Jello wasn't smart enough, Ka would be too focused on using his ability to lead, and if he had to choose between T'ka and the two imps, he'd choose T'ka. Maybe it was because she'd been there longer, or maybe it was because he felt she deserved some benefits after what he'd put her through, but she was the obvious choice in his mind.

Chris glanced at T'ka. *Speaking of which, it's about time I mutated her, huh?* He thought to himself. He got up, leading T'ka over to the others before initiating the mutation for her and the imps. Once they were done, it'd be time to begin the conquest of the kobold tribe.