Imposter System

Matt stepped out of the interrogation room and one of the security officers nodded to him. Matt had used his authority to disable the recording feature, since the video would be available to all security members. There was likely another camera on a secure channel, but he wasn't worried about that. It seemed already accepted that Matt had some sort of powers similar to Willard in nature. His position was a just as much of a prison, although he does get to move around freely.

Instead of heading back to his room, Matt decided to make a stop at the lab to check on Martha. Since upgrading his Psionics, he hadn't looked into all of the new abilities and decided to investigate them first. As he walked, he took out his tablet and read some random report while looking at the changes to his status.

[Dark Psionics Lv. Max: Your mastery in mental energies has unleashed the full potential of your grade, yet you were still able to go even further. Due to various mutations and optimizations, you have unlocked a portion of the Dark World's power. Each of your abilities will carry with them a sliver of energy from the Dark World, amplifying their strength by many times.

]Ability: Telepathy

]Ability: Dark Mind Blast

]Ability: Voice of the Dark Ones

]Ability: Sundering Reaper

]Ability: Energy Vampire]

[Dark Mind Blast: A concentrated blast of mental energy formed with a portion of dark energy capable of penetrating any physical entity and detonating. May be used at any visible target, or any marked target through the Dark World. Only those particularly resistant to dark energy or have an immense mental strength can survive.

Activation: Thought

Duration: Indefinite

Range: Varies]

What Matt read absolutely shocked him. He attempted to form the ability, and it formed immediately in the Dark World around him. He could sense it hovering next to him through his mental connection. Instead of directly firing it, Matt attempted to form a second one. Success!

After forming the third one, Matt attempted to create a fourth, but almost passed out. He had reached the limit of how many he could maintain at once. Although the ability didn't specifically state a limitation, his mental strength was still too low to create many. However, once he became stronger this wouldn't be an issue.

There was another important change—the range! Before, he could only hit people close to him in a visible range. However, with the upgrade he would now be able to strike people from anywhere through the Dark World as long as they were marked. This was essentially a guided missile! Matt was slightly regretful since he didn't have anything to test it on, but he had a good idea about the destructive power of the ability.

Matt wasn't idle during the last six months and had marked hundreds of people. He didn't bother marking seemingly unimportant people, otherwise it would have been much more. They would all be his subordinates in the future anyway. He half-closed his eyes and pretended to yawn, while he sent part of his astral body into the Dark World. He sensed the shocking strength of his three Dark Mind Blasts far more intensely here.

He looked around and saw the countless lights in the vast darkness and felt like the grim reaper. He could execute any of them at any point without them knowing how they died. After a momentary high, Matt came back to his senses and realized an important point. The faction under the scientist that created Scorch and Willard had access to anti-esper technology. Through his investigations, he discovered that the key component of the ESP Suits came from their research.

The last thing Matt would do was become conceited with his new ability. At best it was only a grade two ability. He still had grade three and grade four abilities in the future. Once he was certain of his absolute dominance, he would easily grasp control of everything. Matt returned to his body and continued walking. He then checked on his next new ability.

[Voice of the Dark Ones: "We are the Ones that go bump in the night. We are your greatest fears. When you close your eyes, we are there. When you have a nightmare, we are there. When you peer beyond the stars—we are there."

Activation: Chant

Duration: Special

Range: Special]

Matt looked at the description and was mildly confused. It wasn't written in any common language he knew. Despite that, he could understand every word of it. Not only that, but the pronunciation was also second nature to him. Out of curiosity, he began chanting the description, and he felt a dark energy emitting from his body. A random bystander happened to be hit by it and he suddenly stopped moving and slumped his shoulders. Matt felt the man's weak mental energy completely scatter.

It wasn't like Dark Mind Blast that destroyed the target, but more like a scrambling of the signal. He was unable to keep his mental energy together and simply went into a state of unconsciousness while still awake. This was the classic Mass Suggestion ability! Although it wasn't something in this specific game, Matt had seen it in other games before.

However, having to speak was a great disadvantage. He thought about it for a moment and then began chanting with his thoughts instead. His mental energy automatically infused with the thoughts and released the exact same waves. 'So, it works like this!' Matt thought. Once it ended, the man shook his head and simply thought he was very tired. He continued onward in a hurry realizing the time.

'A very useful ability!' Matt nodded and continued onward. He had already reached the lift and pressed the button to take him to the right deck. The first two abilities had satisfied him very much, and he was excited to see what his ultimate attack had upgraded to. It was originally already as strong as a grade two ability, so it should be up to grade two-plus or even grade three!

[Sundering Reaper: Release all your mental energy into the Dark World and form a Reaper. Once infused with dark energy, release it onto your victim and claim their soul. Receive a Judgement from the dark energies and the other soul. If you fail to resist, you will be obliterated and become a Wanderer in the Dark World.

Activation: Concentration

Duration: Instant

Range: Touch]

Matt touched covered his mouth and started coughing as his saliva had gone down his windpipe. This kind of ability was beyond his expectation. There were no instant-kill moves in the game from his previous life. This was obviously one of those. However, the price was high. Not only did he have to resist the dark energy, but he had to fight against the soul of his target. The latter wasn't that big of a deal but facing against the dark energy made Matt nervous.

He sensed that he could still utilize Sundering Strike in its previous form. If he wished to utilize the upgraded version, he would first send his mental energy out into the dark world. He also sensed that he could not activate this ability while he had Dark Mind Blast projectiles formed. Rather, he shouldn't activate Sundering Reaper in that case. Not only would his total resistance be reduced, but he would have to face against more dark energy during the Judgement.

For now, Matt decided to never activate the full form of this ability and continue utilizing the previous version. Once he mastered the Dark World and dark energy, then he would look into it again. The strange land was simply too vast and frightening. He didn't even dare wander too far beyond his territory. He didn't forget the strange thing he met over six months ago.

'I suppose that would be a Wanderer that the system refers to. Perhaps there are others out there who utilized the Dark World and paid the price.' Matt wondered.

Matt was only a few feet from his lab, so he put away the tablet. As he was opening the door, he remembered that he wanted to look over some of the other support upgrades from Alexis's menu and sent over a message to her requesting to look at it again. She quickly complied and the familiar screen appeared in his mind.

One upgrade specifically stood out to him and he widened his eyes in shock and elation.

[Ultimate Evolution (Locked): Many parasites have claimed to discover the perfect form but failed to understand that perfection is a limitation. True power for the parasite is infinitely growing stronger. However, these perfect forms are still useful to study.

]Prerequisites: [Genetic Divergence 2], [Hybridization 2]]

'The Ultimate Evolution is still available!' Matt's mood instantly peaked at the thought of that. In the game, the Parasite had the ability to research their own upgrades like the AI. However, until now, Matt hadn't seen any way to do this. The support system seemed to be a mixture of the allies' research menu but also his own.

Ultimate Evolution—the most important research to rush in any playthrough. It enhanced every skill and ability of the Parasite player. With this, Matt felt confident in using Sundering Reaper.