Imposter System

"All non-essential staff return to your quarters. All non-essential staff return…"

The message repeated several times as the white lights of the ship switched to red. Matt didn't bother waiting around and ran over to Alexis's side. They clasped hands and ran toward the door. The problem was, everyone had begun panicking and the door was blocked. Alexis activated her ability and people unconsciously stepped to the side to create a narrow, winding path through the crowd before immediately closing it again.

{What's going on?} Alexis thought.

{Willard is making his move. I'm not completely sure but there is a strong chance he's coming after Alexandria in the chaos. Dammit, he must have poisoned your food, and also revived you to manipulate me. I should have realized it earlier.} This was the first time she was hearing about this. After thinking about it for a moment, she understood the events coming up to this moment.

What Matt deduced relied completely on the missing information in the poisoning case. Since Shepherd, and by proxy Willard, poisoned Sheila, he should have been the first suspect. However, the act of 'utilizing his leverage in order to save Alexis' had blinded Matt. He was so focused on the result that he didn't even notice the intent. This was why he had ended up blaming someone unrelated.

Initially, Matt thought that he was a pawn on the board between Willard and someone else. All this time he was trying to wrack his brains on the identity of the other person. He eliminated every possible person, but failed to consider one thing. Willard was playing both colors. Matt was caught in Willard solo game. Everything that has happened was for a reason.

The more he thought about the events that occurred to him, the more frightened he became of Willard. The man was truly brilliant. The words Scorch had said to him that day rang true in his mind. 'He is crazy—crazy smart.' Matt really understood those words now. Purposefully harming and saving Alexis was the ultimate move. However, it wasn't the game winning move.

Due to his complacency and the upcoming wedding, Matt left two huge secrets in his personal lab. Martha, an alien plant with unknown limits to her growth, and Alexandria, a human that has become one with the living metal and survived. This must be why he didn't take Martha before. Without a means to contain the living metal, she wasn't helpful to him. Matt was holding all of the pieces to complete the cyborg in his lab, and willfully vacated the premises to allow Willard to snatch everything in one fell swoop.

The two arrived on the lift. Alexis was distracted while processing everything Matt explained to her. The depths that Willard had gone to manipulate the two of them were frightening. However, what was even more frightening was Matt figuring it all out. She looked over at him and smiled. The man she loves is equally brilliant.

The two of them arrived on the deck that contained Matt's lab. The hallways were tinted in red due to the emergency lights and the computers repeated messages created an eerie feeling. As they approached, Matt utilized his Detect Life. He was able to see the lab was empty. He slammed his hand on the wall next to him and cursed.

"Damn, he's already taken them."

"We have to go after them." Alexis had grown attached to Martha. Although she never met Alexandria before, based on what Matt told her, she could make a good ally. Matt looked at her for a minute before shaking his head. He couldn't risk her going.

"Don't even say it. You can't leave me behind here. Besides, I'm better at fighting than you." She insisted. Matt gave a look of obvious disapproval but he couldn't say no again. He felt the connection to her start to exert influence. If he ordered her to stay, he would have to mess with her self-control.

"Fine. Follow me." He said as he opened the door to the lab. Alexis was confused for a second, but followed without question. They went straight to the cold room and Matt was relieved to see everything was untouched. He activated the time release on the sample box and took out the four small pieces of living metal.

"I might lose consciousness for a while. Watch over me. Once the safe is open, drink all of the remaining blood in there."

Alexis nodded as Matt rolled up his sleeves. He took the four different sizes pieces and allowed them to stab into his arm, flowing into his blood stream. His skin stretched, looking as if a snake had found its way into his arm and was crawling around. After a few minutes, the black metal was completely absorbed. Matt watched his evolution points jump up be one-hundred ninety-eight. This gave him enough to increase his Genetic Assimilation.

[Genetic Assimilation Lv. 4->5: There is no being in the universe with more potential than the parasite. This is not because of their individual strength, but due to their ability to steal all other beings' strengths. Instead of replacing the host for a more suitable vessel, absorbing the genetics of all creatures will allow the parasite to enhance, improve, and perfect a unique body.

]Ability: Detect Life (175m->250m)

]Absorption Grade Limit: 3->4

]Unique Ability Limit: 1->2

]Efficiency: 140%->150%

]Level Cost: 220 EP-> 300 EP]

[Unique Ability Progress: [Human] – Max% [Lower Yggdra] – 2% [Ku'Lothri] – 27%]

[Unique Ability [Human] generating options... Mutation detected, adjusting options…]

[Enhanced Soul Lv. 1: Those born with two souls usually have volatile personalities and often die inexplicably. You, however, have mastered your souls and have grown stronger. The capacity limitations of soul energy have been improved to reflect the growth and mastery.

]Soul Strength: 2.1

]Soul Capacity: +300%]

[Biological Reinforcement has leveled up!]

[Biological Reinforcement Lv. 2->3: "…Remnants discovered…Coordinates acquired…Remnant moving quickly…Plotting intercept course…"

]Damage Resistance: +30% (Vital) -> +30% (All)

]Strength Increase: 1.3 -> 1.5

]Endurance Increase: 1.3 -> 1.5]

[Improved Metabolism has leveled up!]

[Improved Metabolism Lv. 2->3: Due to severe stress, the host body has improved significantly to prevent breakdown. The body's energy conversation and healing have been amplified in order to reduce the stress.

]Removing Toxins: +20%

]Calorie Conversion: +50%->60%

]Healing Factor: 2.0->2.2]

[Improved Reflexes has leveled up!]

[Improved Reflexes Lv. 1->2: Some have to work hard to train their body and mind to be in perfect synch, you however, are born with the aptitude. It is difficult to catch you off guard, and if you are, you recover quickly.

]Reaction Speed: +10%

]Coordination: +20%

]Dynamic Vision: +40%]

Matt's whole body was on fire. It felt like he was being dipped in lava. The temperature of the cold room raised quickly and sensors began to beep due to the ambient temperature going above zero. Alexis was biting her lip while watching Matt squirm on the floor while his body absorbed the living metal. A series of notifications were playing in Matt's head, but before he could appreciate them, he fell unconscious.

The vision that Matt was in started where the previous one left off. A bright light in the distance remained stationary. He traveled a long distance and passed by several asteroids, but the light never seemed to get closer. This vision went on like this for a long time until a change finally occurred. The light in the distance seemed to be getting bigger.

Finally, Matt was able to recognize the light as a star. The solar system that he was flying towards had three planets from his angle of approach. It was possible that there were more, just on the other side of the star. One of the planets looked beautiful. It had various shades of blue, purple, and white dotted across its surface. This scene reminded him of the second tooltip for Biological Reinforcement. This was the planet of the crystal-like creatures.

Before he could learn more, Matt woke up. Alexis was sitting on a stool leaning on the bench. When she noticed Matt wake, she stopped and came over to him. He sat up and stretched his neck. His body was still pretty limber so he didn't think it had been long.

"How long was I out?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Twenty-eight minutes. You made it sound like it would be longer. I already reached the limit of DNA absorption; it doesn't seem like I can get it to go any higher. I kept going until I maxed out Drug Resistance and then stopped so that I don't waste any. I wasn't sure which path to pick so I held off on that."

Matt clicked his tongue and sighed. "That's fine. Let's get going, we've waited long enough."

While they left the lab, Matt looked over all of the abilities that had leveled up. It seemed that reaching level five in Genetic Assimilation as well as the stress from incorporating the living metal samples had a synergistic effect to his whole body. When they reached the lift, Alexis pressed the button to go to a different deck after scanning her credentials.

"Deck 39?" Matt said curiously.

"Didn't you always want to see the weaponized suits up close?" She said with a smug smile.

Matt's eyes widened as he realized what she meant. Deck thirty-nine was the lowest deck on the ship. It was also known as the hangar bay where all of the shuttles, fighters, and other heavy machinery were kept.