Mari remains inside the marked zone, soft restraints slack around her bruised wrist. Graveshift takes the next station while Mothwire waits behind her safety line.
Graveshift raises one hand. A pressure ripple crosses the room, but the wrong supply case flashes red as its casing buckles slightly. He lowers his arm at once.
Graveshift
Wrong target. I felt the interference spread farther than I intended.
Mothwire succeeds narrowly, drawing a controlled filament arc across the marked case without contact. The signal changes, then stabilizes within the permitted range.
Sentinel Vale
Assessment complete. The results are recorded, including the failure and the recovery. We are moving to medical examinations now.
The active case suddenly emits a pulse matching Mari’s earlier modulation. Sentinel Vale transfers the waveform data to the clinical team, then escorts Mari toward a separate examination corridor while the other two are directed elsewhere.
At the medical doors, a monitor repeats the altered pattern beside Mari’s intake profile. The clinical staff pause, waiting for her to enter or explain what the matching pulse might mean.
“*I walk into the medical examination area*”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +1)
Mari walks through the medical doors into a bright examination area. The altered waveform repeats from a wall monitor as clinical staff, a team of adult clinicians—women and men in pale blue coats with visible ID badges, varied skin tones, and neatly groomed hair— turn toward her, their tablets already displaying the transferred results.
The room holds diagnostic equipment, adjustable examination lights, and a padded chair beneath a ceiling camera. Nothing blocks Mari's path, and the staff give her clear space to enter fully.
Clinical Staff
Please remain wherever you are comfortable. We will begin with observation, then ask before performing any physical examination.
Mari reaches the center of the examination area. The monitor beside her repeats the slower modulation, matching the signal she produced during the exercise.
Clinical Staff
The waveform is stable, and there is no immediate sign of tissue damage or uncontrolled spread. We would like to document your current baseline first.
A clinical scanner activates at a respectful distance, casting pale blue light across Mari's gray skin and glowing veins. The staff wait for its first readings without touching her.
✓ Quest Accepted
Complete the medical examination and receive clearance
“*I nod* "understood sir"”
Mari nods once, keeping her hands visible as the scanner’s pale blue light passes over her gray skin and glowing veins. The altered waveform continues its steady repetition.
Mari
Understood, sir.
The clinical staff acknowledge her cooperation with small movements and continue watching the scanner’s readings without approaching or making physical contact.
Clinical Staff
Thank you, Mari. We will proceed slowly and explain each step before it happens.
A series of diagnostic lights traces the outline of Mari’s shoulders, torso, and arms. The display records stable readings while the clinicians review the transferred assessment data.
Clinical Staff
Your baseline scan is underway. So far, everything remains stable.
“*my body starts showing the brand function of thousands of organisms though very basic ones, but all of them interconnected and different from my brain function , but somehow sending the same signals and all connected*”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled +2)
Beneath Mari’s gray skin, countless tiny organisms emerge into view as shifting patterns, each simple in form yet linked through luminous purple pathways.
They do not merge with her brain activity. Instead, thousands of separate biological nodes pulse together, transmitting the same signal through branching networks across her body.
Mari
The signals are identical, but the organisms are not part of my brain.
The scanner’s display fills with synchronized activity: different structures, different functions, one repeating message carried from tissue to tissue without a central command.
Clinical Staff
We are recording a distributed biological network. The organisms remain distinct, but their signaling is coordinated throughout your body.
The pattern stabilizes under the diagnostic lights. Every visible organism answers the same signal, and the clinical display separates that network cleanly from Mari’s neural baseline.
✓ Quest Accepted
Demonstrate control of the distributed biological network
Quest Complete
Determine what is causing the pulse
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
“"I'm a hive mind I control all of them. They all make up my body, fused together. There's about as smart as ants individually and they all are parasites, and I have full control over every single one of them"”
SUCCESS (Good Bioscience, rolled +1)
Mari
I am a hive mind. Every one of these organisms is a parasite, and together they form my body. Individually, they are about as intelligent as ants, but I control every single one.
The organisms answer her explanation immediately. Across her skin and beneath it, thousands of distinct nodes alter their pulses in perfect coordination, reshaping tissue and maintaining her unified form.
Clinical Staff
That establishes the structure clearly. They are not merely inhabiting you; their combined activity constitutes your body, while your control reaches each individual organism.
The display separates the network into countless living units, each small and simple, then overlays their synchronized pathways. No central brain appears among them, yet every node follows Mari's command.
Clinical Staff
We will record full individual-level control as a confirmed capability. The distinction between your neural activity and the parasitic network remains real, but the network is functionally your body.
The clinicians update the scan without approaching her. On the monitor, the organisms continue pulsing as one coordinated anatomy, their separate forms fused by function, signal, and Mari's complete command.
Quest Complete
Demonstrate control of the distributed biological network
“"so am I approved?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Mari
So, am I approved?
The clinicians exchange a brief glance, then turn the display toward Mari. Her distributed biology remains stable, and the synchronized organisms continue answering her control.
Clinical Staff
Yes. You are approved for the rehabilitation program's next phase, subject to the safeguards already explained. Your cooperation and demonstrated control meet the current requirements.
The approval enters the clinical record beside the completed assessment results. No warning replaces it and no further test is required to establish the decision.
Clinical Staff
This is approval to continue as a participant, not a declaration that every risk is solved. But you have earned the opportunity to proceed, Mari.
Across the scan, thousands of parasitic organisms pulse in perfect coordination, their separate signals forming the body Mari controls. The clinicians record the result and begin preparing her transition briefing.
Quest Complete
Complete the medical examination and receive clearance
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Superb→Legendary