The hivemind is conquering for me?

”Mmh?” Mindy hummed confused before her brain caught up. ”Oh! I am taking a bunch of classes. Psionic basics is a must. But I have also opted in for some field operations due to my mercenary background. I have also chosen Psionic cosmetology and joined the Psionic firearms club. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Suddenly a quiet voice spoke up next to her. ”You have joined Psionic firearms?” Evanthe asked, a fleck of excitement in her voice. Mindy looked at the pale woman and nodded her head.

”Oh yeah! A whole club about shooting big guns? That has me written all over it. Plus, I currently can’t control Psionics outside of my main power for shit, so with that and the Psionic basics, at least I will have a goal to work towards.”

Evanthe’s beautiful neon green eye glimmered like she had found a kindred spirit. ”I was the same, but I have come a long way in a year. I can already fill up a Psionic bullet for some of the biggest guns we have! I’m sure you will be able to do it as well! Especially being a mercenary! What is your main power by the way? Um... Sorry.” Evanthe suddenly had her excitement burned away and became shy as she realised everyone was looking at her.

Mindy suddenly looked at me, as though asking me to explain as I knew better. ”Mindy has undergone a Psionic mutation of her eyes. With a glance and intent, she is able to turn people to stone. Petrification. A very useful and powerful Psionic ability. Is that why you are still wearing your glasses? Do they somehow prevent you from doing accidental petrification?” I couldn’t help but ask at the end.

Mindy then sighed, expecting this at some point. ”No, something as flimsy as a pair of sunglasses can’t block my Petrification. No, I am wearing them because of this.” Mindy removed her glasses and a chorus of shocked gasps emerged from some at the table.

It seemed that Mindy’s mutation had gone beyond just petrification. A cosmetic change had taken place. Her eyes’ sclera had turned a golden yellow colour with a narrow slit like a reptile.

”Whoa!” Janine commented. Meanwhile, I had already stood up and moved around the table and grabbed Mindy by the cheeks, holding her face inches from my own. ”A-Apollo? What are you doing?” Mindy asked nervously.

However my thoughts were no longer coherent as I began doing calculations in my mind of how her eyes had changed. ”Just let him do his thing sweetheart, He doesn’t realise he is being... Well, Apollo.” Valerica chimed in before she continued to poke Hecate’s face.

”Incredible. I spoke in a hushed tone. ”Her eyes have changed solely for the purpose of channeling Psionic energy through them without withstanding damage.” I then shouted. ”Janine! Come take a look! This is what I meant about how Psionic energy works to make those that wield it stronger. I mean shit. Her eyes are more advanced than my own! Oh this... This is beauty in its true definition.”

”Apollo.” A monotone voice cut through like a scythe through wheat. Orchids single utterance of my name in that tone, pulled me out of science mode. I suddenly came to and looked around and down at Mindy who was looking up at me with those eyes.

I then proceeded to release her face from my grasp and said. ”Oops.” Before taking my seat. ”Sorry Mindy, I got carried away. Your eyes simply captivated me... Hey, you should come to my lab when it’s ready so I can run some tests.”

Mindy waved off the apology after a slight cough to reset herself before saying. ”Oh yeah! The deputy headteacher mentioned something about academic dis... Dissertation?” ”Dispensation” I quickly butted in, causing to nod her head.

”Yeah, that. What is that?” She couldn’t help but ask. I then explained to her in great detail over an undetermined amount of time everything that had happened since our parting hooking not only her in, but also everyone on the table as aside from Orchid with whom we have actively shared the same mental links before, not everyone knew every detail.

”Wait!” Mindy interjected. ”Then how did you get this Psionic decay thing? If you can literally genetically hack your own body into getting stronger, how did you manage to get to the point of destroying your own body?”

It was then Evanthe, who had been enthralled with what was one of the best stories she had ever heard, that chimed in. ”Couldn’t you just make your body super strong now and not risk that again? I couldn’t imagine having to live in pain when it could have been prevented.”

Now that my work was technically legal, to me, It felt so good being able to talk about it with people who just didn’t understand. ”You are right, I could make my body a lot stronger than it is now. But that comes with incredible risk. Let’s start with my latest enhancements to fix my decay. I created a new max limit of strength that this body can take before it starts to decay again. I could have made the limit much higher and never risk decay again, but that would require splicing myself with unknown vectors and data guessing for my projected growth. If things went wrong. I could become comatose for decades and have to wait as my body’s strength naturally grows into that strength. It’s best and safest for me to choose the more frequent enhancements, as that way I can weed out flaws more often that might have become detrimental to my health if I have them for too long. I can also do constant tune ups this way. I see it as just an all around better way to do things.”

Mindy began massaging her temples. ”Yeah, this is too much Scientific rigamarole for me to keep up. I am just going to say. That’s great Apollo, I am happy that your work has been recognised as important and you don’t have to hide the fact you are a practitioner anymore. Though I will admit... It’s kind of cool that you were doing something so illegal all this time. Makes you a bit of a bad boy, huh?” She said as she wrinkled her nose at me.

I scoffed in amusement before picking up the third pitcher I had Orchid bring me a while ago, guarding it safely from the tipsy Valerica. After taking a sip, I replied. ”Bad boy? Please. I am simply doing what should already be legal. It is literally only beneficial with zero downsides. However I understand why it is illegal with humans wanting to maintain ’Species Purity’ and all that jazz. As I can see how in the future if everyone is gene spliced, we could become so different that our... Reproductive essences could no longer be compatible.”

Evanthe blushed profusely at the more crude meaning at what I just said and Mindy was about to quip something when the tipsy Valerimommy blurted out. ”Apollo, when are you filling me with your genetic fluid? I am ready!”

Everyone suddenly turned to me, wide eyed. Mindy and Evanthe were brought up to speed with my whole adoption, which had already caused a bombardment of questions from Mindy regarding Kathrine earlier. So to hear Valerica say that, in the current context. They were naturally led to believe one thing over the actual context.

Smiling at Valerica, the lightweight, I chuckled slightly before explaining. ”It is still taking time to run the diagnostics and your gene pattern. That and with your continuous growth with the current technique and the fact I don’t have access to the supercomputer I usually use when running my tests, it is going to take sometime. In the meantime, I am willing to do another cleansing with a full body muscle massage?”

*BANG*

Valerica smacked her hand down on the table, making Hecate’s head bounce in the process, but the woman had passed out. ”Yes! Do me! I want that badly! Make mommy happy!”

*SNAP*

Turning my attention to the one that had been silent for the majority of the time, only interjecting when no one else asked the questions she wanted, Gabrielle had snapped a knife in half and suddenly jolted as attention was drawn towards her. ”Whoops. I think I have had a little too much to drink. I forgot to reign in my strength.” She said before picking up her glass of wine and taking a deep drink.

”Um, can I?” Evanthe suddenly chimed up, pointing to the broken knife on the other side of Gabrielle. Gabrielle shrugged her shoulders and handed the broken knife over to Evanthe who suddenly began to focus extremely hard.

Instantly sweat began to form on her forehead, forcing her to sweep her bangs to the side as she focused heavily on the two ends of the knife, placing them together.

I then suddenly feel a mild Psionic force emanate from her hands and wrap around the knife and In moments, the knife was back together. Evanthe was panting heavily, but the smile on her face told me that what she did was a big achievement for her so I clapped genuinely for her.

”Well done Evanthe. I never even would have considered using Ferrokinetic power to cold weld the metal back together. Ingenious!” The others then gathered in on the applause causing a swelling sensation to fill up Evanthe’s chest. She had never felt so happy and embarrassed at the same time before.

’Is this what having friends is really like?’