Unlike his past experiences, eating in large groups proved to be a pleasant experience. Possibly from the lack of adults around to hurry everyone. There were heated discussions, innocent teasing, plays on his new nickname, food advice. The Explorers were more friendly and touchy than ever. It was obvious when he paid attention to it, but Zax had never realised how much his suit kept them away from him.

Hip was more silent, but it wasn't uncharacteristic of him. Pimp was his old professional extravert self.

No allusion to the experiment, from anyone. So far it could be explained by his lack of free time, but now was precisely made for this kind of discussion.

Suspicious.

The little green man didn't exactly want to have said discussion, so he'd enjoy the convenience while he could. He had a feeling it would not be long.

All those handshakes, shoulder rubbing, brotherly accolades, and tail slaps let him subtly test the cellborgs. They instantly connected to anyone via any kind of contact, even with layers between them. The layers couldn't be stone or metal though, only organic matter. One arm resting against the wooden table showed him profiles from three of the other people at the table.

A new triangle appeared for every new profile created. All their windows started empty or with only question marks. Their information slowly filled up while they were connected. The skill list was particularly jarring to see; not even the total number of skills was given, and the details were unreadable:

[???: ???

?: ???

Related skills: ?

Related attributes: ?]

On the other hand, watching the character sheet slowly filling up was strangely satisfying. Fortunately, they stayed once contact was broken, even if incomplete. He didn't have to restart from scratch every time. The HUD was quickly clustered with nearly empty triangles, but he'd sort them later.

The order of progression appeared random, but his contacts were too brief to ascertain tendencies, or to try and force a specific direction. All three sections were filled at the same time though, a skill window even incomplete connected to a partial model and an attribute panel mostly filled with questions marks.

Different aspects of the same back-office information.

Zax nodded inwardly. It fit with everything so far. Since he was seeing anything at all, he should be able to send command from his side. Once conditions were fulfilled. For now, he couldn't [Copy] any skill, for some reason. The option was there but greyed out.

The day went on and he examined more and more people as part of his normal job. He maintained as much physical contact as he could without raising suspicion. Eyebrows or equivalent were raised, but the Explorers thought he was simply like that when not stuck in an uncomfortable full body suit.

The cellborg's capacities and limitations cleared up.

More surface of contact filled the profile faster, while clothes and distance made it slower. Interestingly, profiles could complete each other. If two people had the same skill, reading one completed both profiles. They filled each other's holes, so to speak.

The human parts of the profiles filled up near instantly, taking from his and slightly adjusting. The modified human parts took longer, the mutations deviating much more from his baseline. Additions such as tails, horns, gizzard… took their sweet time.

Experimenting on the fly, he found he could focus the scan on a specific body part, a specific skill or a specific attribute, filling all sections of this part faster.

For now, he prioritised completing skills, starting with the VIT related ones when he could. It turned out they could only be copied when completely scanned. The skill itself didn't have to be 100% complete, most weren't, but the scan had to include everything the target had to offer.

It was reassuring, in a way, to see limits. Familiar ones, at that. The 3G was similarly blocked by inorganic matter, and transfer was faster on a larger area.

One more point for the idea they are in fact the 3G's skill.

It was still nothing but speculation, and the hobbyist couldn't fathom what it implied for the substance, but it was there. The name could be a remnant his original programs, but the idea irked him at a level he didn't understand.

A point he didn't see coming was how much ordinary nanites helped the process. When he infused someone to make an ordinary template – the new experiment wasn't a reason to stop – their profile was filled significantly faster.

His experience as a hobbyist activation coach helped narrowing down where and how to focus on desired features. An amusing exercise, actually. It kept his mind busy.

As the day went by, he regularly checked up on Migo. The wolf woke around midday, alert but confused, and hungry. Zax updated him on his diagnostic and ordered a bed rest, with strict interdiction to eat anything without his explicit approval. Following his unnatural appetite would only lead to overeating and a detriment to recuperation.

The wolfman could keep busy by getting used to his new body and range of movement. Hands were especially awkward. Zax provided a number of low-energy exercises he could do in bed. They had been designed to orient mutations toward increased dexterity, but they would work well for this… physio-therapy equivalent.

His recovery was nothing if not stellar. He wouldn't be at his peak soon, but he'd be well enough to start safely helping the next day. Even Pimp was impressed, his deadline had been more pressuring them than an actual expectation.

Zax couldn't detect healing-related mutations, from either his nanites or the cellborgs, so it had to be an effect of the forced activation.

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Normally, an activation only happened if there was enough 3G to complete the mutation. Forcing it made it… do what exactly? Reprogram the body to see the new state as the default, and the current one was sick or injured? That'd fit; the body would work on its own to reach its new natural shape.

Natural healing functions can only go so far though.

No new limbs or organs. No major reconfiguration either, like paws to hands.

Conclusion: the 3G did as much as it could, starting with what the body couldn't, and left the body to finish the job on its own. Pushed it forward too, somehow?

What if there is not enough 3G for even that? What if more 3G arrives before the body is done?

Would the fleshy dough help?

So many questions. It hard not to get excited.

By the end of the day, his appetite had returned to normal. Migo's had decreased to double rations. When they were alone for the night, Zax shared some of his doubts with Migo.

"Something else happened during the experiment. Something weird and awesome. I… I don't know if I should talk about it. It could be the greatest breakthrough since the 3G itself. It could do so much good, but so much pain too. I don't know if I can trust Pimp-"

"Of course not!" Migo burst from the bed, teeth barred. "How could you even consider sharing anything important with those monsters!?"

His mastery over the voice bracelet was impressive. Even angry, he managed to keep the volume reasonable and put emotion in the tone.

"Pimp isn't that bad." Zax half-heartedly defended, but he didn't insist. Migo's grief was still raw and his grudge toward the Black Market burned as strong as ever. "But even then, what can I do? It's not like I can sent it to the dot. Should I simply forget about it? Not do anything?"

He didn't mention how tempting the idea sounded to his own ears.

"Better nothing to anyone than anything to them." Migo stated as a fact.

In hindsight, telling him may not have been the best idea. Not that the fake goblin had a lot of options. He would ask the girls too, if he managed to contact them. He had been too caught up in the cellborgs during the previous night, but it was finally time to meditate again.

Despite his sharpened perception of his own meridians, it wasn't different from before. Neither easier nor harder. The mental strain he was under made him take longer than usual, but he eventually reached the correct mental state.

Once the relief of his success passed, he was met with Aran and SG's own breakthroughs. Their secret mysterious risky plan had worked.

First step, they had used part of SG's briefcase to force advanced mutations in Aran and became Residents.

Second, they had played the wide-eyed innocent dotters who blindly trusted the people tasked with helping their integration, and turned the traps supposed to hold them back against the trappers.

"If we hadn't known how the Circle was beforehand, they would've definitely managed to block us."

"Your nanites helped a lot. Officer Bor kept us furnished with your own production line. You were officially missing, so we could legally buy it. I'm sure it's still running."

"Bor pushed to have them more used by the forces."

Zax listened carefully without commenting. Not even when SG, who initially refused to be in the same room as an Enforcer, called him by name.

They are glossing over a lot.

Leveraging the attention gathered from the second step helped with the third one; they found fitting occupations.

"Something to let us leverage and improve our old skills to learn new ones and build a contact network."

"We pushed things along where we could. Investigated and helped where Bor couldn't. In secret."

"It took a lot of convincing, but the Disfavoured helped a lot."

"Meditations helped a lot too. We always left knowing how far we were from our next mutation goals."

"You did?"

Zax accidentally burst out. He had noted their speedy growth, so that part didn't surprised him. Their awareness did. The thought was filled for later.

Fourth step, rinse and repeat, one promotion after the other, until the most recent one. Nanites had become harder and harder to discreetly receive, but the right contacts saw their potential even in the higher levels of the Circle.

"Perhaps especially here, since not-biotechnology's so uncommon."

"Some don't understand what it is. That was weird."

Their complicity had increased too; their retelling was incredibly in synch.

Are they a couple?

Struggling together so hard for so long, it wouldn't surprise him.

3G alone would not be enough to justify their growth. Their mutations were incredibly advanced. It even rivalled some Explorers. To get this kind of results so fast, they must have trained like crazy. Taken huge risks. Stepped on many toes. Made difficult decisions.

As mentioned, a lot was left unsaid. Not all of it was pleasant. They seemed to think it had been worth it.

"It's done now."

"Fifth step complete: we're Explorers!"

Wait, what?

Zax wanted to scream at them. To chastise them for such reckless behaviour. He didn't.

He didn't like it, but they were their own adults. They knew what they were getting into and willingly did so. He was not their Guardian. Considering the results, they knew what they were doing.

He didn't say anything, but their link let them feel his disapproval and reluctant respect of their decisions. Not what they had expected, but they couldn't claim to be surprised. The conversation carried on after a beat.

SG could actually fly now, and even carry heavy loads. Her stamina was nothing to scoff at either. That would make her fairly average in her category, for an Explorer, if not for another detail. She had gotten her hands back, without losing her wings. It meant unlike other heavy fliers; she didn't need a helper for everything.

"Helper management is always the biggest weakness of a flier's carrier." She had been told. "The good ones are generally taken and always busy. Deliberately so. No point in delivering anything if we can't put the pack down. Not an issue for me."

"There are clans who specialise in making flyers and their helpers." Aran added.

"Makes sense. They'd need a dedicated system to reliably make people think having no hands in the best option." Zax figured.

Aran was a perfect hybrid, half-human, half a mix of cat and fox. Proportions couldn't be given, because many traits were common between the two, and the others mixed and matched. She had long but partly retractable claws. Her pheromones and body language came from both even when they contradicted each other. She was inhumanely flexible and a great jumper. She had, somehow, managed to stay on the edge of either animals, without losing herself.

Only then did Zax notice his own foot-to-paws mutation was originally hers. The skill had already been there but incomplete. The experiment had simply pushed it further with Migo as reference. It fixed a hole in his theories, but he wasn't in the mood to dwell on the thought.

The mix of traits made the gamer hard to read even by experts, which had attracted the attention of intelligence and counter-intelligence.

"I'm a spy. Technically. No secret mission yet, but I have to report any anomalies I find to my handler. A Kogito named Quinn. I don't think it's her real name, but she's very competent."

Zax and SG were her first loyalty, but it would give her useful tools and contacts.

With her enhanced mobility, the continued parkour lessons, and her relation with SG, she had been recruited by the same Explorer faction as SG; the one in charge of communications between other Explorer teams outside the Shelter.

It was a great opportunity for the rest of their plan, which they still wouldn't reveal. Their greatest obstacle now was resisting the variety of environmental conditions outside the Shelter.

Zax couldn't stop them, but he could help with this issue.

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