Mara can call it art as much as she wants but I know full well how this feels, ok? I had been in that situation before and ironically, it was exactly for the game that brought me here to begin with.

You want to install a specific mod for the game but in order to do that, you need to first install another mod that this mod is dependent on. Then when you go to install the dependency, you realise that the dependency has dependencies and those dependencies also have dependencies!

And just for the sake of installing one specific mod, you end up suddenly needing to install over fifty mods just to get it to work.

That’s already troublesome doing it for a game so thinking about the fact that this would be essentially the same thing but I’ll be doing it to my own body instead... I find myself more hesitant to do it.

I don’t think the rewards are worth the risk... For now, at least...

That’s why I started looking at the Vanity Mods instead just to see what you could do with them when I heard a soft gasp coming from Mara that got my attention.

The fact that she did that while looking at my scan results was definitely a cause for concern.

"What is it?" I asked.

There was a pause from my doctor before she turned away from her screen to look at me, "I was honestly not prepared to call you a Psionic yet since the Psionic potential you have might still be something temporary that your body adapted to control... But I think there is no room for doubt anymore."

"I thought it was already a done deal when you inspected that halberd of mine and said I had put my Psionic energy in there?"

"Yes and no. You could be a Psionic that isn’t capable of producing your own Psionic energy and you’re dependent on other people providing the energy to you in order to make use of your abilities."

"I’m assuming you’re saying that because it has happened before?"

Mara nodded, "There have been cases where a Psionic isn’t able to control anything unless they were in the presence of other Psionics."

"Right... Then I assume that you found something that changes that to be impossible in my case?" I asked.

She nodded again, "That’s because I have noticed that your brain has changed. You are quite literally adapting to your situation in real time right now."

I tilted my head, "Is that supposed to be weird? I thought we already knew that my body does that? Especially since you already observed that under a microscope not too long ago?"

"That’s different, Captain. I’m talking about your body literally recognising the situation and rapidly evolving you to deal with the situation even without you consciously telling it to... It’s like if you got shot by a bullet once and your body just decided it no longer wanted to be shot by bullets so it started to turn itself bulletproof. That’s completely different from having your cells predate other cells to take what is beneficial for itself."

I shrugged, not really knowing how big of a deal it was since I’m not the gene doctor here.

But if Mara is making a big deal out of it, I can only assume that it was really a big deal.

"So what does that mean though? Like, does this change anything?" I asked.

Mara smirked, "Oh yes it does, Captain. It means that that’s another concern of mine gone for creating your mod for you, Captain. I think I can even go a little more extreme in making it as well."

"Ok, now you’re scaring me, Mara... But seriously, is there anything wrong with that?"

"Hmm... I suppose I should just tell you to be careful because if anyone else finds out about your ability... You might really be captured by some corporation to be strapped to a chair and be used as a test subject. Even the UTG would love to get their hands on you if they knew about your physiology since you would be the perfect specimen to create a super soldier. Or, assuming that your Psionic powers manifest itself, the perfect counter to the Nobles."

I grimaced, "Any way I can avoid such a fate?"

She gave me a serious look, "In this universe, there are only two ways that can ensure that most people do not try to do something to you and neither of them are absolute either. The first is to be a complete unknown where no one even knows about you. Where you will live in the shadows and keep yourself hidden from everyone and everything. You cannot do anything that will draw even the slightest attention to you at all."

I huffed, "Well... I guess that’s too late for us to do that... And I’m assuming the second option is the opposite?"

"In a way. You basically need to have enough power and authority that you could overpower anyone who might want to come after you. Even if you don’t have that amount of power, the others need to have the idea that the risks of dealing with you outweighs the rewards of getting you."

"Err... So basically I need to have enough authority to rival the UTG?"

"Or at least enough power to make them know that it’s going to be really expensive or it would affect their image really negatively if they try to go against you."

I realised what she was hinting at and raised an eyebrow at her, "You’re basically telling me to try and make myself into a really powerful Psionic, aren’t you?"

"With the Psionic potential you have, I already believe that you’re on your way there anyway. And that will be really difficult to hide so I’m prepping you for that possibility where you would become a known figure in the galactic community."

I sucked in a breath, "Does this mean that I might have Nobles coming after me as well?"

She hesitated before she nodded, "The Noble Families will definitely not want to let you go if they knew you were a powerful Psionic. You might get approached with offers and invitations to join their families and if you refuse, they might resort to more... Nonconsensual means."

Basically they want to do to me what they tried to do to Mara.

Well... I guess getting this power would open the door for more dangerous and problematic enemies to start noticing me...

"We still don’t know if I’m actually going to be that strong right? For all we know, I might just be weaker than you. And if Amber could go unnoticed for so long, I think I should be able to do it too." I pointed out.

"Hmm... Perhaps," Mara admitted, though it was clear that she didn’t really think that was the case.

I cleared my throat, "Ahem... Anyway, you were talking about how my brain was changing right? How exactly is it changing? Because I don’t really feel anything right now?"

She flicked her hand to prompt a screen to appear beside her, "For one... Your brain actually got a little bigger..."

My hands immediately went up to my head to start touching around my forehead, "Don’t tell me that my head’s getting bigger?! Is my head going to swell up like those cartoon characters where my head turns into the shape of a lightbulb?!"

The fact that Mara didn’t answer me immediately was concerning until she tilted her head to remind me of one thing I forgot.

"Captain... I can change how you look if you want to.... Including making sure that your head doesn’t turn into whatever you just described."

Ah... Right... I honestly forgot about that...

"But to answer your question..." She continued, looking back at her screen. "It seems like your head did indeed get a little bit bigger... By about half a centimetre."

I stared at Mara silently, feeling a little panic rising up as I realised that I was also physically changing because of what was happening to me.

She turned back to smile at me, "Don’t worry Captain, I’ll be monitoring you really closely to make sure nothing bad is happening to you. And I’ll be ready to fix anything that might occur which is not--"

Mara suddenly cut herself off and glanced at the ground, prompting me to follow her gaze to see what she was looking at.

It was only then did I realise that the chair I was sitting on had levitated itself off the ground and I was hovering just a little above the air.

"Think about something else right now, Captain!" She cried out.

Eh, Eh?! What am I supposed to think about?! Umm... Umm... Mara’s boobs?!

I suddenly felt myself falling and the chair landed back down on the ground with me bouncing on the seat, jolting me a little.

Did I... Did I do that?