She lacked the adaptive coloration that the colonists had, and she remained pale gray as she sat in the seat and the door closed, so Max was almost completely certain that this really was the same species, even without a full genome check.
That would be a relief to the medical staff when they got back, as they would already have treatment data for anything that was wrong with her, and the unit on board could take care of anything urgent.
Max reached out to shake her hand, a tradition that both cultures held in common and suddenly, the System jumped to life in his mind.
[Biological entity in need of Optimization. Optimize now?] It asked him.
That was new. Normally, it only worked on Mecha and combat-related items.
[Fine, Optimize.] Max agreed.
He saw a bit of blood leak out of his finger and soak into the alien before the System gave him another message.
[Genetic disorder is being Optimized. Estimated time to completion: 1 hour.]
The alien didn't notice anything, but both Nico and Khan noticed Max's hesitation to move and the bit of blood that had rapidly absorbed into the alien's hand. Neither of them said anything at that moment, but both had made note that something strange had happened.
"If you would like to change clothes or lay down for a short sleep, we are about to depart the planet, so now would be an excellent time," Max suggested.
The shocked Envoy nodded her head and looked around the ship's main area.
"Yes, I think I would like to change. You're likely not aware, but these clothes are traditional for a ritual sacrifice and aren't our daily casual wear." She explained.
Max smiled at her, which made the Envoy flinch at the show of teeth. "Follow Commander Nico, and she will get you all set up with new clothing, and then you can come back in and watch on the screens as we return to orbit."
The girl seemed a bit confused at the comment, as she had no knowledge about space flight. It only mattered to the military, and she had too many health issues to pass the exams to be drafted. Instead, she had been working a minimum wage cleaning job in the drone control centre before she had been grabbed and forced into these clothes and the transport pod with no explanation.
Once she was out of the room, it was Khan's turn to interrogate Max.
"What happened between you two? I saw the blood, but I didn't see any obvious cause of an injury." She whispered.
"I'm not completely sure. The nanobots of the System said that she needed to be optimized, so I just let them. The blood was likely them transferring some of their numbers to her body, but I haven't had time to determine what they're trying to do yet." He replied with a shrug.
"Did your System change? We have fairly extensive records on you, and changing living things isn't in any of our files." She asked.
"I think that it did. But I'm not completely sure how yet. As I said, it just happened, and unlike a computer interface, it can take some time to fully understand the System.
I will check it to see if I gained a new Function, though. Those are usually listed."
Khan waited patiently as Max checked his system.
Keres Max
[Compatibility Determined] Rank S
[Primary Attribute] STR 2.5x modifier
[Secondary Bonuses] DEX 2x, SPD 2x
[STR] 3+200% Capped
[DEX] 3+150% Capped
[SPD] 3+150% Capped
[Innate Talent] Active Telepathy
[Additional Function Unit Optimization 2] --> [Battle Optimization] Rank Max
[Additional Function Multi Point Targeting]
[Additional Function Split Fire]
[Additional Function Perception 3]
[Additional Function Unified Force]
Not much had changed just the one entry. But what a change that one entry was.
[Battle Optimization: Max] Affects all compatible Wargear and Combatants. Passively improves the user's combat effectiveness through constant [Optimization].
How that related to the little alien was anyone's guess, but apparently, the system considered her to be either wargear or a combatant.
It might have been because she lacked the Nanobots in her system that the system's [Optimization] required the blood, but as usual, the system wasn't forthcoming on its reasoning.
When he tried to focus on his new ability, Max realized that it worked just like the old [Optimization] had, but now he had more targets. Nico had already been passively targeted, and Max saw a System note that marked her as [Equipped Wargear]. The rest of the people on the ship were also valid targets, as were all the Mecha and the ship itself.
Max stuck to optimizing his own Mobile Suit for the moment to see what would happen.
The process wasn't subtle at all. The effect flowed from his hand across the surface as he activated the skill, and the suit faded to perfectly match the surroundings so well that he could barely see himself or even the helmet he had placed beside him on the couch.
The design plans for the Mass Drivers altered themselves to fit the System's analysis of what he needed in combat. The material feed shape was changed from creating the rounds in advance to powdering them and creating them inside the gun itself so that every single round could be customized as it was fired.
Then, it changed the designs for the propulsion system a little and added a feature to move between layers of Reality, the same way that the Demonic Beings it had analyzed could.
Only he could move both ways, and they could only return. They had to be forcefully pulled to this layer or have a portal opened.
[Please Proceed to a suitable processing facility to finish modifications.] The system informed him.
The ship had one in the other room, so Max stood up and walked over as if he was going to remove his Mobile suit to examine the changes to the disguise systems that had made it blend in so well with its surroundings.
That change alone was enough to impress the Hunters. They would be irrationally upset if they learned that Max's System had just solved the problem of moving between layers and in the other layer that they had been working on for weeks.
"Alright, let's see what this new Function is capable of," Max muttered.
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