Chapter 121: Gravity Manipulation LV4
The floating water held goldfish inside it.
They were swimming normally, apparently unaware that anything unusual had happened to their environment.
Matthew split the sphere into two with a thought, then watched both halves hang there, stable.
The ability wasn't water control. That much needed to be clear. What he had was gravity.
The System panel confirmed it.
[Gravity Manipulation LV4: A special ability derived from E-Type Mold activating latent potential. Through the G-Virus's adaptation and evolution, the ability has unexpectedly advanced beyond its baseline tier. Range: a 500-meter radius centered on the user. Gravity direction and magnitude can be freely manipulated within this range. Maximum output: 80 tons of gravitational force per square meter. With specialized training, increasingly precise applications become possible.]
He read through it. Something in his expression relaxed into something that only appeared when he found a genuinely new toy.
He had sensed the ability the moment the fusion completed. The knowledge of its existence arrived instinctively, along with a general sense of how to use it. But seeing the System's description put a specific shape to what he was working with, and that produced its own kind of satisfaction.
This was something he could work with.
More immediately: this could be presented to the outside world as telekinesis. He was already known to be a supposed telekinetic. With gravity manipulation, he had a real ability that could produce exactly the same observable effects. The cover story had become true, from a certain angle.
He returned the water to the tank and let the goldfish continue their circuits in peace.
Then he tried applying upward gravity to himself.
He was careful. He was still in his office. He had recently paid to have the office refurbished and had no desire to do it again.
Adjusting gradually, he lifted.
The sensation was unusual. The closest approximation was being in water with an exceptionally high salt content: something firm and present beneath him, pushing up, so that sinking required active resistance. Being lifted required no effort at all.
True flight would need time. Hovering was one thing; directed movement at altitude was a different skill entirely, and it would take months to get the feel of it properly.
He was not wrong about the months.
Over the following two, Matthew ran through the full training curve. Starting with adapting to sustained flight, moving on to precise applications: using targeted gravity to unscrew a water bottle without touching it, eventually graduating to cutting the character for "good fortune" from a sheet of A4 paper with gravity alone as the cutting edge.
During this same period, the low-interest student loan initiative went public. Matthew had arranged the infrastructure with Osborn, Tony, and Fisk, and the announcement landed without drama. The program didn't market itself on gratitude or goodwill. It didn't need to: a loan initiative bearing Matthew Lawrence's name and offering rates that made federal programs look predatory was self-explanatory. People understood who was making their lives easier.
The System registered this understanding at a pace that sometimes outpaced the Nursery's daily output. A new income stream, running passively.
The faster point accumulation had consequences. Within those two months, Matthew reached the Pass milestones for both Eveline and Heisenberg and collected them from storage.
Eveline: The rapid aging defect removed entirely at 2,000 points, her psychic capabilities further strengthened for 4,000 more. She was now one of Matthew's personal bodyguards, with a specific specialization in detecting incoming attacks from the psychic angle. In RE7, she had been an insufferable child-like bioweapon. Whatever produced that personality, whether the defects or the situation, it wasn't visible in the version now working for Matthew. She wore a dark grey dress. Her hairstyle was less severe. She looked like a capable person doing a job.
Heisenberg: Physical enhancements applied and a placement arranged at Osborn Industrial. He had research capability in his original profile, and had operated an industrial facility with functioning machinery back in RE Village. The combination made him useful. Osborn Industrial was better for having him.
Another half month passed.
Matthew looked at Eveline, who was standing across from him with a composed expression that bore no trace of RE7's unpleasant affect, and asked: "Eveline, any developments from the Miranda side?"
"Quite a few today, actually." Eveline nodded. "After more than half a month of psychic interrogation, the Megamycete's location has been confirmed."
"Whenever you're ready, the teams can depart for the recovery operation."
Matthew set his cup down and stood.
"Then let's move. We're going to retrieve the wild Megamycete."
A low overcast pressed down on the sea, heavy and dark. A military helicopter slid through it at altitude, the rotors cutting the night air with a persistent edge that wouldn't register to anyone below.
In the cabin, Hunk's team and Leon's team sat across the aisle from each other. Someone threw a quiet joke over. Someone else answered. Nothing sustained.
When the radio transmitted "target area reached," everything stopped.
The conversation cut out as cleanly as a switch. What replaced it was the stillness that appeared before operations.
"All units: target area confirmed."
"Reconnaissance complete. Conditions suitable for insertion."
The cabin doors on both sides rolled open. A glow stick dropped into the dark below. Both teams moved in sequence, parachuting toward their designated positions.
The village they descended into was quiet. A North European mountain settlement, the kind where the rhythm was defined by what the light allowed. The smoke from chimneys, the sound of snow settling. If anyone inside couldn't sleep at this hour, the most they'd get up to was losing themselves in a game for a while. No one was looking at the sky.
The soldiers landed clean.
"Report status."
"Hunk team: clear." "Leon team: clear." Both came through simultaneously.
"Proceed."
"Understood."
Both units moved through the village like something the dark had produced for this specific purpose. Every soldier had been given T-Virus and a reduced-strength version of the Green Goblin Formula beforehand. The snow-covered terrain and the equipment weight registered as information rather than obstacles.
Above, at altitude, one figure stood in the clouds in a way that should not have been physically possible.
Matthew scanned the snow-white landscape below. His eyes found what he was looking for.
From somewhere in it, reaching him through a frequency he hadn't fully mapped yet, something was calling. Not in language exactly.
Kin...
Mine...
Come...