Mitch should have expected it, but he was still caught off guard. 'Well, at least the vibes are good. It would be annoying to constantly fight with someone literally stuck in my head. Yeah, that's why I fell for her teasing, to pacify her.
He had conveniently forgotten that he planned to have her turned off for a couple of weeks.
"I see you have started experimenting with your new powers. Quite a nifty thing you made there. It will make our job of monitoring the world so much easier by allowing us to zoom in and out."
"Oh, just you wait. I have plenty of things I want to try out—check this out! {Manifestation}." Mitch once again waved his hand towards the television.
Poof
On both sides of the TV, two large, black speakers appeared and started transmitting the sounds of everything shown on the screen. Mitch then lowered his hand, and the sounds were toned down at the same rate.
"Now I can not only monitor everything happening in my world, I can also hear if someone is calling for me. But I can't keep standing here while keeping watch until the end of time."
Poof
This time, a black couch the shape of a throne emerged opposite to the TV. In front of it, a glass table adorned in gold took form. Then a wine glass filled with red ambrosia popped into existence on top of the table.
Mitch did a small nod in appreciation and skipped over to his throne. He picked the glass up and gave it a swirl before lightly sipping on it. He released a sigh of comfort and closed his eyes in an attempt to savor the taste.
"You're really living the life, huh?"
"Well, you know what they say. When life gives you lemons, you sell those lemons, invest the money wisely, become a millionaire, and then drink the best lemonade money can buy. Besides, I feel quite at ease knowing that even if the rest of the world was fake, Theodor wasn't."
"What do you mean, Theodor wasn't fake? He was part of the simulation, just like everything else… it's impossible for him not to be fake, Mitch."
Katherine sounded confused. Although she was quite careful in the way she worded her response, she still made her stance about the matter very clear, afraid that Mitch was once again refusing to face reality.
"That's what I thought as well, but looking back on his behaviour makes me feel like he was aware of everything. It was because of his interventions that I actually wanted to cure cancer, which in turn gained me the skill {Gene Tree}."
"What?! How is that possible? The simulation is supposed to be infallible." Still sceptical about his statement, but more willing to consider it for Mitch's sake, Katherine became increasingly confused.
"Only one way to find out. Reaching Greater Khad and reviving Theodor should at least give us some answers." Mitch kept sipping the divine nectar in his hand, while he experimented with manifestation with the other.
After he finished decorating the void, Mitch looked back at his Mynt and saw that it was still at '5'. Reassured that using his skills here did not consume any energy, he moved onto the next one.
"Let's see here… {Blessing of Comfort}."
Mitch immediately felt even more relaxed than before, so much so that his drink almost slipped from his grasp, which made him tense up the next moment.
"So it is more like a momentary instance, rather than a continuous effect. Does the condition end early based on some external stimulus, or is it based on intent? I will try once more, but this time without anything in my hand."
He placed his glass on the table, and leaned back into his seat.
"{Blessing of Comfort}."
As opposed to last time, where the effects ended early, Mitch could not stop the feeling no matter how hard he tried. It took a whole five seconds before Mitch could force himself out of the trance, and even then he still wanted to keep relaxing.
"That's quite potent. If I could use it on my opponents in battle, I would be invincible."
"The people you use it on would have to be your followers, in which case they wouldn't fight you anyway. Also, the adrenaline in their bodies from all the fighting would probably minimize the effects this kind of blessing would have."
Mitch's excitement was instantly subdued by Katherine's logical reasoning.
"It doesn't hurt to dream big. That is how one finds revolutionary ideas. Whatever, let's move onto the main dish. Is it automatic, or does it require manual input?" he inquired, referring to {Gene Tree}.
"Unless specified, creatures without intelligence or awareness will always trigger a mutation when possible. On the other hand, organisms with human-level intelligence able to fully choose their mutations. However, it is instinctive, so the mutation's applicability is random."
"Then how does it work for me? {Gene Tree}."
This time, a red screen popped up, with several models of DNA strands visible in the background. Other than that, it was completely blank.
"Why is there nothing here? Shouldn't I be able to mutate myself with this skill?"
"Weeelll, not only have you not eaten anything to gain its genetic material, but you technically lack a body to mutate as well." Katherine gave an unexpected answer to Mitch's rhetorical question, completely dumbfounding him.
"I DON'T HAVE A BODY?!"