"Mhmm? Are you going to leave?" Selena asked while rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"Yeah. I need to get some information from that guy." Nathan nodded while grabbing his coat. "You can go back to sleep. We won't have anything to do after this, so it'll be just training after training."
"Alright. Make sure you go back quickly."
"Mhmm." After giving her a little peck on the forehead, Nathan took his leave. Bella and Evelyn had been waiting for him outside the mansion.
"Good work, newbie." Evelyn nodded her head and snapped her fingers, creating a portal to the base.
"Thank you." Nathan nodded. "I don't mind a reward, though."
Evelyn sighed. "Just pick something from our storage."
"Eh?" Nathan looked away.
Bella chuckled and pushed Nathan gently from behind. "Let's go back to the base first, shall we?"
If it was anyone else, Evelyn would have done something to them. But Nathan had performed so well that she really couldn't do or even say anything. After all, Nathan alone had finished a few months' worth of work of the entire organization in just several weeks.
In the end, the three of them disappeared into the portal.
Once they returned to the base, Nathan's expression turned solemn. "Alright. What have you figured out from him and the familiars?"
Evelyn led him to another room where they saw Neyeid dismembering the familiars and scooping out the tentacles from within their bodies.
"Oh, Captain. Nathan has come." Neyeid raised his eyebrows while putting down the alien on the table.
"Thank you for helping me with the distraction, Neyeid." Nathan gave a thumbs up.
"Hahaha. Anything for you, little guy. Thanks to you, we have been extremely busy with our enemy." Neyeid chuckled.
"So, have you figured out anything from them?" Nathan pointed at the bodies.
"Yes. From the looks of it, the guy has three familiars who have turned into an alien. These smaller ones are first. The aliens have matured quite a bit and their strength is close to mature class, but not at that level yet.
"And from the looks of it, they have repaired the vocal cord. I don't know how long they have become an alien, but it should be at least several months, or maybe close to a year.
"However, they are only capable of producing the unique noise of the aliens instead of talking like normal humans.
"But the potential is there. Maybe if they evolve further, they can do such a thing. The one who is suspected of being the alien responsible for the mess is this guy." He pointed at a muscular orc. "He should be the one attacking your place."
Nathan contemplated while crossing his arms. "Do you know why they are following the summoner's instructions? Considering they have turned into an alien, their way of thinking should be different. They must think that the summoner is a threat."
"That's what I believe as well, but that's the weird part we haven't been able to find out." Neyeid nodded in agreement.
"There is something that piques my interest. According to you, it is possible to create a mutant, right?"
"Yes." Nathan confirmed it. "It's from Dikkleus, though."
"It seems possible. I don't know the details because I'm not a researcher. However, a good enough host will increase the potential to become a mutant. For example, these two are mutants, but the giant is not.
"But when I take another look at the aliens, they are practically the same."
"!!!" Nathan gasped. "Are you saying that the giant is also a mutant?"
"It can become a mutant as long as it has enough time to mature. In other words, a mutant is not a mutant at birth. If a certain condition applies, it will allow the aliens to turn into mutants. And because of a better host, the chance of it turning into a mutant increases.
"I believe these corpses shouldn't be monopolized by us. We should share it with the Frexia Academy." Neyeid turned to Evelyn.
Evelyn nodded. "From our source, Sullivan has a separate investigation team and is using the Frexia Academy as a cover. The newbies can give the corpses to them later."
"Sounds good to me," Nathan agreed. Still, he hoped Sullivan didn't bring more trouble to him because of this.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Creating a mutant, huh? If they know this method, are we going to assume the enemies have a lot of mutants in their ranks?"
"Most likely." Neyeid pointed at the giant.
"How about their sudden transformation?" Nathan asked.
"That's actually the biggest problem." Neyeid pointed at the alien. "Apparently, the alien has been inserted into this demon's body beforehand. I see stitches in the demon's body, so they must have operated on them.
"This is extremely cruel, especially if they're performing surgeries without the familiar's knowledge.
"You know that our enemy is two, right? The alien and the symbiote. The alien grants the body and power, while the symbiote has those regenerative black cells.
"Right now, the one doing all the transformation is the regenerative black cells. In other words, the symbiote itself is like a parasite while the alien is a host like what is currently happening to the familiars.
"If this theory is true, that means there's a chance aliens might be neutral to us. It's because of this black cell that they're hostile to us.
"If we can somehow scrape the black cell from the alien, they might be able to regain their consciousness… or so what I originally thought.
"However, I don't think it's possible. The black cell occupies their organs and other things, so if we scrap them, the alien will most likely die.
"That also means anyone who has turned into an alien can't be recovered, even if it's you or me."
Nathan looked down for a moment. "I can't help but wonder what their purpose is to create this alien."
Evelyn suddenly opened her mouth. "Alpha Class Symbiote… or even higher, an Apex Class Symbiote."