The hivemind is conquering for me?

Sigismund’s eyes opened wide as he just proceeded to stare at me for a moment. I remembered how he acted at the party and how I treated him then and he didn’t seem to mind and I could just not find myself treating him as an actual King. The only one that got royal treatment was my Jewel. Nothing else. No one else.

However, his eyes softened shortly afterwards before he began to laugh boisterously. ”Hahahaha! I knew I liked you kid. You haven’t changed since we last met. Jocasta and Ronnie are fine. They are overseeing some tasks for me, but before we talk further, did Valerica stay true to her word and let you know who I was the last time we met? I think I know, but I just want to make sure.”

I nodded my head. ”Yes. You are the Military King. Also I am glad Ronnie is well, he is a good kid.”

”So I’ve heard. So I’ve heard...” Sigismund then paused, looking to my left and right. ”Now Apollo, before we discuss further there is something that needs addressing. Now I don’t mind that gorgeous animal to your left, but... What is that?” He pointed to my right. Turning Sithrik was standing up next to me, just staring at Sigismund with narrowed eyes.

Knowing a bit about the military king and his supposed racism, I had an answer that was suitable for him.

”This is Sithrik. A few weeks ago she was just a Pyresnake. A Psionic beast native to Spartari. Then she was killed. My unique power, which made Sapphire here, kicked in and created her. I have no control over the final form, but this body you are seeing is not technically an alien. She is a Spartari native. Oh, and she can become smaller. Sithrik, if you would?”

”Of course, Apollo.” She said sweetly before shrinking down with a burst of light I then reached down for her and placed her on the table, at which point Sigismund just stared at the blue noodle in front of me.

”So a snake? Your logic is sound, my displeasure of its... Unnatural form can be held back. Though perhaps it is best for it to remain as this snake while in my presence?”

I saw no reason to deny a reasonable request, but did one better. I picked Sithrik up and placed her on Sapphire’s head before suggesting. ”Perhaps you two would enjoy a nice walk around the base? Allow my friend and I to talk?”

”Moo!” Sapphire declared. Her point was quite reasonable, but I was certain everything was ok, something I relayed through our connection. At which point she let out another moo before walking away.

Once the blue crew were gone, I turned back to Sigismund who had folded his arms, his face looking at me amused. ”Friends are we?”

I nodded my head. ”Of course! We shared drinks together. Shared a few laughs. Why? Is the King not allowed friends?”

Sigismund looked at me for a few moments, his gaze was strong. I had forgotten the overwhelming intensity that was his aura. The man was in a league of his own strength wise. I couldn’t help comparing my strength to his. To see if I was capable of beating him. The answer was no. Not at the moment and I was not discouraged. In fact, it made me smile. Something he seemed to pick up on.

”You are bold, son. I will give you that. Sizing up your king for a fight while he just sits here minding his own business. But do you want to know something?” He leant over the table ”I like bold. Other nobles don’t even look at me. They are too scared shitless of my position. My strength. But you? Hah! I can see why the Hyllus’ wanted to adopt you. They are one of the few good things still around in this empire, even if they are all cuckoo. So yes, I suppose we could be considered friends. As I can only allow myself to be friends with bold, powerful warriors like myself.”

I smiled hearing that. For a king he was not pretentious, he seemed kind of simple. In the way I was. He knew what he was, what he liked, what he didn’t. We probably did have quite a bit in common, at least at a fundamental level.

Sigismund then proceeded to reach into a small pouch on his side. ” I have a few things I want to discuss with you at this moment son, but I will start with something I know you will be interested in. What do you think of this?”

I watched as Sigismund put a small device on the table. ”An inhaler? Wait a minute *Sniff* Is that?”

Sigismund nodded as I picked up the inhaler and got a closer sniff. ”Aye. It is. Your product is in mass production under my own companies as we speak. With the royalties you are getting from this drug. Apollo, you are going to be a very rich man.”

I shrugged my shoulders. Money meant nothing to me and I wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. ”Meh. I didn’t make it for the money, but because I enjoy my science. My craft. Speaking of, may I?” I gestured to the inhaler and Sigismund nodded for me to go ahead.

I then placed the inhaler and took in the combat stim. Upon feeling the effects on my body, I immediately frowned. ”Something is wrong.”

”Are you sure?” Sigismund asked. ”Because I had hundreds of the military’s top biologists and chemists look at it. I even managed to scrounge up a few black biologists and genetic scientists and issued a few pardons to make sure the formula was up to snuff. I guarantee on my honour there was no tampering.”

Hearing that I took another inhale of the stim and began focusing on the chemical reactions inside my body. I then began to engulf my fingers in Psionics and began to sear down the formulas I needed and the reactions I was feeling on the metal table.

I went back and forth a few times on the inhaler and writing before it suddenly clicked.

”Aha!” I then immediately engulfed my body in flame and set my temperature as high as I could manage before returning to normal.

”Are you alright, son? What had you burned up?” I suddenly heard.

”Huh? Why are you? Oh right! My bad. Burn up? Oh! I was purging my body of the drug. That was the fastest way to do it.” I replied to the King, who I had just been blatantly ignoring for at least ten minutes...

”Why? Is there actually something wrong with the formula? I don’t want to alarm you, but I’ve been huffing the stuff like its sweets. It has had a side effect of keeping my Psionic ability more manageable.” Sigismund said, not hiding anything to the creator of the drug.

”Oh, no. You will be fine. The error is on me. I gave you, well your scientists through my writing, instructions that could be misinterpreted . Tell me, did anyone get confused about the human DNA being in the serum?” I asked and judging by the way Sigismund began to rub his stubbly beard and raised his eyebrows, he did.

”Yes, actually. It was one of the things Jocasta first mentioned. What is the issue?” He asked and I nodded my head.

”Well, at least they noticed it. Alright, it’s actually not that big of a deal. Your scientists have seen human DNA and probably thought any DNA was fine. And while it is, any DNA you use will be tainted by X amount of years of mutations and family genes and all that stuff. All of that history will just muddy the serum, making it less potent.

You see, what I did was made artificial human DNA. Pure stuff. Textbook stuff. And placed that into the serum. As a result there is no chance for impurities, making the stim less potent. Still though, it’s not terrible, it only muddies the stim by about 40%. Tell me, when my girlfriend brought this to you, or whoever. Did you or they upon taking it feel the effect more potent than now?”

Sigismund nodded his head. ”Yes. I just assumed that I was becoming resistant to them due to how much I took.”

I chuckled hearing that. ”If my drug wasn’t natural maybe? My drug leaves no lingering effects in your body. I guarantee my life on that. Just tell the scientists to create a clone from stable DNA and use that instead of donors or whatever else they are using. It’s all they need.”

...

Sigismund was impressed. He knew Apollo was smart. He had revived quite a risky science on his own at such a young age. Mixed with his warrior spirit and his good natured personality. He really liked the kid. He showed great potential. More potential than even he had at that age.

So he had a question. A question he was asked by Lysander, the former Military king, many years ago.

”Son, you mentioned you weren’t in your science for the money before you went on your science trip. Inform your King, inform your friend. What strives you in this life? What do you hope to accomplish in the coming years? What do you hope to gain through your actions now in the future?”