The thick steel security door slid open sideways with a low, soft 'Whoosh...', the sound of pressurized air being released.
Owen stepped past the threshold, pulled along by Rosy.
The atmosphere changed instantly. The faint, fragrant aroma of Alicia's coffee from the kitchen vanished, replaced by a cool, clean, odorless vapor... It was perfectly filtered air, tinged with the faint smell of chemicals and the unique scent of ozone from machinery running twenty-four hours a day.
As Rosy continued to chatter endlessly about her streaming plans... Owen's eyes automatically scanned the lab, and he frowned slightly.
Although the lab's general appearance was similar to his last visit... something new had been added.
In one corner... a "surgical bed" now stood, bristling with multiple robotic arms tipped with small blades. Its silver metal surface gleamed, reflecting the LED lights on the ceiling... and next to the main server rack, a new supercomputer set was installed, emitting a low, powerful hum...
'That must be her new toy...' Owen thought. His suspicion from the drive over had just become tangible reality.
'This equipment... just looking at it, I know it's incredibly expensive... It's clear she must have some "funding" source she doesn't want me to know about.' The "Hidden" status he saw on the [Relationship Meter] was undeniable proof.
"And when I hit a thousand subs! I'm thinking of..." Rosy was still talking excitedly, her small arms clinging to him like a koala. She led him to the center of the room...
And just then... she stopped talking. Her cheerfully moving body suddenly stilled. The grip on his arm loosened slightly... changing from the "clutch" of an excited girl to a "placement" that was composed and filled with confidence.
Rosy blinked just once... and her personality shifted in a heartbeat. The bright, cheerful sparkle of a twenty-year-old was replaced by the calm, cool, deep, and powerful gaze Owen knew well.
"Iris" was now in control of the body.
"You're here, my love~" Her voice was soft and sweet. Even though it was Rosy's voice, it was used with a calm, intelligent cadence that Rosy didn't possess.
"How was camping with your friends?" She studied him. "It's unfortunate Rosy had an important matter at the university... Otherwise, we would have gone with you."
'A matter at the university...' Owen smiled internally. It might have just been her excuse, since Julian, who went to the same university, was able to come.
"It went well," Owen replied curtly. "Although there was a small problem."
He unslung the backpack from his shoulder, placed it on the nearest metal table with a soft 'Thud', then unzipped the main compartment and took out the inert [Mechanical Heart].
"I got this from the dream dimension," he said, getting straight to the point, placing it on the table in front of her. "It's quite similar to the dimension of chaos you were in... It has its own world and story."
He paused slightly before continuing. "I cleared it... and this is what the guardian of that place left behind before she left. That place was filled with advanced technology... far beyond our world. So I brought it back, thinking you could make use of it."
Iris froze for a moment. Her usually calm, cool eyes instantly changed to a sparkle of "interest."
She stepped closer... her gaze fixed on the ebony object. Her long, slender fingers slowly stroked its cold, complex metal surface.
"This is..." she murmured softly to herself as she picked it up for a closer look, before stepping quickly to the "Material Analyzer." She carefully placed it on the scanning platform.
"Begin scan," she ordered in a flat voice.
Whirr...
A bright blue laser light flashed, quickly scanning the object in a grid pattern. A few seconds later, the screen on the machine filled with red text.
[ ERROR: Material composition unknown ]
[ ERROR: Unable to read structural data ]
The high-quality material and structural analysis had failed completely.
Iris looked at the failure display and smiled slightly at the corner of her mouth. It was the smile of a researcher who had just found the most challenging puzzle of her life.
"Amazing..." she turned back to Owen, her eyes filled with an exciting spark of challenge. "This technology... its structure is outside any database our world knows... Not just public ones, but also the data I 'procured'."
"It's 'amazing'! My king~" she continued, her voice still full of unabated excitement, as she reached out to take the [Mechanical Heart] from the scanner, staring at it as if it were a priceless diamond.
"Even though it's completely out of power... the data remaining in its architecture... is decades ahead of our world. No... maybe even a hundred years."
Iris turned to smile sweetly at him, a smile full of genuine fascination.
"This is the best gift for my research, my love~" she said. "I'll start analyzing its structure in detail after this... It might take some time..."
She set it down gently before turning back to Owen, her cunning gaze returning. "But for now... I have some 'good news' for you as well."
"Good news?" Owen raised an eyebrow, his heart beating a little faster with anticipation.
Iris didn't answer immediately. She kept that cunning smile... walked around the metal table to the main server rack that was humming softly. She picked up the connected tablet, her slender fingers swiping across the screen a few times.
Fwip!
The large monitor on the wall, which had been dark, flashed to life, displaying a mass of complex data. It was "Owen's" body data.
Owen saw a 3D model of his cell structure rotating slowly, bar graphs showing stats, and a network of red fibers showing his "mana system." And next to it, there was comparative data with what looked like a tiny 'parasite embryo'...
"From continuous research on your cells..." Iris began, her voice smooth but laced with an undisguised "pride," like a master artist about to explain her masterpiece.
"Including the analysis of the 'product' you and Talia created..." she continued. "Finally... I have managed to decode and discover a way to make your body evolve to the next level." Her eyes gazed at the graph on the screen, full of fascination with her own work.
"The previous evolution I gave you... that was just the 'beginning.' That C-level strength didn't satisfy me at all."
She turned back to meet his eyes with a wider smile. "But now... my king, if you cooperate with me, within one to two weeks... your 'base' body could evolve to be on par with a B-Rank enhancement-type Awakened."
Owen's eyes widened slightly.
"And of course..." Iris continued, "this is 'raw power.' Power that comes purely from your biological structure. Your muscles, blood, heart, and bones... they will all be rebuilt. Power that doesn't require even a single drop of your mana for reinforcement."
Owen's mind raced. "'Raw power'?" he repeated. "That means... if I use my mana to reinforce my body on top of that... I'll have strength and durability naturally greater than a B-Rank Awakened."
"Exactly, my love~" Iris chuckled softly in her throat, a sound that was sweet but chilling at the same time. "This good news... does it please you?"
Owen nodded slowly, trying to suppress the smile that was about to split his face. This was more than pleasing! "It's the best news."
"You're amazing... Iris," he praised her sincerely. This was what he wanted! More power!
"But..." Iris put the tablet down, her voice turning serious again.
"This research of mine isn't complete yet. It's still in the experimental stage. That means... it can't evolve all aspects of your strength at the same time. You must 'choose' a path."
She swiped the screen again... On the monitor, 5 symbols appeared in a row.
"Strength... Defense... Speed... Biological Weapon... or..."
The last symbol lit up. It was a picture of a "brain."
"...A brain?" Owen stared at the five choices. It was exactly like a character upgrade screen in a game. She must have intentionally shown it this way to make it easy for a gamer like him to understand...
"And there is one more condition..." Before Owen could analyze which path to choose, Iris's voice cut in again.
"A condition you need to know... my king..." This time, she wasn't standing by the screen anymore.
Step... step...
The sound of light footsteps echoed on the lab floor, along with a strange fragrance. A scent like flowers, but not... Iris's unique scent, which was growing stronger as she walked closer and closer to him.
Until... her body stopped right in front of him, so close Owen could feel the warmth of her breath. Her slender arms slowly snaked up to wrap around his neck...
"Do you remember... the first time we merged as one?" Her voice, whispering by his ear, was hoarse and moist. Her eyes, staring at him at point-blank range... were glowing with a faint, unsettling red light.
She smiled... a smile full of lust and a "hunger" he remembered well. "When I 'forced' you to evolve into my perfect 'sire'... Yes, my love. We need to do that again." Her thumb lightly traced his lower lip.
"So that I can use my core power... to analyze and improve your body 'closely' and with maximum 'efficiency'." She deliberately emphasized those words, before leaning her face in until their noses touched.
Hearing that, Owen's eyebrow twitched. An awful memory... no... a 'semi-awful' memory, flashed into his head.
The first time he 'merged' with her in her disgusting parasite queen form... the mating that was no different from hell, lasting 7 days and 7 nights. Even though his body was forced to feel pleasure to the breaking point, his mind was empty and exhausted. It was a hollow, pointless pleasure.
But... he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. 'This time is different...' he repeated in his mind.
This time, there was a clear 'goal': it would make him "stronger" by leaps and bounds. And most importantly... this time, it wasn't that hideous parasite queen body. It was the body of his beloved Rosy.
When he thought of her smooth skin, full breasts and butt, and her faint, sweet shampoo scent... Owen swallowed hard.
'Uh... It should be fine,' he concluded. 'In fact... it might even be a 'vacation' that lets me stop thinking about the chaos of the outside world.'
As he was trying to rationalize it, he noticed something in her words. "Wait..." Owen narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Saying it like that means... you've already done something strange to Rosy's body, haven't you?"
At his words, Iris's seductive, red-glowing eyes instantly extinguished. The cunning spark vanished, replaced by the eager look of a child who wanted to tell her parents her sister was bullying her.
Rosy was back in control!
She started to pout cutely, her cheeks flushing red as she quickly spoke. "That's right, Owen! Iris is always secretly modifying my body! Every time I wake up, I find weird things I can't control!"
She crossed her arms and complained about Iris openly. "Even though I didn't mind at first, because she just made me stronger, lately she..."
Before Rosy could finish, her eyes changed again. "Hmph~" Iris was back, huffing with clear irritation.
"You're just a university student with little knowledge! What do you know, Rosy!" Iris said to herself (or Rosy). "We agreed not to talk about this in front of him!"
She then turned back to Owen, her expression shifting back to a seductive smile. "It's just a special organ I created specifically... for 'you', my dear king."
With that, she pulled off her t-shirt and tossed it carelessly to the floor, revealing a sexy white bra and her perfectly flat stomach.
"Wait, what are you do-" Owen didn't get to finish before something terrifying happened!
Fwip!
On Iris's smooth white back, something moved under the skin. The next second, dozens of bright pink biological tentacles "tore" through her skin. Each one was at least two meters long. They whipped and moved in the air, full of life, their tips ending in sharp, glowing red needles.
Owen instinctively held his breath, his brow twitching violently.
"This 'minor' body modification is unavoidable," Iris continued smoothly, as if having tentacles sprout from her back was perfectly normal. "And even though Rosy pretends to complain, deep down, she understands it's necessary. So you don't need to worry about these trivial matters, my love~"
'That's 'minor' to you?' Owen couldn't help but worry about what would happen if she modified it any further. He started to feel genuinely concerned for Rosy.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
After explaining, Iris retracted the biological tentacles back into her smooth white skin. The torn wounds healed instantly, as if nothing had happened, as if her skin was designed to do just that.
At this point, Owen seemed to understand the general process. "Simply put..." he said, his voice controlled and flat as possible, "I have to let you use those 'tentacles' to connect to my body... throughout the entire evolution process."
"Exactly, my love!" Iris replied, laughing softly. "Very good, you catch on quick." She walked close to him again.
"But it's not just my 'tentacles' that make this process go smoothly..." she whispered. "My body... also needs something 'hard', 'hot', and 'big'... 'inserted'back into it..."
"....." Owen stood still. Of course, he knew exactly what she meant.
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