A large crowd seemed to have gathered around two young men who were in the middle of a heated face off in front of two large screens to the side of the lobby. One of the young men was wearing a sport jacket and had his hair slicked back. The other was dressed in a school uniform of some kind and had a messy head of hair. He also had some sort of headband device wrapped around his head.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?" Will asked a man—who was spectating from the side and appeared to be an employee for Neural-Chip, in Japanese. Donny watched from the side in confusion.

"Mister Shinsuke over there just had our latest Neural-Chip embedded." He pointed at the young man in the sport jacket. "It comes with a newly added and advanced neurofeedback feature that we are quite proud of. While the young man next to him is using an EEG headband to accomplish the same thing. The two of them are competing to see who can better focus their minds." The man gestured at the screens displaying glass balls that were filling up with liquid while the numbers ticked up. "The lower the number the more active their brain is, the higher, the more relaxed they are."

Shinsuke's glass ball was almost halfway filled up, his liquid changing from red to yellow and the number displayed hit 40. Meanwhile, the other young man was struggling around 30, his liquid still red.

"Is there a difference between the two devices?" Will asked.

"Only that our Neural-Chip has slightly quicker feedback of brain signals but it shouldn't affect the task they are trying to do. It's only a monitoring feature, after all."

"Ah, I see. Thank you." Will nodded before he turned to Donny and explained the situation to him.

When Shinsuke hit the halfway mark and his number displayed 50, he began to taunt the other young man. "Hahaha, is this all you got? After all that big talk earlier."

The young man's number took a slight dip at the taunt.

"I can't let you win." He replied as his face suddenly took on a look of extreme concentration. "I'll make you admit defeat!"

His number started climbing up faster, the water changing from red to yellow and then to blue as he reached 68. The people spectating were surprised by this sudden turn of events.

"Impossible!"

"How's he doing that?!"

"This can't be?!" A woman uttered in disbelief. "Zone? Is he in the zone?"

The man next to Will suddenly began to explain to him. "The zone, otherwise known as flow state, is a mental state of high focus in which someone is fully immersed in the activity they are performing, disregarding all unnecessary thoughts."

"I didn't ask..." Will muttered. But this sounds similar to mindfulness meditation. Can it help with training my [Mental Power]?

"That young man...is this his true potential?"

"To be able to enter the zone in such a situation...he's a monster!"

"What's everyone getting all worked up about?" Donny asked, looking back and forth.

"Nothing important, I'll explain later." Will said.

The young man hit the 80s, causing Shinsuke to lose focus and his number to plummet with it.

"This can't be! You lied to me! This can't be your first time doing this!" Shinsuke shouted, spittle flying everywhere, face turning red, and his hair now disheveled.

"You lost! Now apologize to Miss Suzuki!" The young man pointed at a timid looking girl, who was also wearing a school uniform, standing on the side.

"I didn't lose! You cheated! How can you enter the zone for something you've never done before?"

"I don't care if you make fun of me, but I won't forgive you for ridiculing my friends! Now apologize to Miss Suzuki!"

"Come on, let's go." Will said to Donny, turning away from the drama being played out and moving towards the reception desk.

"Dude, I don't know what they're saying but it looks like it's getting good." Donny reluctantly followed after Will, his head constantly turning back to watch the spectacle.

"Hi, William Lee and Donny Reid. We're here for a scheduled appointment." Will said to the receptionist, who immediately accessed her computer.

"Yes, Mister Lee and Mister Reid, you're here just in time. Please proceed to assessment room 713 and someone will be there to meet you."

"That was pretty intense back there." Donny said while they moved towards the assessment room. "Is it always like this in Japan?"

"Wait until you see Chinese 'young masters'."

"You didn't tell me you spoke Japanese." Donny said. "Do you live here in the future or something?"

"No, I've never actually been here before." Will said. "Japan becomes overrun and there will be a large evacuation of the island. Many of their citizens will be left with no choice but to become hunters for livelihood, so they will have a large presence in the hunter community around the world."

"Ah, so you end up working with them." Donny nodded as they reached their location. An assistant met with the two and told them to take a seat in a waiting area just outside the assessment room. Donny randomly picked up a brochure on the table and browsed through it. "Hey, it says here that Neural-Chip has its headquarters in San Francisco. Why didn't we go there instead?"

"Excuse me, we're ready for you now." The assistant came back at the moment and invited the two inside.

"Yes, come on in." A man in a white lab coat greeted the two in English. After introductions, the man and his assistant asked the two to strip down and used the various machines around the room to take detailed scans of the two while breaking down what to expect from the Neural-Chip and the surgery involved.

As they were finishing up and the man had answered any questions they had, Will straightened out his suit and put on a friendly smile as he posed an unrelated question. "I heard that someone named Masaru Matsumoto also received a Neural-Chip?"

"Yes, he was one of the first clients in line for the Neural-Chip." The man nodded.

"I find his case very interesting, do you mind if I take a look at his file?" Will asked nonchalantly.

"I apologize, but for the sake of client confidentiality, we cannot disclose any privileged information of our clients."

"Ah, I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"If you'd like, I can leave you Mister Matsumoto's contact information. I believe he is currently serving as an instructor for the Japan Self-Defense Forces."

"That's fine, I was just curious." Will waved, but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that it would be harder getting the information he wanted than he expected.

"Then there is one more thing before you leave. Doctor Hasegawa is curious about the modification you asked us to include with your respective Neural-Chips, and he'd like to have a word with you."

"Sure, I was actually hoping to take a look at the modification first before the surgery."

"Great, my assistant will escort you over to R&D." The man said before instructing his assistant in Japanese.

"This way, please." The assistant said in Japanese, leading the two out of the room.

"What was that about?" Donny whispered once they were out of earshot.

"What was what about?"

"The thing about that dude from the military."

"It was nothing much. Like I said, I was only curious." Will replied. "I was curious about the blood type of the person who is considered by many in the future to have the strongest bloodline in the world."

"The strongest?" Donny asked.

"Everyone has a compatibility with Parasites that takes time to increase. The more the compatibility increases, the more powerful the abilities received from a Parasite. There are some special Parasite types that are symbiotic and have higher than usual compatibility, but they come with their own pros and cons." Will explained. "But this guy's bloodline had 100% compatibility with all Parasites he interacted with. Not only that, Parasites loved his blood so much that they evolved much faster when they fed off of him."

"That sounds...good, I think?" Donny scratched the back of his head.

"It's good because of how rare some Parasites can be."

"I think I get it..."

"Think of it like this, if you were playing an MMO and every time you received a skill it was already at max level. In addition to that, you can get the next tier of your skill much faster than everyone else."

"Yeah okay, that sounds OP AF." The analogy making sense and Donny quickly agreed.

After taking the elevator down one floor, the two were led to a large workshop occupied by many people. Most of them were busy, working away on the computer at their own workstation. The assistant led them to where a man was in the middle of demonstrating how one of the machines worked to a group of people.

Donny tapped Will's shoulder and gestured with his chin at two people in this group. The young man and girl in school uniform from earlier in the lobby. There was another well-dressed girl standing next to the bashful young man, holding onto his arm and glaring at the other girl. Will found this girl very familiar.

If we're at Neural-Chip, it might be her.

The assistant interrupted the man and gestured at Will and Donny, informing him about the reason for the interruption.

"Ah, you're finally here." The man turned to two with a friendly smile on his face and spoke in English. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Doctor Hasegawa. I'm in charge of the research and development department at this branch."

"Will." "Donny." They exchanged handshakes.

"I hope you don't mind if our interns take part in this meeting?" Doctor Hasegawa gestured at the group of people with him.

"Not at all." Will said.

"Excellent, it will be a good learning experience for them." He said before he began to introduce the two to the interns. Most of them spoke in Japanese but a few attempted to use awkward sounding English. After introducing most of them, he finally reached the three from earlier, starting with the well-dressed girl. "And this is my daughter, Noriko, and childhood friends who came to visit today."

"Hasegawa Noriko, pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope the two of you gentlemen enjoy your stay for the duration of your trip here in Japan." She spoke in perfect English to the shock of her childhood friends, who had their mouths wide open.

"Noriko is currently studying at the University of Tokyo, and she is interested in following my footsteps into neuroscience in the future." Doctor Hasegawa said proudly.

So it is her. Will thought in surprise. He didn't expect to meet the future CEO of the Neural-Chip Corporation today. He glanced at the other two with her. Then who are these two? Are they nobodies in the future, or do they die defending the island? Because the people around someone who would wield so much power and influence in the future shouldn't be unknowns.

"Uh...my name...Takizawa Yuuta. Nice...meet you." Yuuta greeted in broken English.

"Suzuki Akane...uh...uhh." She struggled with her words. Noriko shot her a look of triumph when she eventually gave up and finished her introduction in Japanese.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, that modification you requested." Doctor Hasegawa said as he sat at a nearby computer and the screen on the wall nearby changed short after. It displayed a small chip. "You asked for the chip to be hermetically sealed." He clicked on the keyboard, and the chip was now covered in a special kind of plastic. "Is this good enough for you?"

Will examined the screen before nodding. "Yes, I think this is good enough."

"I'd like to clear something up, my team and I were wondering what is the purpose of this seal?" Doctor Hasegawa asked.

"It's to increase the chip's resistance to possible electrical shocks and any strong electromagnetic pulses." Will replied.

"I don't think that's necessary, is it?" Doctor Hasegawa scoffed. "Any electric shock strong enough to damage the chip would kill you first, and the same could be said for any EMP fields. In general, most small electronics wouldn't be affected by an EMP."

"Yes, I know."

"Alright then, you're the client. I just wanted you to know what you are paying extra for."

"Thank you for your concern."

After a going over a few more details, Will and Donny left the Neural-Chip and building.

"That dude was getting his mack on with those two girls back in there." Donny said as he stretched out.

"It looked like trouble if you ask me." Will hailed for a taxi.

"True." Donny nodded. "Speaking of getting the mack on, I've got a date. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going back to the hotel to sleep. Don't be too late, we've got surgery tomorrow." Will left those final words before getting into the taxi to go back to the hotel.

He had to figure out a way to take a peek at the information of the man carrying the bloodline for the [Perfect Primary Host] ability and if possible get his hands on it.

The reason being this ability had one more characteristic Will didn't mention. One that if others knew existed, they would go through any means possible to obtain it, including a war that would cripple Japan and leave it defenseless to high Category wildlife. Because the third characteristic of the [Perfect Primary Host] was to allow Parasites to reach the adult stage and, if possible for that particular Parasite, reproduce sexually.