Chris blinked at Dichonius. "Jo is my mom?" Dichonius nodded. "Coreforger Jo?" Dichonius nodded again. "Huh… I guess that does sort of explain why she was so quick to accept me." Chris muttered thoughtfully. "Though, my ability is kinda perfect for Coreforging, so that explains it too…"

"Your ability was definitely the deciding factor in your apprenticeship, but I'm absolutely certain Jo would have found some way to keep you around." Dichonius sighed. "She was always looking for excuses to wiggle her way back into your life. I had to beg her not to give you an internship at her company! You hadn't even applied! And she still went to your school and personally manned a booth at the job fair! And when you never showed up, she was inconsolable for a week!"

Chris frowned. "My school has a job fair?"

"You didn't even-" Dichonius began incredulously, before pausing and letting out a sigh. "Well, I suppose you had different focuses at the time. Still, the point is that Jo never stopped wanting to be your mother. It killed her to be forced to watch you grow from a distance, to have never seen you in person since you were a child." He paused. "It would have helped if you were slightly more inclined to participate in social media. All we really had to go on were official records and school photos. I didn't even recognize you when David first brought you!"

Chris grunted. "Yeah, social media has never been my thing. Why would I put anything on the internet for anyone to see, when everyone I want to see it is easily accessible? Worst case scenario, I text it to them."

"A sensible, though frustrating answer." Dichonius sighed, shaking his head. "So… what else would you like to know?"

Chris paused, considering what he already knew. His father was a Doppelganger, his mother was an Elf, they abandoned him because the two species were at war for some reason and any life he could have had with them would have been miserable… yeah, that was about it. Though… There was one other question he had to ask. "Do I need a license per creature, or can I just get a general license?"

Dichonius blinked. "Eh?"

"For summoned creatures." Chris elaborated, gesturing towards Jello. "You know, the reason we're here?"

"You don't want to know anything else?!?" Dichonius asked incredulously.

Chris shrugged. "Well, I already pretty much knew the Doppelgangers were here and that the Elves are going to invade, so there isn't much left to know, right?"

Dichonius's eyes widened. "The Elves are invading?!?"

Chris cocked his head. "You didn't know that?" He paused. "Oh, well, I guess they invade after the election, so maybe they aren't right now. But apparently they're supposed to."

Dichonius stared at him incredulously, not sure how to process what he was hearing. "How- how do you know that?"

"I found this other world where our world is a video game." Chris explained with a shrug. "It's a few years ahead of us though. We're on the election, and they're already done with the 'Invasion of the Elves' and the 'Purge of the Doppelgangers'. Right now they're in 'Breakout'."

"Purge?!?" Dichonius replied.

"Well, that's what they call it. But, seeing as you guys are still the enemies in 'Breakout', along with the Orcs, it obviously wasn't very effective. Though… you do die." Chris frowned. "The reveal that you're a Doppelganger is what starts the Purge… maybe try not to let that happen? Or lose the election. They wouldn't have any reason to reveal you if you aren't in power. Oh, shit, wait, Beth…" If Dichonius lost the election, then he and Beth would need to leave the City to escape the whole eugenics thing. "Nevermind, don't lose the election. Just… try not to get outed? Or disappear again. You have someone good who can replace you, right?"

"Steward…" Dichonius replied absently, before shaking his head. "No, hold on, why would the Elves invade!?! They've known we're down here for decades! They've been just fine with the status quo! Well… not fine, but they haven't been willing to devote resources to such a minor front. The City is just so- so- inconsequential! No offense, but you guys just don't matter in the larger sense of things. You occupy a miniscule territory, underground. Your technology is interesting, but only as a curiosity piece, not as something of any real value. Why would the Elves start such a needless war?!?"

Chris shrugged. "How should I know? I just know they did it in the game, so… they'll probably do it here? Or not. I'm still not entirely sure how well the game correlates with our world. I mean, the history is the same, but that doesn't necessarily mean the future has to be. But, if I can figure out why the Elves invaded in the game, maybe I can figure out if they're going to invade here as well, and if I'm lucky, I can stop it."

Dichonius nodded slowly, before pausing. "Wait, no! What- why is there a game?!? What is this other world?!?"

"Oh, I figured out I can split my world and the part that split off connected to a different world, where our world is a video game." Chris explained. "I don't know why, but it did and I'm just taking advantage of it."

"But… Why would they make a video game based on our world?" Dichonius asked, sounding confused, as if he couldn't comprehend the appeal of a video game based on all of this.

"Well, they don't have abilities in their world, so our world is kinda neat for them. Plus, you know, it's a game, so they get to do things without consequences, which is also a big draw." Chris replied.

Dichonius blinked. "No abilities?"

"None." Chris nodded.

Dichonius paused. "Can you take others to this world?"

Chris frowned at him. "I already promised people I wasn't going to take over their world."

"That- I wasn't going to suggest that!" Dichonius protested. "I was just thinking that if there was a world that didn't need powerful abilities, then instead of the Trial, we could send anyone with a low-tier ability there instead!"

Chris cocked his head. "That… is an interesting possibility." He considered the idea for a moment. "I'd need to talk to someone first, but maybe? Though, if you don't get elected, it's kind of a moot point, isn't it?"

"True…" Dichonius muttered. "Plus this invasion…" Dichonius sighed. "I'm getting ahead of myself. We should focus on the immediate issues: preparing for the invasion and securing the election."

"True, plus it'd probably take a few years to get anything significant set up." Chris nodded in agreement, before pausing. "How do we prepare though?"

"All you need to do is continue growing stronger, climb the Maze, and figure out what's going on in that game." Dichonius replied seriously.

Dichonius quickly helped Chris get his licenses for both summoning his creatures and having multiple selves, before rushing off to deal with whatever he needed to in order to prepare for the possible invasion. Chris didn't have anything else to do, that he wasn't already doing at least, so he brought Jello back to the mall. "I told you we were related!" Jello grinned happily, skipping along next to him.

"Yeah, yeah." Chris sighed, shaking his head. "How was I supposed to know I was the unholy spawn of a Doppelganger and an Elf?"

"Because I told you!" Jello retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "The core never lies!"

Chris frowned. "The core?"

"Yup!" Jello nodded. "Our core tells us when someone is kin or not. Otherwise, with all the mutations, how would we recognize each other?"

Chris frowned. "I thought you said it was an energy thing."

Jello paused. "It is, but it also isn't." She began carefully. "Our energy sense is how we see, but the core is how we know. To my energy sense, you and our progenitor are nothing alike, but when seen through my core, the similarities are obvious! It's like… like the presentation is different, but the essence is the same!"

Chris shook his head. "I'll have to take your word for tha-" He paused. He actually didn't have to take her word for it, now did he? He could totally just dig through her memories and see what she meant. "Huh. Seems like an abuse of power though…" He muttered to himself, frowning slightly, before shrugging. He didn't actually care that much anyway.

While that Chris gave Jello a tour of the City, another Chris formed in the Immortal World with a serious expression. Too much was happening at the moment, and Chris wasn't strong enough to actually face any of it. He was getting there, sure, but how much time did he really have? A few months? A year? His subordinates' lifetime of experience only made them moderately stronger! They'd just gone from the low end of mid-tier to the low end of high-tier, at best. One or two might be able to take on Beth, if they were lucky. As for Chris, he wasn't even that strong. He was solidly mid-tier, and he could tell that mutating wouldn't improve him all that much. He could get a few more specialized forms, which he probably should have done earlier if he was being honest, particularly since it didn't cost him anything to have one of his selves mutate, but that was it. His strength would barely budge. He just didn't have enough experience, and even constantly fighting his subordinates wouldn't give him the amount he'd need in a short amount of time. Plus, even if he spent a few months on it, he'd only get to high-tier, which was good, but compared to the power they were throwing around in the game it was shit.

An ability core suddenly appeared in Chris's hand, the rib of a creature that could create force blasts. This was what he needed. An ability. Something that would take his strength and multiply it by ten, twenty, or fifty times! He had the cores. He had the energy. He had mutation. It was time to put it all to work. Chris carefully grafted the rib bone into his body, before activating the mutation, drawing in energy to surround him as he did. That was when he noticed the first problem. The energy wasn't drawn to him! It just sort of floated around his cocoon. That in and of itself wouldn't worry him too much, except for the fact that as his body dissolved in the cocoon, the energy that had already been in the ability core didn't do anything either! It floated there like the mutation process just wasn't happening around it!

*Why is it-* Chris frowned, confused by the energy's lack of reaction, before it suddenly hit him. The Immortal World didn't have any rules! The energy wasn't doing anything because the Immortal World didn't say it had to do anything! And since Chris wasn't even sure what whatever it was supposed to do should even look like, it didn't even pretend to do anything like most of what he brought into the Immortal World did. *So, unless I can figure out the rules for how energy is supposed to work, I can't give people abilities… shit.* Chris cursed. How was he even supposed to figure something like that out! Humanity barely even knew energy existed, and the rest of the people on Azza didn't seem to be terribly interested in the scientific process.

Chris paused again. Wait… there was one thing that seemed to know how energy worked. Gaia. If he could get his hands on her… Chris paused. What if he got his hands on her? Did he understand enough about the physics she operated under for her to actually work in his world? He didn't even understand how people worked in his world! He'd gotten a few small electronics to work, like the hot plate, but once he'd tried the television… he didn't know enough about how electricity should work for it to actually do anything. He could get the television to display videos, because he knew it should, but he had to literally play the videos from his own memory. He didn't think that would work for something as complicated as Gaia. Still… he needed to talk to Matt.

"You wanted to see me?" Matt asked, sitting down across from Chris in a small café in the game.

Chris nodded. "It turns out that I have a much more… immediate need of Gaia than I had anticipated." Chris explained. "I'm doing my best to prepare for the invasion of the Elves in my world, but… I'm not strong enough, and the only way to be strong enough is if I can understand how the energy in my world works. The only one I know of who is even close to knowing that information is Gaia."

Matt blinked. "You aren't strong enough?" He asked incredulously.

Chris sighed. "I have about level three or four Physique, and no ability that works to multiply that power. I have survivability, but not power."

"Right, your world is the game. Scary for us isn't all that bad for you." Matt frowned, before glancing nervously at Chris. "Okay, look, I get that you need Gaia, but… I can't just give her to you! She's the foundation of this entire game! Without her, I'd be ruined! The game would be ruined!"

Chris nodded. "I understand. I don't actually need her though. I just need the information she has about how energy works. I would like to have my own Gaia at some point, but… if I'm being honest, I'm not certain she would even work in my world at this point. My world doesn't have the rules to actually support her." Chris grimaced, uncomfortable with the amount of limitations he was running into at the moment, as well as how much of the Immortal World was actually built on smoke and mirrors. He was a smart man, with a decent education that gave him a good foundational knowledge of how the world was supposed to work, yet the more he examined the Immortal World, the more holes he found! By all rights, no one should even be able to have a functional brain in his Immortal World! Yet… they did. He was missing something. He was missing a lot. And that realization was like an unbearable itch that he had no idea how to scratch! He needed to start figuring things out. Now.

It wasn't even about power at this point! Yes, Chris wanted to be strong, but if he couldn't be, he'd deal with it, like he dealt with everything else. What he couldn't stand was things not making sense! And his world just didn't make sense! Where did his mutation come from? Why couldn't anything die? How did people function when the physical laws they should need simply didn't exist!?! By all rights, people should die the moment they step into the Immortal World, but instead, they simply seemed to pause until they left. At least, until they wanted to do something. They could still act, moving, thinking, using their abilities, and all that, which made even less sense to Chris. It was like there was something else telling the people how they should work, what they could do.

Chris shook his head with a sigh, pulling out of the swirling thoughts and refocusing on Matt. "I just need to talk to her, see what she knows. Hopefully she can help me figure out something before the Elves invade."

Matt blinked at him. "That's it? You just want to talk to Gaia?"

Chris nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Matt breathed out a sigh of relief. "No, that will be fine! All I need to do is give you some admin privileges real quick…" He pulled up a menu. "Let's see, you'll need this… and this… oh, that should be perfect!" He muttered to himself, before turning back to Chris. "Okay, your menu should have an admin tab now, which will let you call Gaia, or, a feature I think you'll really enjoy, it'll let you enter Gaia's personal space, which… Well, it actually works a lot like your world, where she has absolute control over everything, but it doesn't affect the actual game. It's sort of like a demo space."

"Gotcha." Chris nodded, pulling up his menu and quickly finding the admin tab, looking over the options. "Thank you." He nodded to Matt. "Hopefully this will help."

"Here's hoping." Matt agreed.