There were some things about Mushroom-nimi that Melissa hadn't even needed her engineering expertise to conclude.
First, it was the mutation brought about by Enhanced Vitality and Leader's command—Survive, resulting in a sense of We within the cyborg.
Mushroom had described the feeling as if they had thousands of brains, all capable of thinking independently.
That's why the cyborg began using using They/Them pronouns for itself, in a very literal sense.
Every mushroom on the cyborg's body possessed sapience and intelligence.
So, whenever Mushroom utilized these mushrooms, they were literally sacrificing themselves, coming to a common agreement.
Finding out this fact had led Melissa to reach a quite vague, and far-reaching, conclusion, becoming her second finding.
Second, it was the matter of Leader's locked Spirit Points.
Melissa believed that Mushroom was transitioning from a Quirk-based biometallic lifeform to one without Quirks.
The original Spider Drones all held Artificial Intelligence.
Now, through the Intelligence Quirk, Mushroom's numerous selves were metamorphosing into a true AI mind.
That's exactly why, despite being backed by an Artificial Intelligence, Mushroom sometimes behaved like a child or an adolescent.
Also, instead of being an entity with three separate Quirks, Mushroom-nimi was transitioning toward a single entity with no Quirk.
The more the cyborg advanced in this transition, the more it released the locked Spirit Points.
The Leader had strongly agreed to Melissa's hypothesis, saying that this could be an involuntary action from Mushroom-nimi to avoid exploding into a mass of uncontrolled mutation on the spot. Because, according to his experience, it was nigh impossible to hold onto several Quirks without extraordinary means backing them up.
Melissa remembered the confidence with which Leader had said those words, as if he were a Quirk Scientist, working in the field for years.
Before she could ask more about it, though, he had left her with the third, and most dangerous, task, with disastrous implications attached to it.
…
Another CRACK rang out on the field, as Mushroom's knee landed on Nomu's back, one of the six arms, holding the hammer, exploding with a bloody squelch.
"How much energy did you consume this time, Mushroom-nimi?" Melissa asked.
"…a little busy here, Miss Shield," the cyborg replied, catching a Chainsaw on its chest. "Sending you numbers directly."
The HUD lit up under the mask, a series of words and numbers appearing in front of Melissa's eyes.
[
Mushroom-nimi's Stats:
Total Energy: 500 kt [kilotons TNT equivalent]
Recoverable Energy: 430/440 kt
Idle Energy Regeneration: +0.005 kt per minute
Constant Life Consumption: -0.0002 kt per minute
Regeneration Profile:
— 1% = 0.4 kt
— 5% = 2 kt
— 10% = 4 kt
— 25% = 10 kt
— 50% = 20 kt
Flight Profile:
— Mach 1-2 = 0.05 kt/minute
— Mach 3-5 = 0.2 kt/minute
— Mach 6-10 = 0.8 kt/minute
— Mach 10-15 = 2.5 kt/minute
Attack Profile:
— Light Roast First Crack: 0.3 kt
— Medium Roast First Crack: 2 kt
— Dark Roast First Crack: 8 kt
— Atomic Fist: 25 kt
Defense Profile:
— Energy Consumption to sustain Defense Form: 0.15 kt/minute
— Transformation Cost (one time): 0.5 kt
— Idle Energy Regeneration: -50%
— Regeneration Energy Consumption: +50%
— Flight Energy Consumption: +100%
— Instantaneous Output >2 kt: blocked
]
The moment Melissa's eyes landed on Dark Roast First Crack's energy consumption, she let out a relieved sigh.
It was Leader's idea to tablet everything about Mushroom in a game-like Stats form.
The actual work came later, with Melissa spending her entire day experimenting with the cyborg and getting feedback — for weeks!
While coming into existence, Mushroom had consumed five micro Nuclear Reactors, each powering a Spider Drone of the LA Villains Detention Center in the USA.
The Leader hadn't grasped the true ridiculousness of this situation, though.
It was Melissa, who had extensively studied this field at I-Island, who painted a clear picture for him.
These micro Nuclear Reactors weren't practical.
No technology existed that could remotely come close to creating such tiny reactors.
Which meant the USA must have had someone with a specific Quirk to make it plausible.
As if that wasn't enough, through Myco-Machine Symbiosis, these nuclear reactors had become a part of Mushroom's existence — like organs.
That also meant, for the cyborg, there was no concept of refueling itself!
As in the case of humans, all of Mushroom's actions, from attacks and flight to merely existing, consumed energy.
If that had only been the case, then the cyborg should have already held a doomed fate.
However, the same thing that was making it impossible for Mushroom to refuel their energy reserves also made it possible for them to do the unthinkable.
Because of the combined effect of Enhanced Vitality and Myco-Machine Symbiosis, Mushroom was capable of generating nuclear energy within themselves!
The only reason that Mushroom hadn't resulted in a Nuclear Disaster was not only because the cyborg was capable of controlling the output of nuclear energy held within reactors, but also because its body filtered the nuclear radiation involuntarily, preventing it from becoming a walking, cancer-donating Villain.
There was one caveat in all this, though.
Any instantaneous energy consumption over 10 kt of TNT equivalent was non-recoverable.
Originally, Mushroom-nimi held a total energy reserve of 500 kt.
However, the cyborg had already used two Atomic Fists, each consuming an instantaneous energy output of 25 kt.
Also, in the USA, Captain Celebrity had exploded Mushroom's head while it was in Defense Form. Not only did it result in massive energy consumption to regenerate, but it also went above 10 kt in a very short amount of time, resulting in permanent loss.
Melissa theorized that this could be the reason behind the cyborg's delayed appearance on the field, after she had gotten a clear picture of the events.
Regardless of conjectures, Mushroom was left with 440 kt of recoverable energy only.
And the non-recoverable part about them made it impractical for Mushroom to indulge themselves in All Might-level prolonged battles.
There are lots of things that we still need to figure out about them… Melissa wondered, a curious, joyous, and excited smile appearing on her face as she saw Mushroom. It's gonna be fun…
Suddenly, figures began appearing on the battlefield.
Melissa recognized Erasure Head instantly, even if the woman next to him was unknown to her. Remembering Leader's direction to act like him, she playfully waved at the two Pros.
Then, from the other side, two more figures appeared — one masked man and a girl.
"Mushroom-nimi…" Melissa ordered, looking at Momo next to her. "Let's… Wrap it up."
********************
Note: Up to 60 more chapters are available in advance across three Tiers. [Use the link in my webnovel profile to access all options]
You can even subscribe Trial Tier for just 1 dollar to have an experience of exclusive chapters for an entire month. I hope a few of you will consider supporting the work.
100 Power Stones/day: +1 Bonus Chapter next day