I have to add something:
if the virus allows Awakened capacities, so far as we have known
that Emergent and Awakened capacities were mutually exclusive.
So it would seem to rule out a Dissonant origin for the virus.
Are we even sure that it came from Mars? I missed the point, I will read the topic again).
Maybe the additional augmentations don't really speed up the process (maybe it is Jack's feeling,
but who knows, as its mind might be altered in its sensations and perceptions, and possibly memories,
as we see in "Eye of the Hurricane" that the guy should at least remember that he don't remember doing something,
and he only become aware of it when put in the face), or not only, but rather keep
it ongoing, as DNA contains a lifetime of infos that would try to reverse back the basics
of the brain structures to their normal functions, which are indeed not to host
an alternative personality with who knows which abilities (because, yes, part of your personnality is genetic,
and part of your behavior related to the way your brain structures are organized, which is at first decided by genetics
as well as informations acquired by environmental stimuli)
Then it would make sense to use genewipes to "clean the ground up/format" before install.
Turns to me like if these secondary persona were the evolutions of AI induced technomancers,
without the input of the AI to come alive but with the flaw of being dependent of nanotech
to maintain this state.
So after all, the kind of statements we saw on Jackpoint maybe was a try to scare us not to try and
discover the truth. Or maybe it is really some kind of VVHMH digital version. And then,
say hello to shitloads hitting fans.
On a side topic, do we know if Emergent capacities can appear outside of Manasphere?
I mean, it makes sense they can work outside of it, as they have their own environment of choice.
But aren't the advent of these capacities linked somehow to the "manasphere" created by such amount
of life in computer systems, despite them being dry at first and improper for the development of such kind
of "magical" capacities.