Chapter 11: sociopath.

[current enhancement: 160%.

Assimilation boost results: 10% motor functions efficiency.]

Adam stood up, he can feel the difference more clearly now, his metabolism went from 130% to 160% at once.

he felt like every breath he takes is more saturated with oxygen, every movement he makes have more energy behind it, the clarity of his mind made every memory he had before this moment feels like a dream. 

He was tempted to see how strong he became, he couldn't resist testing it.

The scratches and bruises on his hands and legs are almost unnoticeable now, he started running to the main building, just to test the new power he feels. 

It is now 10:30 am, Adam arrived in front of miss sydni's office.

In his way he overheard Elina talking about Vergo's condition with Gem, apparently Vergo was traumatized by the experience he had last night. of course Adam didn't care to listen, what grabbed his attention is that all the children refused to sleep in the dark rooms after hearing what happened, not just in room 13.

Adam knocked on miss sydni's office door, no answer came from inside, he waited for a few minutes to get an answer, but non came. 

He went to ask around for her, and Elina told him that she didn't arrive yet. 

"did you by any chance, have any thing to do with what happened to Vergo?" Elina asked Adam with a suspicious tone. No one knew that Adam was the only kid sleeping on his bed last night, all the other kids slept in the basketball court last night with the lights on, they were seriously afraid. 

The reason for her question is that she suspected Adam to be a sociopath. His last escape, his actions and his lack of response to pain when she gave him the analgesic shot, made her contact a few psychological experts to consult them about his case.

More than one of them gave her a 30% chance that he is a sociopath, and they asked to study his case further, just to be sure. Of course she didn't tell them which child she was talking about to not ruin his life, but any of them visiting the orphanage will not need 2 minutes to find which one it is. 

"no!" Adam lied." I was asleep when I heard his idiotic scream." 

His rudeness didn't surprise her, she knew that Adam never cared for any one other then himself, she didn't condemn him for it, he is just a kid, most kids are self centered intolerable jerks. 

"you are welcome to wait here for her, everyone knows that you are supposed to go on a trip with her, so don't worry." Elina said as she checked his physical condition and his wounds out of habit. 

'trip haa! So they think I'll be coming back!?' Adam chuckled inwardly, he didn't plan to come back here no matter what.

"if I wasn't the one who bandaged your wound two days ago, I would've never believed you had any!!" she said in shock. "did you drink a restorative medicine?!"

"I'm just a fast healer." Adam monotonously said, he had another thing occupying his mind at the moment, as Elina was touching his healed bruises, she was wearing a latex glove, their skin didn't touch at all. 

'is there a way to scan a human without touching their head?' Adam asked the symbiote, he didn't want to miss the chance to get the medical knowledge in Elina's head. Even though just a nurse, she must have abundant knowledge of medicine to be hired in the orphanage alone. 

[physical contact is needed for successful target analysis. Close proximity to central nervous system is preferable. Boosting analysis will allow the host to scan the target by touching any body part. Energy will be consumed.]

Elina was wearing her white coat which covered her entire arms, her nick skin was out of reach for Adam unless he wanted to be treated as a pervert. 

Adam had only one choice and one chance, so he didn't waste time, only 30 seconds have passed as Elina was observing his previous injuries, he looked at her eyes for a while, focusing on her scent, which was always pleasant, he collected his courage and touched her face gently. 

[Data discovered… 

Scanning…

Analyzing… 

Human, data updated.

Stabilized motor functions available, energy required to replicate. 

Neural map updated, permanent neural enhancement available, energy required to replicate. 

motor memory available, energy required to replicate.

Filtering memory data… 

Sorting… 

Data available on the following subjects:

Art and drawing, music and instruments, humanity history, medical studies and practice,  social experiences…]

Adam was so satisfied with the amount of knowledge the symbiote gained, he didn't notice the slight smile on his face, he forgot the Awkward situation he was in. 

"what are you doing Adam!!" with a hypnotized barely whispering voice, Elina felt a slight dizziness and a tingling sensation on her skin the moment Adam's hand made contact with her skin.

this was due to the scanning of the symbiote. however, in her head, to her knowledge, this was a sign of affection. 

She gently pushed his hand back, reminding herself of her age, of his age. Adam was not specifically handsome or Attractive, he is just a child to her after all.

Unlike what could be observed in her actions, she was suffering from loneliness and anxiety, the intimate relation deprivation for years clouding her mind. 

Her words and tone knocked Adam out of his reverie, he realized the situation's awkwardness, his expression didn't change, he just shamelessly stared at her. 

She nervously walked away from him and went back to her desk. Adam didn't want to linger around any longer, he would have gone back to the room if not for Mr. Roland installing a night light in it. 

He decided to go to the cafeteria, he had 2 coins in his card, which was today's allowance. 'maybe they didn't yet discover my theft and I can get some food.' He correctly thought. 

The care takers and security staff had a few traumatized kids to worry about, they wouldn't notice the small amount of chocolate missing, the storage was too big to notice the absence of 20 chocolate bars.

Adam couldn't buy that amount of chocolate even if he had the coins for it, they only allowed 1 piece of any type of snack for kids each day, Vergo usually made other kids buy it for him and pay them for it. Of course Adam would never do that. 

After having his second breakfast and extracting 82% energy, he heard that miss Sydni has arrived. 

Adam went to her office and found her working. She dressed casually, a blue pants and a white shirt, nothing fancy, she wasn't wearing her usual heavy makeup, she didn't look like her every day self. 

he waited for her to finish her work, of course he denied having any thing to do with the previous day's incident when asked. 

While he waited on the comfy couch, he asked. 'how much time will it take to replicate Elina's motor memory and other stuff? And will it hurt badly?"

[applying neural upgrade replicated from equal life forms will take approximately 10 minutes, it won't hurt much, the pain will be in the range of tolerance. ]

When Adam asked the symbiote before if an upgrade would hurt or not, it didn't give him a definitive answer. However, this time it didn't only give him an answer, it spoke like a normal human being. 

'are you smarter then me now that you have all Elina's memories and experiences?' Adam was now definitely worried that it would take over his body, he had no idea what to do if it did. 

[no need to worry about that, the symbiotic mode is basically a part of the main consciousness.]

He wished that he would not regret trusting this thing, even though he knows nothing about it, he have no choice any way. 'start then.'

[starting neural map upgrade, energy required: 10%

Motor memory replication will need the corresponding data to be uploaded.

Motor memory replication requires 10% energy.]

'no need for the data, it is too painful. Can't you just tell me about it?' Adam didn't forget that projecting one chapter of Birdy's comics, made his brain almost explode. projecting a memory meant also experiencing all the emotions and time required for that memory in a split second. That was too much for him to handle right now. 

[proposition is possible. More data is required for a more efficient method.]

Adam was relieved that it was possible to avoid that painful experience, even though he was weirded out by the symbiote treating his question as a mere proposition. 

He started feeling the tingling sensation under his skin again, it slowly increased until it felt like an unscratchable itch. It was more annoying and nerve racking than painful. 

At the end of the 10 minutes, the sensation became Intolerable, he kept fidgeting in his seat. 

Miss Sydni noticed his actions and mistook it as impatience. "I'm Almost done, Adam! We will be leaving in a few minutes." She said while changing her position in her chair. 

When the enhancement ended, he walked back and forth to test it, he felt his hands more stable, his movement more efficient and profound. He tried to stand on one leg, he didn't even need to stabilize him self with hand movements, he was as stable as a mountain. 

Noticing his weird actions, miss Sydni stood from her seat. "ok! Lets go Adam, I'll ask Elina to finish the rest of the paper work." She spoke in an enthusiastic tone.