BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM

Inside the Principal's office, Professor McAllister and Principal Harris were having a conversation about Erik. Principal Harris was seated, as usual, behind his desk with a contemplative look. Professor McAllister, instead, was standing in front of him with a serious look.

"Are you saying that the kid's awakening is not over?" Principal Harris asked Professor McAllister.

"Yes, sir. He is still showing strength improvements he shouldn't have; besides, his ability to learn is too off the charts. I'm not aware of similar cases, but this is what I think is happening. Maybe he himself is not aware of this," Professor McAllister said.

"If it is as you are saying, we are in front of something unprecedented, and we must be cautious about what to do from now on."

"So you are..."

"Yes, I'm suggesting not saying anything to the militaries," the principal said, sparking indignation in Professor McAllister.

"But why? If something like this is true, we must understand why..." the teacher said.

"Yes, but this would mean letting Erik become a lab rat."

The two men went on with their conversation. Professor McAllister tried in vain to reason with Principal Harris, but he was adamant in his decision. Nothing had to go out about Erik.

As professor McAllister left the room, Principal Harris stood. He went in front of the huge map depicting the continent hanging on the wall and stared at it for several minutes before going to his desk.

***

"You had to see her face!" Floyd said to Erik while telling Erik a funny story about Gwen, pissing her off greatly.

"Are you done?!" the young woman asked.

"Not yet! Hahaha," These were some moments Erik had never had before his fake awakening. He considered these precious ones, but he wasn't fully able to savor them because of his distress.

Having killed Conal, Orson and Logan truly felt marvelous to him, though, at the same time, he felt like something did break inside of him.

The previous week, he was on cloud nine because he had fixed his deformity and gained a new power. He believed that everything would be good for once. Still, the three bullies decided not to give the young man peace, leading him to take extreme measures to resolve the conflict.

"Are you listening, Erik?" Floyd asked.

"Yeah, sorry," Erik sheepishly said.

"I wanted to ask this, but it looks to me like you have something on your mind. Did something happen?" Floyd asked.

Erik was taken aback by the question; he couldn't possibly answer truthfully since he couldn't tell he did kill the three pricks. So he faked his best smile and said, "Nothing at all."

"If you say so... By the way, I was saying..."

Floyd then resumed Gwen's shameful stories. He kept telling her tales for an hour before the four friends decided to eat something at a local restaurant. Gwen, obviously, was furious with Floyd, but he didn't care, and making fun of her was hilarious.

The evening went by in a flash, and Erik had a lot of fun and was briefly able to forget his problems for a couple of hours. The group chatted about this and that and told funny stories about teachers and other students alike, not even sparing some about Nathaniel and Anderson.

Erik found them funny; the two students were stern and diligent people who didn't joke much. They weren't known around campus as jokesters or pranksters, although there was one thing both knew how to do: put fear into those they hated. Imagining them making goofy mistakes was a breath of fresh air for him. He found out that even the perfect and mighty Nathaniel and Anderson had a silly side.

After dinner, Amber brought her friends home until Erik remained. Amber opened the car's ceiling as they traveled with her car, revealing a starry sky and a shiny moon illuminating the city landscape as a backdrop.

It was beautiful. They talked about trivial things while riding back to the house where he lived, with Erik having trouble getting his eyes off Amber.

Erik felt attracted by the young red-haired woman, but he was not confident enough to ask her to date. He never did so and didn't even know where to begin with, and besides, he was sure Amber didn't feel attracted to him. Erik still wondered why such a powerful girl had become friends with him.

These things aside, It seemed to Erik that there were no more troubles that this one night couldn't solve, and he enjoyed being there with her.

They arrived shortly after eleven P.M. Erik jumped out of the car after having thanked Amber and then walked alone into his dark apartment building, feeling empty. The night he had just spent with what he defined as his first friends was able to clear his mind.

Yes, he killed some people, but they deserved it, and whatever happened to him, he decided to embrace it. He was no longer afraid of anyone and wouldn't let anyone take advantage of him from now on. His future could only be bright from that moment onward, and he decided to think of this positive aspect from now on.

As he returned home, Erik slouched on the couch for a little while. He still had an hour, more or less, to train his neural link so he sat in the lotus position and began channeling mana from and to his brain crystal.

He took deep breaths and focused on his breathing pattern. He thought about how he would do it.

<Focus on my breathing and relax,> he told himself.

<Close your eyes and concentrate on the mana circling inside the body.>

Erik concentrated harder than ever. He closed his eyes and made his mana flow through his body. Erik finally got the hang of establishing neural links.

It turned out much easier than he expected it to be when he still had his deformity. A few hours passed without any significant obstacles, and he was happy to notice that the process was working well.

Though he felt like the process was too slow, and having multiple brain crystal powers and many neural links to establish, he had to find a way to speed up the process.

<System, is there a way to fasten up the link-establishing process?> Erik asked the biological supercomputer.

[ANSWER: THERE ARE SEVERAL CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE HOST'S LINK-ESTABLISHING PROCEDURE. THE BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER CAN TRY TO FIX THESE ISSUES. THOUGH ENERGY IS REQUIRED TO START THE PROCEDURE, IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THIRTY DNA POINTS ARE NEEDED TO PROVIDE THE REQUIRED ENERGY.]

<So, you can do it?>

[ANSWER: CORRECT. THIRTY DNA POINTS ARE REQUIRED TO START THE PROCEDURE. FORTY DNA POINTS DETECTED; DO YOU WANT TO USE THEM?]

<Not yet, I want to get the Lomalin's brain crystal power before starting,> Erik replied.

The system didn't reply further. After that, Erik went to bed, he closed his eyes, thinking about the day he just had, and despite everything that was happening in his life, he felt happy.

He wished he could have had days like this earlier. He knew that the past was the past, but he couldn't avoid wishing he had a different life from what he had until now.

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