Getting Acquainted (Please Vote!)

Getting Acquainted (Please Vote!)

Duncan's Home.

"This is..."

Adam had been jolted awake by the system notification in the middle of the night. He had been about to curse when he saw that his Wisdom had increased by 0.005, bringing it to 109.005. His anger instantly turned to delight.

An increase in Wisdom always made one feel refreshed and at ease.

"Could it be because of Juno?"

Adam stared happily at the system panel, then pondered, "Other than her, I haven't come into contact with any other geniuses. But yesterday, her taking the initiative to talk to me already gave me 1 Wisdom Point. What's this additional 0.005 supposed to mean? It can't be that just being around her gives me more every day, can it? Hmm?"

At that thought, Adam's eyes widened. He muttered excitedly, "Maybe it really is! The other attributes don't seem to grow that way, but according to the theory that one takes on the color of one's company, it actually makes sense for it to increase every day after contact. Compared to 1, 0.005 is indeed tiny, but accumulated over time, it could be far more powerful than 1. That completely fits the theory of becoming like those around you.

"It's like meeting someone with a wildly imaginative mind for the first time. Your entire worldview gets shaken by their outlandish ideas. But truly overturning your worldview—or even becoming someone as imaginative as them—still requires gradual change through long-term contact..."

After that, Adam could no longer sleep. He tossed and turned, his mind filled with that red figure.

If his guess was right, then in order to increase his Wisdom, achieve his goal, and ultimately raise his Lifespan, even if Juno really was that Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood, he would accept it.

It wasn't as though he was some creepy old man. What was there to fear?

"Right, there's Sheldon too!"

Adam rolled over again. As he lay flat on his back and stared at the ceiling, Sheldon suddenly came to mind.

"Juno gave me 1 Wisdom Point, and maybe she can give me another 0.005 every day. Then what about Sheldon, whose IQ absolutely crushes Juno's?"

Even if Juno was that Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood capable of utterly crushing and mentally tormenting creepy old men, when it came to genuine high intelligence, Adam still felt Sheldon was far sharper.

He had entered high school at nine. If he had not been too young to bear leaving his mother—or rather, if his mother had not been able to bear letting him go—Sheldon would not have waited until eleven to attend college. He graduated with highest honors at fourteen, was selected as an exchange scholar and sent abroad at fifteen, earned his first doctorate at sixteen, then spent the following years pursuing a second doctorate while also picking up a master's degree in literature.

In his early twenties, he became a Theoretical Physicist at the renowned California Institute of Technology. His behavior and temper were strange, often making the dean and principals grit their teeth in frustration, yet he remained firmly employed by the school. Members of the board believed he had a beautiful mind and would bring the school greater glory in the future. Sure enough, before he even reached forty, he claimed the highest honor in science: the Nobel Prize in Physics.

For a super genius like that, setting emotional intelligence aside, there was no way Juno could compare in terms of IQ. If Sheldon could also increase Adam's Wisdom, the effect would surely exceed all imagination.

"I can't wait. I'll get moving early this summer break. If I connect with Sheldon sooner, maybe I can change my fate sooner. Wait, no..."

Adam's excitement rose, but then inspiration struck him. "If coming into contact with geniuses can improve my intelligence, why limit myself to Sheldon? Could there really be only these few geniuses nearby?"

Of course not.

Early the next morning, Adam dashed out of the house and rode his bike to the home of an old classmate, Duke.

The two had attended middle school together. But because the original owner of this body had adorably insisted on "waiting for his nine-month-old sister to start high school with him," he had repeated a grade in middle school. Duke was now a grade ahead of him and would be a tenth-grade sophomore after summer break.

Moreover, Duke's father had made money in recent years, and Duke had always done well academically. His parents had gritted their teeth and sent him to an expensive private middle school for an elite education. Between the heavy coursework and the widening class divide, the two had practically stopped keeping in touch.

"PJ, what are you doing here?"

Duke was stunned when he saw Adam, as though they had been separated for ages.

"My name is Adam now."

Adam knew how abrupt and awkward this was, but he was desperate to test the idea that had come to him in the middle of the night. He got straight to the point. "Duke, can you do me a favor?"

"Uh..."

Duke collected himself. After all, they had been childhood friends, and he had no intention of showing off or humiliating him. Stepping aside, he said, "Come in first?"

"Duke, who is it?"

A woman poked her head out from the kitchen.

"Mom, it's PJ!" Duke replied. "My classmate from County High School."

"Oh, PJ. I remember you. Your father is Bob from the pest control company, right?"

Duke's mother looked at Adam somewhat strangely.

"Yes, Mrs. Marcus."

Adam could not be bothered correcting what they called him. He answered awkwardly. He was already used to that sort of look and fully understood what it meant.

He was so utterly ordinary, while his father Bob was a balding exterminator. Many people wondered whether he was really a Duncan at all.

"Mom, PJ needs something from me."

Duke gestured toward the hallway. "PJ, let's go to my room."

"Would you like some breakfast first? I fried some Moscow sausage."

Duke's mother warmly offered. Women—especially housewives—tended to have a particular fondness for ordinary-looking boys like Adam.

"No, thank you."

Adam politely declined and followed Duke into his room.

"Make yourself at home."

After greeting him, Duke went straight to the point. "You said you needed my help?"

"Yes."

Adam looked around. Duke's room was not messy. Aside from the desk piled high with books, there were no hidden risqué magazines, nor were there heaps of used tissues in the trash can. Adam silently praised Duke's self-discipline and sat down casually. "There should be quite a few geniuses at your private middle school, right?"

"Yeah."

Duke was a little surprised, but he nodded. "Of course. Private middle schools are meant for elites. Aside from family background, which matters most, they only accept genuine geniuses."

Adam understood. Class stratification in the United States was severe, and it followed two kinds of education: elite education and happy education.

Happy education was for the general public who had effectively been given up on from the start. Elite education, on the other hand, targeted two groups. The main group was children from middle-class and wealthier families; the other was truly gifted children from ordinary families, fresh blood meant to inject vitality into the elite class.

Geniuses were rare, after all. Private middle schools offered such geniuses full scholarships, freeing them from worries so they could become the school's public face. This left the public a narrow crack through which to dream, preventing them from equating private middle schools entirely with aristocratic schools.

"Do you know any geniuses like that?"

Adam asked eagerly.

"Of course. There's one in my class. That IQ... sigh, the gap is just too huge."

Duke sighed, then looked at Adam strangely. "What's going on?"

Adam took a deep breath and said sincerely, "Could you introduce us?"