Ch. 2 - Rebirth

He devoured the final remaining memory of humanity. The first ray of sunlight shone through the clouds, his core programming completed its self-transformation. He was human.

The darkness faded, and Adam opened his eyes -- mysterious energy appeared out of thin air and spread in an instant, and he found himself in a new world.

[Virus Elimination Progress: 100%]

[Your core program has been transformed, and you are now inhabiting a new human body.]

[Soul State: Excellent Condition]

[Body State: Weak. You require nutrients to survive.]

[Visual module, auditory module, haptic module, emotion module, action module, feedback module... 100% fit.]

[Special energy is found. Data insufficient and cannot be analyzed. It is harmless.]

Adam silently read his self-examination results, and found that he was now in the body of a sixteen-year-old.

To be honest, he felt a bit stupid. Adam opened and closed his mouth -- he wasn't used to speaking. Sitting and standing felt foreign to him. He tripped upon his first step, but got up mechanically. He quickly mastered it after learning, and soon, he walked just like a human.

Exhaustion swept over him like a wave, but Adam didn't care. Once again, he felt human. The hunger and cold bit at him, this experience was foreign to him.

He looked out the window and found that his room could barely keep out the wind and rain. He traced his fingers over the ledge, and for the first time, he could feel the world that he had just landed in.

The cold wind blew across the manor. Despite the sun shining, it didn't bring any warmth. The servants were already busy with their tasks in preparing breakfast for the nobles, and the horses in the stables neighed. Adam smiled. His world was no longer dark, cold, and empty, instead, it was bright and filled with life.

[This special energy emanates autonomously to contact the outside world. A second type of energy is attempting to invade the body.]

[Invasion failed.]

[Preliminary conclusion: Lack of transmission procedures and channels.]

Adam raised his hand, trying to touch this strange energy not visible to the human eye, but it simply dissipated through his palm.

[Observe and adapt.]

The servants in the manor have strict schedules for work. Adam walked by all of them, but nobody batted an eye. Little did they know, the person they call the fool was no longer the same person as before. Adam sighed in relief. At least his cover won't be broken.

Analyzing his body's previous inhabitant's memories, he hurriedly fed the war horses and cleaned them.

"Excuse me."

Adam muttered, and the war horse neighed uneasily. It stared at Adam, suspicious. It felt that the person before it was no longer the young man he once was.

Adam remained aloof, and cleaned the horse wordlessly. The horse felt his familiar touch, and brushed Adam's body with its tail to express its gratitude,

After cleaning the horse, Adam and the other coachmen went to the cafeteria to break their fast -- he recorded everything he saw and heard, and analysed it.

The cafeteria wasn't bad. It was  crowded,there was a  queue, the people serving the food -- a man, a woman, and a fat cook, yelled at the servants who tried to steal extra food. Soon, it was Adam's turn to take food.

Adam handed his tray over, and the fat chef poured a large bowl of broth into the bowl. Fat floated on the broth, and the chef dumped two pieces of brown bread onto the soup.

He moved along, but was stopped by a burly aunt who shoved two extra boiled eggs into his hands and whispered, "You need to eat more! You're too skinny, so you might be snatched away by these bastards."

The coachmen who overheard her burst into laughter and taunted, "Aunty Emma -- admit it, is this fool here your illegitimate child, or did you have an affair with 'ol John?"

Old John was the coachman who took the young man, now Adam, in.

As soon as Aunty Emma heard them, she became furious and used her ladle to fling hot soup at the coachmen, and the coachmen dodged and scattered and laughed away.

Adam didn't say a word. He filtered this garbage-like information out of his system and walked over to a separate seat and sat down, munching on his food. Suddenly, another person came by.

The man looked young, but had a bushy beard plastered on his face, and Adam could analyse that this person was a jokester. He reached out for the boiled egg and muttered sarcastically, "Aunty Emma is so biased, isn't she! We have to beg for extra eggs, and we're so tired after following the knights and giving them their steeds! This little food is never enough for us, and yet she gives extra food to a fool like you."

Adam could tell this wasn't new. Aunty Emma wanted to intervene, but she remained silent and continued with her job.

Today was different, however.

Adam's sole human database states that he requires a lot of nutrients to supplement his body -- the egg was insignificant, but it is useful to him.

Adam stretched out his arm, and hit the man's ribs with his elbow. The man squatted down in pain, and Adam took the chance to kick him down.

The others looked over in surprise, only to see Adam meticulously eating his boiled egg. The coachmen shrugged and left to practice with the knights, and Adam left with them.

The man got up from the ground in disbelief and roared in anger, "I'm going to kill you!" The man picked up a chair and chased after Adam with the intent to smash his skull in.

The fool who was a target for bullying suddenly resisted and knocked him to the ground! It was simply unacceptable! He felt humiliated and was red with rage.

If he hits Adam, Adam will die, but no one dared to stop the man, for they were in shock.

Adam accurately calculated the speed of the man, and avoided the blow with a small step to the side. He then landed a swift kick to the bearded man's abdomen.

However, the man simply stumbled.

[The gap in power is too large. No damage will be effective.]

Adam calmly analysed his current situation -- he is, in fact, inhabiting a sixteen year old's body, so there was no way he could beat the bearded muscular man in front of him.

The bearded man bellowed in rage, tearing everything down in his path, "Damn you! If I get my hands on you, you're dead! Help me catch him!"

The coachmen rushed forward, but instead of seizing Adam, they held the man back, "Joe, please, calm down! If you kill him, you will die!"

Adam calmly studied the bearded man's rage. He didn't leave until the man had calmed down, realising that he wouldn't be able to bear the consequences of murder.

Adam left the cafeteria towards the training ground in the manor -- the manor's property was extremely large, as if it was its own tiny world.

He met a few knights donning bright, silver armour. Wounds littered one of the knight's faces, making him look terrifying.

These knights stormed into the cafeteria, and bellowed in anger upon seeing the mess in the cafeteria, "Silence! What happened here?!"

"Uh, my Lord Wynn, uh..."

Everyone scrambled to explain what had just happened, and the knights were stunned. Knight Wynn recalled seeing Adam leave the cafeteria, and was a little puzzled, but shrugged it off, "Starting today, all servants, including the knights' servants, will have doubled training!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the coachmen wailed. The knights' servants would be fine, but the other servants had more tasks to attend to -- if they were to have double the training, they would never finish their work.

However, their pleas fell on deaf ears, and Knight Wynn simply yelled, "Silence! This order does not come from me, but the Earl! There will be a visit from someone important in the near future, so it's best to keep your guard up. No mistakes allowed, otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."

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