Blood, Evolution, and Quantum

Sheldon's trip to Cape Canaveral ended in failure, just as Alex had expected.

Days passed, and Alex continued to study numerous articles on the online forum.

His work on niobium hadn't been published yet—he was waiting for the right moment.

Soon, exam season came and went. Like Sheldon, Alex got top marks in all subjects.

Thanks to this, his friendship with Sheldon deepened—or maybe it was more of a rivalry over who was the smartest.

But Alex didn't have time for such things, and only occasionally would he tease the other.

During this time, Sheldon was called in by the principal and nearly transferred to another school.

However, since he couldn't adapt to the change, he ended up returning.

Alex also found another source of income—the stock market.

With his mother's help, he opened an account and invested $2,000.

Within a few days, Alex earned nearly $50,000 in the market. With that money, he was able to buy a few things he needed.

After withdrawing $40,000, he gave $30,000 to his parents and kept $10,000 to purchase materials for the reactor.

The remaining $10,000 he kept invested in the stock market.

On the lab bench, an object sat spinning—mounted on its support.

Alex was soldering part of the device. After confirming the weld was good, he smiled with satisfaction and removed his protective goggles.

It was a miniature prototype of the ARC reactor, just like in the Iron Man movie.

"All that's missing now is the palladium."

Alex managed to find a seller online. After negotiating, he secured the price of $32 per gram.

He bought a total of 10 grams of palladium, which cost him $320.

He was eager—he couldn't wait to bring this marvel to life.

...

The days passed and Alex waited for the delivery of the palladium.

He also learned that the Cooper family had conflicts over a computer, which led Mary to move in with Connie.

Alex made a visit to see the computer. Now that Sheldon had access to it, Mark recommended the Scientific Forum to Sheldon.

After seeing Sheldon register on the forum, Alex felt that he had fulfilled his task.

By now, Alex had completely integrated into this world—even he hadn't realized it.

And his capabilities continued to improve with no end in sight. Using the money from his stock investments, Alex began studying his blood and noticed that his cells were evolving continuously.

After running tests, Alex noticed that his cells could mutate faster through external stimulation.

When he tested them with poison he had found hidden at home, he observed his cells dividing rapidly, with the new cells gaining resistance to the venom.

Alex realized that the new cells consumed the old ones, transforming them into nutrients. Even the venom was digested and converted into nourishment.

When he repeated the test, the poison had no effect. With an idea in mind, Alex licked the blood that had developed resistance to the venom.

After swallowing it, he didn't feel any changes in his body—leaving him disappointed.

But the strangest thing of all was that when others observed his blood, it appeared completely normal—like any ordinary sample.

This made Alex happy, since he feared that one day someone might take his blood, notice the changes, and want to lock him up and dissect him.

His healing factor could now be controlled. When he drew blood in front of Sheldon for study, he noticed that the wound didn't heal as quickly as before—it seemed that some of his abilities had a kind of self-preservation.

When observed by others, they appeared ordinary. Alex felt this might be a kind of biological defense mechanism.

Days went by, and Alex shifted his focus to another research area—he wanted to build a supercomputer.

He was now delving into quantum computing. According to his research, it could perform calculations that would take years in mere minutes.

But Alex hadn't expected quantum science to be so difficult, even with his superdeduction.

He realized there were countless variables in the quantum field. Applying quantum mechanics to computing while keeping it from taking up the size of a warehouse made everything more complicated.