Chapter 19: I'm not crying, you are crying! (Patreon)

The endpoint of her travel had been finally at her mercy!

The perilous travel surrounded by danger, destruction, and mayhem would be at an end, she had traveled far and wide, deceiving hundreds upon thousands of [Humans] with her wit and smarts. She would achieve her goal!

She!

Would!

[TRIUMPH]!

"[Warning, threshold for activity exceeded, purging exuding dextrose from bloodstream...Stockpiling bioenergy for later use.]"

...She was being stared at, most of the [Humans] that walked by turned at her and smiled or [Giggled], she felt a rush of heat go to her face, it seemed that the biological answer to her predicament was a change of color to her [Face].

It was obviously an automatic reaction from her [Human] blueprint, one that was obviously not working since most of those [Humans] near had fished other smaller [Square shaped] entities and pointed at her. She didn't feel [Hostile] intent from them, so she decided to ignore them.

Instead, she did something more important, such as:

"Main Core, log the previous chemical reaction, find the reason for it, and plot some use for it, if no useful use is found isolate the start of the reaction and block it!" She ordered [Main Core].

"[Order acknowledged, error...error... Biochemical reaction logged upon Emotion parts of the organic brain, tampering is ill-advised until a full understanding of delimitations of Host are found.]"

What was the answer to these situations?

Oh right, it was that...

Dang it.

Instead that she decided to move forward and walk towards the [Room] that was at the end of her travel, she had asked plenty [Humans] about the address so far. Half of them had refused to answer or did so while asking if she was [Okay] or [Safe], as she got closer and closer to the end of her travel those answers changed in tone too.

The closer she got the more easily she got the answer needed, and the more often she got those [Candies] from the [Human - Elder Stage] humans, both from the [Male] and [Female] variant.

It was also the main reason she had found that her [Body] had a [Hard Limit] in the amount of pure Dextrose she was able to function with before her [Consciousness Stream] went haywire. Curse you [Humans] for making a hard limit on the [Child Stage] variant!

"Oh? We barely opened and we already have clients!" A shrill voice started speaking as soon as she opened the door into the [Room], it was a [Human - Female Stage Adult] as far as she could see.

"...Did you come with Mommy or Daddy, little girl?" Asked the shrill voice as she got closer to her spot, it didn't seem to want to move, and she felt that communication would be more efficient if they stood somewhat close to each other. 

It also made it easier for her to [Attack] should it be deemed necessary.

"I was told here I could get a place to stay." She said first while showing the map that [Frank the beetle] had given her.

This, however, made the [Woman] frown at her, "This is a service we provide for orphans...Where is your mom and dad?"

Orphans? Was that what she was? She didn't have one of those [Mom] or [Dad] as far as she was aware.

"I don't know what a [Mom] and [Dad] are, nor what an [Orphan] is, but [Frank the Beetle] told me to give you this should you not want to host me," Alexa said while providing the second envelope, she had copied most of the contents into her [Database] to try and use it as a decryption key. 

Either way, she looked for evidence of what the [Envelope] may reveal, and so far, the faces she was going through were added to her [Emotional] database for further perusal.

"Well f#ck, Frank dropped another one on me did he?" The woman said as she turned to look at her and then opened one of the [Containers] within the furniture she was sitting in front of. It was square-shaped at the top with four legs at each corner, from her side, she wasn't able to see how it looked on the other side. But if it was like the ones she had seen in the [Room] that she arrived after exiting her [Den].

Then more than likely it held containers to hold things, she had hidden before in one of those after all.

"Don't move and if you can don't use any skill or power you have." The [Woman] said as she pointed at her with some kind of [Device].

"[Warning, energy wave detected, resonating with Core. No new instructions found, no remnants of mana found...]" Main Core went on a long list of security functions about that.

"Hmm...It is a [Solid Core], but Frank said that you just awakened it...Did you lie to him?" The [Woman] spoke and for a few seconds, she felt as if the [Eyes] of her were shining.

"[Warning, probable use of power or skill in use, prepare energy burn for quick escape.]" Main Core warned her.

She could see the evidence well enough on her own though, "No...I made my [Core] around the time I told [Frank the beetle]." She said, unsure of why she was feeling [Angry] at the thought of having lied to [Frank the beetle].

"Hmm...No lies, but you do have some interesting thing going on...Are you a System?" The Woman asked and she felt herself grow incredibly cold.

She was found out? This quick?

How? Why? What?

"[No hostile intent detected.]"Main Core reported, but even so, this was dangerous.

"Of course, I'm not hostile, my [Core] lets me poke around surface thoughts and find out lies easily. I found your passenger like that." The Woman added while smirking.

She could read surface thoughts?

"Main Core?" She asked inwardly.

"[Possible, thoughts are formed as biochemical reactions in brain matter. Encoding....]"Main Core started processing as the eyes of the woman narrowed at her.

"Now now, you can't just..." She started saying and then her eyes turned confused.

"[Encoding finished, thoughts will be translated into source code.]" Main Core said but she didn't really notice any difference.

"And now you are thinking in 0 and 1? No wait, now its weird words? And now it isn't even words but static. What the hell?" The Woman said as her face turned more confused by the second. 

"So, will you give me a place to stay?" Alexa asked, bringing back the important topic. "[Frank the beetle] implied that even if you didn't want to give me a place to stay I would be able to get a [Job] and as such get a place to stay."

At these words, the [Woman] face fell, as if she had tasted the most worthless piece of [Biomass] or just how she felt when [Main Core] started preventing her from processing more of those [Candy] that the [Elderly] gave her.

"Yes...we can provide Jobs to those that have a [Core], just like yours. And since yours seems to be [Mature] already you can work for us. But... we rarely find [Customers] for kids as young as....you." The [Woman] said while pointing at her. "More than usual those that want kids as young as you aren't up to our standard, usually the youngest we can safely introduce are those that are between 12 to 15 years old."

...That didn't really tell her anything.

"How many [Seconds], [Hours] or [Minutes] is one of these... [Years]." Alexa asked, trying to get her head over those new metrics.

"...sixty seconds is one minute, sixty minutes is one hour, twenty-four hours is a day, seven days a week, the month varies but usually is between thirty to thirty-one days with February as an exception since that one is between 28 to 29 days." The [Woman] started explaining, had the [Humans] withheld so many ways to measure time?

This would be more efficient.

"Twelve months is a year." The Woman finished her explanation, "This is basic knowledge..."

Wait, this was basic?

No more importantly...Her [Blueprint] didn't have a [Age] on it?

"[Age of Blueprint recorded at 5 year old.]" Oh...She was missing 7 years at the very minimum?

No wait, by this metric, wasn't her actual age around two? She should be...

"Do you have an example of a twelve-year-old [Female] that would be able to accept a [Job]," Alexa asked, she really needed to integrate into this [Faction]. They provided information for free!

"...Here, this is a picture of one of our youngest recruits, do mind that she got the job because her powers were very useful in our line of work." The [Woman] said showing her a picture of another [Human], this one was at one of the theoretical thresholds Main Core had deduced they developed.

The differences weren't that big, mostly she had longer [Legs] and [Arms], but everything else seemed to grow in tandem to those two parts. 

"[Approximated weight estimated around the current Biomass of host, that form may be more efficient to keep the current weight of materials. Calculating...]" Main Core said as she saw her current form within her [Library] adapt and change.

"So? As you can see she is almost twice as big as you. No way we can pass-" The [Human - Adult Stage Female] started saying but she wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

"[Finished blueprint, execute?]" Main Core asked and she nodded in affirmative.

The changes started almost at the same time as she nodded her head, first her [Legs] started growing, and she jumped to 1,32M in height from her previous 70cm. It was somewhat below the target margin that she had aimed at.

"[Notice, following the growing curve host would never achieve 1,5M in height at the target age of 12 years. If the host wishes for more height, targeting an older stage may be viable.]" Main Core sniped back at her.

Rude!

This Main Core was rude!

..."[Detected emotional instability, possible reason...Change in biochemistry from accelerated growth, hormonal charges unstable within host...still within threshold, no action taken.]"

She wasn't moody dang it!

Either way, she noticed that her clothes seemed to no longer fit her, so she also sent an order to change them as her body changed. From the design that she had where most of her [Legs] were exposed, she extended the [Lower body armor - External outfit] so it covered her whole [Legs].

The [Sneakers] adapted to her [Feet] quite nicely so that hadn't changed that much. If anything she swapped the design of her [Socks] to one she had seen that seemed to go all the way to her [Knee].

The [Top] of her body grew both in width and height, even if most of her [Chest] remained the same...And for some reason, she found that [Annoying] even if she couldn't quite pick up the reason for it.

It was mostly for that reason that she opted to swap her [Top armor - External Outfit] to a design she found appealing in the streets, it was a somewhat loose [Jacket] white in color with dark lines here and there. It covered her [Chest] and [Arms] quite snugly, and bellow she left herself with a normally designed [Blouse] and of course the [Underarmor]...

Whose design hadn't changed that much from her previous form...?

And while her [Underarmor - Lower body] also didn't change, for some reason the fact that her [Underarmor - Upper Body] also didn't change [Annoyed] her too.

"Will this be acceptable?" She asked shrill voice, noticing how her pitch also had increased, did the increase in air that could go through her [Vocal Organ] change?

Should she change that back?

"No, wait, stop, what? How? How old are you?" The [Woman] asked her as she was touching her [Throat] thinking about if she should change it to her previous [Voice].

"[Detected Energy Wave, target is currently using Lie detector care is advised.]" Main Core intoned in her head.

Of course, she knew that "I'm asking you, whoever is the one that was born in that body first." The [Woman] added to her question.

Well, that was quite the conundrum huh?

"I am currently 12 years old, the minimum acceptable age to work in this establishment," Alexa answered, she was sure of her answer since that was what her new [Blueprint] said.

She had tons of new [Biological] functions unlocked, some more interesting than others, but that would need to wait for further study at a later date. Just like her [Craving] for more bioenergy from those [Candies], shaping her flesh had burned plenty of energy!

She deserved her snack!

"...You aren't lying. No wait, what age were you when you arrived then?" The [Woman] asked back, what was the deal with this [Woman]? So naggy.

...what?

"I was 5 years old when I first stepped here." She answered while thinking back at the previous consciousness thread, it didn't make sense for her to suddenly attribute a new [Emotion].

What was even [Naggy]?

"[New Emotion detected, Naggy: To be annoying and insistent about a social situation.]"

...She was [Naggy], but why was she Naggy?

"sigh Okay okay, then what is your real age?" The woman asked again, she felt the energy wave increase and tried to lock into her body.

Somehow it seemed to want to lock closer into her, but when it got close enough to [Main Core] it slipped away as if it wasn't able to latch onto it, that was interesting, it implied that whatever she [thought] within the confines of [Main Core] would be safe from this type of power.

Even if she was able to somehow [hear] [Main Core] before they masked her thoughts...

"[Notice, only thoughts from Main Core are masked, Host should try to think in machine code to mask her own thoughts, but even that is unwarranted to work.]" 

...So she could hear her speak in her mind?

"Not in the way you think. After you learn about it the more you think about me or towards me, the easier it becomes to [Read] you. In contrast, the more you don't want your mind to be read, the harder it becomes. It only works when you are aware of someone reading you, so it isn't a perfect defense, and I'm not sure it works the same for everyone, but for now, think very hard and answer the question. “The [Woman] said, Alexa wasn't sure if she would trust her. But for now, since she seemed to be [Honest] about it...

"[New Emotion detected, Honest: The act of being truthful about something, being a statement or situation.]"

Why did she think she was being [Honest]? Was she manipulating her [Mind] too?

"No need to be wary, see. This is why I only tell people that my power is detecting lies...You teenagers get all moody when you think I am reading your mind. No, my power has hard limits. I can [Read] you when you project your thoughts to me. Or when you think of me. Period." The [Woman] tried to explain.

So she wouldn't be able to [Read] her so long she didn't want her to be read?

"I will [Terminate your life] no matter if you can read me or not in 4, 3, 2...1" Alexa thought internally while preparing herself to attack. She was wary.

Looking and analyzing how she reacted, and when the time came...The [Woman] didn't move at all, so Alexa stopped her movement.

"[No reactions from consciousness stream, no evidence of thoughts about wanting to abort the action. No evidence that the [Human - Adult Stage Woman] knew about the possibility of her stopping the attack. Result: She is being Honest."]

"My body and mental age are tied to my form, if you ask about the age of my [Core] then that would be 2 days, it's the only one that doesn't seem to change according to my understanding," Alexa said with caution trying to not give more information than needed, she wasn't quite sure about why it mattered that much. 

Well, taking into consideration that this form should be six times as old as her previous crab form...

"[Amount of combat information, tactical information, and survival information less than a sixth of estimated information acquired in the period of time is minimal in comparison. Maybe they require the amount of information implied with age.]" The analysis of main core...it chilled her back.

It was a sensation of [Fear] and a new [Emotion] she hadn't felt before.

"[New series of emotions detected, added to database.]"

"[Panic: The emotion derivative of fear, increased distress attributed to this one, the source of it can be both fake and real.]"

"[Distress: Extreme discomfort, or adversity. Caused by problems both social and real, it causes or increases the [Panic] or other negative emotions.]"

Well, it was great that [Main Core] was increasing the amount of data it could process with the [Growth] of her body and organs, she did notice her [Brain] was bigger and it could feel and process a new diversity of [Emotions], like the ones that made her mind go in a thousand different directions.

"[Amount of thread of thoughts does not number in the Thousands.]"

SHUT IT MAIN CORE!

WE ARE IN DANGER HERE!

Breathe Alexa, breathe...Focus...Point out the advantages you confer.

"I can promise that my [Mastery] over the disciplines needed for the job can be fulfilled should I get access to the needed [Data]." She started easy and simple, "Besides I can achieve a degree of flexibility vastly superior to any [Model] on the [Series] I currently hold. Granted the amount of [Data] my [Brain] has is limited by the [Design] I can alter it to fulfill any need deemed with-"

She was rambling, what was rambling?

"[Rambling: The act of speak and say nothing of relevance.]"

...Thank you Main Core. Yes, she was doing that. She wasn't even sure of what she was saying at this point. Was it effective? The degree of emotions the [Woman] was showing was blurred for some reason.

She...she...what? Why was the woman blurry? She felt something in her face, something was leaking. Was she leaking? DID THEY MISS SOMETHING IN THE BLUEPRINT?!?

MAIN CORE WHAT THE HECK?!?

"[No obvious flaw in blueprint...Checking...Negative, current status of Host within nominal ranges. Current activity is within the threshold of emotional distress host is experimenting and is deemed appropriate by checks within the blueprint.]" 

THEN EXPLAIN THIS DEFECT!

"[Current emotional status was seeded from original blueprint, emotion found and analyzed."]

...It was from the original blueprint?

"shh....it's okay, we will not throw you away okay?" The [Woman] stood in front of her, when did she get here? Was...Was she going to be terminated?

"I...sniff...I can sniff...Don't [Terminate me] please?" She wanted to run away, she wanted to fight. She wanted to escape this cursed place, return to a simpler [Blueprint], and throw everything away.

"Everything will be all right okay, no one will hurt you...Well, at least not here and now. I can't promise the same if you do take the job though." The [Woman] said and she [Laughed], was that funny?

That the job could get her [Terminated]?

And if that wasn't enough, the [Woman] extended her arms around her [Body] and pushed her towards her [Chest], then she started to...Rub? Compress? Give her pats? She was doing something weird on her back.

"shh...Everything will be alright, cry it out. The bad people will not hurt you here." And the [Woman] started doing that weird thing on her back while subvocalizing some weird [Tune].

It...It made her so tired...So so tired...

"[New Emotion detected, Crying/Cry: The act of releasing fluid from the eyes to let the backed-up emotions out in an attempt to find comfort from older members from the same species. Effectivity currently shown to be extreme.]"

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