'Get… the… fuck… out!' Lucian screamed internally, pressing both his hands against his temples.
Eventually, taking all his willpower, he managed to force whatever it was out of him. He was once again engulfed in a mind-pounding headache, but he was free of that controlling, deluding feeling that had just taken hold of him.
It was hard to tell. But it seemed to have worked.
Kaldor loosened up his piercing gaze, and a smile crept back onto his face.
"Well, good for you then, Lucian. You are dismissed; you can go back to class now." Kaldor smiled. He walked away with his hands behind his back, not taking another glance at the short boy.
'What in the world was that?'
But he left a rather confused Lucian behind.
Even when he awoke to find himself in a new world, with a new body, it wasn't confusion Lucian felt, but curiosity. However, this time was different. Something had happened to him that not even his wealth of scientific knowledge could explain, and it annoyed him the more he thought about it.
He knew he didn't hallucinate what just happened, and he suspected that Professor Kaldor had something to do with it. It didn't quite have the same feeling like he had when he transmigrated.
But there was no way to go about asking about it, or searching for answers. For one, if he went back over to Professor Kaldor and asked what he had just done to him, how would he react?
Would he simply just explain exactly what Lucian wanted to hear? Would he react with surprise but explain calmly? Would he reel back in shock at the fact Lucian was able to not only detect such mental stimuli but also defend himself against it? Would he report him to the principal or whoever was in charge? Or worse, just dispose of him right then and there?
The answer was unclear, and that was precisely why Lucian did nothing. At least he would keep it that way for the time being. What he experienced was odd and an uncomfortable experience even for him, who was so open to trying new things and gaining new knowledge. Preferably, he wouldn't like to experience such a thing again, unless it was for his own experiments, of course.
When he learnt more about that mysterious phenomenon that took over his mind, he wouldn't mind taking another crack at it or two to satisfy his own curiosities.
[Analysing external stimuli… Analysis complete! A strange existence was found to have invaded the host's mind, but the host quickly took care of it himself.]
'AI?'
***
Lucian was rather startled when walking back to the classroom, as something he never expected to see again, let alone in this world, had appeared inside his mind after his encounter with Professor Kaldor. It was something he knew quite intimately, but he was also quite wary of it. The AI Implant.
Back in his previous world, everyone had one of these, and if they didn't, they simply couldn't function as a normal human in modern society. The best way to describe them would be the next generation of technology that came after the handheld computerised devices, commonly referred to as 'phones', 'smartwatches', 'tablets', 'laptops', etc., in the late stages of the fourth industrial revolution.
They could do everything, from surfing the internet and analysing basic data to speeding up thought processes, enabling a deeper control and understanding of the host's own body and many more unfathomable feats. But one of the things they specialised in was the analysis of the human body.
This was why Lucian was so shocked when the thing first appeared, as it could be the closest thing he could get to an answer to what just happened to him.
The fact that it appeared after that strange appearance gave him more confidence that it would help him with this. Lucian found it a little hard to believe, though, and even began to suspect that maybe he had been hallucinating all along? He was 100% sure he wasn't after that first strange encounter with Professor Kaldor, but this was not only the second strange encounter he was having that day but also the second time he was genuinely confused in one day.
'How is it here with me in this new world and body? Is this another unexplainable phenomenon, just like the fact that I transmigrated?' Lucian racked his brain but was unable to find an answer.
'Interesting…'
However his confusion and surprise at its initial appearance quickly turned into excitement. Few things could ever rouse such emotion in him, but this was definitely one of them. He was always welcoming to more interesting topics he could research. He fully intended to explore his previous research topics from his past life in this new world, but he wouldn't mind some more new additions.
'That'll have to wait though; right now I have a class to attend,' Lucian reminded himself, putting on his usual face.
Pushing his rather exciting but distracting thoughts aside, Lucian strode back to the classroom, mimicking the movements his predecessor did after skimming through the memories a little. Walking was something people did daily, unless they were disabled, so he didn't exactly have to search hard to figure it out.
"Ahh Lucian, welcome back. I trust things are all sorted on your end now?"
The teacher stopped his lecture and turned toward the back of the classroom where Lucian stood in the doorway. The moment he heard the door hinges start to creak, he turned to look at the returnee. Ever since Lucian's little… episode in the middle of his class, he had been rather peeved with the boy for disrupting him mid speech.
But as a good teacher, he was more concerned with whether Lucian was okay or not, and seeing as he was already back in his seat now, eyes facing the front and ears perked up to listen to the lesson, he assumed he was correct in this assumption. The nurse wouldn't have sent him back already if he wasn't.
Unknown to him though, Lucian never even made it to the nurse's office. First he was stopped by an old nemesis of his predecessor's, and then Professor Kaldor directly after. Although his head still throbbed slightly after the combined effect of his memories being reinstated and his mind being invaded, some instinct inside of him told him that he was fine and didn't need any external help to recover.
Not to mention that after his strange encounter with Professor Kaldor, he was far less willing to have the nurse probing his body even further. This world was clearly different from his previous one, so he had to be cautious for the time being.
If there was something Lucian could place 100% of his trust in, it would be his instincts. Not even his AI could have his full 100% trust. At best he would only place 99% of his trust in it. On the other hand, his instincts had never failed him in his 35 years of life before, so he had no reason to suspect that would start now.
But things could be different if people could mess with another's mind, like he suspected Professor Kaldor had just tried with him. His instincts could be unreliable if his mind wasn't up to par.