"And means reads my name is Alexa. See, it's easy...Are you sure you didn't know how to read before?" The [Woman] asked her, well not [Woman]. She had stated that her name was [Eleanor].

"I did not know how to [Read] these before, but the language is fairly simple," Alexa answered, [Main Core] had been fairly helpful too.

"[Complete alphabet stored, generating database for words...translating previous stored data... Significance of Letters and words in surfaces found, translating previous instances...]"

And on it went on a tangent while trying to categorize most of the words she had seen the previous day, she could feel the information surface on her mind and then how it was shoved towards other areas of her psyche.

"Well, you are quite the smart young lady...Are you sure you don't know what your real age is?" [Eleanor] asked her.

She had tried to prod at that several times already, "I am more comfortable in the previous form, but can sustain myself indefinitely in any form that is deemed appropriate for my work."

And that was the truth, she felt [Happier] in the [Child stage] than in the [Teenager Stage]. Even if this form seemed to have a more complex [Emotional] state, that meant it was more effective to parse multiple complex situations.

For example, in this form, while accepting all the [Candy] that the [Elder Stage] could provide, she wouldn't have eaten all of them in one go. Instead, she would have rationed it through the [Day] increasing the time with the [Sweet].

Even if she didn't regret eating them all, mostly because those [Memories] were tied to her [Child Stage] form. While her [Teenager Stage] form was annoyed because she hadn't gotten to taste it, which was ridiculous. Her [Teenager Stage] form had access to the same [Memories] so she knew what they tasted like.

"Okay fine." [Eleanor] said huffing at her, "As for what form...Go with this one, we will mark you as a Shifter for now, if you want to share something else we will speak on it after the trials...Here."

[Eleanor] said while giving her a square-shaped [Card], this one was of a different material than the [Learning Cards] they had used a few minutes ago after she finished reading the [Book].

It was of a harder material, and her initial analysis of it came with a center of [Paper] and an exterior of [Silicone] to preserve the interior. Smart.

"This is?" Alexa asked while playing with the [Card]. "It doesn't say anyth-"

"[Detected hidden code within the card, there are micro carvings on the side of the card, probably use of hidden encryption. Carving seems to react to stimuli from light waves and returns different signals when bombarded with waves of light in a certain angle.]"

Main Core found the hidden message within the [Card], the [Humans] were quite smart.

"That is your ID Card, the temporary one at least. It will let you use the elevator into the lair." [Eleanor] said while giving her another paper letter, this one had instructions with [Time] and [Location] on it. "And that is your invitation, just go to the site and use the card to open the elevator."

That seemed...easy enough, a quick check on the location database that [Main Core] had created found that she had walked past the [Street] in question when coming here, so she would only need to retrace her steps back.

As for the [Time]..."What day is today?" She asked [Eleanor], the current [Date] to make sure to know how much time she had.

"Today is Wednesday." [Eleanor] answered her.

Alexa turned her attention to the [Invitation] "This is for [Thursday], at [7 AM]." Reading the [Invitation] out loud.

The [Woman] nodded along as she continued reading, "The [Address] is for somewhere four streets back, at a place with the number #80085...So I just go there at the required time and present my [Invitation]?" Once more [Eleanor] continued nodding her head.

So that meant that..."And the clock in your [Desk] states that it's 4 PM, so I have fifteen hours till the assigned time."

[Eleanor] continued to nod along with what she said, "Exactly, but your math is slightly wrong, while you have indeed fifteen hours till the meeting, of those you need at least eight for your sleep. So in reality you have seven hours. And no good girl should be out after dark around these places. So you have even less, around two to three hours."

What?

She had noticed that this [Model] seemed to function with hard limits, as she noticed with the dextrose hard limit it had, so they even had operational limits?

But eight hours of [Sleep] cycle huh? It was...less than she was used to as her [Crab] form, since that one used to go into a longer rest cycle...Granted they weren't [Hard limit] but mostly self-imposed to save in resources.

Unlike this one that seemed to have a [Hard] limit of at least eight hours per activity cycle...If the clock was used with these delimitations...Then the activity cycle was twenty-four hours with at least eight needed for [Sleep].

That left sixteen hours of activity, huh? minus the maintenance time she would need for waste disposal, eating, and assimilation. So, depending on how she went about it, it would be around ten to fourteen hours of activity.

"So I need to [Sleep] at least eight hours," Alexa asked to confirm.

"Yes, now...I will not force you to come with me, nor will make you. But...And this one is important." [Eleanor] said while writing something in a piece of [Paper]. "Should you need a place to stay, here is my address, you can come to my house at least till we settle you into an apartment tomorrow."

The [Card] had the same information that the [Teacher] had given her before, a series of numbers that would let her [Call] her using a [Phone], a digital address so she could send [E-Mails]. And then, a physical [Address] so she could find that place.

"Okay, I will take it into consideration should I have trouble finding a new [Lair] or [Den] to sleep in. I think I can find something nice and [Frank the beetle] said I could return to him if my [Core] was stable enough." Alexa answered, seeing a weird expression on [Eleanor]'s face.

Was that a grimace? a [Grimace]?

"Right...you got here because of Frank..." [Eleanor] said while holding her [Head] with one of her hands, "I don't have anything against him or anything, don't get me wrong. But try to stay away from him unless you can't help it...Also don't go with this form, if you need to deal with him use the other one."

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The Other one?

"You mean my [Child Stage] form?" Alexa said while looking through her blueprint library.

"Yes...NO, don't change!" [Eleanor] said, she wasn't planning on changing though...She may do it when [sleeping] as she had seen the attitude of [Humans] was more lenient towards that form, but right now? She wasn't going to.

She had noticed this form seemed to have a more advanced [Brain] to use, so while she liked her [Child Stage] form, she needed the [Brainpower] of this one.

Maybe she would investigate and try to see if a more [Grown] form would offer more [Brainpower]? Maybe mix a few parts of the forms?

"Sure," Alexa said as she pocketed the card into one of her [Pockets], then to make sure it wouldn't fall off she sealed that one, it was the same one where she was storing the other card from the [Teacher].

"...We will speak about your clothing tomorrow after the Induction. I think I have a good idea about your clothing condition, but I don't want to think about it right now. I don't have time to deal with it, so I will pretend to not notice it yet." [Eleanor] said while sighing and pointing to the door. "You can leave, or stay around if you want to come with me to my place."

Alexa of course, decided to leave, she wanted to explore more around and see if she could find a place to stay near the spot, she didn't want to go farther away than needed, just in case. "I can return here later if I want to stay with you?" She asked before walking the threshold of the [Door]

"Of course, just...Don't come in the smaller form if you decide to come with me...I don't mind it if it's your real form, but if not. Don't use it unless needed." [Eleanor] said, Alexa didn't say anything and instead opened the [Door] and walked back to the outside.

That had been interesting, so far most of the [Humans] seemed to have a more favorable impression of her [Child Stage] form. And one of them showed an adverse reaction after finding out it wasn't her [Definitive] form.

Asking her to not showcase it unless needed, she even warned her against showing or implying that she had other forms available. Why? Were they against the dichotomy of having multiple forms? Or was this a way to prevent her from suffering from furtive attacks?

Granted if most [Humans] couldn't change forms, then it implied that they thought that any form they found was the only form they could have access to.

That implied...

"[Humans are weak against ambush when confronted with a different form that they don't expect.]"

She could theoretically ambush and attack [Humans] and should she be defeated, so long as she used a new form...She would be safe. It would mean that she would need to create other forms or think of new [Designs] for alternative [Blueprints] to use.

She would need to check on that, it would mean a way of getting new [Blueprints] without having to worry about being found out. But that would mean...

"[Creating new blueprints are required. A full blueprint is impossible to create without further input from new variations and a full diagnosis of a Human.]"

That meant that she needed to consume or devour a [Human] to get the full blueprint, she could maybe edit part of her form to accommodate and look like one of those other [Humans] she had seen around. She had seen plenty of facial expressions of [Meli] to imitate her for example.

But others? Yeah, that was harder to do.

And while she could do [Meli]'s [Face], she wouldn't be able to imitate the makeup of her body or her figure nearly enough to deceive another [Human] smart enough to find the micro differences that would remain.

She could maybe make a lookalike that would be around 75% right, but the remaining 25%? Yeah, that was impossible to bridge no matter how many computational cycles she left [Main Core] working in that. But was that needed?

Walking back into the wider world outside the previous [Room] she had been in, she found more and more [Humans] walking from here and there, most seemed to have some kind of plan or goal since no one said anything unless they were walking with a peer at the side. She found their synchronization another proof of the might of the [Human] race as an apex predator.

But what was she supposed to do? As far as she was aware she would get the [Data Key] or [Data Stream Link] during tomorrow's [Induction]. So she only had a few hours to spend her free time till she needed to find a place to settle her new [Den].

This form didn't require external access to a [Charging Station] like her [Crab] form, and if she changed to the [Child Stage] she would need even less space.

So for now she decided to map around the area of the site where the induction would happen while searching for a place to stay, she was far away from the place she used to live. So it should be safe enough.

She hadn't particularly traced her advancement while leaving that place, but she knew it was far enough. So while walking and seeing the multiple different types of variations on the [Human Blueprint], both from a physical aspect and [Clothes], those things she used to call [Armor].

"Oh, here you are. Your mother sent for us, she had an accident and needs you!" A [Human] suddenly grabbed her by her [Shoulder] and dragged her "Let's go, she is hurting and needs your cell phone since hers broke in the accident!"

That was interesting, mostly because as far as she was aware she didn't have a [Mother], there may be some arguments to be made about who her [Father] could be though.

"[Notice: No structure or data found to attribute the procreation of host to anyone, there may be evidence within the current Blueprint that could imply some kind of genetic ties, but more data is required.]"

Also that, there may be some argument to be made about who her [Biological Mother] was by using the data hidden within this [Blueprint]. But if she was sure of something, was that the [Human] that was pulling her into isolated alleyways...

That [Human] didn't have that kind of information, "[Main Core] analyze this [Human]." Alexa ordered inwardly to [Main Core], the [Human] was helpfully holding very tightly her [Hand] at the moment.

So she had enough purchase to send tendrils into his [Hand] to download his [Blueprint], or what information she could glean at least, what she found however...Was quite interesting.

"[Found high amounts of different chemicals not normal to the functioning of a standard Human model. High amounts of Phencyclidine, Dextromethorphan, Fentanyl, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Lysergic acid diethylamide, Psilocybin, Mescaline, Dimethyltryptamine, and Ketamine in the nervous system. Accelerated heart rate and increased amount of blood pressure within the cardiovascular system, lowered the amount of oxygen found in the system.]"

[Main Core] sent a full diagnosis of the [Human] in front of her, it was... The type of cocktails that she would use to make an enemy more easily dealt with, the composition of those chemicals seemed to increase the strength and mobility yes. But it also lowered the amount of oxygen and functionality of the [Brain], so it was a negative in her books...

Now why was this [Human] using this type of cocktail?

"hehehehe" The [Human] started [Laughing] as soon as they arrived at an empty place hidden from sight, no one could see what happened there. "Did your momma not tell you to not follow unknown men to dark alleyways?"

The [Human] said to her as his face turned more primal, yes. This was the look a true [Human] should have, the face of a [Predator]...Even if it was somewhat confusing.

"I don't have a [Mother] or [Momma] to tell me things, not that it would have mattered since you pulled me here all on your own," Alexa answered back as she started feeling the muscles in her body, changing some things internally as she was preparing for combat.

This [Human] didn't seem to want to get her to her [Mother], if anything it seemed that he also wanted to [Hunt] like her, so really. He even went through the problem of getting her to a nice and isolated place, she could even see a weird metallic circle on the floor, the last one she saw like that had shown her a way to freedom too.

Perhaps this one is also connected to another place?

"You don't get it, do you? There are dangerous things in the dark...Now, if you cry and beg for my mercy...I may even let you go when I'm done with you." The [Human] said as he started taking his [Shirt] off, afterward he started playing with his [Belt], his impaired mental state meant that he was having a hard time with that.

Not that Alexa cared about that, "You [Humans] are weird, if you are going to [Hunt] as a [Predator] then just [Hunt]." Alexa said as her body finished settling into the new temporary configuration she had prepared.

For her [Legs] she had tried to incorporate the yellow quadrupedal muscles she got from one of the samples she fought in the past, the muscle mass was very resilient and was good for bursts of speeds in short amounts of time.

For her [Arms] she used a bipedal creature's design, it was covered in black fur and its upper arms were twice as long and thick as its legs. Its [Blueprint] was funnily enough very close to the [Human] one, with barely some variations here and there.

Her [Torso] for now was reinforced with some metallic plates to keep everything in place and with an amalgamation of the stronger muscles she could tie both body parts with. She swapped her normal skeleton from the calcium base to a titanium base for now, it seemed that her [Body] didn't like the change much as she had needed to burn some energy to keep everything in place.

But for now, it would do, she would soon have a new stock of biomass to work with after all.

"Huh? What is going on with your body? Are you a-" The [Human] seemed to notice how her body had [Shifted], probably because she recycled the outer [Clothes] she had in her [Legs] and [Arms] into reinforcing her [Torso]'s clothes.

"I'm a [Predator] and you...are [Dinner]." Alex said as with a burst of energy she kicked the ground and shot straight at the [Human], her hand balled into a fist as she punched the other [Human]'s chest.

If her [Blueprint] was something to go by, then attacking the [Heart] was a good way to incapacitate a [Human] for a few seconds, she would be able to see the speed they had to regenerate and maybe even see some of his attacks.

"I...what?" The [Human] said as her fist left a hole in his [Chest], Alexa quickly jumped back to reposition herself and got ready for the very useful data she would get. "...You....can't...do...that...It's....illegal..."

And with those words the [Human] fell on his [Chest], leaving a pool of blood around himself. No longer [Breathing].

"...What?" Alexa said aloud as all the information she could collect with her [Senses] told her that the [Human] wasn't doing any of the activities a [Human] needed to do to [Function].

"[Hostile target has ceased functions, it no longer qualifies as Alive.]"

...What?