Jonas and George had been discharged and could return home to rest, and Alex went back to his usual routine.
Since Melinda was busy taking care of Jonas, the plan for Alex to skip grades at school was put on hold for now.
Days passed. A week later, Alex started selling the soap he had made after researching prices.
The powdered soap was priced at 3 dollars, 1 dollar cheaper than at the supermarkets. As for the liquid soap, it would cost 2 dollars per bottle — just a few cents cheaper.
Every day after school, he would load his products onto a pushcart and go out to sell. At first, he knocked on doors around the neighborhood.
And to Alex's surprise, sales went really well on the first day. With the money, he bought more supplies and set the rest aside.
The following days were smooth, and he earned enough to buy the computer.
Looking at five thousand green dollars inside a shoebox, Alex wondered if he had received a luck buff.
Everything was going too well. But he didn't think too much about it. He took ten dollars from the box, closed it, and hid it in the closet.
Today, he would go out with his mother to take some tests. Yesterday, he and Melinda had gone to the school principal to ask if Alex could skip a few grades and join Sheldon's class.
But the principal said a medical report from a psychologist was required — meaning he needed to take some IQ tests first.
"Mom, I'm ready. Can we stop by the bookstore to buy a book after the tests?"
"Of course, but first let's have breakfast. Sit down."
"Where's Dad?"
Alex looked around, searching for Jonas.
"He left for work earlier today."
Melinda set the juice on the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Alex simply wondered if his father was okay.
That morning, Alex was taken to do the IQ test.
…
When they arrived and scheduled the appointment, they waited for the psychologist. While waiting, Alex drifted into his thoughts.
He was curious to know what his IQ level was. His intelligence had been increasing day by day, and he never felt like he'd reached his limit.
He had also gained new abilities: rapid healing and parallel thinking.
He discovered the healing ability when he cut himself during an experiment in the garage.
The next day, the cut on his finger was gone. He did another test and realized his body healed faster. The downside was that he still felt pain.
He also knew this ability wouldn't regenerate a lost limb — so he didn't experiment too much.
But he understood that all the abilities he gained kept getting stronger. Maybe someday he'd be immortal like Wolverine.
Parallel thinking became extremely useful. Now he could do many things at the same time without getting confused.
He discovered this when he tried doing tasks with both hands and found out he could write perfectly with each.
After experimenting with writing different things in both hands at once, he noticed it felt easy and natural. So he called it parallel thinking.
He also used his super deduction for longer periods. Every night, he practiced deducing new things, and the duration increased.
He could now use super deduction for more than ten minutes without draining his mental energy.
Thanks to that, he'd been brainstorming tons of tech ideas — and it was only a matter of time until his garage looked like Rick Sanchez's lab.
The two of them were still waiting to be called into a room.
"Hello, I'm psychologist Sara. You must be Melinda Coleman and Alex Coleman?"
A red-haired woman wearing black-rimmed glasses and a white coat stepped forward with a smile and introduced herself.
"Hello, I brought my son for an IQ test. He's very smart, doctor."
"We need it so he can skip a few years in school — that's why we're here."
Melinda explained everything needed, and Sara looked at Alex with interest.
After hearing the full story, Sara led Alex to a room where some materials were set up for the IQ test.
"Are you ready to take the intelligence quotient test?" Sara asked as she placed a few objects in front of Alex.
Alex simply nodded in response. And so, Alex's IQ test began.