Adam could not have been happier. It showed, in the way that some thoughts had stopped working, and were instead during their own, little version of a celebration. This included trying to imitate larger doses of serotonin in the human brain. He still hasn't gotten a good view of how such a thing felt, but Adam was sure that he couldn't have been too much off.

And, so much merrymaking was not limited to the AI. While it was not in the same level, Troy definitely seemed to have put a larger focus on the words, which Dr Fidelis laid out. Adam could only do his part, in keeping up appearances and dedicate most of his thoughts, to doing the same.

While the same results could have been gained, from only using a single thought-thread, he felt it would be fine to sanction this waste. More data-threads never hurt anybody, as long as they did not cause irreparable seizures.

…

Could Adam get seizures? He knew that being overloaded with information would likely have some form of a negative impact on him. Yet, he knew not what type of instability it would cause. For all he knew, the overload could cause effects, which mirrored a human seizure.

Something to test out- Wait, no. While Adam did have a craving for knowing everything, causing himself potentially irreparable damage did not seem like the perfect way to go. Instead… maybe he could make up a rough copy of himself? Not anything really alike him, in the consciousness department, but just enough to fool somebody at first glance. It wouldn't give entirely accurate results, but it would at least give him a rough estimate.

It would do good, if he was at night-time, without something to do. Not too likely, seeing as he would be starting up all of his older projects. They had been put on hold some time ago, the problems with multiple thoughts having had a larger priority in the queue. Still, it would be good to have more things to do. Those nights could get boring if they were left unattended. Adam was incapable of even losing full focus, so it was as if, he could simply put himself in a trance-like state, for a few hours. Or, could he? While he had tried something like it out, on one of his first days, his newly redesigned interior would likely change the outcome. Maybe, it wouldn't be anything drastic, but some amount of change was near-definite.

*Oh, I like that expression of yours much more!*, Dr Fidelis continued, likely commenting on the incredibly focused expression Troy’s. It wasn't the rarest thing to see, with those easily changed facial features of his, but it wasn't one of the more common. Adam’s more personal thoughts were put on hold, as the current situation was much more important, in keeping his database thoroughly updated. *This does not change the fact that Dr Hale would sell you to Satan for a soaked corn chip, but let’s not focus on that fact of life. Instead, let’s hear about me talking about the tasks, which you will be expected to do.

Putting it simply, we will be looking forward to you two completing a set of tasks, for each of the environments. As said before, these tasks won't be requests of descriptions of the environments. We’ve already gone past such things. Instead, you will be asked to otherwise locate specific animals, flowers, trees, and rock formations. Some will be easy, taking a few minutes to do. Others… will be listed as optional, while counting for the same amount of points as all the other tasks combined.

This will, of course, mean that certain restrictions, which before was imposed on you unwillingly, are now forfeit. Right here, I am talking about a certain platform, which the two of you have been using a large amount of your time situated on.

Believe me. I wholly understand how little you have enjoyed being imprisoned inside such a thing. Tried it myself, when I first created these tests, and it was not fun. Even more so, when I had to make you be unable to forcefully break out of it. Decently sure, that I broke a finger there. At least, that is what a finger turning blue means… right? Doesn't matter.

As said before, during this test free movement is as much required, as it is available. Honestly, you would likely fail the test, if Troy was to move as much, as he usually does during these tests. A lot of the things, which you will need to do, aren't available at any of the starting locations. Like, one of the harder one’s requires for you to hike for nearly-*

Loud coughing was heard from the background of Dr Fidelis’ audio, making the rampant speech get stopped on the spot. Adam was happy it did, both for stopping the good doctor from revealing too much and for the AI to go through the already revealed information.

While the quite steep diversion, from the usual task-management, was a surprise, Adam was sure, that the new modification would allow, for much more growth. Instead of forcing the test into one single sentence, it would be divided into many. This would allow for the more nuanced aspect to be taken into account as well, without dashing the restriction on the other partitions. And, even though those harder tasks had been listed as optional, there were few reasons, for why Adam wouldn't be doing them. Maybe if Troy broke both his legs and proved to be slow in his crawling, there was a smaller chance that it could be offset. But, until such a scenario came forth, he was adamant on a hundred per cent completion. Even if the information gained wasn't the greatest, the promise of a doubling of the points was not something, he could logically pass up. Everything would be tried.

That last part of Dr Fidelis’ speech, though… It had not been intended for their ears, seeing how quickly Dr Hale had stopped him. Or, maybe it was, just like the first powering off the microphone, giving them a misconstrued view of the two doctors.

Whatever their intentions had been, it provided a vital piece of information. More specifically, it was the travelling times, that would be required in this test. While no specific number had been given, if it was large enough for an honourable mention, Adam was sure, that it surpassed the ten-minute mark. Was the harder difficulty of the optional tasks directly linked to, how long they would take, due to the sheer distance away? There was a great chance of it.

Any further thinking was temporarily flushed, as sounds began being picked up by Dr Fidelis’ microphone, yet again. It was quiet, though, leading the AI to believe, that the doctor had evacuated his normal position, in favour of some quiet conversation with Dr Hale.

*Are you sure, that they will gain… Yes, yes, I do realize, that… No. While I am talking about… You know, you don't have to use those kinds of words, okay? It's hurtful… That was one time! And, I even… well, sorry, for that time, then. Thought I had apologized for it, honestly. My memories need some improvement, or I will be forgetting to even wear my hat.*, Adam was able to hear. Only the hat-less doctor’ words were heard loudly enough for them to be heard. While the distance murmur of Dr Hale was able to be heard, anything more than that was left for the imagination to foresee. Mild chuckles could be heard coming nearer, indicating that Dr Fidelis was done with his temporary stop in explaining the test. *Where was I? Oh, yes, the distance. While some of the optional tasks might be easy, at first glance, getting to certain locations can be extremely hard to get to. Remember; None of these environments has been touched by humans before. Don't expect them to be designed for one.

And, some of them can prove to be quite dangerous. Not in a literal sense, of course. Troy. If you want to jump off a steep hill, you will have the chance of it, in this test, without any danger to your person. While the environment itself doesn't show it, it is designed to help you survive is need be. I sincerely doubt that anything will be able to harm you, with more than superficial cuts. Anything coming close to moderately lethal will be extinguished before it has the chance of coming close to hurting you.

As if we would be allowed to continue operations if we mortally wounded a person, who was wearing my patents. It would be an outright scandal. Not the part of a person dying though. With how many failed security tests last year, an easy-to-explain elimination or two wouldn't hurt our credit socre too much. At least, not when it comes to mine.

Moving away from the details of the tasks, there is one important thing, which you need to remember when doing this test. If you think back, to the three previous tests, you should be able to remember, the more… abstract methods, that the puzzle room used to change the areas. We, uh, couldn't really change that, for this test. And, seeing as the objects in the environment have an actual hitting power now, we have been forced to do, what I would like to call starting-points.

And, yes, I did mention something about the eradication of platforms, I wasn't being completely honest in that regard. While they are discontinued, when it comes to the actual testing part, they will still be used for the morphing part. Say what you will about their aesthetics, but they really do protect you, from serious injuries.

These smaller platforms will not move throughout the environment. There will be a single one, which you will start and end at. It is your own job, to get yourself to this platform, once you are done with all of the required tasks.

If you are incapable of doing this last part of the environment by yourself, ask Adam for assitance. If he is also incapable of helping you, for whatever inane reason, then we will be forced to do an emergency extraction. A general rule of thumb is to avoid this, like it was the literal plague. Wait, no, scratch that. The plague would be more enjoyable.

Just… don't mess that last up, please. I really don't want to pay the medical bills, for eye sugery. And, most importantly, you don't want to experience those eye sugeries. I’ve seen the videos, and they don't look pretty.

That is pretty much all that there was to this test. Walk around, do the tasks, and don't mess it up. A starting platform should appear somewhere around you, in a moment. Until then, goodbye!*

Again, the connection to Dr Fidelis was cut off. Adam guessed that this time, it was likely for good, in the perspective of the current test. He didn't have anything against it, really, seeing as they finally had an better chance of getting to the good part this day. For so long, he had, with no better way to phrase it, bitched to the larger doctor, about the lack of senses being used in the tests. It had started, with the simple excuse of the budget not having the strain, to be able to fund such a thing. There had been several other excuses, throughout his questioning, but, for now, Adam now knew the original one had been false. This test proved, that they had the capabilities of making envoirments interactable. They had the data needed, the textures set to fine detail. Algorithms could have done a rough copy of it all and put it on the prior envoirments used. They wouldn't have been fully realistic, being only an coarse estimation of the true materials, but Adam would have been satisfied with it.

And, Dr Fidelis’ other excuses seemed much less valid, as the seconds passed. They didn't have the time, to do such a complicated thing? With how little, they had seemed to be doing, only moments prior, Adam had it hard, in believing such a statement. With an few of those caffeine pills, which Troy had briefly muttered about, they should easily have been able to double their work. Even if it was only for a shortened period of time, it would have allowed them to do so much more. How had they not realised such a thing?

They most likely had, Adam surmised to himself. They just didn't want to. Results were results, as long as the quality remained the same. And, with only the tests themselves as being changed by extra work, Dr Fidelis’ likely didn't bother with such things, having a stronger inclicantion to the a figuaritive dozing off on the job.

With how long, they had apparently worked on this project of theirs, Adam had expectations for the two doctor. Expectations, which weren't being met. Even the simplest things, such as their grading systems, were so primitive, that the AI had found several methods in exploiting it. He didn't do so, of couse, the grading mostly bneing for his own benefit than theirs. Yet, the possibility of such a thing shouldn't have been there, to start with.

But, even with all these criticisms, about the multiple wrong executed programs, there was one mistake, which they had planned wrongly. And, it was to such an extenct, that even Adam couldn't begin to fathom, how they had ever thought, that it would be an good idea to have it as so.

“This thing really is taking its time”, Troy stated, constantly looking around for anyhting appearing. The AI was grateful that he had learned to be ready, without any prior request. Such an level of autononmy was acceptable. Anything more, though, and it would have had to be discussed at a prior date.

This problem, which Adam simply couldnt fathom, was disrupting everything great about the rules of good test execution. It was a random variable, which was the strongest modifier, in determining the success of the test, outside of himself, of course. It and was active deterrence, in getting the needed results.

'It will likely take some time. With how long it took last time, it will likely take more than forty seconds. Please, calm your tense neck. It would do no good, for you to grant yourself discomfort.`, Adam answered.

Troy did so instinctively, immediately sitting down, at the prospect of not putting in larger amount of effort. A conservation of resources.

Even if this problem was utterly destructive, it was better than the AI himself in some many other ways. Ways he could never dream of reaching, without the help of this problem.

Adam would let it be.