The morning passed almost without warning.
The sun shifted position little by little, and the light that had previously entered slanted through the tall library windows now fell more directly, illuminating particles of dust that danced in the still air.
Jason remained seated at the long table, the pile of books beside him diminishing page by page. The dry sound of pages turning was the only constant noise in the silence of the place. He didn't read like an ordinary person—there were no pauses for reflection, no going back, no expressions of doubt when facing complex passages. His honey-colored eyes slid down the page from top to bottom in a single second, and he was already turning to the next one at a steady, almost mechanical speed. Whenever he finished a book, he reached for the next without hesitation.
Every few minutes, he switched books; more than thirty books were gone in a single hour, and he stood up to fetch more on the "subject."
Maggie watched from a distance, seated in a nearby chair. The book she had picked up earlier rested open on her lap, forgotten. She turned the pages from time to time, more out of habit than real interest, because her gaze always ended up returning to him.
Another thing she realized she loved about him…
When Jason focused hard, she couldn't deny it: his charm became dangerously greater. Not that he wasn't already handsome, or that he didn't have a gorgeous body, but men concentrated on their own tasks always carried a different kind of attraction.
And it was inevitable that she ended up thinking about what had happened at the pharmacy. If they hadn't been interrupted by that herd of Walkers, the two of them would probably have crossed an "important line" right there, after an entire week of built-up tension, lingering looks, and everything that came with it…
When she remembered that fact, some thoughts ran through her mind.
But she didn't spend the entire morning stuck on those thoughts, nor trying to reread the book she had grabbed earlier. She also took a few walks around the library, browsing the shelves in search of something truly useful, and every now and then she stopped to exchange a few words with Jason when she got too bored with so many technical subjects.
Still, the worry never fully left her. She started thinking about the horses. She knew they were well hidden, and with luck, that herd of Walkers hadn't found them while passing through the area. Even so, the possibility that one of them had lagged behind, wandering aimlessly and eventually reaching there, still existed, and that made her restless.
Fortunately, Jason didn't plan to stay the entire day.
After finishing all the medical books in the library, he shifted his focus to general knowledge, the kind he judged most useful at the moment. He read about basic metallurgy, including blacksmithing, consulted books on different types of plants and their effects, and also studied manuals on weapons and the proper handling of each one.
There was still science, chemistry, and anything that could have practical application in this new and hostile world.
One of the things he considered especially valuable was The Anatomy of Martial Arts: An Illustrated Guide to the Muscles Used for Each Strike, Kick, and Throw, an illustrated guide that detailed the execution of strikes, kicks, and throws in arts such as jiu-jitsu, judo, kung fu, muay thai, taekwondo, among others.
Thanks to his bodily learning ability, he managed to master all these styles to a certain extent with almost perfect precision. His mind absorbed the concepts instantly, while his body reproduced them as reflex, adjusting posture, strength, and coordination instinctively. It was as if he had spent months training each movement exhaustively.
This, however, came at a cost. His body ended up overloaded: muscles pushed beyond normal limits, joints feeling the impact of overly accelerated learning. Even without realizing it, he had subjected his own physique to an intense training routine condensed into just a few hours—something only possible thanks to his abilities, but which still left marks.
Knowing it would be stupid to read the other books on the subject he found—because they were the ones that overloaded his body the most—he gathered all the others he found on the topic and put them in his backpack, then returned to reading other books on various subjects.
He finished the hundredth book around noon.
The sun was now shining directly onto the tables, illuminating the particles of dust dancing in the air.
Jason closed the book calmly and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, feeling his body grow heavy in a way he hadn't experienced in a long time. His mind was overloaded with information, which earned him a massive headache.
In very little time, he had gone from a complete novice to an intermediate-level martial artist in several different arts. He had also acquired solid knowledge of basic metallurgy, with blacksmithing skills good enough to forge functional bladed weapons. He became an experienced herbalist, familiar with hundreds of herbs and their varied effects.
In addition, he developed practical mastery over firearms: he knew how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble different types of pistols and shotguns with the same efficiency as a trained police officer, and he learned to use them at a practically perfect level. His understanding of science and chemistry also reached a university level, sufficient to comprehend processes, reactions, and real-world applications.
Still, none of that compared to his greatest advancement.
He mastered medicine at an extraordinarily high level: detailed human anatomy, precise diagnostics, emergency surgeries, and complete pharmacology. In practice, he was like a medical student on the verge of graduation, but elevated to the absolute limit in skill and experience thanks to his [Perfect Mastery].
From what he had understood about his ability, beyond the obvious limitation—the rapid overload of body and brain as the number of books increased—there was an even more absurd factor: all learned competencies were automatically elevated to the "perfect" level.
For example, he had studied basic metallurgy only through a few introductory and superficial books. Even so, [Perfect Mastery] filled every gap the instant it appeared, connecting concepts like pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know he was assembling. The result was simple and terrifying: what should have been merely "basic" was elevated to its ideal state. He became incapable of failing in any fundamental process, to the point that even a master in that field—someone with decades of experience—would still be inferior to him at the same level of execution in basic processes.
The same applied to medicine.
Normally, a university student graduates and only then begins the real learning: years of practice, mistakes, successes, and constant refinement. With him, the process was inverted. Upon reading the books, every detail of each procedure emerged complete in his mind and was immediately assimilated by his body. There were no attempts, no errors, no gradual adaptation.
He simply knew.
He knew how to diagnose, how to intervene, how to correct. Each step was executed without room for failure, because the learning already came in its final state, with information so deep that, in some cases, it surpassed even the knowledge of the greatest minds in the world. That was why he seemed like a miraculous doctor: not because of intuition or luck, but because erring at something he had learned was, for him, simply impossible.
And that was the true core of his "trait." Although at first glance the process seemed supernatural, in essence it wasn't "magic"; it was as if his genius had been elevated to a level never reached by humanity.
It was an evolutionary leap that placed him beyond the ordinary, transforming him into something different. As if he were, in fact, the "perfect human" in terms of brain, mentality, and body—though the latter still needed deeper testing. Still, the first two already made that conclusion evident. His mentality remained unchanged in the face of the hostile environment, immune to emotional wear and the constant pressure of danger. The absence of hesitation, fear, or instability when dealing with extreme situations was exactly what many would consider a form of perfection, and his brain was the same thing he had discovered that morning of reading…
Jason rubbed his eyes again, feeling the subtle fatigue in his muscles, the perfect body complaining for the first time from excess information.
Maggie noticed the gesture and stood up, leaving the book on the table. She walked over to him with light steps across the carpet and stopped beside his chair, resting her hand gently on his shoulder.
"Finished?" she asked softly, her voice gentle and laced with concern. "Are you okay? You look… tired."
Jason looked up, a discreet and tired smile appearing on his lips.
"I'm fine. Just… too much information at once. My brain absorbed everything, but my body feels the weight…" He rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a short sigh. "But it was worth it. Now I know what to do if someone at the farm gets seriously hurt. Plus, I learned several other useful things. Unfortunately, I hit my limit—I wanted to read every book in here…"
Maggie squeezed his shoulder, her fingers firm and affectionate.
"I think if you did that, you wouldn't be human anymore. You're already incredibly amazing, you know?" she said with a small smile. "I still can't believe you read all that in so little time… But don't push it. Let's go. You need to rest too…"
Jason nodded slowly, giving her hand a light squeeze before letting go.
"Yeah… it's about time." He took a deep breath and cast one last look at the tables full of books. "And I'm a little worried about the horses. We've been inside too long."
He rose from the chair with a slow movement and stretched his arms overhead, his back cracking lightly. The fatigue finally caught up to him now that his mind had stopped. He picked up the backpack from the floor and slung it over his shoulder, feeling the extra weight of the books he had decided to take.
Maggie did the same. She sheathed her machete, adjusted the strap of her shotgun, and picked up the bag of medicines. Before leaving, she looked once more at the silent interior of the library, as if saying goodbye to a piece of the old world she might never see again.
They walked side by side down the corridors, their steps muffled by the carpet. Jason closed the main door carefully, avoiding any unnecessary noise. Outside, the air felt warmer, the sun already high in the sky.
As they descended the steps, Maggie broke the silence.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
She took a second before continuing, choosing her words.
"If you've always been this… smart, I mean… why psychology? You could have done anything. Medicine, engineering, I don't know… you could have become famous as a 'genius' in any of those fields. Even in psychology, you could have graduated earlier and all that… what stopped you from doing it?"
Jason gave a half-smile and shook his head.
"Being famous never appealed to me…" he said, shrugging. "I just wanted… a quiet life. Helping people understand their own minds, listening, guiding, helping them overcome traumas and personal problems. If I showed the world this 'genius' of mine, I'd end up famous. But along with that, I'd lose exactly the quiet life I always wanted. Not to mention I didn't want to become someone everyone points at, demands from, or places expectations on all the time. I think that's the most unpleasant part of fame."
"After everything, for me, people's expectations and constant criticism are the worst part. When people act like that, most simply forget there's a human being on the other side. There's no empathy… just demands, judgment, or offense because they don't agree with your actions or your work."
"That's why I preferred anonymity…"
Although those words were, in part, a well-intentioned lie used to hide his rebirth and the existence of [Perfect Mastery], there was still a real touch of sincerity and honesty in them. He simply couldn't lie to Maggie. That's why he avoided mentioning anything about "reincarnation" or "abilities," and spoke only about what he truly believed. If he had possessed that capacity all along, he really would have done exactly that: stayed out of the spotlight.
Being famous wasn't what most people imagined. It required an extremely solid mindset to avoid collapsing under the constant weight of demands, judgments, and criticism. Few could endure it without losing themselves along the way.
Although he did have a mind strong enough to handle that kind of pressure, thanks to his natural calm and certain apathy, there would still come a moment when inevitable situations could push him away from that balance. It was only a matter of time.
That's why staying anonymous had always seemed the simplest… and safest choice.
Well, that was just a hypothetical situation; now he had no brakes on showing his genius because the world was in full apocalypse.
Maggie absorbed that in silence as they walked. It made sense—more than she expected. And deep down, it was exactly how she had already imagined.
"So that's why you kind of… chose not to stand out?" she asked, with a corner smile.
"Yeah. That's exactly it…" he replied simply.
She glanced at him sideways, feeling her heart warm. That answer said far more about who Jason was than any technical or grandiose explanation ever could. He didn't seem like someone frustrated for not having been "more." He seemed like someone who had always known exactly what he wanted from life… even before the world ended.
Thinking about it, that didn't surprise her. Jason had always been strangely optimistic about the future, even when everything pointed otherwise. Considering that, he must have always had his own path very clearly defined.
Still, there was something ironic about the situation.
"It's kind of funny…" Maggie murmured. "Now that everything's over, you're becoming exactly the kind of person the world needs."
She paused briefly, choosing her words carefully.
"In other words, you're being precisely the kind of 'genius' who would have been famous back then… and who now manages to survive in this world. Or even have hope of fixing things the way they are."
Jason laughed softly.
"Was that a compliment? Well… I think so." He shrugged casually. "Unfortunately, that well-defined life I had in mind is now just a hypothesis. A past that won't happen anymore. I don't mind. Like I said, I want to improve things my way. So I'll use this hated genius of mine for that. And it's not like I'm going to become famous, considering our situation."
"It was a compliment, yes." Maggie replied without hesitation, her tone simple and sincere, as if there were no reason to deny it. She walked beside him along the cracked sidewalk, stepping around pieces of glass and dry leaves, but her gaze stayed on him as she continued speaking: "I've never seen anything like what you did today. Like you said, I think that's real genius."
She stopped for a moment, forcing him to slow down, and faced him directly.
"When people talk about geniuses, they always think of fame, awards, recognition. But I was thinking of something else. Someone like you… if you were a scientist, a biologist, a doctor at another level… maybe you'd already have found an answer to all this."
She made a vague gesture with her hand, indicating the world around them. The silence of the streets, the decay, the absence of normal life…
"Maybe even a cure. And not because you wanted to be famous, but because you simply… would manage to. That's what I meant. You're the kind of genius who changes the world. Not the kind who appears on magazine covers. And that's incredible! So yes. It was a compliment. Because if there's still any chance this world can get better… I think people like you are the reason. When you said earlier that you wanted to change the world your way, I was a bit skeptical, but after today, I can understand the reasons…"
There was a brief silence after that, broken only by the distant sound of wind passing between abandoned buildings.
Jason smiled lightly, the kind of smile that started in his eyes before reaching his lips—small but full of certainty. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, their fingers intertwined with a firmness that said more than any words.
"I won't disappoint your expectations…" he replied sincerely. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll find a solution to all this. A cure, a way to clean the world, or at least make things more bearable. I just need to work hard."
He paused for a second, turning to face her fully, the afternoon sun hitting his back and illuminating his honey-colored eyes with a warm glow.
"And I will work hard—not for fame or because someone expects it of me. It's because I want to have as normal a life as possible by your side, Maggie…"
Maggie felt her heart leap hard, the kind that echoes through your entire chest and makes the air feel denser. His words weren't grandiose, weren't exaggerated promises to save the whole world—they were simple, direct, and precisely because of that, they hit home. She stopped walking, forcing him to stop too, and turned to face him completely. Her green eyes shone with something that mixed raw emotion and a certainty she didn't even know she still carried inside.
"A normal life…" she repeated softly, almost as if testing the taste of those words. The smile that appeared was small but genuine, the kind that starts shy and grows until it lights up the entire face. "You know that's what I want most? All I want is days where I wake up without fear of losing the people I love. Where I can laugh at silly things, argue with my dad over something stupid, see Beth singing in the kitchen… and have you by my side."
Jason smiled lightly. He brought his hand to her face again, his thumb resting gently near the corner of her lips, as if wanting to confirm that it was real. Then he leaned in slowly, giving her all the time in the world to pull back if she wanted, but she didn't, and the two kissed. A soft kiss at first, but one that quickly deepened.
When they pulled apart, his eyes met hers, the warm glow still there, now more intense.
"I'll do my best…" he murmured gently. "As long as you stay by my side… I have more reasons to fight than just for myself…"
Maggie felt her chest tighten in a good way, warmth rising to her cheeks, but this time she didn't try to hide it. Her green eyes shone with raw emotion, the smile appearing slowly, full of promise.
"After everything I said to you and everything we've been through, there shouldn't be any doubts. Obviously I'm going to stay by your side forever, Jason…" she replied simply and directly, as if there were no other option.
They stood there for a moment, the world around them feeling distant. Nothing mattered as much as that: the certainty that, no matter what came, they would face it together.
Jason gave her one last quick kiss on the lips, sealing the moment, before intertwining his fingers with hers once more.
"Let's go home…" he said, his voice soft but firm.
Maggie nodded, squeezing his hand.
They continued down the street in comfortable silence, talking about small things on the way back—about the farm, about Beth, about various things they still didn't know about each other. Maggie mentioned she was hungry; Jason said he was too, and they promised to share something when they arrived...