The day after the charity reception and meeting the royal family, Richie began a hard day of studying.
A week later, the transmigrator noticed that his memory in this body was much better than in his previous life. Not eidetic, but close.
It became clear how the child was able to learn ahead of the curriculum.
Richard initially overlooked his mental abilities due to the sudden change of environment and the need to adapt to a new environment. But gradually, he began to adjust and notice various small details. The initial stress began to subside.
From the very beginning, the boy taught himself to consider Gerald his father and gradually got used to this idea.
Now that the transmigrator had gotten a little used to Richard's body, he began to wonder how the body change could have happened?
Since, not being a scientist, it is impossible to explain something like this scientifically, the transmigrator turned to fiction books he had once read.
In science fiction, characters arrived in a variety of ways. Typically, they found themselves in another world in their own body. But sometimes, their souls inhabited another body. Authors typically used several techniques. The first was inhabitation by the will of a higher being: a god, a demon, an archmage, and so on. Another option was the rebirth of the soul (reincarnation), with the retention of memories of a past life. A third option was when the hero possessed special abilities: psychokinesis, magic, mutation, a developed and trained mind, and so on. Thanks to these superpowers, the hero could either be reborn in another body voluntarily or retain the memories of a past life after reincarnation. In Richie's situation, any of these options were partially applicable, and at the same time, none of them were.
In his past life, the transmigrator possessed no supernatural abilities and didn't believe in them. He was a true realist, believing in the power of reason and science. He also didn't believe in gods, nor did he believe in reincarnation. Perhaps higher beings were like gophers-unseen, yet still present. But since Richard remained a realist even now, he came up with another option-a scientific one. For example, a certain group of scientists had invented a way to copy information from a person's head. Other scientists had devised a method for time travel that required transferring a person's personality into the brain of a past inhabitant. In this case, it seemed that the transmigrator's body, hit by a freight grav-car, could have been used for experiments for the benefit of science. His memory was read, transferred to a computer, and somehow transferred into the mind of a child from the past. What's not to like? No better or worse than a soul inhabiting another body at the behest of a higher being. Moreover, this theory was supported by the fact that scientists of the future had long ago learned to read information from the human brain and used this in virtual and augmented reality technologies.
Shortly before the transmigrator's death, an advertisement for a new communicator that allowed for mind-to-mind communication was widely broadcast on the HoloNet. This technology quickly gained the unofficial name "technical telepathy" or technopathy among HoloNet users. So why couldn't there be a laboratory for temporal travel research somewhere in a secret research institute?!
Richie had no time to be distracted by trivialities; he had a goal, which he wisely broke down into many smaller subgoals. As the saying goes, don't eat an elephant whole-cut it up, keep it in the freezer, and eat it in small pieces. This was precisely the principle the transmigrator followed.
The immediate subgoal was to complete his studies as quickly as possible. Richie used the remarkable memory bestowed upon him by his body, absorbing information like a sponge. His tutors couldn't be happier with what they considered the diligent young genius. The teachers imbued the child with ever-increasing knowledge.
In his frantic pace, Richard didn't notice how another month and a half had flown by and how the series of exams he had to take before a specially assembled committee had begun. And the boy passed all his fifth- and sixth-grade exams with top grades, "A." It couldn't have been otherwise, for the body of a child with a good memory concealed the mind of an adult. The only subject he automatically passed was physical education. And that was only because Richard continued to faithfully attend fencing classes three times a week, from which he provided a certificate.
Of course, Richard continued to do aerobics or fitness exercises every morning six days a week under the guidance of an experienced personal trainer. But a certificate from a trainer wasn't considered valuable, unlike an official document from a reputable fencing club.
The last exam was Richie's most difficult-English. He was so exhausted that he was emotionally drained. When he returned home, his father was waiting for him in the living room. He immediately rushed to greet the child and hugged him.
"Congratulations, Richie!" said the joyful father. "You're such a clever boy!"
"Thanks, Dad," Richie replied wearily. "But the grades haven't come in yet."
"The school already called me and said you passed with flying colors," Gerald said. "Congratulations, you're the first Rich to finish junior school at eight. Keep up the good work!"
"Yeah," Richie nodded wearily.
The muffled sound of a drill came from the basement below. Though the tool was barely audible, Richie winced as a slight headache began to form.
- Dad, will the builders continue to do the repairs for a long time?
"No, son," Gerald shook his head. "They found several ancient, buried underground passages, but they never found the cavity where the explosion occurred. But the guys declared our house perfectly safe. They'll just finish the repairs and then leave soon. We'll just have to wait a few days. Richie, if you'd like, we could stay at another estate?"
- Do we have another estate?
Gerald chuckled, patted his son on the head and said:
"Son, we have a lot of them. In the UK, we still have two large estates. There are also villas in Spain, Australia, and France. There used to be more estates in Britain, but I gave three of them to my daughters."
"What should I give my children when they are born?" the boy asked.
"Richie, don't worry about that. I've taken everything into account. When I manage to acquire some affordable land in prime locations, I'll build three modern estates for your children. But you, my son, must try hard and please me with at least three grandchildren."
- Will try...