8 1.8

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After I had cleaned up, although I still felt dirty, and changed my clothes, I stepped out of the house.

As I did, I noticed there were two people standing next to the ball of light. One of them was Chris, but the other… I didn't know him, and it made me tense up.

Were there other players waiting for us here? Or had other players finished another mission while I was sleeping?

Whatever it was, when they saw me, Chris waved at me with a cheerfulness that seemed uncharacteristic of him, hollering, "Alex, come over! I have important news!"

As I approached, I noticed something else that was odd. Chris was holding hands with the unknown man.

Was this really a stranger? I couldn't give a single flying fuck about him being gay, but why were they holding hands? How long had I been asleep?

Chris' companion was obviously a military man too, as although he didn't have any uniform on, he carried himself in a similar way to Chris, and he had a sharp gaze.

Much to my shock however, when I reached them, his body suddenly went stiff as he made a salute, shouting, "Thank you for saving Chris with your own Points!"

I looked at Chris in confusion, as I had hardly saved him. Patched him up, definitely, but saved was a little strong…

However, Chris smiled, revealing, "I'm pretty sure one of my lungs had been punctured by a broken rib. Those grass men were stronger than they looked, although you looked like you had gone through some yourself."

"Oh. No, it was just Ross. I… you're welcome, I guess. Now, could you explain… where he comes from?"

Chris nodded with a smile, and he started narrating, "Since our Main Mission failed, we were left with no Points for the shop. But we still decided to check it out, to prepare for later, and tell you about interesting things. It was the least we could do, after what you did."

I nodded slightly, of course they knew I had Points. After all, I had killed Becky, and still could come here, meaning I had at least 1000 Points by the end of the mission.

Chris' grasp on his companion's hand tightened as he continued, "We found that the shop, or the Exchange System, has five options. First, you can increase your Stats by 1 for every 10 Points. To understand the Stats, you should see with God yourself."

I immediately questioned, "God?"

Chris nodded, "Yes, we decided to call it God, because only a God could do what it can do. Anyway, you then have four categories of things you can buy. First are Sci-fi Items. Be it plasma guns, high tech armor or even lightsabers, you can exchange for anything high tech.

"Second are Magical Items. Enchanted swords like Excalibur, magical spells and abilities from all kinds of fictions… as long as it is magical in nature, you can buy it.

"Third are Support Items. Health Potions, antidotes, genetic mutations, this might be the most important one of them. You can buy the Kryptonian Bloodline in there, for example."

My eyes widened as I asked, "Kryptonian Bloodline? As in Superman?"

Chris grinned, nodding, "Yep, but it's essentially out of reach. Not only do you need 50000 Points, you also need an S Rank Reward, whatever it is."

He continued, "But the fourth category is very interesting too. Entertainment. The cheapest items are all in this category, as we found many items that did not even need a single Point to be bought, but instead a fraction of a point. You can split up a point in 1000 parts, and some of these items are under 10 parts of a Point."

He turned to look at his companion as he finished, "And among them, is a single free option. The creation of a human being."

I looked at Chris, and his companion, in shock, repeating, "Creation of a human being?"

Chris nodded, "Yes, but it's not as simple as you think. Not only can you create a completely real and new person, you can also create someone from your memories."

As he said that, his companion once again saluted, saying, "Sergeant Thomas Piel, pleased to meet you!"

I smiled a little awkwardly at him, and Chris chuckled, before explaining, "Thomas was my superior in the army, back on Earth. And a couple of days before I got pulled into this game, he was killed."

Chris' jaws clenched as he said that, and Thomas gripped his hand a little tighter.

Chris' expression brightened as he added, "But when I started making my human creation, I thought about Thomas, and God used my memories to create him. In other words, he had effectively been brought back from the dead."

This was… shocking, to say the least. I did have questions however.

"Did you try the limits of human creation?"

Chris made a helpless smile as he replied, "We didn't really get to, Thomas was created before I could really think about making anyone else, while Jonathan and Clara… they didn't either."

Frowning, I asked, "Did they make a human creation?"

Chris nodded, "Jonathan did. She looked like an anime girl brought to life, although I'm not sure who exactly it is supposed to be. I wasn't a big fan myself. As for Clara… she hasn't been well."

My frown deepened as I asked, "Didn't she get healed completely?"

Chris shook his head, replying, "She did, but… you remember her injury, right?"

"Yes, the skeleton pierced its hand through her belly… wait, is it about her baby? Did God not heal it?"

Chris looked a little sad as he replied, "Worse. I think the baby died, and so when God healed Clara, he 'healed' everything. By the time she was healed, she no longer had any bump on her belly, she had regained her figure. She was no longer pregnant."

Oh. Shit.

I looked back, and saw the houses. There were four of them, mine included.

Chris, knowing what I wanted, said, "Her house is the one with the blue roof. But I think we should let her be for now."

I nodded, sighing, "Poor woman."

I turned back to Chris and Thomas, or rather, God, as they called it.

I felt a little nervous, but I resolutely stepped towards God, but even as I stood next to it, nothing happened.

"You got to reach out with your thoughts," Chris commented from behind.

I did what he said, and the moment I did I felt a surge of information flood my mind.

I was in the Exchange System, and although I couldn't exactly 'see' it, I could feel the options.

Curious about the first one, I focused on it, and soon I understood what these Stats were all about.

As it turned out, God was capable of quantifying my attributes, or Stats, and they were split as follows.

Intelligence: 203

Mental Capacity: 240

Cell Vitality: 98

Reaction speed: 105

Muscle density: 110

Immunization: 103

There were no descriptions as to what each meant, but some I could guess myself. Muscle Density was probably a mix of Strength and Agility in most games, Reaction Speed was obvious, Immunization was probably something along the lines of resistance to external elements, while Cell Vitality might be the Vitality of games, so it might determine how much 'health' I had, and how fast I would be able to heal.

Finally, there was Intelligence and Mental Capacity, my two highest stats. They were both spiritual, but I wasn't sure what exactly they meant. I guess they might be related to magic, but I couldn't be sure.

Meanwhile, my Stats were quite good, as the Stats of the average male was 100 in each Stat, meaning I was around average in physical stats, and twice as strong as the average male in Intelligence and Mental Capacity.

This was only after the boosts from breaking my limits however. Before this… I was quite pathetic physically, wasn't I?

But there was no use dwelling on the past.

After the kills, heals and missions, I currently have 3130 Points, and a Rank B Reward. Since 1 Stat Point cost 10 Points, this meant I could buy 313 Stat Points.

In other words, if I wanted to, I could suddenly become four times as strong as the average man in any Stat, instantly reaching the realm of superhumans.

The temptation was strong, but I didn't touch it for now, and focused on the rest instead.