111 4.23

To read up to 15 chapters ahead: https://www.patréon.com/SlyOW

-------------

After my first mission, I used my Points to heal my entire Team, because of the guilt I felt.

But now, as we appeared in God's dimension, some for the first time, and for the fourth time for me and Johnathan, I only felt pride as I said, "God, heal everyone with my Points."

[-14783 Points.]

Everyone was covered in lights of varying intensities, some of which promised to cost a lot of Points. I did not feel any heartache from it however as I realized I had finally found my Team.

I left God heal me as I myself felt the aftereffects of opening the Second Genetic Constraint. They were a little less intense than the first time around, but it still hurt like hell.

Still, feeling curious, I mentally contacted God, and asked to see my Status.

Intelligence: 498 → 501

Mental Capacity: 1149 → 1230

Cell Vitality: 1764 (2646) → 2542 (3813)

Reaction Speed: 520 (1040) → 602 (1204)

Muscle Density: 976 (1464) → 1546 (2319)

Immunization: 867 → 900

Rank A Reward, 2 Rank B Rewards, 33217 Points.

That certainly was quite something. Holy fuck.

Moreover, after a moment, I had a realization. Since we had lost 2000 Points from the Score, and 14783 from healing the team, then that meant I had actually earned a total of 50000 Points in this mission.

In other words, had we just made one more kill, I would have had enough Points to get Return to the Origin and get back on Earth.

Whether I would have bought the option is another matter however.

After some time, the final light, holding Johnathan within, went out, leaving a completely healed Johnathan behind.

Despite having been healed however, everyone was still asleep, except for the newbies, so I helped them by carrying them to their bed through the Force once they were completely healed.

Once everyone was in bed, except for Sarah who was in my arms, I quickly explained God's Dimension to the newbies, before warning them not to buy anything, and finally regain my own house, along with Sarah.

---

The table was silent as we sat around, no one really sure of how to start the conversation, or simply content with the silence.

We had things to talk about however, so after a moment I started, "First off, Helena, Mary, Victor, welcome to the team."

They received nods from around the table, and I continued, "Now, this mission put a lot of things into perspective, to say the least, and taught us lessons. It seems our team has been lacking some elements that obviously will become essential to team fights, and probably all missions in the future."

Jonathan snorted, "Some fire resistance maybe?"

The three newbies looked awkward, but I and the other veterans chuckled, "Nah, you could just have stepped out of the way."

Jonathan smiled, before scratching his cheek as he said, "By the way, thank you for the heal, Alexander. It must have been costly."

I shook my head, reassuring him, "Not only was it the best decision to make as it would have taken most of your Points, and that stands for almost everyone, but you deserved it. It was my plan that left you at the mercy of the enemy teams."

Asher, who had been looking absent minded until now, perked up at that, and revealed, "It wasn't. The leader of Team Northern Europe was a chatterbox, and not only did it get him killed, but he also revealed to me how they saw through your plan, and located us."

We all looked intently at her, and she explained, "Their psychic, Naseem, planted a mark within the mind of one of the newbies, Maria. They then used this to locate us, and deduce parts of your plan."

She sent a look at Sarah, and asked, "Did anything happen with Maria on your floor?"

Sarah shrugged in response, "The Leader of Team Oceania went berserk and killed Eric and the two newbies practically as soon as she arrived. Maybe Team North Africa had a plan to turn Maria on us, but it certainly was thwarted by Team Oceania. Or maybe that mark in her mind was just a locating one."

Jordan looked at me and said, "See, it wasn't your fault. Our team merely lacked a psychic. So thank you for healing us."

I smiled, dismissing them with a wave of my hand, "It's fine, I had the Points anyway. I probably got more than all of you combined anyway."

Some of them did not look convinced, so they each said how much they received.

Sarah got 6000 Points and two Rank C Rewards from killing Starlight.

Asher got 12000 Points and two Rank C Rewards from killing Kimiko, the leader of Team North Africa and two members of Team Oceania.

Jordan got a Rank B Reward and 9000 Points, Jonathan got 7000 Points and two Rank C Rewards and Victor had gotten the least out of everyone with only 2000 Points from killing a member of Team North Africa. He had saved Jonathan's life doing so however, so that was a kill worth more than 2000 Points to us.

The most surprising however would be the two female newbies, Helena and Mary, who despite being unarmed and only helped by Mindstorm, managed to leave relatively uninjured, and having killed their three opponents.

Helena got a Rank C Reward and 5000 Points for killing the assassin of Team Northern Africa, stealing his Dagger of Death Flowers while doing so. It was a little surprising, but at least I knew from the get go that she was a good fighter, so it was understandable.

On the other end, there was Mary. From her own admission she was not a very good fighter, as although she was better than the average fighter, she wasn't good enough to make a difference in this realm and ignore the difference between supers and normal people.

Yet, she had managed to kill Deep and Hughie, earning herself a Rank B Reward and 9000 Points. For Hughie, he had been neutralized by Mindstorm, so all she did was finish him with the Dagger of Death Flowers, as Helena gave her the kill, which only showed their deep relationship.

For Deep however, I couldn't help but doubt what she told us.

All she did to him… was talk.

Well, to be honest, she hypnotized him, or so she said. According to their statements, she managed to hypnotize Deep, and then only had to wait for Helena to finish her own fight to borrow the dagger and finish Deep.

This was hard to believe, but no matter what, she did manage to survive, so that gave credit to her story.

Those were only the Points the Team had earned from their kills however. They also all had earned an additional 1000 Points from finishing the main mission, but also lost 2000 from our negative Score.

So taking away 1000 Points from each of them, they had accumulated 43000 Points, 7 Rank C Rewards and 2 Rank B Rewards. Converting everything, that made for a total of a Rank A Reward, a Rank B Reward and a Rank C Reward.

So seeing their faces when I revealed to them I had earned 48000 Points, a Rank A Reward and two Rank B Rewards was definitely fun.

But as my teammates found themselves unable to speak, Sarah leaned in close and asked, "By the way, where is the next mission?"

Remembering God's hint, I replied with a solemn voice, "Bloodborne."