Jack was standing in a plain white room with a softly glowing ceiling, white walls, and light gray floor. Unlike in the nothingness, he could feel his body. Looking down, he saw he was still wearing his hiking clothes. He also noticed an absence of pain, hunger, or thirst! It was bliss compared to what he was feeling just a moment ago.
It felt too real to be a hallucination. And if this it was real, then this Genesis Heart had nearly killed him! It couldn't wait another minute?! Fuck! This damn thing had better be useful.
He took a few calming breaths, then turned his attention to the tangible space in his mind that he associated with the nothingness. It had been amorphous before, but was now even more tangible and box shaped. He assumed this was his soul space, though he wasn't certain if this white room was his soul space, or merely in his soul space.
The absence of thirst, or any other bodily complaint, made him briefly consider just staying in the white room, but he discarded it as a foolish idea. This was his soul space, and that implied his actual body was still lying on the slope, and what he now occupied was some sort of soul space manifestation. So, if he stayed in his soul space, he would eventually die of thirst.
A plain white room was useless to him right now and while the absence of thirst was nice, it solved nothing. Still, he needed to rest for a few minutes, and being free from thirst and pain for a little while would be nice.
He had noticed that besides the soul space box in his mind, there was also now a block of information. When he focused on it, it felt akin to opening a third eye that could only see a screen, or game like interface.
Energy Points (EP): 1/1000 :-: (0/sec [1/sec])
Genesis Points (GP): 0
Soul Space Cost: 1/sec
What he found was very much like a simple status screen from a game or system. There were three items present. When he focused on numbers associated with Energy Points, he learned what they represented. The first two numbers were current EP available and total EP capacity. The second two numbers were EP/sec available for use, and total EP/sec generated. His current Soul Space Cost was 1 EP/sec, so his available EP/sec was zero.
[Achievement: Longest single Soul Space visit exceeded 1 second]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
[Achievement: First Genesis Point earned]
[Reward: Genesis Store Unlocked]
[Achievement: Total time spent in Soul Space exceeds 1 second]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
He was wondering about the purpose of Genesis Points when three pairs of new messages appeared in his mind, each reporting a new achievement and reward. Their appearance proved that additional achievements types were available, and he wondered what other types might be possible.
The first and third new achievement implied that he could earn more GP by remaining in his soul space longer. More importantly, the second achievement, the Genesis Store, was probably where he could spend Genesis Points. When the [Reward: Genesis Store Unlocked] appeared, his interface changed, and a new section appeared that contained a list of items.
In some web novels, the MC could purchase healing potions or even flasks that produced endless water. Eager to see if this newly unlocked Genesis Store might contain a solution to his dehydration, he examined the list. He skimmed through all the items, looking at their names, but none looked helpful or worth nearly dying.
He needed to wait a few minutes to rest and recover his strength, so despite the disappointment, he looked at the details of each item to see if there was something in their description that might prove his initial assessment wrong.
Increase Energy Points Generation Rate: 2/sec
-Cost: 1 GP
-Description: Increase your Energy Points generation rate to 2/sec.
Increase Energy Points storage capacity: 2000
-Cost: 1 GP
-Description: Increase your Energy Points storage capacity to 2000.
The first two items would allow him to increase his EP generation rate and EP storage capacity. His soul space only needed 1 EP/sec, so he assumed the other items, once unlocked, would need more EP. Increasing his EP wasn't immediately useful, so he moved on to the next item.
Unlock Template Catalog
-Cost: 10 GP
-Description: A catalog of templates that can be instantiated inside your soul space. The catalog comes pre-loaded with a basic set of furniture and room amenities.
He wondered if "room amenities" included a sink with running water. And if it did, would drinking from it help his body that was outside his soul space? It seemed unlikely. Still, at only 10 GP, he probably only needed to wait a few more seconds for the next set of time-in-soul-space achievements before he could unlock it. He moved on to the next item.
Unlock Time Acceleration
-Cost: 100 GP
-Description: Accelerate time inside your soul space so that it advances faster than time in the outside world.
If only I'd had this during my AP Physics final, he lamented. The last question was especially tough, and just a few more minutes would have been enough for him to get a perfect score. There had also been times when even a few seconds might have been enough for him to think of a witty reply. As for his present predicament, it was worthless. Waiting more time inside his soul space would not speed up his recovery outside.
[Achievement: Longest single Soul Space visit exceeded 10 seconds]
[Reward: 10 Genesis Points]
[Achievement: Total time spent in Soul Space exceeds 10 seconds]
[Reward: 10 Genesis Points]
Two new achievements arrived, confirming his initial guess that staying longer in his soul space would earn him more GP.
He checked his interface.
Energy Points (EP): 1/1000 :-: (0/sec [1/sec])
Genesis Points (GP): 22
Soul Space Cost: 1/sec
He now had 22 GP. And it looked like the two soul space time achievements had a geometric progression. If his guess was correct, the next set of achievements would show up in 90 seconds when he had been in his soul space for 100 seconds.
He'd only been inside his white room for ten seconds and that was not enough time for him to rest and recover enough energy to resume his climb up the slope, so he decided to stay in his white room at least long enough to earn the 100 second achievements. While he waited for the 100 second achievements, he continued examining the items in the Genesis Store, hoping something might prove immediately useful.
Unlock Snapshots
-Cost: 1000 GP
-Description: Take a point in time snapshot of the world around you. The snapshot contains all the information needed to reconstruct the portion of the world included in the snapshot. Snapshots may be examined, or used as the starting point for simulations.
Snapshots, while not immediately useful, was an amazing feature. It opened up a world of possibilities! What was the level of detail? Could he see inside a bacterial cell or see individual atoms?! If this feature allowed him to examine a snapshot at the atomic level, he could make breathtaking advances in biological science in a staggeringly short amount of time! His mind filled with endless possibilities, including the possibility of creating a universal vaccine or even a universal cure for cancer.