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.
He looked around the room. It looked real. He bent down and touched the floor. It was slightly rough and had just a little give to it, like hard rubber. The walls, when he checked, were hard, like concrete, and had an orange peel texture.
It all 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?! And for what, a plain white room? What good did that do him?
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.
He took a few calming breaths, then turned his attention to the tangible space in his mind that he associated with the nothingness. When the white room appeared, it had changed. Its previous amorphous feeling had resolved to a more tangible and box like shape feeling. 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.
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
Well, this is...something.
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 generation rate available for use, and total EP/sec generated. His current Soul Space Cost was 1 EP/sec, so his available EP/sec was zero.
When he focused on Genesis Points, he learned nothing, so it left him wondering how he could earn them, and what he could do with them.
[Achievement: Longest single Soul Space visit exceeded 1 second]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
[Achievement: First Genesis Point earned]
[Reward: Genesis Store Unlocked]
[Achievement: Total Energy Points consumed exceeded 1]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
And just as he was wondering, he got an answer. Two separate achievement types, each awarding Genesis Points. The first, for longest time spend inside his soul space, wasn't much of an achievement at one second, but if Genesis Heart rewarded him for longer durations, then he could see spending a long time in a plain white room as an achievement. A few hours might be fine, but a few days could kill him from boredom.
The other achievement felt almost gratuitous. Use EP to earn GP? Isn't that a bit like use Mana to earn experience? Whatever, it was what it was. If Genesis Heart wanted to make it easy for him to earn GP, who was he to complain? Though, there was the little matter of almost dying. He'd be sure to file a complaint as soon as he found the customer service button.
Most importantly, besides the two achievements, there was a store! 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. But, after skimming through all the store items, looking at their names, he found nothing that looked helpful.
Damn. Was Genesis Heart a dud? Was he the MC of a new lame web novel titled "Jack received the lamest system and his life continued to suck, forever"?
Silly thoughts aside, he still needed to rest and had nothing better to do for a few minutes. So he despite his 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.
What is this, "Pimp my soul space?" What was the point of decorating his soul space, anyway? Was it going to give him a soul space girlfriend that he would have to appease? If he could only instantiate these templates inside his soul space, they were of no immediate use. Even if he could summon a sink with running water, would it help? Him not feeling thirsty was a strong evidence that, even if he could drink ware in his soul space, it would not help his physical body.
Unlock Time Acceleration
-Cost: 100 GP
-Description: Accelerate time inside your soul space so that it advances faster than time in the outside world.
Damn, if only I'd had this during my AP Physics final! 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 Energy Points consumed exceeded 10]
[Reward: 10 Genesis Points]
These two new achievements did not surprise him. If Genesis Heart rewarded him for a measly one second, and one EP, then it stood to reason that it would reward him more time and more EP consumed. And the jump from 1 to 10, suggested a geometric progression. His guess was that the next set of rewards would happen at 100 seconds and 100 EP.
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. 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.
Despite the fact that Snapshots were of no immediate use to him, he could not help but fantasize about what he might be able to do with them. 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.