Unholy miracle: It burns!?

Theo traced his steps back to his room. Meanwhile, he took a look at his skills and their descriptions in the journal.

Whenever he went into the journal there was some sort of coins in the far right corner of his vision. There were three types. One was silver, one gold, and the last, some sort of crystal.

He couldn't touch them and he couldn't do anything to them, he could only read their value.

He had 133 of the silver, 20 of the gold and 2 of the crystal coins. There wasn't anything like a store in the menu, so he didn't know what those coins were for.

'Anyway-'

[Charm- A skill to allure women. Can only be used once a day, per one woman. Potency increases with Levels: negative effects on men.]

[Charge- temporally doubles strength and intelligence. Can only be used once a day. Potency increases with Levels.]

[Turbo- Temporally increases all attributes by 10%, however, decreases all attributes by 20% for one hour once the effects runs out. Can be used thrice a day. Potency increases with Levels.]

'All three are pretty nice. But the turbo has a fatal drawback, huh?'

Theo also fiddled with his statuses and what they meant too. Some were pretty intuitive like strength, speed, and stamina but others weren't that easy to figure out. Thankfully he had a guide of sorts- the journal.

Spirit correlated with his self-healing, the more spirit he had, the better his healing capabilities. And if he managed to reach a high enough level, it was possible to heal the people near his immediate vicinity as well- or so his journal showed him.

'Isn't this the best stat then?' After all, if he focused enough on that stat, he could potentially be invincible.

'Wait, but it doesn't diminish the pain but slightly increases it instead?'

He reconsidered his thoughts.

Intelligence meant his actual intelligence and data processing power.

Magic however was something else. The only thing stated was 'increases the potency of offensive magic.' but the question remained, what was offensive magic, to begin with?

But one thing surprised him the most- he could heal while gaining exp. 'So licking new things will heal me…?'

Theo reached his room. He couldn't figure out anything so he couldn't do anything about them. There were still plenty of things locked and it wasn't like the system was just running away from him.

And yet, he felt anxious: he had to know more, he just had to! The last time he'd been this excited was the day he first got his neuro-con. He loved the fact that he could play virtual games in virtual worlds like he was there or something. This almost felt like the same thing but- this was real and that's why he was a lot more excited.

***

Sizzy brought Theo a steaming black drink.

"Tea?"

The smell was wondrous. Theo was a coffee person- and yet- even he had to admit, this tea smelled good. 'Let's hope it tastes good too.'

"Yes."

Theo took it from her and started sipping- he almost burnt his tongue. 'Well, that was a bad idea.'

He felt both stupid and a bit of pain. 'So much for my high intelligence stat.'

At least it tasted good.

Before Theo could relax though- he got a call.

'Oh boy.'

He started sweating. 'How the hell did she know?'

He knew this was coming- but he didn't expect the call to come this early.

"The call-" Cancel it- or so Theo was about to say but-

But Sizzy had already authorized the call to go through- in other words, the call was accepted and the caller's face was visible on the Holo monitor.

"AH!" The girl breathed in relief. "I've finally got through to you!" Her eccentric voice came out through the speakers on top.

Apparently, Emily had found out about Theo's new package. And she was delighted.

But this shouldn't have been possible unless someone checked daily and called more than a few times a day.

Which meant-

"Emily, hi! How are you?" Theo however was trying his best to get out of this situation.

His sister wasn't here but she had a tendency to show off a lot of skin during private calls. And this time was no exception. She was only wearing a nightgown and a very see-through one at that too: it was probably nighttime where she was and her lingerie was more than just visible through the little light she had in her room.

But Theo was glad- at least she was wearing something.

"Great! What about you?" Emily was all just smiles but- she was almost jumping with joy. It'd been a long time since she spoke with Theo.

"As you can see, good."

And now that Emily knew she could contact Theo, it was only natural she'd call at least ten times daily. Keyword- 'at least.'

"Actually, have you been exercising?" her breathing increased slightly but not enough for Theo to notice. "C-can you take off your shirt, so I can see your progress?" Emily's heart rate increased exponentially but she remained calm- on the outside. "I'm just curious, really."

'Yeah, we believe you.' Theo almost rolled his eyes- almost.

"I-I think I'm being called to the bridge. I'm really busy these days. Oh and only call me during this time, for five minutes. That's the only free time I've got. Okay?"

Theo loved his sister- as a sister. He knew she had feelings for him but- she was his sister and he had no plans on dating her. And he'd already rejected her more than a few dozen times but Emily was just too persistent. These days, Theo just tried his best to avoid her without breaking her heart. He was just looking for ways to avoid trouble but even he had to admit, this whole thing was going out of his hands and way too fast.

Sooner or later, he'd have to come to terms that his sister loved him and she wanted to marry him. And he understood that all too well. 'Perhaps-' For the time being though, he didn't want to think about it.

Emily looked a bit dejected but she smiled. "Okay." At least she got to speak to her beloved brother. "I'll call you again and good luck."

The call ended and Theo rolled on the bed in relief- only to realize a second later that he was actually still holding the tea in his hand.

"OUTHg ahgh ahotuh!' His screams were all over the place.

Pain.

Sizzy didn't quite understand why Theo lied or what was so painful about just getting his skin slightly burned: he could have just applied nanobots and immediately heal the burns. She did have the necessary data on pain and why sometimes lying was necessary but just because she knew something didn't mean she understood it.

As an R.I she just had to stay put unless Theo ordered her to do something or her programming deemed her to do routine things like making food or washing clothes. She was smart and a lot of things were automated- but due to the nature of her programming, certain tasks required special permissions. After all, if she didn't need those permissions, wouldn't that just be free will?

But- some part of her- Sizzy, wanted to do something, she wanted to do something to ease Theo's pain. Something she didn't yet know what- or how for that matter.

This want of doing something led them both to the shower and perhaps this could lead to- something else.

In the end, did she really need permission?

***

Sometime later an announcement was made.

The ship Ainmester had finally arrived on a remote planet on the edge of the unknown quadrant. The planet was civilized and they'd make emergency repairs and resume their journey in two days.

'But wasn't the unknown quadrant, unknown? So how come there are civilized planets near the edge?'

Something didn't quite sit well with Theo.

"And please attend the meeting at the bridge before 1800, oh and Theodore Black, please don't be late this time." It was the captain herself speaking and she made an extra effort to remind Theo.

Theo half chuckled, half grimaced. This was embarrassing.

"Let's go!" So, instead of waiting, he wanted to set out immediately.

Sizzy was expecting to be left behind this time but- when she did get asked to go out- she experienced a weird feeling. Wait, feeling? Of an R.I? She herself was shocked but- "Yes, let's go." But she just ignored them.

It was probably just an error.

***

By some unholy miracle, Theo had arrived exactly three minutes early to the meeting. He was still the last one to arrive.

"I'll be honest gentlemen. What I'm about to tell you is confidential and all of you will have to sign a Life-contract first."

Life contracts were contracts where if one party violated any terms, they'd suffer for 70 years in quantum hell and then perish from existence without a trace by being obliterated with antimatter.

'So, this is that serious?' Theo gulped but he also prepared himself.