[Intergalactic: Online 12]

Creed and Rea returned to the lounge and sat by the bar again. The bartender gestured to a small box sitting quietly on the bar.

'These guys work quickly,' Creed thought as he cracked the box open and saw a small mechanical syringe. Creed placed it on his wrist and felt a slight sting before a notification popped up in front of him.

[Successfully Connected: Federation Credit Network]

[Credits: 0]

Creed looked over to Rea, who was looking at him nervously. She had paid for the implant, so Creed actually owed her 1000 credits, so he was actually in the red right now.

"Don't worry, you'll get your money back, and then some" Creed smiled as he thought she was worried about him paying her back.

Rea shook her head as she leaned over to Creed and whispered.

"I'm more concerned with how you seem to be here at home..." Rea said while watching Creed casually sip his drink without care.

Creed nodded his head calmly and turned to look at the shady-looking cigar lounge.

"In my experience, the people in the shadows tend to be more trustworthy than those who run around in the light. Of course, I've spent a lot of time in places like this, so I might be biased, but that's all in another life. I'm more interested in how you had a token to enter the underworld", Creed said with a smile as he turned to Rea.

He knew that all black markets need their patrons to be vetted first before allowing them to enter. However, Rea had presented the strange silver coin, which was clearly an indication that she was a member.

"I don't know. I've never been here before. The coin is something Pea gave to me a few years ago. He said that if I ever needed to go to the black market in the city, I should show this coin. I never thought that I would actually need to use it..." Rea said as she pulled out the coin and looked at it curiously.

"I see..." Creed said. He was now a lot more curious about the man named Pea and wanted to speak to him as soon as possible.

An hour quickly passed as Creed and Rea made small talk while waiting.

"Thank you for your patience," said a voice that prompted Creed and Rea to turn around. One of the woman's mysterious butlers held a briefcase that he handed over to Creed.

Creed took the briefcase and quickly inspected the contents. Rea peeked over his shoulder and was shocked to see a few vials and canisters containing strange liquids and powders.

Creed, however, smiled in satisfaction as he closed the briefcase.

"It's all there. This really saved me a lot of time. I'll be sure to come back here in the future!" Creed said with a satisfied smile as he closed the briefcase.

The butler bowed slightly with a smile as Creed made to leave.

Rea quietly followed him and waited until they were out of the place and back on the street before asking.

"Are these things really worth more than 20,000 Credits?" Rea whispered. She had no idea what Creed was planning to do with the strange liquids and powders.

"Trust me when I say these are worth more than any amount of money to us right now," Creed whispered seriously.

Rea became even more curious but decided to hold back her questions until they were back at the house.

Rea made sure that there wasn't anyone suspicious around before quickly opening the door to the house. Inside, the restaurant was now dark, with the lights turned off.

"Mother must have gone to bed already. You can head downstairs for now. I'll be there in a minute..." Rea said as she headed to the kitchen.

Creed shrugged his shoulders and went downstairs to prepare. First, Creed needed a device that he could use as a distiller. Luckily, the workshop was full of gadgets and items, so it was just a case of being creative and putting a few parts together to construct his makeshift distiller.

Creed then steamed the bones and horns he had collected until they were soft enough for him to shave into a fine powder, thus creating a type of bonemeal.

Creed watched the distiller warm up carefully and started placing ingredients into it. The process wasn't very complicated, but the portions needed to be exact. One wrong move and Creed would have to start all over again, which would just be a waste of resources.

Rea came back into the room twenty minutes later and was surprised to see Creed with the strange items. However, she did not interrupt and simply stood by while observing him.

After a few more hours of concentration, Creed finally picked up a vial that contained a few drops of a clear green liquid.

"This should be enough," Creed said with a smile as he read through the prompts that appeared before his eyes.

[Item created: Bone-Enhancement Tonic (Basic)]

[Quality: Poor]

[10 Points added to the Way of the Alchemist]

\Creed knew that this tonic could be made by anyone in the game, even those who didn't follow the way of the Alchemist. However, just because it was common knowledge in the game didn't mean it was here. After all, Rea had no idea what it was when Creed had mentioned it.

Creed stood up and stretched his body but suddenly noticed Rea, who had fallen asleep on the chair in the corner of the room.

"When did she come in? I didn't even notice her..." Creed whispered as he walked up to the woman. He picked her up, gently placed her on the bed, and then covered her with the blanket.

Creed noticed her scrunched forehead as if she was having a bad dream and gently placed his thumb between her brows to make her relax. After a few seconds, Rea's expression went back to normal as Creed admired her cute features.

"I honestly wouldn't mind marrying her and starting a family in this new world..." Creed whispered to himself as he fell into deep thought. Since coming to this world, Creed had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He had been moving on autopilot to survive, but now that he had some downtime, Creed wondered what he should do if he were stuck in this world forever. One option was settling down and living life quietly without causing any waves. He could have a wife, children, and a family.

"But this world isn't so simple..." Creed whispered as he thought of the corruption update from the game. If that were happening here, then no place in the universe would be safe. Creed would have to get as strong as possible and amass an army to protect himself from corruption's horrors.

'Galactic wars will result in entire planets being destroyed. If I don't have a ship by the time one of these wars get here, then I'm as good as finished,' Creed thought in despair but quickly pulled himself together and slapped his cheeks.

"I don't have time for this pity party. If I want to protect myself, I just need to get stronger, and this is the first step", Creed whispered as he placed the Bone-Enhancement Tonic into a mechanical syringe and then stuck it into his shoulder.

Creed felt an intense pain flow into his arm and then spread throughout his body. His bones felt like they were literally breaking apart and then healing themselves again on a molecular level. The pain was so excruciating that Creed almost passed out.

'It never hurt this badly in the game...', Creed thought as he grabbed a piece of cloth and bit hard into it.

The pain lasted for about three minutes until it finally subsided. However, Creed was already covered in sweat and panting heavily when a prompt appeared over his eyes.

[Achievement: Bone density permanently increased by 33%]