[Intergalactic: Online 13]

Creed was covered in sweat but could instantly feel that his bones had become a lot denser than before. His bones would be harder to break now.

"I'll need high-quality materials to improve my bone density anymore, so I should focus on improving my physique. I'll keep my organs for last since they'll be the most expensive", Creed whispered to himself as he wandered off to the shower to clean himself up.

The next morning, Rea woke up and was surprised to see herself sleeping in the workshop bed. She looked around for Creed but couldn't find him anywhere.

Rea went upstairs and saw Creed having breakfast while her mother continuously served him pancakes.

"Morning, sweetheart," Tea said when she noticed Rea was awake.

"You seem really comfortable here now, don't you..." Rea said as she sat at the table and looked at Creed.

"Your mom was kind enough to make us breakfast. How can I not feel at home" Creed said with a smile as he grabbed another pancake.

Rea sighed while shaking her head. "Anyway, have you had the chance to speak to Pea?" Rea asked curiously.

Creed nodded his head thoughtfully while placing the fork down.

"Yes. He's given me some perspective on a lot of things..." Creed said as he thought back to the conversation he had with Pea earlier this morning.

Thanks to Pea's countless adventures during his time, the man was indeed very knowledgeable. Most citizens in this world were not too familiar with the greater universe and only served as consumers and workers for the massive corporations running the mega-cities.

Pea was one of the few individuals who knew things far beyond his position. Creed quickly learned that this was a planet the locals had named Verulian-9, but the greater Human Federation simply marked it as planet: X3-Y42.

This low-resource world served little strategic value to the wider Galactic Federation. Hence corporations quickly took it over and exploited what few resources remained.

The only resources left on the planet that the Federation is interested in are humans. So every year, hundreds of thousands of young men and women willingly enlist or are conscripted into the Galactic Federation Army to serve.

Creed also found out that the Galactic Calendar Year was 7231, which came as the biggest shock. After all, the game's events took place after the year 8000, meaning Creed was almost 800 years in the past.

'None of the game's major events have happened yet, and there isn't much lore around this time from the game, so I'm technically going into all of this blind...', Creed thought to himself with a sigh.

'This also means that I'm living in the beginning stages of the infamous thousand-year war...'Creed thought again while scratching his head. At this time, Humanity had recently discovered the Xean, who were waging a bloody war of conquest throughout the galaxy.

At first, Humanity hoped to find a peaceful resolution with the Xean. However, they quickly realized that the Xean were not a species that would ever consider peace. Every human diplomatic ship sent to the Xean was promptly destroyed.

Hence what would later be known as the great thousand-year war began. Humanity would find some early successes in the campaign against the Xean. However, this would quickly change as Humanity would be driven to the brink of destruction due to the high-tech weaponry and ruthless scorched earth tactics employed by the Xean. However, this changed when the Durani Alliance joined the conflict against the Xean, allowing Humanity to push back the Xean, who now had to fight on two fronts.

'Well, that's how it goes in the game's lore, but who knows if that's true. Also, according to the lore, we're at the point where Humanity is being pushed back, meaning hundreds of worlds will be destroyed...' Creed remembered that Verulian-9 did not exist in the game, meaning it was likely one of the destroyed planets.

Rea watched as Creed rubbed his head while switching between different expressions.

"According to Pea, the war hasn't reached Verulian-9 yet, but the number of yearly conscripts had increased..." Creed said in dismay. He was lucky that he didn't find himself in a world on the front lines, but being in an age of galactic-wide warfare was still terrifying.

"luckily, my Rea has been called on yet. I hope this silly war ends before that ever happens..." Tea said as a sad looked appeared in her eyes.

Creed could only sigh as his dreams of a peaceful life washed away.

'I don't have too many options left now. I can join the Federation Army and move up the ranks quickly. That way, I won't be deployed to any dangerous places and can use federation tech to improve my body, or I can somehow get my hands on a ship and become an outlaw...'

Creed was tempted to go with the outlaw route since it meant more freedom, but the dangers of running around by himself during a war were serious. After all, peddling goods and services during the war could make you rich, but it could also get you killed.

"Well, the war is very far away, so there is no point in thinking about it," Tea said.

Rea shook her head while gesturing for Creed to head back downstairs with her. Creed quickly finished his pancakes and went down into the workshop where Rea was waiting.

"Let's pick up where we left off last night. You were making something strange with those ingredients. Is it linked to Horizon in any way?" Rea asked curiously.

Creed smiled while shaking his head.

"Not exactly, but it is definitely necessary no matter who we want to go up against later," Creed said as he pulled out a vial.

"What is it?"

"It's a permanent performance enhancement."

"Narcotics?" Rea said with a shocked expression.

"Hey now, I'm no drug peddler. These are fully legal, or at least they will be one day..." Creed said the last part softly.

"...Sure, so what does it do?. Also, are there any side effects?"

"In simple terms, it improves bone health. There are no side effects if it is only used once. However, repeated usage is not recommended", Creed said as if reading a disclaimer label.

"Really?... Have you used it?"

"I have..."

"..."

"If you don't want it, you can give it back..."

"No, I want it," Rea said as she placed the vial into a mechanical syringe.

"Are you sure it's safe?..." Rea asked one more time, prompting Creed to sigh while showing her the mark where he had injected himself.

"Perfectly safe. All of the ingredients are organic, with some hyper-accelerants included. Just prepare yourself. It stings a bit..."

Rea didn't necessarily believe him but felt that he had no reason to lie after all this time, so she decided to just go for it.

Rea stuck the device into her arm and felt an immense pain take over her body. She fell to one knee and shivered as her bones creaked loudly.

Creed was impressed at her high level of pain tolerance as she gritted her teach and barely made any sounds.

"It just stings?..." Rea said with her teeth still gritted

After ten minutes, Rea breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she stood up while looking at Creed in disbelief.

"This feels amazing..." Rea said as she felt how sturdy her bones felt. The change wasn't massive, but something told her that her bones could now take a lot more punishment than they could before.

"How did you make something like this?"

"Secret family recipe..." Creed said while shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, if you sold it, you could become a millionaire. I'm sure the Federation would pay handsomely for the knowledge..."

Creed turned around and looked at her seriously.

"You can't tell anyone about this. If this recipe ends up in the wrong hands..." Creed said as he imagined how different the timeline would become if he were forced to introduce this recipe to the world at this stage.

'I need to keep my impact on the timeline as minimal as possible, or else my future knowledge will be useless...' Creed thought as he watched Rea slowly nodding her head.

"You're right..." Rea said as she saw the cold look in Creed's eyes slowly melt away.