Exploring possibilities (Complete)

After this I'm stopping author notes unless I have something to say.

4.25k words. Sorry for the delay, I was sick for a while so I couldn't really finish updating. I hope you enjoy!

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Within the most exclusive room of all inside an unrealistically grand and elegant hotel, a man sipped his earl grey tea casually while he contemplated his future actions. He sported a velvet red robe that was accompanied by soft gold embroidery, depicting the coming of spring and blooming of flowers. Before him shone a screen basking him in a warm light, causing his face to transform into that of an angel sent from above.

Decorated with sharp features, the man flashed a smile revealing his unusually sharp canines. "Finally, I can check my status!" He quickly selected the first option shown to him.

| [Status] |

[Skills] | 0

[Abilities] | 0

[Storage] | 0

"That's it? Where are my stats? Everybody knows that a system status always has stats!" Quinn couldn't hide his shock from his outrageous discovery.

<<You currently have not purchased or obtained anything, and stats as you call them, are best not to quantify as it is unhealthy to decide how strong one is based on their physical attributes>>

"I see your point, but can you please do this for me? I promise I will work harder." Giving his all at making puppy eyes seemed to have worked as the text on the screen changed.

| [Stats] |

[Strength] | 0.0000000001

[Stamina] | 0.0000000001

[Intelligence] | 0.0000000001

[Speed] | 0.0000000001

<<These stats are based on an average adult human male>>

His jaw went slack, and his arms went limp. Silence so strained, one would be able to hear a game console turning on easily. Quinn approached the system screen and spoke in ragged breaths. "Bro, you can't be serious. This has got to be a mistake! I lifted 100kg just ten minutes ago!" The system however, did not seem to be bothered by his desperate requests.

<<This entire world was created by the system just like your body. Thus you are cable of doing inhuman feats within this world>>

He fell to his knees as despair overtook him. "My whole life... Was it all a lie? Was I the weak one all along? Nay! I refuse to be defined by mere numbers! Remove the stat system!" At his command the screen's contents reverted to what they were. His blood pressure lowered, indicating just how relieved he was.

He muttered to himself in an annoyed manner. "Whatever, it's not like I needed any of that stuff anyways." Sipping some of his Earl grey to calm himself, he chose the next option after game developer.

[Analytics]

<<Currently no games are able to be analysed as they have not been completed>>

"Wait. What's the point of this anyways. We're not a company, we don't need to know what they like so we can improve in our next game. We do what we want when we want."

<<This is used to calculate the amount of energy we were able to leech from this process. That energy will be used to sustain ourselves and the rest will be given to you and the players in the form of nexons. This was written in the handbook that Luke requested to be made. It is recommend it for you to read it>>

"Look, I'm doing just fine the way I am. Why should I waste my time reading books, when I can drink martinis without any of the bad stuff happening! My friend, you should learn to enjoy life." Gauging if the system had any emotions Quinn, for some reason, attempted to troll it by selecting the fourth option on the screen in order to prevent it from talking back to him.

| [Shop] |

[Skills]

[Abilities]

[Equipment]

[Consumables]

-Balance: 10,000-

<<Keep in mind that you currently will only be able to purchase items related to a game that has been cleared by yourself and at least one player>>

"Hold on. So you're telling me, that I can't do anything with my money right now? C'mon, I worked so hard for that money! I made a whole game, and was forced to endure Luke's shenanigans while I was fighting leech people!" Despite his rants, nothing changed. Sighing he took his seat on the massage chair behind him, with his morale dampened. In his silence the system took it upon itself to introduce the next option.

| [Nexus] |

[Customize]

[Shop]

<<This is for customizing the Nexus. With it you can design a multitude of things ranging from roads, to structures, attractions. Most things added to the Nexus have to be bought in the shop>>

Hoping his hopes wouldn't be crushed again, he selected [Customize] excitedly. His vision flashed a bright gold, as his eyes began to glow. Recovering his vision, Quinn realized that he was no longer sat on a massage chair that was set on 'intense sensations', but floating in a black space with a grid of golden lines glowing beneath him.

"Woah. This feels so weird." Marveling the awesomeness of floating, he couldn't help but laugh. It was a great sensation, where one is falling yet stays still. He reveled in joy at his newfound activity for what seemed to be minutes, only to be interrupted by a message from his weird brother. Everyone's got that one messed up sibling that could use a punch.

The message read; "Where did you go? You're not in the hotel."

"Aha! He finally reveals that he's a stalker. System! Send him this: 'Where I go is my business, so stay out of it poopy face!' One must never be predicted, in order to remain at the top."

However, before the system could ask for confirmation and send the message. Another message from Luke arrived, reading: "I see, you're customizing the Nexus. Enjoy, and for future reference, I am not a childish insult"

Speechless, he lay floating aimlessly among the emptiness accompanied by only the dim light of the golden lines below. He recovered quickly thinking to himself that while Luke may have predicted his insult, he in turn predicted that he would predict vaguely, thus making him the one that was predicted! And while he could go on about how he was better than his brother, Quinn decided to be the bigger person and focus on the task at hand.

Summoning the screen, something which he learned to do instinctively, he looked at all the choices available for him to 'customize' the Nexus with. "Let's see what we have here... roads, skies... is that it?! Why are roads the only free thing that I can use?" Before the system could answer, he continued. "Sure, I get it. We need energy to make stuff happen, but how can you have roads but not have cars?!"

The system seemed to know that the question was rhetorical, as it did not respond. 'Might as well make some roads and have a nice sky while I'm still here.' The world began to warp as he slowly created roads following a larger grid-like pattern, as a sunny sky with little to no clouds began to take form in the space above. He also noticed that he could place the entrance of the hotel anywhere, because the outer appearance also cost nexons that he couldn't be bothered to spend. "This is weirdly satisfying. Fuck it, let's build! System! What do you have in store for me?"

<<It is recommended you buy the 'gate shop' package since it will allow you and others to travel more conveniently between realities. It has been discounted due to it being beneficial for the system as well, so you can buy it for 8,000 nexons>>

"Not like I'd be doing anything with those anyways. What could I even get anyways? Guns? You can buy them anywhere! It would be cooler to buy stuff like an arena."

<<The recommended arena for you costs 1,000 nexons, and allows fighters to revive and use weapons from games that they have already completed>>

Unable to hide his 'Aw, it's cute how you think you're better than me' smile, he chuckled and responded to the system's offer. "Look, I appreciate you recommending all this stuff. But I'm not a kid, I can make my own choices. Just show me the list of arenas and I'll pick the one that I think is best."

<<Loading all 640,503,646 possible arenas into the user's mind>>

<<Loaded>>

Silence. It echoed in the sunny world with roads spread across the horizon leading to nothing, one would look away in disgust if they saw his face. Radiant blue eyes nearly rolled up, a smile spread wide across his lips, and a tongue slathering his chin with drool. This did not go on for much longer, as he began to recover from his deranged state and made a decision. "Fuck you, if you wanted me to pick what you wanted you should have just said so, instead of overloading my brain with all the arenas. Who even needs an arena filled with cherub statues that eat human organs made of garlic bread?"

<<Purchases confirmed>>

"Are we done now? Can I make my super awesome world without you interrupting me?"

<<Silent mode activated>>

'Great, I can finally get to work.' Picking up the role of a perfectionist, Quinn made sure that each and every piece were aligned to the smallest degree; Planck length. This was all done by the system of course, he was only human after all. The design he ended up making was simple, the layout would be similar to a French plaza with the hotel as the centerpiece instead of a church. The Arena would be placed on the left of the church, while the gate shop would be at the other end of the plaza opposite of the church.

The arena was a simple one, made of wood that was built upon grass thus there wasn't much to talk about. On the contrary, the gate shop was an example of futuristic technology as it seemed to be made out of a unique alloy that captured the essence of the void and trapped it within its surface. Its structure was unique in the sense that it had a door shaped like a diamond and nothing else, it would create a bubble that covered the person who entered. The bubble would then slowly become opaque until it popped, teleporting said person to the shop. It's interior consisted of nothing but a rectangular room, that consisted only of the door that made bubbles, and a doorway two meters wide and five meters tall with a baby blue portal instead of a door.

Above the doorway, marked in the same blue was written "Resident Evil 0". 'That's disappointing. Guess i'll have to make more games for this to be more interesting.' Leaving the shop, he arrived before a grand entrance to a hotel designed to look like a cathedral. He left the design of the hotel to his... partner while he worked on the game, and though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he did like the design quite a bit. 'Might as well have the roads match the theme' spending 100 nexons to change the road into stone tiles fit for a grand plaza.

He couldn't help but crack a smile at the layout, and decided that it would probably be best to end it there. 'Who knew that building stuff could be so satisfying?' "System, bring me back to developer mode. I might as well make some new game modes for RE0 while they play. Oh and could you try to be more, you know, human?"

<<Orders confirmed>>

Those words did not echo as he slowly split into fragments of gold light.

...

Elsewhere in a hidden laboratory, a man wielding a mace happened upon a strange contraption. "Gówno! That is one ugly fridge. Why would that domina make me do this alone while she goes back to the house?" Strangely enough, this shirtless man was covered in weird tattoos.

Taking no notice of the buttons beside the 'fridge', he slowly licked the glass screen with his mace in hand. "Tastes like glass alright, I'm gonna have to smash the chladnička for that weird looking thing." He slowly walked backwards before charging the glass with mace in hand.

*BOING*

"Bulletproof, aren't maces spikier than bullets though? Ebiara, I'll just click the buttons on the side."

It wasn't long before an alarm sounded throughout the research facility as the glass opened up. Krish casually grabbed all the vials and stuffed them into a bag he made earlier using his shirt, while ignoring the loud wails shaking the walls. Slinging the handmade satchel over his shoulder, Krish ran to the hole in the floor just as the door to the laboratory shattered under the force of two hideous creatures.

"I guess that's what they call a face that only a mother can love, truly tragic." He quickly hopped into the hole, landing gracefully on the floor below. He maneuvered through the room with bookcases into the large hall wherein its structure suddenly shifted, all the while ignoring the clangs of metal falling from the floor above.

The roof of the hall was suddenly penetrated by the arm of a 'hunter'. "GRAUW! GRUGRR!" The monstrous cries for blood fell on deaf ears, as Krish sidestepped the slimy tendril posing as an arm swung at him by a group of leeches he liked to call 'Simon'. "UHR! GRAG BOU!" It was spectacular sight, watching a shirtless man with tattoos dance around the claws of a steroid pumped lizard, and the mucus of Simon.

The dance continued for several minutes as Krish would slowly edge towards the exit of the strange laboratory. "If only ma could watch me now, maybe she wouldn't have fed me all those chicken nuggets. Oh well, TO THE WEEDMOBILE!" In response to his hearty bellow, the whistle of a tram was blown by his partner in crime, Doreen.

The door to the tram station suddenly opened giving Krish the opportunity to escape. "Hey! The weed mobile is up and running, I just need to cut the brakes then we're good to go!" Not fully understanding the situation, he decided it was time.

The tattoos on his body suddenly lit up in a violent flash of white, as the veins and arteries adorning his muscles began to visibly bulge to the size of a twig causing his whole body to transform along with it. No longer was he possessing the body of an ex-soldier, for he now resides within the body of a beast. Dominating at a menacing height of 210cm with arms as thick as beer kegs, the hair on his head grew to the point it reached his waist while his bodily hair experienced a pubescent growth spurt.

Though it was a majestic sight, it became apparent that leech people and funky steroid arms held no care for epic power ups as they charged once more. This time however, it was no longer an arm attacking, but a hunter with a hunched back covered in sickly green scales. Giving its ally a one over, it had decided that the tattooed man posed a larger threat.

Wasting no time, the hunter lunged at Krish while Simon the leech swung his arms back like a certain rubber pirate. Dodging the oncoming blow of the hunter, Krish quickly struck back using his mace to strike the creature's abdomen. Taking advantage of his enemy's momentum, Simon slammed both arms forwards with the force of cannon only for his attack to be negated by a Molotov cocktail slamming into his attack.

"Don't take me for a fool Simon! I am aware of your inhuman strength and regeneration, yet it is useless before the fire I wield. As for you hunter, you are a cheap imitation of myself, what could you possibly do that I couldn't? Give up and I may spare your lives yet." Internally, Krish wasn't sure whether to find his words cringe or cool. The experiments on the other hand, didn't understand a word he said and continued their futile attacks.

It wasn't long before his ally reappeared, giving him the green light. "Sorry boys, but I've got a tram to catch." He tore a tile straight from the floor and threw it towards his sparring partners, hastily retreating to the tram station shutting the door behind him. What awaited him was a tram with something strange strapped to the back of it.

Though the doors to the tram were open, they were also bent and broken preventing them from operating properly. "C'mon man it's gonna leave in five seconds. Hurry up!" Blindly trusting his fellow player, Krish did not hesitate to make a mad dash for the tram, hoping in on the last second.

*BOOM*

The strange thing at the back of the tram blew up, providing enough force for the tram to be propelled forwards. It wasn't long before screeches echoed in the hollowed caves, marking the death trap of a tram barreling down the tracks without control.

For once Krish, who had returned to being his normal shirtless self, was the voice of reason. "Is this how we were supposed to do it? Blowing up the back of a tram and removing its brakes and controls?"

"What? I thought we wanted to finish first, so I skipped all the boring stuff and decided 'Hey! Why don't I use this body's knowledge of chemistry to make a bomb! That'll help us finish this faster!' So I built a bomb."

After a minute or so of them conversing about what to blow up and what not to blow up, their philosophical discussion was stopped short by the tram crashing into the iron bumper block, sending Krish's mace flying through the front window.

"And you lecture me about property damage? The nerve!"

Being the bigger person he was, Krish ignored the whining weasel and moved on with life. How had they remained unscathed from the devastating crash? Seat belts, one could not live without them.

After an unsuccessful attempt at trying to pry open the doors, Krish resorted to climbing out the shattered glass window. The broken glass shredded his skin as cuts and grazes appeared all over his body, marring the body of the ex soldier.

After a few more scrapes, Krish safely jumped off the wreckage and walked over to the crater on the wall. "I knew I should've put you in a seat belt. Sorry Jackie." Not far behind, Doreen launched herself deftly through the window, landing gracefully with only a few nicks here and there.

"Cute name. Why d'you never introduce me to her?" Doreen leaned over the crouching form of Krish as he caressed his beautiful mace. After five seconds without a reply, she decided it would probably be for the best if she gave him some green herbs from her pouch so he could heal up.

That soon prompted Krish to rise and inquire about whether she had a cloth he could use since he lost his when facing Simon and the hunter. Despite her not having any cloth on her, Krish thanked her for the help.

After Krish quickly snorted the crushed herbs, they decided to call it a day and saved at the nearby typewriter causing them to vanish into thin air.

...

His jade eyes rested upon the odd door shaped to be a rhombus, while two entities exited it. Their strides abruptly halted, as they were taken aback by the grandeur that greeted them. French stone roads, a mighty cathedral, a rather small wooden amphitheater, a great change from what they were used to. A breeze ruffled their clothes as they took in the warm afternoon sun.

Just as the man was about to walk over to the arena, another figure emerged from the cathedral approaching the pair. It was none other than his brother, Quinn, albeit with a few changes. Gone was the silky white hair and blue eyes, replaced by an odd combination of honey blonde hair and deep amethyst eyes. Uninterested in joining the group, Luke left for the arena to continue his experiments.

His golden screen welcomed him upon entering the arena, and it wasn't long before an avatar of himself made its presence known. "So, what's the combination for the experiment this time? I'd assume you would increase the amount of Gh and Rh, right?" Contrary to Luke, his avatar spoke informally in a non-monotonous tone.

"Indeed. System, commence recording of project STV: experiment 147. And fabricate the listed materials in the file already mixed with substance T being used as the base."

<<Materials fabricated. Recording has begun>>

A vial filled with a strange murky green liquid soon took shape before them, and along with it came a simple syringe. "All materials are accounted for, I will now begin the administration of STV-0-147 with hopes that the compound would be more stable once bonded with the subject." Picking up the vial, Luke poured its contents carefully into the syringe and approached his copy. "Administrating the solution."

It didn't take long for the effects to start showing. His joints locked as foam started emerging from his mouth while his skin stretched being drained of its natural pigment. Shortly after he collapsed, his body would spasm all over the floor, slowly his body underwent an evolutionary mutation. The bones and muscles in his body slowly grew in size causing his skin to stretch, while his organs would strain under the newfound pressure.

The spasms came to a halt as his heart vigorously pumped new blood around his body, freeing him from the agony of growth. Standing up his vision blurred, and he could hear indistinct mutterings.

"Strange...stable...loss of manhood..."

Sadly after he stood up, neither his vision nor his hearing improved, rendering him unable to properly communicate with Luke.

Uncaring for the agony of the test subject Luke voiced his thoughts aloud. "This subject's transformation is strange. Unlike previous tests where the subject would immediately undergo it's metamorphosis, this subject's evolution was far slower, it took an entire minute for the subject to complete it's transformation, possibly making it more stable. Apparent side effects are its loss of genitalia and lack of nutrients, recognized by the loss of pigment and thin skin tissue. System, commence physical tests from one to four."

<<Affirmative>>

Signaling that the first test had begun, the tyrant prototype from the resident evil game appeared in front of Luke's guinea pig, standing at 2.5m with its imposing figure slightly dwarfing Luke two, who measured only 2.2m tall.

Recognizing the tyrant from the game, Luke two quickly launched himself at the monster with his arm pulled back ready to swing. And as per Luke's instruction, the proto-tyrant took the attack head on.

*SHRACK*

The sickening noise originated from Luke two swinging his arm across the immobile tyrant's jaw, grabbing it with his hand before tearing it off the proto-tyrant's face in one swift motion. Upon seeing his opponent's jaw in hand, Luke two proceeded to stuff it in his mouth, promptly devouring it whole, letting out a small burp after swallowing his meal.

Witnessing the scene, Luke talked to himself about it being best to somehow add nutrients to the serum, preventing the recipient's suffering from a lack of nutrition.

He had done what little he could with access to the overdosed tyrant and herbs, in order to produce a superior evolutionary virus with less overall side effects compared to the original one. Preferably one with less drastic changes in appearance and intelligence.

During the short dialogue, Luke two managed to successfully rip both arms of his opponent, munching on them like chicken wings. Proving his strength and need for sustenance, Luke decided to put the second test into action. Yet another proto-tyrant made its debut, though this time it was ready to strike, appearing behind Luke two with its long hand claw raised. Luke two kept happily munching on his meal, unaware of the threat due to his faulty senses.

Using this to its advantage the proto-tyrant slashed at Luke two with the bone claw that replaced his hand.

"Greeaughr!" The attack had caused the back of Luke's mutated copy to tear all the way down to the bone. Showing no mercy, the proto-tyrant charged, using his claw as a knight would use his joust. It was caught by surprise however, as its target rotated at such a speed that the dumb creature couldn't understand was happening. Luke two managed to grab the foolish abomination's arm, successfully ripping it out of its socket and stabbed the monster's beating chest with it, causing it to collapse.

Sadly, Luke two could not celebrate his victory for he too collapsed, covering the floor with his blood.

"It seems that while subjects injected with STV-0-147 have noticeably enhanced physical attributes, their brain is unable to handle the strain originating from the underdeveloped version of the T-virus. More adjustments are necessary, upcoming tests must either dilute the progenitor T-virus, add other solutions capable of eliminating the effects it has on the brain, or enhance its mental activities. System, end the recording here.

<<Recording complete>>

'Perhaps I should look into the Queen leech, it did manage to seize control of a great scientist after all. Or maybe I should delve deeper into Billy and Rebecca, using them to dilute the virus. Either way I'll be heading into the game, so I might as well see if the players are still around. They might even be of aid in my research.'

With those thoughts in mind, he walked out the arena bearing a small smile.

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I would also like to thank everybody that got this far, thank you for your support!

Eat children