Standing in the empty white room, Jack contemplated the last two messages he had received. The first, [Achievement: Solidified connection to Soul Space], hinted at the possibility of more achievements. It also raised the question, What is a soul space?
Was this white room his soul space, or was the nothingness his soul space? He suspected that this white room was inside his soul space. When he reached again for that sense of nothingness in the back of his mind, he found that it had changed.
Instead of being vague and formless, it had become a solid box, and he could sense that he was inside the box. Remembering how he had no body before, when it was just nothingness, he decided that this white room was inside his soul space, maybe filling all of it. And beside the box in his mind that represented his soul space, he found a block of information. When he focused on the block of information, it transformed into a window, like a status screen from a game. It was like he had gained a third eye that could only see this interface.
Energy Points (EP): 1/1000 :-: (0/sec [1/sec])
Genesis Points (GP): 0
Soul Space Cost: 1/sec
When he focused on the numbers associated with Energy Points, additional information entered his mind that told him the first two numbers represented his EP storage. The first number was how many points he had, and the second number was his EP capacity. The second set of numbers told him how many point per second of EP he generated. The first number told him available EP/sec generation rate. And the second number told him his total EP/sec generation rate. The last item displayed, Soul Space Cost, told him why his available EP/sec was zero. His Soul Space was consuming all of his one point per second. He wanted to know what Energy Points and Genesis Points were, but focusing on the labels told him nothing.
[Achievement: Longest single Soul Space visit exceeded 1 second]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
[Achievement: At least one Genesis Point earned]
[Reward: Genesis Store Unlocked]
[Achievement: Total time spent in Soul Space exceeds 1 second]
[Reward: 1 Genesis Point]
His examination of his interface was interrupted by new messages, and his earlier suspicion that more achievements were possible was now confirmed. It looked like there were two, maybe three, ways to earn more Genesis Points. He suspected that if he continued waiting inside his soul space, he would eventually earn two more achievements. One for total time spent inside his soul space, and another for the longest single visit to his soul space. Given that his reward for earning one GP was a store unlock, he didn't think he could earn GP by earning GP. That would be weirdly recursive. And the appearance of his store probably answered his early question about what could be done with Genesis Points.
When the [Reward: Genesis Store Unlocked] appeared, he had also felt his interface change. When he checked, he found a new section added that contained a list of items that he could purchase, or unlock, with Genesis Points.
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 on the list would allow him to increase his Energy Points generation rate and Energy Points storage capacity. His almost empty soul space already consumed all of his one EP per second, so he assumed he'd need to use these two upgrades in the future. The items stated a specific increase target, so he hoped that when he used them, they would be replaced with new items that would allow him to increase his rate and capacity to 3/sec and 3000. It would be strange if he was limited to just 2/sec and 2000.
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.
The Template Catalog was not very impressive as described. Sure, he would need to spend time in his soul space if he wanted to earn more GP, so being able to sit on something other than the floor would be nice. But beyond that, he wasn't sure if this would be very useful.
Unlock Time Acceleration
-Cost: 100 GP
-Description: Accelerate time inside your soul space so that it advances faster than time in the outside world.
Now this could be useful! Time Acceleration would allow him to make the time inside his Soul Space run faster than time in the real-world. He could remember times when he had only thought of a witty reply to someone later, after the conversation ended. Or, when he wished he had more time to think about how to answer a question on a test. This feature might solve those problems. It didn't say how much acceleration it would provide, but even 2 to 1 would be useful for test taking. He was going to unlock this feature as soon as he had enough GP. And, just as he thought this, more messages appeared.
[Achievement: Longest single Soul Space visit exceeded 10 seconds]
[Reward: 10 Genesis Points]
[Achievement: Total time spent in Soul Space exceeds 10 seconds]
[Reward: 10 Genesis Points]
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. And it looked like the two soul space time achievements had a geometric progression. 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 thought about unlocking the template catalog, given he had enough GP now, but decided to keep looking at the store catalog. He didn't want to spend the points, then find he was only 10 away from being able to unlock something even better.