Having studied the Shop Introduction and Catalogues, Hermes moved through the marketplace with far more purpose now, entering precise keywords instead of wandering blindly.
It did not take him long to notice a pattern. The so called toys used by galactic overlords for their children made the computers and artificial intelligence of Earth look almost embarrassing by comparison.
What's more, some of the companies selling them clearly operated on a scale far beyond a single galaxy, and one name kept appearing again and again.
Hyperion.
Hermes entered their system storefront and bought himself one of their toys after careful consideration.
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela] [25,000 CC]
[Details: The flagship artificial intelligence of Hyperion, designed for high intelligence major transcendent children. It can assist in every field from strategic warfare to medical care. It runs on solar power, crude oil, coal, firewood, nuclear energy, and nearly every other conventional fuel. Ideal for little hands, ages three and up, eager to create their first tiny planets.]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela Add-on] [Boohoo Away] [10,000 CC]
[Details: An add-on that can heal any cellular life forms currently under your care and assist with transcendent injuries. It can also fully support gene modification for multicellular organisms, energy based life forms, and minor transcendent creatures.]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela Add-on] [Whoosh Whoosh] [5,000 CC]
[Details: An add-on that helps you operate all types of vehicles, whether powered by magic, occult arts, or technology. Parental supervision is advised. Please purchase the Track My Baby add-on to monitor your child's growth from afar.]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela Add-on] [Build-a-Planet] [7,500 CC]
[Details: Add-on that can help you build structures, make mountains, even terraform planets with the proper materials. If you are an adult, please sign our terms and agreement acknowledging that we are not responsible for any accidents under our no sue-back policy.]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela Add-on] [Bam Bam] [10,000 CC]
[Details: An add-on best suited for children moving at speeds below Mach 10. It can serve as a punching bag while delivering soft, playful return hits. Setup takes under five minutes. Parental supervision is advised. No refunds. If you are an adult, please sign our terms and agreement acknowledging that we are not responsible for any accidents under our no sue-back policy.]
Hermes narrowed his eyes. The items he had just bought were suddenly grayed out. That could only mean they were either fully sold out or gone for a while. Either way, he needed to make sure he stayed ahead of the rest. Hermes clicked on the brain icon in his inventory, and a transcendent mind floated within a glass chamber like living lightning, its neural branches blazing pink and blue.
"Are you my master?" a neutral voice echoed in Hermes's mind.
"Yes, I am," Hermes answered at once.
A separate interface unfolded across his vision. It did not pretend to be the system itself. It was far simpler, marked by a stark black and white design.
[Choose Ownership Type: Sole, Open-Shared, Parent & Child]
[Seraphic AI Gabriela Skin Preference: Personalized, Full Efficiency, Full Aesthetic]
Hermes did not hesitate. He chose sole ownership and pure efficiency.
The living lightning changed at once. The blazing pink and blue branches of the transcendent brain folded inward, reshaping themselves into a small, palm sized feminine saint.
She had an ethereal, radiant figure dressed in flowing white robes layered with lavish gold ornament. Her face was soft and youthful, almost porcelain in its smoothness. Her eyes remained lowered beneath long delicate lashes, lending her an air of serenity and quiet reverence.
Hermes found it easy on the eyes. Then he glanced at his inventory and pulled out the Boohoo Away add-on, a massive pure white cache nearly three cubic meters in size. He tried to push it, but it did not budge an inch.
"Go on." He pointed at the large cache.
"Master, give me a name," the small saintly figure said.
"Gabby. Gab for short. Is that fine?" Hermes asked.
He felt no emotional attachment to the artificial intelligence. He only wanted a name his mouth could produce quickly when time mattered.
"Thank you, Master," Gabby said, and entered. Then she added, "Master, you may give me all the add-ons so I can integrate them into myself. That way, you will not need to take them in and out each time."
"All right. We'll do that."
Hermes took out all his purchases. Before long, the little saint grew until she stood at his height, each add-on unfurling another pair of wings until she bore eight pairs in all. Then she moved to his side in silence, already aware that her master had no need of her for the moment.
That pleased Hermes. Efficiency was always beautiful, and now he could turn his full attention to the true purpose of his spending.
Hermes had read the instructions thoroughly, and the learning pills had armed him with all manner of new knowledge.
He had risen by taking calculated risks to their furthest edge. Now that the universe had given him a chance to court death, kiss it, and drag it into his bed, he meant to oblige.
[Purchased x1,000] [Hyperion Mutation Stabilizer] [50,000 CC]
[Purchased x500] [Hyperion Trait Purge Agent] [50,000 CC]
[Purchased x100] [Hyperion Six-Kingdoms Genetic Stabilizer] [100,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Animalia Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Plantae Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Fungi Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Bacteria Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Archaea Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Protista Genome Awakening] [5,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Virus Trinity Kit: Immunize, Metabolize, Integrate] [15,000 CC]
[Purchased] [Hyperion Gestation Chamber] [20,000 CC]
Then Hermes moved on to what truly mattered, the thing he believed could break the game wide open in his favor.
[Purchased] [Space Titan Genetic Package]
[100,000 CC]
[Details: Natural rivals race of Star Sage Monkey. Hardiest registered multicellular creatures in the known cosmos. Creatures born from land and set to ride the sky, but all destined to travel the sea of stars. An Atlas and Hyperion Collaborative Product.]
[Compatible on all Hyperion DNA-related products.]
[Purchased] [Star Sage Monkey Genetic Package]
[100,000 CC]
[Details: Natural rival race of the Space Titan. Dubbed the fastest and most flexible multicellular creatures in the known cosmos. Born from stone and cloud. Fashioned by the universe itself to be curious and to delve into the unknown dark with their chosen tool in hand. A collaborative product of Badgers and Hyperion.]
[Compatible on all Hyperion DNA-related products.]
[Purchased] [Endermind Draconic Genetic Package]
[100,000 CC]
[Unparalleled intellectual growth paired with flawless perception across all senses, perfect photographic memory, hyper speed thought, and a starting capacity of one sextillion operations per second. This is not a naturally occurring race. A collaborative product of Mags & Hex together with Hyperion.]
[Compatible on all Hyperion DNA-related products.]
[Purchased] [Paradoxical Willow Mycelium Genetic Package]
[100,000 CC]
[Details: One of the most efficient nutrient distributors in the universe, so efficient that insentient specimens are purged on sight because they consume nearly everything in their path and are often mistaken for black holes by primitive civilizations viewing them from afar. Even so, insentient specimens are gentle by nature and do not feed with intent. Matter is simply caught along their path. A collaborative product of Xenos and Hyperion.]
[Compatible on all Hyperion DNA-related products.]
[Purchased] [Eldritch Spectral Wasp Genetic Package]
[100,000 CC]
[Details: One of the most bizarre insect species in the cosmos, capable of passing through stable material objects as though they were nothing. This creature is native to Hyperia, the home planet of Hyperion Corporation, and is bred exclusively there, as the species is currently endangered.]
But then Hermes, who had always treated luck as nothing more than a flattering word for intelligence dressed in ease, felt a hunch strike him.
It was the kind of business instinct that made a man like him draw tight in the gut, not a simple shiver, but the sick certainty that he was about to miss something priceless. So he trusted that intuition and went in one more time.
[Purchased] [Galactic Mischief and Deceit Leprechaun Genetic Package]
[150,000 CC]
[Details: Grants a voice so soft and pleasing that it interferes with cortisol, stress responses, and other multicellular mechanisms tied to anger or hostility. Your cells emit a subtle magnetic field that keeps you pleasing to the eye at all times, even when hidden beneath a cloak. It may also grant an unquantifiable intuition for fortune and misfortune, sharpened further by a properly working noggin. It does not make rainbows, shit gold, or grant wishes. Scavz Laboratories Exclusive.]
[Semi-compatible on all Hyperion DNA-related products.]
Hermes looked through the shop and sighed. He felt certain he had still missed too many of the good things and had only managed to buy himself a starter pack.
Rather than dwell on it, he took out every purchase and handed them over to Gabby.
She understood his intent at once, then repeated it back to him to make sure there was no mistake.
"Master, you want to awaken all genetic potentials from the six kingdoms of life. After that, you want the capacity to exist as both a viral and a cellular life form. On top of that, you want these six genetic packages integrated into you. Is that correct?" Gabby asked.
"Yes, that is correct. I know there is a risk of death. I only want you to focus on the DNA part," Hermes said, then pointed upward. "You do know this is the Worlds Collide Series, correct?"
"Correct. I am aware of its revival mechanics. However, Master, this may alter your entire appearance. Your visage may change, and you may no longer look the way you once did," Gabby said.
"Let's not sweat the small details. Oh, I almost forgot," Hermes said.
[Purchased] [Hyperion Seraphic AI Gabriela Add-on] [Sweet Memory] [5,000 CC]
[Details: An add-on that can record and stream. It equips your personal Gabriela with ten thousand scrying drones capable of flying, diving underwater, burrowing beneath the ground, and even traversing space while recording an area of up to one hundred kilometers.]
Hermes did not want to miss the money, but he had no intention of streaming himself to the universe just yet. Recording was enough. He understood far too well that broadcasting his secrets, his choices, and whatever monstrous combination he was about to forge would only invite disaster later.
Gabby caught the hesitation as she fitted the new apparatus onto herself.
"Master, you only want this recorded, correct?" Gabby asked.
Hermes nodded.
Soon she led him to a towering structure nearly twenty meters high, the Hyperion Gestation Chamber.
Hermes stripped off his clothes, then lowered himself into the liquid inside. The solution was thick, almost unnaturally viscous, yet he could still breathe within it.
Gabby ran her calculations.
The first thing she secured was her master's mind.
From her back poured a swarm of nanomachines, spilling into the vat like a silver plague.
They began with Hermes's limbs and torso, dismantling him piece by piece.
Arms gone. Legs gone. Chest, flesh, and organs stripped away until only his brain and nervous system remained.
Even then, Hermes stayed awake without any sign of pain.
His consciousness had been drawn back into that same silent theater the learning pills had once opened for him, but now there was no body to anchor it.
Then even his brain was taken apart, cell by cell.
What remained of Hermes became a true primordial soup, every fragment of him suspended and held together only by the nanomachines clinging to each cell.
Then the Hyperion Six Kingdoms Genetic Stabilizer began to pour into the vat.
His cells devoured it greedily. One by one, they shifted from their original colorless state into moving shades of the spectrum, reinforcing his genetic code from within for what was about to follow.
Then came the flood. Animalia. Plantae. Fungi. Bacteria. Archaea. Protista.
All of it was injected at once. His cells burst apart. The system brought him back. Then they burst again.
Hermes felt no pain, yet the vat reddened with his death again and again until it looked as though blood had been poured into it by the tankful.
Gabby had to drain away the excess fluid while the process continued.
This was not advanced medicine. This was something more impossible than that.
Perfect materialization.
A level of control so absolute that even Hyperion, for all its genius, could not imitate yet.
The mountain where Hermes had first arrived, more than two kilometers high, soon began to run red as Gabby dumped his broken genetic material while sorting out the strands that still held viability.
Soon, every cell had died. His consciousness drifted through the machine, with scraps of organic matter still clinging to him as if they were his limbs. Clearly, this was the exploited path.
Even in that bizarre new state, the system still recognized him as Hermes, while Gabby kept her hand on the trigger of his death switch, ready to jolt the material back to life at a command.
Together, they watched hundreds of thousands of stable genes sprang forth. Structures from single helix to decuple helix began to form, but for a living creature, the simpler the structure and the fewer atoms within the molecules, the better.
Gabby was able to isolate nine single helixes. The whole vat was thrown away.
Then she let these nine single helixes propagate.
Gabby fluctuated the temperature, radiation, and even adding extreme bases, acid, and corrosive agents.
After the mutation, only two remained stubbornly intact.
"Master, please decide. Do you want a devouring specialist with defensive growth, or do you want versatility across all fields with balanced growth?" Gabby asked.
"I chose versatility across all fields with balanced growth." Hermes through his consciousness.
The procedure was not finished. Gabby began injecting the Hyperion Virus Trinity Kit.
She propagated the structure Hermes had chosen into a cute, slime like creature. Then, before Hermes's eyes, the tiny viral being took a stance and hurled itself into battle against the quadrillions of viruses and strains Hyperion had collected, multiplying its own kind as it fought.
Clearly, his little slime would never have been able to move like that in any natural environment.
The slime broke apart, devoured what it could, spat out the uglier traits, then died. But whenever a total wipe occurred, the system revived the slimes at peak condition while Gabby sent them back into the fray.
Nearly twenty four hours passed before the chaos thinned. By then, only the slimes themselves remained, battling one another to the death until a single victor endured.
When the last one survived, even Gabby wore a look of quiet, smug pride.
Still, the triumph only revealed the next problem.
The foundation was indeed strong, among the very best even, but only within the category of primitive life.
It could not yet bear cosmic energy, spiritual qi, or arcane force within its structure. That was where the six genetic packages came in.
The Hyperion Gestation Chamber was flushed clean down the mountain once more. Then the remaining Mutation Stabilizer, Trait Purge Agent, and Six Kingdoms Genetic Stabilizer were portioned into tiny culture spheres, each one holding a piece of Hermes's slime as they drifted weightless inside the chamber like captive stars.
Then Gabby divided each of the six genetic packages into a trillion separate portions, squeezing every possible fragment of value from them.
The moment those materials touched the slime, fresh problems appeared.
Innate magnetism from the genetic packages disrupted the bonds. Atomic dissociation between primitive and highly advanced codes ruined otherwise promising sequences.
Thousands of minute failures tried to tear the process apart.
But the Hyperion stabilizers were costly for a reason. They were built from materials precise enough to anchor unstable genes and force them into coherence.
Another day passed. When it ended, only three viable genes remained from the entire effort.
Gabby calculated the projected growth of each resulting physique and displayed them for Hermes to review.
Hermes, who had spent the waiting hours on more useful work than panic, had devoted himself to deciphering the languages of the other nine participating races.
He was no true scholar of cells or genetics, and he knew better than to pretend otherwise.
Now a different choice stood before him.
It was time to decide what Hermes Laurent would become, and just as importantly, what he would look like when he stepped into that new shape.