Over the next few days, Thomas continued to work with Amber to perfect this new 'system' he was creating. The first hurdle was the fact that anything he wanted people to be able to do needed a button. By the task window, he created the status button, which would open and close the status screen. The plus buttons next to the stats would increase the stats to the next whole number. It turned out, other people had to spend their points for them to have an effect, unlike with Thomas, so without the buttons, it'd be pointless. Additionally, he created a recovery button in the status page, with the cost in points displayed next to it.

The next issue was the problem with tasks. People other than him couldn't create their own tasks, so if he wanted them to have any, he needed to give it to them himself, which… wouldn't work. While he did learn that besides the first task, he didn't need to touch Amber again to issue tasks, it wasn't like he could spend his days micromanaging the actions of everyone he decided to give the system to. Therefore, he decided to see if he could figure out a way to automate task creation. Through some experimentation with Amber, he created five rules.

First, a task would only be created if the reward for completing it exceeded a certain point value, determined by the user.

Second, tasks would be created in line with the user's desires. For example, if a person wanted to be a famous scientist, the system would issue tasks related to performing research, solving problems, or publishing papers.

Third, repeatable tasks would be set and updated so that they maintained a set reward, as determined by the user.

Fourth, tasks must be able to be completed in a reasonable amount of time, as determined by the user.

Fifth, tasks must have a clear objective.

After creating these rules, Thomas made a few more changes. First, he created a settings page. It separated tasks into daily, minor, and major tasks, then allowed the users to determine the minimum number of points, the maximum amount of time, and the maximum amount of tasks for each one. He then created a task page, which allowed users to see the reward value of tasks and to dismiss tasks they no longer wanted to complete. He also included a notification system that would alert the user if a high reward task was available and their tasks were full, allowing them to accept it anyways, though this could be turned off in the settings page. Finally, he created a [Gift System] option, which required the user to be in contact with the person they wanted to give the system to. It was in the options page, and it would light up when the user came in contact with a person.

Thomas actually felt a bit ashamed he hadn't made a few of these updates earlier for himself. Knowing how many points a task would reward before he completed it would have been rather helpful. He no longer had to play a guessing game to determine how many points an exercise would grant him. He just let the system calculate it for him automatically.

As he sent the latest version to Amber, he looked at his own task window and sighed. With the automatic task creation update, he'd been getting new tasks of his own, and they all seemed to revolve around a single issue.

[Talk to your crush and learn her name. (0/1) - 5 pts.]

[Spend an hour hanging out with your crush. (0%) - 10 pts.]

[Take your crush out on a date. (0/1) - 20 pts.]

Apparently, his desires currently revolved around the cute girl he shared three classes with, and he wasn't very happy about it. Thomas recognized he had a crush, but he also recognized it was only based on the most superficial details, mainly that she was cute. Much like the tasks suggested, he didn't even know her name. It didn't feel appropriate to approach a girl based on such inconsequential reasons. Thankfully, Thomas could always make his own tasks, so he didn't need to worry about it too much.

*I wonder what sort of tasks Amber is getting.* Thomas pondered, chuckling to himself. She was stuck with her tasks, so he could imagine the awkward position she was in. The moment he thought this, a page appeared in front of him, showing a list of tasks. *Well… that is awkward.*

"So, guess what I learned today." Thomas said as he and Amber were working out together later that day. "Apparently, I can view other people's pages, including the task screen."

Immediately Amber stopped what she was doing, flushing as she turned to him. "So you saw…?"

"Indeed I did." Thomas confirmed with a nod. "What's up with that?"

"Well… it's just, I'm always so disciplined you know? Here every day working out, getting my homework done early, and… well, sometimes you just want to let loose, do something crazy." Amber explained sheepishly.

"I guess." Thomas replied noncommittally.

"Well… since you know about it… would you mind helping me complete it?" Amber asked, looking up at him with a combination of hopefulness and nervousness.

Thomas was about to reject her, when a new task appeared.

[Help Amber Complete Her Task. (0/1) - 4 pts.]

Immediately Thomas became conflicted. Of course, the task wasn't exactly distasteful, but he was somewhat worried about the aftereffects. He pondered back and forth for a bit, before finally sighing. "Alright, yeah, let's do it."

"Thank you!" Amber exclaimed happily, before grabbing his wrist and leading him towards a back room.

"Okay, before we start, I just want to make sure you've thought this through and you're not going to get all emotional once we're done." Thomas said carefully, as Amber closed the door behind them.

"Don't worry, once we're done, we can forget it ever happened. I'm not going to hold anything against you." Amber assured him.

Thomas sighed again, still slightly hesitant. "Alright, let's just get it over with then." He finally announced, and Amber lept at him.

A short while later, they were both lying on the floor, covered in sweat, panting heavily. "Fuck, that was intense." Thomas groaned.

"And incredibly satisfying." Amber added.

Thomas scoffed. "Maybe for you. I'm pretty sure you bit me at some point."

"Like you're one to talk." Amber shot back. "I can't even count the amount of times you pulled my hair."

"Hey, I needed leverage, and that ponytail of yours is like a natural handle." Thomas retorted, groaning as he climbed to his feet. "Man, we sure made a mess in here." He commented as he looked around and helped Amber up as well.

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up. It was my idea in the first place." Amber stated, before giving him a sidelong glance. "You… wouldn't happen to want to go another round, would you?" She asked, slightly hopefully.

"I am drained, woman! Are you really that insatiable? The task is done and so am I." Thomas immediately rejected her, shaking his head incredulously.

"Yeah, yeah." Amber rolled her eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Ostensibly." Thomas shot over his shoulder, exiting the room. As he headed out, he shook his head, muttering to himself. "'Fight someone for real.' I'll never get that woman." He muttered to himself, rubbing his eye, already feeling it start to swell. "Man, I hope the recovery button works on bruises."

The next morning, Thomas rested with his head on his desk, very much not happy. It turns out, legitimate injuries are just a bit more expensive to recover than exhaustion. By the next morning, it still cost over seven points, which, considering he only got four points for the fight, would be a complete waste. So he had to go to class with all his aches and pains intact while he waited for the cost to decrease.

"Are you okay?" He heard someone ask him as they sat in the seat next to him.

"Not particularly, but I'm sure I'll manage." Thomas grumbled, raising his head slightly, before quickly straightening as he noticed it was actually his crush sitting there, looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Oh my… did you get into a fight?" She asked as she took in the damage on Thomas's face, particularly the swollen eye.

"Uh, yeah… but I should be better in a few days." Thomas explained, slightly nervously. He wasn't exactly used to receiving this amount of attention from someone he liked.

The girl clicked her tongue. "How could someone do this to you? I swear, this world is getting worse and worse every day." She grumbled.

Thomas flushed awkwardly. "Actually, this was more… self inflicted. See, I've been going to the gym recently, and I've been hanging out with this one girl. Apparently, something she's always wanted to do is get into a real, actual fight with someone, and well… compared to the rest of the gym regulars, I'm more on her level, so…" Thomas gestured vaguely to his face.

The girl gave him a weird look. "I can't tell whether you're a good friend, or an absolute idiot."

"Little column A, little column B… though I'm really feeling like column B right now." Thomas responded.

The girl let out a short laugh, shaking her head. "I'm Jessica, by the way." She introduced herself with a smile.

[Talk to your crush and learn her name. (1/1)]

"Thomas." Thomas replied. "So, how are you enjoying the class?"

"It's different than I thought it'd be." Jessica sighed.

"Yeah, I get that." Thomas sighed in agreement. "I always thought programming would be more… effective. It seems like we put in a whole lot of effort for minimal results."

"Right?" Jessica nodded in agreement. "I mean, I don't particularly mind all the functions, but all the little rules like brackets and semicolons… I mostly worked with Python before this, so it just throws me."

"What were you doing with Python?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Just small math problems that didn't go into a calculator well, or I had a lot of variables for." Jessica explained. "Oh, I also made a random outfit generator. Essentially, I just take pictures of myself in all my tops and bottoms, and upload them to a top folder and a bottom folder. Then the program randomly selects a picture from each folder and displays them one over the other, giving me a general idea of what I'd look like wearing those clothes."

Thomas raised his eyebrows appreciatively. "Outstanding. I haven't even touched programming before this. Though… I don't have much of an issue picking out clothes. All my pants look the same, and I just cycle through seven shirts every week, or eight actually, cause laundry day, and a few of those are doubles."

"So that's what it is!" Jessica exclaimed. "I was wondering why you seem to wear the same thing every day, but you don't have that 'I never wash myself and don't even notice' smell."

"Yeah, I just have an incredibly boring fashion sense. Primary colors and cargo pants." Thomas nodded.

"It isn't like you're the only one." Jessica pointed out, gesturing at the various similar outfits around the room. "You guys are so lucky to have avoided the rigmarole that is fashion." She sighed, before noticing the teacher arrive. "Well, I hope you feel better soon. You're in my calc class at one, right?"

"And Physics at eleven." Thomas nodded.

"Really?" Jessica asked, looking confused. "I never see you there."

"Well, I always sit in the back, plus I have class before and after, so I'm always getting there right before it starts and I have to rush out right after." Thomas explained. "I packed all my classes between eight and two, Monday, Wednesday, Friday… it seemed like a good idea at the time."

She gave him a weird grin. "You just don't have a good grasp on consequences, do you?" Thomas was about to retort, but before he could, the teacher began the class, so he had to quiet down. Jessica shot him a mocking grin, before turning to pay attention herself.

"So you are here!" Jessica exclaimed, sitting down next to Thomas in their Physics class. "I thought you said you were always late to this class."

"Not late, more like right on time." Thomas retorted. "And apparently my English professor is sick today, so she canceled class… kinda wish I'd checked my emails before I sat there for fifteen minutes."

"Gotcha." Jessica nodded. "Whatcha doing?" She asked, looking over at his phone.

"It's this game called ball sort puzzle." Thomas answered, showing it to her. "You can only place the balls on top of the same color, or in an empty tube, and you try and get all the balls of the same color together. It's… well, I'm not sure if I'd say it's exactly entertaining, but it kinda draws you in."

Jessica nodded appreciatively, when a guy approached them. "So we're sitting back here today?" He asked, sitting down on the other side of her, shooting Thomas a slightly wary glance.

"Hey! Thomas, this is Mark. Mark, this is Thomas. He's another computer science major." Jessica introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you." Thomas greeted him with a wave.

Mark just nodded back, before focusing on Jessica. "What'd you think of the homework?"

"It wasn't bad. I mean, we're pretty much just reviewing high school at this point, right?" She answered.

"Seriously." Thomas agreed. "I kinda feel like my intelligence is being called into question with some of these classes."

"Oh my god, right?" Jessica agreed. "It's like they assumed we forgot everything in the three months between high school and now."

"Isn't it nice to have a refresher though?" Mark interjected. "It's kinda like getting into a pool. Sure you could jump right in, but it's more comfortable to go slow."

Thomas frowned. "I don't know… to me it feels more like being forced to use training wheels after spending years riding a bike without them. I mean, we pay to be here, to actually learn. Being forced to attend classes that progress at a snail's pace is literally wasting our money."

"Yeah!" Jessica agreed. "I mean, I get it wouldn't be for everyone, but couldn't they at least offer an accelerated program?"

"I mean, not for everything, but I'd totally be down for a class that did Physics one and two in a single semester." Thomas nodded. "Also, why limit us to eighteen credits? If we can take more, why not let us?"

"It's all because of money." Jessica sighed. "The longer we spend here, the more money they get."

"Ugh, money." Thomas sneered in disgust. "I almost wish we could live without it. Of course, I also recognize that without money, I'd pretty much lose all motivation to do pretty much anything, so… a necessary evil."

"What, are you saying that without some form of compensation, you'd just do nothing?" Mark questioned him.

"My interests are reading, playing video games, and watching TV… that's pretty much it." Thomas explained, raising his fingers. "None of that is particularly expensive. If I didn't need money to survive, I'd probably just get by working part-time at some fast-food joint or something and be perfectly happy."

"Isn't that just lazy?" Mark retorted.

"Not doing things you're supposed to do is lazy." Thomas responded. "Not doing things you don't want to do is just life. If you have no inclination to do something, and there's no reward for doing it, forcing yourself to do it just because is essentially masochism."

Mark frowned at him, while Jessica had a thoughtful expression on her face. "So what you're saying is that money provides the motivation for people to do things that they normally wouldn't do? Wait… Nevermind, that's just obvious." Jessica commented.

"Well, yeah." Thomas grinned. "But it's more that people will do whatever they feel benefits them the most. Of course, there's a special emphasis on feel, because some things feel beneficial when they really aren't. Like being famous. It feels like something you should want, but really you just get a bunch of people poking into your private life for little to no benefit. I bet Zuckerberg wished he just had the money, and people would stop making memes suggesting he isn't human."

Mark shook his head. "I disagree. People aren't just cost and benefit analysis machines. Besides there's plenty of examples of people doing incredibly selfless things for no reward, like that guy who created the polio vaccine."

"Well, no, what we view as selfless is actually just valuing a different form of benefit. I couldn't say exactly what the polio guy got out of it, but he absolutely valued more people having access to the vaccine over personal gain. If you consider it this way, then what he did is absolutely the most beneficial act he could have taken for himself. Whether it was for fame, or for helping people, or whatever, his greatest benefit lied in making sure that the largest number of people got the vaccine, not in making a ton of money." Thomas countered. "The very fact that those people actually received the vaccine was his reward."

Mark scoffed. "Using that logic, anything can be a benefit."

Thomas frowned. "Yeah? Is there a problem with that?"

Mark was about to retort, when Jessica cut him off. "Guys, class." She muttered, pointing towards the front, and they both quieted down to listen to the professor. "Ugh, I can barely read the slides." She grumbled, squinting towards the front of the class as she took notes. She turned to look at Thomas, whose head was bobbing up and down as he struggled not to fall asleep. He hadn't been able to use the recovery button that morning, plus he hadn't slept well due to his injuries, so he was back to his usual tired self. She poked him with the end of her pencil, jolting him awake. He turned to her with a slightly embarrassed grin, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you actually learning from back here?" She asked skeptically in a low murmur, leaning in close to him.

Thomas nodded with a yawn. "I'm an auditory learner. As long as I hear it, I get what I need to know. Especially since he repeats himself every fifteen minutes."

"And you don't take notes?" She asked.

"It just distracts me." Thomas answered with a shrug. Jessica gave him an evaluating look, before returning her attention to the professor. The class progressed, and the moment the teacher finished, Thomas got up, waved a quick goodbye, and shot off towards his next class. Jessica had a strange look on her face as she watched him go.

"What's up with you?" Mark asked as he got up and started packing up his things, noticing she was just sitting there with a thoughtful expression.

Jessica shook her head. "Oh, nothing." She responded, getting up and gathering her stuff together as well. "He was an interesting guy, wasn't he?" She commented a short bit later.

"He was definitely strange." Mark grumbled back. "You heading to lunch now?"

Jessica started to nod, before pausing as something occurred to her. "Actually, no… I think I'll go after my calc class."

Thomas made it to Calculus around twelve fifty-nine, right before the class was about to start. As he walked in, he was about to head towards his usual seat, when he noticed Jessica waving at him, gesturing towards an empty seat beside her. Thomas hesitated slightly, because the seat was in the front row, but he couldn't actually think of a reasonable objection to her invitation, so he took the seat. They nodded at each other, but before they could start talking, the professor began the class.

Thomas immediately regretted his decision to sit up front. See, when you're nodding off towards the back of the class, professor's don't seem to particularly mind. However, as Thomas propped his head up, staring at the professor with a dazed look, right in front of him, the professor couldn't help but shoot him a few glances of disappointment, along with traces of contempt. Honestly, Thomas did better than usual, actually maintaining consciousness throughout the entire class, though there were a few close calls, but he could tell he'd made a bad impression.

"Alright, we'll stop here." The professor finally announced. "Remember, there's a test on Friday, so make sure you're prepared." He warned, with a particularly focused glance towards Thomas.

"I'm beginning to suspect he doesn't think very highly of you." Jessica muttered cheekily as they gathered up their stuff.

Thomas sighed. "I just can't help it. Something about the way he talks just knocks me out. It doesn't help that he's the sixth class of the day either."

"Then how do you explain Physics?" Jessica asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Comfy seats." Thomas responded immediately. He then noticed Declan about to leave, and waved him down.

"What's up?" Declan asked, heading over.

"Not much, I was just wondering if you had gotten lunch yet. I have a thing I want to talk to you about." Thomas explained, thinking it was about the right time to add a new user to the system.

"I got lunch before class and I have another right after this." Declan explained with a shrug. "What's the thing?"

"It's a kind of beta test type thing. I'm not in any particular hurry though, so whenever you're free." Thomas responded.

Declan nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds interesting. Let me get your number, and I'll text you." They quickly exchanged numbers, and Declan headed off towards his next class.

"So, a beta test?" Jessica asked him as they walked out of the class together. "Are you making a game or something?"

"Something like that." Thomas nodded.

"Could I help?" She asked, giving him a sidelong glance, trying not to look too interested.

Thomas paused. "I… don't see why not…" He muttered somewhat noncommittally.

"You don't have to include me if you don't want to." Jessica quickly responded, noticing Thomas's hesitation, though she did feel a bit hurt by it.

Thomas shook his head. "It isn't that, it's just it's a little… weird. I'm not sure how comfortable you'd be with it."

Jessica raised an eyebrow at him. "What, are you working on some anime dating sim or something?"

"Huh? No! Nothing like that. It's more… well, you probably won't believe me until you see it for yourself." Thomas responded with a sigh.

Jessica looked at him weirdly. "Just to let you know, if you want to actually market whatever this thing is in the future, you're going to have to get better at explaining it."

"Oh, don't worry. Demand will not be an issue with this product." Thomas grinned. "I just want to make sure all the bugs are worked out before I spread it."

Jessica frowned again. "This is beginning to sound like a virus."

Thomas paused thoughtfully. "Well, it is spread through touch…"

Jessica glared at him. "Are you purposefully trying to confuse me?"

"No, it's just…" He tried to think of a reasonable way to explain the system, without literally just giving it to her now. He then noticed they were pretty close to the cafeteria, and she was still following him. "Are you getting lunch too?"

"Yup. Is that a problem?" Jessica responded, giving him another sidelong glance.

"No. Actually, I can probably explain this while we eat, so it works out pretty well." Thomas replied. They entered the cafeteria and began filling their plates, before finding a table.

"So, have you figured out how to explain your… apparently touch based thing that requires a beta test?" Jessica asked after they got situated.

Thomas sighed. "Yeah, but… you're probably going to think I'm crazy until you actually experience it."

"I'll try to keep an open mind." Jessica responded, rolling her eyes.

Thomas frowned as he tried to psych himself up for the explanation. "Okay, so… well, essentially… Okay, a little over a week ago, I figured out I could… Well, I actually didn't really figure it out until a bit later, but I… Well, there's these tasks, and if I complete these tasks, I get points, which I can use to make myself stronger, smarter, heal myself, stuff like that…"

Jessica frowned at him. "If you can heal yourself, then why…" She gestured at his swollen eye.

"Oh, I'm just leaving that cause it costs like seven points to heal, and I only received four points for the fight… just doesn't seem worth it." Thomas responded. "Anyways, I figured out I can make the tasks and other things, like a status window, settings, stuff like that, and give it to other people. So… I'm asking people to try it out before I go and make it widely available. You know, make sure there aren't any glaring flaws that would make it unusable."

Jessica pursed her lips and nodded at him. "You were right… I don't believe you."

"Yeah, I figured." Thomas sighed. "I can literally give it to you right now, I just need to be touching you first."

Jessica gave him a suspicious glare, before reaching out her hand. "Do it then." She said in a challenging tone. Thomas looked at her hand, sighed, and took a hold of it, before transferring the system to her. "You know, you didn't have to make up some weird story just to h-Holy shit fuck!" Jessica exclaimed as the system popped up, her eyes widening and jaw dropping.

"Told you." Thomas grinned, watching her astonished expression. "Actually, the way the system takes commands is a lot like programming, so you could probably be pretty helpful."

Jessica didn't even bother to respond as she looked through the few pages the system had, staring at them in disbelief. That is, until she got to the tasks page, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You said you're the one who makes the tasks, right?"

"Kinda." Thomas nodded. "Actually, that's the main thing I need tested. See, I figured I wouldn't have time to give everyone their own personal tasks, so I've been working on getting the system to issue tasks automatically. It does, but we're still working out the kinks in how appropriate the tasks actually are, hence why me and Amber got in a fight yesterday. In the settings page, you can adjust how many you get, how long it should take to complete, the minimum amount of points a task should reward, stuff like that. Then the tasks are supposed to be based around what you actually want to do. So far it seems to be more in line with repressed desires, which… well, if we have a bunch of people who are suddenly motivated to do things they want to do, but aren't exactly comfortable doing for whatever reason, we'll probably have some issues."

Jessica furrowed her brow. "So, any task I receive should be something I actually want to do?"

"That's the idea." Thomas nodded, before noticing they were still holding hands. "Uh, you can let go, by the way."

Jessica quickly snapped her hand back, looking flustered. "Ahem… sorry about that." She glanced back at the task window, before shaking her head. "A-anyways, you're worried about task creation."

"Right." Thomas nodded. "Essentially, right now, as long as the user wants something, and the point reward is high enough, a task is created following the parameters. It works, and as far as I've noticed, the tasks aren't horrible but I still feel like it could be better, you know?"

Jessica thought over this, tapping her chin. "Remember what you said earlier, about people wanting things that seem beneficial, but aren't? Like being famous. What if you included a qualifier that judged whether a task was actually beneficial to the user or not?"

Thomas nodded. "That seems like a good idea, but how? Just to warn you, the system is pretty dumb, like a computer. Complex judgment calls might be out of its ballpark."

Jessica frowned. "Huh… wait, so the system can read people's desires, right?"

Thomas nodded. "Apparently."

"Well, can it read their morality as well? If you can set it up so that any task that conflicts with the user's morality is ignored, that should help right?" Jessica suggested.

Thomas raised his eyebrows, nodding in appreciation as he considered her suggestion. "That could work…" He pulled up the rules governing the automatic task creation and added a sixth: If a task conflicts with the user's sense of morality, the task will not be created, despite their desire. He then sent the update to both Jessica and Amber. "There, we'll see how that works." Thomas nodded in satisfaction. "Any other ideas?"

"What about the converse? If there's something they feel they should do, but they don't actually have any desire to actually do it, shouldn't a task be created?" Amber offered again.

Thomas grinned, and added the seventh rule: If a user believes something should be done, a task will be created as long as it fits the set parameters, even if their desire to actually do it is lacking. "You're pretty good at this." Thomas complemented her.

Jessica grinned back, before pausing and getting a weird look on her face, as she studied her hands intently. "Okay, so, I'm not dreaming, right? Because this feels a bit surreal."

Thomas shrugged. "I couldn't say if you were or not, seeing as if you were, I'd just be part of the dream… but from my perspective, this is absolutely real."

Jessica pressed her palms into her temples. "Ugh, this is making my head feel fuzzy." She groaned. "It's like my mind was on one track, then the world suddenly shifted ninety degrees straight up and my mental train is struggling to keep going."

"Sorry?" Thomas apologized hesitantly, not sure what else to say.

"Oh, God, reality is a simulation and I've just been handed a cheat console." Jessica continued in a slightly horrified tone.

"You know, I've never really gotten the issue people have with the idea that our world might be a simulation. I mean, it's real enough, isn't it?" Thomas commented with a frown. "Honestly, if the world was just a simulation, what would it really change? It isn't like we can change anything and our actions still have an effect on our environment. It'd essentially just be a kinda neat fact that has little to no bearing on our actual lives."

Jessica looked at him with wide eyes, before frowning and looking down at the table in thought. "I've never thought of it that way before." She muttered.

Thomas grinned at her. "You know, you're pretty easily distracted by stuff like that."

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, you seem to forget everything else once you have a problem to think through." Thomas elaborated. "It's kinda cute." He commented absently, before freezing as he realized what he'd just said. "A-anyways, do you have any more ideas for the task generator?" He quickly added, slightly flustered.

Jessica grinned at him in amusement, before considering the question. "You could have the system consider the other users' desires and morality as well when issuing tasks. For example, say user one wants to… I don't know, win a dancing competition or something, but they don't have a partner. User two doesn't particularly want to dance, but they would like to help user one. The system could issue a task to user two to help user one win the competition."

Thomas frowned. "I think it might already sort of do that… remember the fighting thing? My task was to help Amber complete her task. I had little to no desire to actually fight someone."

Jessica cocked her head. "What about conflicting tasks? Where two people want two totally different things?"

"Well, one would win, and the other would lose… I don't really see a problem with that." Thomas replied.

Jessica frowned. "Okay, how about if one person wanted something to change, while another wanted things to stay the same. The first would be issued a task but the second wouldn't, even though a task to stop the other would be in line with their morals or desires."

Thomas considered this. "That would be a good idea… how about this. If another user's task would affect a user in a way that goes against the user's desires or morality, a counter task will be issued to the user."

Jessica thought about it for a moment. "I would probably add 'would affect a user or something they care about'. Not all things you want to stop personally affect you."

Thomas nodded in agreement, and added the rule. "You know, I never would have thought that getting beat up would lead to you helping me design my system… it's a weird world we live in."

Jessica rolled her eyes at him. "The weird part is that you even have a system to design. People being concerned about the wellbeing of others is just normal."

"So you say, but you were the only one in any of my classes to actually talk to me about it." Thomas countered. "Even your friend Mark just kinda looked at me weird."

"With how much you rush around campus, does anyone else even have time to comment?" Jessica pointed out. "If you get to class right before it starts every time, no one is going to try and start a lengthy conversation with you. Plus, for Mark, we were already talking, and it would have been rude of him to change the subject."

Thomas frowned. "Wasn't that the first thing he did though? He came up and asked you about the homework."

"Oh yeah…" Jessica remembered, frowning. "Still, Mark aside, you can't say everyone ignores you when you're in a situation where they don't even particularly have an opportunity to approach you."

"That's fair I suppose." Thomas shrugged. "I still think you're the weird one though. It's fairly normal for people to dismiss anything that happens outside their usual sphere of interaction, probably because it's hard to properly judge the situation if you lack information. Unpredictable situations make most people pretty nervous."

"Again, you literally have a system in your head." Jessica stated emphatically. "You do realize that isn't normal, right?"

"It isn't normal yet. Just give it a few years." Thomas replied with a grin.

Jessica frowned. "Why are you trying to spread this?"

"Honestly? It just seems like it'd make life more exciting." Thomas shrugged. "Wouldn't it be pretty boring to be stronger and smarter than everyone else? Like… what would you do with that?"

Jessica cocked her head thoughtfully. "I suppose that makes sense… It's like a video game. If you cheat so that there's no more difficulty, it gets boring."

"Exactly." Thomas nodded. "Plus, what's the world going to look like once it becomes common for a dude to be able to lift a car over his head, run for days without breaking a sweat, or do complex calculations off the top of their head? Wouldn't that be an interesting world to live in?"

*Well, I didn't expect to complete those tasks this soon.* Thomas thought to himself as he walked out of the cafeteria after saying goodbye to Jessica. She was surprisingly easy to talk to, so they'd ended up hanging out for almost two hours, long after they'd finished their food. Thomas easily completed the task to hang out with her for an hour, along with the task to talk to her and learn her name he'd completed that morning. *What a weird day.*

Thomas checked the recovery button, and frowned. It'd only decreased by about half a point, which meant he was probably going to need to wait until next week to use the recovery button again. "Damnit, why can't I heal indi- fuck, I can totally do that, can't I?" Thomas facepalmed. "Ugh, how do I tell the point cost before I use it though…" Thomas pondered as he walked.

*Okay, first, create a new page listing each injury. Next to each listed item, list the cost in points to heal that injury and a heal button, which when pressed, will heal the injury. List the injuries from smallest cost to greatest. At the bottom, put a heal all button, which will heal all injuries.* Thomas directed, creating a new system window. *Next to the recovery button in the status page, place a plus icon, which when pressed, opens the detailed healing page.* He finished, including it in the system package and sending it out to Amber and Jessica. He then took care of his muscle aches and fatigue, leaving the injuries from his fight with Amber alone.

"I really need to spend some time experimenting with my points." He sighed, shaking his head. "I've definitely only scratched the surface of their utility."

Once he got back to the dorm, he sat down at his desk and pulled out his notebook again. He actually rarely wrote in it, but he found the setting of sitting at his desk with a notebook and pencil helped him think. He then pulled up the status page and contemplated it. Back when he first designed it, he mostly just put it together based on the idea that it could work. It seemed like the system could do almost anything sometimes, if he knew how to actually tell it to do it.

"Just what is the limit to this thing… So far, all it seems to do is enhance what's already there, but… I haven't really tried to do anything else with it." Thomas muttered to himself. "Let's see…" First, he added height as a stat on the page, then had the system display the cost to increase his height by one inch. "It says about twenty points… which probably means it'll work. Neat." He then tried out a few more stats. Weight cost about four and a half points per pound to change, for both increasing and decreasing, which made him go back and check whether he could decrease his height as well, which he could. He glanced over at the stats, considering whether he should make a minus sign for them as well, before shaking his head. Who would want to decrease their stats? He created a few more variables and found that minor cosmetic changes barely cost anything. Apparently hair was cheap. As for changing his gender… "I don't know what's more disturbing. The fact that it's possible, or that it costs sixty-nine points." Thomas muttered, staring at his status screen with a grimace.

"This is all superficial, though… literally just a point sink for little to no real benefit. What if… what if you could spend points to increase the processes that led to changes?" Thomas muttered thoughtfully. "Let's see… we could enhance the metabolism for weight… is it possible to increase the rate at which muscle is built? There's recovery speed for both stamina and healing. The mental stats already have long-term effects. Agility… maybe comprehension can help with that? No idea. Nothing for awareness either." Thomas muttered to himself, thinking all this through.

Suddenly, a new idea occurred to Thomas. "If the system can increase height and weight, then that means it can create something out of nothing, or at least out of whatever points are, so, it may be possible to create objects as well, yes? How many points would it take to create a sandwich?" Thomas pondered. A new page appeared, containing a solitary entry.

[Sandwich: ?]

"Huh… interesting." Thomas muttered, pondering the new window. "Is the problem that it doesn't actually know what a sandwich is? Or at least, not the composition of one. I'd imagine that in order to create something, you'd need to understand its composition. It can add height, because all it's doing is making more of what's already there, but there is no sandwich in the system, so it can't be made." Thomas shrugged. "Ah well."

He got rid of the new window, and studied the status page again, but no new ideas were occurring to him, so he decided to make a few aesthetic changes. He split the page in two, putting the appearance stats on the left and the original stats on the right. In the upper left corner, he placed a box which would contain the image of the user's face and placed a spot for the user's name directly underneath. The new appearance stats were just gender, height, weight, eye color, and hair color for now. He then added it to the system, and sent it out. Finally, he made a new page which included metabolism, recovery speed, and physical development, setting them up like the other stats, before adding a few points to raise his recovery speed. Even with his points giving him an all around boost, with his current points, that only amounted to about twice what he was at previously on average, so he decided to spend the points to increase his recovery rate by five times. He didn't add the extra stats to the system just yet, deciding to keep these long-term gain stats to himself for now, to see how they worked. With all that done, he checked the time and headed to the gym.