On the couch was my other brother Brandon and Erik's friend Max. Erik and Max have known each other since high school and eventually went into the military together but somehow wound up as mercenaries. Erik is 27 while Max is still 26 until December.

Brandon is 25 and a little taller then Erik at 193 centimeters and built like a football player. He has wide shoulders and thick muscles that make him look like the last person you want to mess with. Even with his face and slightly long straight brown hair had a more gentle touch, especially with his gla.s.ses on. He works at a factory at night and probably hasn't been to bed yet which is why he had a tired look on his face and is slouching his shoulders.

Max is beside him with a slight smile poking Brandon every now and then and getting swatted away for his effort. Max is the same height as Erik at 190 but is a lighter build. Still has a lean and athletic body but a size or two smaller. He has long curly hair and a decent face that looks more mature with his gla.s.ses on.

Once I sit down on the chair that is beside the couch Erik finally notices me and snaps out of his thoughts. He looks at each of use before saying.

"I haven't gone crazy right? EVO WARS and everything else was real right?"

Each of use nodded and he sighed. I was glad I wasn't the only one doing that. He then moves over to the chair on the other side of the couch and continues.

"So did you all win overlord as well? Anyone make any good bets."

He asked both questions in a light tone but you could still hear the seriousness. The three of us just looked at each other before Max spoke first.

"I won and I made a max bet winning the five to one payout."

I chimed in after with a same. Brandon said he won but only bet a five hundred. So while everyone else has six thousand points he only had three thousand five hundred. Erik asked about prizes. Max went first, followed by Brandon and then me.

"I got a small energy pack, a bone enhancing solution, and a muscle enhancing formula. That special box got me a variant nan.o.bot call an electric nite. It's a special nan.o.bot that can make my body produce a stronger electric current and eventually i'll be able to discharge it from my body as an attack."

"I also got a small energy pack, some muscle enhancer solution, an extra thousand nan.o.bots. The special prize was a map with the locations and descriptions of the creatures that are gonna be transported next week in the city."

With that we just stare at him. He's always had a lucky streak but that map is so overpowered in the right hands. He just shrugged so I continued and told them about my prizes. They were jealous of my tier 1 nan.o.bots and how me and Frost were companions but they had good stuff to so they let it go. Finally it was Erik's turn.

"Seems like I'm the only one that didn't get the energy pack huh. I got a solution to enhance my lungs though, I also got the companion nan.o.bot and used it on shadow. You two will probably need to buy some for your pets before they evolve and eat you or not just a suggestion. My last normal prize was a formula to speed up the growth of companions so that should be useful. The special prize was a variant nan.o.bot called blood nites they mostly live in my bloodstream and are able to improve my circulatory system faster than other nan.o.bots. Kinda like tier 1 but only works for that system, the plus side is they only use five energy though."

We all nod thinking different things. We all got decent things even two formulas so we made out pretty well. I noticed shadow after Erik mentioned him on his shoulder. Shadow is a tarantula that Erik got when he was still fighting as a mercenary. They have been together for two years apparently. Shadow was fairly large about the size of a small bowl with black fur that makes it hard to see him at night. We all make jokes because Shadow has scared Brandon on more then one occasion.

After a few minutes Erik suggested we look at the evo store another page in the system that was separated into five sections. Enhancements, nan.o.bots, equipment, information, and lastly formulas.

Each one was pretty self explanatory from there t.i.tles in enhancements there was different solutions to enhance each system in different ways or just in general. For example there were solutions to improve red blood cells, or the veins, or the heart, and at the same time solutions to improve the whole circulatory system but they were about ten times more expensive.

In nan.o.bots you could buy more default ones or special variants, you could also buy higher tiers but the costs jumped about hundred times. A tier 0 nan.o.bot cost ten EVO points while a tier 1 nan.o.bot cost a thousand EVO points and that was just the default ones, the variants were even more expensive.

In equipment there was everything from different types of armor and weapons to camping gear, cooking equipment, and also thing needed for the formulas we got like test tubes and vials. It also had ingredients for the formulas.

In information it had almost anything you could imagine. Guides to make cookies to guides to make custom weapons. It all cost money but if the tips and hints screen was the short little pamphlet on somethings, then what you could buy was the guide for dummies that would give you any and all knowledge on that subject. Of course it came at a price.

Then in formulas it had the steps to make the solutions to enhance ourselves but they cost about three times the solution in the store. It also came with the risk that you had to make it yourself and not everyone was talented in that aspect.

We all looked for about an hour just browsing through the different things. Max and Brandon found the Companion nan.o.bots and bought them for two thousand points with sad expressions but they each had a pet and didn't want to fight them. They each had a cat, Brandon's was a girl named Patches. She has mostly white fur with a few Patches of black here and there, she had a princess att.i.tude and would bully Max's cat Pauly. Pauly has orange fur with some white rings on his tail, he's been spoiled by Max and is really lazy, he is terrified of Patches.

Brandon was the saddest because he didn't max bet in the first place so he's down to only one thousand five hundred points left while Max still has four thousand. Erik wound up buying some specialized nan.o.bots for the respiratory system science he had a solution to enhance it already and after fifty percent changes should happen. According to the tips at least each system changes a little after fifty percent like a step up in quality.

Finally it was four in the afternoon and we were all tired and like me they each had guides that said they would talk more when they went to sleep. That plus we were all mentally exhausted from the day especially Brandon who keep drifting off we decided to sleep and talk more in the morning. As we got up Erik said one last thing.

"No matter what changes happens in our world just remember guys we are family and that doesn't change. It doesn't matter if it's orcs, monsters, humans, or even a pretty elf I won't let anything happen to you guys. Well maybe I would chose the pretty elf."

With a round of serious agreements and some middle fingers towards the last statement we head to our own rooms. Laying down on my bed I took off my s.h.i.+rt but left my jeans on, their comfortable anyways and I want to be ready for anything.

Frost wound up sleeping on my chest somehow but I let it go and just started to drift off thinking about what Erik said. Family it's a special word for me because my mother abandoned me and my grandparents abused me. Erik and Brandon's parents adopted me until two years ago when they pa.s.sed in a downtown shooting. That was when Erik and Max came back from wherever they were touring. They had enough to retire anyways because of some jobs they couldn't tell me about. From that time on Erik and Brandon were the only real family I had left and now Max was included as another big brother.

Family to me it's a special word and I know that if anyone tries to mess with mine, nothing will stop me from destroying them all.