As the cyan-haired lady laughed at her own comment, a voice rang in her ears.
"Why are you laughing all by yourself, sweetie?" A six feet tall woman wearing a yellow sundress and white hat asked in a gentle tone while getting close to the lady with cyan-hair.
"She must've seen something called 'memes', I think." A five feet six inches average height man walking beside her said in a know-it-all tone.
The man was ripped and it could be seen despite him wearing a formal shirt and trousers.
The cyan-haired lady chuckled. "Yes, I was looking at memes, pa. How do you know?"
The man striked a smug pose in front of the tall lady. "See, I understand my daughter better than you, Isla."
Isla shook her head and said, "sure, sure, honey. Anyway, Nixie, did you have fun sitting alone in this huge park?"
Getting up and patting her clothes, Nix said, "Ma, I told you I had work and left you guys at the bakery. There's no fun in this."
"Hahaha! Sweetie, learn to have fun with your work or you won't survive for long." Nix's dad while patting her shoulder.
Nix nodded her head in response.
"Are you done now?" Isla asked.
Nix nodded once again.
"Good, our flight to Austin is in six hours. If we leave now, we should be able to reach JFK airport in about two hours." Isla said.
Nix showed a confused face. "Why Austin?"
Isla rolled her eyes and looked at her husband. "Did you not brief her up on our travel itinerary, David? And also…" She turned to face Nix and pulled her ear. "How did you forget about your uncle and aunt, Nixie?"
"Ow, ow." Nix tried to get her mother's hand away from her ears while doing a fake cry.
Hearing the word 'David' and not the usual 'honey' meant Isla was not happy with him.
To get himself out of trouble, David checked his phone and said, "Oh, our taxi is here honey! We need to leave. Let's go!"
David immediately distanced himself from his wife while Isla rolled her eyes and Nix chuckled at her father's behavior.
***
Alex's home, The Bronx.
As Alex was lounging in the living room and looking at some stocks, a notification rang within his ears.
[Ding!]
[Danger awaits the Host!]
'Hmm?' Alex was alerted by this statement. 'What's the danger?'
[There's information available on it yet.]
[The system suggests Host to be prepared.]
[Ding!]
[New items available for purchase in shop!]
Alex blinked twice and stared at the empty space in front of him with a confused gaze.
What was happening? He had no idea whatsoever.
Going with the flow, Alex opened the shop menu to see what new things were available.
*****
[Evolution: Unevolved]
[Items available for Unevolved:
#Manuals:
— Introduction to Gene Cultivation ($50,000)
— Intermediate Gene Cultivation Manual ($500,000)
— Hand-to-Hand combat guide ($10,000)
— Mastery of Guns [Pistol, AR, Snipers] ($100,000)
— Body Control Guide ($50,000)
.
.
.
.
.
— Mild recovery potion ($1,000)
— Strong recovery potion ($10,000)
— Energy booster pill ($3,000)
(Selection of any shall result in deduction of money from the host's bank account.)]
*****
Other than new manuals, there wasn't anything else available.
This meant that if Alex wanted to have a mastery in guns, he would need to purchase it from the outside which was a bit of a hassle.
Thankfully, it wasn't too big of a problem since he was in the land of guns itself where there were more guns than people itself.
It was a problem to have guns in New York though, so this meant…
"Honey, we need to go home." Alex turned to Melissa sitting across the couch, watching tv, and said.
"Homfph?" Melissa asked with her mouth stuffed with nachos.
"Hmm?" Despite this being an everyday occurrence, Alex still had trouble understanding his wife.
Melissa drank some pop and chewed the nachos faster. She then gulped everything down and continued, "I meant, what home? Aren't we at home already?"
Whatever place Alex lived in, it was the home of Melissa. She thus found it odd when he said home when they were already living in it.
Alex smiled hearing that. He shook his head and getting close to Melissa, wiped her mouth covered in nacho crumbs.
"I meant Austin where mom and dad are. We have to go there urgently."
Alex's definition of home was slightly different. Although he had a wife now, he still was used to calling the place where his parents lived as his home.
It would take some time for him to adjust to calling home the place where his wife was.
"Ah, I see." Melissa nodded. "But, don't you have your degrees that you need to take?"
Alex shook his head. "I completed all the procedures. There's just the collection of degrees left. I can ask those guys to send it via post, it's not too big of a deal."
On 2nd February, Alex gave his oral examination.
On the 4th he was called for the written examination and on the 5th, results came out with him having a full score.
It was a great feat and was shared everywhere.
After passing it, there were live surgical examinations on the 6th and Alex aced it as well.
He had finished all the procedures and was now eligible to graduate.
His name was spread far and wide into the medical community throughout the world.
Some debated about him having supernatural powers while some genuinely thought he was a talent of a lifetime.
Alex rose to fame in just a single night and had become a star.
In any case, it didn't matter much to him as this fame was temporary and would die soon.
"You've become a star, honey. I don't think they'll let you graduate without making a big event of handing out your degree to you."
Melissa was right on this.
It was an event that would be remembered in history since Alex was really very young.
The average age to become a neurosurgeon was between 33-34.
He had defied all odds at such a young age, there was no way his college would not host a big event celebrating his graduation.
Alex shook his head and said, "it's not an issue. They will send it via post."
"How are you so sure?" Melissa asked, a bit curious.
Alex smiled and patted her head. "I have my ways. Anyway, let's pack up, we need to leave for Austin."