Chapter 2: Congratulations! You’re a Slime!
Kaelen’s life flashed before his eyes.
From when he was born into nobility as the young heir of a Stronghold governor, an S-rank Hunter, to the night he lost everything, when the Stronghold was infiltrated by an army of skilled hunters. To the escape across the wasteland with his mother after the Stronghold had been razed to the ground with everything in it. To the first night he arrived at the current Stronghold alone because he had lost his mother while she bought time for him to escape.
Kaelen held a deep grudge in his heart and longed for vengeance. He vowed to grow stronger, awaken a powerful Talent, and avenge his parents and everyone who had entrusted their lives into his father’s hands but were massacred that night.
That was until he met Stephanie. She was the first person to approach him when he arrived in the slums. He was trying to keep a low profile but couldn’t blend in with the wretched lifestyle. She extended a hand of friendship to Kaelen to help him adapt. In exchange, he gave her a little meat from his hunts.
She had saved him a lot of trouble, and they’d grown so much closer that she later came to discover his identity and cheered him on.
To think that sweet girl would treat him this way the moment she awakened, and be bold enough to attack him...
To think she’d be the reason why he’d never accomplish his mission of avenging his parents’ deaths.
These were Kaelen’s last thoughts as his world fell into an unsettling silence.
[Is that your limit?]
Kaelen’s heartbeat, which had slowed to a crawl, skipped a beat as it picked up the pace.
The voice was undeniably his, but it spoke with unconcealed contempt and an almost mocking tone.
’My limit...?’ Kaelen asked, but didn’t get a reply.
He didn’t need to.
Kaelen had survived the Stronghold assassination attempt. He had survived a journey across the wasteland crawling with powerful mutated beasts. He had survived multiple life-or-death situations hunting mutated beasts for their meat in the wild.
But now, he was about to give up on life because of the betrayal of a woman?
Was that really his limit?
He was immediately filled with shame and disgust directed at himself, and his eyes forcibly snapped open as he balled his fists hard enough for his nails to dig into his palms and draw blood.
He focused on the pain, amplifying the burning sensation in his chest to keep himself awake, and struggled to pull himself to his feet, dragging his body upright to look across the street.
Through the hole his body had made in the wall was Stephanie standing on the other side, staring back in shock at the extent of her newfound strength. But seeing Kaelen stand and stare at her, not with a burning glare but with a blank expression, she tensed and slowly began preparing for a second attack to defend herself again.
She watched Kaelen stare at her for a moment before he turned his head in another direction. When she followed his gaze, it landed on a black screen displaying an advert for the very first virtual reality game: Evolution Online. But when she turned back to him, her eyes met an empty spot where Kaelen had been standing only moments ago.
’This is not the end...’
Kaelen stumbled across the street toward his house, his eyes burning with determination. He had failed to awaken for eighteen years and had lost everything... but that wasn’t the end.
The answer had been right there in front of him all this time.
Evolution Online.
It was public knowledge that the game transcended traditional games and simulated a virtual world that resembled reality, but with stakes that improved one’s chances of awakening.
It wasn’t the end until Evolution Online said otherwise.
If he could draw a legendary race and class from the start, he could recover a hundredfold everything he had lost to Stephanie and her mother.
And with his chances of awakening improved, Kaelen was certain it wouldn’t take much longer. He could feel it. He could feel the bottleneck—the impurities that needed to be defeated.
He stumbled into his shack and made a beeline for the side of his bed, where he pulled out a brand-new headgear bearing the lion-face symbol of Evolution Online.
This wasn’t for him, but one he’d saved up for weeks to purchase as a present for Stephanie’s upcoming birthday.
He clenched his jaw as he ripped it out of the packaging. Ignoring the burning pain in his chest, he put it over his head and lay on his back, his finger hovering over the start button on the side.
"What if... your second chance wasn’t another life..."
"...but another world?"
The narrator’s words resurfaced in his mind, and Kaelen’s eyes burned with determination.
This was his last card.
"Go big... or go home."
Click!
[Welcome to Evolution Online]
Choose from countless races.
Evolve beyond your limits.
Conquer world bosses.
Forge your own empire.
[A race will be randomly assigned to you. Kill enemies by any means to gain Evolution Points.]
[Spend Evolution Points to enhance abilities and physical attributes.]
EVOLUTION ONLINE
Evolve. Conquer. Dominate.
SERVER OPENS IN 10... 9... 8...
As the countdown dropped to zero, Kaelen’s world swam, and when his vision returned, his view had changed to a towering field of grass.
The first thing he noticed was that his vision had changed to a complete 360-degree view, leaving no blind spots. And when he tried to look down, he couldn’t see his own body.
He wasn’t alone, though, because looking up, the field was occupied by a colony of transparent organic jelly blobs lazily grazing. But before he could make sense of what was going on, a System notification flashed across his vision, making his breath hitch.
[Congratulations! You’re a Slime (Common).]
Kaelen’s heart immediately dropped.
[Player: Kaelen Cross
Race: Slime (Common)
Lifeform: Tier-0
Class: —
Talent: —
Evolution Points: 2000]
[Evolution Tree:
[Core Density Lv1 | 2.0 EP]
Strengthens the outer layer and inner nucleus of the body.
[Membrane Elasticity Lv1 | 2.0 EP]
Improves control over one’s body.
[Absorption Rate Lv1 | 1.0 EP]
Increases the speed at which organic matter is dissolved. 10% digestion rate.]
"No..."
But the contents of the notification had been written in fine print, with a subtle "(Common)" rank beside it.
The most useless race in the entire game... the lowest rank in the food chain... no class.
Kaelen’s pupils shrank to the size of pinholes, and his eyes trembled from just staring at his own profile.
"No... no... no... no..."
"This... this shouldn’t be."
Before Kaelen could come to terms with his reality, the field suddenly fell into chaos as the slimes began running in the opposite direction. And when he slowly looked up from his player screen, it was to see a pack of wolves tearing into the slimes and biting down on their cores.
"Huh? Just 0.3 Evolution Points? Even when it comes to serving as free walking Evolution Points, they’re still useless. Tch," one of the wolves spoke in distaste as it swiped its claws, taking out multiple slimes in one strike.
Kaelen stared at the wolf blankly for a moment before he slowly lowered his head once more to look at his player screen. It was directly in front of his vision, but Kaelen couldn’t see it.
He stared dumbfoundedly as other slimes ran past him, some brushing against him or even bumping straight into him. But Kaelen didn’t budge, not even as the wolves kept inching closer.
It didn’t matter.
None of it mattered anymore.
If Kaelen had knees right now, they would’ve gone weak in defeat.
This... was the end—
[Is this your limit?]
His heart skipped a beat upon hearing that voice once more.
The same contempt and mocking tone.
The same shame and embarrassment he had felt before.
This made Kaelen mad.
He hated that voice for mocking him, and hated himself for being in that position. For being weak.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
"Is that my limit?"
"I have every right to feel that way," he said in rage.
"The strong go into every situation with an advantage. The weak get looked down upon," he said through gritted teeth as he looked up at the wolves casually tearing down the slimes as they closed in on him.
Kaelen had specifically chosen to hunt mutated beasts on the outskirts of the Stronghold not because of their meat, but to put himself through those survival experiences and face multiple life-or-death situations, hoping it would improve his chances of awakening someday.
Instead, Stephanie, who had been sheltered and lived a simple life thanks to him, awakened and was set on the path to greatness.
His wit never saved him.
No.
What he needed now was true strength.
Kaelen looked up at the wolf towering over him, looking down at him in confusion and amusement, his eyes burning with renewed determination.
"Oh, look at this little one over here. He isn’t running like his friends. He looks like he wants to fight me," the wolf said in a mocking tone as it flashed its rows of razor-sharp teeth.
He wasn’t going to give up now. Not ever.
He was going to get stronger... even if it was the last thing he’d do.
[Ding! Host has successfully awakened the 10,000× Reward System.]
[10,000× Reward System Activated! 10,000× Multiplier Applied to All Drops!]