Chapter 8: I Can Fuse With All Things
Lucien sat hunched over his screen for sixteen hours straight, digging through everything he could find about Evolution Online—specifically, Evelaine Hollows. What he scraped together was barely more than scraps he already knew. The strange Moonshade Pact had thrived in the game's early days before vanishing without a trace. Their territory now lay cut off from the Western Continent by an impenetrable mist.
He stumbled across several forum threads and discovered what Artifact-grade items truly meant.
They were beyond rare. One user had offered fifty million dollars for a single piece. Another player tried to outbid him, and the thread nearly turned into a full auction before an admin shut it down.
Hours of research filled his head with faces of prominent players. His friend Halo appeared in a few discussions, though far less than legends like the Demon God and Ice Empress.
Information overload finally drove Lucien to the kitchen. Harun had stocked the house with basic supplies, and the cooking skills he'd picked up in school served him well enough. He threw together simple noodles with chicken and egg, made some in-game purchases online, and converted his remaining cash into Evo currency while he ate. Afterward, he collapsed onto Halo's bed.
Halo spent most of the time glued to his phone, talking to some girl. Sometimes he paced by the wall for hours. Other times he sprawled in the chair with his legs crossed. Lucien caught fragments of the conversation, but it wasn't his business. Still, anyone could tell his friend had fallen hard.
Poor Harun.
Lucien killed time for the rest of the forty-eight-hour lockout. Waiting felt like torture, especially when he remembered how reluctant he'd been to start playing just three months ago.
Finally, the endless hours crawled by, and Lucien logged back in with his pulse racing.
[Welcome Back Player Cien]
[Due to Unavailability of Respawn Point in Evelaine Hollow, you will be revived at Thelvaine's Edge.]