Beep
Beep
Lucien winced in his sleep and rolled to his other side. The system's beeping continued, persistent and grating against his ears.
It had been a couple of days, perhaps months, since Lucien started living in Evelaine Hollows. And truth be told, it was a peaceful life—like he had hoped. Though Evelaine Hollow was drenched in perpetual darkness and intermittent, noisy rain.
But even the noise of the rain sometimes sounded like soothing ASMR, lulling him into deeper sleep.
Beep
Beep
He had silenced the system notifications of the game to avoid any disturbance. That was why, now, even though the system remained stubborn, Lucien showed no signs of waking up.
He slept on a unique bed that seemed crafted from aged but exquisite wood, with foam manufactured from pure cotton. The bed sat in a cottage that appeared to have grown from the enormous branches of a tree rather than been built there.
The entire tree shuddered, sending a soft and eerie rustle rippling across the dark and silent Hollows.
The murky waters danced with subtle ripples spreading endlessly across their surface. The grasses swayed gently. Everything moved softly at first, then suddenly the pace quickened. Even though Evelaine Hollow was sealed off from the world by strange mist—receiving no natural breeze or sunlight—a terrifying gale suddenly tore across the dark landscape, violently shaking every part of the Hollows.
Even through this chaos, Lucien slept on, snoring peacefully in the cottage suspended in the tree.
The violent shaking of the entire Hollows continued, growing even more fierce, until something terrifying ripped from the ground.
The earth itself rose, tearing up through the tree. In a single, unbelievable instant, what had seemed like eternal peace suddenly flipped to devastating chaos.
Lucien was still sleeping...
At least, until the tree holding his little cottage suddenly tilted to one side as the ground itself seemed to want to stand up.
He rolled off the bed, crashing against the wall and hitting his head hard. Pain spiraled through his skull like lightning.
Then his eyes snapped open, trying to process what the hell had disturbed his beautiful sleep.
Sleep in Evolution Online hit deeper than he'd thought it would. It was like sleeping inside his own mind, so it felt truly satisfying. In fact, he almost never did anything else besides sleep—except for reading the elven books scattered around the cottage.
'I thought there was not supposed to be any disturbance.'
Before Lucien could continue his thought, a terrifying force rose from the ground, tearing through the tree with its sheer mass. As it ripped the tree apart, every cottage clinging to its branches shattered like glass.
Everything was destructive and confusing. Lucien, trapped inside his cottage, felt like he was aboard a ship tumbling through a storm. Eventually he was thrown out with terrible force, crashing straight into the waters with a tremendous splash. He rolled until he smashed his back against a lump of rock, feeling sharp pain tear into his chest from behind.
Beep
Beep
Frowning, Lucien got up. As he did, his eyes slowly widened as he saw what had disturbed his sleep.
His heart was beating... very fast... with fear.
He understood that this was a game... or did he? What he saw in front of him felt more real than anything he had ever experienced. Granted, he had never seen a creature like this before in his life.
He could see and feel as clearly as he could in the real world. Everything was real, and at the back of his mind, he tried talking to himself.
'Calm down Lucien, this is just a game. Calm down Lucien, this is just a game. Calm the hell down Lucien, this is just a game!'
His chest rose and fell, his eyes frozen, sweat slowly rolling down his face.
It looked like something born from a nightmare no mind should have. Not just scary—offensively real. Wrongly real.
And yet…
"Why the hell does this feel amazing?"
He was afraid. But beneath that fear, something old and primal cracked open in his chest.
It was strange. His heart was beating fast, he could feel something heavy twisting inside it, and at the same time, he was riding a level of adrenaline that he had never experienced before.
So much so that a small, crooked smile slowly broke across his face.
There was a strange silence that didn't feel right... then the bastard of a thing turned and lunged forward with a speed that a creature its size should not possess.
Lucien spun around and ran, shoving himself through the woods. The creature slammed into the next tree, easily causing it to collapse and crash into the one in front.
It struggled briefly, tearing the enormous tree apart with its large forearms to pursue the strange human.
Meanwhile, Lucien was already running deeper into the Hollows. He had never even tried venturing this far in the past few months he'd been staying here. However, he wasn't thinking about that.
He wasn't thinking about anything.
He just wanted to find a place to hide.
He broke into a building made of concrete, embedded at the edge of the forest. After entering its large hall, he slammed the metallic door shut and exhaled, breathing hard as he staggered back, wondering if the metallic door could even hold the monster.
Beep
He frowned and turned his attention away from the door, finally unsilencing the system.
A pile of messages poured into his vision, accompanied by the same voice.
[Please choose a class]
[Please choose a class]
[Please choose a class]
[...]
[Please increase your level]
[Please increase your level]
[Please increase your level]
[Please increase your level]
[Please increase your level]
[Please increase your level]
[...]
[Congratulations]
[You have achieved the impossible in the world of Evolution]
[Every action and inaction in Evolution Online is rewarded]
[You have been sleeping for 399 days, 21 hours, 34 seconds.]
[No player has been inactive for 399 days, while being active in this game]
[You have done something no one else has dared.]
[You walked the path of inaction through a world of endless action.]
[You have touched the Source Code.]
[If Evolution is a path away from the Source Code into the diversities of impossibilities. You have found a path that returns to the Source Code through fusion of diversities of impossibilities]
[Fusion Path unlocked.]
Thud!
The sound suddenly made Lucien snap his eyes upward. The enormous monster was already upon him—just one hit against the door had echoed throughout the entire Sanctuary.
He clenched his fist as a strange surge rippled through his heart.
'I want to fight it.'
'I want to defeat it.'
'I want to win.'
It was a strange feeling. Lucien really saw no way he could defeat the monster. Besides the fact that he wasn't even level one, the monster had a whopping [Level 120] floating above its head in thick blood-red letters.
But he still wanted to fight, and he wanted to win. It was a strange feeling, but it had his entire body pumping with blood—excitement, purpose, life.
It was so strange. Throughout his pursuit of excellence, and at every milestone where he'd flawlessly excelled, he'd felt nothing as exciting as this.
Had he been focusing on the wrong thing this entire time? Was school really a scam? And gaming was the way?
The thrill of wanting to defeat something undefeatable, of wanting to survive. It was so intoxicating!
Thud!
Lucien shivered as another massive blow rippled through the Sanctuary. The metallic double door was already tearing away from its hinges.
[Congratulations]
The voice echoed in his ears, distracting him for a moment.
[New Class Unlocked]
[Do you want to accept it?]
The massive door suddenly flew with great speed, crashing into Lucien and throwing him backward.
[You have lost 34 Health Points]
[You have lost 23 Health Points]
[You have lost 17 Health Points]
Lucien continued to roll and crash into the pillars of the great hall until he slammed against the altar of the Sanctuary.
The massive creature stood on its hind limbs, its tail slithering across the ground. It took its massive forelimbs and crashed through the upper entrance of the temple, giving itself enough height to enter.
Its eyes burned with fierce malevolence, and its entire obsidian body was scaled with jagged lines that seeped with ominous crimson light.
Each step the creature took seemed to make the entire ground tremble. It looked like a black Godzilla, its maws dangerously equipped with terrible sharp teeth, its claws at the ready as it marched closer.
Lucien saw a silver sword with a delicately designed golden handle on the altar and picked it up quickly.
Immediately he heard the voice.
[You have found an Artifact-grade item: Sword Of The Forsaken]
[You have received a Legendary Hidden Quest]
Lucien was trying not to be disturbed by everything the system was saying. Instead:
'I accept the class, I accept everything, as long as I can defeat this thing.'
He gritted his teeth as he watched the monster draw closer with a wicked pace, like a predator circling its meal.
Lucien raised the silver sword up, but he could feel it trembling in his hand.
The Black Godzilla lowered its forelimb and suddenly charged forward with all four limbs, its massive tail whipping against all the pillars and shattering them instantly.
Lucien gritted his teeth and shifted to the side, hoping to dodge the charge and attack from the side while the monster crashed into the altar.
But he was too slow.
Before his legs could even carry him away, he felt his entire world go blank as the Black Godzilla crashed into him and the altar together. Everything shattered and sprayed with a shockwave that rippled across the hall.
[You have lost 17 Health Points]
[...]
Darkness swallowed him.
[You have died.]
[You won't be able to log in for 48 real-world hours.]
Lucien blinked into black nothingness. And laughed.
"That... was amazing."