Ethan Vale jolted awake to the screaming that made your bones vibrate.
Not the usual morning chaos of campus life—no drunken roommates or dorm prank shouts.
This was terror. Pure, animal terror.
He sat up sharply, breathing fast. His room was dim, the blinds half-drawn, letting in a thin line of sunlight across the floor. The screaming outside continued—shoes slamming pavement, shouts echoing between the buildings.
What the hell…?
He pushed off his blanket, feet hitting the cold tile floor, and stumbled to the window. When he yanked the blinds open, his breath froze in his throat.
The sky wasn't blue.
It wasn't gray.
It wasn't anything sky should be.
It was cracked.
Like someone had smashed a titanic pane of glass across the entire atmosphere.
Jagged white fractures spread outward from a burning center high above the city. Each crack pulsed with light, shifting from blue to violet to a strange emerald green.
Then the lines moved.
The cracks spiderwebbed deeper and—
Words appeared.
[GLOBAL SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE]
[WELCOME, PLAYERS OF EARTH]
The letters floated above the sky itself, massive and impossible to ignore.
"…no way," Ethan whispered.
Down in the courtyard, dozens of students stared upward. Some were screaming, others frozen in shock. A car swerved on the street, crashed into a lamp post, and the driver stumbled out cursing.
His phone buzzed on the desk.
He grabbed it.
Dead. Black screen. No power.
More text surged across the sky.
[PLAYER REGISTRATION INITIALIZING]
[CALIBRATING…]
[CALIBRATING…]
Ethan felt his heartbeat thunder in his ears. His hands trembled as something—some force—pressed against his consciousness, like invisible fingers rifling through his memories and biology.
The pressure built, uncomfortable, then painful.
"Stop—stop stop—"
[ERROR.]
A new message flashed before his eyes—this time not in the sky, but inside his vision like augmented reality.
[PLAYER DOES NOT MEET MINIMUM QUALIFICATION CRITERIA]
"…what?" Ethan gasped. "What do you mean, minimum—what minimum criteria?!"
The pressure in his skull intensified. A faint ringing filled his ears, then a screech—metal grinding on metal—echoed inside his head.
His vision flickered.
[SYSTEM INSTALLATION FAILED.]
[RETRYING…]
[ERROR.]
Then something broke.
A pixelated distortion tore across his field of view, like a corrupted video feed.
[SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED]
[CANNOT INSTALL STANDARD PLAYER SYSTEM.]
[GENERATING COMPENSATORY SYSTEM…]
The text glitched violently, symbols replacing letters, unreadable strings flashing too fast to process.
Ethan clutched the side of his head. "I didn't ask for a system! Just—stop—"
His legs buckled, and he caught himself on the desk.
The glitching text resolved suddenly.
[WARNING: COMPENSATORY SYSTEM IS PROHIBITED UNDER GALACTIC LAW 8.11.]
[CONTINUING INSTALLATION ANYWAY.]
A bolt of cold panic stabbed through Ethan's gut.
"Galactic… what?"
A final message appeared, still glitchy but readable.
[YOU HAVE OBTAINED: INFINITE EVOLUTION SYSTEM]
Ethan didn't even have time to process it.
Because the world screamed again.
A roar—deep, primal, like an erupting volcano—shook the air. The courtyard trembled. Students scattered, some tripping, others sprinting for buildings.
Ethan snapped his head toward the window.
A hole was tearing open in the center of campus.
Not a hole in the ground—a hole in space, a jagged tear of swirling crimson and black.
And something crawled out.
A beast, the size of an SUV, covered in cracked obsidian skin with molten light burning beneath. Six legs like serrated blades scraped the asphalt as it pulled itself free. Its horned head swung left, right, then locked onto the nearest human.
Someone screamed. Someone else fell.
The beast roared again, flames erupting between its jagged teeth.
Ethan's skin prickled—no, burned—as another message slid into his vision.
[NEW QUEST GENERATED]
Survive for 60 seconds
Reward: First Evolution
Ethan's throat tightened.
"This is a joke. This has to be—"
The countdown began.
60… 59… 58…
The monster slammed its front legs down and lunged.
Ethan ran.
He bolted out his dorm room door, sprinting down the hallway barefoot, adrenaline exploding through his body. Behind him, windows shattered as flames licked the building's side.
Down the stairs—three steps at a time—nearly tripping but catching his balance, gasping.
He burst into the lobby.
The doors exploded inward.
The monster crashed through the entrance, scattering glass like knives. Students dove aside, screaming. The smell of sulfur filled the air like burning tar.
44… 43… 42…
The beast's molten eyes locked on Ethan.
He sprinted out into the courtyard, dodging left as the creature lunged. A massive claw tore into the ground where he'd stood, ripping a meter-long gash in the pavement.
37… 36… 35…
Ethan scrambled behind a stone pillar near the fountain.
The pillar exploded a heartbeat later, shards pelting his arms and face.
He staggered, bleeding, vision hazy.
"Come on—come on—just stay alive—"
The monster stomped forward, each step shaking the earth.
20… 19… 18…
A sudden jet of flame burst from its mouth, scorching the air. Ethan dove, rolling across the ground, feeling the heat sear the back of his neck.
He coughed, lungs burning.
10… 9… 8…
The beast cornered him against the broken fountain wall.
Its horned head lowered.
Flames gathered between its teeth.
Ethan's breath hitched.
5… 4…
He shut his eyes.
3… 2…
The system voice spoke—not cold this time, but almost… eager.
[EVOLUTION UNLOCKED: ADRENAL SURGE]
[TEMPORARY STATS INCREASE BY 300% FOR 10 SECONDS]
Power—raw and electric—surged through Ethan's muscles like a detonating storm.
His eyes snapped open.
And he moved.
With a roar that felt torn from his soul, Ethan twisted, grabbed the beast's horn as it lunged, and threw himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the blast of flames.
The next second, he smashed his fist into the monster's molten jaw.
The shockwave cracked the air.
The creature stumbled backward in surprise, claws scraping concrete.
Ethan stood panting, hands trembling with unnatural power.
He stared at his fists, then at the monster.
"…Holy shit."
Adrenal Surge still pulsed inside him like liquid fire.
The beast roared—
And Ethan charged.