The Dawn of Growth, the Shadow of Fear
"Let's make this quick," said Lua firmly, noting that all the players had already gathered. Even those who rarely went out to hunt had shown up. It was natural—news that Lua would grant an experience boost had spread like wildfire, and no one wanted to miss the opportunity.
Without wasting time, she sent a party invite to everyone and walked toward the place where she had previously sealed the ant mine's entrance. With a simple gesture, she reopened it. The moment she did, a wave of insects surged out like a bursting tide. Lua calmly raised a finger, and from her nail erupted a stream of black fire that expanded like a ravenous whip, incinerating the creatures without leaving a single body behind. Only drifting ash remained in the air.
"Lua, could you at least leave their corpses? After all, they have a lot of useful materials," asked Loli from behind, a little uneasy at the scale of the massacre.
"Ah, right," replied Lua with a weary sigh. All she wanted was to finish quickly. She closed her eyes, and at that instant her horns began to glow with a deep crimson light. When she opened them again, her scarlet pupils burned with fierce radiance, while a massive luminous halo manifested on her back. Her hair swayed gently in the pressure of the mana overflowing from her body.
The weight of her presence fell upon everyone like an invisible slab. The players felt utterly unable to move, pinned down by the suffocating force that pressed them into the ground. In contrast, Lua gracefully crouched and touched the earth. A magical pulse spread out from her palm, rippling across the ground like a sensory web, detecting each insect hidden below through their tiny mana cores.
Then she raised both hands and began moving her fingers at astonishing speed, inscribing runes in the air with inhuman precision.
From atop the wall, Silvia watched calmly. Her lips curved into a faint, nostalgic smile, as if the sight reminded her of someone from the past.
Ten small magic circles bloomed at the tips of Lua's fingers. The air vibrated with the power of the runes, and the players felt a tremor beneath their feet. A moment later, enormous earth spikes erupted from the ground in long, precise rows, surrounding the area yet swerving with uncanny accuracy to avoid harming anyone in the group.
In the blink of an eye, millions of earthen lances covered the entire peninsula, rising like a forest of spears that even halted the wind. They did not invade the forest, but they claimed every inch of open ground. And then, just as swiftly as they had appeared, they sank back into the earth, erasing all trace of their existence as though nothing had ever happened.
The players barely had time to comprehend what they were seeing, because the experience notifications began flooding in at a staggering pace. Numbers climbed without pause, and even the newest players, like Evan and his group, shot up to higher levels in mere seconds. The evolution interface appeared before several, and none hesitated to accept immediately in order to keep earning more experience.
In moments, it was over. The silence left behind was as dense as the pressure that still lingered on their chests. No one moved, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they had witnessed.
"I feel like this is… kind of cheating," muttered Charles with a forced smile. A few others nodded, sharing the sentiment.
"No," replied Lua with absolute calm. "The levels of the surrounding beasts will rise. Soon, you won't even be able to leave the village without help."
As she spoke, her gaze drifted to the forest. She had seen what the probe revealed: creatures emerging from their burrows, others moving into areas they had never inhabited before. The rabbits had vanished, replaced by far deadlier predators.
Her mother had warned her: the shift in zone bosses would destabilize the entire ecosystem. Hunting would become harder, more lethal. Fortunately, players could revive after dying… and that gave them the advantage of evolving much faster.
"Sia, send out the mission to collect everything. And give each of them a core for the work," ordered Lua evenly, just before the massive circle on her back dissipated and she walked calmly back toward the village.
A moment later, everyone received the mission notification. Among them, Linda's lips curled in a shrewd, businesslike grin. Wasting no time, she rushed off to fetch the floating plates that would prove essential for transporting the mountain of materials.
…
"I've finished," said Lua with restrained coldness as she approached her mother.
"Well done," Silvia replied with a satisfied smile, watching the players head into the mine to recover the ants' remains. Already, she was preparing new mining and gathering quests on the mission panel.
It was clear: the time for the village's evolution had arrived—the dawn of an explosive growth. And Silvia, her eyes gleaming with anticipation, could hardly wait to see what would come next.
—
Thanks to the platforms Linda had sold, the materials were transported throughout the night. The players' increased levels allowed them to carry far more weight, which sped up the work considerably.
Watching them finish, Lua allowed a faint smile to soften her expression.
"Sia," she whispered calmly.
"What is it, boss?" the AI replied in her mind.
"How many invitations can you send now?" Lua asked with serious intent.
"With the energy you've gathered… around a thousand," Sia answered in a formal tone. "That's a truly enormous number."
"Send them all," ordered Lua without hesitation.
"What?" Sia couldn't hide her surprise. "Boss, there are barely a hundred or two hundred players here… and you want to bring in a thousand all at once?"
"Yes," Lua replied with the same unshakable serenity.
"Is this for something specific?" pressed Sia, increasingly intrigued.
"It's time to stop holding back," Lua declared, her voice weighted with determination.
"Well… I suppose things will get a lot noisier than before," Sia muttered in resignation before falling silent.
Meanwhile, in the real world, hundreds of people across the planet, sitting at their computers, received the same notification.
A new website appeared on the internet: Drunai Online, a place where a lucky few could obtain invitations.
Sia also prioritized the current players, granting them extra invitations to share with friends and acquaintances.
And so, barely an hour later, dozens of beams of light began appearing at the village entrance, just as dawn was breaking. Lua watched them with keen interest, her red eyes reflecting the glow of the new day.
.....
"Administrator Donovan." A soldier entered stiffly into the office of the overseer of Planet 1552-T.
"What is it?" Donovan asked without lifting his gaze from the papers he was stamping at random, affixing seals without even reading them. One of them, the soldier noticed, bore the heading Food Supply for Species.
"An important transmission has arrived from the base," the soldier reported gravely.
"Tsk. Put it on," Donovan replied with disdain, as if nothing could matter less.
The soldier stepped forward and activated a floating disk on the desk. A luminous screen flared to life, projecting the figure of a man with white hair, long ears, and an imposing gaze. His bearing was solemn—slender, mature, and with the cold beauty that defined their entire race.
"Administrator of Planet 1552-T, Donovan of Clan S," the man began in a deep voice. "I regret to inform you that this morning the body of your father, Silver S., was found. My apologies for delivering this message in such a way, but at a distance of millions of light years, we have no other option. If you deem it necessary, you will be granted one month of leave to travel and attend the funeral. My deepest condolences."
The transmission cut off abruptly.
Donovan remained still for a moment, his brow furrowing. The soldier thought he saw grief in his expression—but what came next froze him to the bone.
"That damned old bastard… how dare you die now?" Donovan roared, his voice seething with fury. He remembered the last words the elder researcher had left him, and a shiver of frustration ran down his spine. "Tsk. Fool…" he muttered, standing abruptly. His gaze hardened, fixed in the direction of Earth. "No… I have to get out of here."
"Raise the tributes again!" he barked suddenly, his tone so fierce it seemed to shake the room.
"S-sir?" the soldier stammered, confused. "We increased them just last month… many humans are already dying…"
"I said raise them," Donovan snapped, his eyes flashing with a disturbing light. "Double them. Immediately."
"Y-yes, sir," the soldier stuttered, paralyzed with fear before fleeing the room almost at a run.
Donovan, his face twisted in anger, strode to a shelf and pulled down several high-quality mana flasks. One by one, he uncorked them and drank greedily, swallowing a dozen until his breathing steadied. The veins in his neck pulsed with a bright blue glow for several seconds before fading. Only then did his expression ease.
"Fuuu… This is troublesome. Without the old man covering for me, they'll notice," he murmured darkly. "I just need to send a huge amount of flasks and it'll be fine…" he added, forcing himself to remain calm as he dropped into the sofa.
But when his gaze fell again on the papers scattered across the desk, his fury flared anew. "Aaagh!" he bellowed, slamming his hand down so hard that glowing blue symbols flared across the surface before erupting into shards. The blast shook the chamber, even cracking the floor beneath.
The ship's alarms blared instantly.
"Alert. Alert. Structural damage detected. Proceed to repair zone. Alert."
"Tsk," Donovan clicked his tongue in irritation. He rose and pulled a cubic device from his belt. Pressing its center, the surface lit up, projecting the image of a pilot with a rigid expression.
"Take the ship down to the planet and repair it," Donovan ordered harshly. "Land in a clear zone… away from those disgusting creatures."
"Yes, sir," replied the pilot seriously before cutting the transmission.
Donovan was left alone, breathing heavily, his rage barely contained… and the fear still burning in his eyes.