GAME OVER
In a dark room, on the screen of a computer, glaring red words appeared.
At the same time, in front of the screen, a 19-year-old boy held a controller in his hand. His grip was too tight, veins bulging under the strain.
Thrack
With that sound, he slammed the controller against the table, making both the screen and table shake.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS??!" he yelled, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.
"WHY THE HELL DID THE FINAL BOSS HAVE A FOURTH RAGE STATE?! ARE YOU DEVELOPERS EVEN SANE?!" His furious voice filled the room, but the only reply was the glaring GAME OVER screen mocking him.
Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down, afraid he might punch the monitor out of pure frustration. He closed his eyes, his breathing slowly steadying.
Opening them again, he gave the screen a long look.
"Well, that's it for you. I tried enough, even with little sleep, but blame your developers. Bye, game."
He muttered quietly, adopting a strangely transcendental attitude, as if none of it mattered anymore.
Just as his hand reached to finally quit the game once and for all, a ding interrupted him.
[
Congratulations to the player 'THIRSTY-THANOS' for being the first to play 'EVOVERSE' 100 times.
In order to applaud and encourage you to finish this game, you are granted a special retry chance with an 'EX-Level awakening'.
Do you want to RETRY?
> YES
NO
]
Looking at the information that appeared on the screen, his fingers paused for a moment.
He felt betrayed. Like imagine someone trying to quit drinking after being a heavy drunk, and the very next day someone brings out a new premium drink and invites you to taste it.
That was exactly his feeling now. As one of the few remaining players of EVOVERSE, he had been trying since its release to beat it before anyone else. But the unimaginable difficulty made it nearly impossible.
And this same difficulty was the reason most players had abandoned the game, cursing it as "The Player's Mound."
Now, a crack appeared in his resolve to finally quit EVOVERSE.
With trembling fingers, he tried to click on NO, but hesitated again and again.
Finally, as if making up his mind, he closed his eyes and pressed YES.
"Just one try... just one," he murmured, like a drunk convincing himself to have one last drink.
Click
The screen instantly changed.
[
Please select one of the following random EX-level cheats:
1) The Originator of Fairies – At every tier, a random equal-tier fairy elemental origin will be allocated to you.
100% affinity towards fairies
100% affinity towards non-negative elements
20% less damage taken from positive elemental attacks of the same or lower tier
Justice Value: 400–500 (Pure Good)
Special Skill: Fairy Heart – Every neutral and good NPC will have a 50% favorable impression of you.
....
2) The First Serpent – At every tier, a random equal-tier serpent origin will be allocated to you.
100% affinity towards serpents
10% less damage taken from all elements of the same or lower tier
Justice Value: 0–100 (Neutral Good)
Special Skill: Cold-Blooded – Enter a purely indifferent state where thinking speed increases by +200%.
....
3) The Son of Corruption – At every tier, a random equal-tier corrupted spirit origin will be allocated to you.
100% affinity towards corrupted spirits
20% more damage dealt to both light and dark type units of the same or lower tier
10% less damage taken from dark-type elements
10% extra damage taken from light-type elements
Justice Value: -300 (Fixed,Extremely Evil)
Special Skill: Corruption Domain – Create a special domain where your opponent loses extra health every second.
]
Gulp
His eyes lingered on each description on the screen, as if he were looking at the most beautiful thing in the world.
They drifted from one option to another, weighing each choice carefully.
With a heavy heart, he discarded the first one. Even though it was most helpful in the early stages of the game, granting more affinity with NPCs, its lower power could be problematic in boss fights, especially against dark-attribute bosses.
Next, his gaze shifted between options two and three. After a long, tense pause, he finally made his decision.
"It's you… number 2."
Although number 3 promised the highest damage, it was nearly impossible to grow safely with a Justice Value of -300.
In EVOVERSE, an immersive real-world game, NPC AIs are incredibly realistic. There is no single fixed storyline, and every NPC reacts uniquely unless you perform identical actions with perfect precision.
Add in the extreme evil rating of -300 Justice Value, and safe paths narrow drastically. Achieving a final win in a single gameplay would be nearly impossible.
If he had multiple attempts, maybe he could have risked option 3, but now that was impossible.
So this was his choice.
Click
The screen flickered, and a new box appeared:
[
Congratulations Player 'THIRSTY-THANOS', on choosing the EX-level cheat- 'The First Serpent'.
Now, I wish you a safe and happy journey in the new world.
The Creator
$_+#++$
]
As he read the words, something felt wrong. He tried to stand, but a sudden dizziness hit him.
"Ah shi…" he did not even curse properly before his eyes closed, and his head fell onto the table.
The text and box on the monitor slowly melted away like snow, leaving only the desktop screen.
The next day, news went viral: a 19-year-old orphan had died while playing a game after staying awake all night. Experts advised audiences to get proper sleep and limit gaming, and parents worldwide nodded in agreement.
.......
Human Federation, City 203
In the Academy of Evolvers, a white-haired old man addressed a packed auditorium. About 200 children listened, some with attention, some bored, some distracted.
In one corner, a lazy-looking black-haired boy, wearing the same uniform as the other students, dozed while standing. Suddenly, his eyes flickered, and he jolted awake.
Opening his eyes and looking around the familiar yet strange surroundings, the first thought that came to his mind was…
'I'm screwed.'