yoo

After the gate disappeared, things pretty much calmed down in the street. Most civilians simply went back to the safety of their homes as they had no idea what was going to happen next.

The big shots in the city as well quietly retreated back to different places as they were also unsure of many things. The shock at the end, where another beast had surprisingly appeared out of the gate, told them that they knew nothing about this whole ordeal.

All they knew was that this whole event was somehow linked to the mysterious game 'Evolution Online.' The game ended, and the next second, chaos descended.

This couldn't just be a coincidence. No one was foolish enough to think that. However, the question still remained. What were they doing to do now? 𝗯𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝘃𝗲𝐥．𝗰𝗼𝐦

Especially after witnessing the tyrannical display of power and strength, no one dared to do anything sneaky or oppose the strongest person in the city at the moment.

So everyone quietly dispersed, wondering what the next day was going to bring them. Were they going to live or die at the end of this day?

Just like the other civilians in the city, coincidentally, the Crimson Abyss guild members and their family members also returned to Liam's apartment complex, which was their main base at the moment.

Their current order was to take rest and relax since they had been continuously fighting for almost an entire day without any break. Though everyone was a bit restless to do this now of all times, the tiredness soon set in and in the end, all those who fought fell asleep like a log.

There were also some soul minions guarding the building, so they did not have to worry about safety.

Meanwhile, five people alone were missing from this group, including the master of the soul minions. After the gate closed, Liam immediately moved on to the next task at hand. He brought along with him Shen Yue, Alex, Mei Mei, Rey and Shin Soo.

Surprisingly, he did not do this because he favoured them. These five had all managed to reach Level 10 while the others were still at Level 7, 8 or 9. While Liam had expected Alex to outperform others, the other four names were actually unexpected.

Shen Yue and Mei Mei possessed legendary items in-game, so he had never really evaluated their actual talent in combat. Rey as well had a late start and was mostly goofing around.

And as for Shin Soo, Liam was, in fact, quite familiar with his skill level, but once again, he was pleasantly surprised. When they had teamed up a long time before, his skills were not at this level, but now he had improved himself by leaps and bounds.

More than anyone else, Liam understood his mentality and his hardworking nature, so naturally, he rewarded him and brought him along as well.

Currently, Liam and the three girls sat on Luna, who had a disgruntled expression on her usual adorable face from being a ride to so many people, and the two guys sat on the condor undead soul minion, freaked out by the weird physical texture of the soul minion.

The group first headed to the nearby gate, where a huge rhinoceros was wreaking havoc. This boss was still too much for any one of them to handle by themselves, so the five of them tackled him together in a group.

Liam did not participate and simply stood on the side, keeping an eye on things, just in case something unexpected happened. However, it was not the first time for these five to coordinate and fight.

Especially with Alex already being able to use a divine strengthening skill all on her own without any skill book or help from the system, the fight proceeded smoothly.

She tanked all the blows while the others did their best to inflict damage, and within a few minutes, the huge beast collapsed on the ground, its body hacked and slashed and its health completely drained.

Damn it. That was way harder than it should be." Alex grumbled as she watched the portal vanish into nothingness once again.

Standing behind her, Rey chuckled. "That's what she said." He gave Shin Soo a wink, making him as well laugh, but the two immediately shut up as soon as they received a death glare from the redhead.

"Bro, how long are we going to fight without any weapons?" Rey let out a tired sigh and sat on the bloody ground, not caring about the mess. Without his bow and arrow, the weapon he was most familiar with, he was struggling a bit.

He did not feel it as much when fighting against the weaker beasts, but the difference was coming out when fighting against the thick bosses. He could clearly feel his shortcoming.

"Tch. I should have made some arrangements for this beforehand. I didn't think of this at all." Rey tossed the knife he was holding down onto the ground, which fell down with a clinking sound.

As a long-range fighter, he preferred to stay away and not get up close and dirty. He even got smacked by the rhino a bunch of times, only narrowly escaping, and his clothes were completely ruined. He absolutely hated this fighting style.

After ranting a bit, Rey looked at Liam to see if he had some sort of solution, but the other party was silently smiling. Immediately, Rey could tell that something was up. "Bro… what are you not telling me?"

The next second, something appeared in Liam's hand, a glittering golden bow and some arrows.

"What the heck!!!" Rey immediately jumped up in delight, forgetting that he was completely tired out. "Please tell me this is for me! Please! Please! Please! Bro!"

"Heh. Of course. This is for you. I was thinking of giving this to you only later, but since you are a special case, you can have it now." Liam smiled.

Rey lunged forward and accepted the weapon with glee while the others stared at Liam in shock, thinking about the implications of this action. Did this mean…

When Liam noticed that everyone was staring at him with sparkling eyes, he started to laugh. He knew what they were thinking.

"Brother, you have my crown?" Mei Mei was the first to ask.

"Ummm… Do you also have other weapons?" Alex eyed him suspiciously.

Even Shen Yue and Shin Soo, the quiet ones, seemed to want to ask him a question but said nothing. Instead, they stared at Liam with intrigue written all over their faces.

Liam shook his head. He knew this was coming. "Alright. I do have some items with me, but I will only give them to you when you guys reach Level 20."

"Or rather, whoever gets there first will receive the goods. It's up to you to make sure that what you want is still there when you reach level 20."

Everyone gulped. This meant that Liam still had the legendary items with him? He clearly did not deny that. The five pairs of eyes twinkled as they looked at the rhino corpse.

This single boss gave everyone an entire level bump, bringing up their levels to 11. They were ready to attack the next one! Level 20 wasn't too far, and everyone's hands were itching to hold the items they were familiar with.

After Liam placed the boss into the spatial artifact and picked up the mana core, the group promptly left for the next gate. Once again, a vigorous battle ensued.

Unlike in the game world, in the real world, every level up only gave two stat points, so the progress was painfully slow. It was as if they were playing in the hard mode now.

To make matters worse, Liam stopped Rey from participating in the group fight this time, so things were more difficult, dangerous, and risky. The group ended up fighting for a full ten minutes before the boss was finally down.

But ultimately, it was worthwhile because everyone gained significantly more experience points as a result of having one fewer person in the group. Only Rey looked as if he had bitten down on something very bitter.

"This is so unfair. My level is stuck. Bro, what is this…"

Liam smiled. "Have some patience. There is plenty of time for you to level up."

Rey still sulked for the rest of the trip as the group continued moving from one boss to the next. He repeatedly offered to take someone else's position if they became tired, but no one was willing.

So he ended up lazily resting right next to Luna, who also had nothing much to do. After a while, he had the daring thought to play fetch with Luna, but very quickly, he dropped the idea as the fox gave him an icy stare.

The next couple of hours went by in this manner, and finally, all the gates within the marked territory were successfully taken care of, the beast corpses were cleaned out, and mana cores were collected.

"Huff. Huff. Now what?" Alex winced, as she was now completely out of it. Even if she wanted, she couldn't move a single muscle at this point. Everyone else as well looked like dead dogs.

Their levels also stopped increasing by huge chunks after level 13, so those who had the idea of searching for more gates and clearing them quickly tossed it out.

Luckily for them, Liam also agreed with them. "Nothing just yet. I will drop you guys back home. You should take some rest. There is a lot more work to do tonight."

"Thank god!"

"Ooof!"

"Thank you, brother!"

Everyone looked extremely relieved, except for Rey, who had barely broken a sweat. However, he also did not complain as the group promptly returned to their base.

The small apartment complex now looked extremely crowded, with everyone living under the same roof, but this way, everyone was able to get some peace of mind and rest easy.

When Liam and the others arrived, food was already prepared and ready to serve. The group had a hearty meal together, and to top it off, Liam took out some beast corpses.

"We should be eating this from now on. These beasts have a good amount of mana in their bodies. So eating their meat will help with the mana assimilation process." He explained.

Everyone who wasn't too tired or sleepy began helping with the meat processing, and the group shifted the party to the huge terrace upstairs.

The meat was nicely grilled by some of the older mothers in the group who had a lot of experience in cooking. Soon, a delicious aroma wafted out.

Everyone received a generous helping of the meat. After their long day, everyone was relieved to sit down to a delicious meal and unwind together.

They laughed and chatted about the events that had been terrifying just a while ago. More importantly, they thanked their lucky stars that they decided to move here based on a whim, trusting a stranger they had met online.

While the other members of the guild might also be doing better, it definitely wouldn't be the same as being in the same base as the big boss.

By now, the others were probably still struggling to survive. Who knew there might have even been some casualties? Thinking about this brought the group's mood down.

But soon, this changed as some new guests arrived. Just like Liam had predicted, the old granny had arrived at their doorstep, bringing along with her about a hundred people.

Among these hundred people, about forty were trained fighters and members of her dojo. All of them were also official Crimson Abyss guild members.

The gathering quickly became very lively with these new people as everyone mingled with each other freely and relaxed. Liam took out some more beast meat for the newly arrived people, and everyone had their fill.

Most of the day went by in this manner as everyone let loose, but when evening arrived, Liam quickly gathered the main group for a meeting. "Ok. Let's discuss the next steps."

"Alright, brat. I am here. And just like you said, everything else happened as well. Ha Ha Ha. The world really turned into a terrifying place, just like you said it would. Ha Ha Ha." The granny chuckled wryly.

Her old and tired eyes looked a little lively today evening, a strange glint sparkling within them. She felt ten years younger and more energetic than she had ever felt in her entire life.

It was as if she had obtained something today that she had been searching for every single day since she started training officially in her teen years. She felt whole and complete. "Brat, tell me. How do you know of all these things?"

The group of other players standing near them were all surprised because this old woman was repeatedly calling their big boss a brat, as if he were just a boy next door.

But Liam did not seem to mind it. He simply answered her with a smile. "Just a hunch."

The granny narrowed her eyes to stare at him with a mysterious gaze, but before she could say anything else, Liam added with a chuckle. "What has happened has happened. There is no point in discussing that now. Why don't we talk about what is next?"

Everyone immediately quieted down. This was something every single person assembled here wanted to know. What was next? What was going on here? What was going to happen to them?

Liam gazed at everyone with a cold and stern glance and broke the news. "It's not over yet. It's just beginning." He finally said it.

What? What was he talking about? What was beginning? Everyone's face instantly changed. The beast wave ended, and the gates vanished. So many people had assumed that this was over.

They were all of the opinion that perhaps in this new world, superpowers and special abilities would be the norm. This would mean that they would have to get adjusted to a new world order and perhaps new leaders, a new regime, and even new laws.

At least, this was what everyone was mentally prepared for. Though this in itself was something unthinkable and unimaginable, it was still not that scary, especially because they had the upper hand at the moment. They would somehow be able to manage things.

But now, with Liam's cryptic words, it sounded as if things were not that simple. What was going on here? Everyone looked at Liam for answers, and he took a deep breath before continuing.

"The beasts that just came out were just a warm-up. Appetizers. I have a feeling there is more to come. I am not sure when or how, but even stronger beings might invade our space. All I can say is that we need to be prepared to fight and defend ourselves at any given time."

"We need to be constantly improving to survive. Just like back in the game. If you consider the game a tutorial, now the real deal starts. We cannot relax just yet. Don't forget that out here we have only one life."

"If you die, then you die. There is no second chance."

Everyone's face fell. Hearing these words, everyone couldn't help but imagine the worst-case scenario. This kind of life… wouldn't it be no different than hell? Constantly watching over their shoulders, constantly living in fear, who wanted to live like this?

Liam shook his head. "There is no need to be scared. The first thing everyone needs to understand is that these things are beyond our control. All we can do now is survive."

"But that doesn't mean we are helpless. We can slowly train ourselves once again, become stronger, and fight back. All I ask is that you take this seriously and do everything you can."

"We need to do our best, so even if we fail, we have no regrets. Let's work together and survive this hell! Yes?"

YES!

"We will not fail."

WE WILL NOT FAIL!

"We will survive!"

WE WILL SURVIVE!

With Liam pushing them, everyone started shouting at the top of their lungs. Even their respective family members joined in as if they had also been a part of the guild all along. The gloomy, foreboding atmosphere also rapidly changed.

Liam let out a sigh and then raised his hand. Everyone immediately became quiet. "There is another announcement for today."

"Tonight, sometime— I don't know when, I don't know where— there will be a pillar of light in the city. It could be anywhere and at any time. It could be appearing in front of us as I am speaking now."

"It doesn't matter. But the moment it shows up, we have to get there as fast as we can. Understood?"

Hearing Liam's words, everyone nodded and nervously watched the city around them, craning their necks left and right.

Liam jumped on Luna as well, and both of them appeared prepared to take off at a moment's notice. As for what that pillar of light was or why they had to reach it first, Liam did not explain these things.

"It is a special place, a shop of sorts." He only said this much. As for the rest of the things, it was better to let everyone witness it for themselves.

Time ticked by, and soon, around 8 pm, a pillar of light indeed showed up in the city, just like he mentioned. It rose from the ground and shot up to the sky, extending infinitely.

What is that?! Everyone gaped. Another wave of beasts? They all turned to look at Liam for instructions, but he and the fox were already gone.

"Luna! There! NOW!" Liam shouted as the duo shot forward like a bullet. It was not too far from their residence, and with Luna's speed, they arrived at the spot in an instant.

Liam jumped down and looked at the space in front of him. There it was! There it really was! The thing that Liam was looking for! A simple brick building that had ten floors.

"Here we go." Liam grinned. He was once again back in front of this familiar place, though now he was no longer the same person. "Let's go in."

As Liam walked into the door with the little fox closely following behind him, a small being appeared in front of him, greeting him at the doorstep. "Welcome. Welcome."

He stared at the creature, whom he had not seen for a while now. A fairy.

She had shiny, sparkly wings on her back, which she fluttered as she hovered in front of him, eyeing him curiously.

She was wearing a silvery white dress that complimented her silver hair, and she also had a big, friendly smile on her face. She looked quite cute and adorable.

But Liam knew better than to be carried away by this smile. He remained silent.

"Hello, I am Tilia. How may I help you today?"

He ignored the pleasantries and curtly replied. "I would like to register my class and look at the items for purchase. I would also like to trade in a few things."

Oh? The fairy was taken aback a little bit.

A human who was not swayed by her heart-melting cuteness. This was new. Her eyes gleamed with interest as she flashed another smile and moved aside.

"Welcome, Sir. Please come in. I will guide you through the registration process." She winked.

"And since you are the first person to register in the entire world, you will receive a special bonus."

Huh? It was now Liam's turn to be startled. He was so nervous about registering for his class that he did not think something like this would be there.

"A bonus for the first person, huh? I am not going to say no to that." He grinned as he thought to himself.

The fairy led him inside the building, which was rather unusual. He felt as if he was getting some sort of VIP treatment.

Usually, these creatures were very snarky and greedy. There were several times in his last life when more than one of these bug women spat on him for not possessing enough money.

And now they were being kind and humble? He just couldn't get used to this polite treatment. Liam ignored the fairy and looked around.

The interior of the building was completely different from the exterior. While from the outside, the building might just look like a simple, random brick-walled structure, the inside was sparkling and pristine.

The shop's distinctiveness was enhanced by the bright and spotless white marble floors, the sophisticated and exquisite carvings on the walls that belonged only in royal palaces, and, importantly, the dainty female creatures that could seduce countless men.

But the most mysterious aspect of the shop was its own origin. Where did this shop come from? What was its purpose here? Nobody knew the answers to these questions.

Liam never understood the reason behind this mysterious shop in his last lifetime, and now nothing had changed. However, he didn't care too much about these things. He was far more concerned about what was to come next.

Looking at the bigger picture and thinking about everything that had happened up until now, including the hand of the divine temple in all the events, was a luxury he couldn't afford just yet.

Even if he wanted to think about these things, there was nothing he could do at his level. Only when he became stronger, perhaps, could he get some clues about these mysterious factions.

He silently followed the fairy as she continued to lead him inside the shop. To his surprise, they had crossed all four desks on the ground floor of the shop, but they were still heading further in.

Where were they going?

"In here." Tilia beamed with another sweet smile.

All her actions were innocent and pure, just like the white dress she wore, but there was a sort of seductive teasing charm to that innocence as if she were testing the limits of the man in front of her, watching and waiting for him to slip.

Unfortunately for her, Liam had absolutely no reaction whatsoever.

He was already used to being around women much more dangerous than her. Both Shen Yue and his two self-proclaimed wives from the nether realm had far more of an impact on him than this petite fairy.

Instead, what piqued his interest was… why was she going out of her way to make an impression on him? These creatures clearly did not care about humans.

After the first beast wave itself, it was almost as if they decided that this race was doomed and treated everyone with a condescending tone and mockery.

So why was this one behaving differently now?

Liam only had to think about it for a moment before the realization dawned on him. His answer was there in his question itself. This difference in treatment was precisely because of the same first beast wave outcome.

However, this time, at least in this area, they hadn't suffered a massive loss. Instead, everything was already under control, and the gates had also been taken care of. So obviously, these creatures also changed their attitudes.

Besides, his level at the moment was also quite abnormal, far exceeding that of normal beginners.

All these told Liam one thing. These two-faced bitches behaved nicely to people with power and trampled on those who did not possess any.

First, it was the divine temple and now, these fairies. Were there no fair and just races in the world? Heh. Liam chuckled wryly at this naive thought. Of course, there wasn't.

Only power and wealth spoke loudly. The strong had rights, and the weak had to lay low and pray for their future, wishing on a shooting star. Such was the cruelty of the world.

"This way." The fairy opened a private door to reveal a large room.

And on this mahogany door, two words were clearly inscribed in silver ink.

Store Manager

Liam couldn't help but gasp inwardly as he saw these two words. Store manager? This fairy who was talking to him was actually the store manager?!

This was a surprise to him. This meant she should have an in-depth familiarity with both the store and the current events of the world at large.

Perhaps there were some advantages to being friendly with this fairy. For the first time, Liam smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Miss Tilia. May I know if you are the store manager of this place?" Liam politely smiled.

"Oh! You noticed! Yes, that would be me. I am the humble store manager that runs this place." The fairy beamed in response, a little excited that Liam was finally warming up to her.

"And since you are a special customer, you are always welcome to look for me to conduct any transactions. I will be more than happy to attend to you personally." She winked her eyes and did a small curtsy bow.

"Thank you. This is a great honour indeed. I will keep this in mind and look for Miss Tilia any time I enter the shop. I hope that I won't be troubling you." Liam smiled again, not being stingy with his attitude.

"Ha Ha. Nonsense. It is no trouble." The fairy giggled and brushed his words off. "Now, shall we start with your transactions? I have a feeling that you have a lot to offer to me." Her eyes glimmered with a strange light.

Hmmm? Liam felt an alarm go off inside his brain. What did she mean by this statement?

He nodded and took a beast corpse from his inventory, still smiling. "First, I would like to know how much I can sell this for?"

"Mmm… A common striped tiger?" The fairy blinked, inspecting the beast in a fraction of a second. "I am afraid this won't get you much, Sir Liam. You would need a hundred of these beasts to exchange for one common-grade mana core."

"That's quite alright." Liam retrieved the beast corpse and placed it back into his spatial artifact.

He had already expected this answer, so it did not really come as a surprise to him. What he really wanted to check was something else, and bingo, the next second, the fairy did indeed talk about it.

"Mr. Liam, you amaze me once again. Your world has only begun to evolve, but you are already in possession of a spatial artifact! May I know what type of artifact it is?"

Liam chuckled. "Thank you, Miss Tilia, but I am afraid I cannot answer you."

"Oh?" The fairy's face became small.

"I mean, I am not sure myself. When I awakened, I just found the artifact already bound to me. It is a mystery to me as well."

"Oh. I see. In that case… might I suggest something." The fairy smiled again. "How about you sell the spatial artifact? The beasts' corpses that you possess will not amount to much, but you would definitely get a good deal on the artifact."

"You can then exchange the mana cores for a decent weapon. At this stage, that is probably more valuable for you. You might need a good weapon that is suitable for your strength and your level?" She winked at him with a charming smile.

"Oh. That is indeed a good idea." Liam nodded with furrowed brows as if he was really thinking about it. "Give me some time to think about it because a spatial artifact is also extremely useful for me right now in terms of acquiring resources."

"Sure, Mr. Liam. Take your time. I will be here waiting for you." Tilia smiled.

Of course, you will. Liam sneered inwardly. This simple conversation proved two things.

First, this woman was able to tell that he possessed a high-grade treasure with him. Second, she was not able to tell exactly what it was or what was inside it. This was good news.

Otherwise, this dainty-looking fairy as well would probably turn into a wicked witch and come after him with everything she had! There were already too many people behind him, and he really did not want another headache, especially right now.

This was the problem with possessing a high-grade treasure. If you did not have the power to protect it, everyone was going to hunt you down for it. But at least for the moment, Liam seemed to be safe from this fate.

Now that he had confirmed this, he smiled and asked the fairy again, "Can I register for my class now?"

"Yes, of course, valued customer. I have already started the process. It should be done soon." Tilia beamed. She opened a system interface panel, and on it, Liam's name was written.

Shockingly, right next to his name, there was a title.

[Earth's First Evolver]

The fairy noticed that Liam was surprised, and she explained with a smile. "This is the reward I was telling you about. "Because you are the first person from this world to officially register, you will receive 50 stat points as a bonus."

"You will become even stronger, Mr. Liam." She winked at him.

Ha Ha. That is good." Liam grinned. His gaze was still on the panel as he could see some sort of timer circle running out to completion. The next second, a notification popped up in front of him.

Liam eyed the notification with interest. He only knew about registering for his class, so this was new to him. What did registering as an evolver even mean?

Just as he was thinking about this, his gaze casually fell on the store manager's panel behind the notification. On there, as soon as he got registered, a couple of other names appeared.

And a second later, several other names appeared. The fourth one particularly caught his eye, as it was Alex's name. It looked like she had also arrived at the building shortly after him.

His gaze then shifted up to see who the other two names were in between them, and he abruptly froze.

Right there on the panel, there was a name he recognized, written in clear, bold letters!

GEROME CRAWFORD

It couldn't be, right?

No! That's impossible!

How could that damned tower master follow him out of the game world into the real world? Something like that shouldn't be possible!