The deeper I swam, the quieter the river became.
Gone were the darting schools of fish. Gone were the colorful reefs and playful currents. Here, only shadows moved, thick and slow, and the pressure was heavy enough to crush bones.
The current no longer flowed. It pulled.
Not forward, but down.
And my body—Venom Fang Sprat or not—was obeying it without question. Some instinct, ancient and buried in my mutated form, told me this was where I needed to go.
Toward the Trench.
The Abyss Trench, the System had called it. A place so far beneath the surface that sunlight couldn't touch it. A place older than the world itself.
And I was going straight into its maw.
It started with a whisper.
Faint. Like wind curling through coral. No words. Just a hum. A frequency my new ears could feel more than hear. It vibrated in my skull and behind my eyes.
Something is watching me.
I spun in a slow circle. The water here was pitch black. Even my enhanced SEN stat struggled to pick up shapes. But I knew I wasn't alone.
A ripple behind me.
I shot forward.
Another ripple.
I darted left.
Then—everything went still.
[You have entered a Domain: The Leviathan's Watch]
[System interference detected.]
The world around me warped. The status screen glitched. Letters flickered, then vanished entirely.
I had no System. No stats. No escape.
A voice, deep as the trench itself, rumbled through the water.
"You return."
The darkness ahead coiled and folded into itself. The water peeled away like paper, and the serpent emerged.
The same one that had chased me days ago.
Only now, I could see it clearly.
Massive. Unending. Its body stretched so far that I could not see where it ended. Its scales shimmered not with light, but with memory—each one displaying visions of old storms, drowned empires, and sunken gods.
And its eyes…
They were not beastly.
They were ancient.
Wise.
And full of sorrow.
I tried to back away, but the water held me in place.
Like I was suspended in a thought.
"You've evolved." The serpent's voice was a wave of thunder, vibrating through my bones. "Faster than expected. The System favors you."
It knew.
It knew about the System.
I forced out a thought. "You… can speak. You understand the System."
"More than you know."
The creature moved forward, and the water bent around it like the laws of nature themselves bowed in its presence.
"I am known by many names. Leviathan. Depthfather. Serpent of Silence. But your kind once called me…" The voice paused, almost bitter. "God of the Seas."
My mind reeled.
A god?
No wonder the System had flagged it as "Danger Level: Unknown."
I floated, silent, thoughts racing.
"Why are you helping me?" I asked. "You could have swallowed me days ago."
The serpent's eye narrowed.
"Because you are different. Because the System chose you. And because it is my design."
I blinked. "What?"
The Leviathan turned in the water, revealing a massive spiral rune etched into its scales.
It pulsed.
"The Evolution System. The thing you think makes you special. It is not natural. It is not fate. It is my creation. A final gift… and a final curse."
The silence after those words was heavier than any water.
I tried to process it.
"You… made the System?"
"I made the seed of it," the Leviathan said. "Long ago, before your world was bound to rules and stats and levels. I gave a part of myself to the waters. A fragment of divinity. A second chance… for one."
I couldn't believe it.
The thing guiding my survival wasn't a neutral force.
It was him.
The Leviathan. The god of seas. The first to evolve—and the last to remain.
"Why me?" I asked. "Why now?"
His coils shifted slowly. Ancient, graceful.
"Because the balance is broken. The river runs dry. The ocean forgets its own name. The surface races war with steel and stone, and the old ways vanish."
He paused.
"You are the last roll of the dice."
My mind ached trying to understand.
"Then what's at the end of this path? If I keep evolving… what happens?"
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"You become like me."
A pulse of energy surged through the water.
Images filled my head—visions of me growing larger, stronger, no longer prey or even predator, but something vast. Something divine.
Worshiped. Feared. Alone.
"But it comes at a cost," the Leviathan warned. "Every evolution cuts you from what you were. You are not a fish anymore. But one day, you may not be anything at all."
I swallowed.
Or I would have, if I had a throat.
"Then why offer me this path?"
The Leviathan turned to me, his gaze burning.
"Because you chose to swim."
Suddenly, the pressure returned.
The Domain cracked like glass, and my system screen reappeared.
[System Restored.]
[You have completed a Hidden Encounter: Leviathan's Revelation]
[Reward: Blessing of the Deep (Passive)]
Your evolutions are 10% more effective. You gain access to Myth-tier forms earlier than normal.
[New Quest Added: Claim the Trident of the Deep]
Hidden in the ruins of the Abyss Trench.
Guarded by one who betrayed the Leviathan.
Reward: Unknown, but essential for your final evolution.
[Your existence has been noticed by the Divine.]
My screen flickered.
For a moment, I saw others—faint outlines of creatures in distant seas. One burning with light. One armored in coral. One screaming in a whirlpool of blood.
I was not the only one who had been chosen.
But I might be the only one still alive.
The Leviathan slowly drifted backward into the dark.
"Swim well, little god."
Then he was gone.
And I was alone again.
I floated for a long time.
Thinking.
Processing.
I was no longer just a fish trying to survive. I was part of something massive, ancient, and dangerous. The System wasn't just my lifeline—it was the last echo of a god's dying dream.
But that meant I had a choice.
Keep evolving.
Or stop.
I looked down at my mutated fins. My venomous fangs. My twisted, hybrid body.
Stopping was never an option.
I flicked my tail and swam toward the trench.
The ocean waited.
So did my next evolution.