Adrian Ren Carter.
Age: 22.
Status: Orphan.
Residence: Sector 7, Neo-Terra City.
Life had never been kind to him.
Half American, half Asian, and with no family left in the world, Adrian survived alone in a small rented apartment at the edge of the city. Most days were the same—wake up, search for work, fail, and return home tired.
Today started no differently.
Adrian stepped onto the small balcony outside his room, stretching lazily.
Then he noticed something strange.
Ants.
A line of them crawled along the edge of the concrete floor in his backyard.
But they looked… wrong.
Adrian crouched down and stared at them closely.
The ants were red, but darker than the usual household ants he had seen before.
And bigger.
Much bigger.
"Hmm?"
He pulled out his phone and searched online.
Soon a result appeared.
🐜 Red Ants (Common Species)
Size:Workers range 2–6 mm, queens up to 15 mm.
Color:Reddish-brown to bright red.
Behavior:• Fire ants are aggressive and have painful venomous stings.• Harvester ants collect seeds and clear vegetation.• Colonies are large and highly organized.
Adrian compared the ants on the ground.
"These are almost… eight millimeters."
He frowned.
"That's weird."
After thinking for a moment, he simply shrugged.
"They're just ants."
Adrian lifted his foot.
Squish.
One ant died instantly.
Squish. Squish.
He crushed them one by one under his shoe.
Crunching sounds echoed softly against the balcony floor.
Within seconds, several ants were dead.
Nothing strange happened.
No explosions.
No mutations.
Just ants dying under his cruel foot.
Adrian shook his head.
"Guess I'm overthinking."
Then—
DING.
A mechanical voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.
Adrian froze.
A translucent blue panel appeared before his eyes.
Welcome to the Global Evolution System
Host: Adrian Ren CarterAge: 22Mutation Level: Not Awakened
Available General Experience Points: 1
Available Gene Points: 0
Available Gene Abilities: 0
Adrian's brain stopped working for a full ten seconds.
"…What?"
He blinked.
The panel didn't disappear.
Slowly, he whispered inside his mind.
"System… status?"
DING
The panel refreshed again.
It was real.
Adrian's breathing became faster.
Then he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha…!"
"I finally got lucky for once in my life!"
"Did heaven finally take pity on me?"
The interface looked almost identical to the RPG game panels he used to play.
Experience points.
Gene points.
Abilities.
His mind raced with possibilities.
"But… how do I gain them?"
Adrian thought carefully.
"Maybe I'm not the only one who got this system…"
He forced himself to calm down.
Testing would reveal the truth.
After taking a quick shower and eating a simple breakfast of bread and jam, Adrian prepared himself.
He wore a thick leather jacket, grabbed a backpack, and stuffed several plastic containers inside.
Then he picked up two weapons.
A kitchen knife.
And a baseball bat.
"Time for an experiment."
Soon Adrian arrived at the City Public Garden.
Morning joggers and people exercising filled the park.
Adrian ignored them and walked toward the forest area near the city outskirts.
He stopped near a small bush.
Then he saw them.
Iron Termites.
Their bodies looked slightly metallic and harder than normal termites.
Adrian smashed one with his shoe.
CRACK
A notification appeared.
Iron Termite Killed+0.1 Experience Points
Adrian's eyes widened.
"It works."
He started stomping rapidly.
One after another.
Iron Termite Killed+0.1 Experience Points
Iron Termite Killed+0.1 Experience Points
Iron Termite Killed+0.1 Experience Points
Notifications flooded his vision but didn't block his sight.
After killing twenty termites—
DING
+1 Experience Point
Adrian checked his panel.
Host: Adrian Ren CarterAge: 22
Mutation Level: Not Awakened
Available General Experience Points: 3
Available Gene Points: 0
Available Gene Abilities: 0
Adrian smiled.
"Now the real test."
He gripped his knife and baseball bat.
"If I kill bigger creatures… maybe I'll gain gene points."
Soon he spotted something crawling on a tree trunk.
Green Beetles.
They were huge.
Around 3–5 cm long.
Adrian grabbed one and flipped it onto the ground.
The beetle struggled violently.
Without hesitation—
STAB
His knife pierced its belly.
The shell cracked open.
Blue blood oozed out.
The insect twitched… then stopped moving.
DING
+0.4 Experience Points
Adrian stared at the corpse.
Then another crazy thought crossed his mind.
"…What if I eat it?"
If the system was about evolution, consuming mutated creatures might provide genes.
Adrian took a deep breath.
He removed the head and legs.
Then bit into the body.
Crunch.
Squish.
"…YAAK!"
"It tastes disgusting!"
But he forced himself to swallow.
DING
+0.1 Gene Point
Adrian's eyes widened.
He immediately opened his system panel.
Host: Adrian Ren CarterAge: 22
Mutation Level: Not Awakened
Available General Experience Points: 3.4
Available Gene Points: 0.1
Available Gene Abilities: 0
Adrian slowly smiled.
A dangerous light appeared in his eyes.
"So that's how it works…"
"If I want to evolve…"
"I just need to hunt."