Boom!

A deafening explosion came from outside the window.

Caelum pulled the curtain aside. In the distance, a column of thick smoke rose into the sky, accompanied by waves of thunderous blasts.

Moments later, evacuation sirens swept across the entire city.

"Alert! Alert! A game world intrusion has occurred. The Central District is under attack. All residents, evacuate immediately!"

"Disaster level currently assessed as D-rank!"

Caelum closed the curtain and muttered, "Here we go again."

In truth, he was a transmigrator. He had only arrived in this parallel version of Earth less than two days ago, and only now had he fully figured out how this world worked.

Unlike his previous life, this was a world where anyone could freely travel between reality and game worlds. When players returned to reality, they could bring back the power they gained in-game, instantly becoming superhumans capable of flight, incredible speed, and near invulnerability.

Naturally, it worked both ways.

If people from reality could enter game worlds, then those worlds could also invade reality. These intrusions often caused varying degrees of destruction.

Because of that, Caelum was already used to it. In just two days, there had been seven D-rank intrusions in New Kirk alone.

A D-rank intrusion meant significant damage to parts of the city.

If his luck ran out, he might get caught in one and be killed on the spot by a game creature.

To avoid that, he needed to enter a game and grow stronger as soon as possible.

On his left wrist was a black bracelet, his game terminal. He tapped it, and a translucent interface projected in front of him.

After scrolling for a moment, he picked a relatively simple game.

"Evolution Battle Royale. That’s the one."

He tapped to enter.

[Game: Evolution Battle Royale]

[Enter Game]

[Matching Players: 100000 of 100000]

[Match Complete]

A flash of white light.

Caelum vanished and entered the game world.

The scenery shifted instantly. When he came to, he found himself in a lush, vibrant forest.

And now...

He was a palm-sized mouse.

Everything around him looked enormous, like he had stepped into a land of giants.

The game introduction appeared.

[This is a world where the strong prey on the weak. You will randomly become an animal and use it as your starting point. Hunt other creatures by any means necessary to gain Evolution Points.]

[Spend Evolution Points to enhance your abilities and physical attributes. You can even transplant abilities and traits from your prey onto yourself.]

[Slaughter and evolution are the eternal themes of this world.]

[Your only goal is to survive.]

[Until you stand at the top of the food chain.]

[Game Start]

"A mouse start. Damn."

Caelum opened his status panel.

[Player: Caelum]

[Species: Mouse]

[Evolution Points: 0]

[Life Tier: Tier 1]

[Ability: Keen Smell]

A mouse obviously didn’t come with strong innate abilities. Just as Caelum was starting to lose hope for this round, another system prompt appeared.

[Game world detected]

[Loading external module...]

[Load complete. Please select your module]

[1. Giant Beast Start]

[2. Hundredfold Enhancement]

[3. Hundredfold Evolution Points]

"A cheat?!!!"

Caelum’s eyes lit up, excitement surging through him.

"No way I hit the jackpot. If I can use cheats in a game, I’m about to take off!"

He quickly forced himself to calm down and think.

Giant Beast Start was out. It had no long-term growth. If development went badly, he might end up as someone else’s meal.

Hundredfold Evolution Points had strong early potential, but it would fall off later. As upgrade costs skyrocketed, even a hundredfold gain might not be enough.

After weighing everything, he made his decision.

"I’ll take Hundredfold Enhancement."

No matter how he looked at it, this option stayed powerful from early to late game, and only grew stronger over time.

[Hundredfold Enhancement selected]

[Enjoy the game]

With a cheat on his side, Caelum’s grin turned wild.

He sniffed the air, then dashed out. Soon, he found a cluster of ants among dead leaves and crushed them one by one without hesitation.

[Evolution Points +1]

[Evolution Points +1]

[Evolution Points +1]

[Evolution Points +1]

He couldn’t help but wonder if some unlucky player had started as an ant.

Before long, he had accumulated 100 Evolution Points.

He opened the evolution interface.

[Strength Enhancement: 100 Evolution Points]

[Speed Enhancement: 100 Evolution Points]

[Regeneration Enhancement: 100 Evolution Points]

Without hesitation, he chose Speed Enhancement.

[Consumed: 100 Evolution Points]

[Speed Enhancement +1]

[Hundredfold Enhancement Triggered]

[Speed Enhancement +100]

The upgrade completed.

Caelum immediately felt his body become incredibly light. With just a single step, he shot forward like a bullet.

Whoosh!

A blur tore through the forest.

Even he was startled by his own speed. When he checked his stats, he discovered that Speed Enhancement +100 had pushed him to five times the speed of sound.

"That fast?!"

He had made the right call.

At this speed, no one could catch him. Most players probably wouldn’t even notice him before he was gone.

His eyes gleamed as his momentum surged.

He flashed through the forest like a phantom, sweeping through ants like a storm through fallen leaves. In no time, he had gathered 500 Evolution Points.

Then he kept upgrading.

[Consumed: 100 Evolution Points]

[Claw Enhancement +1]

[Hundredfold Enhancement Triggered]

[Claw Enhancement +100]

[Strength Enhancement +100]

[Vision Enhancement +100]

[Smell Enhancement +100]

[Hearing Enhancement +100]

[Ability Upgraded: Super Senses]

[Super Senses: Detect everything within a 10 kilometer radius through sight, sound, and smell]

In just a short time, Caelum had completely transformed.

From an ordinary mouse into a terrifying killing beast.

The animals in the forest immediately suffered for it.

Slash!

With a single swipe, Caelum tore open a rabbit’s abdomen. It struggled briefly before going limp.

[Evolution Points +10]

At that moment, a beetle flew past him. His eyes lit up. He leaped and struck it down cleanly with one claw.

[Evolution Points +5]