Ren wasn’t expecting much from the 10th server and took what Angelica said to him with a grain of salt.

Part of him was saying that the girl was merely trying to pull his leg. But after he chose the 10th server, he found himself transported alone in what seemed to be in the middle of somewhere along the galaxy. Needless to say, Ren was dumbstruck.

The galaxy replaced the horizon, and he saw planets revolving around the sun while the farther stars sparkled like there was no end.

It wasn’t dark where he was.

No.

On the contrary, it was so bright, for the endless ocean of crystals beneath his feet illuminated even the darkest universe.

“This is . . . !” Ren gasped as he looked at the beauty of it all.

It reminded him of the Milky Way. He had seen pictures of it, but this was different since he was seeing it personally.

It was beautiful — majestic, even.

Ren felt like he was dreaming.

“How did I get here?”

Countless questions were running through his mind, but Ren had no one to ask. There was nobody else with him.

“Where am I? What’s happening?”

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What is this place? Ren thought to himself, looking at his reflection in the water.

“Hello, Ren.”

A gentle, soothing voice of a man pulled Ren’s attention forward. There he saw a . . . crystal blob, which had taken a humanoid form, sitting on a chair. His face couldn’t be seen. It had no eyes. Neither did it have a nose and a mouth. No nothing.

He was just a single mass of crystal blob that took on a human form.

“Are you . . .” Ren tried to see beyond the man’s appearance, “the developer?”

“Yes. One of them.”

“. . .” Ren restrained a gasp. No one had ever seen or spoken with a developer face-to-face before. No one.

Though this was just inside a game, being spoken directly by a developer was something.

Ren blanked out. He really didn’t expect that a developer would talk to him. Did that mean that Angelica . . . knew of the developers?

“You can just call me V. As much as I am thrilled with this meeting, you can only stay here for five minutes.”

“. . .” Ren didn’t comment. He was still processing what was happening.

“You must be confused as to why you’re here, right? I had been wanting to speak to you for a long time, but I always felt that it wasn’t the right time yet.”

Was this because he knew of the bugs? Did they find out that he seemed to know about the game?

“And what made you feel that this is the right time now?” Ren asked, putting his guard up. If they decided to ban him because he was cheating in the game, then he was ready to challenge them.

He was not about to give up COVENANT without a fight.

V was quiet for a moment before he answered, “It’s because you have completed the first evolution. The first ever human in this world to have completed the first step.”

“. . . What?”

“You must be confused.”please visit panda(-)N0ve1.co)m

“Of course, I am confused.” Ren really thought that it was about the game, but . . . what’s with this evolution thing?

“Let me explain from the very beginning.”

Ren took a sharp breath and waited for V’s explanation.

“How much do you know about multi-dimensions?”

“. . . Huh? Multi-what? What does it have to do with this evolution?”

“Apart from our universe, there are an infinite number of parallel universes. Every behavior and every single choice will create a parallel dimension. If you decide to choose the path to the left, then the other you will choose the path to the right.

“And in this new dimension, everyone will create decisions that will constantly create another parallel dimension. Another new universe. If we take this into account, these parallel worlds are so many that they are uncountable.”

Ren was having a hard time understanding what V was saying. There was like a resistance in his mind that was blocking all of his reasoning.

“Another thing — time in this universe is inconsequential. It can be present here, but it can be future or past there. And the people we meet here, we might not meet there. Behaviors are different as well. If you were a good person here, then you might be a bad person there.

“But one thing remains constant . . . There will be an original.”

“. . . Original?” Ren muttered, and only now did he register what Angelica had said to him before. She also called him an ‘original.’

“The original person is the one who makes the decisions. And in your decision, another world is created with a copy of you.”

“So what if I’m an original?” Ren didn’t understand what was so special about it.

“. . .” V didn’t answer.

Ren kind of understood the whole gist of it, and he changed his question. “So what’s this parallel and original thing got to do with this evolution thing?”

“. . .”

Ren wanted to ask again, but the developer remained quiet. Didn’t he hear him?

Ren was about to repeat his question when V spoke.

“That . . . I can’t tell you . . . yet.”

“Huh? Then why tell me all this if you’re not going to explain everything?”

“It’s because we don’t want the truth to influence your decision. And so when the time comes . . . it would be easier for you to digest everything. It’s not only you . . . everyone who will complete their first evolution will be informed of this as well.”

“That’s why I’m asking you . . . what is this evolution thing?” said Ren with a sigh.

“. . .” V seemed to be contemplating whether to answer or not. In the end, he only uttered, “It’s the end goal of the game.”

“. . . Huh?” Ren was even more confused. He thought that he would get something from this meeting, but all he got were more questions.

“Times up. I can’t keep you in here as time here is very different than in the real world.

“But we will meet again . . . and by that time, you’ll know everything. Just continue playing the game.”

Ren opened his mouth but didn’t know what question to ask first from all the dozens of questions that dominated his mind.

Ren kept thinking about that until he found himself turning into pixels. “Wait! Who’s Angelica?”

“. . . Why don’t you ask her?”

And everything went black.

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