It was a beautiful sunny day, the wind was quietly whistling between the leaves of trees, birds were chirping a cheerful melody and people were smiling and chatting away all over.

Sadly the day was not intented for a lonely young man, who was sat on a wooden chair in a small dark room. His wrists were in cuffs, which had chains bolted to the floor.

Across from where the man was facing, a large one-sided glass pane was fixed on the wall.

The man stirred, the chains rattled as he groggly moved his right hand to his head. The man rubbed his head, a massive headache assaulting him.

"I see you're awake," a voice said, "Although, you will soon, no longer be here," the voice added softly.

The man's mind instantly cleared as he heard the voice. "Huh? Where... where am I?" The man could have sworn that he was comfortably sleeping on his bed.

"You're safe don't worry. There's alot of explaing to do, so let's get to it shall we, Mr. Jin?" The voice assured the man, now named Jin.

Jin sat in silence for a moment. Wasn't this all too sudden, too dangerous, too scary, too... exciting. Jin frowned, 'Where did that come from?'

Jin shook his head and answered, "Sure, let's start... I guess, Mr... ?" His questions would probably be answered anyway, so he stayed silent and listened.

"...Hawk. You can call me Hawk," the man answered, "well, first things first, you have shown signs of evolving."

Just as Hawk promised, he went straight to the point. Jin, however, almost had a heart attack after hearing him.

Jin licked his dry lips and asked, "Are you sure?" Jin couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Evolving meant gaining power. It meant paving a path to the top of the food chain and walking that paved path.

Evolving was a step by step process, 8 steps to be exact. Step 1 was called the DNA step. As it's name suggested your DNA would litterly undergo a change that would result in you gaining a random animal's DNA.

Aquiring such DNA would give you the ability to change into that animal, and gain a certain abillty from said animal.

Jin did not think about the steps after the DNA step any further, as they were not in his grasp right now.

"Yes, I am sure," Hawk answered, "I am sure you already know what it means to evolve, right?"

"I know some stuff." Jin answered. How could he not know. The process of evolution was all over the media.

People who evolved are like heroes to the public. Those that reached the 8'th stage are like gods to the masses. Though there are not many of them, ten to be exact.

"That makes it easy then," Hawk sighed, "well, in about an hour, your body will be transported to an ecosystem for your first evaluation."

A moment of silence passed and then Hawk added, "Be prepared, we do not know which ecosystem you will be sent to, so be careful also."

Jin's happiness subsided for a moment. Right, this wasn't all games and fantasies, this was real. He could die.

...he could die.

Jin's face darkened. He quickly steeled himself and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Upon entering the ecosystem, your body will change into your chosen animal, the new sensations and senses of your body can be overwhelming, so be aware of that." Hawk answered.

Jin nodded, shuffling uncomfortably on the chair.

"There's not really much more to give, except, of course, that you will be facing strange monsters on your journey in the ecosystem." Hawk added.

Right, monsters also existed. They were split into 8 classes; Beast, Creature, Fiend, Devil, Vile, Titan, Ancient, Mythic. The last three were harrowing calamities that could wipe out humanity.

Luckily, humanity did not have the luxury of meeting the last three classes, only knowing of there existences from scriptures and carvings left in the different ecosystems.

Jin shivered as he heard Hawk speak, how would he defend himself against such beasts? He didn't have any prior fighting experience.

Jin nodded gratefully toward the one-way glass window, his facing turning grim after a while. "Thanks... I guess."

There was a moment of silence, then Hawk spoke once more.

"Right, if you survive the evaluation, you'll be recognized as a full fledge Infant, you will get some responsibilities, but those will be talked about after you survive."

Jin smiled crookedly at the outrageous naming scheme, but kept quiet.

There were also 8 classes for humans, corrosponding to the 8 steps. Starting from Infant all the way to Elder.

Jin then looked at his wrists. The chains were practically useless as his body would be transported, and more so if he failed the evaluation.

Upon failing it, a Gate would appear where the body last was. Monsters would then pour out from said Gate.

He looked back toward the window. That's why Hawk was here. His job was to close the Gate if Jin failed the evaluation.

Though, it was strange that they only sent one Evolved to close the possible gate.

Some time passed in silence as Jin contemplated on some things, worrying about his fighting skills, survival, etc.

Though at some point he felt a change, it was not a physical change, it was something he felt in the surroundings. "Alright," came Hawks voice, "your about to be transported, remember everything I told you, and... goodluck."

Jin opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. He was only confused for a second, when everything in his vision turned white.

Hawk looked at the empty chair and sighed. 'Survive, please, I really don't want to deal with a Gate today.'

****

The first thing that Jin felt was unbearable heat. Secondly he felt very out of place and uncomfortable.

Opening his eyes he looked around.

When he did though, his face turned pale. 'What the hell is this?!'

All around him were huge dunes of sand. The dunes were absolutely massive. The winds were blowing hot air over the dunes, creating a small whistling sound.

Feeling the irritating, hot sand under his feet he looked down... well tried to, because as he did, his chin bumped against the hot sand.

Unable to utter a single thought or word he turned his head horisontaly to look at his whole body.

'What the..."

His body was slender... and red, with black dots. His slender body ended in a smooth, long tail. Looking at his four -yes, four!- legs and feet he saw that his feet were webbed.

Jin silently cursed. Why had he turned into a semi-aquatic animal, when he was stuck in this hellish desert!

Also, no wonder the dunes looked huge! He was tiny!

Sighing in defeat he looked around him once more. His gaze froze as looked into the distance.

In the distance a large silhouette was obscuring the sky.

Peeking from over the dunes there was a gigantic mountain!