Chapter 8 - Earth's First Awakened

As Enzo tried to process that information, the energy in his body had integrated entirely with it. At that point, Enzo finally noticed the blaring translucent notification alert icon at the top right of his vision.

Sending his consciousness to the icon, he viewed his current notifications.

[Warning! Unknown Energy Detected!]

[Warning! Unknown Energy Detected!]

[Unknown Energy Has Been Identified!]

[You've increased your Creation Elemental Mastery by 587!]

As soon as Enzo saw the notification about his creation elemental mastery, he almost had a heart attack.

"587! 587 Points of Primordial Elemental Mastery! I'm rich! I can't believe- NOOO!"

[Error! Connection To Server Makes Learning Elemental Mastery Impossible!]

[Notice: Sufficient Creation Energy Has Been Found, Would You Like To Initiate Body Upgrade?]

"Initiate! Initiate it now! Give me my mastery points!"

Suddenly, Enzo screamed as his body convulsed with pain. In the real world, Enzo's body, which was inside the gaming capsule, was shaking as muffled cries sounded from his lips.

A viscous black substance flowed out of Enzo's body in the realm world, and calming white energy flowed in from the capsule, integrating with his mortal body and strengthening it. The faint outline of a dragon scale could start appearing on his body.

Before Enzo's vision went black, he saw one final notification.

[Congratulations! You Are The First Earthling That Has Awoken! Welcome To The Beast Evolution Multiverse!]

"Brenda's such a bitch. Not only did she not take my side, she even had the audacity to say that pervert wasn't in the wrong!" Clicking her tongue, Ari stopped thinking about her 'brother' and focused on the more pressing issue.

"Grandma told me that when Beast Evolution released, I shouldn't buy a capsule from the store but should instead come to this place… but I wonder how exactly she knew about the game that apparently had just started production when she told me that."

Ari shook her head. She had that thought countless times, and even standing in front of the worn-down store that read "Uncle Jim's Emporium," she couldn't make heads or tails of why or how her grandmother had told her to come here all those years ago.

She turned the doorknob, and a jingle sounded from just above the doorframe, indicating her presence in the shop.

As if summoned by the sound, a round-bellied old man appeared behind the counter, and with a friendly smile, he asked, "What can I do for you, young miss?"

Ari looked the man up and down but didn't find anything magical about the old man or his shop, unlike what she expected.

"Guess like my imagination has gotten ahead of me," Ari chuckled under her breath. "Well, here goes nothing."

She straightened her back in a way only someone born with natural arrogance could; she said, "47th Princess of the Phoenix Clan requests portal access to the Razzar Continent."

Groggily waking up, Enzo first noticed that he was no longer in Beast Evolution. The second thing he noticed was the smell.

"*Retch* What in the cosmic garbage is this smell?" Enzo's senses were assaulted with the most horrid smell he had ever experienced in his two lifetimes.

"This smell is worse than the Ogre dung hill we found in the Jarvis Forest." Remembering that horrific memory, Enzo's body involuntarily shuttered, and he quickly removed his body from the gaming capsule.

Only after thoroughly scrubbing both himself in the shower and the gaming capsule with the strongest disinfectant he had was Enzo's cleanly nature finally appeased.

"Fuck germs. I vow that I will never clean a dung pile in this life, even if it kills me," Enzo muttered as he thoroughly suppressed the memory of the disturbing experience. 

Finally calm in his heart, Enzo suddenly noticed the changes in his body. He felt light and compact like his muscles had been expanded and then forcefully compressed into his normal twig-like body.

As he gazed at himself in the mirror, he didn't notice any changes, but that didn't stop a massive smile from coming to his face.

"I can't believe there was a way to awaken before Update 2.0." Enzo had just experienced a 'forceful' update on his body that would allow his real body to enter Beast Evolution.

He no longer needed the gaming cabin and could enter the game anytime. This would bring many unique advantages that players only experienced after they had 'awaken' or, as Enzo knew it in his previous life, updated to update 2.0.

The first advantage was the increased realism and sensations. This would allow him to get more in tune with his surroundings and increase his elemental mastery faster than a person who was 'logged in' via the gaming capsule.

The second advantage was the increased stats to his 'real-life' body. Enzo would no longer have to worry about getting harmed on Earth if he attracted too much attention before update 2.0 if he got strong enough.

His physical body was now linked to the same body as his body in the Beast Evolution Multiverse, and as it gained power, so would he.

The third and most advantageous advantage for the current Enzo was that he could transfer into a human form at will! He no longer had to wait for level 100 to transform, allowing him to create two different personas without worrying about a player or native spotting anything amiss.

To players, he couldn't transform before level 100, and to natives, his draconic form was nowhere near level 100, meaning they would believe he couldn't transform into a human form. It was the perfect disguise.

Enzo was eager to jump back into the game but slightly hesitated, thinking about his sister Ari. He then shrugged the thought away. The best thing he could do for everyone on Earth was get stronger.

With a resolute expression, he willed his body to enter Beast Evolution.

Appearing in the same spot he left, Enzo was surprised to see Port standing a few meters away, looking off into the distance.

Enzo was about to speak up to make his presence known when Port briefly glanced over his shoulder, grunted, turned, and disappeared into the distance. 

The corner of Enzo's mouth slightly twitched, but he sighed and shrugged the action off as part of the old man's antics. 

"It's almost dawn. I better get back to the castle before the princess wakes up." Changing back into his draconic form, Enzo slithered his way back to the castle, reading the in-game chat while pretending to sleep by the princess.

The game chat was very convoluted; mostly, everyone talked about unique game functions and new things they had discovered. Although none of this was new information to Enzo, seeing the players' enthusiasm brought back memories of his previous life and his first time playing Beast Evolution.

So far, Enzo had been in-game for just a bit more than 24 hours, and his +50 luck buff had run out. He was level 13 and had two quests, one of which was an ongoing quest with generous rewards and another a pure ticking time bomb.

'At least it's better than my previous life. At the 24-hour mark, I don't even think I hit level 2.' Unless one was lucky, skilled, or otherwise at an advantage, leveling up in Beast Evolution was as challenging as climbing a mountain. It was doable but slow unless you had a helicopter… or, in Enzo's case, a miniature rocket ship.