After the success of the Evil Eye, Ethan was genuinely excited to see what surprises the players would unleash next. The talent pool was vast, and he had only scratched the surface.
The second closed beta of Spore Evolution had officially begun.
While Ethan was still finishing breakfast—just before sending off the Three Witches—fifty new players had already cleared the selection process and entered the sandbox, awakening in pitch-black voids as tiny spores on the brink of life.
Veteran players had also logged back in, the chat abuzz with anticipation.
> "Damn, this update even has opening music now?"
"Yeah, it's yurumi rivers flow into you . I guess it's symbolic—like our struggle against evolution itself."
In the real world, that majestic symphony echoed from Ethan's phone, still playing in the courtyard.
The new players weren't amateurs either. They'd done their research.
The servers opened at 5:00 a.m., and now, just four hours in, most of them had evolved rudimentary eyes and were already marveling at the rich biodiversity of the ocean.
> "This is unreal. It's not just VR—it's a living world."
"Every action I take costs $600,000 in computing power? I feel rich just existing here!"
Ethan snorted, biting into an apple as he lounged cross-legged in the courtyard like a lazy deity watching his ants march.
"What fools. It doesn't cost me a dime. You're crawling around my yard."
---
Some of the players spotted him—the "giant"—and their whispers began anew:
> "Holy sh*t, I finally saw him! The boss! He's massive!"
"He's eating an apple again. Is that a clue? Maybe it's a hidden quest trigger!"
> "Forget it. First-wave players tried everything—they just got squashed. This game's too wild. We still don't know half of what's possible."
---
Now that the second beta was underway, the tension among older players spiked. A testing slot was priceless, and survival of the fittest was the rule.
Akinas Speedster, forum celebrity and first-generation beta tester, wasn't wasting any time.
He dove into textbooks with a vengeance: evolutionary cytology, biomolecular anatomy, neural toxin development, skeletal adaptation… More than ten thick scientific volumes filled his dorm room.
Once a model student at a prestigious capital university, he'd rediscovered his academic drive—ironically, through a video game.
"First, evolve an exoskeleton from plankton as an arthropod...
Then develop a digestive system...
Climb onto land...
Devour swamp frogs to produce neurotoxins..."
His detailed evolutionary roadmap stretched over ten pages—complete with diagrams, branching organ systems, and behavioral simulations.
"This is it," he said. "My 'Pallbearer Chicken Plan' will change the game!"
His goal? Create a highly toxic, deceptively edible species—one that would infiltrate the giant's food and poison him.
> "Not literal poop," he clarified to the forum. "Just something that looks delicious. Hidden neurotoxins. The perfect bait."
He wasn't just aiming to evolve a novel species—he was gunning for the first in-game achievement, and all the mystery rewards that came with it.
---
When he posted about his plan, the Spore Evolution forums exploded.
> [Akinas Speedster: "Celebrating Beta 2 by assassinating the apple-eating boss!"]
> Hands Off: "This is Nobel Prize-level evolution. I'm still stuck on page 3 of Darwin's Origin of Species."
Cerebral Bluff: "I just evolved my first cell wall. You're planning a war crime."
> Future Skywhale: "Wait… you're serious? You're really gonna poison the boss with a gourmet chicken that's also… toxic?"
Cute Girl Who Wants to Become a Dragon: "HE'S ACTUALLY DOING IT. I'M SCREAMING."
They couldn't believe it.
In-game, the biggest evolved creature barely matched a beetle in size. And yet, here was Akinas Speedster—ready to assassinate a real-world-sized god.
---
Akinas even opened his live stream, rallying players:
> "I need a martyr to help me test the toxin. Anyone willing to max out sensory input and tell me what death by neurotoxin feels like?"
No one was masochistic enough to volunteer themselves—but several offered up their species for testing.
The results were swift and violent: instant deaths, followed by species-wide extinction events due to small population sizes.
> Akinas Speedster: "Your noble sacrifices proved the toxin's potency! It works! Time for Phase Two."
> "The boss eats at 5:00. It's 4:00 now. Help me reach the bench, and I'll sneak into his lunchbox!"
The forums lost it.
> "This is it! Day one of Beta 2, and the boss is going down!"
"Let's do it!"
Players rallied behind the effort, swarming the sandbox's bench in waves of excited chatter and insectoid bodies.
---
Meanwhile, Ethan blinked at his screen.
He was browsing the forum just to monitor feedback on the update.
Instead, he found this.
"He's… actually doing it again?"
Ethan put down his apple.
> "I'm just sitting here. Why do you all hate me so much?"
Akinas Speedster was seriously trying to jump into his dinner and poison him—again.