Endless Evolution: Last Star Chapter 1: Failed Experiment
"Trash! Another total failure! I already knew recruiting from the slums was a waste of time!" The man wearing the white lab coat roared, violently tossing his tablet aside.
The holographic display flickered with portraits of teenagers, all between sixteen and eighteen years of age. Beneath every face, a single status was displayed: Applicant.
"Damn it... The government is squandering our elite Spark Seekers to hunt for potential in this filth! The success rate is consistently pathetic!" The scientist barked, his gaze drifting through the expansive window toward the massive, metallic chamber below.
Dozens of youths stood against the walls, their expressions devoid of terror, filled instead with a heavy, soul-crushing despair. Not a single one possessed the gift of talent.
A grotesque entity—a creature of protruding bone and four crystalline wings—circled the room. It possessed three amber eyes with slit pupils and four stunted limbs that twitched sporadically. Its long tail terminated in a peculiar, bulbous glass tip.
Out of the group of twenty, only one girl remained to be evaluated. The Spark Seekers drifted toward her.
The girl buried her face in her hands, desperate to avoid eye contact with the repulsive beast, whose misshapen jaw leaked strings of saliva.
The Spark Seeker hoisted its tail, observing the girl through its reflective glass. To the monster, she was transparent; it peered through her skin to see bone, organs, and pulse, eventually locking onto a flickering spark of fire within her chest.
"Rrrrrk! Rrrrk! Rrrrk!" An eerie chattering erupted from the beast, instantly drawing the scientist's attention.
His eyes widened, and a visible tremor ran through his frame.
"Natural Talent in a commoner with no bloodline...? This is impossible!" Shouting in disbelief, the scientist slammed a button, causing the heavy mechanical gates to grind open.
"You're all dismissed. Return to your quarters; transport back home leaves tomorrow." With a dismissive wave, the scientist sent the youths scrambling toward the exit, desperate to escape the monster's presence.
The Spark Seeker hovered in confusion, watching the exodus. As the final boy bolted through the doorway, the creature attempted to follow.
But the doors slammed shut, leaving the beast trapped under the icy gaze of the scientist, who now clutched a remote device.
"Tsk. It's a stroke of luck that we found one talent today, but it's a shame your mirror only lasts for twenty-four hours." The scientist let out a cold snort before engaging the trigger.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A series of tones preceded a crimson flash. The monster was vaporized in an explosion that rattled the reinforced walls of the sealed chamber.
Shreds of meat and sprays of gore painted the room, marking the end of another creature sacrificed for the survival of the human race.
"Sigh, that's enough for today. Time to clock out." The scientist shook his head, reaching for the final shutdown sequence.
"Can you hear me...?"
A sudden voice echoed from within the supposedly empty chamber.
Spinning around, the scientist spotted a young man with messy black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was dressed in the same grime-streaked, tattered rags as the other slum-dwellers.
'What is this...?' The scientist froze in shock. 'How did I miss him? That shouldn't be possible!'
He scrambled for his tablet, quickly scrolling until he found the boy's profile.
"Adam Vinter... Just more trash from the gutter..." the scientist hissed under his breath before addressing the boy.
Adam was drenched from head to toe in the monster's steaming blood, yet he appeared strangely unfazed. His expression was hauntingly vacant.
"I assume I failed... Am I allowed to leave? They promised us credits and a few days of rations after the evaluation... My family really needs it." Adam spoke, his only concern being the meager reward.
The scientist rubbed his temples, his face twisting into a grimace of annoyance and conflict.
"There are no backup Spark Seekers at this station... The delay would be massive, and processing this brat again is too much of a headache... Besides, there's no way he has the talent I just found. Fine, it's decided." The scientist finished his internal monologue and pressed a different button.
The metallic room groaned instantly, shifting and sinking as if the supports holding it aloft were being retracted.
"What's going on?! Open the door!" Adam shouted, struggling to keep his footing as the floor tilted.
The scientist simply shrugged with cold indifference.
"Bad luck, kid. I don't know how you stayed hidden, but it doesn't change anything. In sixty seconds, you'll be a memory to me and the rest of the world."
Adam opened his mouth to scream, but the floor vanished. The entire container snapped free from its moorings, plummeting at a terrifying speed.
From the window, the scientist watched the container fall toward the desolate wastes—a land of dust and sand where the approaching storms signaled the start of the monsters' hunting hour.
"Lana Tiates... You have a bright path ahead. I hope you become a truly magnificent Phantom."
He then looked down at the toxic river below, a sludge of dark oil and industrial filth.
The metal box hit the water with a thunderous splash, partially sinking as the current swept it away into the Dead Lands. This was a realm beyond the city's impenetrable walls and defensive cannons, where even seasoned hunters were often devoured by the wasteland's horrors.
'No! No! No! I have to escape! I refuse to die like this!' Adam screamed internally, bracing himself against the walls of the tumbling container.
He managed to wedge himself into a corner near the remains of the Spark Seeker, only for a violent lurch to throw him across the floor seconds later.
The river flowed toward a tar lake located kilometers away from Citadel F1 - Farlun. For years, this had been the dumping ground for the Morton Observatory—the most isolated research outpost on the citadel's southern perimeter.
Discarding a spent Spark Seeker was a necessity; leaving the carcass near the base would attract predators. Thus, the scientists routinely flushed their "garbage" down the river toward the tar pits.
As a mere slum-dweller, Adam’s life held no value. No one would ever punish the scientist for this casual murder.
In a world teetering on the brink of extinction, morality was a luxury few could afford. Without power, one's existence was meaningless.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Adam slammed his fists against the steel plating until his knuckles were raw and bleeding, but the metal didn't budge.
"Dammit! Why me!?" Adam roared in a fit of agony, striking the wall again, only to be met with a dull, mocking ring.
In his desperation, he forgot the golden rule of the wastes: silence is survival.
Suddenly, two razor-sharp claws, long as swords, punched through the thick metal wall. A shower of sparks rained down on Adam.
He lunged backward just in time, retreating to the furthest corner of the container.
The metal was peeled back like a thin can, revealing a long snout filled with rows of jagged teeth. A predatory face peered inside.
The beast glanced at Adam, then shifted its focus to the dead Spark Seeker. Deciding Adam was the lesser meal, the creature crawled toward the larger carcass.
Adam froze, paralyzed by the reality that even if he fled the box, the Dead Lands would swallow him whole.
Whoooooooosh.
A massive lance, its silver tip spinning at high velocity, tore through the monster's flank and shredded its vitals.
A tall man stepped into the opening, his loose-fitting desert robes fluttering in the dry wind.
He pushed up his steampunk goggles, revealing vibrant green eyes and a confident grin.
"Well, kid, you're a long way from home, aren't you?" The man reached out toward the fallen beast.
A shimmering white vortex manifested in his palm. Glowing runes, resembling strands of DNA, began to drift out of the monster's body and into his hand. The man seemed satisfied with the harvest, despite the small quantity.
Adam’s eyes bulged. He recognized that technique. Revolve—the signature power possessed only by Phantoms!
"Not bad at all. I might have struggled with a Two Clawed Cat if you hadn't provided such a good distraction!" The man yanked his lance free and stepped closer.
"Come on, get up. You can tell me your story on the way back. I'm a First Rank Phantom; you're safe with me!" He offered his hand to Adam with total confidence.
Adam nodded frantically, rushing toward his savior.
'Yes! I'm going to live!' his heart sang.
Then, a shimmering thread, thinner than a strand of hair, whipped through the air in front of Adam's face.
The man’s head slid off his shoulders. A geyser of blood erupted from his neck, drenching Adam as a new horror emerged from the shadows behind the fallen warrior.
"No!" Adam lunged for the fallen lance. Another thread hissed past his ear, leaving a shallow, stinging gash on his cheek.
The monster’s heavy paw swung down toward him. Adam caught the shaft of the spear just as the blow landed.
"DIE!!!!" Adam shrieked with every ounce of his soul, pouring his desperate strength into the weapon. The momentum triggered the lance's internal mechanism, sending the tip into a frantic spin.
The monster's limb was pulverized into a spray of bone and gristle. Shards of the creature's anatomy whistled past Adam's face, cutting his skin.
The lance didn't stop, burying itself deep into the monster's chest before the mechanism finally groaned and shattered.
The massive carcass slumped to the floor in front of Adam, its eyes fixed in a lifeless stare.
"Agh... Agh... Agh..." Adam gasped, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
Instead of calming down, his pulse accelerated further, reaching a fever pitch until Adam's vision began to glow.
Within his pupils, the faint image of a seed appeared, sprouting rapidly and spreading its roots through his consciousness, altering his destiny forever.
[Your Evolution Tree has been awakened!] [You can summon Revolve to absorb genes!] [Warning!] [You killed the Silver Weaver!] [Absorb the Silver Weaver's gene if you want it to become your Initial Gene!]