Chapter 30: The World now has only One Question... Who is Kaelen Cross?

In a beautifully decorated, luxurious room, with a floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the city at its rush hour, a sleek silver pod slid open, and a handsome young man sat up as he ruffled his shoulder-length messy hair.

But before he could step out of the pod, his vision was immediately assaulted by a long line of blaring texts like it was the end of the world.

[You have devoured the Cosmic Gate to the Abyss]

[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]

[You have received 50,000,000,000 Evolution Points]

"...W-What?!"

[You have received (1) Special Grade Loot Bundle]

[Quality or Quantity?]

"50 billion Evolution Points?!" Kaelen’s eyes widened in shock.

He anticipated the rewards to be good, but not this good.

This was simply too good to be true.

He quickly jumped out of the pod and scrambled for his phone.

As soon as he grabbed it, he didn’t hesitate to enter his Evolution Online account. His eyes immediately landed on the Evolution Points balance, and his hands trembled with a surge of fear and excitement.

[Evolution Points Balance]:

67,000,000,000

"Sixty-seven billion Evolution Points..."

"...A hundred billion dollars...?"

His knees immediately grew weak, and Kaelen slumped into a chair, staring in a daze at a random direction.

He checked the date on his phone and did the quick math. He’d been in-game for approximately three weeks this time around.

A little less than two months of playing Evolution Online had completely changed his life.

He’d gone from a common slime to the ultimate predator.

He’d gone from a nobody in the slums to the identity of a mysterious SSS-ranker, now with over 100 billion dollars sitting in his account.

All this was made possible by the 10,000× Reward System, whose mysterious origin Kaelen had never questioned.

Previously, he simply didn’t care and wanted to milk it for every benefit it provided. But after getting to this point, staring at the system notifications floating in his vision, only a single question lingered in his mind.

"...What are you?"

***

In a different location, a similar scene was playing out.

A golden pod slid open, and a beautiful woman with cyan hair slowly sat up, but didn’t step out. She simply sat there and stared at a random direction in a daze when her door burst open and a familiar figure charged inside with her tablet.

Cindra rushed over to her friend, still clutching her iPad that was playing the live news. The same one playing across not just Stronghold 5, but all nine great strongholds, causing a hectic traffic jam and making people stop in their tracks to look up at the virtual screens across the strongholds.

"...A mysterious player never heard of before suddenly made an appearance as a common Slime at the Tower of Belmont during the expedition of the nine great guilds.

"We have received reports from eyewitnesses that not only did this player destroy the entire 100th floor in a single unprovoked attack that took down the Divine-tier Final Boss, but he went ahead to execute the nine guild leaders who survived the first attack—including the famous Emperor’s daughter, Black Rose—inside the dungeon, before going on to devour the entire tower from top to bottom, leaving the land that once held the greatest mystery of Evolution Online barren."

Cindra was beyond shocked upon hearing the new report that she quickly headed to her friend’s room to check up on her.

"Rose, are you okay?" she asked with concern, but the girl didn’t reply and simply kept staring at a random spot like she was lost.

Cindra immediately pulled the unresponsive Black Rose into a tight hug as she comforted her.

Since the game was launched, from the beta testing period until today, this would mark the first time Black Rose had ever been killed in-game.

All her life, Black Rose had struggled to fight for her own identity. No matter the achievement she made, she was always known as the Emperor’s daughter, and not as Black Rose. She was always being compared to her own father.

Cindra was well aware that her friend hated that feeling, which was why she went out of her way to do everything by herself when she could get it done with a single phone call to her father.

All those years of hard work and struggle, flushed down the drain in a single act by the mysterious player. At that moment, the words of the narrator from the broadcast reached her ears.

"The world now has only one question..."

"...Who is Kaelen Cross?"

Cindra whispered in sync with the narrator.

In a different location, a similar scene seemed to be replaying again. But this time, the room could barely be considered average compared to the hotel room or that of Black Rose.

A platinum pod slid open, and a beautiful red-haired woman sat up and stepped out of it. She didn’t say a word and walked out of her room to grab a glass of water.

In the living room, she met her mother, who seemed to be deeply interested in what the broadcast was saying on TV, that she didn’t notice her daughter had stepped out.

Stephanie walked over to the open kitchen of the apartment, which had a great view of the living room and the TV. She grabbed a glass and placed it under the tap as it slowly began to fill up. But even after it did and began to spill, she didn’t seem to notice as she stared at the empty wall before her.

At that moment, the words of the narrator reached her ears, and her heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

"The world now has only one question..."

"...Who is Kaelen Cross?"

She slowly turned to stare at the TV, only to see her mother staring at her now.

"Do you think it’s him?" Mary asked with an unreadable expression.

Stephanie slowly shook her head and lightly shrugged. "I-I don’t know. And I don’t care," she said as she turned the tap off, grabbed her glass, and disappeared into her room like none of it mattered.

But behind the door, she had her back pressed against it as her heart pounded heavily in her chest.

"...Is it really him?"

***

In a grandiose study, two men sat opposite each other enjoying a glass of wine, when a light tap came from the door before a slender lady stepped in with a tablet in hand and a stoic expression.

She bowed curtly before the two men.

"Nice to see you, President Hunter." She said to the white-haired man before turning to the other man, who had striking white hair and a white beard as well, but looked much older than President Hunter.

Her eyes were immediately filled with reverence.

"Greetings, Emperor. I’d like to discuss something with you in private," she said respectfully.

The white-haired man, whose eyes looked as sharp as an eagle’s even at his age, simply smiled charismatically.

"This is my brother-in-law, and also my brother-in-arms. There is nothing to hide from him, as he might be taking my place after I leave this world," the Emperor said with a beaming smile.

President Hunter returned the smile in kind. "Don’t say such things, brother-in-law. You’re still very much in your prime." The two men laughed at their jokes, but the slender lady didn’t find any of it funny and hesitated slightly before speaking.

"It’s about Governor Cross."

As soon as those words left her lips, the aura in the room shifted, and the Emperor’s expression changed.

He coughed once before rising to his feet. "Drink up, brother-in-law. Let me not bother you with the boring affairs of the stronghold," he said with a stiff smile, and left the room with the slender lady.

President Hunter remained silent for a moment, gently swirling his glass of wine.

"Governor Cross...?" he softly whispered.

"Like father, like son." A trace of what looked like a smile appeared on his face.

***

In a faraway land, an ancient temple stood, and a woman adorned in black garments and a semi-transparent veil that obscured her face sat cross-legged before an altar.

When the doors suddenly burst open, a figure dressed in a white ceremonial garment ran forward barefoot before dropping to her knees behind the High Priestess.

"Milady, I just received intel from Planet Earth. A mysterious player has suddenly appeared and begun dominating the lands using the weakest race," the middle-aged lady said hurriedly.

For a moment, the High Priestess didn’t say a word.

"What does that have to do with us, Sucy?"

"Milady, the name of that player... is Kaelen Cross." As soon as the words left the maidservant’s lips, the High Priestess visibly stiffened, but Sucy wasn’t done.

"Milady, do you think it’s the same Kaelen Cross? Do you think it’s Young Master Kaelen?"

"...Do you think it’s your son?"