The Mortal Evolution

Hao-Yun keeps walking at his normal speed, but the stairs don't seem to end. He didn't know how deep he had fallen, and couldn't speed up since there was limited space even for one person. 

In the end, he had no choice but to keep walking up slowly. Hours passed, and Hao-Yun finally saw a glimpse of the exit. He felt relieved.

"Just a few more steps..."

Step... Step... Step...

"Haah! Finally made out!"

He took a sigh of relief and glanced at the outside world. It was a spectacular scene, entirely different from what he saw at first.

It was Nighttime. The two crescent Moons looked like a masterpiece hanging in the crystal clear sky. There was a pond in front of him. It was glowing in blue and violet. The scene was like all the stars had planned out in advance to descend into the pond. Like they fought with two Moons and ran away from the sky. Surrounding the pond were many strange yet beautiful flowers and strangely shaped trees that acted like a cherry on top.

Hao-Yun took a close look at the pond.

"Whoa..."

"How good it would be if I were able to take this landscape back with me..."

"Especially, this pond, these twinkling lights, this reflection of the two Moons... wait! Twinkling light?"

Hao-Yun had a doubt in his mind. He didn't waste any time and jumped into the pond.

"My doubt was right! These were not twinkling lights, but dozens of unique glowing stones."

"Just with a single glance at it, I can tell it is way more precious than Echoite."

"Let's try putting it inside the System."

[Detected High Grade Raw Mytherium]

[Current progress: 21/100]

"I did it! I found another unique stone. Now, only three worlds remain. But, let's complete it first and find a way to return."

[Current progress: 26/100]

[Current progress: 34/100]

[Current progress: 40/100]

[Successfully deposited 20 Mytherium.]

[Host can move to another planet.]

"I've decided, let's take extra of these stones. After completing this Task, I'll buy a house with a private pool and put these stones in it."

"I can't wait to see the view of that scene..."

"Slurp... But let's first find a way to return."

"System, can you help me find the portal? Even a hint is enough."

[Pinpointing Portal Location...]

"What! Can I locate a portal like this? Why didn't you tell me before?"

[Host didn't ask in the first place...]

"You.... Sigh... It's futile."

Hao-Yun looked at the map provided by the System and walked towards the portal. Before leaving the world of Vama, he looked back, once again, and thought about how the scenery and the surroundings were completely different than what it was when he first entered.

But he couldn't do anything about it. Not when he himself doesn't know what happened to him.

He walked into the portal and returned to Earth. The Sun has just risen in Seoul. Hao-Yun had many things to do. The first one he chose was to report the incident.

He walked over to the government office. Showed his badge to the receptionist and asked her to call the officials right now.

A panic erupted in the office. It was, after all, the specially privileged Honorary Commander's request.

Soon, The Officials, Researchers, and Scientists came over one by one. 

"What happened? Why did you call all of us here?" A senior official asked the receptionist.

"Sir, it was on the Honorary Commander's request."

"Honorary Commander? Do you mean Mr. Hao-Yun..."

"Yes, I called all of you here. There's a serious matter to discuss."

"Serious matter? According to our logs, you recently entered the Portal no.14. Did something happen there?"

"Yes... But, I can't explain here."

"Hmm... let's hold an emergency meeting. Receptionist, call our assistants and tell them to cancel our other meetings."

"Sure, sir."

Everyone went to the 4th floor. Security guards were called to guard the meeting room and prevent anyone from disturbing them.

Hao-Yun was standing in front of everyone, like he was about to give a presentation to them.

"So, should I begin?"

"Yes, we are ready. Explain what exactly happened there."

"To begin with..."

Hao-Yun began explaining how he stepped into the portal, and the place looked too weird. He couldn't locate the Squad, and when he decided to return, he fell into that trap.

He kept the part when he touched that orb and gained powers, and what the Bifi elder told him was a secret, but he tells them everything else.

The pictures of the dead Squad members piled up on each other, the surroundings of the area, and the hungry Monster. It scared them. They felt like they were part of a real-life horror movie. Some even felt sick.

The officials condemn the squad members and decide to engrave their names in a memorial, which would be built only for people like them. 

"I can't believe it." One of the officials said.

"What do you think we should do, Honorary Commander?" They asked Hao-Yun.

"I think we shouldn't hire weak people, or put them on hold until they are strong enough."

"We can't help them much since only they can complete their Tasks, but we should build a special Organization where we have a record of people who are stronger than a certain limit. We can measure their strength level and give them specialized training."

"What do you think?"

"Hmm... We think your proposal is good, but it would take some time to develop these things. What should we do in the meantime?"

"Meantime, you say, I don't think we can do anything more than telling our squads to prioritize to complete their mission, and don't let their guard down even for a second."

"I think we really can't do much in this; we can't slow down or stop the exploration, we can't help people grow stronger."

"By the way, Honorary Commander, did you find something peculiar on your expedition, just like Echoite?" A Researcher asked, curiosity was killing him.

"Oh, right? I totally forgot about them."

"Here... these are called Mytherium. Though I don't know what they are used for."

"What a beautiful stone... I can't say we have something that can match this level of beauty on Earth." 

"Mr. Hao-Yun, we are glad we chose you for this position. Not only did you report everything honestly and also get rid of the trap of that world, but you also provided yet another precious stone."

Everyone showered praises on Hao-Yun, thinking he was a really good person. But they didn't know it was only Hao-Yun who gained the most out of this dangerous trip. The discovery of stone can't be compared to it.

"Ah, right! Before leaving, can any of you announce something among the Explorers?"

"Sure, but what?"

"Tell them, they can pinpoint a portal's location by asking the System."

"What? Is that true? This information is too valuable; we lost several Explorers because they went too far away and didn't know how to go back. How did you know this?"

"It's because I asked the System."

"Just because you asked? Surely, it can't be simpler."

"You know what, I can't help people grow stronger, but how about I give them advice on how they can complete their task."

"Advice, you say? Are you sure?"

"Yes, but limit it to 1 person per day, you can choose anyone."

"We all know your thought process is different than all of us. If you give advice to even one person per day, it would help a lot."

"So, that's all from me, I'll leave now."

Each person in the meeting room had grown to respect Hao-Yun; they knew he was different from them. He possessed something special that none of the others did.

Here, Hao-Yun planned to visit Jiwon and Joo-na again, but on the way, he took a look at his Task panel and froze like an ice statue. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

[Time Left: 15 days]

"How could this happen? I'm sure at most it should have been just 4 days..."

"Oh God! How could I forget that different worlds have different time flows?"

"Cancel... going to Jiwon's place, cancel, I can't delay this Task anymore, there's still 3 worlds left."

Just as Hao-Yun was about to sprint to another portal, a rare fluctuation occurred in the Large System Screen.