Collapsed Alerts (x8) You have been [Crippled]. Your attacks with the [Crippled] limb will be 70% less effective. You have been [Crippled]. Your attacks with the [Crippled] limb will be 70% less effective. You have been [Crippled]. Your attacks with the [Crippled] limb will be 70% less effective.

You have been [Crippled]. Your attacks with the [Crippled] limb will be 70% less effective. You are [Bleeding]. You have been [Infected] with “Saravani’s Scourge”.

Your [Health] is critical! [81/280]

You are [Infected].

You are [Bleeding]. Your [Health] is critical! [41/280] You are [Infected]. You are near death!!! [11/200] You are [Bleeding]. You are near death!!! [1/200] [Nature’s Embrace] has activated. You are [Infected]. You have died.

The alerts filled my vision as I floated in the black, pain wracking my body with every tick of damage over time. Who’d have thought that what used to be an irritating mechanic would now be such a painful way to go?

Was this it? After death?

How… boring. Nothing around me but the darkness. Would it be like this forever? I’d half-expected to simply wake back up in my bed, sweating, with this whole thing being one great dream. After all, with the adventures I’d been on? Yeah, it was pretty great.

I mean, the pain factor was kind of a turn-off, but it only added to the reality. It stopped me from doing things I would’ve done in games, like suiciding into Sailboat to figure out if there were any weaknesses I could exploit. Or jumping off of cliffs for the heck of it.

Though I guess it didn’t stop me from, you know, running headfirst into an apparent beetle army. Or… would it be air force?

Now, I was dead.

And I never even got to have the most important question answered.

Is this just real life? Or just a fantasy?

I was caught in a dung-slide. And this world had been my escape from reality.

It’s too bad that I’d wasted it. And all to save a dinosaur. One that I didn’t even know… Why would I do that? Idiot…

Error.

What?

What do you mean “Error”, magic boxes?

Error.

Great. I get to float in death forever, with error messages. Like my own personal hell. Wait…

Was I in hell?

Oh please no. Don’t tell me that it’s going to tell me all my downloads are stuck at 99% with not enough memory! Eternally watching downloads play out would not be the ideal way to spend, well, eternity. I’d much rather float in black forever.

Rescind previous notification.

What? The error message? Rescind it?

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 2. Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3. Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3.

Your [Risky Business] has leveled up. It is now level 3. [Risky Business] has evolved to [Lifetime Gambler]. It is now a trait.

[Lifetime Gambler] has activated. [Lifetime Gambler] has revealed… Secret Trait: [Life System]. [Lifetime Gambler] has activated. [Life System] has evolved to [World’s Voice]. [Lifetime Gambler] has revealed… Locked Skill: [Phylogeny]. [Lifetime Gambler] has unlocked [Phylogeny]. [World’s Voice] has overridden [Corpse Hatching]. [Corpse Hatching] has combined with [Phylogeny]. Opportunity unlocked: [Mutamorphosis]. [World’s Voice] has taken Opportunity: [Mutamorphosis].

Then the pain returned.

“AAAGH!” I screamed as it poured through my body, suddenly stronger than before. It was as though it had returned with a vengeance, like the dam that had held it back before burst, freeing the build-up behind it.

What…?

My brain was too scrambled to read what was happening and fully comprehend. Pain coursed through me, distracting me from too much thought.

Did I die?

Then, why did it hurt?

You have leveled up. You are affected by [Saravani’s Wish]. You are near death!!! [1/100]. You are [Infected]. You are [Bleeding]. You are near death!!! [1/100]. [Mutamorphosis] activated.

Boxes flew by my face faster than I could see. I got the idea, though. Somehow, I wasn’t dead.

Pain shot through my body again.

You are [Infected]. You are [Bleeding]. You are [Mutamorphing].

Your [Health] is frozen. [1/100] [Saravani’s Wish] has unlocked all locked [Mutamorphosis] options.

The boxes stopped flying past my eyes, and one massive one remained. The pain dissipated, and suddenly I could think clearly. But none of the previous boxes were available for me to read anymore. Only the giant box before me.

You have 1000 DNA points to spend.

Choose wisely.

Part Price Source Source Tier Jaw 50 Child Chomper D Talon 50 Child Scythe E Spike 50 Child Turanta S Tail 50 Child Wanra F Blade 50 Child Wanra F Horn 50 Jungle Tunneler --- Mandible 50 Jungle Tunneler --- Carapace 50 Jungle Tunneler --- Stinger 50 Jungle Stinger --- Feather 50 Deotrexaptor --- Fur 50 Servus, Apex Stalker --- Arm 100 Child Melira S Leg 100 Child Melira S Excretion 100 Jungle Stinger --- Thumb 100 Child Meler D Cup 100 Child Stalker E Bone 100 Child Amron B Removable 200 Child Turanta S Mimicry 300 Child Mimicrist E Sight 300 Child Visionary A Pack Tactics 300 Deotrexaptor --- Hunger 300 Child Devourer D Energy Manipulation 400 Child Naturalist F Metachrosis 400 Child Stalker E Aura Control 500 Child Visionary A Magic Ability 500 Child Naturalist F Natural Blend 600 Child Naturalist F Size 600 Child Devourer D Intelligence 700 Servus, Apex Stalker --- Separation 1000 Kandaka, Queen ---

As I read the last option on the list, a light turned on in the darkness. There, lying before me, as a perfect mirror of myself, was a wound-ridden dinosaur corpse. Thick puncture marks bleeding profusely showed where I’d been stabbed.

Everywhere, basically.

But the blood was frozen, and the dino didn’t move. Everything was completely stationary.

Was this… No. It couldn’t be.

Did the game change just for me? Or was I hallucinating in death?

No, the image was too vivid for me to possibly have imagined. Perhaps this hell had found a new way of tormenting me: hope.

Well, Hell, if this is your best option for torture, then I’ve gotta say, I’m not impressed.

But, on building a dino? Don’t mind if I do!

After all, I’m a gamer, and I couldn't turn this opportunity down. I grinned as I pulled the dinosaur corpse towards me. It operated just like that game, the one I was so familiar with from years of playing and designing different organisms.

And if it was real? Heh. I was about to bring this world its day of reckoning.

Guess there's only one thing left to say… I’ve got dino blood, and a thousand DNA!!!