Xu Zhi never imagined his little side project would explode like this.
He'd always known Spore Evolution was brutally hardcore and nearly impossible for newcomers. Only those with deep knowledge of evolutionary biology could hope to evolve a viable species. Its punishing difficulty had driven him to enlist other players' creativity—but he'd assumed it would remain a niche pastime.
Yet in under twenty‑four hours, the sandbox had filled to its one‑hundred‑player limit. The forum thread that launched the craze carried a clickbait headline:
"Black Tech! The Ultimate Realistic Simulation — Full Sensory VR, China's Most Hardcore Casual Sandbox Game: Spore Evolution."
Gamers initially lambasted it as hype. VR tech was still immature, they scoffed, yet curiosity prevailed. One by one, players logged in—and were immediately hooked. Within hours, the thread overflowed with thousands of comments: astonishment, skepticism, envy, and outrage at the limited beta slots.
"Is it really that overhyped? But the details sound so convincing…""Insanely hardcore — start as a spore, evolution driven by biology?""Wow, as a science idiot I want to try this limitless sandbox!""This first tester hasn't even scratched the surface — that background giant alone is fascinating. He crushed his own king underfoot!""Studying Origin of Species right now — I'm practically a biology professor. All I need is a beta key!"
Critics dismissed the game as a colossal scam; believers clamored for access. Then "AutumnMountainSpeed" went live on Twitch, linking his VR feed. Viewers saw nothing but an endless blue ocean—astonishingly lifelike.
"Friends, I've just evolved eyes. Next step: switch to carnivorous mode and hunt algae, following Cambrian arthropod evolution."
Suddenly, a massive prehistoric beetle appeared.
"What the—looks like a trilobite! Eat it!""No, run! It'll eat you! Lay low, evolve quietly, then return as a predator and feast on it!"
The stream exploded. Xu Zhi watched the chaos unfold, amused by the community's fervor.
Requests to open more beta slots flooded in. Xu Zhi chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"Too few spots? How is that my problem? I'm not profiting off you or doing this for your entertainment. Suggest whatever you like—if I adopt it, consider it my defeat."
He had no intention of expanding beyond one hundred players. This was a small experiment, not a mass‑market game. Unless something unexpectedly groundbreaking emerged, the beta would remain closed indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the true work lay in the main sandbox. The Sumerians of old had produced only three transcendent beings—Gilgamesh among them. Xu Zhi's goal was to foster a mature, supernatural civilization complete with alchemists and mystics capable of discovering a cure for his cancer.
He surveyed the swamp he'd created in the large sandbox. After a single day, the Big‑Eye creatures had multiplied wildly in their predator‑free environment. Yet overpopulation soon bred fierce intraspecies competition: they devoured one another mercilessly.
From the carnage emerged a singular, aberrant individual—the first transcendent variant. This "Eldritch Eye" wielded a strange psychic influence: any creature gazing upon it would become entranced and willingly approach as prey. Within hours it ascended to apex predator status, spawning thousands of hypnotic offspring. Ordinary Big‑Eyes rapidly vanished, wiped out by this merciless new lineage.
"So the first transcendent species has appeared—driven by violent psychic power," Xu Zhi murmured, impressed. "Though mindless, it functions like a hunting plant, luring prey to its doom."
With this evolution, the Fourth Era's first true transcendent being had arrived. Xu Zhi's thoughts flickered to his larger plans: a world balanced by multiple intelligent species and dangerous mystic fauna—fodder for future alchemists and sorcerers.
His attention snapped back when the sandbox feed flickered. A group of insect‑apes had ventured into the swamp. The true experiment was underway: the collision of Xu Zhi's engineered insect‑ape lineage and the newly emergent Eldritch Eye species. The next evolutionary chapter had just begun.