CHAPTER 78: BAD IDEA

Lucien felt slightly relieved after letting Pinklashes take care of everything.

He wasn’t totally relieved, though. He harbored suspicions that someone could be impersonating the real Pinklashes; however, she had decided she would edit his next video.

She wouldn’t receive interest on it just to earn his trust. Consequently, the greedy woman refused to settle for anything less than seventy percent of Lucien’s earnings.

He’d tried bargaining with her, but it was futile. She hit him with the fact that she collected nothing less than fifty percent, but because he had "magnanimous potential," she was prioritizing building a relationship with him.

After the back-and-forth, Lucien sent her the first Godzilla raid—the one he’d done before fleeing while that damned monster pursued him all the way to Ossyn Woods.

She said editing would take a few hours, if not days. Right now, Lucien had nothing to do except check the progress of the video he’d uploaded—the one of him fighting in that absurd pumpkin attire.

*I haven’t forgotten that wretch, by the way.*

He leaned toward his computer and stared. Then he suddenly frowned, eyes widening.

"What?!"

He was shocked.

The video...

It hadn’t even been a day, and he was already seeing 24k views, 13k likes, 4k gifts.

[Rotteneggs has gifted you slippers worth $13,000]

[Hummingbird has gifted you a crown worth $2,000]

[Ultraviolence has gifted you a crown worth $2,000]

[Steadybigboy has gifted you a shirt worth $500]

Even as he stared at the screen, gifts kept flooding in, freezing him in a state of delirious laughter.

Never in his entire life had he thought money would be this easy to make!

He grinned and leaned back, touching his dry chin.

"Hmph, hmph. I really see what Harun was trying to tell me now. I should probably thank him for this opportunity when I get the chance. Although this is far from what I call real money, it’s the first money I’ve made! Makes me ecstatic!"

It was a sweet, intoxicating feeling.

Lucien smiled and checked the video’s comment section.

Totemer: "Yooooooooooooo. Finally! Player Cien reveals himself!"

Shyguy: "Who else is excited? And what are those sick moves? How is he killing monsters with those annoying movements?"

The_shooted: "He’s quite crazy, really! Obviously a newbie, but he’s learning fast!"

Dollarbills: "Is anyone going to talk about the fact that these are practically wolves? Has anyone ever seen wolves in Evolution Online?"

Allabi: "Maybe ask the pioneers. I started playing three years ago, never came across wolf-type monsters. And they look quite strong too. How did a newbie find himself with level 40 monsters?"

SoulMoocher: "BRO JUST BATTLED A LEVEL 40 WOLF WHILE DRESSED LIKE A GOURD. IS THIS THE NEW META??"

W1ngedL0bster: "Okay but why did the pumpkin suit actually slap though?"

Toothfairy.exe: "I paused at 5:32 and caught a frame where a wolf blinked in Morse code. They’re sentient. Calling it now."

404GfNotFound: "I checked his posture—he’s definitely IRL poor. And he’s gay. There’s nothing no one can tell me!"

Murderbass69: "That first combo? My jaw fell off. Second combo? My dog started crying. Third combo? My ex texted me. Coincidence???"

NeonPulp: "Player Cien is giving off ’I accidentally became the main character’ energy and I’m here for it."

JustAnNPC: "That ain’t no newbie. That’s a tax auditor in disguise. No one moves like that unless they’ve audited souls before."

WaltuhMage: "This guy fights like his rent is due in the game AND in real life."

FatcatProphet: "Bro gave the wolves emotional trauma."

YorubaChad: "Broski fighting like a Nollywood actor got stuck in a Souls game."

BetrayedTamagotchi: "This is how I imagine people who skip tutorials play. Reckless, dangerous, blessed."

LooseToenail: "I licked my screen when he dodged that lunge. I’m not okay."

LagWitch: "There’s no guide for what he just did. I’ve been playing since beta and I feel like I’ve been hallucinating."

BreadInTheVoid: "Y’all mind if I worship him like a minor game deity?"

CringeAlchemist: "That ain’t gameplay, that’s performance art. Give this man a Grammy."

SpaghettiTank: "Imagine getting whooped by a guy wearing vegetable cosplay. The monsters are gonna unionize."

DeathbyViTok: "Honestly? I’m not even mad. The chaos, the vibe. This is what Evolution Online needed."

Lucien quit at looking at the comments and leaned back into his chair.

He washed down his face and exhaled.

"Looks like everyone online is just crazy en masse."

He then turned around and looked at his head gear standing around.

He couldn’t still figure out how he was logged out, if he died? And he also did not know why the fatigue of the game world followed him all the way here.

Lucien suspected that something was wrong. The whole thing did not make sense. So he decided to go on the gaming forum and asked.

Before Lucien typed, he breathed in, created another anonymous account and eventually typed the question.

"Did anyone notice things like the game fatigue following you back to reality? Or you getting stronger somehow, but in an unnoticeable manner."

Lord Huron: "Son, you okay? Fatigue following you IRL? Next you’re gonna say NPCs wink at you in the supermarket. Touch grass. Then log back in and touch virtual grass—at least it glows."

💅DepressedElf69: "You’re telling me a video game made you tired in real life? Honey, welcome to adulthood. It’s called existential dread. Wait till your bills level up too."

VOID_Eater9: "THIS. IS. HOW. THEY. GET. YOU.

The moment you start noticing fatigue post-logout, you’ve entered Layer 2. There are seven. Don’t sleep. Sleep is a cutscene. Don’t let them load it."

Mr Handsome: "Bro, do you ever shut up?"

VOID_Eater9: "Why would I? Do you ever stop eating?"

Sharpshooter: "Sighhhhhhhh..."

xX_GrimSpitter_Xx: "Not only did I feel game fatigue... I also started seeing tooltips when I talk to people.

"Press [F] to respect boundaries." Didn’t work."

LagFiend: "Game fatigue? Strength boost? I went to pee and the toilet gave me a quest. "Flush to complete: +2 hygiene, +1 XP." I cried in third person."

TeacupSorcerer: I logged out and still heard boss music.

Then I realized it was my mom screaming about the electricity bill. Still more terrifying than the Undead Leviathan, tbh."

Daroxha: "Bruh you ain’t evolving. You’re delusional.

Go sleep. Log out of your brain. I get stronger too—every time I lie to myself about quitting the game."

OverlordKrispy: "I believe you. Mostly. But also, maybe you’re just hungry. When I don’t eat, I see my mana bar drop too. Especially during family dinners."

MetaMage42: "This sounds like when I forgot to sleep for 43 hours and thought my cat was my quest-giver. She told me to fetch tuna from the Forbidden Fridge and defeat the creature inside. The creature was expired cheese. I nearly died."

Lucien roughly scrolled through the rest of the comment as they popped up. Later he sighed.

’Yea... I knew it was a bad idea, let’s just get into the game.’