Endless Evolution as a Centipede in a Game-Like World

Not only was there a land mass far off in the distance, but the sea close to this land mass was ocean blue.

It marked the end of the black sea. This was finally it, after two days of searching.

Without hesitation, I swam back to Amanda as quickly as I could.

"A land mass...? Are you sure?" Amanda asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice as we both sat down, eating the remains of the dolphin I killed.

"I’m smart enough to know land when I see it."

Amanda said nothing for a while, only nodded, and when she finally spoke, it was only to say:

"We should leave tomorrow."

It was infuriating. We came here to find the lost city, she’s a smart girl. I don’t think she brought me here expecting just to bumble around for a month and somehow manage to find this "Lost" city.

Just the fact that she was this calm meant she had a clue on how to find this city. Yet she refused to tell me. It was as if she didn’t trust me enough. I got the feeling she doesn’t trust anyone.

Yet for us to accomplish what we set out to do, I somehow have to make her trust me. Somehow I have to get past that cold exterior. For that, I need to learn more about her.

So far, all I know about her was that she has some kind of hero fetish and she’s an alcoholic who doesn’t care much about her image.

Maybe I had been staring at her because her eyes suddenly narrowed at me.

"What?" Her voice was icy. "Look, if it’s about what happened the other day when I grabbed onto you, then just drop it."

"No, it’s not about that. Amelia told me that the two of you were trained by your father since you were young."

"Ah, so you’re thinking of a way to defeat my father. Just forget it, you have no chance. Don’t get a big head just because they made you guild master. No one can escape his rule."

"What about you?"

She slowly lowered her head. If it was the same her from before the incident with the octopus, she would’ve changed the subject already or flat out ignore me. She was slowly losing her edge.

"Not even me. Look, I’m only training you because I expect you to protect Amelia. I don’t expect much from you in terms of strength, no offense. You’ve already exceeded my expectations so far."

"I have?"

She gave a curt nod, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"You stood up to my father and managed to convince him to give you a chance. Not many people can even pull that off. Not even me. I can’t say there are many people brave enough to challenge your father, and yet you did it."

I thought for a while, then asked:

"What about the rank 1 player?"

I was curious about him. Surely he must at least be interested in clearing the game. But he didn’t even show up in the last scenario when I saved Lily.

I wonder if he will make an appearance now.

After meeting the top players of this world, I was curious as to what the man who stood above them all looked like.

Standing in front of Amelia’s father opened my eyes as to what true power is.

"The rank 1 player is no hero. So far, he has shown no willingness to help anyone. If one day he decides to turn his powers against our world, then they’ll be no one to stop him." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It was a scary thought, knowing that my life and the life of my family was in the hands of someone we didn’t even know. Is that what true power feels like?

The player who manages to complete this game will gain the title of God. So somewhere in this universe, someone will gain the power of life and death over countless different races and species.

The thought alone was enough to send chills through my body. Having a little insight into the girl in front of me, I could somewhat tell that her goal was to somehow surpass both her father and the rank 1 hero.

Having someone like her on my side could be useful in the future.

"Personally, I’ve never met him, but my father has. In many instances, he and the other guild masters form an alliance only to be beaten by that single player. The fact that none of them has ever even come close to laying a scratch on him is the biggest shame for all the guild masters."

He is that powerful? Hearing about the other powerful forces in the world made me desperately want to increase my own strength. I am a guild master, yet I don’t even have the power to match.

Training with Amanda and facing the powerful creatures in the void lands is the best chance I have of significantly increasing my strength. Amanda has the same ambition burning brightly in her eyes. Even though we were still student and master, we were still rivals.

Before I could even think about the rank 1 player or even the other guild masters, I had to surpass her first. Heck, I need to push myself into the top 100.

The evolution needed for that would be immense. For that reason, later in the night, while Amanda was soundly asleep, I slipped back down into the dark ocean.

The waves were still rippling as they violently crashed into the cliff side, sending a powerful shockwave up the cliff face. During my time here, I kept track of the monsters I’m able to hunt, which are just the piranhas and dolphins, but since I was planning on leaving tomorrow, I couldn’t allow for all that biomass to go to waste.

My sole purpose in reentering the sea was to hunt what was left of them.