Though Felix had gained the beauty of a god, he felt no joy—only the dull throb of a growing headache.
Ellie is going to lose her mind when she sees this, he thought bitterly.
This change is way too sudden.
"It's over," Felix muttered. "At this rate, I'll get arrested and turned into a lab rat." He glanced at his reflection again, then sighed deeply. "Can I modify my genes?"
He turned to the Mother Hive.
"I want to tone this down. This… ridiculous handsomeness."
His current appearance was simply too perfect. The kind of face that could stop traffic, cause accidents at crosswalks, and spark riots with a single glance. With his flawless physique and mythic features, he looked less like a man and more like something out of divine folklore.
He missed his old self.
Before, he'd already been good-looking—more than enough to turn heads—but it still felt normal. It still felt like him. Even then, it had taken some effort to convince Ellie and the neighbors that he'd just "grown more handsome."
They'd accepted it. Reluctantly.
But now?
Now there was no way anyone would believe it.
I really don't want to end up dissected in some underground facility…
"Would you like to assimilate Tyranis cells?" the Mother Hive asked calmly.
"As the Tyranis Lord and Creator, you already meet the conditions to unlock your genetic pathways and freely modify your body."
Felix froze.
I'm already a Tyranis Hero…?
I've become what countless Tyranis dream of evolving into?
Before, his body had been far too weak to endure such a transformation. But now—with his improved condition—he finally qualified.
And he didn't hesitate.
He wasn't going to accept death quietly. Why cling to fragile humanity when he could transcend it?
"Integrate Tyranis cells," he said.
"The fusion begins," the Hive Mind confirmed.
Agony exploded through him.
Soul-rending pain surged through his nerves like wildfire. His skin erupted in goosebumps. Cold sweat soaked his clothes as he collapsed onto the bed, trembling violently—then went still.
He fainted.
---
When Felix awoke, three hours had passed.
He dragged himself upright, only to realize his body was coated in black and gray grime, like dried sludge. He rushed to shower, changed clothes, and began examining himself carefully.
He felt different.
No—he was different.
His body hummed with boundless potential.
"I've really become a Tyranis…" he murmured, clenching his fist.
"I can accelerate cell division and literally age myself to death whenever I want. Incredible."
He closed his eyes and turned his awareness inward.
Within his consciousness lay a vast black void. At its center, a twisted double helix rotated slowly.
His DNA.
A normal genome was cluttered—chaotic, bloated with useless fragments, sometimes even carrying dormant diseases. But his had been refined. Optimized. The noise was gone, replaced by long, blank genetic sequences—clean, open, and ready to be rewritten.
For now, though, he didn't plan to add anything new.
He only had two genetic templates stored: the termite and the gorilla.
Gilgamesh had been born from their fusion.
But those weren't suitable for him.
He was just a farmer. His life was quiet. Peaceful. There was no rush to become stronger.
Right now, survival came first.
He needed to deal with his illness.
I have to remove the genes responsible for my stomach cancer… or rewrite them.
Getting stronger could wait.
Felix focused his senses on the affected area.
"What…?" His face went pale. "Final stage?! Just a few days ago, it was only mid-stage!"
"The stronger the body becomes, the stronger its rebellious cells," the Mother Hive replied flatly.
"Cancer adapts."
Felix went silent.
So the more powerful I become… the stronger my cancer grows?
If he'd absorbed any more extinction energy during the last reset, he'd already be dead.
Cold sweat broke out across his back.
"I can't absorb any more extinction energy for now," he said slowly. Thank god the next one is still far off.
He hadn't even wanted to trigger the last extinction. He'd done it only to rebalance the sandbox. His true hope had always been to guide a thriving world—not erase it.
But now, caution was critical.
"If the Bugapes go berserk again… I'll have to let them." He leaned back, exhausted.
"I can't afford another feedback surge."
Gilgamesh's final struggle surfaced in his mind.
That raw, animal terror—the desperate fear of death—now lived inside him too.
"Will I really survive this…?" Felix murmured, eyes dim.
He could feel it.
Death wasn't far.
"I don't have much time left…" His gaze sharpened.
"In the next era, I need to accelerate the sandbox's development—force the emergence of supernatural abilities. If I want to live, I have to bet everything on evolution."
He looked down at the miniature world.
Bleak. Silent. Scarred.
A single night had passed—forty to fifty years in sandbox time—but the Bugapes hadn't fully recovered yet. Only one breeding pair of each species remained. Food was scarce. Growth was slow.
Yet something unexpected had happened.
They'd begun to heed the divine message left behind—his own words—that all life was equal. Aside from what they needed to eat, random slaughter had ceased. Some even helped other species recover.
And already, strange new lifeforms were beginning to appear.
Felix observed quietly from his sunlit courtyard, chewing on the breakfast Ellie had brought over.
"Civilization is rebuilding…" he sighed.
"But it's too slow. At this rate, I won't make it."
A new thought surfaced.
Should I open a second sandbox? A new Genesis?
A fresh civilization—one born with supernatural abilities from the start.
But it wasn't realistic.
Starting over would take too much time.
The current sandbox was already approaching a breakthrough. He just needed a way to push it.
"They won't evolve just because I want them to…" Felix muttered, frowning.
"Maybe I should borrow someone else's mind."
After all, intelligence was unpredictable.
And if his own intellect wasn't enough, then he'd recruit others.
A bold, dangerous idea took shape.
If he couldn't speed things up alone, he'd get help.
He remembered a sandbox game he'd once played—Spore. Starting as a single-celled organism, evolving step by step into alien civilizations.
Felix turned to the Hive Mind.
"If I create a new miniature sandbox… can I convert it into an online game?"
"One where people can project their consciousness into it—and help me evolve new species?"