Brokeness is a Sin

Lucien sank into the floating chair in front of the monitor—seemingly floating, anyway. The blue glow beneath it created the illusion, casting an eerie light across his face.

"I'm broke…"

By now, he had muttered those words over ten thousand times. And no matter how many times he said them, money wasn't magically appearing in his account.

It was as if he was finally grasping the perks of having a rich dad. There had never been a day in his life when he'd reached into his account and found three dollars there. In fact, he'd never found less than five digits across all three accounts he used.

And that was considering the fact that he rarely ever checked his account balance. Why would he do such a vile thing? It was an act reserved for the poor.

However… right now, he was the poor.

'What a magnificent plot twist.'

They say life is often unfair. Lucien used to think life was fair and everything was exactly as it should be. But now, that philosophy wasn't working out so well for him.

"Life is not fair at all!"

If he were texting someone, he'd add a hundred crying emojis after that statement. But who would he even text? He was broke—friends and all.

'Why do I suddenly feel like the world is against me?'

Nothing feels right when someone is broke.

Lucien sighed and sat upright.

"Let's not sulk. I have to find a way to make money, or beg at least. But before I beg, let's see what we can do to earn some cash."

Lucien clicked into his game account, which he still kept under the name Anonymous. This prevented people from recognizing him on the forum, since there were plenty of anonymous users and anyone could be anonymous without adding a number. Over a thousand people went by Anonymous, so no one really knew which one was talking.

In fact, several Anonymous users had claimed to be Player Cien over the past few hours of online chaos he'd stirred. But the real Player Cien didn't care. All he cared about now was money.

"Pitiful… I used to be above these petty concerns."

Lucien opened his inventory and scanned the items he had.

The Elipitis Shard of Defense, popularly known as Pumpkin Shroud, was as useless as armor could get. It had already lost more than half its durability. And that would be the evidence Lucien planned to use when he found the bastard who duped him and beat the living hell out of the guy.

The Laphoen's Necklace was the only thing he hadn't fused with yet and wasn't worth anything once used. Maybe it would appeal to new players, but there were rarely new players these days compared to the last five years.

Maybe in the next season, when more students graduated from high school, there'd be another flood of fresh faces.

But right now, Lucien's chances of finding someone to scam were laughably slim.

The only choice he could turn to…

-Darkness Cutter

-NightFang Blades

-Sword of the Forsaken

-Whitesteel Shroud

-Black Wolf Fur ×27

-Red Wolf Fur ×20

-Black Wolf Claws ×13

-Red Wolf Claws ×17

-Old Bone ×157

Lucien laced his fingers together as he considered selling Darkness Cutter once again. If he placed it in the auction, he could probably rake in serious money.

However… he needed every weapon and item he could get for the special battle with the Black Godzilla.

He couldn't part with these precious weapons for anything. He needed more, in fact. The materials, however…

Lucien entered the forum, bracing himself mentally as he prepared to type.

After taking a deep breath, Lucien posted:

"Anyone need materials? Black Wolf Claws, Red Wolf Claws, Black and Red Wolf Furs available."

Ulysses: "Go to the right forum for that. Don't post that on the general forum."

LagFiend: "Bro… that's for Creators. Wait, are you Player Cien? Actually, don't answer. I'm fed up with everyone changing their username to Anonymous and trying to scam people with different things. Now this one wants to sell Wolf Claws."

Fengshui: "Wolf Claws are not common drops, junior brother. As we all know, Wolves are uncommon monsters in Evo…"

LagFiend: "Exactly why I said he's trying to scam people. Wolves don't exist in Evo! Well, foxes do, though."

Before the entire forum could descend into another twisted mess, Lucien—for his sanity's sake—left and moved to the Creators' forum.

However, he did manage to gain shocking knowledge: Wolves do not exist in Evolution Online.

This was strange. Lucien had once been a serious gamer and was an avid reader of novels and books from earlier eras. Wolves were like the cliché staple of every game world. How on earth were there no wolves in Evo?

At the same time, when he thought about it, The Hall of Columns was the first dungeon of Evo according to the system. That meant wolves were indeed the first monsters to exist—even though they were level 45, which made no sense. Why would a level 45 monster be among the first to exist?

But when Lucien considered the Beastbound Armor's description—how it was forged by a lost Wolven tribe and worn by a warrior who journeyed to kill the Wolf God but never returned—the pieces started forming a picture.

There was a lost tribe, the last of their kind, and the Wolf God. The armor was the remnant that connected—or could connect—all three.

Something felt off. And Lucien sensed this was probably the heart of the game: to spot and unravel these mysteries.

He smiled as he typed.

'Another thing I'm going to love doing.'

When Lucien finished posting, he regretted actually going to the Creators forum and trying to sell item drops from creatures that didn't exist in Evolution Online.

At last, he had no choice but to beg.

And now, thinking about the only person he could beg from…

Lucien's face went pale at the thought.

'That witch.'