Chapter 5: The Upgrade

Ten weeks had passed. Seventy long days. Jin Yu stared at the number '10.3' on his phone screen. He couldn't believe it, but he was also very excited.


He had ten Evolution Points. He had earned them one slow week at a time, plus a few extra bits from the small changes he'd seen and written down in his notebook.


For ten weeks, he had stopped himself from upgrading his phone (which was still cracked), his shaky bed, and even a rice cooker that could fix itself (which sounded amazing).


He had only thought about one thing: Ten points for Earth.


He read the part of the Instruction Manual again. The words were simple, but they felt very important now.


[Earth has not yet been upgraded. Current world status: Tier 0]


[10 Evolution Points required to upgrade Earth to Tier 1.]


His finger shook as it hovered over the 'Upgrade' button next to Earth's status. He had upgraded his phone easily; that was small. This was different.


This was the whole planet. What did "Tier 1" even mean? Would things get better? Worse? The manual didn't say much, just strange things about balance and energy from space.


Jin Yu remembered the falling boxes at the market. If other people could change things without even trying, then what he was about to do, with ten whole Evolution Points, had to do something.


He decided to be brave. He was tired of feeling weak, of his life being as messy as his room. This was his chance to change everything, starting with the world around him.


He pressed the 'Upgrade' button.


A kind of energy, nothing like he'd felt before, went through his phone. It wasn't just something on the screen; it was a feeling, a low hum that shook his hand and the air around him.


The glowing crystal on his screen shone very brightly, lighting up his small apartment for a few seconds.


Then, it was quiet. The light faded. His phone looked normal, showing '10.3' Evolution Points, which was now '0.3'. There was no big announcement, no voice. Just a feeling that… something had changed.


Jin Yu held his breath, trying to sense anything. He looked around his room, almost expecting the walls to move or the furniture to rearrange itself. Nothing. He ran to the window, looking out at the outside.


The morning mist was still there, hanging over the mountains. Everything looked the same. Had it worked? Had he just wasted ten weeks of waiting on… nothing?


He started to doubt himself. Maybe the upgrade took time. Maybe the changes were small and slow.


He did his usual morning things, feeling unsure. At the convenience store, everything seemed the same. The usual early customers and boring work. Even the old coffee machine still made its usual sputtering noises.


Jin Yu felt like he had expected too much, too quickly.


Then, around the middle of the day, the first real sign happened.


A customer, an old woman who always complained about prices, gasped as she picked up a banana. "What happened to these?"


Jin Yu looked. The bananas, usually a mix of yellow and brown, were now a bright, almost glowing yellow. They looked perfect, with smooth, clean skin.


"They… look good, Lola," Jin Yu said, feeling a little hopeful.


"Good? They look… different! Almost shining!" she said, sounding both surprised and suspicious. Other customers started to notice, talking quietly to each other.


Over the next hour, more strange things happened. The dying plants near the store's entrance suddenly stood up straight, their leaves turning a deep, healthy green. A crack in the sidewalk outside, which Jin Yu had been avoiding for months, seemed smoother, its edges less sharp.


The changes weren't huge, not yet, but they were real. Clear. People were starting to see the little differences, the small improvements that didn't make sense. A quiet buzz of confusion and interest spread through the town.


Jin Yu felt very excited and a little scared. He had done this. He, Jin Yu, the guy with the cracked phone and messy room, had somehow… changed the whole planet. And the changes, as small as they were, were now visible.


The world was starting to change. His journey was really starting.


The changes weren't limited to the convenience store and the immediate vicinity. Reports started trickling in, carried on the town's informal grapevine, and amplified by the increasingly active social media chatter.


The usually erratic power grid of Red Dragon Country seemed to have stabilized, with fewer brownouts and surges. The perpetually congested traffic along Session Road, the city's main thoroughfare, flowed with a slightly smoother, more predictable rhythm.


The air itself felt… cleaner, fresher, though no one could quite explain why.


Even the weather seemed to be behaving differently. The daily afternoon rains, a Baguio staple, were less frequent and less intense, replaced by a gentle, almost ethereal mist that clung to the pine-covered mountains surrounding the city.


The locals, accustomed to the city's unpredictable climate, found themselves both relieved and vaguely unsettled by the uncharacteristic consistency.


Jin Yu, initially overwhelmed by the scale of his actions, found himself drawn into the unfolding mystery. He spent his breaks from the convenience store scouring online forums and local news sites, searching for any mention of the strange occurrences.


He discovered that the changes weren't confined to Red Dragon Country alone. Similar reports, though scattered and often dismissed as isolated incidents, were emerging from other parts of the world.


In a small village in Gorkha, farmers reported an unusually bountiful harvest, with crops growing larger and healthier than ever before. In a coastal town in the Land of the Rising Sun, fishermen spoke of a sudden increase in their catch, with previously scarce species appearing in abundance.


In a bustling metropolis in Brazil, residents noticed a subtle decrease in crime rates, accompanied by a general sense of calm and well-being.


The scale of these changes was both exhilarating and terrifying. Jin Yu realized that he had unleashed something far greater than he could have ever imagined. The Evolution System wasn't just about upgrading individual objects; it was about influencing the very fabric of reality.


And he, a seemingly ordinary young man from Red Dragon Country, was now at the center of this transformation.


As the days turned into weeks, the changes became more pronounced. The vibrant yellow of the bananas at the convenience store became a common sight, a symbol of the subtle shift that was taking place.


The once-dying plants across the city bloomed with an unnatural vigor, transforming drab corners into miniature oases. The improved traffic flow and cleaner air became the new normal, prompting hushed whispers and tentative theories among the city's residents.


Jin Yu knew that this was just the beginning. The "Lower Plane" upgrade had set in motion a chain of events that were slowly but surely reshaping the world.


And he, armed with his growing understanding of the Evolution System and his unwavering resolve, was determined to see where this journey would lead him.


[End of Chapter 5]

Chapter end