Ch.0I Became an Alien in an SF Survival Game

Where should I begin?

I’m guessing the trigger was definitely that incident yesterday.

While wasting time at home as usual, I received an email.

“Notice to everyone who has enjoyed ‘Space Survival.’ Our development team is recruiting closed beta testers for the sequel. If you wish to participate, please click the participation acceptance button below.”

Space Survival.

It’s a survival RPG game where you choose one of various species existing in the vast universe and survive, explore, and evolve.

What caught my attention was “various species.”

I’ve liked aliens, monsters, and different species since I was young.

Space Survival was a game that perfectly realized my fantasies.

Sometimes I became a metallic gremlin and tore apart human ships, sometimes a mutant monster slaughtering enemies in ground battles. Sometimes I became the leader of a hive mind and conquered planets.

I played all kinds of monsters that could only appear in nightmares, but there was one species I enjoyed the most.

‘Unidentified Aggressive Space Morph,’ abbreviated as UASM.

I called it AMorph, combining the A from Aggressive and Morph from the end.

AMorph is a space monster modeled after the creature from the classic film A*i*n, a species that acquires genetic information from victims to strengthen itself.

With no limit to how strong it could become, it might seem like an overpowered species at first glance, but it was infamous for its insanely difficult survival rate and the inherent risks unique to the species.

Especially in the beginning, you’re so weak that you can’t properly do anything you want to.

In survival games, it’s important to survive long enough to accumulate resources and technology to snowball, but AMorph has a mechanism that goes against this flow. You keep dying early, so your chances to get stronger decrease, and if you can’t get stronger, you keep dying without being able to do anything—a vicious cycle.

You might think you just need to try hard and survive well, but AMorph had a fatal flaw that made this difficult.

It’s the inability to communicate or cooperate with other species.

According to the setting, AMorph only sees other species as living food or genetic material to be collected.

The crazy game company implemented this exactly as described in the game.

In a multiplayer game with numerous users, being unable to communicate or cooperate—you can imagine what a huge risk that is.

Weak in the beginning, and unable to cooperate with other users.

Because these two disadvantages synergized in the worst way, AMorph was treated as the worst non-mainstream species in Space Survival.

It was so bad that there was a rumor in the community, widely accepted as fact, that the SM in UASM stood for Sadist (the game company) and Masochist (the users).

So why did this garbage species become my favorite? The reason is simple.

I was captivated by the fact that it was a species that could freely evolve and grow stronger according to choices and will.

‘Well, it’s also because I like A*i*n, but that’s beside the point.’

As they say, those who enjoy become strong. I was one of the veteran users who achieved the highest difficulty achievement in the game, Galaxy Conqueror, as an AMorph.

The community even called me Honorary AMorph, Xenophile, and Morph-head, which says it all.

But of course, no king rules forever.

I had to quit the game for a very practical reason.

‘I can’t believe people still get academic probation these days…’

And twice in a row at that.

It was an inevitable result since I never went out and only played games.

I needed to graduate, so I left the game for a while and focused on studying. Because of that, I didn’t even know a sequel was in development.

Anyway, Space Survival is my most beloved game. What gamer wouldn’t be excited about a sequel to a game that’s practically their life’s work? Of course, I clicked accept.

‘And this is the result.’

I lifted my “second” right leg to scratch my “exoskeleton-covered forehead.”

As I scratched, my back started itching too, so I decided to use my “fourth” left leg this time. When I scratched my back, a translucent molt came off on the tip of my claw.

If you’re wondering how a human can have 4 pairs of legs, I can answer like this:

‘Because I’m not human.’

Looking down at my first pair of forelegs that I’m using to write, I couldn’t help but sigh. The sensory appendages attached to my jaw fluttered gently with my sigh.

The shape of my hands was far from anything found on humans or mammals.

The long, thin legs divided into 3 segments resembled the legs of a spider or arthropod, and at the end of each leg were two cute little claws that functioned as fingers.

I wished they weren’t my hands, but the claws wiggled as if telling me not to deny them, matching my thoughts.

Following my legs with my gaze, I could see a snake or lizard-like elongated body. However, it didn’t give a flexible impression as both the back and belly were covered with hard exoskeleton.

The sides, unlike the hard shell on my back, were made of soft flesh, with three pairs of legs identical to my forelegs protruding from them.

Finally, a thick, flexible tail extended from my rear end. The sharp stinger at the end of the tail was my only weapon.

I know the identity of this small, bizarre creature.

My favorite species from Space Survival, AMorph.

Beings with infinite possibilities that made me the ruler of the galaxy.

…in its Hatchling form.

“Species: Unidentified Aggressive Space Morph

Status: Hatchling

Objective: Survive

Trait: Hypersense”

In a vast universe filled with all kinds of monsters and transcendent beings, I had been incarnated as the weakest creature.