Days went by, and finally, a week had passed.
Asoka, who appeared to be asleep in his cage, was actually wide awake within his mind.
Once again, he felt unfamiliar memories surfacing from the depths of his subconscious—parts of his mind he didn’t even realize could hold anything beyond recent recollections.
Asoka allowed the memories to flow freely, without resistance. At first, they were blurry images or unrecognizable voices, but over time, they started to sharpen, though still fragmented. Some were brief flashes—split-second images of women of various ages in different settings. Others showed men engaged in various activities, either alone or in groups. The voices were equally fractured, often consisting of just a word or two, devoid of context. On rare occasions, short sentences emerged, though they carried no meaning for Asoka.
As his mind wandered through these broken fragments, Asoka was reminded of how he had managed to kill the shark monster earlier. There had been a moment—a strange "click" in his mind—before he suddenly found himself standing in front of the beast.
Determined to understand, Asoka focused on recreating that click, trying to trigger the sensation again. As he concentrated, a faint light flickered in the vast expanse of his mind. It was hidden behind the broken memories, deep within his consciousness, taking the form of a glowing bubble.
Slowly, Asoka drifted toward the bubble and tried to recreate the feeling. The bubble flared brightly for a brief moment before dimming again. It was strange but utterly fascinating to him.
Then, something caught his attention from the corner of his mind. Turning to his left, he noticed several more bubbles. Unlike the first, these were dim and empty, devoid of any light. Looking to his right, he found even more bubbles—just as hollow and lifeless. Curious, Asoka scanned the space around him and realized there were countless bubbles scattered throughout, shimmering like fragile glass spheres.
Asoka’s mind began to grow weary. Slowly, he let himself drift away from the bubbles, back into the fragmented memories. The drowsiness soon overtook him, pulling him into a deep, dreamless sleep once more.
*****
Professor Sota stood in his lab, his eyes wide in shock. He was staring at Asoka, who was glowing and flickering like a malfunctioning hologram on a broken screen. This strange effect was definitely not part of Professor Sota’s design.
For a moment, he could do nothing but gape, his mind racing at full speed as he tried to make sense of what was happening.
After a few minutes of glowing and phasing, Asoka seemed to settle down, the strange phenomenon ceasing entirely. Without wasting a second, Professor Sota rushed to his computer, running a full diagnostic scan on Asoka to figure out what had just happened.
“No! Nothing! Not this! Not this either! Aaargh, why? Why? WHY? I don’t understand! What the hell are you doing, Asoka, you overgrown lizard?”
Frustration boiled over as Professor Sota slammed his fists on the desk. He spent the next two days locked in his lab, obsessively analyzing the data. But no matter how deep he dug, he couldn’t find a single clue. There was no change in Asoka’s physical structure, and no anomalies in his internal systems. It was as if Asoka had performed… magic.
“Wait… magic?”
The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. Monsters with magical abilities weren’t unheard of. He recalled reports of a creature that could summon tidal waves to flatten entire cities and another that had split a mountain clean in two. Others were said to have enhanced their bodies to levels no scientific tool could ever replicate.
“Is it possible? Did Asoka… somehow learn magic? But how?”
Professor Sota considered researching magic further but hit a roadblock. His lab had no access to the internet—he was too paranoid about his location being discovered. That left him to rely solely on his memory of monster cases he’d seen on TV over the years.
He wracked his brain, trying to remember more examples of magical phenomena. While he recalled the tidal wave and the mountain-splitting monster, nothing else seemed to fit.
“Wait a minute… could it be that none of them actually used magic? Does that mean all the monsters we’ve faced so far were just ordinary beasts? The expendable ones sent out because humanity is too weak to fight back?”
The possibility of a highly organized monster society, deliberately sending only their weakest troops to gauge humanity’s strength, sent a shiver down his spine. It was a terrifying thought—more chilling than anything he had faced before.
Driven by this realization, Professor Sota sprang into action. He rushed toward his disaster device, muttering to himself about needing more materials to build better equipment. Just as he was about to leave the lab, he glanced back at Asoka, who now seemed peacefully dormant.
“What can I do to make you stronger?” he wondered aloud.
An idea formed in his mind. “I could send Asoka into more battles. Let him learn, grow, and maybe even experiment with his magic.”
But then, another thought crept in, making him pause and shiver with both fear and excitement.
“Or… I could let him loose out there, let him explore the world. That way, he might not only master this new magic but also discover entirely new powers.”
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A wide grin spread across Professor Sota’s face as he considered the possibilities.
Then he got to work. Professor Sota was determined to make Asoka the hero of humanity—the same dream that had driven his mad research and led to Asoka’s creation in the first place. To ensure this, he programmed Asoka’s mind through his machine with one clear directive: fight and kill monsters, and only monsters. Humans and animals were strictly off-limits.
Next, Professor Sota developed an evolution program for Asoka. Every time Asoka consumed a substantial meal after a battle, his body would adapt and evolve. Of course, this wasn’t left to chance. Professor Sota had already designed a blueprint for Asoka’s evolution, implanting it into his mind as another core objective.
As the computer worked on embedding the information into Asoka’s mind, Professor Sota turned his attention to another task: finding a suitable place to send him. He had heard reports about Russia being overrun by monsters, but sending Asoka there would be reckless. Any creature powerful enough to dominate such a vast territory would likely be beyond Asoka’s current strength.
“Ah, yes! The pocket space,” he muttered to himself. “I could send Asoka there to rampage and grow stronger.”
Professor Sota racked his brain, trying to recall where he’d encountered a pocket space during his time at the United Government lab. One location came to mind—a subterranean cavern somewhere in Southeast Asia.
“Ah, yes. That underground cave in Southeast Asia should work perfectly,” he decided.
He quickly added the coordinates to the teleporter and began prepping the machine. Before launching Asoka into the unknown, Professor Sota meticulously reviewed the implanted information to ensure everything was in place. He spent half a day fine-tuning the preparations, including tweaking Asoka’s personality to prevent him from going into a constant rampage mode. It was a grueling process that consumed almost all of his time, but somehow, he managed to pull it off.
With everything set, Professor Sota stood before the teleporter, took a deep breath, and pressed the button without ceremony.
“Good luck, my boy,” he said softly, watching Asoka vanish into the portal. “Come back stronger. The world needs you.”
*****
Asoka opened his eyes and looked around.
He found himself standing in the middle of a massive cave, its vast walls encircling him. Above, a huge circular opening let in a faint, otherworldly light. On the darker side of the cave, something caught his attention—a ripple in the air, like the surface of water standing upright, shimmering faintly.
“What is this ripple?” Asoka murmured, curiosity lighting up his eyes.
Cautiously, he reached out to touch it. The surface felt soft, almost like cloth beneath his fingertips. As he pushed his hand further, he noticed it vanished effortlessly into the rippling barrier. Though he didn’t understand what it was, something about the cave and this strange phenomenon stirred an instinct deep within him—a silent call he couldn’t ignore.
Step by step, Asoka moved closer and began to walk through the ripple. He closed his eyes just as his face passed through, and when he opened them again, he found himself in a completely different place.
What lay before him was a world that vaguely resembled Earth but with striking differences.
He stood in the middle of a meadow covered in vibrant purple and green grass that reached his ankles. Hidden beneath the grass were fragments of buildings, ancient and fossilized, their shapes unfamiliar. Asoka scanned his surroundings, convinced he was in a world unlike any he had ever known.
As he turned to take in more of the scenery, his gaze landed on a distant figure—a monster. The creature was round with jet-black skin, its ominous form stirring a sudden wave of anger in Asoka's chest. Without a second thought, he started running toward it, his instincts driving him forward.
He ran as fast as he could, but strangely, the distance between him and the monster didn’t seem to get any closer. The creature remained just as far away after five minutes of sprinting. A twinge of worry crept into Asoka’s mind, but he pressed on, determined.
After another ten minutes of running, he finally slowed down, his breath heavy and his thoughts racing. It was then he realized the truth: this was no ordinary monster. Even from a distance of several kilometers, its size was staggering—towering at least three hundred meters tall, if not more.
A primal survival instinct kicked in. Asoka knew he couldn’t win this fight. He made the only sensible choice—turning away and retreating, vowing to avoid a battle he wasn’t ready for.
As Asoka cautiously moved to the side, something shot out from the ground with alarming speed, aiming straight for his head. It was a worm-like monster, its grotesque mouth large enough to engulf Asoka whole. The creature's head opened wide in a cross-shaped pattern, spinning like a deadly helicopter blade.
Asoka leaped backward just in time, narrowly avoiding the worm’s snapping jaws. Before he could retaliate, the worm plunged back into the ground, vanishing without leaving a single trace of a hole.
“How…?” Asoka muttered, his mind reeling.
His confusion was short-lived. Another worm erupted from below, this time lunging for his arm. Reacting on instinct, Asoka yanked his arm back and delivered a powerful kick, sending the creature hurtling several hundred meters away.
But there was no time to celebrate. Yet another worm burst from the earth, this one targeting his tail. Asoka managed to whip the attacker away with his tail, sending it crashing into a nearby rock.
The assault continued. Worms sprang up from all directions, their relentless attacks forcing Asoka into a defensive stance. Initially caught off guard, Asoka quickly adapted. Each time a worm emerged, he met it with claws, teeth, or tail, clawing and biting ferociously.
Minutes into the chaotic battle, Asoka’s fury boiled over when he noticed the dead worms he’d managed to kill were being dragged underground by others.
“They’re stealing my food!” he growled, his anger surging.
“HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY FOOD, WORMS!” Asoka roared, his voice echoing through the cave.
With his rage fueling him, Asoka began using his short-range teleportation to evade the worms’ ambushes, reappearing behind them to strike. His newfound tactic disoriented the creatures, turning the tide of the battle in his favor. Gradually, the number of attacking worms dwindled as he continued his relentless assault.
After an hour of non-stop fighting, Asoka finally drove his claw through the last worm’s head, ending the battle. Breathing heavily, he surveyed the battlefield, now littered with only a handful of worm corpses.
“Those damned worms…” he muttered, still fuming.
Hungry and exhausted, Asoka sank his teeth into one of the worm carcasses, ripping into its flesh to satisfy his hunger. Though wary of another ambush, he ate quickly, keeping his senses sharp as he devoured the worm. His hunger had subsided by the time he started on a second one.
Feeling full, tired, and heavy, Asoka lay down atop the scattered remains of his defeated foes. Sleep immediately overtook him, pulling him into a deep, dreamless slumber.
While Asoka slept, the evolution program implanted by Professor Sota began its work. It guided Asoka’s body toward its next stage of development, following the carefully designed blueprint. This time, no new body parts emerged. Instead, his frame grew larger and denser, increasing his height to an imposing thirty meters in just twelve hours.
When Asoka finally opened his eyes, the world around him seemed smaller, as though he had outgrown it overnight. Confused, he looked down at his massive hands and body.
“How in the…?” he murmured, struggling to comprehend what had happened.