"Alright, I will choose the Gray Monitor Lizard, but before I go through with it, I should leave a note for everyone telling them what I am doing," Dan thinks to himself.

After writing the note, Dan selects the Gray Monitor Lizard, and then another menu pops up.

Right as Dan is about to ask Saia what the difference is, she starts answering his question. "Sleeping Evolution is exactly like it sounds, you go to sleep as you are evolving, so you do not have to endure the pain. On the other hand, Trail Evolution, you will have to be awake but will be rewarded for doing so. If you can stay conscious through the whole process, you will get the best rewards. I would recommend you do the Trail Evolution, but I must warn you it will like a thousand hot needles penetrating your whole body every second. And if you pass out within the first half-hour, you will not get any rewards at all."

Thinking it over for a few minutes, Dan says, "I'll do it. If something dangerous is coming, I need to be strong enough to keep my friends and family safe. It is only pain. I will grit and bare it to keep them safe."

"Well, there is no point hesitating now, proceed," Dan says. Right as he says that, burning pain shots through his body. "Damn, this hurts even worse than when I get two mutations at once," Dan thinks while gritting his teeth, so he does not make any noise that could alarm his family. Dan tries to focus on something else. "Must get... stronger to... protect my family," Dan thinks to himself, having trouble to even finish the thought.

Dan focuses on that thought to lessen the pain.

After twenty minutes, Dan had gotten used to it enough for him to realize that he can not move at all, and he is not able to hear either, probably a side effect from the process.

While Dan is going through the evolution, elsewhere, in the underground lab somewhere, a man in a lab coat is talking to a blond man in a business suit. "The test results for the plant-type SMC have come back. The berries cause the subjects who ate them, strength to increase by 10 to 20 percent, as well as cause their fatigue to rapidly decrease without nearly any side effects afterward. Also, we have not been able to identify what about the berries that cause this effect. But there is some bad news, Mr. Renold, the number of berries produced, and their effects have been dwindling since we have transported it to our facility. We suspect that if keep in its current condition it will stop producing berries in two to three months."

"Well, do whatever it takes to make sure it keeps producing, reproduce the exact environment it was growing in, I don't care how much it costs! That plant could be worth billions if its berries are sold to the right people," the blond man says to the man in the lab coat. 

"Yes, I will get on it right away, sir," the man in the lab coat says as he quickly walks away.

"If they can't identify what substance in the berries that are causing the subjects to become stronger, then it will be almost impossible for a drug test to pick it up. I could sell the berries to countries to give to their athletes for the Olympics, helping them gain more recognition. Or if we could find a way to mass-produce the berries, I could sell them to the militaries of countries going to war, giving their soldiers an edge. We must not allow the plant to die," Mr. Renold thinks to himself. Arriving in his office, he pushes a button to call in his secretary.

A woman who looks to be around 30 years old with black hair comes into the room. "What do you need, sir," the lady asks?

"Increase Research Team Three's budget by 5,000,000, if they need more have the lead researcher, Kim Sung, contact me. Also, did we get any data on the fish-type SMC's body for Research Team Two," Mr. Renold asks while looking through files.

"No, sir, we have not. They expect the quickest result will be in three days. But, as was reported after the capture team failed to capture it alive, it should have very hard scales, capable of blocking our underwater tranq darts. After they sequence its DNA, they will begin attempting to clone it as you have instructed them."

"That good, notify me immediately when they begin the process, Eiko," Mr. Renold says, as Eiko is writing things down.

"Do you need anything else, sir," Eiko asks, in a professional manner?

"No, you may leave."

Back with Dan, after a few hours of constant pain, Dan finally hears a system notification and sighs in relief.

"Wow, I received much better rewards than I was expecting. I can even choose two abilities instead of one because I lasted through the Trail Evolution," Dan thinks to himself. "Iron Skin and Sprint seem decent. Acid Spit sounds gross, and although Charged Leap is a good ability, I don't see that much use for it. Slash is a decent ability, but I think Iron Skin and Sprint are better. Both Iron Skin and Sprint could save my life in a fight. Iron Skin allows me to take hits I normally couldn't, and Sprint allows me to run away if I can't win," Dan reasons to himself. "I chose Iron Skin and Sprint."