The mechanical voice echoed in Axel’s mind:
"At present, your planet has just been introduced to the ‘Survival Game.’ A three-day preliminary assessment period has begun."
"A total of 10,000 participants have been randomly selected from around the world for this assessment."
"After three days, the entire population of the planet will be eligible to enter the game."
Axel nodded slightly.
So, he was essentially a beta tester, getting a head start before the rest of the world joined in.
Not bad.
An opportunity like this? He definitely wasn’t going to waste it.
But Axel didn’t immediately enter the game.
He waited for two minutes, then carefully placed the empty food tray back by the door.
Through the small slot, the same pale, delicate hand reached in to retrieve it. Only when the tray was gone did he finally exhale in relief.
If this game teleports me somewhere, I can't let them notice anything unusual.
Only after ensuring everything appeared normal did he finally select:
[ENTER SURVIVAL GAME]
His vision went dark.
A second later, a strange force seemed to pull at his entire body.
The solid concrete beneath his feet shifted—transformed.
When Axel opened his eyes again—
He was no longer in the sealed asylum room.
Instead, a vast, dimly lit landscape stretched out before him.
He scanned his body and surroundings.
His appearance remained unchanged—just a simple t-shirt and shorts.
The ground beneath him was rough, littered with stones and overgrown weeds.
The air was thick with tension, the distant scenery blurred in the darkness.
To his left, an abandoned ruin loomed—an ancient western-style structure with a collapsed dome and a chaotic, overgrown garden.
Aside from himself, the area seemed completely empty.
Then, the system’s notification appeared:
[Welcome to the Survival Game!]
[Ding! Your Billion-Talent System has been activated!]
[Congratulations! You have drawn the SSS-Grade Talent: ‘Eternal Invisibility’—as long as you do not initiate an attack, you will remain permanently invisible.]
(Note 1: If you attack, you will become visible, but invisibility will reactivate after 2 seconds.)
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
(Note 2: This talent is only active within the game. To unlock it in reality, you must spend Survival Points!)
Axel’s heart pounded.
Permanent invisibility?!
No wonder it was an SSS-grade talent!
Even though he didn’t fully understand the game’s mechanics yet, this talent alone was absurdly overpowered.
Think about it—if he had this ability in a regular battle royale game like PUBG, wouldn’t he basically be unkillable?
This was practically a game-breaking hack!
Axel activated his ability.
Two seconds later, he looked down—
And his body had completely vanished.
Even he couldn’t see himself.
"…Holy shit. It actually worked."
Just then—
Another system prompt appeared:
[Game Objective: 100 Players (50 Teams of Two)!]
[You have been paired with a teammate.]
[Loot the map, hunt wild creatures, and obtain equipment and skills (only valid within this game round). Your team must survive until the end to win.]
[For every enemy player you kill, you gain +5 to all attributes (only valid within the game).]
[Players who die will drop all their equipment.]
[Players who die will lose between 1 to 36 months of their real-life lifespan (the earlier they die, the more lifespan they lose).]
[At the end of the game, Survival Points will be awarded based on performance.]
(Note: Since this is your first game, death penalties are waived!)
Axel smirked.
So, if someone died too soon, they could lose up to three years of their lifespan?
That’s brutal.
If someone kept dying repeatedly, their lifespan might just run out completely.
But for Axel—
This penalty was completely irrelevant.
Because in this game?
He was literally invisible.
Who the hell could kill him?
Aside from that—
There were other important details:
Loot the map.
Hunt creatures.
Gather gear and skills.
This was a battle royale game—but with survival RPG mechanics.
Just like PUBG, but with monsters and skills.
"Map," Axel murmured.
Immediately, a holographic minimap appeared in his mind.
It was a square battlefield, roughly 1000m x 1000m.
He was positioned in the bottom-right corner.
Beyond the edges of the map, a black zone was marked [Restricted Area].
Most likely, this was just like the "Blue Zone" in PUBG—
A shrinking boundary that forced players into a smaller area over time.
A five-minute countdown had already begun.
After five minutes, the Restricted Area would begin closing in, reducing the playable space.
"Status," Axel murmured.
A stat panel appeared before him:
* Survival Points: 0
* Strength: 12
* Endurance: 13
* Agility: 14
* Intelligence: 13
* Spirit: 12
(Note: Average human stats are around 10.)
Axel blinked.
"Wait… I'm actually stronger than average?"
Axel’s base stats were noticeably higher than an average human’s by 2 to 4 points.
"So this is what it means to be the ‘most dangerous mental patient in history’ huh…"
He shook his head with a wry smile.
But something else caught his attention—
This Survival Game had one major difference from traditional battle royale games like PUBG.
It rewarded kills with attribute increases!
Every time he killed another player, all of his attributes would permanently increase by +5 (only within the game).
There was no doubt—
The more people you killed, the stronger you became.
Simply hiding wouldn’t work.
If someone stayed passive and avoided fights, by the time the game reached its final stages, they would be completely outclassed by players who had stacked massive stat bonuses.
"And at the end of the game, Survival Points are awarded based on performance."
"If I just camp and hide, my score will probably be garbage."
Axel quickly analyzed the game mechanics and understood the most important rule—
To win, you had to hunt.
Just then, Axel noticed movement to his left.
Not far away, beside the collapsed ruins, a slender female figure stood motionless.
According to the system’s prompts, this girl was his teammate for this match.
A 2-player team, 100 players total.
"Interesting."
Axel’s gaze flicked to the minimap.
In the bottom-right corner, alongside his five-pointed star icon, there was one more player marker inside a small circle.
"That must be her location."
His eyes narrowed.
If he could see her location on the map, then she could also see his.
"Which means… my invisibility is useless against her."
Axel quickly came to a decision.
He needed to kill his teammate first.
Not just to eliminate a potential threat, but to test the game’s rules—
Would killing a teammate also grant him the +5 attribute bonus?
There was only one way to find out.
Maintaining his invisible state, Axel silently crept toward the girl.