After being sucked through the keymaster’s portal tunnel and subsequently executed, I found myself standing shin-deep in a snow-covered clearing surrounded by trees far more menacing than the ones I’d seen when I first arrived in the tower.

It wasn’t the type of after-death experience I was expecting.

Looking down at myself, I blanched. That kind of was.

“Where are my clothes!”

As if triggered by the realization that I was naked in freezing cold snow, I began shivering violently.

I looked around, trying to get my bearings. Far in the distance and high above, I spotted the mountain on which the town rested.

I had died and been transported onto the floor.

Into the wilds.

Where there were monsters.

And I was naked!

My mind raced as I tried to think of a solution, trying to recall all the survival videos I’d watched in preparation for any number of apocalypse scenarios.

I could make a hut from snow. That would trap heat. But judging by the numbness already creeping into my hands, legs, and face, I wouldn’t make it long enough to build anything. It was far colder here than it had been in town. It had to be below freezing, below zero Fahrenheit even, and the only reason I was still able to think at all was due to the strengthening effect from pushing mana through my body.

I tried doing that now in hopes it would warm me up.

Somewhat surprisingly, it actually did. Not enough to save me, but enough for my thoughts to clear.

Clothes and shelter. That’s what I needed to focus on.

I couldn’t immediately do anything about shelter, but clothes on the other hand…

As cool as the abilities from other hobbies might be, they wouldn’t do me any good if I died of hypothermia.

So, sure Torath would be elated at my decision—if I lived long enough for him to find out—I took the Fodder hobby.

A message appeared but I ignored it in favor of immediately summoning the armor the hobby granted, which I now instinctively knew how to do.

My body seemed to burst to life in a fiery display that gave no warmth.

The armor that suddenly covered me neck to toe, on the other hand, did. It was made of a smooth metallic material that was fitted but not overly tight, with thicker armor on the knees, elbows, stomach, chest, and shoulders.

I let out a sigh of relief and collapsed forward, breathing hard but shallowly.

Despite my hands being buried in the snow, I couldn’t feel the cold. And not because they were numb.

I pulled one hand free, examining it, moving my fingers. Most of my hand was covered by the same metallic material, but there were intricately articulated metal plates over my knuckles that didn’t interfere with movement at all.

I fell back into the snow and laughed so hard with relief that I cried, the tears instantly freezing on my face.

Since my armor was keeping me warm, I tried directing my mana so that it only moved through the skin of my face, which instantly began to tingle. With mana, but also with the return of feeling as it warmed.

This done, and now better able to focus, I finally turned my attention to the message I’d received after taking the Fodder hobby. It was one of the ones that was only in my head, rather than floating in front of me as a piece of weird paper.

Your standing on the [Hero Board] has slightly improved. Your standing on the [Hero Board] is already maximized.

Due to your standing on the [Hero Board], you have received complimentary powerpack.

“Hero Board?” I wondered.

Then remembered the system’s message after it had rained cards down. I’d completely forgotten about it.

I brought it up.

Rank

Name

1

Noah Whitehall

2

⚿ Koren Al-Sagoyn

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

3

⚿ Vyrania Trel

4

⚿ Calynora of Valondis

5

⚿ Lun Zhèng

6

Veronica Tremell

7

Sejeong Kang

8

Haruki Watanabe

9

Tarek El-Zahabi

10

Eléa Noémie Devereaux

It went all the way to one hundred. The powerpack I’d just gotten let me search for an individual name, but with only a hundred I scanned through them instead, looking for anyone I knew.

A few of the names had key icons next to them, but I couldn’t bring up more information to see what they meant. Something to do with the tower? Maybe there were other people in this tower after all.

I didn’t find anyone I knew on the list, which wasn’t surprising if it was worldwide as I suspected it must be.

When I got toward the bottom, I noticed some of the names were in a different color. I wondered what that meant, and a message popped up in response:

Deceased.

(This information is courtesy of your powerpack.)

Right, that was what it had originally started for: people who were corrupted by the cards. Like Luke. He must not have been the only one to die.

But how had I ended up on it? And at number one no less?

I had technically died, and I now remembered seeing a message right after dying and right before resurrection about my standing improving greatly.

Had all the living people on it also died and come back as well? There were only a hundred, and less than that who were still alive, so resurrection tokens wouldn’t even have to be that common.

I put it aside for now. It wasn’t the most important thing.

That honor went to the business of making it through the forest that lay between me and town. I didn’t like standing out here in the open like this.

Though, at least I could see anything coming. There were supposed to be monsters out here. Lots of places for them to hide in a forest.

I used the second ability my hobby granted me and called up the map. It only showed detail for my immediate surroundings, but began to fill in as I took a few steps.

There was a legend on it showing a few symbols, but the one that caught my eye was a key that looked just like the ones on the Hero Board. It was hollow and had 0% next to it.

Unfortunately, there was no hint on the map as to where the key or keys for the floor might be located.

The only other mark on the map was near the area where the town was, labeled simply ventis, which I assumed to be the town’s name.

I sighed and took in my surroundings more carefully now that I wasn’t freezing to death.

“Yep,” I said to myself, “I’m stuck in the middle of nowhere.”

I was in the middle of a frozen wasteland, surrounded on all sides by forest that looked anything but inviting, and my nearest hope of safety was a town that, from where I stood, seemed a world away.

It donned on me then in a way it hadn’t before that I was stuck here, in this crazy place, full of danger and things that probably wanted to eat me, and there was no going back to my old life. I guess I hadn’t really had time to think about it, to really process it.

But now it finally sunk in. Life as I knew it, was over. The world I had once known was gone.

I shook myself, trying not to let dread and despair get the best of me. Look on the bright side, I told myself. I have magical powers now.

Yay.

To cheer myself up, and just plain curious to see what weapon my Fodder hobby gave me, I summoned it.

In my hand suddenly appeared a flaming staff as tall as I was. The grip was in the middle, but with a thought I could move it to either end, the fire shifting along with it, not touching my hand.

I tested it in the snow. It cut through it easily enough but hardly melted it.

Despite its size, it was rather light and easy to maneuver. It scarcely seemed enough to save me from any monster I might encounter, but it was better than nothing.

After getting a little too into pretending to know anything about martial arts and accidentally whacking myself on the thigh, I stopped spinning it around and used it as a walking stick as I set off in the direction of town.

It would probably take at least a day to reach it, so I kept my eyes open for places to take shelter once it got dark.

But before I found shelter, I stumbled across trouble.