Alex found himself in what he could only describe as an endless medieval armoury. There were rows upon rows of weapons like standard swords, halberds, spears, and shields of many different shapes and sizes.

He kept walking and looking at all the weapons and armour around him. He picked up a longsword and gave it a few swings; it didn’t feel heavy at all, and from what he could tell, it was just a standard sword with no fancy effects.

He kept walking and occasionally picked up a weapon that caught his interest. After what felt like an hour, he finally found a weapon that he felt comfortable using. It was a long sword which looked like a mix between a sabre and a cleaver. It was just the right weight, given his doubled strength was quite heavy for a normal person.

He went looking for a shield now that he had a good weapon, but the scabbard disappeared from his waist as soon as he picked up a shield. He stood there groaning at the implication; he could only take one weapon from here.

Alex stood there mourning the loss of his perfect weapon; in deniability, he tried picking another sword with a shield in his other hand. As expected, the shield disappeared from his hand once he picked up the sword.

Dejected, Alex started walking towards rows of shields; he could do without a weapon but not without a shield. Plus, with his higher dexterity stat, he could anticipate a hit. He wasn’t trained to use any of these weapons, so a shield was a must to protect himself when he eventually fucked up and had no way out other than getting hit.

He had seen sword and shield sets while walking around, but most of those were small shields with short swords. He didn’t like the look of the small round shields, so he kept walking along the row for hours. He needed something easy to use with his negligible skills. He won’t go for inferior options when his life depends on them.

After hours of walking his head, he started zoning out, almost like driving on a long empty road. Everything looked similar, and he was getting tired, but he kept going like a zombie. If this place was truly endless, there had to be at least one sword & shield set that fit what he was looking for.

Finally, he found something he could work with, a kite shield with an inverted teardrop shape, the size of his whole body and an equally long sword. It was a bit heavier than he expected, but he could work with it. The blade was long and narrow, designed primarily to stab, but he could slash with it if needed.

It was time to look for the armour; he had kept an eye out for any good armour and knew precisely where to look. He walked back and went straight for a thick leather armour with metallic scales all over it; only the joints were not completely covered.

He put on the armour, which took him some time, and the portal appeared next to him as soon as he was done. He instinctively walked towards it but stopped midway. He wasn’t used to his gear, so it wasn’t a good idea to go through the portal to whatever was waiting on the other end.

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He trained with his weapons and armour, if you can call swinging a sword, with no purpose and running and dodging, training. After a bit of rest, Alex was ready to start with whatever this whole thing was; it was time to get some answers.

He walked through the portal with the shield in front, and his legs bit hunched to keep himself grounded in case he got attacked.

Alex found himself in a forest; he slowly moved forward. A notification appeared, which made him more certain that he was in a terrible situation. He looked back and saw that the portal was still there.

[ Floor 1 Objective – Survive for 1 Year ]

He slowly crept forward, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He could hear many slight sounds all around him, but nothing drew his attention, so he kept moving forward. He suddenly heard a cracking noise and blanked out from the pain. When he came to his senses, he was on the ground, his left foot badly mangled by a contraption. He was drenched in sweat and could feel a dull feeling from his leg, which was good because he didn’t like the look of his twisted foot and ankle.

Suddenly he heard a sharp rustling behind him, and out of fear, he twisted and dug the sharp end of this shield into the ground to support his weight and stand up. This instinctual action saved his life as a dull thud sounded, and he was flung back a few meters.

Alex somehow got up, putting his weight on his good leg, he was severely shaken, but adrenaline made him ignore everything but his survival. He looked around and found a humanoid figure made of vines and bark, it looked horrifying, and Alex froze up, but the same sharp rustling noise brought his focus back on surviving. He turned towards the sound on his left and moved the shield in front.

This time he saw the vines, thick as his leg, explode out of the ground just in front of him and collide with the side of his shield. The only reason he kept standing as he slid back was due to his shield being firmly planted into the ground, supporting most of his weight. He was bruised all over and feeling the constant throbbing pain from his leg slowly rising in intensity.

Alex slowly started moving towards the portal, about 100 meters away, and the creature that vaguely resembled a Leshy from some videogame he played a while back was slowly moving towards him.

He was having difficulty moving and was hardly covering any distance, slowly hopping back. He hadn’t lost his shield or his sword because he had tied the shield to his left hand with the straps in it and had a death grip on his sword. He wouldn’t repeat the cliche of losing his equipment when he needed them the most.

The Leshy was slow, but it was still gaining on Alex. Suddenly, it stopped, and Alex heard earth rumble all around him. He knew what that meant and threw himself back with the shield awkwardly kept under him. The ground exploded with many sharp vines jutting out; a few clinked off his shield, but that wasn’t enough; both of his legs were skewered with many vines going through them.

He was thoroughly fucked, incoherent screams came out of his mouth, but his mind was oddly focused. He was furious at the world and with himself, but there was a deeper rage that wanted to obliterate that creature, and he stared at it with death in his eyes. He saw the creature pull the vines back, trying to drag him.

Alex swung his sword to cut the vines, but his hand was shaking, and his body was not acting how he wanted, but he kept swinging. He managed to cut most of the vines piercing him mostly due to his brand-new sword, which was very sharp. When the creature pulled the vines with force, the remaining vines slid out of his legs, sending a jolt up his back.

The Leshy attacked again. This time it was a direct attack; vines shot forward in a straight line towards him. He was splayed on the ground, so he put the shield sideways in front of him and put his right hand behind the shield, sword still in hand. The portal was directly behind him, and he wanted this attack to push him into the portal, which it did, but he was sent flying a bit to the side, missing the portal. But at this point, Alex didn’t care; he would survive, and nothing else mattered.

Alex landed a few steps to the side of the portal; he tried to get up but failed, so he rolled. It looked stupid, but at this point, he was so focused on getting through the portal that he didn’t care when he was close; he lunged forward from all four like an animal and finally got through the portal.