"We were so optimistic. It is strange to look back upon it now. The dreams of boundless power, the megastructures that we thought would fill the Great Wind and nearby galaxies, eventually spreading to cover the observable universe. Our faith in science was absolute."

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Alex was lying face up in what looked like a clearing in a glade, dense trees surrounding an open area about 20 feet around him. He was clothed in a thin, tight, gray stretchable fabric that wrapped snugly around his body and comfortable gray boots. He moved to stand up — or at least, he tried. He could barely control his muscles enough to wiggle them, let alone put weight on them. What resulted was him squirming on the ground like an idiot for several minutes, activating all of the wrong muscles. To make matters worse, the flashes of imagery and what felt like crossed wires in his sensory system and thoughts were still sorting themselves out. There were several times when he moved a muscle followed by a sensation of pain, only to realize that the pain was just a random flash of sensation instead of him actually hurting himself.

Just as he was starting to be able to get to all fours without collapsing and his mind was adjusting to the new reality, a new prompt appeared.

Hunting Trial (ends in 57d 10h 44m 50s)

Objective

Collect as many Hirar shells as you can within the allotted time period.

Reward upon completion

Reward based on rank at the conclusion of the trial.

Punishment for failure

None.

Moving his eyes across the screen was an odd sensation. It was as if he was looking into another layer of the world. When he focused on the exterior world, the screen moved with him, but when he focused on the screen, it remained fixed. Anyway, this Hunting Trial was interesting, especially because there seemed to be no penalty for failure, but hunting could spell danger. Unfortunately, the opiate-like sense of calm was wearing off, and he was soon back into a reality of anxiety and confusion in this new environment.

Alex noticed a translucent bracelet had appeared and was wrapped snugly around his wrist, as if it were designed to fit him specifically. He tapped it, and it felt almost like glass, but more durable. He could sense some sort of mental connection to it. Thinking of the way the System described opening the Status screen, he realized that this was probably the type of nonverbal mental connection that it described once you progressed beyond verbal commands. He focused all of his attention on the bracelet, but nothing happened. He vaguely remembered from before the chaotic Mental Integration that one of the initial prompts had also instructed him of the command “View Help.” Not wanting to waste time, he subvocalized that command, and another table appeared in his vision.

Available Commands

Open Shop

Open Spatial Bracelet

View Help

View Status

View Quests

Alex opened the spatial bracelet. A thrill ran through him when he realized that it was pretty similar to spatial objects described in literature or games. It was essentially a cubic compartment that he could view and interact with from outside. The interior was approximately the size of a small house, which was far larger than he had expected. Right now, there was nothing inside. This defied scientific explanation. If the prompts weren’t enough, the spatial bracelet would deal a definitive blow to humanity’s scientific understanding of the world.

Just seconds after he opened the spatial bracelet, though, he heard a shout from a few hundred feet away. He quickly closed the spatial bracelet and tried to get up, but his limbs once again failed him.

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“Is there anyone else in this cursed forest?,” he heard what sounded like the voice of a young woman calling out. The voice sounded a little off, but it was definitely human.

Alex called back in response, “Hey! What is this place?” Or at least, he tried to say that. Instead, what came out was a mix of gibberish and some guttural grunts as his vocal cords tried to adjust. He hoped that didn’t make the woman feel even more isolated. Anyway, he was relieved that there was at least somebody else nearby, and that she was almost as confused as he was.

The female voice didn’t call back for some time, and he was also busy focusing on getting up from the ground and relearning gross motor control. After a few minutes, he was able to stand up without falling, and some time later, he was able to walk at least somewhat normally. During this process, he was warming up his voice and trying to be able to speak in at least a somewhat intelligible manner before he called out again. The scene must have been bizarre from an outsider’s perspective; a grown man learning to walk while grunting and making strange noises, then walking in circles around the clearing while muttering gibberish to himself. Alex laughed at the image, a sound that came out as something between a wheeze and a shriek.

As Alex was finally getting adjusted and getting ready to speak again, he heard a rustling noise from within the forest. He heard the female voice scream, and he could hear the sounds of a scuffle. Even though he didn’t feel like he had complete mastery over his body yet, he didn’t want to leave the only person he had met so far to an untimely demise. Moreover, the sounds were coming from only a few hundred feet away, so whatever was coming for her would likely come for him next. So he rushed through the forest towards the source of the noise.

After tripping on a root and almost slamming his head into the ground, Alex made it to the scuffle. There were five black creatures that looked like giant ants, about the size of dogs, attacking a fit young woman of average height. She was clothed in the same body-fitting gray clothing that Alex had found himself in. He dashed to find a stick large enough to do damage. By the time he found one, the woman was covered in scratches and bites, but one of the giant ants was lying unmoving on the ground in an unnatural position, leaving only four for them to deal with. Instead of using a stick, it looked like the woman was beating them with a large rock.

The woman yelled, “Go for gaps in their armor!”

Alex could see that the dog-sized creatures were covered in a thick armored exoskeleton like normal ants. From up close, however, they actually looked like they could be more related to reptiles than insects, with large scales and a soft underbelly. He swung the stick at the one closest to him while its attention was turned towards the woman, trying to target a gap between the scales. But his coordination had still not fully recovered, and the stick bounced off one of the scales. The enraged ant-like creature turned around to face him, while its brethren kept attacking the woman, whom it seemed they judged to be the larger threat.

The ant lunged towards Alex, biting at him with its mandibles. At the last moment, he dodged to the left and landed a lucky blow between two of the ant’s scales. A satisfying crunching sound echoed out in the glade, but he had no time to savor his victory as the wounded ant turned its head to snap at him. This time, Alex was unable to escape in time, and barely managed to twist and get his makeshift club in the way to protect his vital organs. Even so, the bite cut deep into his side. With both his weapon and his torso lodged solidly in the ant’s teeth, he tried to escape, but the ant held on firmly, digging in even deeper into his side. They were locked into a temporary stalemate.

Alex heard a scream in the background and turned his head briefly to see the woman getting swarmed by the remaining three ants. Both she and the ants had clearly suffered major damage, which was quite impressive given the immense difficulty he was having dealing with just one of the creatures. But her limit was fast approaching, and she looked like she was stumbling from blood loss. Wounds covered her legs, arms, and torso, some of them deep gashes that cut to the bone. Alex roared in defiance. He could not let her die here.

Alex had done some wrestling when he was younger, and he found himself using some wrestling techniques as he tried to push the ant off balance. While the body shape was vastly different, the principles were the same, and he managed to twist the ant’s head into an awkward position. This came at a high cost, though, as he felt the ant’s mandibles ripping through his muscles. He gritted his teeth through the pain and twisted into a better position, leveraging his body weight to the side and freeing himself from its grasp. In one fluid motion, he adopted a modified version of a chokehold on its back, putting his body out of reach of the mandibles and riding it like a wild horse. With its mandibles securely fastened, the ant flailed around to no avail.

The ant had dropped the makeshift club, and Alex quickly scooped it up and started beating the ant’s head. After five or six blows, it stopped wriggling, and he felt a flow of energy into his body that lasted for about five seconds. While he had achieved his first kill, Alex was not in great shape. The gash had cut deep, and he was starting to feel woozy. He glanced over at the woman, and to his horror she was on her knees while the three ants slashed at her with their mandibles. He ran over, his sense of coordination almost back to normal, especially after an intense battle. But as he took the first few steps in her direction, he could only watch helplessly as an ant swept in for the killing blow. He wished his legs to pump faster, but the mandible gouged into the woman’s neck, and she lay still.