I woke up abruptly, feeling excruciating pain all over my body, as if I had been beaten with rubber batons by uniformed guys in black. Even my brain hurt.

I slowly sat up and only then opened my glued eyes. Instead of a bed, I found myself on a huge flat rock. The transition was sudden and unexpected: I was drifting off to sleep in my room, and suddenly I woke up on the rocks. I was wearing nothing but the underwear I had gone to bed in.

As someone who had never been in such a situation, I tried to focus and remember anything about how I got here. Today is my last exam, and I need to be at school. If I don't remember where I am and don't show up, it will be a disaster.

But nothing came to mind. So I stood up, nearly screaming from the pain in the back of my head, and looked around. I realized I was on a circular stone platform with a radius of about forty steps.

In the middle of the platform were some ruins. But when I looked around, I saw nothing but tiny floating islands and fog below. Even when I crawled to the edge and looked down, I couldn't see the ground. Am I on a floating island too?!

For a good ten minutes, I panicked: it was terrifying to suddenly wake up in the sky. Thoughts about lucid dreaming flashed through my mind, but this didn't feel like a dream. Pinching my arm hurt as much as it does in reality, and I didn't dare jump off the edge of the floating platform to wake up.

Probably, any movie hero in my place would have turned his underwear into a sail and reached another island in a couple of hours, figuring out everything that was happening within forty minutes and learning all the secrets of this world along the way.

I, however, spent the next half hour just sitting there, staring at the horizon and feeling the pain in my body subside.

"How did this even happen?" I asked, but received no answer.

The thoughts in my head were entirely disconnected, like "I'll never see the money for the spare parts" or "I never gave Katya her five."

After half an hour of reflection, I finally stood up. My body almost didn't hurt anymore, so I headed towards the ruins, deciding to explore my island. Maybe I'd find a portal home.

I didn’t find a portal, but between two piles of stones, I discovered a lever sticking out of the ground, resembling a gear shift but about one and a half meters tall.

A step away from the lever was a telescope mounted on a tripod. I tried to turn it towards the nearest island, but achieved nothing but a creak—the device was completely rusted.

There was also a podium covered with a thick layer of dust. Something was glowing beneath the dust.

I wiped the dust off with my hand and discovered a display like those on old monitors. The display showed text:

You are in the world of Floating Islands. Your goal is to survive, and for this, you need to remember important rules:

— To develop your island, you need resources. You can find them by exploring and destroying other islands.

— Pay attention to the islands you dock at. Carefully and cautiously choose which island you want to plunder—some islands are safe, some hold necessary resources, but on other islands, treasures are guarded by Nightmares. Defeating Nightmares will bring you an additional reward, but weigh the danger against your strength!

— Protect your island. If your island is destroyed, you won't be able to return to this world.

— Be strong and don't die. If you die, you won't be able to return to this world.

— If you survive until evening, you will fall asleep and wake up in your world.

— If you encounter another sentient being like yourself, you can raid their island. But for this, you need to be stronger.

— To dare fly down through the clouds and fog, you must be foolish or very, very strong.

— Study the menu and carefully choose what you want to improve first. Immediate gain is not always the best option.

When I pressed "control," the lever sticking out of the stone glowed with a soft light. Choosing "observation" made the iron tripod with the telescope light up, and another message appeared in front of me:

The device is malfunctioning. To improve/repair, you need:

Iron — 1

Copper — 1

Wood — 2

Protection required golems, which I could create in the workshop, or artifacts found on other islands.

Maneuverability opened up a tab:

Maneuverability:

— Speed: 1

— Energy amount: (10/10)

— Durability (36/1000)

— Enable automatic capture of smaller islands? (Yes/No)

After fiddling with this menu, I realized that each item could also be upgraded, but for points earned from capturing each island. The bestiary, communication, and other features from the main menu were also restored using resources and capture points.

The durability of my base did not please me—I nearly went gray when I saw the figure. It seems the island is holding on by sheer willpower. I won't approach the edge again until I increase the durability.

I refuse to capture smaller islands. First, it might require energy, and second, as I learned from the instructions, there are various inhabitants on the islands, and I don't want to attract an island with some Nightmare.

Workshop:

No blueprints found. Create an item without a blueprint?

Probably not. The storage is empty, and even if there were something in it, I don't want to waste resources unnecessarily.

I exit the menu.

"I have two options," I mutter under my breath. "Either fly to the island or sit idle and wait for help. But it's unlikely anyone is looking for me here, and even if someone stumbles upon me by accident, there's no guarantee they'll help. Even the instructions say an island belonging to someone here is just a pile of valuable resources."

Maybe even my body is a pile of valuable resources. Who knows how many people are in this world, how long they've lived here, and if they've been eating anything all this time. If the appearance of this world is somehow linked to sleeping people, some people have been here for a couple of weeks—that's when it all started.

I no longer pondered whether to move or not. Action leads either to life or death, but inaction will definitely kill me. A couple of days without food and water, and I'll die. Hoping that a wizard will come and feed and water me is foolish.

It's a pity that communication is broken: I wouldn't mind talking to someone and finding out what's going on here. If someone could at least tell me minimal information about the world, my chances of survival would increase significantly. But for now, I need to focus on something else: like fixing this communication. And for that, I need to gather resources and capture points.

I walk around the edge of my island, looking for the nearest islands. The closest one is about half a kilometer away from me. The island looks similar to mine, and I don't see any movement or creatures on it. Moreover, there are no ruins in the center of the island, but there is a pile of stones. I can't see more clearly—I need to fly closer.

I grabbed the lever and tilted it towards the empty island.

Something vibrated beneath my feet, screeched, and the island lurched in that direction. It moved slowly but steadily. Occasionally, there were alarming creaks and some strained whine, as if a chainsaw was working somewhere deep within the stone.

The sounds frightened me. I think anyone flying on a massive stone weighing several tons with a durability of 36 points would start shaking from such sounds.

When I was about a hundred meters away from the island, I looked through the telescope. Even though it didn't move, the island was now directly in line with the telescope—I had specifically adjusted the lever slightly.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

I was surprised to see sparse lines against the enlarged island backdrop:

"This island is a good choice. There is no danger, but there are resources you need. If you carefully explore the island, you might find hidden resources.

Information incomplete!

Repair the telescope to see more!

Upgrade the telescope rank to see more!"

"A hint? Is there really something good in this world?"

With the hint, the world seemed a bit brighter and more pleasant. However, I still pushed away thoughts about how to continue living. Instead, I stopped the island, turned it around, and carefully tilted the lever, aiming it at the massive island at least two kilometers away from mine. Then I looked through the telescope again.

"There is a wooden chest on the island, but only fools would fly there without protective gear. There is a group of Nightmare Bloodsuckers. Their bites are not lethal but are poisonous.

Information incomplete!

Repair the telescope to see more!

Upgrade the telescope rank to see more!"

Since the telescope does show danger, I continue flying toward the relatively safe island.

When the distance between the islands reduced to five meters, the stone beneath my feet vibrated like a loaded washing machine with an unbalanced drum. But before I could get scared and scream, a wide gap appeared at the edge of my island, from which five chains with hooks flew out. Three of the hooks didn't reach the island, one slipped off, but the last one caught on a protruding stone. There was a crunching and grinding sound as the chains began to tighten, pulling the neighboring island closer.

After a minute, the two masses were tightly docked.

I had to approach the edge, even though I had vowed not to do so. I ran and jumped from one island to another.

The ground beneath my feet swayed gently, but the island didn't plummet downward as I secretly feared.

I didn't know if the hint about the safety of the other island was truthful, but I explored this floating rock a bit and didn't notice any traps or animals. This would be a test of how much I could trust the hints in the telescope.

By the way, it should be repaired first. I don't want to end up in a deadly situation because the telescope's rank was too low to detect some Nightmare.

First, I walked around the island.

If I saw a huge monster, a chihuahua, or even an ordinary kitten, I would dash back to my island faster than I've ever run before and unmoor from the island, praying that the creature wouldn't catch me. But everything was quiet and calm.

While walking around the island, I noticed a wide gap between two large stones. The gap widened and led downward into the island's depths. I had no choice but to examine this gap. First, I looked at it from afar, then up close. Then I picked up a small stone and carefully tossed it into the opening. The stone clicked as it fell down, but nothing toothy or nightmarish jumped out of the gap wanting to devour me.

I hope it's really safe down there.

I squeezed between the stones into the cave and looked around.

Nothing resembling monsters. The cave was small; there was simply nowhere for a nightmare to hide.

In one corner grew pink stalks of a plant resembling ordinary onions, and in the middle of the cave stood a wooden chest lined with copper strips.

I couldn't have seen the chest even if I had flown around the island, and the telescope didn't mention it either. I need to upgrade the telescope's rank because a nightmare monster could have been in place of the chest.

I examined the wooden chest. Could its lid be poisoned, or could there be a trap inside?

Possibly.

Unfortunately, to lift the lid, I'd have to touch it with my hands. I found no branches, trees, or bushes on either my island or this one.

I touched the lid, but nothing terrible happened. The chest didn't dissolve my hands, didn't turn into a mimic, and didn't try to bite my fingers off. So I quickly opened the lid and stepped back.

There were no traps in the chest, but there were supplies: two pieces of paper with some scribbles, a bottle of water, and two tubes of toothpaste judging by their shape. Fantastic.

Alright, let's take it. And let's take it along with the chest—it will serve as a container where I can store things. Besides, when I dismantle the chest, I can use a board to open the lid next time in case of traps.

Now, onto the plants.

First, I threw a stone at them, but they didn't move, trying to grab prey. So I approached, dug up six bulbs, put them in the chest, and carried it back to my island.

And then I made a discovery. As soon as I stepped onto my island, the chest simply vanished from my hands.

It was unexpected and not very pleasant. I almost lost my balance and nearly fell on my backside right at the edge.

Fortunately, the missing chest was found in the "storage," labeled as "wooden chest with unknown contents."

As soon as I wished, the chest appeared at my feet.

Out of curiosity, I tried looking at the pieces of paper through the telescope, and it worked! I saw information.

Blueprint for an old knife (weapon). Rank — wood

Blueprint for an old hammer (tool). Rank — wood

Good. I need to create a knife before I encounter something against which it needs to be used.

The water turned out to be water, but the tube labeled as toothpaste was actually a "food brick." Excellent, we’re surviving!

Of course, I couldn't resist checking the plants.

"Burning laurel. You can try to eat it, but your stomach probably won't like it."

Got it. When I open the auction, the laurel will go there, and for now, food bricks will suffice. Hopefully, I'll find clothing on the next island. I'm tired of wandering around in boxers.

In the meantime, I'll focus on something else.

I didn't know exactly how to capture islands; I had to figure it out by trial and error. When I tilted the lever away from the empty island, a message appeared on the display:

"Do you wish to destroy (capture)/tow/leave the island?

Attention! Capturing the island will cause all unfound resources to disappear!"

I pressed "destroy."

There was a rumble, and the island began to break apart into stones. They flew under my island as if sucked in by a hurricane wind. Where exactly they were taken and what happens below, I couldn't see from here.

When it was all over, the display reported:

Island destroyed! Resources obtained:

— Stone: 101

— Copper: 3

— Capture Points: 1

You missed a treasure behind a small pile of stones in the corner! The chest with unknown treasures was ground into resources:

— Wood: 2

— Iron: 1

— Paper: 3

It's unfortunate—I seem to have missed hidden blueprints or even some book. I need to be more careful.

But now I have a huge pile of stones! Since I can take items from storage, if I find an island with nightmares, can I simply hover above them and pelt them with stones from above?

Before I could rejoice at my cleverness, the display flashed red, catching my attention.

Attention! Island durability has reached a critical level — 23/1000!

Use 101 stones and 1 capture point to increase durability by 101 points?

Yes / No (will result in death)

— Yes…

So, we'll save the bombardment option for later. I think this won't be my last island. But I'm pleased with the increasing durability numbers—after a minute of work within the mechanism's depths, the durability stabilized at 124/1000. The creaks became quieter, though they didn't completely disappear. It's unlikely that stone repaired those same iron chains and mechanisms, but at least the island shouldn't collapse in the next few hours.

I sighed. Just as I got myself a personal island, it turned out that I'd have to invest quite a bit in repairs too. It reminds me of a friend's story about a three-million-ruble mortgage and a good renovation costing two million.

My gaze fell on the display.

Perhaps it's worth upgrading the telescope and, if there are enough resources, creating a weapon for myself.