In the dark room sat a young man of about twenty years old, staring at the computer screen. He sat at the computer, looking tired after a long day of work.
His name was Ayren, and he had been alone since early childhood, although he grew up in an orphanage. His childhood wasn't bad; he received a decent education and even a modest place to live. But Ayren decided to pursue a better education, so he worked multiple jobs to pay for it.
"I don't have much time left before work starts. I need to at least play Empire of World for half an hour and go through the tutorial," thought Ayren as he launched the game.
Empire of World was a new multiplayer game that intrigued all players with the opportunity to become a king and create their own kingdom, which the player could improve through battles with other players or through crafts and farming.
But at the moment when he saw the character creation menu appear before him, his room was flooded with bright white light emanating from his computer screen. It was so bright that it seemed to burn his skin.
"What's this?" thought Ayren, trying to cover his eyes with his hands.
His attempts to shield his eyes from the blazing light were futile. He felt his pupils start to burn, followed by a sensation of his insides burning.
"Why is this happening?" the boy only managed to think before feeling a pain he couldn't have imagined in his life. He felt his body burning and breaking into pieces, unable to even utter a sound.
The light stopped burning as quickly as it appeared, but after it, there was nothing left in the room but cracks in the walls spreading more and more.
"Aaaah," groaned Ayren, opening his eyes.
"Where am I?" Ayren whimpered.
He couldn't even move; all Ayren could see was his knees pressed against his head.
"Aghh," Ayren realized that he was squeezed so tightly that he couldn't even breathe.
[Congratulations, you've incredibly lucked out and become the first user of 'Endless Empire'!]
Ayren didn't understand what was happening; he couldn't even discern the voice in his head. He had only one thought: how to get out of his dire situation.
[Are you sure you want to leave the pocket world?]
[Yes / No]
Ayren could only discern that he could exit this place, and he pondered how to confirm the exit.
SWOOSH
Instantly, as he thought about it, he fell onto some ground. Though the landing was not without pain, he felt relief in his thoughts.
Standing up and stretching his body, he looked around. Massive trees and plants surrounded Ayren, ones he couldn't even imagine. They had strange forms he had never seen before; the trees seemed torn by claws but didn't appear as if someone had done it intentionally, while the bushes resembled sword blades.
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Surveying it all, Ayren decided to catch his breath after leaving that unpleasant place, leaning against a tree.
"Maybe I've gone mad?" Ayren began to contemplate everything that had happened to him.
"What now?" Ayren quietly exclaimed, clutching his chest.
Ayren felt his insides burning, though the pain didn't compare to what he had experienced before regaining consciousness, but it was still unpleasant.
[Your soul is damaged, and you cannot stay outside for long.]
"Who's there?" Ayren glanced around.
[I'm your personal assistant, and you don't need to look for me as I don't have a material body.]
Ayren didn't respond but instead pondered what to do next.
"Do you know what happened to me?" Ayren asked after a minute of contemplation.
[You've experienced an unpleasant incident that required the reconstruction of your body and soul.]
Ayren, holding his hand on his chest, reflected on what he had gone through in the past hours.
"All because of that damned light," Ayren thought with slight irritation.
"I see that, but why am I in some forest?" Ayren asked.
[To fully restore your body and soul, you had to be transferred to this world because your native world lacks spiritual energy for complete restoration.]
[Now, let's get to the main point. To stay outside your pocket world, you need to reach level 25, and to do that, you need to gain experience. With your current strength level, you can only improve your skills and gain experience for it.]
[For every 10 units of skill experience, you'll receive 1 unit of experience for yourself.]
[Oh, one more thing, to increase the size of your pocket world, you need spirit stones. I can offer a function to convert spiritual materials into spirit stones, with a commission of 90%.]
"If you don't want to experience again how your body is squeezed into a small box, I suggest you find some valuable materials."
"You have until forced return to the pocket world in 43:24 minutes, good luck to you."
Standing up, Ayren chose a random path and started walking in that direction, though the memory of how he was squeezed in his so-called 'Pocket World' was painful, it gave him strength to move forward.
After 8 minutes, Ayren was already frustrated; during this time, he hadn't found any spiritual materials. While he understood that finding something valuable in such a short time was unlikely, he was still gloomy.
Only 10 minutes later, luck smiled at him, and he found a yellow flower, resembling an iris but with dark blue veins. Approaching the flower and picking it, Ayren wondered.
"What's next?" Ayren examined the flower in his hand.
"Inventory? System?"
Ayren started recalling from novels he once read how to summon a window with information and various functions.
"Wait, do I even have such a system?" Ayren pondered after several unsuccessful attempts.
[If you want to summon a tab with all available functions, just think 'Status' in your mind.]
Seeing his futile attempts, the system assistant decided to help Ayren summon the system tab."
"Ayren felt a bit embarrassed when he realized he was being watched during his attempts to pick the right word.
"Ahem..." Ayren cleared his throat.
"Status," Ayren uttered, and immediately a dark blue panel with inscriptions appeared before him.
[Player Status
Name - Ayren Devian
Age - 21
Race - Human
Level 0
0/10 XP
Сultivation - None
[World Diameter - 1m]
HP- 10/10
SP- 9/10
SE -0/0
[Attributes]
Strength - 10
Agility - 9
Intelligence - 11
[Special Attributes]
Physique - 1.0
Talent - 0
Wisdom - 1.0]
[Skills]
[Inventory]
[Shop]
[World Status]"
(Author's Note: Hello everyone! I've decided to write a novel, but I have a bit of trouble with English. If you come across any inaccuracies or unclear phrases, please let me know, and I will make corrections)