Jack stared at a dark opening on the farther side of the cavern. It was very dark over there because there weren’t any glowing mushrooms. The entrance to the caverns was just a black hole. It was impossible to see what was on the other side of it.

He kept staring at the dark opening for a few more seconds. The sounds seemed to have come from the entrance, but he couldn’t make out any details. All he could see there was darkness. It was all quiet now again. The sound didn’t repeat itself. He was even starting to think that maybe he hadn’t heard anything to begin with. He might just have imagined it, being on edge, and all.

A couple of minutes passed. The sound didn’t reoccur, and Jack eventually relaxed just a tiny bit. It was impossible for him to completely put himself at ease considering he had no idea where he was and what was happening around him. The bounty text he’d seen earlier didn’t help either. Did it say he had to kill some kind of monster? He felt the urge to reread the text. Was there a way to see it again?

As soon as he thought about the bounty, the same text popped up before his eyes. As he read it again, his mood worsened once more. The text told him that there was a monster somewhere in the cave. It didn’t specifically say that he had to kill it, though. So maybe he could just try and sneak out of the cave without engaging the monster.

Still, knowing there was some kind of creature in the cave with him put him on edge once more. What did this creature look like? Was it aggressive? Was it strong? Would it attack him on sight? And if it attacked him, what would he do? He didn’t have any weapons to defend himself with.

This whole situation reminded him of something. He brought up the bounty once again. The text said that if he killed the creature, he would get one thousand gold. Something like that he saw in video games. It was something like a quest in a role-playing video game. Jack couldn’t remember anything about himself, but he knew what a video game was. He also realized he’d probably been pretty good at them because such concepts as experience points, leveling up, skills, and whatnot were all too familiar to him. He must have been an avid gamer when he was younger and had more free time.

He brought up his hands and looked at them.

“Am I in a video game then?” he muttered to himself.

It seemed impossible. He knew for sure that virtual reality video games that looked so realistic didn’t exist just yet. Maybe everything in this place–wherever it was–simply worked like in a video game. Maybe it all was just some kind of government or social experiment. He’d watched plenty of movies and read many books with similar plots. Again, while he couldn’t remember anything about himself, he was easily able to remember lots of movies and books that he must’ve watched and read in the past. It was kind of strange.

Anyway, if it was a video game or if everything here worked like in an RPG, then he should be able to access his character sheet or something like that.

As soon as he thought that, what looked like a game menu appeared before his eyes.

Character Store (available for 10 days only) Bounties/Quests/Challenges Map

“What the hell,” Jack muttered. He hadn’t actually expected that he would be able to see something like that.

The words just hovered before his eyes, not disappearing or going anywhere. All the information stayed fixed in place when he looked between the various lines of text, and when he tried to move his head, the text moved too, always staying in his field of vision.

Jack called off the main menu–or whatever it was called–and all the information disappeared. Then he brought it up with a thought again, and all the info immediately popped up before his eyes. Manipulating the game menu was so easy that he got the hang of it in no time flat.

He then focused his attention on the first word, Character, and wished to access it. The text before his eyes was instantly replaced with another.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Level 0 Current Essence 0 Essence to Next Level 100 Available Skill Points 0 Gold 0 Survived 0 days

Strength 0 Constitution 0 Agility 0 Perception 0 Intelligence 0 Magic 0

Talents None Abilities Slot 1: Unlocks at Level 10 Spells, Runes, and Enchantments None Perks Slot 1: Unlocks at Level 5 Resistances None Crafting/Building None

Jack just stared at the information for a moment, not quite believing that he actually had a character sheet at his disposal. He then realized he could call up additional info on some features of his character sheet.

However, before he could examine it all more carefully, his ears picked up the suspicious sound again. Only this time it was louder and clearer. It sounded like an animal’s snort.

Dismissing the game menu with thought, Jack looked at the dark opening again. It was the only exit from the cavern he was in. The opening looked like a black hole because no light from the mushrooms reached it. It was impossible to see what awaited on the other side of it.

His ears picked up another faint snort. This time it sounded even louder. There must have been some sort of creature outside the cavern. Another snort. Jack could now also hear another sound, the scraping of feet on the cave floor.

The sounds were getting louder and louder. The unidentified creature seemed to be getting closer to the cavern. Jack tensed. Even though he still couldn’t see the creature, he could tell that it was approaching the cavern he was in. He got so nervous that large beads of sweat formed on his forehead despite the chill of the cave.

He swept the room with his gaze, looking for some sort of weapon to defend himself with in case he got attacked by the creature. In spite of the bluish glow coming from the mushrooms, it was dim in the cave, but as far as he could tell, there weren’t any weapons in the cavern. Which wasn’t surprising at all.

The scuffing ceased, but the snorting sounds continued to reach his ears. Judging by the volume of the sounds, the creature was somewhere nearby, probably just outside the cavern. He stared at the dark opening without even blinking, but he still couldn’t see the creature.

He’d received a bounty to kill a monster, but how could he do that without any weapons? It was totally unfair. Or was he expected to kill the creature with bare hands?

Maybe the creature over there isn’t hostile, he thought. Maybe I got my panties in a knot for no reason at all.

But he immediately dismissed this silly thought. After all, he was in what looked like a dark dungeon in a role-playing video game, so the chances that the unknown creature was friendly were slim to none.

Jack walked back, taking care to move slowly and carefully so as not to make any sounds that could give away his presence in the cavern. Considering the creature was most likely hostile, he didn’t want to be found. Not at all.

He continued to move back until his back bumped against the wall behind him. There was nowhere else to retreat to.

He once more heard the snorting and scuffing sounds coming from the dark entrance to the cavern. The sinister sounds were getting louder and louder. The creature was closing in on the cavern and was about to come into view.

Standing motionlessly near the wall opposite the dark opening, Jack held his breath.