This year was supposed to be the year his project launched. Now, the world had less than an hour left before it ended."00:59:17"Nathan Cole Whitfield stood on a kitchen stool, cordless drill in hand, a spare screw clenched between his teeth, fastening the last sheet of plywood over his apartment window.A month ago, that number had simply appeared in the corner of everyone's vision, as if it had always been there.At first people called it a mass glitch, then a conspiracy theory, then, after staple prices spiked wildly and store shelves emptied within days, nobody bothered naming it anymore. People were too busy scrambling for whatever was left.Nathan didn't join the scramble. He'd already lost most of what mattered before that number ever showed up.Six months earlier, the architecture firm he worked for cut half its junior staff, and his name was on that list. Three years before that, he'd spent every night and weekend coding a strategy game called IRONVEIL alone, convinced it wo

The wind howled outside, but within the six-foot radius of the Light Core, the air stayed strangely mild, like the heat had hit an invisible wall and simply couldn't reach him.Nathan leaned back against the dusty toolbox, holding the half-empty water bottle in one hand. He stared into the pulsing blue glow for a moment, then turned his attention inward. The pale panel unfolded in front of his eyes again.Now that the immediate crisis was handled, he finally had time to sit and actually explore this so-called system.Below his personal stats and inventory, a row of function icons waited: Server Channel, Friends List, Trading Market, Crafting Manual.Friends List was empty. No surprise there. He hadn't exactly been the social type back home, and he wasn't about to start now in a wasteland where everyone was fighting for their next hour.He tapped into the Server Channel.A line of numbers appeared in the top corner."Server: DF-014 Current Online: 9,876 / 10,000"Ten thousand people ha

Nathan stared at the dead chainsaw in his hands and shook his head. Without power, it was just an expensive paperweight.If he wanted more wood, he'd have to do it the old-fashioned way, pick up the axe or the handsaw from the toolbox and go to war with whatever was left standing out here.But eight more trees were eight more trees. His stockpile was looking healthy."First things first. Get these back to camp."He sucked it up, stowed the chainsaw in his inventory, and started hauling.His body screamed even louder than yesterday. Every muscle felt replaced with wet concrete. He dragged each log back one at a time, moving like something reanimated.Drag. Rest two minutes. Drag again.The wind scraped past his ears. Nathan lost track of time, lost track of everything except the mechanical rhythm of the work.By the time the sun sat high overhead, not that it was ever fully visible through the haze, he dragged the last log into the Core's radius. It dissolved into light, absorbed by th

After finishing his meal and letting himself rest a while, Nathan stood in front of his tool collection, weighing his options.The chainsaw and the electric handsaw were both dead, and there was nowhere out here to charge either one. He hadn't stumbled across any other useful gear yet, so it looked like he was going old-school.He grabbed a sturdy camping hatchet and a long-handled splitting axe while he was at it, the extra leverage would save some energy."Hope this actually gets me somewhere."His right hand, wrapped in the green wristguard, tightened around the axe handle. That familiar rush of strength surged through his arm again.Back at the tree line, Nathan found a decent trunk and swung. The blade bit in, and he noticed the difference immediately. Way less resistance than before.Thunk.Wood chips flew.Not as satisfying as the raw power of the chainsaw, but with the wristguard's Lumberjack's Proficiency kicking in, every swing landed with solid, efficient force. He was maki

The white light of the completed trade faded, and two boxes of Beef Stew MRE vanished from Nathan's inventory. In their place: Iron Scrap x4 and a tube of Industrial Sealant.After looking things over, Nathan decided to follow up with NightWanderer for the remaining scrap he needed. The guy was only willing to part with two pieces, though."NightWanderer: Kind of need the rest myself, honestly. What if I throw in two cuts of meat instead?"The meat out here was actually decent, even with zero seasoning to work with.Still, with most of the materials already secured, Nathan didn't feel like haggling over the last stretch. He agreed and handed over his final box of MRE.Yeah, losing that last good meal stung a little. But the thought of finally having running hot water? Worth every bite he was giving up."Alright. Time to work."Nathan grabbed the materials and headed back to the small outhouse.Following the system prompts, he placed the scrap and sealant into the construction hologram