System

Draven smiled at the girl and nodded his head before moving to the door where another line of participants were waiting to enter. 

He kept his eyes on each of them entering inside. His curiosity and interest piqued up as he continued to wait for his turn. 

Soon it was his turn. On the side of the door there was a machine. Like all other participants Draven pushed his ticket inside the small gap. It sucked in his ticket and a loading sign appeared on the screen. 

*Ding 

[ Welcome Player 099 ] 

[ Put your right thumb on the screen below ] 

Draven did as he was told and as soon as he put his thumb on the screen a loading sign appeared again. 

[ Details Verified ] 

[ Welcome to FortuneCraft. May you come out alive. ] 

“Alive? What does this mean? Are there chances we can die in the game?” Draven’s eyes were wide as he asked. 

Showshh…

The door opened but Draven kept on standing there in his place not sure if he should go inside or not. 

“Hurry up.” A man from behind him shouted, “We have to go inside too.” 

Draven looked back for a brief moment and saw the frown on the guy he tried calming himself. Feeling restless Draven finally pushed his foot forward and entered the room. 

Showwssh..

The door behind him closed and now there was only darkness around him. 

“Hello? Anybody there?” He asked not to be able to see or do anything. 

No response came, making Draven more anxious than he already was. 

He stood there for some time not knowing what to do. He was having second thoughts now. Should he turn around and run away from there? His instincts were telling him to leave everything there and just run away from there but he knew he couldn’t go back anymore. 

“Even if I go back I would be killed by those Aliens outside so it’s better to stay here and die here.” Telling this to himself his hands turned into a tight fist as he carefully stepped forward. 

His eyes had just adjusted to the darkness around him when he saw a small light coming out of nowhere at a little distance from him. He slowly made his way towards it making sure to put each step cautiously. 

Coming closer to it he tried to touch the light and just when he put his hand over it the light went up and started to rotate in a circular path above him. 

The light came over him and then as if he was being pulled inside a vortex, he felt his body getting lifted up. Colours and different pictures were moving around him as he felt his body being weightless and moving around between the vortex of the worlds. 

Soon he felt his feet touching the ground again. The light around him vanished. 

His eyes adjusted with the surroundings around him. He found himself standing in a new world now. 

“I am.. I am inside the game.” He said with excitement. 

His eyes were wide with shock as he looked at the scene in front of him. There was a vast landscape stretched in front him. 

The sky had a colour of deep purple and orange. Long trees and bushes made it impossible for him to look at the area around him and see the whole world just standing there. 

As Draven was just looking around his surroundings he suddenly heard a notification sound. 

*Ding 

A holographic screen appeared before him which had all the information he needed to play this game. 

[ Player Information ]

Name: Draven

Race: Human

Level: 1

Wealth: 0

Experience Points: 0/100

Health Points (HP): 100/100

Stamina Points (SP): 100/100

Wealth: 0

Faction: None

Reputation: Neutral

[ Attributes ]

Strength: 10

Agility: 12

Intelligence: 8

Vitality: 11

Charisma: 6

[ Skills ]

Unarmed Combat: Level 1

Stealth: Level 2

Lock Picking: Level 1

Survival: Level 1

[ Inventory ]

Empty

[ Quest Log ]

No active quests

[ System Notifications ]

Welcome to FortuneCraft! 

Your journey begins now.

“Thank you.” Draven said with a huge smile plastered on his face. 

“This doesn’t feel so bad. At least everything here is much more lively than the things in my world.” Draven had just said this when he felt a voice coming out of his system. 

[ You will be told the rules and structure of the game now ] 

[ Every player is assigned a random character at the start of the game. The player have to find out about his character on his own. ] 

[ Each player has his/her own faction which you have to find and join according to your character. Each faction had its own quests, benefits, and difficulty level. Changing of it is not allowed. ] 

[ If a player dies he will be reborn with a different character then. ] 

“Ohh so we can be reborn after we die.” A sense of relief washed over Draven but the next words by system made him shocked. 

[ A player only has 3 lifetimes. If he use all of them he will be out of the game and would be dead/killed in real world too. ] 

“I knew it. How can these people be this good?” 

System then continued to explain about the other rules and structure of the game. 

[ Find fragments of Codex. The fragments provide essential backstory of game and give you 50,000$ ] 

[ More features of game would be unlocked once the player level up. ] 

“Okay I got it.” Draven replied while nodding his head. 

[ The world you are seeing in front of you is the exact duplicate of the world you are living in but the year is 2000. ] 

[ You will be transferred to Year 2230 now. ] 

As soon as Draven heard that he felt his body being lifted up from the ground and soon again the things around him started disappearing. Weird shapes and colours revolved around him before his surroundings changed again. 

He felt himself again in the vortex and his world changing. His feet touched the ground again and the light around him started to vanish. 

As soon as his eyes adjusted with the light Draven’s heart sank seeing the land in front of him. 

Everything felt like it was destroyed by a huge catastrophic event. The landscape in front of him this time had no trees, in fact everything was barren. 

Draven's body shivered seeing the destruction before him then a voice from the system came out. 

[ Welcome to the year 2230 ] 

[ The game is exactly a replica of your future world. Fortunately, the game has been designed in such a way that you can gain wealth and survive in the destroyed world. ] 

Hearing this Draven got a little worried. Was they really going to leave all the humans to die there and just go back? 

Draven felt a wave of emotions inside him after he learnt the truth. 

[ This game serves a dual purpose. It not only is a game but also is a training ground for you so you can learn essential survival skills and to earn wealth in the game and in real world too. ] 

“Ohh so this is the purpose of the game? They want everyone to learn how to survive here except humans and also to give them unlimited wealth?” Draven scoffed. Disgust was visible on his face. 

Looking around he tried checking if any other player was also nearby but when he found no one he started moving around the place. 

“I should probably start to find ways to level up soon and gain energy so that way I would be able to accumulate enough wealth once getting out of this game.” With this thought Draven made his way forward. 

Walking between those huge mountain-like rocks he saw some abandoned and crumbled buildings a little distance away from him. 

“Maybe I will find something there.” With that he started running towards it. 

Soon he found himself near that area but before he could reach, he felt a presence behind him. 

Tilting his neck to the side he tried seeing who was there behind him when his eyes fell on a 

Weird creature standing behind him. 

Just as he turned around abruptly the holographic screen appeared before him just beside that creature. 

[ Name: Rustclaw Stalker ] 

[ Stats: ] 

[ Level: 15 ]

[ Health Points (HP): 800/800 ]

[ Attack Damage: 120-150 ]

[ Speed: 40 mph ]

[ Armor: 80 ]

[ Special Ability: Mechanical Screech - The Rustclaw Stalker emits a piercing metallic screech that disorients and slows down nearby targets, making them vulnerable to its attacks.] 

[ Behaviour: Rustclaw Stalkers are solitary creatures, typically found prowling the ruined landscapes in search of prey. Their mechanical limbs make them capable of traversing rough terrain, and their sensitive sensors are able to detect even the slightest movement. When they spot a potential target, they unleash a devastating barrage of claw strikes. ]

[ Threat Level: Extremely High ]

“What the hell? He is Level 15..” Draven slowly whispered to himself. 

The creature in front of him was nine feet tall with mechanical limbs ending in sharp claws. His whole body was covered with metal while his eyes seemed to be glowing with red light. It moved his head around and using sensitive sensors he detected Draven’s presence in front of him. 

Screechhh….

The creature emitted a metallic screech sound which echoed in that barren land making Draven frozen in his place. 

Then as it was about to take some steps towards Draven he pushed his legs back and tried finding a place to hide from it. He knew he had no chance against him so instead of being stupid and standing there he ran as fast as he could and hid himself behind a wall of an almost destroyed building. 

“What should I do now?” He tried catching his breath as he asked himself. 

The Rustclaw Stalker was approaching his hideout and he knew he had to do something fast. 

“I can’t fight with this thing all alone. What should I do?”

Then as if his mind hit the thought about his inventory he blurted out, “Inventory!” 

As soon as he said that a little screen appeared before him but he realized he didn’t have many things in his inventory. 

One thing out of them caught his attention and without thinking much he pressed on it’s name. A small canister of malfunctioning circuitry dropped down in front of him. 

Picking it up from the ground Draven threw it on the other side which created a loud clattering sound and immediately caught the attention of Rustclaw Stalker. 

It turned towards it while Draven took the opportunity and slipped away from his hiding spot. He ran as fast as he could to get away from the creature…