Personal settings: Blocked.

Primary Attributes: Primary settings will be defined after a survival test.

Primary Location: Random.

An account is registered.

Have a nice game]

*

"Game? What game?" mumbled Dan. He tried to roll over to the other side. That's when he felt his body gets stabbed by something. He turned back and opened his eyes.

The dark sky was covered in clouds. Dan saw a strange message in front of his eyes that ended with a wish: 'Have a nice game'. He sat down. The message in front of his eyes flashed and disappeared. Confused, Dan started looking around carefully.

He found himself on the edge of a small meadow surrounded by bushes, behind which a real forest began. The forest was thick and the trees looked strange. They were too big and too tall.

Dan stood on his feet and realized he wasn't feeling well. He had a faint headache.

He noticed that he was dressed in strange clothes and looked at himself. He was dressed in what could only be called... peculiar? He had brown shoes on his legs. The pants were of gray rough material and a long hollow s.h.i.+rt tied with a thin rope on his belt.

Luckily it was pretty warm in the woods.

Dan picked up a branch, ran his hand over it making a slight scratch in his index finger. He winced, examining the scratch closely as a small amount of blood appeared on it. 5 seconds later the blood had stopped. 25 seconds and it already scabbed over. A full minute and the scratches were gone, a faint pink line is the only remains of it.

That's interesting. It's a game. Wait. Don't think about it yet. There was an important There was important information. I have a survival test waiting for me. I need to find a safe place to think and then start 'going hysterical'. This is not the time. This is not the time. Thought Dan.

He had to do something, but he wasn't in a hurry. Dan didn't rush and looked closely at the ground and the gra.s.s under his feet, then he started doing the same around the meadow. Little twigs, small rocks, nothing special. Signs of civilization such as garbage and other traces of human activity were also missing.

A game? Or a practical joke? Who needs me to make jokes about me and take me out into the wild. Stop. Later. And what's this?

Dan noticed some kind of object on the ground. His musings were interrupted by the notice of some kind of object on the ground. He spread the gra.s.s and was surprised at his find.

Smooth and short club in his elbow long. The handle is something tightly wrapped around it.

Interesting... Maybe there are more things I can find!

Dan looked around, being careful to listen attentively to the sound of the forest as he did so. There were no more finds.

Dan listened carefully to the sound of the forest and looked around. There were no more finds.

Thank you for the weapon.

His exploration of the meadow complete he cautiously walked towards a clearance in the bushes he had noticed before, his club squeezed tightly in his hands. He had no desire to walk through this forest.

It's bad when you don't know the rules of the game you play, thought Dan, moving along deeper through the trail.

What if it's a literal test of survival. 'You have been left in the woods without supplies and you have to live here for a week'? If that is the case I won't make it. I certainly don't have the survival skills for it. But in that case, the club doesn't fit into that scenario.

Dan took another look at his weapon. If it was a wild survival test the player would probably get a knife, but he got a club. So there's going to be an opponent to be fought off. That was an unpleasant prospect, too.

He decided to look for a way out of the forest. All he had to do was hope that the quest to survive would not be difficult.

Soon, Dan saw a clearing between the trees. He could hardly contain himself to escape from the forest, which pressed him with darkness and unnatural silence.

He saw a new meadow. In the middle there was a wagon.

Dan stopped and tried to see more details. He saw the wagon standing in the road. He didn't hear any sound from the wagon.

Why is it standing here and where are the horses? And why is it so quiet? I don't want to get close to that strange wagon, I'm shaken by a bad feeling. What if there's the treasure in there? Adventures have to be fun and cheerful! It's not funny at all.

Dan went slowly to the wagon, never stopping to look around. He took a few steps and suddenly stopped thinking about his stupidity.

Why am I walking straight? Because this wagon stands here as bait. Idiot. I should have made a circle and looked at it correctly. What if this is a joke? The organizers are laughing at the fool's moves right now. But how did they project the text in front of my eyes? It's all too confusing. I'm walking carefully in a circle, five steps to the wagon. Okay, if something happens, I'll use a combat technique called 'run away very quickly'.

Dan finished talking to himself, and he started gently walking around his find.

"What the h.e.l.l?" he screamed. Dan stepped on something soft, and he fell. He hit the ground painfully when he fell. He almost hit himself with a club, which he held firmly in his right hand.

Watch your step carefully, scout. He got up on his feet and shaved to the object that caused him to fall. It appeared to be a spear. The human arm, torn off at his elbow, kept clutching the weapon firmly.

From the sight of a terrible thing, Dan froze. He swallowed up with noise and began to walk slowly from a terrible find.

And at that moment, he heard a rustle behind his back. He heard a deaf growl.

Dan knew it was the end of the game. He swung the club back and almost had time to turn around when the club hit something. His wrist was pierced with pain, and the weapon went out of his hand. The sounds of growling and screaming hit his ears. Dan saw for a moment what was behind his back.

It was a tall humanoid creature covered in dark gray wool with a hypertrophied wolf face. Dan barely noticed the monster's claws swinging. The next moment, his face exploded with pain.

Dan flew away and fell. He rolled on the ground and hit his back on a spear. He screamed in pain, quickly grabbed the spear and clung to the pole. His eyes were pouring something sticky and warm, Dan couldn't see anything. Somewhere around here, he heard terrible growling sounds.

Dan jumped up on his feet. He was randomly sticking his spear in different directions and waving it around him. The cursed limb of an unknown dead man hit his hands. He was torn between wanting to shake it and at least try to wipe his eyes. He waved his spear harder. At last, the stump of the hand flew off somewhere.

Behind Dan's back, there was a terrible growl. Dan bounced back and stumbled over the cursed hand of the dead man again. He lost his balance and began to fall. As he fell, he tried his best to turn his spear towards the enemy.

A blow with his back on the ground hurt him again, but before Dan came to his senses, an unknown force nearly plucked the spear out of his hands. The tree that he cramped with both hands suddenly became heavy several times and hit him in the stomach.

The monster wheezed, and some hot, bad-smelling s.h.i.+t spilled over Dan. He gathered his strength together and pushed the spear aside. The monster kept wheezing and fell to the ground with a weapon sticking out of its body.

Dan whimpered in fear and pain and crawled back until he hit his head on the wheel of the wagon. He stood up and leaned his back against the wheel. He started wiping his eyes. He was in a lot of pain. There were sc.r.a.ps of flesh and skin hanging from his face.

What happened to his face?

Touching hurt, blood is flowing, I can't see anything. If the creature survives, I'm dead, I'm dead without sight. The rattles of the beast can be heard beside me! This is a game, there's got to be some kind of damage! Maybe there are cure potions in this game. What if I stay blind?! s.h.i.+t. It hurts so much.

He was shaking, tears in his eyes mixed with blood.

If tears flowed, then the eyes are okay? d.a.m.n it, it hurts so much...

He didn't know how long he was sitting like that, he thought the time had stopped.

The rattles of the beast have faded.

After a while, Dan heard footsteps. He knew it was the end, so he turned his head to the sound.

"Attention!" somebody screamed.

"Michael, there's a dead man!"

There were quick footsteps, someone was approaching the wagon.

"Put the weapon away. He's alive! His status is on fire. He's a player."

A man with a calm voice sat next to Dan.

"Hey, brother, you all right?"

"I can't see anything," said Dan.

"We're going to cure it now," he said.

Dan feels an object in his hand.

"Have a drink, it's a regeneration potion. Leo, give me a flask of water, he needs to wash his eyes."

Dan threw the potion over in his hand. His mouth and stomach were twisted by a terrible bitterness. He overcame himself and swallowed the rest of this stuff. After a few moments, the pain started to recede. A stranger's hands took an empty bottle out of Dan's palms.

"John, what's in the wagon?"

" Dead bodies, Michael. Two girls and half a man's body. Leo's looking at the area now."

"The face wounds are scarred. I'm going to be was.h.i.+ng the blood crust now."

The guy named Michael warned Dan. With a piece of wet cloth, he started gently wiping the face of the blood clot.

Dan no longer felt any pain and was soon able to open his eyes. Michael splashed some water on his hands. Dan washed his face, displeased to feel the scars on his skin. Then he was able to see the man who was sitting next to him.

He was a dark-haired man with a short black beard. He was wearing some kind of weird leather armor. He noticed Dan was feeling better, so he reached out his hand.

"Michael," he introduced himself.

"Dan," answered the player and got back on his feet.

"Michael, you won't believe this!"

A tall young guy with blonde hair came out of the wagon.

"This is it. The quest! There's a dead werewolf lying there, someone stuck a spear in him, the lance in his chest stuck. John's trying to take it out now."

"So I killed that monster. I thought I just hurt him. I was lucky."

Two surprised faces stopped at Dan.

"So you're the one that hit him? Congratulations. What day are you here?" asked Michael.

"A couple of hours ago, I woke up next to this place. That must have been the test they wrote about in the beginning."

"Lucky," said the blonde exhaled.

"Michael, we need to cut up a werewolf, and we could use a spear, too. But we have no right, the system says it's someone else's prey."

Michael was approached by a dark-haired guy who nodded his head at Dan:

"Hey, brother."

"You will now be ent.i.tled to your prey, John."

Michael put his hand on Dan's shoulder and said:

"Relax, there should be an interface on the periphery of vision. As soon as you notice it, it'll adjust to you."

After a while, Dan did it.

There were four images on the left side of the view. One was with a person's profile, three images were in the form of a letter. There was a circle on the right. Half of the circle was obscured. There was an inscription in the center of the circle:

*

[Player Michael invites you to join the group: Accept? Yes/No]

*

"How?" asked Dan.

"Just say 'yes', that's all."

"Yes."

And the inscription's gone. On the left side, there was another image of profiles overlaid on each other.

"John, bury the remains in a common grave. Dan, you sit down, I'll explain everything to you."

Dan sat by the wheel again, Michael sat next to him.

"As you know, we're in the game now. Don't ask me how it happened, I don't know.

We all appeared here recently. We've been strangely transferred from our normal lives. Half of us have never played computer games at all."

"How many of you?"

"There will be ten of us with you, and there will be fifteen of us. Two were killed by that beast you managed to beat. Three more were killed by other monsters."

"Can't you be reborn in this game?"

"We can, but it's not that simple. The starting scenario of the game is the same for everyone. The man appears in a closed location, reads the first message. The interface opens only after pa.s.sing the test. Everyone fought with some creature. You pa.s.s the test, the interface appears, and you are given basic parameters depending on the test results. Plus experience for a dead creature. Next, you need to find a rebirth point and bind to it. If you get killed before the binding, then you're done. You're dying for real."

"What do you mean, 'you're dying'? But this is a game!"

"Yes, it's a game, but with its strangeness and the real world. By the way, you'll still have your scars on your face forever. You got the scars before you were linked to the point of rebirth. And that information has already been verified.

We have a base with a rebirth point, so don't worry, we'll try to get you there. I can't give you a full guarantee, because the world is very specific. There are many and dangerous creatures in this game."

Michael went on to talk about the rules of the game.

The pain is completely real. If you're badly hurt, you better kill yourself. The creatures don't like players and can torture and torture for a long time before they kill them. You don't lose experience for death, and if you die under torture, then you even get some experience.

Experience is strange. You get experience for killing monsters. But the fact is, if a creature kills you, it gets to experience, too. Local monsters can grow in levels. It was much harder to deal with them later.

There are people in this world, and not just them. There are many magical races in this game: dwarves and elves meet. You can take quests from them. The quest is to kill special monsters, like the werewolf Dan defeated. Residents can not be called "Not Playing Characters" or somehow indicate their specificity... For such behavior, the system can impose a severe penalty on experience. It was hard to understand that the locals are kind of 'not real'. There's a village near the base. The locals were like real ancient peasants.

"It takes about an hour to reach the base. It's going to get dark soon. We have to go to the castle. If we don't get back before dark, the whole group will die. It's already checked out. We'll go to the castle soon. Look at the test results. Deal with the characteristics. For killing a werewolf, you should have gained a lot of experience. You should have a minimum of three levels. All right, take care of your status. You'll get the rest of the news from the base."

Michael got up and went behind the wagon, where some chatter and scolding came from.

"Michael," called him Dan. "How long have you been here?"

"Eight days."

Eight days! If it's like he said, he's been in this h.e.l.l for eight days. Dan's eyes started crying again, his body started laughing nervously. This is bulls.h.i.+t. I got to deal with the messages.

Dan gazed at the first envelope, and he immediately opened up.

*

[Congratulations! You pa.s.sed the test]