The sun rose higher over the Crimson Ruins, bathing the broken village in a golden haze. Raven stood at the highest point of the old watchtower's rubble, surveying her new domain. Wildflowers pushed through cracked stone paths. Rotting wood lay scattered in twisted piles. A ghost of what once was—and a skeleton of what could be.
She opened the build menu again, flipping through options.
Basic Buildings Available: Shelter (x3), Storage Shed, Campfire.
Resources Available:
Stone: 12
Wood: 9
Food: 0
Water: Unlimited (waterfall)>
Not enough. Not nearly enough.
"Time to get dirty," Raven muttered.
She scavenged the ruins for salvageable materials. Hours passed as she pried stone blocks from crumbled walls and hacked down dead trees with a rusted axe she found in the blacksmith's ruins. Sweat rolled down her back, but she didn't complain. Hard work didn't scare her.
What scared her was boredom.
By midday, she'd gathered enough wood and stone to construct a crude shelter and a fire pit. Her system confirmed the builds with a flicker of red light, and the structures emerged before her eyes—simple, ugly, but solid.
Fire Pit Active. Night Protection Enabled.
She collapsed onto a flat stone slab and gazed up at the sky. Clouds drifted by, slow and lazy. Somewhere out there, nearly 300 others were waking up in strange lands with their own systems and choices.
Most were probably trying to survive.
She was planning to conquer.
A new screen flashed in her vision.
Objective: Defeat one living creature before sundown.
Reward: 1 Infamy Point, Access to Minion Menu>
Raven sat up, a grin playing on her lips. "That's more like it."
She followed a broken trail behind the waterfall, where mist clung to her skin and rocks gleamed slick underfoot. Just beyond the cascading curtain, a shallow cave yawned into the mountain. And inside—
Glowing eyes.
A creature emerged on four legs, its body a mass of shadows and bone. A Wraith-Hound, according to the system.
Perfect.
Raven didn't hesitate. She gripped a thick branch wrapped in cloth, doused the end in resin from the tree sap she'd gathered, and lit it in her fire pit before charging back.
The beast lunged.
She ducked low, rolled, and slammed the burning branch into its ribcage. Flames flared. The creature howled.
Another strike.
Then another.
By the third blow, it shattered into black ash and screeched into the void.
< Enemy Defeated. Task Complete. Infamy +1.
Minion Menu Unlocked.
New Title Acquired: Emberborn Initiate >
Raven stood, breathing hard, blood on her cheek and fire in her eyes.
"This world just gave me a purpose," she whispered. "And I'm going to burn it down."
Behind her, the waterfall ran red for a moment, as though the world itself was starting to listen.