Bam! Bam! Bam!
The axe cracked through the tree trunk with a hard jolt that rattled my arms to the elbow. Splinters flew, some biting my skin, some just falling like brittle raindrops. My breath coming in heavy bursts, fogging slightly in the strange chill that lingered beneath the forest's gray ceiling.
Sweat clung to my skin despite the cold. My fingers gripped the axe tighter. I lifted, swung, dropped. Again. And again.
DING!
TREE CHOPPED +2
I ignored it.
Another swing.
DING!
TREE CHOPPED +5
Another.
DING!
TREE CHOPPED +1
Chopping the trees wasn't the worst part, it was chopping the fallen trunks into flat, usable wood that chewed through most of my time and drained my body faster than I expected.
I didn't bother counting how many I cut. Not too many. Just enough to make sure I didn't collapse before nightfall. The point wasn't quantity, it was the plan.
Because I wasn't going to build a big base. Or a hut. Or a damn log cabin in the middle of monster-infested woods. This wasn't some beginner sandbox game.
No, I had a different idea.
If the world above was unsafe at night, then I'd go beneath it.
An underground base. Tunnel-style. Hidden, sealed, not flashy to attract wandering freaks if they roamed when the sun dipped.
I glanced around until I spotted a patch of rough forest floor, uneven ground, softer soil, not too far from where I'd chopped the trees. A perfect starting point.
The light above filtered through the branches like faded glass, and I could already tell the shadows were getting longer. Time was slipping past me.
[SYSTEM]
+
18 STARS EARNED FROM CHOPPING TREES
+
I barely looked at it.
I dropped the axe into the dirt with a low thud and pulled the shovel from my inventory. It materialized in my hand with a soft flicker, like it had always been there,
I planted the blade into the earth and pushed down with my leg.
The soil gave way with a reluctant crunch.
One scoop.
Two.. Three.
I worked silently, the repetitive scrape of metal on dirt echoing through the trees. Each dig was slower than the last, the shovel's weight getting heavier in my hands.
[SYSTEM]
+
TIPS
MAKE JOKES, DO TASKS, COMPLETE LITTLE QUESTS TO EARN STARS.
STARS CAN BE USED TO BUY EASIER EQUIPMENT FOR WORK.
STARS CAN BE TURNED TO REAL MONEY ONCE THE GAME COMPLETES.
+
I stopped mid-dig, shovel blade still half-buried in the dirt.
"Real money?" I murmured.
I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand, breathing through slightly parted lips. My throat was dry, my back ached. But my thoughts, those raced like wildfire.
Is it true?
Could it be?
Part of me, maybe the tired, hopeful part wanted to believe it. That somehow, this hellish place had a reward. A prize. Something I could use to really get my sisters out of the gutter we were sinking in.
But another part, the older part, the cautious one beaten down by real-world scams and fake promises whispered that it was a lie. A trick. A bait.
Still…
If it was true…
Even just the possibility was enough to push me further.
I pressed my foot down again and resumed digging.
The hole grew slowly, inch by inch, like I was carving into the bones of the forest itself. The earth grew harder the deeper I went, and my arms trembled from the strain. Sweat soaked the collar of my shirt.
I didn't stop until my body forced me to.
I dropped the shovel with a grunt, breath ragged, lungs burning like I'd been running for miles.
I looked at what I'd made.
It wasn't much, more of a deep hole than a true tunnel, but it was something of a good start.
I looked up through the trees.
And saw the light…
It was fading.
The sky…
It was turning orange.
And the worst part.
It was almost evening.
I stared down into the half-formed hole at my feet.
It wasn't deep enough.
It wasn't safe enough.
And time… time was slipping away like sand through torn cloth.
I muttered beneath my breath, "There has to be a faster way."
Then I remembered.
The System.
It said something earlier... about Stars.
Earning them. Using them. Turning them into something more than just numbers on a screen.
And just like that, almost as if the damn System was reading my thoughts again.
[SYSTEM STORE]
+
TOTAL STARS AVAILABLE = 62
RECOMMENDED ITEMS TO PURCHASE:
– MACHINE DIGGER [7 STARS]
– WORKER ROBOT [12 STARS]
– REMOLDER [15 STARS]
+
The menu hovered before my eyes, translucent and bright.
I straightened my back slowly, eyes scanning the options.
The Machine Digger looked promising at first glance, a compact machine to dig through the earth like butter. But even if I bought it now, setting it up would take time… time I no longer had.
The Worker Robot seemed more practical. Autonomous, multitasking, built for survival workloads. I imagined one lifting wood, another digging.
it was useful, efficient, and most of all, manageable.
But my eyes settled on the third item: Remolder.
It wasn't a machine. Not a tool either.
It was something else entirely.
The description suggested it could reshape the earth, mold the environment to my vision. A kind of… construction magic, maybe? But it had its limits, only three uses. One per "thought," whatever that meant.
Still… this was survival.
And I needed speed.
I took a breath and made the decision.
Remolder +1, Worker Robots +2
Total cost -39 stars.
I didn't hesitate.
The purchase processed instantly. The moment I confirmed the buy, a soft hum pulsed through my mind, and three glowing shapes materialized in front of me. They flickered like outlines at first before snapping into solid form.
The Remolder looked like a jagged stone of charcoal gray with a faint shimmer underneath the surface, like something ancient barely holding itself together. When I touched it, the world around me… shifted slightly. As if a filter dropped over my vision. I could see outlines, boundaries, potential shapes in the dirt.
And then, the robots.
Two small, metallic humanoid figures, each barely taller than my waist. Smoothly built, minimal faces, arms equipped with multi-tools. They blinked once, then began moving as if they already knew what to do.
One of them darted toward the pile of chopped wood I'd left behind in the distance, lifting logs with mechanical ease.
The other got to work expanding the hole, digging with powerful strokes that made my earlier effort look like child's play.
I crouched at the edge, gripping the Remolder tightly, and spoke a single thought into it.
A tunnel, sloped downward, narrow at the top, but widening into a hollowed-out space below. A place I could crawl into and sit. Sleep. Survive.
The stone pulsed.
And the ground responded.
It folded inward, reshaped, remolded beneath my feet. In seconds, the tunnel formed, just as I'd imagined it.
The other robot entered it smoothly, hammering together wood to form a structured arch at the entrance, while the walls below adjusted themselves into smooth, compact dirt that wouldn't collapse.
I used the Remolder a second time to reinforce the inside, shaping it into a livable, curved space. No luxury, but solid. Enough to sit and stand upright. Enough to hold warmth.
Then the final robot got to work again, building a small wooden fence outside the base, just a basic structure to add a false sense of security, maybe, or buy me a few extra seconds if anything wandered too close.
My arms hung limp as I watched the construction. The sky above was no longer gray. It was dark. A deep violet shade creeping into black. Crickets chirped in the distance, unnerving and hollow.
[SYSTEM]
+
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE COMPLETED YOUR FIRST SCENARIO.
REWARD: [248 STARS] + 42 STARS BONUS
+
The notification flickered inside my mind like a firework, but the joy didn't follow it.
I was already sitting in the small base, on a simple wooden chair one of the robots had crafted. My hands rested on my knees, my body finally catching up to the fatigue screaming through it.
A deep sigh slipped through my lips.
I made it.
I escaped the penalty.
I should feel proud.
Relieved.
Grateful.
But I didn't.
Because even as the reward sparkled in front of me…
I knew what came next.
DING!
[SCENARIO]
+
SURVIVE THE NIGHT
FAILURE: ONLY YOU KNOW! ^_^
+
The night…
had officially begun..