Karan found himself in a boundless dark abyss. He was floating in the abyss, just being carried away, when a blue hologram appeared before his eyes.
__________________
Do you want to enter Dreamscape?
Yes (Won't be able to log out for 9 hours)No (You will sleep normally)
__________________
He chose the first option. Just because he was curious about what Dreamscape was.
At one moment, he was in the void, and in the next, he found himself standing in a rather weird place.
There was a very dense fog all around him. And most importantly, there was light, which made him remember who he was.
Didn't I just go to sleep? He thought. He remembered distinctly that he was out on a job, and as he was tired after a day of work, he went to sleep at his base. And he was wearing just boxers at that moment. Now, khaki-colored pants, a white cotton shirt, and black military-style boots had replaced his whole attire.
"What.." He mumbled, looking around. "What happened?"
It is then a bunch of holograms, blue windows started appearing before his eyes.
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[ DREAMSCAPE INITIALIZATION ]
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Synchronization Complete.
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Aether Interface: Stable
Consciousness Anchor: Established
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You are alive.
You will not remain so indefinitely.
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Remaining Time has been assigned.
When it reaches zero, termination is immediate.
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Death within this space is irreversible.
Death outside this space will not save you.
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Survive.
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What in the tarnation.. He was left utterly confused.
"End simulation. Log out," he commanded, but nothing happened.
Well, it was worth a try at least.
The window vanished as he willed it to.
With the windows, slowly the fog started to thin out as well.
Soon Karan found himself standing in a very large city square. He was standing on cobbled ground, and around him were houses made of wood and stone, so ancient that they looked straight out of history books.
In the middle of the square was a white marble fountain, above which was a very large, blue, cuboid-shaped crystal, floating in the air. Scribbled on all the faces were Commandments in blood red color, which looked rather ominous.
But the thing that left him speechless was the air. It was not the crystal floating high in the air that surprised him, nor were the rows of houses which looked something out of a history book. What surprised him was the mountains in the distance. They were green, the sky was bright blue instead of faded greyish blue that he was used to. The air itself was so clean and so fresh, it truly felt like a dream.
It is when a flash of light appeared by his side, and a man appeared beside him. The man seemed to be in his middle ages and was wearing clothes similar to his.
"Hello there," the man said, "Can you under…" But before the man could continue, the flashes of light started appearing all around them. And before they knew it, the empty city square was filled with people.
It started as whispers, people talking to each other, trying to understand what was happening. And slowly, mayhem broke out.
Everyone started speaking at the same time, some crying for their families, some panicking, some thinking that they had died.
Karan stayed silent, cause he knew panicking won't help.
"This is awesome," he heard someone say. He looked over his shoulder, and there he saw some kids, teenagers. They were high-fiving each other.
"We are going to level up like crazy dudes," one of them said.
Level up? Then he remembered his nephew, who talks about role-playing games and other stuff. Personally, he had never played any game, nor did he have any knowledge about them.
Now curious, he made his way to the teenage group.
Karan was standing tall at 6'2, the kids immediately got intimidated by him. "Do you guys have any idea what is happening here?" He asked them,
One of the kids, with a smile, said, "Dont you get it? We have been chosen to go into the fantasy world. We will get to fight demon lords and make a harem,"
Karan raised his eyebrow, "What?"
"Haven't you read any webnovels in your childhood?" one of them asked.
Seeing his clueless face, one of the teenagers answered, "Just wait till you get acess to your status window. Or someone from this world comes and gives you a tutorial of how this world actually works."
Karan didnt understand a word that the boy said. But he did remember that earlier windows vanished because he willed it. No by any verbal or written command.
Status, he commanded, and a blue window appeared before his eyes.
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[ PLAYER STATUS ]
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Name: Karan Ahuja
Tag:
VillageNumber: 67
Level: 3
Class: Unassigned
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Karan stared at the window for a few seconds, trying to take in whatever was written on it.
Tutorial. He commanded, yet nothing happened this time. At the same time, he also noticed that no one noticed that he had a window open before his eyes.
Karan wanted to know more, but knew that talking to kids would be futile. So he turned around and started heading towards the only signboard that he saw when he got here in the first place.
Several people were already standing near the fountain, reading the text from the crystal when he got there. And up close, the words scribbled in blood red color looked more ominous…
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THE COMMANDMENTS
The More You Advance, the More You Will Understand.
The More You Understand, the Less the World Will Protect You.
1. Life Is Measured in Time.
Time is finite.
When your Timer reaches zero, termination is immediate.
2. Death Has No Boundary.
Death within the Dreamscape is death in reality.
No separation exists.
3. Beasts Bear Runes.
Slaying beasts grants Runes.
Runes can be converted into Time.
4. The Fallen Leave a Remnant.
Upon death, 30% of the remaining Time will manifest at the location of termination.
It may be claimed by others or recovered later, if you return.
5. Death Is Not Release.
If Time remains after death, you will reawaken in your Beginner Village.
What was lost will not be restored.
6. Distance Determines Threat.
The farther you travel from your village,
The stronger the beasts you will encounter.
7. Risk Defines Reward.
Stronger beasts yield greater rewards.
Safety sustains life.
Danger advances it.
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Safety sustains life, danger advances it. The line resonated with Karan. As it was very close to the principle that he had been following in his life.
At the same time, he was curious about time. Earlier messages also talked about time, but he had yet to see any clock.
It is when he came to an understanding.
Time, he commande and a window appeared before his eyes.
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TIME WINDOW
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Current Time Remaining: 12 Days, 04 Hours, 17 Minutes
Status: ACTIVE
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12 Days? I have 12 days. Suddenly, the first commandment about time being finite started making sense to him.
The whole scenario that Karan found himself in was intriguing to say the least.
But the fact remained that he was getting pulled into something without his consent, and he was not liking it. This game, or simulation, he didnt sign up for it. And he didnt like that, somehow he was forced to play this game.
Sulking won't do him any good, he knew it.
Might as well get the most of it. He thought as he turned towards his right. There was a literal village filled with historical buildings just before his eyes, so he figured, why not explore this place while he was at it…
Karan, when he entered the small and clean pathways of the village, he couldnt think back of the Districts. Unlike the streets here, the streets of the districts were full of piss and excrement.
Houses here were built of wood and stone. They looked fragile enough that any push from Metallics would send them crumbling.
But despite everything, walking through the narrow streets of the village was a rather pleasant experience.
Eventually, Karan encountered a white building. This one seemed to be made entirely of white marble, with big white columns supporting the whole thing. On the top of the building was a dark brown wooden plank, written on it was The Bank in golden words.
At the entrance was a small tablet, saying, Here Runes are converted into Time.
Remembering the commandments yet again, he commanded. Show me Runes.
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RUNES
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Total Runes Held: 1,284
Lesser Runes × 926Greater Runes × 228Sovereign Runes × 2
Total Convertible Time: 12 Days, 04 Hours, 10 Minutes
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So these are the Runes that I need to earn, huh? He thought.
Not paying that much attention to the bank, Karan moved further down the road. And came across another building named Weapons Emporium, beside which was another building named Training Hall.
Weapons? Now that is interesting. He thought, entering the building.
As the name suggested, the place was literally a hall full of weapons, all of them hanging from the walls like displays in a museum. But they were not modern weapons that he was used to, but instead, the weapons looked straight out of a museum.
There were swords of various shapes and sizes, and there were axes, from long ones to short ones. Even bows had various shapes. The only thing that he could understand was the knives, as they had been part of the training that he had received.
There was a knife, a Kukuri to be exact, that Karan got attracted to. When he tried touching it, a message appeared before his eyes
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The first weapon of your choice would be free.
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Do you want to buy this knife?
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Now this is interesting, He thought.
Looking around the array of weapons and after pondering for a minute or so, he couldnt decide what to get.
As a man living in the 22nd century, he was not alien to the concept of killings or guns. But using knives or swords was never his style, nor had he used one before. From his experience, it is better to kill the target from a distance and get the hell out of there.
Bow suited his style of fighting, but which bow should he use? He had never held a bow before.
Wait, there is a training hall adjacent to this building, right? Quickly, he made his way out.
He saw that some people have now started venturing on the streets as well. He feared that the training hall might get crowded, so he quickly entered the building.
What greeted him inside was a very empty room with a very tall ceiling. There was nothing inside; the ground that he was standing on was made of soft brown soil.
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It would cost 5 Lesser Runes to access the room for 2 hours.
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In those two hours, you can train with whatever weapon you want in here.
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Followed by these two messages were big window, with photos of all the weapons that he could train with. As he scrolled through them, he eventually spotted something called Caster's Wand.
He tried to select it, but a red window appeared before his eyes.
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Level Cap Detected. You cannot use the item with your level.
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Not thinking about it much, Karan eventually got to the bow section. And selected a longbow to train with.
His surroundings changed, and he found a shooting range of shorts.
There was a target 100m from him. There was a basket full of arrows where he was standing, beside it was a black bow.
Around 4 feet tall, the bow looked sturdy. The polished wood gave it a premium feel as well.
Let's see what I am dealing with here. He thought.
Knocking an arrow on the bow was the easy part. When he tried pulling the string, he was shocked by how tight the string was. It took a considerable amount of strength to pull the string all the way back.
And when he finally let it go, the arrow went straight, cutting through the air with incredible speed. But it completely missed the target, falling just a few feet short of the target.
That could have been worse. He thought. Karan then picked up another arrow, but he didn't knock it this time.
Looking at the pointy tip of the arrow, a thought came to his mind. He gripped the arrow firmly and cut his palm.
Blood did pour out of his hand. But the flow did stop for a few seconds, and his wound healed in the upcoming seconds.
Now.. This is.. Interesting.