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Chapter 1 Survival Game Isabella Grant was still half-conscious when a cold robotic voice spoke in her head, [Welcome to the Survival Game. [All players have a three-day newbie protection period. Use this time wisely to build a secure shelter. [In-game death ends your game session and causes real death in the real world. Fight to survive and thrive in this game world, because if you die here, you disappear forever from the real world. [Good luck to all players.] Isabella wondered if she was trapped in a dream. She opened her eyes to a clear blue sky and bright warm sunlight. Then she found herself lying on the shore, with gentle ocean waves rolling steadily over her waist. She thought she might have been saved and was finally safe. Yet the robotic system announcement she had heard made it clear that her situation was far from safe. Isabella sat up slowly. She was completely wet and only wearing a swimsuit. The cool sea wind swept over her skin, leaving her shivering with cold. She had been on a beach trip, which was why she had a swimsuit on. She quickly realized she was no longer in the real world. The whole scene felt exactly like those reality-shift stories she had read online. Her last clear memory was being thrown into the sea by her husband, Jason Drake. She had fought hard to stay afloat, and right before she passed out, a brilliant white light flashed across the entire beach. Everyone nearby disappeared in the blink of an eye, and she lost consciousness soon after. All the fictional plotlines she once read about had become real for her. Isabella felt faintly thankful for this strange survival game. She would have drowned at sea if she hadn't been brought into this new world. The second Isabella rose to her feet from the sandy shore, a lazy, utterly indifferent male voice echoed inside her head. "Congratulations, player. You have unlocked a unique special system: the Easy Catch System." She turned the name "Easy Catch System" over in her head and guessed the feature might help her catch fish easily along the shore. 'So, the new ability will let me gather plenty of seafood to keep myself fed throughout the game? This has to be the special advantage every main character gets in survival stories,' she thought. Confusion weighed on her thoughts, and frigid wind locked up the muscles in her face. Her blank look made her seem slow to understand everything around her. "Fool." The lazy voice carried clear scorn with that remark. Isabella was a bit speechless. She had read plenty of online stories where system guides used gentle, sweet voices or stuck to plain professional speech. But her own system wasted no time mocking her from their very first interaction. "Stop giving me that blank look," the male voice continued. "Easy Catch System lets you gain rewards with little effort. This whole setup exists so you don't need to overwork yourself. How can you fail to understand something this simple?" Isabella paused for a moment before the true meaning sank in. She knew what the phrase implied normally, but the beach and survival game setting led her to think only about catching seafood at first. "Figure everything out by yourself. I'm going to take a nap now. Hope you're still alive when I wake up," the male voice said, followed by a soft, human-like yawn. Isabella was about to ask more questions when a glowing virtual screen materialized in front of her eyes. Words showed across the screen surface. [Welcome to the Survival Game (Island)] The writing vanished after a few seconds and gave way to a moving scene. Thick dark clouds hung low over murky, rough ocean water. A strong man stood at the shore collecting fish until a huge seabird swooped down and snatched him away. A countdown timer sat in the top right of the screen frame. Ten seconds ticked down on the timer, and there was no option to skip the footage. Isabella could only sit back down on the sand and stare blankly at the dimming screen. She couldn't help but think this mechanical interface was far more dependable than the earlier system AI. The next second, a line of text popped up on the screen. [Newbie Guide: You're on your own to figure everything out.] Isabella was dumbfounded and could only curse inwardly at how ridiculous her system was. She knew nothing about the game at all, yet her system AI had simply fallen asleep. Every normal game offered a basic guide for new players, but hers left her completely stranded with zero guidance. The virtual screen slowly faded, retaining a semi-transparent backdrop of the seabird snatching the player. Several new icons popped up across the blank screen in their place. The "Character" icon rested in the top left corner of the screen. When Isabella tapped it, a full 3D model of herself appeared on the right, fully adjustable with free drag and rotation. Her swimsuit highlighted her gentle curves. She wore her hair in thick, flowing brown waves and had striking, charming eyes. Her lips, usually a rich crimson red, had faded pale from shock and the lingering cold. She closed the profile interface quickly, overcome with embarrassment. She wondered if other players could see these 3D character models. A swimsuit felt normal enough on a real beach, but having it on full display for strangers online felt incredibly awkward. She wanted to confirm her suspicion immediately, so she pulled up the game's chat channel. She ignored the messy stream of messages and skipped over the censored symbols covering vulgar words, tapping the username of the latest poster at once. The player's profile included a character option. Opening it pulled up a full 3D body model exactly like hers. She didn't look at the stranger's features and closed the page immediately. Her face burned with embarrassment. She scrolled through the full list of system settings, yet there was no way to hide her profile. Then she spotted an option to conceal her personal stats and switched it on right away. She didn't understand its function, but masking her personal information felt like the safest and most reasonable option. After Isabella finished setting things up, she finally opened her own profile interface to check her details. [Player Name: Isabella Grant [Player Number: 120000777 [Gender: Female [Age: 22 [Intelligence: 9 [Strength: 2 [Mentality: 5 [Stamina: 5 [Satiety: 40% (Note: Players enter a weakened state once satiety drops below 10%) [Skills: None [Shelter: Level 0 [Special System: Easy Catch System Unlocked. [Permanent Buff (upgradable): All collected materials double in quantity. [You're one hell of a lucky moron.] The blunt comment hit a nerve. Isabella cursed, frustrated. She knew the System had written the petty comment on purpose. She couldn't believe a built-in game system would act so petty and disrespectful toward its own host. Frustration washed over her, and she paid no mind to the perks of her special system. She pulled open her system inventory to check her starting supplies. The inventory held ten empty slots in total. The first slot contained a brand new ax, the second held 33.8 fluid ounces of water, and the third was filled with 17.6 ounces of unsalted bagels. She had to admit the newbie starter supplies were generous and practical, with no cheap shortcuts taken. Still, the pack included no spare clothes whatsoever. "It's so cold out here," Isabella muttered. She wore very little clothing and remained soaked from her fall into the water. The frigid air chilled her to the bone. She grew desperate to figure out how to gather essential resources and locate her designated shelter. She scanned her surroundings carefully. A thick, lush jungle stretched out behind the beach. Bright sunlight covered the shore, but dense foliage kept the jungle interior shrouded in deep shadow. The gloomy atmosphere felt deeply unsettling, and she hesitated to step foot inside the unfamiliar woods. Isabella hugged her arms across her chest and hunched forward. She stomped her feet and shook her limbs repeatedly, trying to generate some warmth as she continued scanning the area for useful clues. Right now, she was grateful for her long hair. She pulled out her hair tie and let her waist-length locks fall loose over her shoulders. The thick strands offered a small layer of warmth like a thin blanket. She figured the beach acted as the game's official spawn point, which meant her shelter couldn't be far from her current position. She observed the surrounding terrain closely and finally noticed an odd stone pillar standing nearby. She walked closer to inspect it and found three functional buttons on its surface. Two regular buttons controlled upward and downward movement while a round red button in the center served as a stop mechanism. She pressed the downward button first, yet received no response from the structure. She then tried pressing the upward button. The ground cracked open without warning, and the sand shifted to form a distinct outline beneath her feet. The entire patch of ground where Isabella stood began to rise slowly upward. She dropped flat on the ground the second the platform began moving, fearing she might lose her balance and fall off. The structure came to a halt once it rose thirty feet into the air. The platform only spanned roughly one hundred square feet with little extra space to spare. 'No way. Is this my shelter?' she wondered. Isabella stared at the bare, open platform and felt utterly defeated. Wind whipped freely from every direction, and no covering stood above her head. She had no idea how she was supposed to survive in such a barren spot. Wearing nothing but a swimsuit in the cold open air, she would either freeze completely once night fell or fall severely ill. With no medical supplies or help available on the entire island, any small sickness would leave her with no way to recover. She carefully searched every corner of the platform and brushed away all the surface sand with her hands. She stopped checking only after she confirmed no other hidden buttons or mechanisms remained. The entire structure was nothing more than a plain, cold metal slab with no special functions or features. The icy metal surface felt far less comfortable than the sandy layer that had covered it earlier. She let out a helpless sigh and opened her system panel, planning to browse the chat channel for helpful answers. That was when she spotted a new small house-shaped cursor icon beside the chat window. She clicked the icon right away. The new window showed a visual preview of the metal platform in the upper right, while the upper left marked her shelter's current status as "Level-0 Shelter." The lower left area showed: [Level-1 shelter upgrade requirements: lumber 0/10, grass 0/20.] The lower right corner displayed a preview image of the upgraded shelter. It was a simple thatched gazebo with grass curtains covering all sides, enough to block wind and light rain for basic protection. Isabella tapped the material icons to check their source and learned that all required resources could only be gathered inside the jungle. She glanced toward the dark, foreboding treeline in the distance and hesitated immediately. There was no way she dared step into that eerie jungle. Isabella stood frozen for a short while before opening her system inventory to pull out her water bottle and bagel. She didn't need to check her profile panel to know her satiety point had dropped. Her growling stomach was more than enough to tell her that much. She had been transported to this strange world right around her usual lunchtime, leaving her starving. She decided to fill her stomach first before gathering resources, as she knew she couldn't complete any work without proper energy. She split the bagel into two halves and placed one portion back into her inventory to save for later. Chapter 2 Upgrade Her Shelter The bagel was hearty and chewy, carrying a soft, genuine wheat sweetness. It was flavorful enough on its own, but a little dry to eat alone. Not wanting to choke by holding back water, Isabella took small sips frequently as she ate. She was honestly impressed with how good the system-supplied food was. She had only eaten half the bagel, but she was already full. A quiet burp slipped out, and a soft warmth spread through her frame, easing the cold that had lingered in her body. She headed for the stone pillar and pressed the downward button. The whole structure moved smoothly like a regular elevator. She waited until the platform hovered less than three feet above the ground before jumping down. She inspected the structure closely and found a thick, solid metal pillar extending from beneath the sand to support the platform. The piece looked seamless and fully integrated with the ground, with no unique traits or hidden functions. She guessed the adjustable platform existed mainly to avoid flooding from the high tides that would roll in after dark. She climbed back onto the metal slab and lowered it fully to the ground. She curled her toes inward and steeled herself before walking toward the jungle. She had no shoes to protect her feet and was forced to walk barefoot across the rough terrain. The ground grew sharper and more uneven the closer she drew to the jungle, covered in coarse gravel, jagged stones and dry broken twigs. Her soles quickly flushed red from the constant friction, and thin, faint cuts appeared across the tops of her feet before she could notice. The ground was covered in sharp bits, every step akin to treading on broken glass. Her feet stung with every move. She couldn't help wishing she had tougher, calloused feet from a rough, outdoor upbringing, so the unforgiving terrain wouldn't hurt so much. After a long while, Isabella finally reached the edge of the jungle. She reached out to pull at the thick, lush grass growing before her, only to yank her hand back in an instant. She had pulled grass dozens of times in her life and acted purely on instinct, but this casual move left her palm badly cut. Long, deep gashes split her skin, and bright red blood welled up immediately. She brought her hand to her mouth without a second thought and licked the cuts, trying to stem the bleeding. She couldn't make sense of what had happened. The grass looked plain and ordinary, yet its edges were sharp enough to cut like razor blades. Isabella was overwhelmed with exasperation and unease. She had barely escaped death, only to wind up trapped on a remote island with no supplies or protection. She had no shoes to shield her feet, and even the most ordinary plants turned out to be lethal hazards. This world was unbelievably warped and unpredictable. She crouched where she stood, holding her injured palm open as she scanned her surroundings. This sharp grass grew densely all along the jungle border, roughly two feet tall with several branches on every stalk. She had only tugged the upper leaves a moment before, unaware of how dangerously sharp they were. They looked dull and harmless to the eye, but sliced through skin with terrifying ease. Looking at the fresh blood on her hand, Isabella almost wanted to give up entirely. But the memory of her bare, useless shelter pushed her to keep going. She calmed herself down, knowing the system wouldn't ask for grass collection without offering a way to do it safely. A sickle was the right tool for this kind of work, but she didn't have one. An ax was clumsy and unwieldy for trimming grass, and hand pulling would normally be the easier option. But this strange grass broke all regular rules, so she had no choice but to try to make the ax work. She swung her ax horizontally at one stalk to test it out. The heavy blade only flattened the flexible grass, which bounced right back into place without a single scratch left on its stem. This place was truly bizarre. Nothing here worked the way it should. Still unwilling to quit, Isabella closely examined the grass around her. Her gaze drifted down and finally settled on the base of the stalks. Unlike the tough, dark green upper foliage, the base was pale and soft to the eye. She targeted that softer section, gently pinching the base of the stalk. A crisp snap sounded, and the entire plant vanished the moment it broke free in her hand. [You have obtained grass x2.] The sudden robotic system notification startled Isabella out of her focused thoughts. The robotic system prompt made the whole experience feel exactly like a video game, and Isabella found herself wondering if she was trapped inside some full-dive virtual reality world. She pulled up her system panel and opened her inventory to check her gains. The fourth slot held a stack of grass, confirming her attempt had worked. Breaking a single stalk had rewarded her with two bundles of resources, and the process seemed far simpler than she expected. Her mood lifted noticeably. She'd learned to target the weakest part of the sharp grass, so she pinched and snapped the stalks cleanly with quick, precise movements. Her smooth progress didn't last long, though. When she broke off a second stalk, the plant didn't vanish like the first one. It wilted and dried out in her palm instead, with no system notification to follow. The faint smile on her face faded away instantly. She had gotten ahead of herself with excitement. Gathering resources here didn't come with a guaranteed success rate. Failed attempts only left her with dead, withered grass that served no purpose. She had briefly hoped to weave a simple pair of straw sandals to cover her sore feet, but that plan felt completely out of reach all of a sudden. She gritted her teeth and kept working, carefully keeping count of every stalk she pulled. After a long stretch of repetitive work, she tallied up her attempts. She had picked fifty-five stalks in total, and only five had registered as successful gathers. Such a terrible success rate completely drained her motivation. She pulled up her system panel, feeling discouraged, but the ten grass bundles waiting in her inventory softened her mood. She was thankful for the extra materials she earned each time she succeeded. This chore would have dragged on forever without that bonus. She wondered what caused the game to reward double resources every single time she gathered successfully. The answer hit her out of nowhere. She suddenly remembered her permanent buff from the Easy Catch System, which doubled all her gathered materials. She finally understood how the buff functioned. Every game she had played before guaranteed successful gathering with no extra perks, so the buff had seemed pretty insignificant at first. It turned out to be incredibly valuable now that gathering success was so inconsistent on the island. She quickly realized how useful her unique system was. It let her gain far more rewards from simple work, living up to its easygoing name. She recalled the system could be upgraded later on, though the panel offered no clear details on how to upgrade it. 'Will future upgrades unlock even more helpful buffs?' she wondered. Isabella pulled up her status screen and opened the upgrade tab for her Easy Catch System. She then noticed a tiny question mark icon in the corner of the upgrade display and clicked it to read the details. The text read: [Upgrade requirements: spiritual energy gem x10, core energy x5, mech heart x1.] She had never come across these items and had no idea what the materials were. They were obviously special resources exclusive to this world, and rare items like these were always hard to find. Isabella didn't bother overthinking it. She closed the system panel and went back to gathering grass at a steady pace. She knew the right trick now, so she quickly collected all the grass she needed. All the bending and picking left her back tight and achy. Her palm was no longer bleeding, but it had swollen up. Her arms were also covered in faint thin scratches. She had been too focused to feel any pain while she worked, but now that she stopped moving, a slow, dull ache settled over her body. Even so, seeing twenty grass stalks stacked in her inventory made her feel genuinely relieved and content. Next, she needed lumber. She first tried snapping branches off a small tree by hand, but tearing off twigs and leaves gave her no lumber at all. She soon figured out she had to use her ax if she wanted to gather lumber. The ax already felt heavy when she held it earlier. She wondered how many swings she could manage with her sore hand. She found a small tree about as thick as her calf and started chopping. She swung the ax over and over. With only two strength points and an injured palm, every movement felt slow and exhausting, and her progress crawled forward at a slow pace. Time slipped by quickly. Isabella grew increasingly anxious as she watched the sun sink lower in the sky. She had no idea how much lumber a single tree would yield, and she couldn't finish chopping one down fast enough before night fell. The iron ax carried significant weight, and every swing drained what little strength she had. She had no experience chopping wood and didn't know how to conserve her energy. Her strikes landed randomly across the trunk, leaving messy, scattered marks all over the bark. She tried her best to aim for the same spot each time but kept missing her target. The task seemed simple in theory, but it proved far more difficult in practice. The ax felt much heavier than a regular blade. She alternated arms to keep going, yet both limbs grew weak and shaky from overexertion. The constant physical effort kept her body warm and chased away the cold breeze for a while. Eventually, sharp pain flared in her wrist, and the ax slipped out of her grasp to land on the ground. A wave of crushing frustration washed over her. She bit her lip tightly to hold back her emotions, but tears still spilled down her cheeks. Her life had turned upside down countless times in a single day. She had refused to wallow in despair on the beach and kept pushing forward to survive through every hardship. She had truly tried her hardest to stay alive. But survival had to be so difficult. She feared she would freeze to death once night arrived. She grew up inland, but she had visited coastal areas enough to know how brutal seaside winds could be in the early hours. The icy chill would cut right through, leaving a deep, bone-settling cold behind. The island's climate reminded her of the coastal city she knew from her previous world. Temperatures dropped sharply after dark, and strong winds would only make the cold worse. She remembered local seaside visitors wearing thick cotton coats to stay comfortable during late-night tide fishing. Isabella tugged at her thin swimsuit fabric and crouched on the ground in defeat, letting her tears flow freely. Her body ached all over, and exhaustion weighed heavily on her mind. A sharp thought crossed her mind. Jason, her husband and the jerk who had harmed her, might have been sent to this world too. She refused to give up and die here. A fierce will to survive ignited in her eyes. She used her uninjured left hand to soothe her sore right arm, wiped away her tears, and picked up the ax again to continue working. The messy cuts on the tree trunk had grown fairly deep. She believed a few more swings would bring the tree down. She endured the lingering pain and worked in short bursts with frequent breaks. Half an hour of effort finally paid off. A crisp cracking sound rang out as the tree trunk split and toppled toward the ground. Isabella had been swinging the ax on pure muscle memory by then, and the sudden noise startled her. She tensed to jump out of the way, but the falling tree vanished completely before it could hit the dirt. A mechanical system notification sounded beside her right after. [You have obtained lumber x30.] Isabella snapped out of her daze and opened her system inventory to confirm the reward. Then she realized the moderately-sized tree had granted fifteen lumber units on its own. Her Easy Catch System buff had doubled the reward to thirty units total. A huge sense of relief washed over her. She had pulled through, and she knew she had a chance to survive now. Her eyes lit up, and a bright smile spread across her face. [Level-1 shelter upgrade requirements: lumber 30/10, grass 20/20.] She had gathered more resources than the upgrade required. Without hesitation, she tapped the upgrade button immediately. The platform not far from her began to shift in a strange, magical manner. Unseen forces moved above the metal surface, steadily assembling a thatched gazebo. The moment the one-minute countdown on her system panel ended, a complete thatched gazebo materialized in its place. The system notification popped up. [Congratulations. Your shelter has been upgraded to level 1. You have obtained a newbie chest (red) as a reward.] Isabella's mood lifted instantly. She had been looking forward to receiving the newbie reward. She opened her system inventory and spotted a bright, glowing red chest that stood out among her other items. She tapped it to check its details. [Newbie chest (red): All item grades rank from lowest to highest as White, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange and Red. Newbie Chests grant rewards of random grades upon opening.] "It's the highest possible grade!" Isabella exclaimed. Her eyes widened in pure disbelief. She stared at the panel, stunned by her incredible luck. She took a slow breath to calm her racing excitement. Her hands trembled slightly as she selected the option to open the chest. A burst of golden light flashed across the screen, revealing five distinct glowing item icons. Chapter 3 Open Chests Isabella couldn't identify the items from their icons alone. She dragged her cursor across each one from left to right to read their descriptions. The icons displayed different colored glows, which corresponded to the same grade system shown earlier for the chest. The items followed the standard ranking of White, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange and Red from the lowest to the highest quality. The first item was wrapped in a vivid red glow, confirming it as the top-grade reward from the chest. [Secret of easy catch (red) x1: Barehanded Fishing (100% success rate). It ensures the player always has a steady supply of fish for food.] Isabella felt both amused and exasperated. She couldn't believe this underwhelming skill was her highest-grade reward. She had hoped for something combat-related. The jungle was bound to hold dangerous wild animals and venomous insects. She had no combat power to speak of and wouldn't survive long without proper defensive skills. The second item shimmered with a bright orange aura. [Permanent booster potion (orange) x1: Permanently increases the player's strength attribute by 5 points.] Strength truly made all the difference for survival. Isabella nodded with genuine satisfaction. Increased strength would speed up her resource gathering and tree chopping work. It would also give her a fighting chance if she ever encountered hostile wildlife. The third item glowed with a vivid purple aura. [Leather boots (purple) x1: This foot armor has 10,000 durability. It loses durability each time it blocks damage.] Isabella wiggled her scarred feet and wore a big smile. She was so glad to finally have shoes to wear. Yet the smile faded soon after. She saw the item was marked as armor with a durability stat, like defensive equipment in online games. She started to wonder if wild monsters lived in the jungle. She had no proper weapons at hand and didn't know how she could fight. A chill ran over her at the thought. Isabella was familiar with online games. Everything happening around her was nothing like ordinary island survival. It felt like she had traveled into a real game world. She closed her eyes to calm her mind and moved on to check the fourth chest with a purple glow. [Auto-chef kitchen (purple) x1: It came with all kinds of kitchen tools and could make any meal. [The full kitchen takes up 1,900 square feet and can only be placed on the platform.] Isabella chose to leave it aside because the platform couldn't fit such a large setup yet. Then she moved on to the fifth purple-grade chest. [Massage bed (purple) x1: This bed relieves physical discomfort with extended use. It uses one energy gem every five hours.] Isabella thought this bed would work perfectly after long hours of hard work. People like her, who didn't exercise often, would feel sore all over the morning after heavy physical work. This bed would help her stay in good shape every single day. She tapped to confirm the item, and it went directly into her system inventory. She took out the permanent booster potion and drank it at once. A strong wave of energy filled her body instantly. She clenched her fist and slammed it against the rock, eager to feel her new strength. But the stone never budged an inch. Pain flared up immediately, and she pulled her hand back in a hurry. "That hurts," she muttered. As her fist flew forward earlier, she pictured rookie fighters on TV who gained new strength and smashed rocks with a single blow. Now she realized she had let her imagination run wild. The five extra strength points only helped her get past the weakest physical level. Isabella rubbed her red and painful hand and sat down on the rock. She brushed away the sand on her feet, took the leather boots out of her inventory, and put them on gently. The boots were soft and dry against her feet, and she breathed out in relief before settling down to eat. The chest held no food or fresh water, but her satiety was nearly zero. She finished the bagel without noticing and only had water left to drink. She owned a fully functional kitchen but couldn't make use of it. The unit took up too much space and could only be placed on her platform. The platform was far too small to fit the kitchen anytime soon. She couldn't access any food inside the kitchen, even if it had supplies stored away. A new thought calmed her worries. She had gained the barehand fishing skill, which meant she could catch fish straight from the water and survive on raw fish if she had to. Isabella pulled out the high-grade skill book to read its full description. [This active skill guarantees successful barehanded fishing in all bodies of water. The skill can be used again after one full hour.] That meant she could use the skill in any natural water source and cast it once each hour. Even small catches would still keep her fed through tough days. Isabella tapped the button to learn the skill, but she felt no strange sensations at all. "That's all there is to it? Let me test this out," she muttered. She walked toward the shore with doubt in her mind. Bending down, she dipped both hands into the shallow water. There were no fish in sight, but almost at once, something surprising happened. Her fingers closed around something slippery and small. She lifted her hands out of the water to see a thin and short fish, and she couldn't name its species. The skill indeed guaranteed a 100% success rate, but the fish was much smaller than she had hoped and barely enough to ease her hunger. She wondered how this skill could keep her from going hungry. She opened her status page to check further. The skill was now in cooldown with fifty-nine minutes remaining. 'Was this really considered a full catch?' she thought. Still, she decided to keep the small catch for later. Every bit of food helped when supplies ran low. She placed the fish into her system inventory. The item is split into two separate entries once stored. One portion was 0.7 ounces of clean fish fillet and the other was 1.7 ounces of fertilizer. The system had divided the edible meat from the fish's internal parts. The edible part seemed even more meager now. She had wanted to eat the whole fish in one bite, and she certainly couldn't eat the internal parts on their own. To make matters worse, the entry for clean fish fillet came with an extra note. [The meat carries mild toxins. A resistance stat of one or higher is required for consumption.] She checked her status panel and found that she didn't have this stat at all. Her catch was completely useless, and a wave of hopelessness washed over her. Isabella let out a sigh. She decided to return to her thatched gazebo and work out other solutions later. Her new boots let her move quickly back to the platform. She pressed the upward button, moved the straw curtain aside and walked into her small shelter. A pleasant warmth surrounded her right away, a feeling she had missed for quite some time. The shelter was very basic. Loose sand covered parts of the floor, and nothing else filled the empty space. Isabella didn't mind the simple conditions. She felt thankful to have a place that blocked wind and rain. She brought out the massage bed and set it up inside. This purple-grade item looked quite elegant. The bed stretched six and a half feet wide and almost eight feet long. It took up so much room that the small shelter felt cramped as soon as it was fully positioned. The whole bed was black. A type of leather covered the headboard and every outer edge. The mattress fit perfectly within the frame. It looked soft and comfortable even with no blankets or bedding on top. A button rested on each side of the headboard to control the power. She could turn the bed off when she didn't need it and keep from wasting energy gems. She considered herself lucky, because most of the items she had obtained were truly useful. Isabella stretched out on the soft bed and pressed one of the buttons. The bed didn't deliver the firm massage she expected. A faint tingle moved across her body like a gentle flow of energy. Before long, warmth spread all over her. The bed seemed to adjust its internal temperature on its own. 'Does this mean blankets are no longer needed? I guess I won't feel cold through the night,' Isabella wondered. But she shook off the idea right away. Only one side of her body pressed against the bed, so she'd still feel the cold air. Her next thought was where she could get more energy gems. She sat up and felt around the bed until she found a hidden panel tucked in a corner at the footboard. Inside lay a single dark stone about the size of an egg. She paused for a second, and then carefully took the stone out and registered it in her inventory. The item was marked as an energy gem, with no extra notes or clues on how to find more. "I wish the system would tell me where to get more of these," she mumbled. She put the gem back in place and settled down on the bed again. It was so cozy that she rolled around happily. She had no urge to get up, so she turned her attention to the system chat channels. There were two channels available, the global one and the local zone one. Messages raced across both screens, a clear sign that plenty of other players were online. Isabella held off on reading the chats first. She wanted to check what rules applied to sending messages. After playing around with the controls, she figured out the rules. People could send one message a day in the global channel. The local zone channel allowed ten messages daily, with a three-second wait between each post. She figured the rules existed to stop excessive spamming, given the large number of users. She then started scrolling through the chat logs, but the system only showed the last hundred messages. Chapter 4 She Is Lucky New messages popped up constantly. Most posts in the global channel were empty chatter. It seemed most people only sent random lines to test the feature. Isabella switched over to the local zone channel and started reading along. [What color newbie chest did everyone get? I got a blue one.] [You're so lucky. Mine was just green.] [I'm so annoyed. I opened a white chest, and all I got were two big bottles of water, 33.8 fluid ounces each. How could I survive with that?] [That's rough. At least my green chest had a wooden bed inside.] [Speaking of beds, are all of you chatting from the corners of your thatched gazebos?] [I haven't finished building my thatched gazebo yet. Chopping trees is such hard work. I'm taking a break and will get back to it later.] [Same here. We have three days to finish building anyway. I already have thick clothes to wear, and I got a blanket in my newbie chest. The cold doesn't bother me at all.] [Looks like all of you got pretty lame loot. I scored a purple newbie chest. Wanna see what I got?] [Quit bragging. A purple chest isn't all that special. You just get a couple of extra items.] [My green chest gave me a green-grade ax. I can cut down a tree in half an hour and get five pieces of lumber each time, so I gather materials really fast. [The ax does lose durability, though. It's at six out of one hundred right now, and it'll break once the durability runs out.] [You'll never guess what I pulled from my purple chest. Check out this purple-grade bloodstained longsword. I'm heading into the jungle to hunt soon, and you can all watch me eat meat later.] The zone chat split fast into two separate crowds. Some players yelled harsh words at the lucky person with the rare chest, while others felt nothing but envy. Isabella read through all the zone chat messages to get a clear picture. Most people opened green newbie chests, very few got blue ones, and she only saw one person with a purple chest. No one posted anything about getting a red chest at all. She figured other players who also pulled top-grade red chests like her likely kept quiet about their loot in public chat. She knew red chests would still be extremely rare even if a handful of other players had managed to unlock them. Even if she didn't get any overpowered weapons or skills from her chest, getting a red chest alone meant incredible luck. Landing this red chest was like hitting the lottery's grand prize jackpot. She originally thought she only had a little bit of good luck on her side, but her luck turned out to be far greater than she ever imagined. She won over ten million dollars from a real-world lottery before entering this game. Now she unlocked the highest-grade newbie chest inside the game too, so good fortune clearly stuck with her nonstop. Isabella grinned widely in front of the virtual screen. She still intended to keep a low profile and never brag. Broadcasting her high-value supplies to dozens of other players would only make others turn hostile and target her. It suddenly hit her that she needed more food, so she started looking for an official system shop or an auction house feature. She clicked and checked every icon on the system panel several times over, but couldn't locate any player market or auction house. 'Why isn't there a trading place? Maybe it hasn't been opened up yet?' Isabella wondered. Then she remembered what she noticed earlier when checking other players' profiles in the chat channel. Clicking another player's name pulled up their personal details, plus choices to add them as friends or start a direct trade. After sorting out her choices, Isabella decided to reach out to other players to arrange direct trades. There was no private chat option to message other players directly, so she could only send friend requests first. They could negotiate prices and complete trades only after connecting as friends. She typed out a message, adjusted the wording multiple times in the input box, hesitated for a moment, and then tapped send. Isabella: [I have fifteen lumber pieces available to trade for food and clean water. Send me a friend request if you want to make an exchange, and I will process requests in the order they arrive.] Dozens of friend request notifications popped up the moment her message went through. Isabella selected and accepted ten random requests from the stack. She sat by, waiting for their trade windows and price offers to load onto her screen. Several glowing notifications appeared in the bottom right area of her system panel shortly after, and Isabella opened each one at a time. Vera Lynn: [I don't have warm clothes, and I'm freezing. Can you spare some lumber for me? I'd really appreciate it.] Isabella felt frustrated that this player hoped to get free supplies with nothing to offer in return. She had pushed through every quest alone with a weak character build, yet this stranger thought a quick thank-you covered free supplies. She rolled her eyes and typed a fast reply on her screen. [Beg for free stuff, huh? Begging works on regular sites, but this survival game runs on fair trades.] Then she removed Vera from her friends list after sending the reply. She didn't want a petty fight to ruin her mood. Across the game, Vera stared at her system panel, her cheeks burning hot with fury. She pounded out a long angry reply, only to see a bold red error symbol stop the message dead. She paced around yelling, so wrapped up in frustration that she forgot she was hungry at all. Isabella had no idea about Vera's angry outburst and held no concern for it either. She continued opening each glowing notification one after another. [I don't have any extra food supplies with me at the moment. Could I borrow some lumber from you? I will repay you with resources once I gather more or give you an equal amount of lumber tomorrow. My stamina has fully run out right now.] [I own half a loaf of bagel to put toward this trade. I will give you fifteen lumber pieces tomorrow, and this bagel will serve as extra compensation for your trouble.] [We are all struggling to survive in this harsh environment, so we ought to support one another. Lend me lumber now and I owe you a big favor. I'll help you with any trouble later.] [How did you get so much lumber? Got any easy tips for me?] [I cut one tree and only got twelve lumber. Your shelter is at level 1. Why do you still have fifteen extra pieces of lumber? How did you stock up that much so fast?] Isabella opened more pop-up messages one after another. Some messaged politely to borrow lumber with repayment promises, while others tried tricky schemes. A few carried demanding attitudes and others only asked for ways she gathered large lumber stocks. None of these players intended to complete genuine trades. Isabella grew irritated and removed each contact right after checking their message. She ignored any incoming friend requests afterward. Only two pop-up conversations seemed reliable enough for her to hold onto. Shawn Wright: [Hello. I can trade 33.8 fluid ounces of pure water and 7.1 ounces of bread for your lumber. Is that okay with you?] Every player held limited food supplies and kept most for their own consumption. Items placed inside the system inventory never went stale, so people guarded their rations closely. Most survivors viewed food as more valuable than lumber in the game world. Shawn stood alone as the only person willing to offer such a generous amount of food for a lumber trade. Amber Lane: [Hi, there. I don't have extra food to offer, but I unlocked a women's winter pajama set from my chest. Would you accept fifteen lumber in exchange for this set?] Amber had clearly viewed Isabella's player profile and saw her wearing nothing but a bikini. She assumed Isabella would readily trade lumber for clothing that could cover her body and keep out the cold. Isabella clicked open Amber's profile page. The image showed a bright, lively girl dressed in a thick hooded winter jacket and sturdy sneakers. Isabella felt strong envy looking at the warm protective outfit on display. She wanted the pajama set badly, yet worried she would run short on food by the next day if she made this trade. She remained stuck weighing her options when Shawn sent a follow-up message. Shawn: [I really need the lumber right now. I injured my right arm and can't cut down trees for some time. I also have five extra bundles of grass to add to the trade deal.] Everything made sense to Isabella. A grown man could have normally chopped plenty of lumber with ease, but his hurt arm stopped him from doing the work himself. Isabella tapped his avatar out of instinct to check on him and gasped at what she saw. Deep gashes tore open Shawn's right arm, and blood coated the skin, as if a wild beast had ripped a large chunk of flesh from his limb. His face looked drained of color, yet his handsome features stood out clearly. He had captivating eyes, a high-bridged nose and tightly pressed thin lips. His refined jaw lifted a little, and his pale skin brought a haunting, fragile kind of attractiveness. 'He's easy on the eyes, though clearly fragile. I can't believe how fast he's gotten this banged up, hurt far worse than me,' Isabella thought. She weighed her options carefully. Daytime tree-cutting wouldn't leave her freezing, yet going without food was not sustainable. She let go of plans to trade for warm clothing and focused first on filling her stomach. She sent a trade request straight to Shawn. He approved the offer right away. Shawn kept his promise by placing 33.8 fluid ounces of pure water and 7.1 ounces of bread into the trade interface. He added five bundles of grass as an extra gesture. Isabella put fifteen lumber pieces into the window, and the trade finalized successfully. Chapter 5 Gray Avatar Shawn sent a fresh message shortly after the trade completed. [Thanks.] Isabella sent no reply and closed their chat window. She then opened her chat window with Amber, hoping to negotiate a lower price. Isabella: [Sorry, can we lower the lumber amount? Would five pieces work for you?] She only held five pieces of lumber in her inventory at that point. Amber: [I'm sorry. That won't work. This outfit is worth plenty. I said no to someone who offered ten pieces of lumber a moment ago. Eleven pieces are the minimum for a swap.] Isabella wished she could complete the swap, but she lacked enough lumber to meet the demand, so she left the message unanswered. Shawn and Amber never pried into her personal matters, and Isabella felt a quiet liking toward both people. She kept them on her friend list and they kept her as well. All three felt comfortable with their past exchanges. She planned to rely on them first for future trades. This survival game worked far less simply than it seemed. Players couldn't buy supplies from a store or use a public player market, and everyone collected wildly different sets of resources. Trading one-on-one meant picking trustworthy people to prevent being cheated out of goods. Isabella eyed the bread sitting in her system inventory. She held back her hunger repeatedly before taking the bread out. Her satiety sat at fifty percent. She could've held off on eating entirely and saved the bread until morning to stretch supplies more wisely, yet she couldn't resist taking a bite. This train of thought tugged a bitter smile onto Isabella's face. She used to eat whatever, whenever she wanted. Now every bite had to be weighed for how much it'd sustain her. She took one tiny bite, and then stowed the loaf back in her system inventory. The thatched gazebo had no lamps or windows at all. But when the wind ruffled the grass mat covering the doorway, faint slivers of light slipped through the gaps. At the same time, eerie distant cries echoed endlessly from the jungle behind her gazebo, filling Isabella with a subtle sense of unease. Even so, the raised platform and sturdy gazebo calmed her frayed nerves quite a lot. "I wonder what it's like out there," she muttered to herself. "The shore must be gorgeous in the moonlight." She felt her way off her bed and walked toward the entrance, lifting a corner of the grass covering a thin crack on the left. The second she laid eyes on the landscape beyond the gazebo, she gasped. She finally understood why the platform could be adjusted in height. She'd thought it was only to keep wild animals at bay, but the real reason was the ocean's nightly tide surge. By the moonlight, Isabella could see the waterline creeping upward fast, though it had been well away from her not long before. Normal high tide sent pounding surf crashing against the sand, yet this water rose silently. It swallowed the entire stretch of shore without a single loud crash of waves. The sight left her utterly stunned. She quickly dropped the heavy grass covering and pulled up her system panel. As she expected, global and local zone chat feeds flooded with players talking frantically about the rising tide. [The person I was chatting with cut off mid-sentence just now.] [The water's shooting up fast. They need to get back to their platforms immediately.] [Will they make it in time? Why camp out on the shore overnight instead of resting up on their raised gazebos?] [They probably headed down to look at the view.] [Some might be holed up in jungle brush to escape the wind.] [Lots of players stay up late chopping lumber. Felling trees takes so much work, and hauling heavy axs wrecks your wrists after hours of swinging.] [Weird noises carry all through the jungle at night. Hardly anyone dares set foot deep in there.] [A guy I know with a seven-point strength stat went deep into the jungle to hunt and build a shelter. But he hasn't messaged me back since he left.] Chat messages scrolled rapidly across the screen. But a daily post limit kept every user from chatting freely. Each person felt stranded alone on a separate island with no other humans in sight. The unsettling atmosphere stopped people from closing their system panel, as if keeping the window open brought them a small measure of security. Everyone held the chat channel active even without sending messages, and Isabella followed this same pattern. A pop-up icon began flashing in the bottom right of her panel shortly after. Isabella maintained only two contacts on her friend list. She checked the sender's name and found it belonged to Amber. Amber: [Isabella, are you online?] Isabella wondered if Amber had changed her mind about their earlier trade. Isabella: [Yes.] Amber: [I owe you an apology. I traded away my pajamas because I badly needed lumber. I wasted most of today overwhelmed by tears and failed to cut down a single tree. [I needed no less than ten lumber pieces to get by. That was why I couldn't trade with you.] Isabella: [There is no need to apologize. I understand completely.] Amber: [My strength stat sits at only three. What about yours?] Isabella: [My strength is five.] Her base strength point had started at two, and a five-point boost raised her real strength to seven. But she withheld details of both her starting stat and her actual current strength value. She chose to hide this true power because caution was second nature to her. Amber: [No wonder you managed to collect so much lumber and still had extra left after leveling up your shelter. I will put in more effort tomorrow. [Speaking of which, are we really stuck in a game? So many impossible things keep happening. Did we turn into flat game avatars, or is this a full virtual reality experience? I want to go home...] Isabella: [It could be any of those scenarios. Did you see other people disappear right before you ended up here?] She wanted to find out if everyone from their original world had been transported over at the same time. Amber: [I have no idea. I was eating when a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me. I blinked once and everything around me changed completely. [Do you hear the wind outside? It howls like lost ghosts and it scares me badly. Do you think rain is coming?] Isabella: [Don't worry. Our thatched gazebo will keep us protected.] She would have reassured Amber that the weather was clear and no rain was coming under normal circumstances. But the unsettling sight of rapidly rising seawater and the initial system prompt to upgrade shelters made her far less confident that the night would stay safe. The tide hadn't covered the raised platforms, so severe weather was probably coming. Anyone who failed to upgrade their shelter would have a terrible night ahead. Amber: [Oh, no. Plenty of people haven't gotten their shelters upgraded. They will get soaked and freeze through the whole night. No one can endure that bitter cold.] Isabella: [They should be fine for now because the newbie protection period is still active.] The system promised a three-day newbie protection period, so everyone might stay unharmed for the time being. Amber: [I hope that works out. Thick clothes or blankets would help them cope a lot better.] Isabella had put every bit of energy into upgrading her shelter to escape nighttime cold. She rested easily on her big, soft bed right then, as the temperature-regulated massage mattress held a steady warm surface beneath her. Parts of her body that didn't touch the bed still felt cool, but gentle electrical pulses eased all the muscle soreness built up over the day. She was far too comfortable to grasp how miserable other players felt. The heavy workload from the day drained her energy and made her want rest badly. Isabella: [I'm worn out. I'm signing off to sleep.] She chose to close their conversation, even though the system clock read a little past eight in the evening. Amber: [Alright, rest well.] Isabella shut down the private message window and prepared to dim the system panel for sleep when she caught sight of new messages in the local zone chat. [The person I was talking to hasn't responded at all. I checked his profile, and his avatar has turned gray.] [The player who went deep into the jungle also has a gray avatar now.] [I added several friends earlier, and one of their avatars has faded gray. Does anyone know what this means?] [All of our avatars stay bright and colored. Does a gray avatar mean that the player died?] [This is awful. None of us dares walk into the jungle. Those players only went in because they trusted their own ability to survive. How could they be gone already?] The chat channel stayed quiet for a long while after those messages. Every player took time to absorb the shocking news, and the reality of living inside a deadly survival game sank in fully. They realized that people could really lose their lives in this world and that danger would creep up slowly without any obvious warning signs. Chapter 6 Try Hard to Upgrade Isabella looked away and closed the chat channel to rest. Her body ached all over from a long, hard day. Small scrapes covered her skin, and sharp pain throbbed in her feet and hands. Blisters formed by gripping the ax had split open, leaving her palms stinging fiercely. The massage bed eased her discomfort greatly, and her condition improved noticeably. She chose to leave the power running instead of shutting it down. Muscle stiffness often set in the day after heavy physical labor, and she wanted ongoing relief overnight. The three-day newbie protection period carried huge importance. She had to maintain peak physical condition to handle whatever challenges came next. She left the bed powered on despite having no clear idea how long her energy gem would hold out. She set a goal to upgrade her shelter to the next level the following day. Her current structure only had thin grass screens for walls and offered little reliable protection. A level-2 shelter built as a solid thatched hut would provide far sturdier safety compared to her fragile makeshift gazebo. Her thoughts drifted over these plans as Isabella drifted gently into deep sleep. The night brought different experiences for every player. Some lay awake tangled in anxious thoughts with no chance to rest; some collapsed into sleep right away, worn thin by nonstop physical work through daylight hours; others brushed off the growing risks and stayed up chatting late into the night. Just like that, the first full day trapped inside this survival game drew to an end. Two groups faced fatal harm before nightfall. Rising tide waters drowned players who remained on open shorelines, and bold explorers who traveled deep into jungle terrain disappeared entirely. No other serious threats touched the remaining players throughout the whole day. Most people felt curious and lightly thrilled by the strange new environment rather than overcome with overwhelming fear. Rain began to fall across the island around two in the morning. It stayed gentle, not heavy. But many people who had no thatched gazebo or bedding were immediately jolted awake by the faint drizzle. Isabella was a light sleeper. The soft sound of rain tapping the thatched canopy pulled her awake. Half-asleep, she mumbled, "It's raining. Lots of people won't get any sleep tonight." She curled onto her side in bed, and her breathing settled back into a slow, even rhythm quickly. She didn't know the zone chat had filled with messages once again. The ocean breeze alone made everyone shake with cold on nights without rain, and the falling rain made their situation far harder to bear. Many players had no choice but to take off their water-soaked jackets or wrap blankets over their heads. They sat out on the bare open platform, shaking nonstop from the bitter cold. Once they ran out of their zone chat message limit, they had nothing to do but sit there waiting until fatigue wore them out enough to fall asleep. The light drizzle lasted all the way until dawn, and dozens of players had caught colds and spiked fevers by the time the rain stopped. Isabella roused naturally from sleep. She yawned and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before sitting up to power off her massage bed. She took a slow stretch and prepared to climb down, only to notice puddles spread all across the platform surface. Luckily, her bed sat high up on four solid legs, so the frame stayed completely dry and free of rainwater. She grabbed her leather boots out of her system inventory and put them on. Cold air washed over her the second her feet touched the floor, and goosebumps broke out all over her skin right away. Isabella wrapped her arms tightly around herself and tucked her neck down. She made up her mind firmly that she would find a full set of warm clothes today. She pushed aside her plan to upgrade her shelter that she had thought over the day before. Warm clothing was more important than any shelter work at this moment. Her hair hung loose and tangled as she walked out of the thatched gazebo. The morning ocean wind cut right through her and left her feeling even colder than before. Isabella walked over to the platform's stone pillar and pressed the downward button, all while breathing warmth into her palms. She kept blowing heat onto her hands and stomped her feet fast to warm her body up. The beach looked as it had the day before. A bright orange sun rose slowly over the distant horizon, spilling soft orange light across the ocean. Small waves glinted brightly under the warm golden-orange glow. But Isabella couldn't spare any attention to appreciate the pretty view around her because she was shaking violently from the cold. Isabella walked to the edge of the jungle before pulling bread out of her system inventory. She bit into the bread slowly while observing the conditions within the woodland area. Seawater had covered this stretch the night before yet caused minimal damage. Only small puddles dotted the ground with no large pools of standing water across the land. Every plant bore clusters of tiny water droplets. These droplets gathered in weight to bend the leaves, and thin streams dripped from leaf tips down into the soil below. "What a waste of all this water," Isabella muttered to herself. She had barely finished lamenting the unused water when she recalled there was still water left in her bottle. She pulled the bottle out and drank its contents in large gulps, leaving behind an empty container. Then she began gathering water from the plant leaves all around her. The jungle was thick with wide-leaf vegetation, and she soon filled her empty bottle to the top. She dared not drink the collected water straight away. Without fire or cooking tools available, she stored the bottle safely to use only in times of real need. Once she finished this work, sunlight fell over her body and carried noticeable warmth. The air no longer held the sharp chill present during early morning hours. "You can do this," Isabella said to cheer herself on. Her spirits lifted after this quiet encouragement, and she turned toward the beach.