The bone dog closed in on Arthur's tail. He dove behind a boulder inside the warehouse-cave hybrid building, his heart hammering against his ribs. The massive bone dog stalked toward the boulder, its skeletal frame clicking with each step. Before it could reach him, Arthur heard screaming—not a terrified scream, but one of pure, wild pleasure.
Suddenly, someone—something—came barreling through one of the warehouse doors. A large flash erupted, and then the bone beast, which had looked extremely muscular with bones thick as tree trunks, lay cleaved in half. Black blood pooled beneath both halves of the carcass, spreading across the floor like spilled ink.
A man stood in the middle of the carnage, grinning widely. "Man, I knew just running around and killing would get me somewhere," he said, his voice echoing through the space. "Now time to search through this thing's crystal."
Arthur watched, transfixed, as the man buried his hand inside the beast—at least what remained of it. He had completely destroyed the bone structure and grabbed the crystal, ripping it out with his bare hand as if plucking fruit from a tree.
"Great, great! A big-class crystal. This is amazing," the man examined the glowing object with satisfaction. "Now time to pocket this and go after two more beasts. After all, I need to have the biggest and largest collection of crystals that anyone has ever seen. To do that, I need to kill as many monsters as possible, and I do like fighting, so it's a win-win situation for me." He paused, tilting his head. "Oh, someone's here."
The man turned around and stared directly at the boulder where Arthur was hiding. Arthur's small seven-year-old body was completely covered by the massive rock, yet somehow the man could sense him.
"Don't think I can't see you behind that boulder," the man said, walking toward it. He gripped the stone and completely ripped it apart with just his bare hands, splitting the boulder in half and crushing the pieces as he pounded them into the dirt—or metal, or stone, whatever the floor was made of.
"Man, there's a kid in here. This is just messed up," his expression shifted from triumph to disgust. "Whoever did this is a sick human being. Sheesh." He looked down at Arthur with concern. "What are you doing here, kid? Did someone bring you here or what?"
Arthur's eyes widened. Fear and confusion warred within him. He had thought that the system had brought him here, that this place was completely empty of life. Apparently not.
Suddenly, a notification appeared in his vision—a black screen with white text materialized before him. *You have come in contact with life. Inspect skill has been unlocked.*
"What? What does that mean?" Arthur thought, his mind racing. "What's an inspect skill? What does that even mean?"
Despite his confusion, Arthur said it anyway. "Inspect."
The information flooded his vision:
*Name: Koda*
*Age: 18*
*Survival chance: Zero. You will die if you fight him.*
*Hobbies: Likes to collect crystals from monsters and beasts. Is a battle maniac.*
*Upgrade the inspect skill by using it more and more to unlock additional information about your opponent or potential ally.*
Arthur stared at the information in shock. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. The black screen, the white text—all of it remained.
"Look, I'll see if I can get you out of here," Koda said, his voice gentler now.
Arthur studied Koda more carefully. The young man had jet-black hair, wore red clothing, and carried no visible weapons except for a sword strapped to his back that Arthur could barely make out.
"Take me back? Back to where?" Arthur thought, his mind spinning with possibilities.
"Where are you taking me back to?" Arthur said aloud, his voice small and uncertain.
"Well, I guess I'd just be taking you back to, you know, home—where literally everyone lives," Koda sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Anyway, would you rather be stuck in this hellhole, or would you rather come back with me?"
But the thing was, Arthur could not go back. This was only his mental projection—his physical body was still in the house with Mary and Jack, vulnerable and unconscious.
So how was he supposed to go with him? Another thought struck Arthur: should he leave? If he did, who knew if he would die by not completing the tutorial? The system had said earlier, while he was in the black void before this place appeared, that this was designed to train his void powers and upgrade his strength. He couldn't leave, not yet.
"No," Arthur said, forcing steel into his young voice. "I can't leave. I have things to do here."
Koda smiled, a mixture of respect and amusement crossing his features. "Cool. Anyway, nice meeting you. I'm going to go find some more beasts and gain more crystals. See you later, dude. Have fun not getting eaten by monsters, not dying by a trap—good luck!"
Koda eventually left, walking down one of the halls into a cave-like area that had patches of metal embedded in the walls.
Arthur continued walking, dodging blades that swung from hidden mechanisms, thankfully avoiding injury from any beasts. He tried to move as silently as possible until he heard a noise. It came from down a hallway, behind a door he now fixated his eyes upon. There was plenty of reason to go through there, but when he heard that loud banging noise, he had second thoughts.
The banging grew louder. The door shook violently. The banging intensified until, eventually, silence fell. It was quiet for a few seconds, Arthur's breath caught in his throat.
Then the door absolutely burst open. Metal and stone flew toward him, nearly taking his head off. Arthur was just lucky enough to dodge, throwing himself to the side as debris clattered where he'd been standing moments before.
A large beast draped in shadow emerged from the doorway. The creature had sharp, elongated teeth and deep crimson eyes that seemed to pierce through the darkness. Arthur couldn't see the rest of its body, but he honestly didn't want to.
A system notification flashed before his eyes:
*To activate your void powers, imagine your abilities as you wish and they will manifest.*
Arthur stared at this large, behemoth-like beast and shivered. Could he fight this battle and win? Probably not.
Unlike the traps or Koda's kills, he couldn't respawn if he died. If a beast killed him, he would die in real life. The system had been clear about that.
He should definitely run. No reason to fight that thing, Arthur thought.
But before he could move, the beast lunged forward with impossible speed. Arthur's legs locked in place as the creature's massive shadow engulfed him. The crimson eyes grew closer, closer—
And then everything went black.
A voice whispered through the void: *Death is not always the end. Sometimes, it's just the beginning of understanding what you truly are.*