Chapter 2: The Game Begins

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: The Game Begins

A small sphere formed in the palm of his hand, shooting out tiny sparks. The sphere kept changing colors at rapid intervals. Victor paid close attention to it, and then the sphere stopped on the color gray as a notification appeared.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: Basic Survival Pack.]

[Rarity: C]

"Wow. How convenient. It’s exactly what I needed."

And he wasn’t being sarcastic. He had already accepted that this would be his new life. I mean, just by looking at the sky, he could tell that he wasn’t in any normal place, and if he was going to survive, there was nothing better than a survival pack to get started.

The sphere grew larger and fell to the ground. It had transformed into a backpack.

But that wasn’t all, because Victor had 3 free summons, and this was only the first one.

Floating in front of him, the sphere went crazy, rapidly changing colors. Blue, purple, gold... He was lucky he didn’t have epilepsy.

"What the hell?"

The speed of the light show transformed into a new notification as the sphere turned purple.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: (Skill) Fire Wolf’s Sense of Smell.]

[Rarity: SSR]

"SSR..."

That was a good thing, right? It had flashy colors! Of course it was! Victor took the sphere into the palm of his hand, and it crumbled into glowing lines that passed through his body. The next instant, Victor took a breath and could suddenly sense and distinguish every scent surrounding him.

"Amazing," he whispered. He hadn’t even realized that he was smiling excitedly.

Finally, the sphere reformed and turned blue.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: Hunter’s Knife.]

[Rarity: R]

Transforming into a knife he had only ever seen in action and war movies, the bladed weapon, secured in a leather sheath, fell into the palm of his hand, bringing his gacha’s round of summons to an end for now.

[You have no Summons remaining.]

Victor swallowed. Even though he had run out of summons for the moment, he couldn’t shake this strange urge to find out what else he could obtain if he got more summons. It was a real shame there weren’t any more.

Even so, he pulled the knife from its sheath and silently examined it, raising it into the air. Up in the sky, the eyes seemed to be staring directly at him.

"So... survival, huh... And they said being a Boy Scout was useless."

He tightened his grip on the handle and smiled.

"Skills, weapons, and this kind of stuff. What else could be waiting for me here?"

It was impossible to believe that this wasn’t a dream, but everything felt so real that he had no choice but to accept that this was actually happening. So Victor put away his knife, picked up the backpack, and slung it over his shoulders.

"Actually, will there be monsters or something? I’m just a human..."

In the bloody game stories involving gods, there were always monsters. What kind of monsters could he possibly encounter if he kept moving forward without even knowing where he was going?

He couldn’t even be happy anymore that his luck hadn’t ruined everything with the gacha, because now he couldn’t shake the thought that something could attack him at any moment. That’s why the sense of smell skill was so convenient.

Victor concentrated on it.

"Although I can smell things from hundreds of yards away. What the hell," he said with a small laugh. "This will definitely help me avoid trouble. I just need to find a place to set up camp and figure out how I can get more gacha summons."

He already had things to do, so he set off. He continued through the forest, observing everything around him.

"I still need to check the backpack, but I don’t think standing around in the middle of nowhere is a good idea. First things first, I need a place with water and shade. That’s what I need."

And it was extremely easy to find one when he had the enhanced sense of smell of a wolf, because he could smell the moisture in the air and figure out which direction the water was in. Although he couldn’t deny that he felt like a dog while sniffing the air.

"Well, the bubble said the system would have answers, so... why do the gods make these kinds of games?"

The system window appeared.

[Entertainment. The gods are busy beings who occasionally need to relieve stress, and they do so through this grand, multiversal event.]

"Hmm... I guess that’s an excuse. I used to enjoy playing on my console after work. So, what should I do now?"

[Keep moving without stopping. It is dangerous to remain stationary in one place for too long. Other participants may find you.]

"Yeah, I guess that’s obvious. But simply going from one place to another without knowing where I’m actually going is dangerous too. Anyway, what is the arena?"

[Recreations of hundreds of worlds merged into a single environment for the survival of the participants. You will be able to find a wide variety of settings.]

Since we were talking about the multiverse, that would be insane. He could easily stumble upon a ruined cyberpunk city or a dark fantasy kingdom guarded by a dragon.

Since the objective was to survive, Victor had no doubt that he could also obtain other items simply by searching around.

"Settings... And what about the other participants? Will some of them be stronger than me?"

[There are. The power scale increases the farther you travel from your Spawn Point. It was designed this way so that participants can level up as they advance, but you are also likely to encounter participants who are slightly more powerful.]

"That doesn’t sound good."

In any case, he had to be cautious if he didn’t want to end up in a losing battle. Unfortunately, and as usual for his luck, he came to an abrupt stop when his nose detected an intense scent that sent chills down his spine.

"What the hell is that?"

He looked toward the depths of the forest, where a powerful roar echoed in every direction.