Chapter 1. Is This Really a Dream?

Chapter 1. Is This Really a Dream?

“I need to fall asleep fast… Tomorrow I have to get up at five again.
Be at work by seven. Damn… Even tomorrow—my only day off—they still managed to make me work.

Six days in a row, twelve hours each, and then this.

Of course the plan isn’t done. It couldn’t be done!
Anyone who gets hired here doesn’t last ten days—they quit in droves. Just this month, more than twenty new people came, and they’ve all already run off. No one stayed longer than a month. No one!

Damn… If not for that contract I signed, I would’ve quit long ago. But for now—there’s no way.

I just want to fall asleep… and never wake up.

I’m so tired.

--

Hot.

I flinched when a bright light struck me right in the face.

Damn… did I forget to close the curtains?

The sun was beating so hard my eyes started to water.

“I have to get to work…” I muttered automatically.

A stab of fear hit my heart: if I’m late even by a minute, that’s a fine. A huge fine—twenty-five percent of my monthly salary for a single minute.

I sprang to my feet.

“Damn…” I still couldn’t open my eyes; the light was too bright, cutting into them.

I need to get to the bathroom, wash up, and go to work. No time for breakfast…

I reached out by feel toward the door, trying to find the handle.

“Yeah, here’s the wall…” I mumbled.

I ran my palm over the surface—and froze.

Is this really the wall of my room?

It felt strange—uneven, rough-soft, like earth.

Yes, my wall’s needed repairs for a long time… but not to the point of crumbling right under my fingers.

On instinct, I suddenly took a deep breath.

Weird… a smell. Damp soil.

What happened to my room?..

With effort, I pried my eyelids apart—my eyes were slowly getting used to the light.

In front of me… that definitely wasn’t the wall of my room.

I spun around—and my heart dropped into my shoes.

“Damn!.. Where am I?.. How did I get here?..”

When my eyes finally adjusted, I froze, stunned by the sight that opened before me.

Spread out before me was an impossible scene—like something off a painter’s canvas.

The ground was covered with thick, lush green. Between the grass rose shrubs with bright scarlet berries. Off to the side I could see a few trees—slender and tall.

But the main thing—a river.

About twenty-five meters from me, its clear waters rolled lazily forward. It was no more than five meters across, and even from here I could tell how clean it was. The sun reflected on the surface, making the water almost luminous.

I breathed in deeply—the air was astonishingly fresh, clean, the way I remembered it only from the distant childhood I’d spent in a village.

How did I get here? What is this place?..

On the far side of the river rose a cliff, solid and smooth like a wall. Twelve meters high, maybe a bit more—less than fifteen for sure, but definitely over ten. I turned around and went cold: on my side, it was the same. Sheer rock faces surrounded me on all sides.

A little canyon.

Once, a raging river must have carved its way through here, and now the water had dwindled, flowing calmly along the center of a narrow valley.

The beauty of this place was mesmerizing.

I walked slowly toward the river. The closer I came, the more clearly I could see how transparent it was. No more than a meter deep, and the bottom was visible down to the smallest details: gray pebbles, sparse underwater plants, even tiny fish flickering among them.

I had never seen water this clean in my life.

I glanced around again.

This… is a lucid dream. That’s the only way to explain it.

A place like this could not exist—not in my city, not nearby, not even anywhere in the country. Even the village where I spent my childhood has long since been swallowed by houses and roads. But here—nature, air, water. A purity I’ve never seen. Even in childhood, rivers weren’t this transparent.

How could I have gotten here?

Yes, this is definitely a dream.

I used to try practicing lucid dreaming. A couple of times I even managed to slip into strange dreams where I realized I was asleep. Then it stopped working, no matter how hard I tried. But now… now I’d landed in one of those unbelievably realistic dreams again.

I sat by the river and reached my hand into the water. My fingers sank into a cool surface. Real. Too real. I cupped water in both hands and splashed my face.

Ice-cold pierced my skin, my breath caught. But then came a freshness so pleasant I couldn’t help but smile.

Is this really just a dream?.. Can a dream be this realistic?

Maybe it really isn’t reality. But it can’t be reality either.

If this is a lucid dream, then I can do a lot… right? In dreams like this you can control what happens. The only question is—how?

“Alright…” I muttered, feeling a childlike thrill wake up inside me. “What if I imagine I’ve ended up in another world?”

I closed my eyes and focused. A thought flashed through my head: “System window, appear!”

I snapped my eyes open. Nothing.

“Damn… Alright, again. Status window!”

Silence. Only the murmur of the river.

“Character status!” Louder now, almost in desperation.

Nothing.

I frowned and scratched the back of my head, thinking.

But in lucid dreams this is supposed to work… If I want something, it has to appear, doesn’t it?

I stared into the empty space before me, as if I could force it to fill in by sheer will.

“Come on… how do I make the status window appear?..”

As soon as I said that, a blue window flared to life right before my eyes.

I froze.

It was exactly the kind of status menu I’d seen in games, anime, and web novels.

[Status]

[Name: Alisar

Level: 0 (0/1000)

Rank: 0

HP: 1090

MP: 1000

Strength: 47

Defense: 30

Speed: 32

Intelligence: 41

Magic Power: 24

Magic Defense: 35

Free Attribute Points: 0

Skills: —

Special Skills: Training Room (Rank 1)]

“Now that’s more like it,” I murmured with a broad smile. “A real status window!”

I stared at the line “Level 0” and frowned.

“Hey, no… I want to be at least level one hundred!”

I focused, trying to “rewrite” the numbers. Nothing changed.

“Damn… Fine. Leveling from zero isn’t bad either.”

“Alright… let’s study this more closely,” I muttered, peering at the lines. “So I need a thousand experience points to reach level one? Damn… I’m not even level one!”

I couldn’t help a wry chuckle.

“Well, fine. Starting from zero is even more interesting.”

My gaze dropped again to a puzzling word.

“Rank 0… What does that even mean?”

At that very moment, another window floated up before my eyes:

--

[Rank Designations]

[Rank 0: per level, +1 to all attributes and +1 free attribute point.

Rank 1: per level, +2 to all attributes and +2 free attribute points.

Rank 2: per level, +4 to all attributes and +6 free attribute points.

Rank 3: per level, +8 to all attributes and +24 free attribute points.

Rank 4: per level, +16 to all attributes and +120 free attribute points.

Rank 5: per level, +32 to all attributes and +720 free attribute points.

Data for ranks above 5 is unavailable.]

--

“Whoa… so that’s what it means. The higher the rank, the more attributes you gain per level… Yeah, that’s really cool.”

I scanned the window again.

But… is this a lot or a little? I’ve got nothing to compare it to. Maybe my stats are pathetic crumbs—or maybe they’re above average.

HP and MP looked pretty impressive, but who knows how things work here.

“Alright,” I muttered. “Let’s keep going…”

I moved my gaze to the “Skills” line. Only one.

“Seriously?.. One skill?.. I want more!”

Under “Special Skills” it said: Training Room.

“What kind of room is that?..”

The instant I thought it, another system window flashed up before my eyes.

[Skill Description]

[Training Room]

[A special skill that allows the owner to move to a special training room.]

[Inside, you can complete missions and earn experience points.]

[Current Rank: 1]

[Time Ratio: inside the room, time flows 120 times faster than in the outside world.]

“The ability to gain experience points is great,” I muttered. “But it all depends on how many exactly you can get…”

My eyes lingered on the line about time acceleration.

Time flows one hundred and twenty times faster… But will that do me any good?

If this were reality, it would give a huge advantage. But since it’s just a lucid dream… what’s the difference?

“Alright. How do I activate this skill? Activate Training Room!” I said out loud.

I immediately glanced around, as if someone could hear me.

“Phew… good thing no one’s here,” I exhaled with a smirk. “Though… what does it matter. It’s a dream.”

I focused on the words “Training Room” in the system window. And then…

Everything vanished.

A new view unfolded before my eyes and shifted into a strange chamber. I was standing in the middle of a spacious room: about ten meters long, five wide, and roughly three high. Everything—from floor to ceiling—was smooth gray stone.

The two short walls, about five meters each, were solid stone. And on the long walls, ten meters each, there were three windows apiece.

I walked up to one and cautiously looked out. A gentle wind blew against my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, then looked again.

Beyond the window there was no ground, no sky… just white, dense fog. It glowed with a soft light, as if the room itself were floating somewhere inside the clouds.

“Alright, enough sightseeing…” I muttered. “Who knows how much longer this dream will last.”

I returned to the center of the room and stopped.

So… how do I get a mission to earn experience? I wondered.

A system window flared up before me at once.

[Mission 1]

[Squat: 0/1]

I blinked.

“That’s it?..” I whispered in surprise.

“Well yeah, it’s just a dream. It’d be weird if they handed me something complicated,” I muttered.

I squatted and stood right back up.

A message flashed before my eyes:

[Mission 1 Complete]

[First mission finished.

Reward: +10 EXP.]

“Ten experience?.. Only ten?” I mumbled, scowling at the window. “And I need a thousand just to reach level one…”

I sighed and gave a crooked smile.

“Figures—even my dream is mocking me.”

Another message appeared:

[Mission 2]

[Squats: 0/2]

The second mission was the same. Only instead of one squat, I had to do two now.

“Who even comes up with missions like these?” I snorted. “So easy… And the reward, of course, is nothing to write home about.”

I shook my head.

“It would be funny if every mission after this turned out to be just squats too… Only with more reps.”

I drew a deep breath and squatted. Once. Twice.

A message flashed before my eyes:

[Mission 2 Complete]

[Squats: 2/2

Reward: +20 EXP.]

“Nine… one more… ten!” I straightened, breathing hard.

A message flashed before my eyes:

[Mission 10 Complete]

[Squats: 10/10

Reward: +100 EXP.]

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

It was easy at first… but now it wasn’t so simple anymore. Can you really get this tired even in a dream?

A new message appeared:

[Mission No. 11]

[Squats: 0/11

Push-ups: 0/1]

“Okay, something new…” I muttered, reading the line. “Push-ups. Meaning lie on the floor and, bracing with your hands, lower and raise your body.”

I sighed.

“But still, eleven squats… Alright, that’s not so much. I’ll do it.”

I smiled and clenched my fists.

“No problem. I’ll level up soon.”

[Mission No. 11 Complete]

[Squats: 11/11

Push-ups: 1/1

Reward: +150 EXP]

“I was expecting a hundred and ten… maybe a hundred and twenty EXP at most,” I breathed, staring at the message. “But it’s a hundred and fifty…”

Unexpected joy made me smile.

Maybe the rewards will keep increasing, not just by ten points per mission… the thought flickered.

[Mission No. 12 Complete]

[Squats: 12/12

Push-ups: 2/2

Reward: +200 EXP]

“Great…” I smiled. “One more mission and I’ll finally get my first level.”

[Mission No. 13 Complete]

[Squats: 13/13

Push-ups: 3/3

Reward: +300 EXP]

The moment that message appeared, I felt a wave of warmth ripple through my body. Something like a mild electric charge skimmed along my muscles, and the fatigue suddenly receded.

“At last…” I whispered. “Level one.”

I straightened my shoulders and eagerly called up the system window.

[Status]

Name: Alisar

Level: 1 (200/2000)

Rank: 0

HP: 1090 +30

MP: 1000 +30

Strength: 47 +1

Defense: 30 +1

Speed: 32 +1

Intelligence: 41 +1

Magic Power: 24 +1

Magic Defense: 35 +1

Free Attribute Points: 1

Skills: —

Special Skills: Training Room (Rank 1)

“Well then, I’m ready to keep doing missions,” I said aloud.

But instead of the usual system window, a light suddenly flared before me. I shielded my eyes with my hand, and when the glow faded, an item lay on the stone floor.

It was a sleek black vest, very much like a training vest—thick, with weights, as if made specifically to add extra load.

And what do I need this for? I thought with a snort. Let it sit there. I don’t need this gift; I need to keep doing missions.

However, the new message made me freeze:

[Attention!]

[To continue completing missions, put on the Weighted Vest.]

“So there’s no way around it,” I muttered.

I picked up the vest. The material felt pleasant to the touch, and the weight wasn’t too much—at most a kilo and a half. I pulled it over my head.

“Hm… pretty comfortable,” I noted, moving my arms.

---

3 21Reward: +700 EXP]

“At last… level two!” I exhaled.

The same sensation again: warmth spreading through my body, my muscles tingling with a light electric current. With every second it became easier to breathe, the fatigue retreated.

But the joy didn’t last. I felt the Weighted Vest suddenly get heavier. If before it weighed only a kilo and a half, now it pressed on my shoulders with three.

“Damn…” I whispered. “I thought training would get easier after a level-up. But no… every time the vest gets heavier.”

I clenched my teeth. Yes, the fatigue had eased a bit after the level-up, but I still had almost no strength left.

Wait… I have free attribute points!

I called up the window and put them into “Strength.”

“It should work…” I muttered.

And at that very moment the vest filled with weight again. The load increased once more. Now it was pulling me down by about six kilos.

“Damn!..” I groaned. “You can’t trick the system. Even if this is a dream…”

I exhaled heavily and sank to my knees.

“That’s enough for me. I’m not going to wreck myself even in a dream.”

I looked around the stone room and muttered:

“So… how do I get out of here?..”

As soon as I said that, the world around me shuddered. In the next instant I was back on the soft grass, in the same open place by the river where I’d first woken up.

Oh… the vest was gone. My body felt light—so light that even breathing was pleasant.

I went to the river, scooped water with both hands, and gulped it down. Then again. And again… until I was satisfied.

This was the most delicious water I had ever tasted. Pure, cold, refreshing.

I scooped up more and splashed my face. The coolness washed away the fatigue, and I closed my eyes for a moment.

Then I stood, looked around, and found a spot where the grass was especially soft and thick. I lay down on it carefully and closed my eyes. My body relaxed, my breathing became steady.

If only I could stay here forever… But this is just a dream. Sooner or later I’ll have to wake up, get up, and go back to work.

“No…” I whispered. “I don’t want to. I want to stay here forever.”

I was lying on the grass when I suddenly heard a faint rustle. I jerked my head up and looked that way.

A rabbit emerged from the bushes. White, fluffy, like a toy.

It froze, twitching its nose and drawing in the air, then turned its head toward me.

Great, now it’ll get scared and run, I thought.

Instead, the rabbit moved straight toward me.

I propped myself up and sat. The rabbit came so close that I could reach out and pet it.

So I did. I stretched out my hand, almost feeling the soft fur…

And then—sharp pain.

The rabbit sank its teeth into my hand. Into my palm. I cried out and jerked back.

The cute white creature was gone. Its eyes were glowing bright red, and its mouth had stretched unnaturally wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

Instinctively, I yanked my hand away and sprang to my feet, backing up. The rabbit didn’t take its eyes off me and slowly licked its bloody fangs. With my blood.

“D-damn!.. What kind of nightmare is this?!” burst out of me.

It lunged forward, and, choking on panic, I turned and bolted. My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears.

I glanced back—and went cold. The rabbit was getting closer and closer.

“No… no!” I was almost shouting.

And then I saw the river. My only chance!

I leaped to the water and hurled myself forward, swimming across as best I could. The cold struck my body, but I didn’t stop until I scrambled up on the other bank.

I caught my breath and, looking back, saw with relief that the rabbit had stayed on the other side. It hadn’t followed me.

But the fear didn’t go anywhere. My heart was hammering, my hands were shaking.

Why did my pleasant dream… turn into this nightmare?..

The rabbit stood on the far bank, staring at me. Its eyes were completely red, with no whites and no pupils. Two crimson lights, shining so brightly they were visible even in daylight.

And then I felt pain. First a light prick, then it surged sharply.

“Ah… damn…” I grabbed my hand.

While I was running, I’d barely noticed it—adrenaline had driven me forward. But now the pain crashed over me. My palm burned as if dozens of needles had been driven into it.

I clamped the wound with my other hand, but it did no good.

It shouldn’t be like this in a dream. Pain shouldn’t be this real… this piercing.

A tremor ran through me.

“No… this isn’t a dream,” I whispered. “This is reality.”