Chapter 1. Life is meaningless

Chapter 1. Life is meaningless.

I entered my rented room and immediately collapsed onto the bed.
Damn, I should change…

I looked at my phone. 23:41. In a little more than six hours I’m back to work.

And today was my day off. The only one in a week. I already work twelve hours six days a week, and Sunday is my only salvation. I wanted to just stay home, get some sleep, watch a movie or play some game.

I’d been waiting for this day all week, and now it’s gone. The boss mixed something up or just wasn’t in the mood — and called me in to work. My only day off was destroyed.

Tomorrow is Monday. No… I don’t want to go to work. I just want to fall asleep. And never wake up. Yeah… just fall asleep.

--

Slowly my consciousness began to clear. How good it is…

I felt so light, so calm. No alarm clocks. Today is supposed to be my day off.

The sleep was so sweet I wanted to stretch it for at least another minute. I lazily opened my eyes, and immediately squeezed them shut — the sunlight hit me right in the face.

“Hm… looks like I forgot to close the curtains,” I thought. The sun, it seems, had been up for a while already.

I slowly sat up on the bed and stretched. What an awesome feeling — as if I had finally truly gotten enough sleep.

Memories began to clear up.

Wait! Today isn’t a day off. Today is Monday. And yesterday — my only day off — was destroyed by the boss.

I opened my eyes. It was too bright. My eyes stung from the brightness, but gradually I got used to it.

Yes, I need to hurry. Although… I’ve definitely overslept work already.

I jerked, about to jump up, but froze that very instant.

Damn!.. Where am I?

--

After a few minutes I finally came to my senses.

Yeah, about work… being late is postponed for now. That’s not so important anymore.

A few minutes ago I was thinking only about that, but now there is a much more serious question.

How did I end up here? And in general… where am I?

Looks like I’m in some kind of canyon.

Width — about fifty or sixty meters. In the middle flows a river, crystal clear. About five meters wide.

I leaned down and froze: the bottom was visible down to the details. Pebbles, sparse algae, a few small fish. I hadn’t seen water this transparent in many years.

The banks were covered with soft grass. Here and there shrubs stretched, and berries were visible on them — mostly still green, but in some places already red, ripe. Beautiful, it pleases the eye.

In the distance I noticed several small trees.

Both banks ended with a wall of earth. Steep, almost vertical slopes about ten meters high. I definitely won’t get out by climbing them.

So the road is only one — either upstream or downstream. I don’t know where to go… but right now that doesn’t seem all that important.

Before my eyes — a place too beautiful. So vivid that it’s even scary: is it real? Maybe I’m just sleeping?

I pinched myself harder. It hurt. Looks like this is reality. Or am I able to feel such pain even in a dream?..

I sat by the bank on the soft grass, then lay down and looked at the sky. I exhaled deeply.

Yes, this must be real. It’s unlikely a dream can be this crisp.

And, to be honest, I don’t care. Even if it’s a dream — it’s so beautiful and quiet here.

[System initialization. Welcome.]

Suddenly a blue window appeared in front of me — like in games.

I jumped to my feet. Wherever I looked, it hung right before my eyes.

I reached out my hands — my palms passed through, as if it didn’t exist at all. And immediately after that the window disappeared.

“What was that?.. A hallucination?” I muttered.

Possibly. Most likely. But what if after all…

“Status,” I said quietly. Nothing.
“Status window,” a little louder. Zero reaction.
“Character sheet,” burst out almost as a shout.

Nothing. I suddenly looked around — after all I looked like a teenager who had read too many stories.

Well, whatever. There’s no one here besides me and nature. It was worth a try.

I recalled that very window… and then it flashed in front of me again.

[Status]

[Name: Alisar

Level: 0

Experience: 0 / 1000

Rank: 0

HP: 1090/1090

MP: 1000/1000

Strength: 41

Defense: 37

Speed: 31

Intelligence: 40

Magic Power: 35

Magic Defense: 25

Free attribute points: 0

Skills: —

Special skills:

• Training Room (Rank 1)]

I stared at the blue status window. It hung right before my eyes, and the longer I looked, the more I realized — yes, it really exists.

If this is truly a system… if I really ended up in a world with levels and attributes… then my dream came true. Albeit in a strange way.

Although a part of me still stubbornly clung to the thought: “What if I wake up now from the nasty ringing of the alarm and run to work again?” No, please, anything but that.

I shifted my gaze lower. The skills section.

Special skill: Training Room.

“Training… Room?” I muttered out loud.

Yes, I remember this skill.

It was in every second game of recent years. Essentially — a non-game function, added at the government’s demand to “improve players’ health.” Too many teenagers, and adults too, were sitting for days in front of screens, turning into vegetables. Then the officials came up with this brilliant plan: force game companies to add a “fitness skill.”

The idea was simple. You activate this skill — and you get a task: ten squats, five push-ups, a minute of jumping in place. And they had to be performed not by the character, but by the player himself. A camera on the laptop or computer tracked whether you did everything correctly, and if yes — your character received a small amount of experience.

The idea seemed not bad. The player trains, becomes healthier, and at the same time also levels up the hero. Double benefit. Except… nobody needed it. Why strain yourself in reality if you can sit in a chair slicing monsters and gain experience much faster and more fun? As a result this skill became a symbol of uselessness. Players ignored it, developers inserted it only for a tick, and the bill remained anyway.

And now this very “useless skill” was shining in my status window.

“Magnificent,” I muttered. “So my only special feature… is the most unnecessary ability ever invented.”

Although… if this is a real world, then this skill may turn out to be not the most useless. Maybe it will even come in handy.

“Wait,” I froze and stared at the line in the status window.

Name: Alisar.

And my real name is supposed to be here. Why “Alisar”?

Yes, that’s my nickname… but I used it only in a single game. In all the others I had different names. Only in “World of Chaos” I wrote “Alisar.”

Damn. I had just been glad that I ended up in a world with levels and a system. What if this isn’t just some “other world”?

What if this is precisely that world — the “World of Chaos”?

That’s not a joyful thought.

The game was excellent — as a game. But as a place to live… you couldn’t imagine worse. The plot there is one continuous slaughter. Villages, cities, entire states disappeared under the onslaught of monsters, wars, catastrophes. According to the plot, in each event hundreds of thousands, millions of people died.

I am level zero. With parameters like this I won’t live even a week here. In the game I died dozens, hundreds of times before I leveled the character above three hundred. Here there will be no second attempt.

“Damn,” I whispered. “Why not a farm world?”

I would gladly end up in a farm world: have my own holding, gain experience for work, dig in the soil… at least some stability. Even hard work would be better than dying from a random monster attack or because of a mistake of some high-level being. Here — chaos. Real, deadly chaos.

I swept my gaze over the canyon. Too beautiful, too quiet.

Could it be… that this really is the “World of Chaos”?

“No, it can’t be…” I muttered.

But the thought wouldn’t let go. What if I ended up here before the game events? Like in those isekai stories where the hero has a bit of time to prepare. Maybe I really do have a head start? Or is it just a coincidence? My in-game name from “World of Chaos” happened to appear here? I stared at the status window. Damn… I don’t even remember exactly what the character screen looked like in the game. Although… if you think about it, there weren’t any classes there either. No warrior, no mage, no druid. You decided yourself who you’d become. You simply distributed free attribute points — strength, defense, speed, intelligence, magic power, magic defense. You determined yourself which sides would be strong and which would be weak. Yeah… and here it’s the same. No professions. Not even a race. Just a coincidence?

I clenched my fists.

“No. Better prepare for the worst.”

I’m not an idiot to go looking for monsters. Even a level one slime is capable of killing me. And I have neither weapon, nor armor, nor combat skills.

But there is one chance.

The Training Room.

In the game this skill was useless, but here — it may become salvation. If I can level up, raise my level… at least to three hundred. No, higher. The higher, the better. In the game there was no level cap. Yes, experience accumulated slowly, but if I cling to this skill like a life buoy… maybe I’ll survive.

I focused on the line “Training Room” in my status window.

The system responded. A new window flashed before my eyes.

[Special skill. Training Room (Rank 1)

Description: The skill opens access to a special space.

Functions:

The user receives tasks, the completion of which grants experience points.

All tasks require physical actions, performed personally by the user.

Rewards grow in proportion to the difficulty of the tasks.

Time effect: Time inside the room flows 120 times faster than in the outside world.]

Wow. By description the skill turned out to be much better than I had hoped. But all this needs to be checked.

I tried again to say it out loud — nothing. I recalled that it was the same with Status: words didn’t work until I focused. I closed my eyes and focused on the “Status Window.” And it appeared before me. Excellent!

I shifted my gaze to the line “Special skill: Training Room.” And then I imagined it activating. In the next instant the world around me changed sharply.

I was standing in a stone room. Walls, floor, ceiling — all of identical gray stone blocks. Dimensions about ten by ten meters, the ceiling around three. On two opposite walls there were openings, similar to windows, but there was no glass in them. Beyond them — solid radiance. White mist, as if clouds are lit by the sun. Beautiful, but at the same time strange and a little creepy. I even stretched out my hand to check, but pulled back in time. No, better not risk it.

Okay. What did I come here for? To test the skill. To find out how much experience you can get.

“I am ready to perform a task,” I thought.

And immediately a new system window popped up before my eyes:

[Task No. 1.

Squats. Progress: 0 / 1.]

I even snorted.

“Too easy.”

I quickly squatted and immediately stood up.

[Task completed.

Received: +10 experience.]

“Only ten?” burst out of me.

After all I need a thousand to reach the first level.

Although… if you think about it, the task was laughably easy. Too easy. Maybe later the difficulty will increase, and the reward too?

“All right, let’s try more. I’m ready.”

[Task No. 2. Squats. Progress: 0 / 2.]

“Twice? That’s easy.”

I squatted. Stood up. Once more.

[Task completed.

Received: +20 experience.]

Hmm… looks like the pattern is simple: 10 points for each squat.

I smirked. If it stays like this, then as the level grows the exercises will only get easier. Strength will increase — and I’ll be able to farm experience faster.

--

[Task No. 10 completed. Received: +100 experience.]

I exhaled heavily, wiping sweat from my forehead. In total I already have 550 points. Another 450 left — and I will finally get the first level.

[Task No. 11.

— Squats: 0 / 11.

— Push-ups: 0 / 1.]

I froze, looking at the new window.

“Oh, so now tasks will be combined?”

[Task No. 11 completed. Received: +150 experience.]

I smiled.

“Yes, the reward is increasing. Not bad.”

--

[Task No. 12 completed. Received: +200 experience.]

--

[Task No. 13 completed. Received: +300 experience.]

And then I felt a strange sensation sweep through my body. As if a light discharge of electricity ran through my muscles, mixing with warmth. Unfamiliar, but pleasant.

I immediately opened the status window.

[Status]

[Name: Alisar

Level: 1

Experience: 200 / 2000

Rank: 0

HP: 1120 (+30)

MP: 1030 (+30)

Strength: 42 (+1)

Defense: 38 (+1)

Speed: 32 (+1)

Intelligence: 41 (+1)

Magic Power: 36 (+1)

Magic Defense: 26 (+1)

Free attribute points: 1 (+1)

Skills: —

Special skills:

• Training Room (Rank 1)]

Yes! As expected — I got the first level.

The attributes grew a little. And I really felt slightly stronger.

“Excellent…” I whispered and exhaled heavily.

Should I continue? No, I think I need to rest a little.

Sitting down and resting on a stone floor is not the best idea. On the riverbank where I was before it’s much more pleasant. And besides… I really felt a strong thirst. Yes, I want to drink water.

“How do I get out of here?” I thought and focused. The world around me flickered, and the scenery changed. I was back by the river, on soft grass.

I crouched to the water and scooped it with my palms. Damn, this is incredibly tasty! How can simple river water be so refreshing? I drank and drank, even more than I had planned initially.

Quenching my thirst, I leaned back on the grass and sighed contentedly. To live like this would be nice… I hope I’m wrong, and this still isn’t the “World of Chaos.”

And then I heard a rustle and tensed, immediately lifting myself up.

From the grass nearby a rabbit emerged. A white rabbit.

I exhaled in relief. Lucky to see such an animal in this place. I always liked cats and dogs… and rabbits — they are so soft, especially their long ears.

The rabbit raised its head and sniffed the air. “Now it will notice me and run away,” I thought. But no. It saw me and, instead of hiding, slowly hopped in my direction.

Maybe it’s used to people? Maybe someone fed it before? I tore a tuft of grass nearby and held out my hand. Yes, it’s silly — there’s plenty of grass here anyway. But I still decided to try.

I held out my hand with grass to the white rabbit.

It came right up and stopped directly at my palm, as if about to take the blade.

“Yes, looks like it really will eat it. How cute,” flashed in my head.

In the next second a sharp pain pierced my palm, as if nails had been driven into it.

“Damn!” burst out of me.

The rabbit sank its teeth into my hand. I jumped up and began frantically waving my arms. Only after a couple of desperate swings did the little animal fly off to the side.

I looked at my palm. The skin was torn, and the tooth marks went deep inside. Blood was already oozing, running down my fingers. A little more — and it would have simply bitten off a piece of my palm.

No, this isn’t an ordinary rabbit bite. Yes, they can bite, but they aren’t supposed to have such fangs.

Its whole mouth, it seemed, consisted of sharp teeth, like a predator’s.

I looked to where it had fallen. The rabbit was already standing on its paws, as if nothing had happened. My blood was dripping from its maw.

I felt a cold fear.

Damn… I’m afraid of this little animal.

Without thinking, I turned around and ran. For two or three minutes I rushed, until I looked back. In the distance, among the grass, a white shadow was bouncing after me. The rabbit was chasing me.

Damn!

I dashed to the river and jumped straight into the water. Fortunately, the depth was just a little over a meter. I crossed to the other bank and turned around.

The rabbit jumped to the very edge of the water, but, as I had hoped, did not dare to cross it.

“Damn…” I exhaled, pressing my bleeding palm with my other hand.

The pain throbbed in my fingers. Now I was ninety-nine percent sure — this is the World of Chaos.