Chapter 1: The player arrives at the Survival Route
[Islands are being generated... A vast ocean is being generated... Monsters are being generated...]
The intense hunger is intensifying...
[Start Game]
Violet opened her eyes on the warm beach.
She shook off the fine sand from her hair and collar, then stood up to observe her birthplace—a medium-sized island with groves of trees and various berry bushes growing on the north side, and a golden beach strewn with shells and stones stretching from the edge of the groves into the endless blue ocean.
After lowering her hand that had been supporting her brow to shield herself from the sun, Violet began to observe her own condition.
Because it was a newly purchased mod, she had no achievement points and could only unlock the most basic character in the game, the Scientist.
【the scientist】
Health: 150 (This is your life; once it's gone, you die. Of course, you can be revived, but what will the price be?)
Hunger level: 150 (Gather more berries and cultivate more land; you don't want to starve to death or eat your thesis to stave off hunger, right?)
Sanity: 200 (Are scientists all crazy? Maybe, but be careful, a low sanity will attract attacks from creatures that live in the dark)
Character introduction: The advantage of this character is that the attributes are balanced with no disadvantages, while the disadvantage is that the attributes are balanced with no advantages.
Starting items: Empty hands
Survival chances: slim
While Violet was observing her character's attributes, her satiety level dropped by 10 points at a visible rate. At this rate, the character Violet was currently controlling would inevitably die if she didn't eat for two days.
She pulled a yellowed parchment scroll from her pocket. On the world map, a small, expressionless black-haired, black-eyed figure representing her location stared back at her. Around the figure was gold, representing the beach, and further away lay unexplored darkness.
Wow.
After comparing the size of the beach with the area it occupies on the entire map, Violet was very satisfied with the world size of the game.
It seemed like this would keep her occupied for quite some time. Vera carefully put away the parchment scroll and contentedly began her exploration and plundering journey.
[You picked a twig*1], [You picked up a seashell*1], [You picked a flower petal*1]...
The crisp ringing notification sounds kept echoing in Vera's mind. Every time the girl's fair hands collected an item, it would magically disappear from her palms and then be neatly stacked together, quietly lying in her pocket backpack, which resembled an alternate dimension, as proof of her hard work.
After weeding the last blade of grass in front of her bare, Vera straightened up, wiped non-existent sweat from her forehead, and contentedly reached into her pocket, activating the pocket backpack's viewing function.
[Pocket Backpack (Basic 14 Slots)]
Items: 29 twigs, 40 cut grass, 15 seashells, 14 flint, 2 stones, 6 limpets, 3 unknown seeds, 15 petals, 2 red mushrooms, 1 berry (4 slots remaining)
Violet moved her hands in her pockets, intending to organize the items in the compartments, when suddenly she felt a darkness before her eyes and the golden sand beneath her feet quickly lost its luster.
Meanwhile, as the light dimmed, Violet's sanity, which had been unresponsive, began to drop steadily.
A fear and tremor from the depths of her soul overwhelmed Vera. The black-haired girl, who had been smiling, suddenly lost her expression, and her dark eyes became empty and lifeless.
She opened her mouth, her voice eerie and ghostly: "Darkness is about to descend."
Huh?
When Violet came to her senses, she blinked in shock. Wait, was that the one who just spoke like a ghost? Or is it a setting inherent to the character that automatically takes control and enters a cutscene when it is triggered?
However… Violet looked up at the half-remaining fiery red sunset where the sea and sky met, and decided to follow her instincts and find a suitable lighting tool as soon as possible.
With the skill level that Violet has currently unlocked, she can make three lighting tools: torches, campfires, and stone campfires.
The advantage of a torch is that it can be carried around and doesn't hinder exploration. The disadvantage is that it's a one-time use item, cannot be used for cooking, and provides almost no heat to ward off the cold. Both campfires and stone campfires can be used for cooking, but a campfire can only be used once, while a stone campfire can be used indefinitely after being used, simply by adding fuel.
However, unlocking them requires wood and more stone. The only source of wood on the island is the coconut trees and bushes, and as for stone, the bare limpet rocks left over after harvesting the limpets should provide some.
Violet walked to the coconut tree and looked up. Although the light was not bright enough, the round, plump brown coconuts among the emerald green leaves were still very tempting.
Touching her stomach, which was starting to feel hungry, Vera reached out and hugged the coconut tree trunk, trying to shake the coconuts down by shaking them wildly.
As Violet watched expectantly, the leaves of the coconut tree trembled... and then a jet-black raven flew out from it, cawing as it circled twice above Violet's head.
It failed. It seems we have to cut down the tree to get the coconut.
She pursed her lips, stuffed the seed dropped by the crow back into her pocket, and then took out a twig and a piece of flint from her pocket. Despite having no experience in making stone tools, as soon as she held these two materials, the idea of making a stone axe automatically popped into her mind. Before she came to her senses, a fresh stone axe was already lying on the beach in front of her.
[Stone Axe]: Durability 100 times, damage 27. (A reasonably decent logging tool, and also a favorite of some psychopathic killers in horror movies... You probably wouldn't use it in combat, would you?)
Violet gripped the wooden axe handle tightly with both hands, her gaze fixed resolutely on the coconut tree in front of her. She swung her arm high and chopped down at it with all her might.
[Coconut Tree HP-1, HP-1]
After making two slashes, Vera heard an ominous rustling sound above her head. She instinctively looked up and saw a dark, round object rapidly enlarging in her field of vision.
With a thud, the coconut slammed heavily onto Violet's head.
[Vell HP-20]
Violet: ...She seemed to hear the coconut trees laughing at her.
Enraged, she swung her axe, leaving afterimages as she chopped down the coconut tree. After consuming 20 health points and a large amount of satiety, Violet harvested two pieces of wood, three coconuts, and a coconut leaf.
Following the same method, Violet chopped down five coconut trees before nightfall, harvesting [wood*10], [coconut*14], and [coconut leaves*7].
[Thatched Bag]
[Description: A simple package made of coconut leaves; equipping it adds four storage slots. So why isn't it called a coconut leaf pouch?]
Wearing a rustic thatched bag on her back, the increased storage space successfully saved Violet from her checkered pattern crisis.
"call……"
Night fell completely, and everything in the world was shrouded in thick darkness, making it impossible to see even things just a few meters away.
Enveloped in darkness, Violet heard the roars of monsters coming from all directions. Her character began to move freely again, and with lifeless eyes, she sighed, "There are terrifying beings in the darkness."
[You crafted a torch (for lighting), consuming 2 cut grasses and 2 tree branches]
[Description: A simple lighting tool that you can use to continue your adventure or to set fire to trees for wider illumination. PS: A fire in the morning, police station in the afternoon; uncivilized use of fire, tears for loved ones.]
With the torch stuck in the sand, Violet sat with her arms wrapped around her knees. The sand beneath her still carried the warmth left by the sun's rays during the day. The crackling of the flames and the sound of the waves crashing together created a reassuring white noise.
The terrifying monsters, half-solid and half-ethereal, lurking in the darkness, were blocked by the torchlight and could only hide in the corner, watching the girl's back with restless intent.
No one can resist the encroachment of darkness; a player's sanity will continuously decrease in dim environments. Sooner or later, the little girl's sanity will drop low enough to detect their presence. At that point, they will gladly appear before her, greet her, and pull her into the darkness, transforming her into a shadow creature like themselves.
The eerie, chilling gaze caused Vera's sanity to drop even faster.
She held the newly made machete in her hand, but this purely physical weapon could not cause any damage to the shadow creatures that were more energy-based.
However, Violet didn't need to start the battle so quickly. She took the coconuts she had just collected out of her pocket, placed them on the beach, and chopped them in half with a machete. The chopped coconuts lay neatly on the beach with their openings facing upwards in a very non-Newtonian posture, and not a single drop of coconut juice spilled out during the process.
Violet held half a coconut in both hands, brought it to her lips, and took a sip of coconut juice.
As expected of a holographic game that dares to call itself a "groundbreaking and stunning debut" in its own promotional video, even the taste is reproduced exactly like reality. The thick coconut shell successfully blocks the excessively dazzling sunlight during the day, keeping the coconut juice at a cool and refreshing temperature that is not too cold.
The aroma of coconut mingled with the scent of milk, and perhaps because it was freshly picked, it tasted even better than the "green, organic, and environmentally friendly coconuts" that Vier bought at the supermarket for a high price.
After drinking half a serving of coconut water, Violet used a cleaned flat flint as a knife to cut off pieces of milky white coconut meat and put them in her mouth. The smooth and chewy texture felt like concentrated coconut milk was exploding in her mouth.
After eating half a coconut, Violet felt a little satisfied in her previously empty stomach.
[You have eaten half a coconut. Your satiety level has increased by 5, and your health has increased by 1.]
Raw coconuts don't give as many attribute points as cooked ones, but fortunately, there are enough coconuts for Violet to replenish the attributes she consumed today.
Glug, glug...
In the darkness, only the sounds of Violet drinking coconut water, eating coconut meat, and chopping coconuts echoed in a continuous loop.
Vera: "Hiccup~"
Looking at the filled three-dimensional attributes, Violet contentedly stuffed the half-person-high machete and the remaining coconut into her magical extradimensional pocket. Then, she crossed her hands behind her head, lay down on the beach, and slowly closed her eyes under the flickering torchlight.
——
As the new day dawned, Violet opened her eyes to the sound of birdsong. The torches she had planted on the beach the night before had burned out, leaving only a handful of ashes, which were blown away by the sea breeze and disappeared as Violet pondered whether to make room for them.
Vera stretched, thankful that the game didn't have a concept of cleanliness, so as a player, she wouldn't have any problems even if she never changed her clothes or took a bath for the rest of her life.
With a machete drawn from her pocket, black hair and eyes, fair skin, and dressed in a European-style off-white ladylike dress, Violet seemed like some kind of urban legend. She walked into the jungle expressionlessly, not letting go of any visible object that she could collect.
Especially after Vera discovered that while felled trees in the jungle didn't drop coconuts, they would randomly drop bird eggs and bananas, her large, dark eyes became exceptionally bright.
Just before dusk, the pickaxe in Violet's hand broke and disappeared due to insufficient durability, waking her from her happy hoarding behavior.
Violet stood up and examined her spawn point again. Just a day ago, it was a beautiful, lush island, but now it looked like a bandit's passage. All that was left were bare tree roots and vines and bamboo stubble that had been cut down to a few bits. Everything else, including limpets, rocks, branches, and grass, had disappeared.
Violet walked towards the beach, only stopping after stepping into the seawater. The cool water washed over her calves, taking away her body heat while also awakening a certain hidden impulse and desire.
She bent down, cupped the seawater in her hands, and although the salty taste wasn't pleasant, it excited Violet.
Her face was reflected in the seawater; the fair-skinned girl gently curled the corners of her lips towards the sea, revealing a pale smile.
She straightened up, gazing at the endless ocean before her, and once again took out the parchment scroll from her pocket. The explored spawn point shimmered with a reassuring light like a firefly in the darkness, while the unknown darkness beckoned the player to explore further.
That's the allure of the boundless ocean.
[You have crafted a bamboo raft, consuming 4 bamboo and 3 vines.]
[Description: A rudimentary bamboo raft, so simple it couldn't be more basic; only a madman would use it to cross the sea.]
Violet lightly touched the surface of the sea, and the emerald bamboo raft fell into the water. She raised her hand, grabbed her waist-length black hair and gathered it behind her head, wrapping it twice with a small bamboo stick to form a coil, revealing her clean and neat nape. Then she stood up and leaped onto the bamboo raft, which could only hold one person.
The ocean, here she comes!
A note from the author:
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The initial character is Wilson, who actually has the ability to grow a long beard for warmth, but since the player is a girl, this one and only ability is lost [laughing and crying emoji].
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