The light faded, and I felt the ground beneath me, solid, damp, and covered in leaves. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
Towering trees surrounded me. Their trunks were wide, bark old and gnarled, and the canopy above swayed gently with the wind. Shafts of sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting golden patterns on the forest floor. Birds I didn't recognize chirped from the distance. It was… beautiful. Untouched. Vast. And utterly unfamiliar.
I looked around carefully. No buildings, no smoke, no roads. Just nature, pure and overwhelming.
A heavy silence settled over me, the kind that made you feel like you were the only person in the world.
"Thank you," I whispered, looking up at the blue sky above the trees. "Thank you for bringing me here safely."
I exhaled slowly, trying to process everything. I glanced down at my body and patted my chest, my arms. I was alive. I felt strong. Healthy.
I wore clothes I didn't recognize, simple, sturdy garments made from natural fabric, clearly designed for this world. Not modern. Not futuristic. More… medieval? Fantasy-like.
I looked at my hands, the skin still mine. Human skin. "Hah…" I let out a small laugh of relief. "Guess I'm still human after all." For some reason, I had feared waking up as a spider or a slime or… worse. But no. My face, my voice, my name, it was all still me.
And speaking of my name…
I remembered the item I'd asked for. The tool that could become anything. How do I summon it?
Maybe… I just need to imagine it?
I closed my eyes and focused, picturing it in my mind. A small orb, black and simple.
Suddenly, something materialized in my hand with a soft shimmer of light.
My eyes widened. It was just as I imagined, an obsidian-colored orb, smooth and warm in my palm. Glowing faintly. And engraved on its surface were two clear words:
Adam Kruger.
My name. Still the same. That grounded me. This really was me starting over.
I stared at it, heartbeat rising. "Let's test it."
I thought of a sword. Something light, one-handed, easy to swing.
The orb glowed, and in the blink of an eye, it shifted, reshaping itself into a steel blade with a dark hilt and silver edge. I gasped, stumbling back a step. "It worked…!"
My hands trembled as I held it. The weight, the balance, it felt real. No tricks. No illusion. This was magic. Actual, magic.
"I really am in a fantasy world…" I murmured, a grin spreading slowly across my face.
After a moment, I willed the sword back into its orb form, and it dissolved in my hand, disappearing like mist.
Then I noticed something else, a leather belt around my waist. Attached to it was a small pouch I hadn't paid attention to before. Curious, I opened it.
Inside… seeds. Lots of them.
Tiny bundles of potential life. Dozens of varieties, each packed carefully in small linen wraps. My breath caught in my throat.
"He even gave me seeds to plant…" I whispered.
I gently held one packet in my palm, feeling the weight of it, light, but somehow meaningful. He didn't just send me here to fight or to survive. He gave me the means to live. To grow.
"Thank you," I whispered again.
I counted the seed packets. There were many, carrots, beans, potatoes, and others I couldn't immediately identify. A full garden's worth.
But before I could plant anything… I needed shelter.
A home.
I looked around the endless forest and took a breath.
"Alright," I said quietly. "Let's build something."
The forest was quiet, save for the soft rustle of wind in the leaves and the distant call of birds I still couldn't name. I wiped my brow, took a deep breath, and scanned the trees around me. I needed wood. Solid, heavy logs to start building a home.
I paced slowly through the underbrush until my eyes landed on a tree, tall, thick, and old, but not too wide to handle. Its bark was rough, and I could feel its life humming beneath my fingers as I touched it.
"Alright, you'll do."
I summoned my item again, willing it to take the form of an axe. A soft pulse answered me, and in an instant, the orb morphed into a rugged, double-headed axe with a dark handle and a metallic sheen. It felt perfectly balanced in my grip.
I drew a long breath and swung.
THWACK.
The sound echoed into the trees, satisfying and raw. The blade cut clean. Another swing—THWACK—and then another.
Surprisingly, the tree yielded fast. Within minutes, it cracked, groaned, and fell to the forest floor with a deep boom that shook the ground beneath me. I blinked, stunned for a moment. "That… was easier than I expected."
The axe was sharp, no, absurdly sharp. Probably enchanted.
Grinning, I set to work chopping the log into thirds. My arms began to burn from the repetition, my shirt clinging to my back with sweat, but I didn't stop. Not because I had to, but because it felt good. My heart pounded with exertion, my body alive with effort. No desk. No computer. No flickering fluorescent lights overhead. Just earth, wood, sweat, and the rhythm of work.
I hadn't felt this alive in years.
By the time I stacked the cut logs near a clearing I'd claimed as mine, I was out of breath, but smiling. I began constructing a lodge, stacking whole logs in a crisscross pattern like the log cabins I remembered from survival shows. No nails, no fancy joints, just raw effort and patience.
I managed a basic framework.
But just as I was about to fetch another tree, a sudden pang tore through my stomach.
Grrrroooowl…
My stomach reminded me I was still human.
"Right," I muttered, pressing a hand to my abdomen. "Can't build on an empty stomach."
Time to hunt.
I slung the axe behind me and pulled the orb back into its original form, tucking it away. Then, I grabbed a few rocks and marked trees along my path, didn't want to get lost out here. I moved quietly, scanning for signs of movement, broken branches, fresh tracks.
It wasn't long before I caught sight of something.
A deer. Or something like it. Its body was slender, elegant, but what drew my attention was the radiant, glowing horn on its forehead. It shimmered faintly like moonlight, pulsing with magical energy.
I froze.
It looked right at me… and then darted off into the woods, fast as wind.
I sighed and turned away. "Next time, maybe."
Then, something moved in the shadows.
My heart skipped.
From the corner of my eye, a huge feline stepped silently from the underbrush. Sleek black fur, lean muscle, and glowing blue lines of magic coursing down its legs like veins of light. A predator.
"Okay… definitely not that one."
I continued deeper, senses on high alert. And then, movement.
A boar. Stocky, low to the ground, with thick bristles and sharp tusks. It rooted at the ground, oblivious. I crouched, barely breathing, moving as silently as I could through the undergrowth.
It lifted its head, sniffed the air.
I froze.
Then it looked left. Then right.
Perfect.
Without hesitation, I summoned the orb and morphed it into a spear. The moment the weapon solidified in my grip, I stood, took aim, and hurled it with all my strength.
The weapon streaked through the air like a flash of light.
The boar squealed and bolted, but too late.
SHUNK!
The spear struck it clean through the ribs, piercing deep and embedding into the ground beneath. The creature collapsed mid-run, its body slamming to the forest floor.
Dead. Instant.
I stared, stunned. My breath caught.
"…Holy shit," I whispered, eyes wide.
The power of the weapon, the speed, the precision, it was… unbelievable.