The moment I opened my eyes, the world assaulted me.
Not with tutorials. Not with HUD pop-ups. With reality.
Wind brushed across my cheeks, carrying the faint scent of pine and damp stone. My hair lifted with the breeze, strands tickling against my skin in a way no headset ever simulated. The mountain air was so sharp and clean it stabbed into my lungs.
I staggered back, clutching my chest.
"…No way."
The HUD flickered in the corner of my vision, crisp and familiar.
[ Welcome, Pioneer Player #002 ]
Current Location: Fallen Immortal Sect — South Gate
Tutorial Progress: 0%
A laugh escaped me, sharp and disbelieving.
"So it is a game."
But when I crouched and brushed my fingers across the cracked stone beneath my feet, my breath caught again. The surface was rough. Cool. Little grains of dust stuck to my fingertips. It wasn't the vague haptic buzz of a VR glove. It was stone.
I rubbed my fingers together, almost desperate to find the trick. There wasn't one.
"This… this is insane. No VR company on Earth is capable of this."
The road stretched ahead into ruins — weed-choked courtyards, shattered walls, and towers leaning drunkenly into the sky. Desolate, yes, but alive. Every gust of wind carried faint sounds, from leaves rustling to rocks tumbling somewhere out of sight.
I closed my eyes for a moment, just listening. It was like stepping into someone else's memory.
But I wasn't sentimental. I was practical.
Alright, first test: pain settings.
I pinched my forearm. Hard. Pain shot through me sharp enough to make me yelp.
The HUD beeped cheerfully.
[ Health -1 ]
I sucked in a sharp breath, clutching my arm.
"Okay… okay, they actually coded pain. Sadistic developers confirmed."
Still, my pulse hammered with excitement. It wasn't fear. It was awe.
I stood, brushing the dust from my palms. My eyes caught a faint shimmer on the cracked stones nearby. I crouched and scooped it up—just a pebble.
But it had weight. It had texture. I tossed it into the air and caught it, marveling at how real it felt.
Inventory test: I willed the pebble into storage. It vanished. The HUD confirmed.
[ Ding! ]
Item Acquired: Stone (Useless)
I burst out laughing.
"Perfect. I'm the proud owner of a legendary rock. First step to immortality, I guess."
The laugh faded quickly as I looked up again.
The South Gate stretched before me, massive doors half-collapsed, ancient wood blackened with scorch marks. What kind of battle had it endured? Even ruined, it radiated a pressure that made me hesitate before stepping closer.
But curiosity won.
I stepped over the fallen gates, into the ruined sect.
The path inside was cracked and uneven. Statues lay shattered, weeds pushing through broken tiles. Here and there, fragments of jade glimmered faintly, dulled by age. I bent down to touch one, but it crumbled into dust the instant I did.
No loot. No tutorial rewards. Just ruins.
And yet my chest tightened. Not with disappointment, but with something like… respect. This wasn't just a starting zone. It felt like the bones of a real world.
I tilted my head back, staring at the peaks above. Towers clung to cliffsides, broken and leaning, their roofs collapsed. Bridges stretched between ridges like spiderwebs, most snapped in the middle.
How many people had lived here? How many battles had been fought?
I shook my head quickly.
"Don't get carried away. This is still a game. Just… one hell of a game."
The HUD flickered again.
[ Tutorial Tip ]
Try exploring. Survival depends on curiosity.
I snorted.
"Yeah, thanks for the tip. I already figured that out, genius."
I started forward, weaving between collapsed pillars and walls. Every sound felt amplified: the crunch of my boots on stone, the whistle of the wind, the faint flutter of a bird somewhere above.
But then I froze.
There it was again. A sound that didn't belong.
Heavy. Rhythmic. Like… footsteps.
My pulse quickened. I glanced around the ruins, every shadow suddenly suspicious.
The HUD confirmed what my ears already suspected.
[ System Notice ]
Other Pioneer Players Detected Nearby.
I swallowed hard, suddenly aware of how empty my inventory was. No weapon. No food. Just one useless stone.
"Great," I muttered. "If the first thing I meet is some psycho PvPer, I'm screwed."
Still, I couldn't help it — excitement bubbled up in my chest.
I wasn't alone.