Chapter 1: The Embodiment
The screen went dark abruptly, replaced by those harsh, cold words: "You have been killed"...
The hero sighed in exasperation,his breath heavy, like one all too familiar with defeat: "Again?... The fifth time this time? That damned Tyrannosaurus just won't stop chasing me as if I'm its eternal prey."
The System didn't keep him waiting long. A vast, sprawling map materialized before his eyes, dotted with regions each no less perilous than the next, each harboring a threat more severe than the last. His gaze drifted across its expanse before he closed his eyes with a sardonic resignation, thinking to himself: Let fate choose for me... What difference does it make in the end?
No sooner had he made his selection than a cold gust swept through, seeping into the pores of his soul before his body, stirring a mysterious tremor deep within him.
He opened his eyes slowly to find himself standing on a towering precipice overlooking a great forest teeming with towering trees that soared towards the sky like the columns of a mythical temple. Their dense leaves wove a tapestry of night, and the wind whispered through them like the breath of a hidden earth preparing to unveil its secrets.
"Huh?!"
"Where am I?Wasn't I just playing at home?"
Questions began flooding his mind without cease.
He felt an itch on his left hand and reached to scratch it, but sensed something strange—not the usual feel of skin, but something hard as iron.
He turned his gaze to his hand and saw an astonishing sight: a bizarre metallic form fused to his wrist, as if an inseparable part of him.
"Isn't this...?"he said aloud, his voice filled with astonishment.
Suddenly, the space around him trembled with the roar of a great dinosaur, echoing through the trees like a terrifying thunderclap. Leaves showered down from above, and the ground shook beneath his feet as if announcing its submission to an overwhelming force.
He stood up quickly, scanning his surroundings in bewilderment.
"What is that sound?Why does it seem familiar?"
Questions raced through his head,unanswered.
He was still catching his breath amidst the awe of the moment when he noticed a faint movement at the edge of the forest below the cliff.
He stepped closer to the edge and peered down intently, his eyes catching sight of a short creature stumbling through the dense undergrowth.
Its body was round and plump, covered in dull gray feathers like a meek curtain. Its beak was broad, curved downward, lending its visage a simple-minded smile. Its wide, dark eyes shone with the innocence of a child unaware of the world's cruelty.
"Is that... a Dodo?!"
The Dodo—the bird extinct in human records—was here, walking on its short legs like a living creature, sparking amazement and breaking the dread of the place, as if the forest itself wanted to offer the newcomer a glimpse of what it concealed.
"How can a Dodo exist? Didn't it go extinct?"
"And this thing seems so familiar...as if I..."
"Hahaha! It's like I'm in 'Ark'!"
As he finished speaking,a system notification appeared before him:
[Ding!]
[Player arrived. Creating status screen!]
[...]
[Character status screen created!]
"What is this sound?!"
Then another notification sounded:
[To activate the personal status screen, please say "Status."]
The notifications came one after another, too fast to follow. But he didn't remain statue-still; instead, he proactively called out loudly:
"Status!"
[Loading...!]
Whoosh!
The screen before him changed rapidly,extending from all directions, and familiar text began to appear:
[Name]: Please enter name
[Level]:1
[Engram Points]:0
[Experience]:0
]
[Health]: 100.0/100.0
[Stamina]: 100.0/100.0
[Oxygen]: 100.0/100.0
[Food]: 100.0/100.0
[Water]: 100.0/100.0
[Weight]: 2.5/100.0
[Melee Damage]: 100.0%
[Movement Speed]: 248.0%
[Crafting Skill]: 100.0%
[Fortitude]: 0.0
[Torpidity]: 0.0/200.0
[
He exclaimed in astonishment:
"It really is Ark!"
"Don't tell me I'm inside Ark... Hahaha, this is amazing!"
He then raised his left hand, examined the wrist, and focused on the crystal at the center of the strange object attached to it.
It emitted a faint green light,carrying an air of unknown mystery.
He tapped on it, and—
Swoosh!
A new system screen appeared before him. At the top was a single word:
[Engram!]
Beneath that, a set of black icons—the engrams, the items the player could craft as he leveled up.
And since he was only Level 1, there were only a few simple tools available to him.
He could craft a Stone Pick and a Stone Hatchet—all he needed was some Stone, Wood, and Thatch (Fiber).
He decided to adapt to the situation and started moving.
The first thing he did was give himself a name denoting power and might: "King".
Then he looked around for stones or wood.
He found five rocks of varying sizes and a huge tree branch covered in leaves.
As he gathered them in his hands, he noticed they transformed into stacks of materials, just like in the game; he obtained a stack of Wood and another of Fiber.
He looked into his personal inventory and saw:
[Wood: 10, Fiber: 18, Stone: 5]