Darkness...
It wasn't the freezing blackness of the wet street, or the empty void of dying. This darkness was entirely different. It felt weightless. Quiet. Like floating deep underwater, totally disconnected from the noisy city.
For a long time, Sam just floated there. There was no pain. The terrible burning of his crushed ribs and the sticky warmth of his own blood were completely gone, wiped away like a bad dream.
Slowly, gravity kicked back in. He felt himself settling downward. His nose picked up a sharp, fresh scent. Damp dirt. Crushed leaves. Pine needles and strange, blooming flowers.
*Thump...* *Thump...*
His heartbeat echoed in his ears, slow and steady.
Sam's fingers twitched. He felt something soft and rough under his hands. Grass. Not the fake, perfectly cut grass of the Academy courtyard, but wild, untamed weeds.
'Am I dead?'
The thought drifted through his mind. If this was the afterlife, it was a massive step up from bleeding out in a muddy gutter. He fully expected to be in hell right now, especially after all the times he had secretly wished his arrogant classmates would trip down a flight of stairs.
Taking a deep, careful breath, Sam slowly opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry, filled with a soft green light. When his eyes finally focused, the sight knocked the breath right out of his lungs.
He was lying on his back in a forest that made absolutely no sense. The trees around him were massive. The trunks were as wide as skyscrapers, shooting hundreds of feet into the sky. The leaves above glowed in shades of bright blue and green. Thick rays of golden light pushed through the branches like physical pillars.
It was breathtaking.
"Heaven..." Sam croaked, his voice raspy.
"I actually made it to heaven. Take that, you hit-and-run bastard."
He pushed himself up. But as he looked down at his own body, the angelic illusion completely shattered.
He was still wearing the exact same clothes from the accident. His favorite black jacket was torn to shreds. His white shirt was stiff and completely covered in dried, crusty blood. Mud caked his jeans.
Panic spiked in his chest. Sam frantically patted his ribs, expecting them to feel like crushed gravel.
Nothing.
No broken bones. No internal bleeding. His body was completely fine under the ruined clothes. He took a massive gulp of air, testing his lungs. They worked perfectly.
"What the hell..." he muttered, staring at his blood-stained hands. He had felt his bones break. You didn't just walk away from a crash like that.
Then, a horrifying thought hit him like a second speeding car.
The Principal's speech echoed in his head.
'Tomorrow, on the first of January, all of you will have your souls pulled into the First Trial.'
Sam scrambled to his feet. He looked wildly around the giant, alien forest. The glowing plants. The heavy silence that felt like a hundred things were watching him.
"It's midnight," Sam breathed out. "The accident... it happened right before midnight. I didn't die. The DreamScape pulled me in before my body shut down. It healed me for the Trial."
He wasn't in heaven. He was in the meat grinder.
Just as the reality of his situation crashed down on him, a sharp chime shattered the silence of the forest.
[Ding!]
The sound rang right inside his skull. A second later, a glowing blue screen popped into the air right in front of his face.
Sam stumbled back, throwing his arms up. But the screen just floated there. White text started typing itself out fast across the blue panel.
The system that had bonded to his dying body was finally awake, and it had a lot of bad news to share.
[Welcome, Host! You have successfully crossed the threshold of mortality and entered the DreamScape Realm!]
[Current Zone: The Night Shed Forest]
[Zone Threat Level: Cataclysmic]
Sam blinked, dropping his arms. "'Cataclysmic'? Are you kidding me? Where are the beginner zones? Where are the slimes?!"
The text kept scrolling, ignoring his shouting.
[World Description: Welcome to a pristine hellscape completely cleansed of the human plague! The monsters here haven't tasted human flesh in millennia, and they are famished.
Warning: This realm is entirely cut off from the weave of magic. Ambient mana is non-existent. The use of external mana is strictly Restricted!]
"No mana?" Sam's voice cracked. "How is a DreamScape world missing mana?! That breaks every rule they taught us! And what do you mean famished?! Am I a walking buffet?!"
Without mana, an Archon was just a weak sack of meat.
But the system wasn't done yet.
[Historical Record: Total surviving humans from this domain—Zero. A perfect 0% success rate!]
[Main Trial: Survive for 30 consecutive days.]
[Let the Path of the Supreme begin!]
The heavy silence returned.
Sam stood perfectly still. He looked to his left at a bush with leaves the size of cars. He looked to his right at a tree trunk covered in claw marks the size of a dump truck.
Then, he laughed.
It started as a low chuckle, then spiraled into a loud, crazy burst of manic laughter. He grabbed his stomach, laughing at the absolute joke his life had become.
"Zero percent!" he yelled at the empty trees.
"Of course! Why drop me in a normal desert? No, throw the guy who just got run over into a mana-less death trap!"
He paced back and forth, his boots crunching on the glowing moss. The memory of the betrayal from that morning came rushing back, but the depression was gone, completely burned away by adrenaline and anger.
Kira. Alias. The pitying looks from his friends.
They thought he was a loser. Destined to die as fodder.
"You'd love this, wouldn't you?" Sam muttered, his hands balling into fists. "You'd love to see me get eaten by some bear monster or some other Disgusting Creature on day one. Just another dead loser on the graduation list."
He stopped pacing. His eyes turned cold and hard.
"Screw that."
He wasn't going to die here. If he died, that hit-and-run driver got away with it. If he died, Kira and Alias got a perfect life without any consequences.
He was going to survive these thirty days. He was going to claw his way out, look Kira in the eye, and show her exactly what she threw away.
"Alright, System," Sam said, rolling his shoulders.
"In every webnovel I ever read, the system gives the host a fighting chance."
He held out his hand. "Status."
[Ding!]
[STATUS WINDOW]
[Host: Sam]
[Race: Human (Unawakened)]
[Rank: None]
[Strength: 8]
[Agility: 9]
[Vitality: 7]
[Mana: 0/0 (Restricted)]
Sam stared at the numbers. The average adult human had a flat 10 across the board.
"I'm weaker than a normal Adult," he deadpanned.
"Well, I did just get hit by a car. I guess I should be glad it's not negative."
He swiped his hand through the air, moving to the next tab. The unique skill. This was his lifeline.
[System Capabilities Unlocked: 1/???]
[Unique Skill: Celestial Gacha (Level 1)]
[Description: The Host may expend System Points (SP) to summon entities, items, or abilities from across the multiverse. Summons are completely random but are influenced by the Host's current environment and immediate needs...]
[Current SP: 100 (Starter Bonus)]
[Cost per Summon: 100 SP]
Sam stared at the screen. A gacha system? His survival in a 0% success rate death forest relied on a literal slot machine?
"You have got to be kidding me," he groaned, rubbing his face.
"My luck is garbage! My girlfriend cheated on me with my best friend, and then I got run over! Now you want me to gamble my life?!"
*Snap—*
A heavy branch broke in the bushes about fifty yards away.
A low, vibrating growl echoed through the trees, making the hair on the back of Sam's neck stand straight up. The monsters had found their dinner.
Sam's heart hammered against his ribs. He didn't have time to complain about his bad luck. He had exactly one chance, one pull, to get something that would keep him alive for the next five minutes.
He jabbed his finger at the glowing summon button.
"Come on," Sam hissed, staring at the bushes as the heavy footsteps got closer.
"Give me a legendary sword. Give me a mecha suit. Give me a literal god. Just don't give me trash!"
[Ding!]
[Consuming 100 SP...]
[Initiating First Summon...]
The screen shattered into a million blue sparks. They spun wildly in the air, creating a blinding vortex of light right in front of him.
A massive, dark shadow burst out of the trees. Sickly yellow eyes locked onto Sam. It lunged right for his throat.
Sam didn't blink. He stared directly into the glowing vortex.
"Surprise me," he whispered.