Several hours had passed since that incident.
Kai sat in the corner of his room, his back resting on the wall behind him while his eyes remained blankly set on the ceiling.
"This... Still feels a bit unreal..." He muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper.
Even though Kai had witnessed everything with his own two eyes, he just couldn't bring himself to believe it.
An old man who he had never seen, yet somehow, he knew his name.
His heart felt pain, watching the old man wither away as though he had lost someone precious to him. Someone he once called his family.
It was an inexplicable feeling that he just couldn't put words into.
"And even if I were to ignore that, his actions, his last words were even more unbelievable." He said as he lowered his eyes, looking at a giant human-sized capsule that was set in a distant corner of his room.
At the top of the capsule, a single word glowed faintly - Calamity.
***
Calamity. It wasn't just a name but a gateway that one needed to enter the world of "The Seven Calamities."
The Seven Calamities was the world's first and most mysterious full dive game where players could experience the world as though it was all real.
As the name suggested, the game was about seven different calamities that befell humanity.
Each calamity consisted of its own set of rules and power systems.
Every NPC had its own consciousness and judged players according to their own preferences.
However, what was truly terrifying was its world setting.
The game followed a unique concept of time and space that altered with the real world's concept of time.
For instance, several years inside the game could have only been mere minutes in the real world.
And such technology was far from being discovered throughout the world.
The Government from all over the world conducted several search missions to find the company or the creator of the game to get their hands on his research.
Yet even after 6 years of relentless struggle, they couldn't manage to find even a single clue about the person.
That was, until yesterday—When the creator of the game, the old man, himself called in a press conference.
***
Kai stood up and let out a deep sigh, his mind had become exhausted from thinking about the same stuff over and over again.
He then walked toward the window, and opened it slowly, letting the sweet morning breeze hit his face—he seemed to have calmed down.
His eyes slowly drifted toward the sky, traces of night still lingering onto it while the sun began to rise in the distance.
The stars—although, now hollow—still shimmered in the sky, creating a mesmerizing view.
Just as his mind had started to calm down, another translucent screen materialized in front of his eyes.
---
[Connection to E13 has been stabilized.]
[You will now be teleported to the 'Waiting' area.]
---
Kai widened his eyes in shock as he noticed a certain white glow appear over his body.
"Wait what the fuck do you mean, tutorial!?" He shouted as panic took over his mind.
The glow continued to thicken until his body was barely visible, and then, within an instant, his body vanished into thin air, almost as if he never existed in the first place.
***
Kai snapped open his eyes as a sharp gasp escaped his lungs.
"What... The fuck... Just happened??!" His voice wavered slightly as he tried to calm himself down.
Kai wasn't one to panic even in the most dangerous situations, and that too, so easily. But, it is said that however tough one may be, the brain remains a coward who wants to stay alive for the longest amount of time.
Thus, shutting down one's 5 primary senses could send false signals to the brain that the body was dying—which would make it panic uncontrollably.
And that is exactly what was happening with Kai.
For some reason, his five senses—vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—had all become extremely numb.
His chest rose and compressed in uneven and rugged motions as each breath became more of a struggle. His body shivered as his blood flow worsened.
Suddenly, a sense of calmness and relief washed over him.
His breathing gradually became normal as his 5 senses began to return.
Slowly, as his vision returned, he saw something that explained all the reasons behind his current situation.
---
[An abnormality has been detected in your teleportation.]
[System acknowledges its mistake.]
[Compensations are being issued...]
[You have received, 'Full Recovery' and 'Trial Weapon boxes' (x3)]
---
Kai lowered his eyes and noticed a strange golden glow shimmering over his body.
"So this is full recovery?" He mumbled under his breath, his condition getting better with each passing second.
"System, tell me about these trial weapon boxes."
Almost instantly, the system reacted to his words and new content appeared on the screen.
---
[Trial Weapon boxes.]
[Grade - Special]
[Description - A Special item that gives the user a weapon of their choice to train before the tutorial begins.]
[Limit - 3 uses left.]
---
Kai raised his eyebrow as he pondered about his current and future situation but quickly loosened up as he realized that things wouldn't change even if he were to cry his lungs out.
"Now that I think about it, why's this place so dark?" His eyes darted in all directions, yet as far as his sight could reach, he only saw a darkness.
A strange kind of darkness where he could clearly see himself, but nothing else.
---
[System welcomes you to the Waiting area.]
[You are to familiarize yourself with the system.]
[After a certain amount of time, you will be teleported to the Tutorial area.]
[The System wishes you luck, For the Seventh Calamity has begun.]
---
The system answered his curiosity instantly, yet a question arose in his mind:
"So... Exactly how much time do I have?" He asked softly, his voice—calm.
---
[Time Remaining - 7 hours.]
---
The content of the screen changed almost instantly.
"7 hours huh... Fine... Give me the Weapon Selection Box." His voice became more direct and authoritative. His face, his eyes... Everything had changed within a matter of seconds.
Just as words came out of his mouth, a wave of light pulsed through the system window from its center.
A small cubical wooden box materialized above the screen out of thin air and began to hover while the content on the System window changed again.
---
[State your desired weapons.]
---
Kai thought for a while, and with a smile on his face—he said aloud, "Give me a Sturdy staff, Twin daggers, and a long sword."
The box churned with light as it started to revolve around itself. Soon, Its speed increased tremendously as it started to slowly turn into a glowing orb of light.
A blinding flash erupted from the orb, splitting it into three glowing silhouettes. Moments later, the light faded, revealing three weapons clattering onto the floor before him.
A sharp longsword whose edge shimmered in a slight glow.
A pair of twin daggers, which weren't anything extravagant yet, looked sturdy enough to be a good weapon.
And at last, a sturdy staff made of nothing but wood.
Kai's lips curled into a smile as he picked his weapons up.
Even though he was touching such weapons for the first time in his real life, he had already slain countless with the help of the same—although, in-game.
He had techniques that he crafted himself, what he lacked was experience. He lacked the experience of handling such weapons in real life.
And thus, he began to train with his weapons one after another.
Time slipped through his fingers like sand.
In an unknown realm, with an uncertain future, Kai trained with all his might with just one thing in his mind.
He had to survive at all costs... Because what awaited him wasn't a tutorial—it was a battlefield.