The world rebooted, and I was a fresh install in a universe of pain. Jagged rocks for a bed, a wind that cut like a razor, and the sound of something hungry wailing in the distance. My eyes cracked open to an alien sky, a toxic swirl of orange and ash. I didn't know who I was or how I got here, but my body knew two things: it was starving, and it was dying.
Panic is a waste of resources. I pushed it down and did a threat assessment. Twisted, skeletal trees. Cracked earth. A glint of water in the distance. My mind, a cold, clear processor in the fog of amnesia, started running the numbers. This place chewed up the weak and spat out bones.
Then came the hum, a weird vibration in my skull that wasn't mine. It sharpened, coalescing into clean, block text that seared itself onto the inside of my eyelids.
[Summoning System Activated.]
[Host Detected: Unnamed.]
[Status: Critical. Recommend Immediate Action.]
I didn't flinch. A HUD. Okay. I can work with a HUD. A shimmer of blue light confirmed it, hanging in the air in front of me—a translucent panel detailing my failing stats. Health in the red, stamina on fumes.
"Options," I thought, directing the command at the system. The word felt deliberate, a test.
[Summoning Interface Unlocked.]
[Available Summons: Tier 1 - 1 Slot.]
[Option 1: Lupine Scout - Agile, loyal, basic combat capability.]
[Cost: 10 Energy Units. Current Energy: 5.]
Insufficient funds. Typical. My eyes landed on the distant stream again. Rule one of any survival game: find water. I got to my feet, fighting a wave of dizziness—a nasty debuff—and started walking. Every step was a calculated energy burn. Move slow, stay quiet, assume everything out here wants to kill you. This System was a tool. My tool. I'd be the one giving the orders.
The stream was a lifeline. I drank until the world stopped spinning, the cold water a system shock that brought me back online. The blue panel flickered.
[Energy Restored: +5 Units.]
[Total Energy: 10.]
[Summon Available.]
Showtime. I knelt by the water and focused on the interface. The Lupine Scout. A mobile sensor array with teeth. I selected it. A surge of heat, a burn of mana I didn't know I had, and it was there. A wolf-like creature with mottled gray fur and eyes that watched me with unnerving intelligence. It wasn't hostile, but it wasn't friendly either. It was a blank slate.
"This isn't a pet," I said, the words a cold, hard fact. "It's a weapon system. A tool. An ally."
It lowered its head in what I took for acknowledgement. Variables need labels. I named it Kael.
Together, we started the grind. We scavenged wood, dug up bitter-tasting roots. Building a shelter was a miserable, hands-on tutorial. Splinters, aching muscles, and the constant, gnawing hunger. Kael was the perfect partner, standing guard with a low, rumbling growl anytime the wind carried a new, threatening scent. By dusk, we had a fire crackling and a pathetic but functional lean-to.
Then the universe dropped the tutorial quest.
[Quest Initiated: Survive 7 Days.]
[Objective: Maintain Health and Energy.]
[Reward: System Tutorial Unlock.]
Seven days. I sat by the fire, Kael a warm, solid presence at my side. A trial period. Fine. I ran the combat sims in my head. Reinforce the shelter, find a real food source, figure out what other tricks this System had up its sleeve. I rested a hand on Kael's fur. Trust wasn't a feeling; it was a function of mutual benefit. As long as we kept each other alive, its loyalty stat would climb.
A roar tore through the darkness, deep and guttural, shaking the very ground. Predator. Big one. The fire flared, casting our shadows long and distorted. I didn't waste time on fear. I started plotting. The shelter was our choke point. The fire was for aggro control. Kael would be the flanking DPS. Every action was a move. Every choice, a line of code in the script of our survival.
The roar came again, closer this time. I met Kael's sharp, intelligent gaze. An understanding passed between us. This wasn't just about survival anymore. This was the tutorial level.
And I don't fail tutorials.