Endless pure white stretched before him.
There was no direction and no boundary.
[Welcome to the Wilderness Continent.]
[You must survive here.]
[Every survivor will receive a starter cabin.
The number of other survivors in the surrounding area will vary according to the difficulty of the starting environment.]
[Please step forward and draw your talent.]
A mechanical voice echoed through the space.
Surprisingly, Shinjo Yu showed little panic despite the bizarre situation that had suddenly befallen him.
As a veteran webnovel reader, he was all too familiar with this scene and the process unfolding before him.
‘Isn’t this the most textbook survival-story opening imaginable?’
‘Did I transmigrate?
Is this the Main God’s Space?
Or some global survival game?’
Countless settings and terms that had kept him reading deep into the night flashed through his mind.
He had never imagined that an adventure confined to stories and his imagination would one day become his reality.
“Well, I’ll be…” he murmured, the corners of his lips curling upward.
He stepped forward as instructed.
A single sphere surrounded by a gentle halo floated before him in the otherwise empty white space.
Yu reached out and touched its surface.
[Drawing talent…]
The mechanical voice sounded again.
[Detecting the individual’s mental imprint and behavioral preferences…
Matching…]
[Throughout your life, you read shamelessly overpowered wish-fulfillment novels, used FLiNG Trainer whenever you gamed, and loaded max-level saves in every eroge.
In short, you always made sure you enjoyed everything.]
[Talent draw complete.]
[You have obtained the unique talent: Cheat Engine.]
‘My talent is a Cheat Engine?’
Yu froze.
Before he could examine its description, an unseen force seized him.
The endless white space stretched into blurred streams of light.
He felt as though he had been stuffed inside a washing machine spinning at full speed, only to be thrown out without mercy.
…
Thump!
He struck the ground with a surprisingly light thud.
Dust rose around him as the damp, moldy stench of decay assaulted his nose.
When his vision finally refocused, the flawless white space was gone.
He was sitting inside something that could only barely be called a building.
A wooden cabin.
The “starter cabin” the voice had mentioned.
But this place looked a little too basic, even for a starter shelter.
Its walls consisted of rough logs that still bore their bark.
The gaps between them were wide enough for someone to push a finger through.
Freezing wind whistled through every opening, making Yu shudder.
When he looked up, he found that the so-called ceiling was nothing more than a few crooked planks.
It was riddled with holes through which he could see the dark, overcast sky.
A heap of dry, blackened straw had been carelessly piled in one corner.
It was probably meant to serve as a bed—or perhaps a nest.
Other than that, the cabin was completely empty.
No, not entirely.
At the center of the cabin, roughly a meter above the floor, floated a glass sphere the size of his fist.
The sphere was perfectly transparent.
A miniature night sky seemed sealed within it, where tiny stars flickered in and out of existence.
Its steady glow provided the only light inside the dark, dilapidated cabin.
Yu climbed off the cold, damp floor and brushed the dust from his clothes.
The freezing wind quickly cleared his head and forced him to acknowledge his situation.
‘I start with a ruined shack, and all my equipment depends on…
my talent?’
Remembering his unique talent, Cheat Engine, helped settle his nerves.
His attention then shifted toward the floating glass sphere.
‘I’m guessing this is some kind of system core or control hub.’
He approached and cautiously extended his hand, gently touching the sphere’s cold surface with his fingertip.
Buzz—
The starlight inside the sphere suddenly flared.
A translucent screen unfolded in the air before him.
At the top of the simple interface was a title.
[Starter Cabin—Status]
Directly beneath it was a straightforward piece of information.
[Cabin Integrity (HP): 10/10]
Below that appeared a three-dimensional model of the cabin.
Red warning marks clearly identified the damaged areas, most of which were concentrated along the walls and roof.
A list of available actions appeared beside the model.
[East Wall: Damaged.
Repair/upgrade requires Wood ×5.]
[West Wall: Damaged.
Repair/upgrade requires Wood ×5.]
[South Wall: Damaged.
Repair/upgrade requires Wood ×5.]
[North Wall: Damaged.
Repair/upgrade requires Wood ×5.]
[Roof: Severely damaged.
Repair/upgrade requires Wood ×8.]
[Floor: Crude but intact.
Upgrade available.]
Several other tabs were visible farther down, including [Crafting], [Chat], and [Map], but they were grayed out and currently unavailable.
After studying the resources needed to upgrade the cabin, Yu noticed a string of dark-red numbers constantly changing in the upper-right corner.
It was a countdown.
[6:12:53:44]
The final number steadily decreased from forty-four to forty-three, then forty-two.
‘That must mean six days, twelve hours, fifty-three minutes, and forty-four seconds.’
A Beast Tide arriving after roughly seven days was yet another classic survival-game development.
Yu tapped the countdown.
The interface changed, revealing a more detailed notification.
[Countdown until the first Beast Tide: 6 days, 12 hours, 53 minutes, 36 seconds.]
[Warning: Beast Tides are recurring survival trials.
Reinforce your shelter and increase your strength as much as possible before the countdown ends.
Survival is your only objective.]
“So it really is the classic seven-day grace period…”
Yu raised an eyebrow, completely unsurprised by the arrangement.
Seven days sounded like plenty of time, but with only a drafty cabin and his empty hands, it suddenly seemed painfully stingy.
The pressure was immense, but Yu took a deep breath and recalled his unique talent.
“Cheat Engine…”
He focused his thoughts.
Another translucent screen unfolded on the left side of his vision, standing beside the cabin status screen on the right.
At its center was a slowly rotating three-dimensional model identical to Yu.
Several clear statistics were displayed beneath it.
[Strength: 9] [+] [−]
[Dexterity: 11] [+] [−]
[Constitution: 9] [+] [−]
[Intelligence: 11] [+] [−]
Every attribute had a plus and minus button beside it.
Yu did not linger on his attributes.
His attention immediately shifted toward another tab that had automatically opened beside his personal status screen.
Its title read [Cheat Engine].
In the upper-right corner beneath the title was another line.
[Available Points: 1]
An endlessly scrollable list occupied nearly the entire screen.
It was packed with option names.
Yu’s breathing faltered when he saw the first few entries.
[Eye of Omniscience (Passive)—Unlocks the ability to view detailed information.
(Cost: 1 point)]
[Drop Rate Multiplier (Passive)—Doubles the chance for acquired loot to be upgraded in quality.
(Cost: 1 point)]
[Drop Multiplier (Passive)—Doubles the standard quantity of items dropped by defeated targets.
(Cost: 1 point)]
[Resource Proliferation (Area Passive)—Slightly increases the natural regeneration rate of renewable resources in your current area.
(Cost: 2 points)]
[…]
The list stretched on endlessly.
As Yu scrolled farther down, he found options such as [Damage Modifier], [Defense Bypass], [Infinite Durability], and [Instant Learning].
Their names alone were enough to make his blood race.
Their costs steadily climbed from one point, while some were marked only with [???].
“So that’s how it works…
This is my Cheat Engine.”
Yu murmured under his breath as his heart began pounding uncontrollably.