Kaizer opened his eyes to a splitting headache. Lately, he had been haunted by dreams of systems, monsters, and endless white light, probably the result of too many late-night gaming sessions.

  At twenty-six, his life felt as if it had stopped moving. He worked a dead-end job, had no partner, and no real friends outside his online guild. The bills never seemed to end, and the fridge was always half-empty. His growing beer belly reminded him daily that sitting behind a screen was not a fitness plan. At five-ten and one hundred and ten kilos, with short black hair and a small scar over his right eye, Kaizer was thoroughly ordinary.

  He typically worked from home, but today was a reporting day. He followed the same strict routine each time: get in, report, and leave as soon as possible. If he stayed until one o’clock, his boss would find new chores for him, the kind of office drudgery that had nothing to do with his actual job in IT. Scrubbing floors and kitchen cleaning were not his idea of a good time, especially since he was never in the office.

  He was reaching for his keys when a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

  [Ten minutes until integration. Please ensure you are in a safe location. You may be transferred during the integration process.]

  Kaizer froze. His first thought was that the sleepless nights had finally caught up with him. Maybe a hallucination, maybe he was just going insane. But when he looked at his phone, or any screen for that matter, the same thing showed: a black background and a small timer counting down in the top corner. Even the television and computer monitor displayed it, Kaizer could have sworn they were turned off.

  “Fantastic,” he muttered. “I’m officially losing it.”

  He dropped onto the lounge and decided that if his brain was short-circuiting, a nap might help. Work could wait.

  The timer kept ticking, the digits shrinking toward zero. He was half asleep when another voice sounded directly inside his skull.

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  [Integration starting. Please stand by.]

  A rush of vertigo hit Kaizer. He opened his eyes but saw only white. Endless white. He could not move. The world felt erased.

  [Welcome to the integration tutorial. Earth is the 1,032,226th planet to be integrated. As the apex species, human, you will be tested prior to intergalactic connection. You will now be transferred to the tutorial zone.]

  “That’s it? That’s your explanation?” Kaizer shouted into the void. “What the fuck is happening?”

  [Warping in three, two, one. Good luck.]

  The whiteness collapsed around him. The next moment, he was on his hands and knees in a grassy clearing, retching. The smell of soil and vomit filled the air.

  All around him, people were shouting. Someone screamed for her children. Others swore, panicked, or sobbed.

  Kaizer forced himself upright and looked around. Tens of thousands of people crowded the plain. The noise was deafening.

  Most were as disoriented as he was; some lay groaning on the ground. Circling the perimeter stood tall, metallic, unmoving humanoid figures, their surfaces reflecting the sun like mirrors.

  Before Kaizer could process the sight, the voice returned.

  [Welcome to Earth Tutorial 1,069, The ten-thousand participants here will integrate under Scenario: Dungeon Apocalypse. Your mission is simple: survive for thirty days. How you do it is up to you. Good luck.]

  The words chilled Kaizer. Survival tutorials were always nightmares in the games he played: monster hordes, impossible odds, players dying in minutes. He had no intention of staying put.

  While the crowd argued and panicked, Kaizer slipped toward the trees at the edge of the clearing.

  [System integration complete.]

  The phrase flashed through his head like static. He had no idea what it meant, and he wouldn’t wait to find out. Kaizer broke into a jog, heading for the forest, but before he reached the shade, the white light engulfed him again.

  “Great. Definitely insane,” he said as pain lanced through his skull.

  Then everything went dark.

  When Kaizer opened his eyes once more, he was lying in a smaller clearing. The air was cool and silent except for faint groans nearby. About twenty people were scattered around him, most still unconscious. His entire body ached as if he had been thrown from a moving car.

  He pushed himself upright, blinking against the flickering light in the corners of his vision. “God, get this flashing out of my head,” he muttered.

  When he focused on it, the shimmer formed words that floated in mid-air.

  [Welcome to the system. Your core has been unlocked.]

  The message faded, replaced by another.

  [Please meditate and grow your core, choose your path.]

  Kaizer stared at the text until it vanished. He had no idea what it meant, but the earlier instruction still echoed in his memory: survive for thirty days. If this was anything like a game, it meant danger, monsters, hunger, or worse. Staying with strangers would only make things riskier. Groups tended to break down when people panicked or if the wrong person was put in charge. Someone always tried to lead, someone would resist, and blood would follow. Kaizer wasn’t going to wait for that.

  Quietly, Kaizer gathered his breath, checked his surroundings, and slipped into the forest. The trees swallowed him whole.