Ash Heartfelt didn't realize the world would end while he was immersed in survival games.
His eyes flickered beneath dark, sleepless lids as the blue glow of his monitor danced across the dim walls of his cluttered apartment. The digital landscape before him pulsed with simulated life—grids, blueprints, and the methodical rhythm of construction. Turrets aligned. Cables snapped into automated grids. Materials queued for recycling.
[Resource node efficiency: +11%]
[New tech unlocked: Bio-Fusion Generator]
Click. Click. Drag. Craft. Place.
His screen name, ZERO, hovered above the digital avatar on the HUD. A name he had used in every game since middle school. It wasn't just a tag—it was a philosophy. A symbol.
"Start from nothing. Build everything. Control all."
Ash didn't notice the time anymore. Not truly. He'd long since synced his schedule with the cycles of in-game days. Eat when the character eats. Sleep when the base rests. Only breaks were for scavenging real food—usually cold leftovers or instant noodles—then right back to dismantling the post-apocalypse, pixel by pixel.
The real world outside was peaceful. Safe. Boring.
Ash had never fit in.
His room was a shrine of blueprint sheets, disassembled gadgets, printed guides for architectural designs, and carefully labeled plastic bins full of salvaged circuit boards or housing connectors. College architecture textbooks lay under piles of game artbooks and system schematics.
He hadn't gone outside in three weeks. Not since the semester break started. Not since the rain started.
The rain hadn't stopped.
It was 3:42 AM. Rain lashed harder than usual. Ash's window—partially open for airflow—let a stream snake along the sill, trickling toward the overloaded power strip beneath his desk.
His fingers paused on the keyboard. He was lining up a solar collector.
A jolt of white. A pop. A surge.
The world blinked.
And then it shattered.
Darkness.
Then the sharp scent of metal, rot, and something... electric.
[SYSTEM INITIATING...]
CORE FUNCTION: FOUNDATION TIER: 0 (Dormant Framework Mode)
User neural sync detected…
LINK ESTABLISHED
Ash's head throbbed. No sensation. No gravity. Just pulses—binary pulses—cutting through the dark like sonar.
[Choose User ID:]
Option 1: Real Name "Ash Heartfelt"
Option 2: Alias "ZERO"
His mouth moved before his mind did. "Alias… Zero."
[Identity Confirmed. Welcome, Zero.]
Tutorial Protocol: INITIALIZATION IN PROGRESS…
[Tutorial Protocols Enabled]
Light exploded.
Ash gasped awake—except he wasn't at his desk. His room was gone.
What replaced it was cold, soil-caked stone beneath him. Gray clouds churned overhead, and the sound of wind howled through skeletal trees. A damp, coppery scent filled the air. Smoke. Rot.
His hands trembled. Fingerless gloves. Same ones he wore when gaming. His body—same frame, same clothes—but everything else was wrong.
"No way... this is…"
"…Is this a dream?"
He reached up. The HUD flickered across his vision, projected into his retinas. Not a monitor. Not goggles. He reached for the glowing icons out of habit. They moved. Responsive.
[Scan Initialized]
Status: Body - Minor bruising, Dehydrated, Unknown Contaminants Detected
Biome: Unknown Wasteland
Air Quality: Hazardous
Threats: Minor (Organic, Non-Mutated)
His jaw clenched. "This… this isn't a dream."
He touched his chest. A flicker of faint light glowed near the collarbone. Not a device. An embedded symbol.
⚙️ Gear over a 3x3 grid.
Zero's insignia. His mark. Now burned into him.
Foundation Core System - Tier 0
• Basic HUD Interface
• Health, Stamina, and Environmental Readout
• Inventory Access (Limited Slots)
• Tutorial Prompts
• No Combat Functionality Detected
[Objective: Establish Shelter]
[Suggested Tool: Crowbar]
A laugh bubbled up. Short. Dry. "This is real."
Ash Heartfelt. Alias: Zero. College shut-in. Survival game fanatic. Master of base-building theory. And now...
Transmigrated into a world of ash and ruin.
He needed shelter.
Step one in every game. Rule one in every scenario.
Ash stood slowly, knees stiff, adrenaline rushing. A wrecked barn lay nearby. Rotting wood, broken fences, rusted farming equipment half-consumed by vines. Everything looked real. More real than any game engine he'd known.
His heart pounded.
But not with fear.
With fascination.
The HUD pinged again.
[Nearby Object: Broken Crowbar - Tier 0]
He moved toward it.
Picked it up.
[Item Found: Broken Crowbar (Tier 0)]
Durability: 30/30
Bonus: +2 Dismantle Efficiency (Junk Tier Only)
Rust flaked off into his hand.
The system chimed softly.
[Tool Acquired. Begin Tutorial? Y/N]
Ash exhaled. "Yes."
[Basic Tool Acquired]
[System Log: Progression Achieved]
New Menu Unlocked: JOURNAL LOG ENTRY
And so it began.
Journal Log Entry - Day 001
Found myself in a strange wasteland. Unknown how I got here. Activated a system that mimics everything I've ever played. Built a shack from collapsed barnwood. Reinforced walls with metal scrap. It's barely holding. No food. Found water barrel with fungal bloom — filtered it using cloth. Not great. System says Tier 0, but tutorials are efficient. Tool durability system enabled. Found dead deer. Harvested with crowbar. Bad idea. Smells like rot. I think I'll call this place… Base Zero.
Quote: "If the world is broken… I'll just rebuild it."