Opening her eyes, she was met with a vision she hadn't expected. Instead of the usual empty classroom, was grass. Where should've been a desk with a chair, instead there were trees and flowers.
Just where was she? That wasn't supposed to happen! She was supposed to not exist anymore! After all she'd done to her friends… to the player, too. Was that her punishment? To be alone in a forest?
...at least it was pretty.
Without a clue as to what to do, she sat down in the shade of one of the trees. Now that she looked more closely at it, there was something weird about it. It was way too straight to be natural, jutting out of the ground at a perfectly right angle. So did every tree as well, and the flowers too. Also the ground was perfectly flat- wait, not quite. A few meters away from her it jutted up with another straight angle, and returned to its flatness just as abruptly.
What was that place, really? Some geometrical purgatory?
As she was about to launch into another tirade about her surroundings, she was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps. And they seemed very fast, too.
Without any better options, she tried to hide behind the closest tree.
When the steps got closer, she spotted a figure. it seemed to be a man with rather unassuming features: tanned skin, 5 o'clock beard, dark brown hair, teal shirt and purple pants. And yet, when she looked at him, she felt a sense of wrongness. As if there was more to this man than what she could tell at first glance.
The man had stopped running just a few paces away from her hiding spot, and was looking around. His body barely moved, nor did his eyes. Only his head seemed to be tilting this way and that to see. When his neck turned too much, his torso didn't rotate. Instead, the whole body spun in a fluid motion.
Too fluid.
She realized what had been nagging at her the whole time: what she'd dubbed her 'meta-vision', her ability to see the script and to perceive the world as a game, had been restricted. She couldn't access any file, but there was… something. With some effort, she forced her meta-vision to activate to the full extent it could achieve at the moment. And what she saw… well, it explained some things.
Everything took on a more 'blocky' look, with very clear pixelated graphics. So did the man.
She was in another game.
And then, something more unexpected happened: on the lower-left edge of her vision, a few lines of text appeared.
<Alien-Kun>: Monika, are you here?
<Alien-Kun>: I just want to talk. I promise.
That 'Alien-kun' knew her name. Was he..?
She had to try. Through sheer willpower, she tried to compose a message.
<Monika>: I'm here.
Just two words had taken more out of her than she'd have liked to admit. But she had managed.
<Alien-Kun>: I can't see you, are you sure? Ah, whatever. You can read this; it's good enough.
<Alien-Kun>: You're probably confused, and I get it. There's a lot of things that happened between the last time we met and now.
<Alien-Kun>: But before I explain anything else, know this: I'm not angry at you. I may have been a while ago, but I've had time to think. And while I may not entirely agree with what you did, I understand.
He… he did? Sure, she could understand not agreeing with her actions: she didn't either anymore, but… would he be willing to forgive her? After what she'd done? But… it was so hard to talk back. Maybe she could just approach his avatar?
She tried that just that, stepping out of her hiding spot. In a moment, the player -'Alien', as he was calling himself inside of that game- spotted her. His- its eyes looked straight through her, as if she wasn't even there in the first place. It reminded her a lot of MC after she'd…
No, that wasn't the time to sulk. She needed to grow some courage and speak to her player!
"Hi player… Did you mean it? You're not angry?" She asked hopefully.
----------------------------
The player could only frown.
"Just what is up with the audio on this thing? Everything else sounded fine…"
He returned to typing.
<Alien-Kun>: I can't seem to hear what you're saying for some reason. I'll be looking over the files later to see what the issue may be, but for now…
Gave 1 [Book and Quill] to Alien-Kun
<Alien-Kun>: You can try to write what you want to say in this book, and then give it to me.
His avatar then threw onto the ground a book with a quill seemingly stuck to it. They were both floating in the air. Without any better ideas, Monika picked up said book and wrote down what she'd just asked before. Once she was done, she put the book back on the ground and stepped back.
When the avatar walked closer to the book, it flew towards its body, and disappeared just as it got within a hair's breadth of colliding with its torso. It took a moment for Alien to write again.
<Alien-Kun>: I do mean it, Monika. I'm not angry at you. You did what you believed was the only solution to your problem. It was an awful solution, but it was all that you had at the moment. I can understand the reasoning.
<Alien-Kun>: But to get this out before it becomes a problem: no, I never fell in love with you.
In that moment, Monika felt her heart shatter in a thousand pieces. He didn't love her? Then why… why bother bringing her back?
She asked as much when she was given the book again.
<Alien-Kun>: Two reasons. One, because I don't think you deserved to die. That ending was cruel to everyone, but in the end… you're not wrong. You're the only real person in the club. Sayori was, for a moment, but she'd gone far too crazy far too quickly for me to trust.
<Alien-Kun>: The second reason… well, it ties in with the first. I wanted to give you another chance. That's also why I chose this game: you can make most of anything here, so long as you have the will for it.
Monika was feeling very conflicted. On one hand, he had straight-up rejected her. On the other, he did say he wanted to give her a chance. But in the way he worded it...
"Would you also give us another chance?" She wrote, hoping against all hope that he'd say yes.
After some time, which she could only assume meant that he was as conflicted about the matter as her, he answered.
<Alien-Kun>: Why don't we slow down a bit? I'm not going anywhere for a while, and you… well, I doubt you will be able to cause problems. So, let's start with trying to be friends, and go from there. That good enough for you?
It wasn't the answer she'd hoped for, but it wasn't the 'no' she dreaded either! Maybe there was still some hope.
Thus, they changed the subject to the game itself. It was quickly evident that Alien-Kun knew it like the back of his hand, as he walked her through the steps as a master would an apprentice. Monika was forced to keep an open mind in this game, since it seemed to not have much in the way of physics.
Having to break a tree with her hand was an interesting experience.
Beyond that it was a simple affair. Apparently, she was able to use the game's inventory as if she were a player herself, so she could also use the game's crafting function. Some wood and a wooden pickaxe later, Monika felt ready to go digging.
<Alien-Kun>: I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I would suggest just getting some stone, c̕r͙̻̭̝̹̲̫͝af̰͝t̮̹͙͠i̖n͓̞͇͡g ̨̮̻̳a͖͝ ͟f̹̦͚̟͝u̫̼͎̼̳̙͜ͅr̦̹͉̹̣̘̳n̥͈̯̭ͅa̴̳̩̩͙̗̜ͅce̬̮͚̺,̺̠̩͢a̜͎̺͚ṉ͖d̶̡̲͍͖͘ͅ ̬̫͇̤̠̯t̷͓̝̗͓̀h̷̰͍̗̪͍̰͝͝e̫͙̭̟̻̩̖̤̕ņ̗̤̲͚̘̣̬ ͢҉̳̖̝̠̝̭̫m̭̩̻ą̷̞͍̦͓̘͈͝k̴̸̬̹̝̦̬͕̞i͏͎̰͢n̨̯̙̮̠͈͕̳͘g̢̲̘͇͇̖̲̣̀ ̹̫̭̻c̛͔̣͈̖̬ͅͅh͏̦͕̦̙̭̜͈ͅą͎͔͕r͏̵͏̳͔͈͕c̨̫̹̗̝͇̜͔̪͢͞o̢̝̹̺̪̱͓̱a͖ļ̻͚̩̰̣̘ ͇̝͖̤̪̪̫f̫̱͙̪͍͍o̧͈̰͞ŕ̴͙̙̪͚͙̯̮ ͖̯̬̬̳a̢̨̡̨̲̮͕̭̻̗̱̘ͅ ̴̡͓͙͍͙͓̘̗̗͕̯̳͕̻̀̕ͅf̷͚̠̙̬̠͟ȩ̶͚͇̯͈͈̦͉͎͙̫͈͉͕͟w̢̨̘̙͖͔̟̳̥̮̝̙͚̗͓͉̼̤̲̞͟͝ ́҉͎͙͈̣͎͇̗͕̬̳̭t҉҉͕̼̘̹̦͍͖͖̺̻̙̯ǫ̺̼̦͍̟̖͓̺̜͎̝̕r̸̥͉̤͖͢͝c͉͇̫̳͔̜̲͚̘̼̪͕̖̪̻͢͢ͅḩ̲̲̦̥̮͙͙̭͈̦̫̪̠͘ẹ̷̶̼̭̤̭̩́͢͞ś̢̮̬̥̪̹̥͍̠͖̥͞
The text was the first thing to glitch out. Next, was Alien-Kun's avatar. After a moment of distortions, it completely disappeared. Monika's breath hitched in her throat as she looked around. More and more of the world around her was being corrupted. Textures went missing, or mixing with each other. The ground under her seemed to be moving, fluid but stable at the same time. She felt like she was sinking, but when looking down she was actually rising up into the sky.
Seconds stretched out like a lifetime, her blinking eyelids feeling as if they were wading through molasses. And as she opened her eyes again-
-it was fine.
Everything was just as it had been a moment before.
Monkia forced herself to take several deep breaths to calm her raging heart- wait a moment.
She had a heartbeat. That was new. Until now her breathing, blinking, and whatnot was just simulated.
Monika stopped breathing. After a few seconds, an uncomfortable burn in her lungs forced her to take in air again.
"It's real!" She thought, dumbfounded. "I… I'm actually breathing. My heart is beating. I can feel the clothes on my skin… What happened?"
She looked around wildly, trying to catch a glimpse of the player's return. She found nothing. She was alone for the moment.
"Maybe… maybe he's just taking his time to see what caused those glitches. Yeah, he'll be back soon. In the meantime I'll surprise him. He said to get stone, and make a furnace…" She fiddled a bit with her pickaxe as she planned things out in her mind. "Charcoal… I'll probably need wood. I might as well get a bit more stone and also make an axe."
With a plan ready - however barebones it may be - she set out. It didn't take long for Monika to stumble upon a cave. It was a small hole, barely big enough for her to walk inside comfortably. After taking barely a few steps in, the light filtering in wasn't enough to allow her to make out anything more than general shapes.
Unwilling to spend more time than she had to in the dark, she hurried to dig up several blocks of stone. What she didn't expect, was a light-grey window to pop up in front of her just as she broke the first block.
[Discovered skill: Mining]
Monika had no idea what to make of it. She wasn't familiar with the game except its most basic premise, so for all she knew that might've been a part of the game. The window disappeared after a brief moment, so she resumed her digging.
[Mining: +1 Lv]
Another window popped up after she'd dug up a few blocks. While she wasn't sure what it entailed exactly, progress was progress. Thus, Monika was fine with it.
Once she had obtained twenty blocks of cobblestone, Monika fled the cave. After a brief moment to readjust to the sunlight, she took out her crafting table and proceeded to make herself an axe, a better pickaxe, and a furnace. Luckily for her, the crafting function came with a handy list of recipes that kept expanding the more materials she gathered.
She placed down the furnace, and examined its menu. It had its own recipe book, and rifling through it she found how to make charcoal: she had to cook wood. It made sense to her.
So, axe in hand, Monika approached a tree and took a swing at it. And then another, and so on until the first log broke.
[Discovered skill: Woodcutting]
This time, Monika cockedher eyebrow. "I already cut down a tree, why would it show me the skill now- oh! I didn't have an axe! That must be it."
With a satisfied nod to herself, Monika returned to chopping the tree. It was a bit of a hassle to reach all the way up to cut every piece, but after placing some blocks as a staircase it was easy pickings.
Though, she did have to also break the cobblestone she used, so it looped back around to being a hassle.
[Woodcutting: +1 Lv]
[Tier up! You gained one Perk Point to spend!]
This time, Monika didn't really know what she was supposed to do. What was she supposed to spend the point on? Furthermore, how was she even supposed to spend it?
[Hint: open the Skills menu to allocate Perk Points]
"Oh. Well, that explains it. At least whoever made this game had the forethought to add hints." Similarly to how she could open her inventory, Monika only needed to will the skill menu into existence for it to appear.
[Perk points: 1
Mining (Lv 2) [0/15 Perks] <+>
Woodcutting (Lv 2) [0/15 Perks] <+>]
Monika pursed her lips in though. "Where should I spend that point? Well, I don't exactly have a lot of options now… And I'll probably be doing a lot of mining in the future… Oh, well. If anything, I can just put the next one I get in woodcutting."
With her choice made, she tapped the plus sign next to Mining.
[Perk obtained: Nightvision]
[Nightvision (Tier 1/4)
-You can make out the shapes around you even in complete darkness]
It wasn't what she had expected, but she knew better than to disregard it completely. If she got it right, then it was only going to get stronger as it increased in tier, possibly letting her see in darkness as if it were daylight.
As she waited for the charcoal to be done, Monika pondered what she should do next.
"The torches are a given, but what else…" She looked up for a moment, and noticed that the sun had passed beyond noon. "I have half a day left before it becomes night… I should probably either find shelter or make one. Maybe I could build a small house? Hm… that would take a while, though, between gathering the materials and building. But the player might like finding a nice house when he comes back..."
The crackle of the furnace died out, signaling to Monika that the charcoal was ready. Well, time to make some torches.
What will Monika do? Select only one choice for each category, please.
[]Resources: go mining (chance to find ores, moderate danger)
[]Resources: chop trees (chance to find food/animals, very low danger)
[]Shelter: build a house (more comfortable, takes time and resources, less time spent gathering resources)
[]Shelter: dig out a room (uncomfortable, takes less time and little resources, can gather more resources. Temporary solution)
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