by Kyle Rune
Earth has been drafted. There was no tutorial. There were no cheat codes. When the System initiated, the gamers thought they were the chosen ones. They expected instant skills, health bars, and magic powers. They were the first to die. Under the cold logic of an indifferent System, the rules of survival are brutally physical. Magic requires study. Leveling up requires tearing your own muscles to break the System's Thresholds. Professional athletes and martial artists are already gods among men, moving with terrifying kinetic perfection. Everyone else is just prey. For Leonid, an engineer fighting through broken ribs, Ivan, an ordinary guy armed with a rifle and a pack of cigarettes, and Anya, a psychology major dropout, there is no plot armor. With millions of dying worlds competing for survival and monsters already in the streets, the three of them face a terrible choice. To survive, they must either endure the agonizing physical grind of the human path, or walk the Arcane path — trading their sanity, and their humanity, for the raw, monstrous power of the beasts they kill. This is reality. Nobody is coming to save them. And they are not the main characters. Release Schedule: A new chapter every Friday (might be a bit later). Unless told otherwise (will be announced as an author note). P.S. There are no paywalls for this story. Every chapter will always be free to read. But if you enjoy the brutal reality of the System and want to support my work, my Patreon is just $3. Any support is massively appreciated.
