There was no gentle sunrise here — just a sudden shift from deep violet to a harsh, golden blaze that burned across the treetops.
Birds — or something like birds — shrieked and cackled from the canopy.
Jake and I woke stiff and sore, every muscle aching from the previous night's fight and frantic setup.
"New rule," Jake groaned as he rolled out from under the shelter. "We evolve some kind of bed immediately."
I snorted, tossing him a strip of the dried meat from our Starter Packs. "Priority one: survive. Priority two: not die of back pain."
He caught the ration, grinning.
Outside the shelter, the forest was misty and eerily quiet — a thick, white fog creeping between the trees.
We sat by the low-burning fire, chewing in silence, listening.
Every crack of a branch, every flutter of wings set my nerves on edge.
This world wasn't going to give us a break.
After breakfast (if you could call meat leather breakfast), we sat down to plan.
Jake summoned a holographic map — the basic Builder's Tool he’d unlocked at Level 2.
It showed a rough outline of our immediate surroundings:
-
Cliff wall to the north.
-
Forest sprawling endlessly to the east and west.
-
A river nearby to the south — fresh water, if we could reach it.
"We need defenses," Jake said, tracing lines with his finger in the air.
"Not just traps. Walls. Barricades. Fences."
"And watchtowers," I added. "We can't see far in this terrain. If something big comes stomping through, we need early warning."
Jake nodded. "I'll start basic structures. You focus on your traps and getting stronger."
Simple division of labor.
In games or books, it always seemed so easy to survive.
In reality, it was exhausting, sweaty, tedious work — but every post we planted, every vine we twisted into a rope, every stone we dragged into place, made our camp feel a little safer.
A little more like home.
Trap crafting quickly became my obsession.
Every spare moment, I was experimenting — digging shallow pits, rigging falling branch snares, weaving magic tripwires between trees.
Each success leveled my skill:
[Basic Trap Crafting] → [Intermediate Trap Crafting] (Lv 5)
And each level made it easier, faster, more efficient.
New options unlocked:
Explosive Rune Trap (A delayed magical blast)
Binding Vines Trap (Roots and vines wrap around the victim)
Illusionary Pit (A visual illusion hiding a real pit)
I set traps in layers around our camp — a spiderweb of danger.
Every time one triggered — catching a wandering animal or an unlucky monster — I gained experience.
I started thinking of New Dawn not just as a camp...
but as my territory.
And I would defend it with everything I had.
Three days after setting up the initial camp, we had our first contact.
I spotted them while repairing a damaged tripwire — two figures moving cautiously through the woods.
Both were armed: one with a makeshift spear, the other clutching a glowing orb of fire in one hand.
Both had ragged clothes and the hunted look of survivors.
Above their heads, their names and levels floated faintly:
[Emily — Level 5 — Healer]
[Marcus — Level 6 — Warrior]
They froze when they saw me.
I raised my hands peacefully. "Hey. Not looking for trouble."
Jake appeared behind me, his hammer slung over one shoulder.
("When the hell did you make a hammer?" I'd asked earlier.
Jake just winked and said, "Builder perks, baby.")
After some tense introductions, Emily and Marcus relaxed a little.
Turns out they were from our school, though I'd never met them before.
Veltheria had thrown everyone into the same brutal starting area — thousands of people scattered across an unforgiving world.
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They asked if they could stay.
Jake and I exchanged glances.
We couldn't be naive — more people meant more mouths to feed, more vulnerabilities — but it also meant more hands for building.
And if we were going to turn New Dawn into more than just a camp...
We needed people.
Expansion was messy.
Jake quickly laid out a rough design for New Dawn Phase One:
Wooden palisade wall
Two watchtowers
Central fire pit
Small communal shelter (upgraded lean-to)
Meanwhile, I doubled the traps — setting outer and inner defensive lines.
Emily began treating injuries and studying basic healing magic, and Marcus helped Jake with construction, his Warrior strength making him a natural laborer.
For the first time, New Dawn felt like a village.
Crude, sure. Primitive.
But alive.
Each night, we sat around the fire, planning, dreaming, joking.
Our little paradise didn't last long.
On the sixth night, disaster struck.
It started with a rumbling in the earth — faint at first, then growing into a shaking roar.
The System flashed an urgent warning:
[Local Event: Stampede!]
Threat Level: Moderate
Description: A herd of wild creatures is moving through your area. Seek shelter or prepare to defend.
We barely had time to react.
The first beast burst from the trees — a massive boar-like creature with thick armor plates and wicked tusks.
[Ironhide Boar — Level 10]
Behind it came more — dozens of them, snorting and squealing, trampling everything in their path.
Our traps went off like fireworks — vines snapping, branches falling, magic blasts detonating.
Some boars stumbled, injured or slowed.
But most just kept charging.
"TO THE WALL!" Jake bellowed, hauling up his hammer.
We scrambled onto the half-finished barricade, lobbing spells and spears down into the stampeding herd.
Magic Bolt after Magic Bolt flew from my hands, my mana draining rapidly.
Jake's hammer slammed into skulls, shattering bone.
Marcus fought like a berserker, while Emily frantically healed wounds, glowing green magic pouring from her hands.
The battle raged for what felt like hours.
By the time the last boar collapsed, twitching, the camp was a wreck — smashed fences, broken towers, smoking craters where my rune traps had detonated.
We stood panting amid the ruin, bloodied but alive.
And as the System chimed again, I realized something:
This wasn’t just a survival challenge.
It was a war.
And New Dawn was on the front lines.
The Stampede gave massive experience boosts.
Hunter: Level 3 → Level 6
New Skill Unlocked:
[Barrier Rune] (Lv 1) — Create a temporary magical shield anchored to a surface.
Jake also leveled up massively, unlocking basic defensive construction blueprints — stronger walls, reinforced gates, and even basic turrets once he evolved further.
(He practically vibrated with excitement when he saw that.)
Emily unlocked Healing Totems — stationary healing spells anchored in place — and Marcus started learning basic group tactics.
But the most important gain wasn’t experience.
It was clarity.
We couldn’t afford to think small anymore.
New Dawn wouldn’t survive as a campsite.
It had to become a city.
A fortress.
A beacon.
And someday... a kingdom.
Morning in Veltheria had a cruel beauty.
Sunlight streamed through gaps in the towering trees, igniting the mist into golden flames.
The world looked soft, ethereal.
A lie.
I stood atop the half-rebuilt wall, scanning the treeline with tired eyes.
Jake hammered away below, reinforcing the gate. Emily tended the garden plots we'd started. Marcus was crafting spears out of scrap wood.
A normal day in New Dawn — if survival ever counted as normal.
That’s when I saw him.
A lone figure moving fast through the trees, his cloak shredded, his bow drawn.
At first, I thought it was another enemy.
Then the System tag hovered over him:
[Adam — Level 13 — Arcane Archer]
My jaw dropped.
"Jake!" I shouted. "Contact! High level! It's Adam!"
Jake dropped his hammer and sprinted up the stairs two at a time.
"Adam?" he blinked, peering out. "From school Adam? Bow kid?"
"Yeah," I said. "And he's hauling ass straight for us."
I grabbed my staff and raced for the gate.
The gates creaked open just enough for Adam to slip through before we slammed them shut.
He leaned against the wall, breathing hard, covered in dust and blood — not all of it his own.
"Damn," he panted, flashing a shaky grin. "You guys are alive."
"You too," I said, clapping his shoulder.
Jake handed him a canteen. Adam gulped the water like a dying man.
"What happened?" Emily asked, appearing at my side.
Adam wiped his mouth, grimacing.
"Had a camp. Had a few people. Monsters hit us four days ago. Big ones. Lost everybody else."
He swallowed. "Been running since."
The silence hung heavy.
Jake broke it first. "You're safe now. Welcome to New Dawn."
Adam grinned, weary but grateful. "New Dawn, huh? Sounds fancy."
"You'll earn the name," Marcus muttered, tossing him a scrap of dried meat.
Adam caught it easily.
Even exhausted, his reflexes were sharp.
Later, sitting around the fire, we got the full story.
Adam had survived not just by fighting — but by learning.
At Level 10, he'd evolved his Archer class into Arcane Archer, unlocking magical abilities:
Elemental Arrows (Earth, Light, Shadow)
Piercing Shot (Magic-enhanced penetration)
Volley (Launch multiple arrows at once)
Combined with his Blacksmith profession, Adam could create basic enchanted arrows —
explosive tips, binding shots, even stunning bolts.
He wasn’t just a fighter.
He was a walking arsenal.
"How the hell are you Level 13?" Marcus asked, half in awe, half in irritation.
Adam smirked tiredly. "No choice. Alone...you either get strong or you die."
The firelight danced in his sharp, green eyes.
He meant it.
Adam’s arrival changed everything.
New Dawn wasn't just a desperate camp anymore.
It had potential.
Real, terrifying potential.
Jake pulled out his Builder’s map, expanding the layout.
Now we could start real defenses — stronger walls, real towers, weapon caches.
I updated my trap network, integrating Adam's crafted magical traps — explosive arrow mines, shock net traps.
Emily and Marcus trained hard too.
We weren't waiting for Veltheria to kill us anymore.
We were building an army.
Life settled into a brutal rhythm:
Morning patrols.
Noon construction.
Afternoon training.
Night scouting missions.
We hunted in teams now — Adam's accuracy picking off monsters before they ever reached us.
His Light Arrows devastated undead. His Earth Arrows shattered armored beasts.
Jake built the first basic Mana Turret — a spinning magical turret powered by ambient mana.
(It worked…mostly. It had a tendency to overheat and explode if left running too long.)
Emily evolved her Healing Totems into Regeneration Wards, boosting passive healing over areas.
Marcus learned to command small groups, running squads of our tiny "militia."
And me?
I crafted better, stronger, smarter traps — and learned my first true barrier magic.
New Dawn grew — a little stronger, a little smarter, a little more dangerous each day.
One week after Adam arrived, we encountered our first rival group.
Not monsters.
People.
Survivors, like us — but rougher, crueler.
They demanded supplies.
Threatened violence.
Adam answered them with a single shot — a Shadow Arrow pinning the leader’s cloak to a tree like a nailed banner.
The raiders fled.
But the message was clear:
Veltheria wasn’t going to stay civil forever.
It was time to prepare.