I was hit by a rush of cool air—crisp and fresh, with a faint, floral scent that seemed to lift my spirits even as my senses screamed in confusion. I staggered as my feet hit solid ground, and I blinked, disoriented by the change in scenery.

  “A setting change?”

  Before me stretched a vast, open square, with forcefully blurred white walls fading into the distance. The ground beneath me was smooth and soft, made of polished stone that gleamed whenever I caught it in the right light. Green plants bloomed around the edges, their leaves shimmering with an almost silvery hue.

  Flowers and vines twined up columns at the square’s corners, stretching toward an impossibly high, vaulted ceiling. Light streamed down from above—both as normal beams and floaty balls of radiance drizzling around me. Water trickled from the edges of the square, flowing into a shallow stream that wound its way through the space, its gentle sound adding to the peaceful atmosphere. The air itself was thick with serenity, like I’d stepped into a divine garden. It felt too perfect, almost unsettling. If I had died, then this place made me believe it.

  If I had come in here as just Set, I might’ve died from a heart attack. Everything was too bright. Too alive. Too... not dark enough.

  As my eyes moved, I noticed the statues. Large, imposing figures stood like silent sentinels around the edges of the square. They were headless—each statue’s body perfectly sculpted, with their heads cradled gently in their hands. They held them with reverence, but the vacant expressions of their faces were unsettling despite their stillness.

  A low, almost imperceptible hum echoed from somewhere distant. The more I focused on it, the more sounds revealed themselves. First came the rustling of leaves, despite the absence of wind. Then, the distinct sound of water falling and crashing behind me.

  I turned around and saw a fountain releasing water infused with shadowy wisps. A pair of statues—this time not entirely human—stood guard. They resembled towering, warped humans, their bodies carved from stone with veins of light pulsing to an unheard rhythm.

  The way their limbs twisted made my skin crawl. Their faces, though indistinct, were painted with grotesque expressions—torn between rage and sorrow. Even their eyes were not exempt from this unnatural distortion: hollow sockets stared into the distance, like they were watching something.

  Between these statues and in front of the fountain stood a podium.

  The serenity of the place should’ve calmed me, but I felt like I was an intruder too dirty for this pristine space. I checked my screen again and confirmed that this seemed to be a ‘reward’ for reaching a ‘milestone.’

  I told myself that everything was fine and moved. Every step forward felt heavy, like I was sinking deeper into a life I wouldn’t be able to escape. Which was saying a lot, given how grim life in this world already was. This place almost made me want to scurry back to the village.

  The headless statues, slightly behind the fountain—those were the ones that really got to me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were staring at me, as if making up for the twisted statues looking off to the distance.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Finally, I stood in front of the podium. I got the hint when I saw the faint imprint of a hand on its surface.

  The moment I touched it, hundreds of glowing rectangles flickered to life around me, stretching all the way up to the ceiling. Information flooded into my mind, flowing as easily as a river over smooth foothills.

  I stood there for a few seconds, silent. My grin broadened. I looked up at the rectangles.

  “No way.” I thanked my fortunes and raised my hand. “Twenty-four hours to build a weapon? These might be the single-most important day in my entire life.”

  The task at hand was to build a Signature Weapon–a unique weapon that would grow with me. This weapon was made of three parts. The rectangles floating around me represented the parts. I had roughly 333 options for each category.

  The podium here could give me twenty-five recommendations. That was probably helpful for people who couldn’t handle the information. But from my perspective, getting into the reeds seemed to be the better option.

  I pulled down a card and confirmed the info that I had received. Each card described the part and what it contributed. More importantly, the cards gave away mechanics like “Fire Attack,” “Elemental Damage Up,” “Poison Attack,” and so on.

  It was a drastic choice, but if I read every card, I could get the best sense possible of how this world worked. I would know all the elements in play, and all the afflictions one could have, among other things.

  I called the cards down into my hand. Every time I found something that seemed good, I would set it aside. Then, after going through all the cards, I would again go through and set aside the ones I liked again, and so on. That was the strategy I would go with.

  The three parts I was picking from were Core, Base, and Gimmick.

  The Core was the heart of the weapon. Cores usually infused some sort of main property, like infusing the weapon with a certain elemental property or infusing it with a tendency to apply a status. The cards didn’t worry about listing the materials that made them, only the effects. Some were alive, some were dead, some apparently talked to you. The core’s main property would activate when my Levels were active–which, incidentally, confirmed what I thought about Levels needing to be activated. Cores also had something called Key Slots. The more Key Slots a core had, the fewer properties the core had.

  I could not discern what Key Slots were.

  Notable cores I saw included one that alternated between “Sun” element and “Lunar” element, caused the weapon to bend or warp, caused the weapon to leave afterimages, let you absorb strikes to power up, increased attack power when attacking from certain directions, made use of combo streaks, and increased stats.

  I could confidently say that cores came in Element Infusing, Weapon Modifying, Stat Enhancing, and Unique Ability flavors.

  Next came the Base. This one was simpler. The Base was the structure—the shape and form of the weapon. It could be a sword, a spear, a whip, or something strange. The most important thing the base did was limit what Gimmick could be applied to the weapon.

  Then, the Gimmick. This was where I could add something completely absurd, like a sword that split into three blades, or a chainsaw sword, or a spear that could work as a gun. A whip that turns into a bow with a thought or a sword that breaks into a whip were also things one could make. Gimmicks, for the most part, changed how a weapon could be used.

  But wait, there was more. There were the gimmicks that essentially turned a weapon into vastly different things. Then there were Gimmicks that did weird things like making the weapon turn into a mouth, making it grow tentacles that pierced you, or making the weapon grow by consuming some magic.

  The Gimmicks were going to be the hardest to choose from.

  I had to think about both my life here, and my knowledge from Earth. I needed a pragmatic weapon that would solve the most problems for me–a weapon that would aid me in returning to the village.

  What weapon would have made my journey until now easier?

  I had twenty-four hours. I would make use of every minute and savor the peace while I was here.