Chapter 1: "Welcome To The Game Of Arcana"

He continued to hear the sound of gears, as if calling out to him piercing his ears. The dark blue sky was filled with thousands of twinkling stars. Black smoke billowed and rose towards the sky, reflecting the glowing orange hue in the corner of his eye, yet he couldn't hear anything. The gradually rising heat pierced his skin, but he felt too shocked to react.

The only action he could take was to scream for help.

"He...lp!" His voice cracked, suppressed to the point of being barely audible.

Amidst the piercing heat on his skin, somehow his ears began to function again.

The first thing that entered his ears was the screams of others also crying out for help. Some even accompanied by sobs.

He was too exhausted to think, coupled with the increasing heat on his skin. It felt like his skin and flesh would melt away at any moment. As hope began to fade in his mind, he closed his eyes in resignation.

...

Gong! Gong! Gong!

He was awakened by the booming sound reminiscent of ringing bells, vibrating the place where he lay. As his eyes opened, the blue sky was the first thing he saw. But this time it looked different, no more stars, no billowing smoke, or the orange hue in the corner of his eye. He rubbed his eyes gently, soon realizing that it wasn't the sky, but a tent.

Gong!

The bell sound rang again, and someone hastily opened the tent with panic, entered, and began sorting through some tools in a wooden box.

"Hey," Adam called out to the man.

The man had the appearance of an office worker, wearing a light blue shirt, black suit, and black tie. His face showed an inexplicable panic, with dirt smudges, possibly from dust or perhaps remnants of ash, clinging to his face.

"Where is this?" Adam asked.

But the man, now again ignoring him, didn't answer. He was so rushed, grabbing some sharp weapons, axes, and kitchen knives, and quickly running out of the tent.

Adam could hear the panicked breaths as the man ran away.

Adam adjusted his position, still confused by this strange situation. His mind hadn't fully integrated, he couldn't remember what happened before, the only thing left in his memory was himself lying under the starry sky with fire slowly burning him.

Strangely, Adam found no wounds on his body, it even felt fresh and light.

"What really happened? Where is this?" As he wondered, Adam began to move away from the wooden table where he had slept earlier, approaching the tent entrance and peeking outside.

There was only emptiness, several tents stood but no one was visible. Not even the office worker from earlier was around.

Adam immediately stepped out of the tent, witnessing the aftermath of chaos in the place.

Almost blackened brown soil, some dead trees around, some standing tents, scattered items ranging from dolls, suitcases, even wheelchairs.

Adam walked past those items, his gaze constantly flickering to the ownerless objects. Until at one point, he was startled by a headless lifeless body lying not far from his tent.

It appeared to be wearing an old dark green striped jacket and fabric pants, as well as sneakers. Dark red fluid was spread around the head area of the corpse, forming splatters on the blackened ground.

[System Installation postponed]

[Initiating diversion]

A soft voice of a woman seemed to penetrate his brain. Adam frowned as his gaze swept around, trying to figure out the source of the sound.

"Adam Lockwood, if you don't hurry, you'll run out of cards."

A television stood not far away, emitting a bit of smoke. However, it still displayed images on its screen, showing rows of letters forming words and sentences.

"Cards?" Adam asked in confusion.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

At that moment, a scream was heard from the wilderness. Adam was startled, reflexively turning towards the sound.

The TV screen displayed cute smiley emoticons, contrasting with this dire situation.

Adam rubbed his forehead, trying to remember something. But it was a futile effort, all he felt was the pain that engulfed him.

[Cards remaining 16/22]

The TV screen displayed a sentence formed by a collection of letters.

As Adam pondered, cries for help sounded in his ears.

"Help!"

Turning to the source of the sound, Adam saw a woman crawling out of the woods. She cried as she tried with all her might to drag her immobile body.

Adam didn't move to provide assistance. Not because he didn't want to help, but because he couldn't. A horned wolf approached the woman. The wolf was the size of a mature horse and had thick grayish-white fur, adorned with bloodstains around its mouth and nose, as well as hardened mud on its legs and underbelly. Its eyes glowed bright red, with sharp fangs that seemed to pierce through anything. Its horns looked like a twisted pipe with sharp spear-like ends.

Before Adam's eyes, the woman was torn apart, leaving screams of pain ringing in his ears.

When the wolf finished with her, the horned wolf began to gaze at him with predatory eyes. At that moment, Adam's strong instinct sensed imminent danger, without thinking anything else, Adam immediately turned and ran in the opposite direction.

His steps were long, the shoes he wore making a distinct sound against the almost blackened brown earth. "A wolf!? I've never seen a wolf like that before!" He muttered to himself, trying to find a solution.

He knew that running away now wouldn't change anything. Even now, Adam heard the footsteps of the large horned wolf getting closer.

Adam took the initiative to run into the forest.

...

Thirty minutes he spent just running, taking paths according to his condition. With his breath getting heavier, Adam began to feel tired, his body not so athletic, even it seemed like a miracle he could run at full speed for thirty minutes without stopping.

Adam stopped and hid behind a tree. His breath was heavy and uneven, his head was pounding, and his leg muscles were throbbing.

At a time when horror surrounded him, the growling sound of the horned wolf echoed in his ears.

At that moment, the footsteps of the horned wolf disappeared, leaving a chilling silence.

Adam leaned against the tree, still trying to understand what had just happened. As his mind tried to connect all the dots, from lost memories, this mysterious place, to the problem of the horned wolf he had never seen before.

In the surge of thoughts that made his head throb, a blue screen appeared in front of him.

[System Installation has resumed]

[Welcome Host]

Adam stared in confusion. The screen was just the size of a regular computer screen but projected in a square shape and floating like a hologram. Several sentences appeared through the screen.

"System?" Adam instinctively wondered.

The screen in front of him gradually divided into three different screens. One screen was a blank blue screen with no text and only contained a strange frame. The screen in the middle was the same screen that first appeared, containing text like a text message. The rightmost screen contained some strange information.

[Cards remaining 14/22]

This writing was in the top left corner of the first screen. Then on the third screen was another text containing Adam's personal information.

[Adam Lockwood]

[Age: 26 Years]

[Gender: Male]

[Cards: -]

[...]

Next to his name, there was a photo of him that looked like an ID card photo.

A mature yet clean face. Neat black hair and deep blue eyes.

"What is all this?" Adam asked again, still struggling to remember what happened before, and this issue made him even more confused.

On the middle screen, text similar to a text message appeared again.

[Six Patches unread]

Feeling desperate about his situation, Adam chose to follow the course of events. He felt this screen was similar to a cellphone screen, perhaps more advanced, without considering anything else, he touched the text on the middle screen.

Six red circles appeared with their respective descriptions.

[Welcome to the Arcana game]