[Player Perry Yates,

Congratulations, you have been selected to enter the survival game.

This round is The Warped Jungle. You will be randomly teleported to a location within the jungle. Please do your utmost to survive.

The game's duration is thirty days. Those who survive until the end will receive generous rewards.

On the fifteenth day, you will have one chance to withdraw. If you cannot persevere, please seize this opportunity.

Those who withdraw early will receive no rewards.]

...

Listening to the prompt repeating in her ear, Perry took a deep breath.

'So it's finally my turn?'

"I thought with my luck, I wouldn't be chosen so soon."

The survival game had first appeared six months ago.

Every selected player had to survive inside the game for thirty days.

Success brought generous rewards. Failure meant death.

Based on the number of people who had entered and cleared the game over the past six months, the survival game's clear rate was a mere ten percent.

Of course, this figure excluded those who withdrew midway through the game.

These people saved their own lives, but because they failed to meet the time requirement, they received no rewards.

Even so, everyone still flocked to the survival game. The reason was simple: the rewards were just too tempting.

There weren't just Genetic Potions that could unlock a person's potential, but also items that could cure diseases and extend one's lifespan.

The wealthy, in particular—those suffering from incurable illnesses or nearing the end of their lives—were willing to trade half their fortune for these things.

[Teleportation initiating!]

[Five!]

[Four!]

[Three!]

[Two!]

[One!]

As the countdown finished, Perry's vision went black.

Two or three seconds later, she opened her eyes to find herself in a dense jungle.

Although it was her first time being chosen for the game, Perry Yates knew a great deal about it.

To prevent ordinary people from panicking and losing their lives right after entering, the government had compiled a highly efficient starter guide for the survival game.

Perry recalled the guide's contents.

'What was the first thing to do after entering the game?'

'Right. I think it was to awaken my Talent.'

Every player received an Awakening Crystal upon entering the game, which they could use to awaken their unique Talent.

With that thought, Perry Yates opened her game inventory.

The system gave every new player an inventory with only 10 slots, meaning it could hold only 10 items.

After the game ended, only items inside the inventory could be taken out.

In other words, even if someone successfully cleared the game, they could leave with at most 10 items.

Perry gazed at the Awakening Crystal in her hand and slowly closed her fist. A moment later, she felt a warm current flow from her palm.

Immediately after, a game notification sounded in her ear.

[Congratulations, Player Perry Yates, for awakening the SSS-rank Talent—Ascension.]

About ten seconds later, Perry Yates opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. She was a little disappointed it wasn't a combat-type Talent, but this one seemed far more incredible.

Besides, an SSS-rank Talent was even rarer than the highest-known SS-rank ones.

Once her excitement subsided, Perry began to take in her surroundings.

"The Warped Jungle."

According to the collective experience of players on the game forums and in the starter guide, you could determine a game's theme and dangers just from its name.

She scanned her surroundings. The silent jungle felt ominous, like a predator lying in wait for prey to deliver itself.

Perry remembered the words from the starter guide: the first order of business was to assess if your surroundings were safe. If they weren't, you had to leave immediately.

It was obvious her current location was not safe, so she needed to move.

With that thought, Perry quickly checked her inventory.

In addition to the Awakening Crystal, first-time players were also provided with some starting supplies.

A compressed biscuit, a 500-milliliter bottle of mineral water, and a very ordinary-looking dagger.

This was the total of Perry's possessions.

She was extremely grateful for her morning workout routine; it meant she'd been wearing a tracksuit when the game selected her.

Otherwise, even if she didn't run into any monsters in this jungle, she'd be eaten alive by the omnipresent bugs.

However, looking at her conspicuous pink tracksuit, Perry Yates decided it would be best to find some camouflage.

With that, Perry began searching for camouflage materials.

Luckily, this was a jungle, and the one thing it had in abundance was grass.

She bent over and began cutting the grass with her dagger.

The blades were surprisingly tough; even with the dagger, it took considerable effort to sever them.

Looking at the red marks on her hand, Perry suddenly remembered her Talent and slapped her own forehead. 'How could I forget something so important?'

She immediately placed her hand on the dagger. With a mental command, Perry clearly felt a portion of her body's energy drain away.

She looked at the dagger again. After one use of Ascension, the formerly ordinary blade now pulsed with a faint blue light.

[Dagger: A perfectly ordinary dagger that deals limited damage to monsters. After undergoing Ascension, its quality has greatly improved. It is now barely capable of killing a monster.]

Perry's eyes lit up. Beyond the improvement to the dagger's quality, the bigger surprise was that she could now see its information.

This was a massive, pleasant surprise.

After all, she was in a completely unfamiliar environment. The game was called The Warped Jungle; who knew if it was the plants, the animals, or both that were "warped"?

In a situation like this, ignorance was a dangerous thing.

With the enhanced dagger, Perry's grass-cutting speed increased significantly.

A little over half an hour later, she had finished weaving a green cloak and hat from the weeds.

Because time was of the essence, her weaving was a bit crude, but that was no problem—she could use Ascension on them.

After her experience with the dagger, she now had a full grasp of how her Talent worked.

She felt the energy drain from her body again, and this time, the cost was even greater than it had been for the dagger.

[Weed Suit: A cloak and hat woven from common weeds. After undergoing Ascension, it has been granted a new purpose. Put it on, and you will blend perfectly into the jungle. As long as you remain still, you will not be discovered.]

...

Perry's eyes lit up. She couldn't suppress the smile on her face no matter how hard she tried.

'What great stuff!'

With this Weed Suit, the danger was cut in half.

As long as she could lay low, she wasn't sure about clearing the game, but she could definitely last fifteen days.

Perry immediately threw the Weed Suit on and dove into a nearby patch of tall grass.

'Rule two of the novice handbook: after confirming your safety, you must immediately search for food and water.'

Many players failed the game not because they ran into danger, but because they didn't have enough food and starved to death.

Perry didn't want to starve, so she had to find food.

In her opinion, the one thing a jungle shouldn't be short on was wild fruit. As for hunting, to be honest, she didn't have high hopes.

After all, she was just an ordinary person.

Forget about chasing prey; she didn't even know how to find it, set a trap, or lie in wait.

The only thing to worry about now was whether these wild fruits were edible. What if they were poisonous?

After a moment of thought, she couldn't come up with a solution.

'Oh well, worst case, I'll just use Ascension on them before eating.'

Perry moved cautiously through the tall grass, looking back every few steps. She had truly taken the art of laying low to its extreme.

It couldn't be helped. She wanted to be bold too, but she was just too weak right now. She had no real power and only a dagger in her hand, so she had to be a little more cautious.

After walking for about half an hour, Perry's stomach suddenly let out a "GURGLE GURGLE" sound.

She was hungry after using Ascension twice and walking for so long.

Remembering the compressed biscuit and bottle of water in her backpack, Perry hesitated. She felt she wasn't starving yet and decided to hold out a little longer.

After walking for a while longer, Perry suddenly stopped. She thought she heard a faint cry for help in the distance.

Unsure, she listened carefully again and confirmed it was a cry for help coming from not too far away.

Perry wasn't the type to meddle in other people's business, especially not at a time like this. A newbie player like her trying to save someone? What a joke. She knew her own limits.

Besides, the voice had been extremely faint, and now it had disappeared completely. The person was probably already gone.

'But even if I can't save the person, maybe I can pick up some scraps.'

With this thought in mind, and feeling confident in her Weed Suit, Perry Yates cautiously moved in that direction.

When she got close enough, a "GLUG GLUG" sound reached her ears.

Parting the dense grass, Perry stared at what was behind it, her eyes widening in shock.

A Swamp Monster!

A previous player had entered the Jungle instance and described all their experiences and the monsters they encountered in the game, including this Swamp Monster.

It looked like an ordinary, small patch of swamp, but if a person or animal disregarded it, thinking they could just step or jump over it, they would be dead wrong.

According to that player's description, the Swamp Monster would attack any creature that passed over or near it.

If you were careless enough to step on it, it wouldn't hesitate to swallow your leg whole.

All in all, it was an extremely dangerous monster.

Fortunately, that player had also kindly provided the Swamp Monster's weakness.

Just like the Cannibal Flower from *Plants vs. Zombies*, the Swamp Monster becomes extremely weak while digesting its prey.

That was the best time to strike.

Perry's eyes lit up as she looked at the blueberry-like fruits growing around the Swamp Monster.

This was also something the player had mentioned. Because they resemble blueberries, they were called Blueberry Fruits. They could improve eyesight and restore vision, and were especially effective for people with myopia.

On Cerulea, a single one of these fruits could sell for fifty thousand. And here, there were Blueberry Fruits as far as the eye could see. How many fifty thousands was that?

If she didn't get any other major loot from this game, she could just take ten Blueberry Fruits back with her. Five hundred thousand would be enough for her to live on for a long time.

Of course, this was just Perry's backup plan.

Right now, the most important thing was to deal with this Swamp Monster.

Although the Swamp Monster was dangerous, dealing with it was also very simple, especially since it was currently in a weakened state.

Perry walked over to the edge of the Swamp Monster, reached out, and pulled up a bush of Blueberry Fruit by the roots. After picking the Blueberry Fruits off, she tossed the rest of the plant directly onto the Swamp Monster.

The Swamp Monster devoured the green plant, and the bubbling swamp instantly grew much quieter.

She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but she felt that the Swamp Monster's muddy body had become much thicker.

Perry didn't stop. She continuously pulled up the Blueberry Fruit bushes by their roots, collected the fruits, and then threw the now-fruitless bushes into the Swamp Monster.

After about an hour of this, she had cleared out the entire ring of Blueberry Fruit bushes, while the Swamp Monster had been completely defeated.

Just then, a white light flew out from the Swamp Monster's body and condensed into a card, which floated in mid-air.

[Killed Swamp Monster. Obtained Swamp Skill Card. Once learned, you can create a swamp on the ground.]

In the game, killing monsters gave you a chance to get a Skill Card drop like this, but the probability was extremely low. She never expected to get a card drop on her very first kill.

Putting aside everything else, with this card alone, she wouldn't have to worry for the rest of her life.

After all, this was something that could be sold at an auction house.

However, Perry didn't plan on using the card herself for the time being.

The reason was simple. The name "Swamp" immediately suggested it was an Earth Element Card, and each player could only fuse with one type of Elemental Card.

Although this Swamp Card's Skill looked very practical, she didn't want to deal with mud all day.

She wanted an Elemental Card like Ice or Wind.

'So, I'll just wait.'

Perry temporarily stored the card in her backpack.

Just then, cracks appeared on the ground.

Seeing this, Perry quickly took a few steps to the side, avoiding the cracking area.

As the ground caved in, a large pit appeared where the Swamp Monster had been. At the bottom of the pit were seven or eight dirty backpacks.

Seeing this, Perry immediately jumped down and picked them all up.

She hadn't forgotten that she came here to pick up scraps in the first place.

Opening the backpacks one by one, Perry found three compressed biscuits, four unopened bottles of mineral water, a Chopping Blade, and a card that was caked in mud, its appearance unclear.

...

After wiping the mud off the card, she saw the words clearly written on it: Space Backpack, Item Card.

If the Swamp Card from before could grant a corresponding Skill, then Item Cards represented all sorts of strange items.

Among them, spatial items were considered one of the rarest and most popular types.

This was because spatial items could be placed inside one's backpack. By using a stacking method—storing things within the spatial item and then putting that into the backpack—one could carry far more items out of the game.

After Perry had thoroughly cleaned the item card, she could finally see its original appearance.

It depicted a yellow crossbody bag with a single star marked beneath it.

Item Cards were divided into five ranks, from one-star to five-star.

A one-star spatial item had only one cubic meter of storage space, a two-star had ten, and so on.

The capacity increased by a factor of ten for each additional star.

Looking at the item card in her hand, Perry used Ascension on it without hesitation.

A white light flashed. The originally yellow card instantly turned purple, and the single star on it became two.

As for Perry, the moment the Ascension occurred, she felt as if she'd been completely drained of energy. Her entire body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

She struggled to crawl toward the pile of Blueberry Fruit, then, heedless of her appearance, started stuffing them into her mouth.

She lost track of time, only slowing down after she had devoured a third of the mountain-high pile of Blueberry Fruit.

It wasn't that she didn't want to keep eating, but that she simply couldn't stomach another bite.

Feeling that about half her energy had returned, Perry stopped eating and looked again at the item card in her hand.

[Space Backpack

Rank: Two-Star

Capacity: Ten cubic meters]

On the card, the yellow crossbody bag had now transformed into a small, purple, heart-shaped purse with white wings sprouting from its sides.

If nothing else, its aesthetic appeal had improved dramatically. Remembering her recent experience, she decided not to Ascend the item card again and chose to use it instead.

The next second, a small, palm-sized pouch that looked like a coin purse appeared in front of her.

Holding the Space Backpack, Perry stored all the remaining Blueberry Fruit inside.

She didn't put the Space Backpack into her system backpack, but instead wore it on her person, hidden beneath her Weed Suit.

After finishing all this, she packed away her remaining items and took the Chopping Blade in hand.

She had to admit, the Chopping Blade felt much more natural to wield than a dagger.

Perry quickly left the area.

With her recent haul, she'd basically hit the jackpot. Even if she did nothing for the remainder of her time here, she was guaranteed to make a fortune upon leaving.

Moreover, although she wasn't nearsighted to begin with, after eating so many Blueberry Fruits, she could clearly feel her vision had improved. The world looked much sharper.

It was like being used to a 12-megapixel camera and then suddenly being handed a 45-megapixel one; the sky seemed bluer, the leaves greener.

'Looks like the Blueberry Fruit's effect on vision is pretty significant.'

Perry thought to herself as she pulled out a Blueberry Fruit. She was just about to eat it when a thought suddenly occurred to her. 'What would happen if I Ascended this Blueberry Fruit?'

'Besides, Ascending a tiny Blueberry Fruit shouldn't take too much energy, right?'

With a mere thought, Perry Ascended the Blueberry Fruit in her hand.

The Ascended Blueberry Fruit didn't change much in appearance, but Perry Yates could clearly perceive that its skin had grown darker.

[Blueberry Fruit: A companion plant of the Swamp Monster, it is guaranteed to exist wherever they are found. Possesses effects that protect, improve, and enhance vision. After Ascension, these effects are greatly increased, and it also gains the ability to restore internal energy.]

This was more than just a pleasant surprise; it was a godsend!

She eagerly popped the Blueberry Fruit into her mouth, wanting to see exactly how much energy it would restore and whether it could offset the cost of its own Ascension.

The result was a delightful surprise. Not only did it cover the cost, but it provided a significant surplus of energy.

Perry estimated that the surplus energy was enough to Ascend another three or four Blueberry Fruits.

'What a score!'

She chuckled to herself, then began a cycle of Ascending Blueberry Fruits and popping them into her mouth. She continued until her energy was fully restored, then stopped. Eating any more would be a waste.

Looking at the Chopping Blade in her hand, Perry Yates used Ascension on it.

[Chopping Blade: A weathered Chopping Blade. After Ascension, it has been granted the Armor Piercing effect. Damage to trees is doubled.]

Perry swung the Chopping Blade in her hand and instantly felt filled with power.

She glanced around, eager to test the Chopping Blade's power.

After searching for a moment, her gaze finally landed on a thumb-thick vine nearby.

'Those vines look really sturdy,' she thought. 'They might be useful as rope.'

Perry walked up to the vine. Without hesitation, she brought the blade down in a swift arc, severing it.

Almost instantly, bright red blood gushed from the severed ends of the vine.

Watching the 'vine' continue to writhe in mid-air, Perry belatedly realized that this fucking thing wasn't a vine at all—it was a snake disguised as one.

The sight of the two halves of the snake's body, still hanging from the tree and writhing in agony, was enough to give anyone goosebumps.

It was also a stark reminder to Perry of just how dangerous this place was.

'A vine isn't always a vine. Sometimes it's a snake in disguise.'

After killing the snake, Perry harvested a pair of Poisonous Fangs and some venom—all things she could take back to exchange for money.

As for the rest of the snake, she didn't know how to butcher it and didn't dare eat the meat. Still, she didn't discard it, thinking she might find a use for it later.

Perry flicked the blood off her Chopping Blade and scanned her surroundings.

There were quite a few vines just like the one she had just cut.

She wasn't sure how many of them were actual vines and how many were disguised venomous snakes.

But despite the recent commotion, they all remained hanging motionless from the trees. They didn't seem affected by their comrade's death. 'As long as I don't approach them, they probably won't attack,' she reasoned.

Just then, Perry's eyes widened in sudden realization.

She could see through the venomous snakes' disguises.

She touched her eyes. 'Could it be because of those Blueberry Fruits?'