As the old saying goes: better a wretched life than a good death.
If there were truly no hope left, who would willingly choose to die?
And now, though she'd been abruptly dragged to a place that looked extremely dangerous, it was also a monumental opportunity.
So Lan Qingyou struggled to roll over, dragged herself across the floor with both arms, and crawled pitifully to the Magic Desk. Propping herself up against one corner, she steadied her body and began examining the Magic Desk that voice had mentioned.
The desk resembled the smart desks she'd used back in school — all touchscreen operation.
Its surface was divided into two sections, one large and one small.
The larger one was on the left, taking up two-thirds of the tabletop. The smaller one sat on the right, occupying the remaining third.
On the large screen, a line of Federation Common script read: "Please place your hand on the small screen to bind."
Lan Qingyou did as instructed and placed her right hand on it.
["Ding! Tree Hollow Shelter (Level 1) — binding successful."]
As the sound chimed from the Magic Desk, Lan Qingyou watched the deep green patterns painted throughout the room flare with green light, then vanish.
And with the Shelter's binding, a green tattoo shaped like a leaf appeared on the back of her right hand.
'Probably something like a key or proof of registration,' Lan Qingyou thought.
After the successful binding, the display on the desk changed.
Along the top of the large screen appeared six tabs: [World Channel] [Regional Channel] [Regional Exchange] [Personal Info] [Friends 0/0] [Coming Soon].
After the World Channel label was a string of numbers: "22,658,443,985 / 22,658,443,985."
Mustering her last reserves of energy, Lan Qingyou counted. Over 22.6 billion people.
That was roughly two-thirds of Blue Star's entire population — and then some.
The Regional Channel also displayed a string of numbers: "666 (Abandoned Forest) 10,000 / 10,000."
It seemed she and over nine thousand others had been assigned to District 666, the Abandoned Forest.
But she didn't bother with any of that. Right now, all she wanted to know was how to awaken that talent.
"Hello? Hello? Anyone there?"
With that message, the World Channel erupted into activity.
"Come on, somebody say something! I'm all alone in this little wooden hut and I'm scared!"
"What the hell is going on?!"
"So Blue Star's World Will just sold us to the Karim Planet World Will?"
"What the hell kind of interstellar slave trade is this? Not even remotely funny..."
"Does something like a World Will actually exist?"
"You've already been teleported — does it even matter at this point?"
"My barbecue had just been served! Didn't even get a single bite before I got dragged to this dump — what did I ever do?!"
"Help! Mom, where are you?!"
"I'm waiting for someone to claim they're a billionaire, so I can rescue them back to Blue Star and get half their fortune."
"Why 'claim'?"
"Because right now we're all equally broke."
"Is it possible that you're all AIs and I'm the only real person?"
"It's not impossible, but since I'm human, I suspect you're the AI."
"Everyone, calm down. Check your spawn points first and see if anyone else is nearby. Right now, banding together is the only way to survive."
"Screw this! Screw the Blue Star Will! Screw Karim! Send me back!"
"Exactly! Forced population transfer — did anyone ask for my opinion?!"
...
The chat system in this world apparently didn't have the posting limits you'd read about in novels.
Anyone could speak freely, at any time.
Of course, that also meant the World Channel refreshed at a blinding pace. Lan Qingyou was pretty sure that if this desk weren't a magical artifact, it would've crashed and burned its CPU on the spot.
Thankfully, the chat window had a screen-lock feature.
Once locked, she could scroll down slowly and read each message at her own pace.
Convenient, yes — but also exhausting.
Every post had a circular avatar and a name in front of it, looking no different from any ordinary chat app.
'Could these avatars and names actually be real people with real names?'
Thinking this, Lan Qingyou tried sending a random message herself.
After locking the screen and scrolling through for a moment, she actually found her own avatar and name, along with her message: "1111."
That confirmed it.
No aliases. Every last person was real.
So Lan Qingyou poked around the functions above, looking for a way to block her identity or go anonymous, but came up empty.
It seemed the Karim World Will had no intention of letting these lowly outsiders hide behind masks.
Equally fruitless was her search for information about talents.
After more than ten minutes of scrolling, she hadn't found a single useful piece of information.
But just as she was about to tap on the Personal Info tab for a look, the message she'd been waiting for finally appeared.
"Everyone, hurry to the small screen to claim your talent! I awakened a B-rank talent!"
"Hahaha, mine is A-rank — Flame Nova! An offensive talent, no less. From this day forth, I shall unite the world!"
"Hmph. A mere A-rank, and you dare boast? Where does that put me and my S-rank Heaven Sovereign talent?"
"Whoa, an S-rank big bro!"
"Carry me, big bro!"
"Look at me! Look at me!"
'The small screen, huh.'
Seeing these messages, Lan Qingyou immediately turned to look at the small screen beside her — and saw a pop-up.
["Dear Blue Star Earthling: The small screen on the Magic Desk can teleport supplies. Teleported materials will be stored in your Exchange shop for trading. You can also use the small screen to retrieve items from your shop — a very convenient feature. However, please make sure there is enough space around the small screen each time you retrieve an item, as overcrowding may cause blockage. Additionally, the small screen has an Appraisal function. If you obtain something interesting, bring it here to have it identified."]
"Spatial teleportation, item appraisal — this little screen really is something."
Muttering this, Lan Qingyou opened the Regional Exchange to check it out, only to discover she didn't even have a shop.
To obtain one, she'd need to deposit twenty basic units of supplies to activate it.
Well then. Even the magical features weren't free to use.
Expressionless, Lan Qingyou closed the pop-up.
The instant she did, a new one appeared on the small screen.
["Talent is a reflection of the soul. Place your hand on the small screen, focus on what you desire most, and begin your Talent Awakening."]
This was it!
At the sight of those words, Lan Qingyou's heart lurched. She steadied herself, placed her hand on the screen, and focused her thoughts on what she wanted most, exactly as the instructions said.
What did she want more than anything?
Before, she hadn't known. But ever since the accident, she'd wanted only one thing.
Mobility, of course!
If she could just move freely — if she weren't dragged down by legs that had become nothing more than dead weight — then surely nothing else would matter?
Like those birds, soaring free across an open sky.
The kind of mobility that could take her anywhere without effort — even to the top of that skyscraper, hundreds of stories tall, the only thing that had left an impression on her in that pitch-black room.
["Ding! Talent acquired successfully. Awakened E-rank talent: Light Body Spell. Acquired E-rank basic skill: Gathering Skill. Acquired Tool Selection Gift Pack. Please choose your tool."]
After a cascade of chimes, the pop-up on the small screen vanished, replaced by rows upon rows of buttons.
[Longsword] [Shortsword] [Dagger] [Saber] [Short Blade] [Axe] [Bow and Arrow] [Crossbow] [Long Staff] [Short Staff] [Spear]...
There was even [Hoe] [Spatula] [Crowbar] [Hammer] [Scissors] [Sickle] [Quill Pen]...
All told, there had to be well over a hundred options. Lan Qingyou's head was spinning just looking at them.
She looked at the choices, then looked down at her legs.
She could basically kiss any weapon-wielding goodbye. That narrowed her options considerably.
So she decided to check her Personal Info first before making a decision.
After all, it was free.
Worst case, she could just grab something random to use as decoration and add a little atmosphere to these barren four walls — that didn't seem like such a bad idea either.