Chapter 3

Chapter 3. Man vs. Nature

[Welcome to the world of Project: New World! We hope you have a wonderful time!]

“Gasp! Cough! I'm going to die! Guaaah!!”

I had thought that a vast ocean like this would have relatively few waves and be calm.

That was my mistake.

Everything I had imagined with my limited knowledge was the foolish assumption of someone with very little education!

And it was a huge mistake!

“L-living! Gasp! Cough! Ukaah!”

Even if I wanted to swim, waves as huge as houses kept crashing over me.

There was nothing I could do except let the waves carry my body.

I had learned how to swim at a children's sports center, and now it was completely useless!

Damn it!

My past, back when I had at least been somewhat useful, was being denied!

‘This game is seriously insane.’

Even when I was swallowed by the waves, I wasn't actually suffocating.

But the suffocating sensation itself was transmitted to me in a simplified form.

The character was genuinely suffering as though he couldn't breathe.

And since that character was me, the realism was unbelievable.

I found myself reacting as though I were actually suffocating.

“G-gah! Stop! Gurgle…!”

I wondered if getting hit by waves this large wouldn't hurt enough to knock someone unconscious.

But there was only the resistance caused by being underwater, along with another completely different and strange kind of resistance.

I didn't actually lose consciousness or feel pain.

Even so, I reacted as though this were reality.

Honestly, even now, I still couldn't clearly tell whether this was a game or reality.

After struggling around several times and swallowing seawater, I somehow became surprisingly calm.

That's why I could analyze the situation like this.

If I hadn't, I might still be screaming about how I was going to die.

I might even have actually passed out.

[Your oxygen level is low! Your vision is gradually becoming blurry!]

So this was how they represented status abnormalities?

How considerate.

“Phaa!”

The person I was now was completely different from the person who had suddenly been transported onto the ocean and nearly drowned several times.

Yes.

The current me had gained composure.

And I was still being swept away by the waves.

I was still swallowing seawater.

And I was still completely helpless.

What?

They say that if you keep your head straight, you can survive even in a tiger's den?

Bullshit.

I'd just keep my head straight, feel all the pain, and then die anyway!

Damn it.

Wait.

If I died like this, I might become the first person to die in the game.

[You have begun to see land in the distance, like a mirage!]

…Huh?

What's this?

Wow.

Wait.

Did the developers actually think of something like this and add special text for it?

Aren't these guys complete perverts?

I love it.

This was clearly an event message that appeared when someone became stranded at sea after meeting certain conditions.

It was practically designed to drive people crazy.

“Phoo!”

The land that had looked like a mirage was now clearly visible to me.

If that was the case, there was only one thing I needed to do!

“Phoo! Gasp! Aah!”

I started swimming with all my strength, even though I wasn't sure whether it would actually make a difference.

Still, you never knew.

If I kept swimming like my life depended on it and somehow turned it into a skill, maybe things would become a little easier.

I don't know how long I swam.

But only after seeing the warning window telling me I was on the verge of death several times did I finally reach relatively calm waters.

Unlike the ocean where I couldn't see the bottom at all, this water was incredibly clear.

I could see exactly what was beneath me.

Unlike reality, I could also open my eyes underwater without any particular resistance.

Because of that, I saw something sooner than I probably should have.

‘…I almost had a heart attack.’

The scene I had imagined beneath a clear ocean was supposed to be beautiful.

But beneath the place where I was kicking my legs, there were countless sunken ships.

Some looked extremely old.

Others looked as though they had sunk relatively recently.

Some were completely covered in coral, making it difficult to even tell that they were ships.

It was an overwhelmingly eerie natural landscape that made my heart turn cold.

It was definitely not a pleasant place to stop for a swim.

Then again, this was a crazy place where waves high enough to swallow an entire ship were crashing around just a short distance away.

I shouldn't have expected anything else.

Still, if there were traces of humans like this, didn't that mean people lived somewhere nearby?

I hadn't seen any islands at all when I looked at the world through the hologram.

Hmm.

This was really difficult to understand.

“Haah! Haah!”

But finally!

Finally, I had reached land!

A vast, pure-white sandy beach!

[You have completely exhausted your stamina! You experienced an event where you refused to give up even in the face of death!]

—You have acquired the skill ‘Swimming in the Sea (F3)’!

—The conditions for the title ‘Indomitable Spirit’ have been unlocked!—

Swimming in the Sea (F3): A swimming ability so poor that surviving after falling into the sea is considered a miracle.

Title ‘Indomitable Spirit’ Condition — Don't Give Up! (1/100)

Ooh.

So it wasn't completely meaningless.

Hmm.

Good.

I liked it.

The immediate rewards for your actions were one of the best things about games.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't suddenly grow stronger every time I did something, like the protagonists in novels.

I wanted to create a ridiculously overpowered character like a novel protagonist, the kind that made you think, Isn't that a little too much?

I'm a beta tester, so couldn't they give me some leeway?

They wouldn't later blame us for not doing enough while forgetting that they were the ones who made the game ridiculously difficult, right?

If they did that, seriously…

I wouldn't even know what to say.

I couldn't say I wouldn't do it.

The helplessness I could feel throughout my body was lighting a fire of curiosity and wonder in my chest.

How had they even managed to make me feel like this?

How the hell had they expressed helplessness?

How could they represent the exhaustion of completely draining my stamina like this?!

What kind of technology was this?

Was it magic?!

“Ahhh, they even implemented the unpleasant feeling of being soaked in water with sand sticking to my body~!”

“Ahahaha!!”

Have you ever seen something so astonishingly amazing that you couldn't help but laugh?

For me, that moment was now.

The feeling of forcibly pushing myself up while gritting my teeth.

The heavy sensation of my body feeling like a completely soaked rag.

Even the way my vision wouldn't focus properly.

At this point, did they really make a game realistic?

Or did they make reality itself into a game?

The insane attention to detail was driving me insane.

Even when a long-awaited sequel to a game I had been waiting for far exceeded my expectations, I had never felt this much excitement.

If this game was officially released, it was going to ruin a lot of people's lives.

Parents were going to go crazy.

The devices were expensive enough that most families wouldn't buy them as gifts.

And since adult verification was required, if parents complained about their children playing it, then that would be their own problem.

Ah.

Now that I thought about it, I was broke too…

I should find a part-time job as soon as the test ended and start working.

If I could, that was!

“Uuuugh… Ryaaah!”

“There's no time to lie down!”

“I'll investigate this place frame by frame, just like watching a movie one second at a time!”

[Don't Give Up! (2/100)]

“Ooh, surprisingly, even something this minor counts toward the number of times?”

“Is this a beta tester privilege?”

“Super Real, you guys actually know what you're doing.”

Alright.

So what should I do now?

The situation made me feel like I had gone back to primitive times and needed to figure out how to survive and escape.

This was strange.

If this had been reality, I would never have been able to think this way in a situation like this.

Thank goodness it was a game.

Even though it was a game and I had been left completely alone in a deserted place, the fact that I felt reassured by that was perhaps a little problematic.

“Ah, whatever!”

“What's so special about life?”

“Unless you were born as a twin, you were born alone and you'll enter your coffin alone!”

“Life is lonely anyway!”

“You're alone!”

I sat beneath a tree some distance away from the sandy beach and began planning what I would do next.

The things that could help me right now were all the primitive tool-making methods I had watched on various video platforms whenever I was bored.

The only problem was that I didn't remember them perfectly.

But so what?

This was a game, wasn't it?

I could afford to fail.

“Okay!”

“Then today, I'll make a fire and build a simple house!”

“I'll finish it before the sun sets!”

I completely forgot that someone was watching me.

I shouted at the top of my lungs and immediately put my words into action.

It felt like I had returned to my childhood.

And surprisingly, it felt pretty good.

If only I had lived with this kind of determination in reality…

Ugh!

I'm playing a game right now!

I'll worry about depressing things later!

For now, I'll do the things I decided to do.

I'll do the things that seem like they need to be done!

It's productive.

And that's a good thing!