A Stranger in a Strange Land (2)

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"It was hidden quite cleverly."

Stepping outside, I found myself in the middle of a forest. The research bunker I had emerged from was so perfectly integrated into the terrain that it was nearly invisible at a glance. No wonder the entrance had been blocked by plant vines when I first came out; it was a perfect camouflage job.

"I guess I didn't just wander off somewhere while drunk, then."

It had been midsummer just yesterday, but the air outside felt crisp, like autumn or spring. The scent of grass wafted through the forest on the breeze—a smell I hadn't experienced much, having lived my entire life in the city.

I slumped down at the entrance of the bunker and looked up at the sky. Through the gaps in the tall trees, I could see a patch of blue. I couldn't tell if the color was a bit dull, or if that was just how it was supposed to look, or if it was all in my head.

"Sigh... well, wherever this is, the only way to survive is to clear these quests one by one."

I hadn't even had a moment to be confused about waking up in a remote place, in a different body, with a game system suddenly appearing before my eyes. Yet, ironically, the presence of the game system felt strangely reassuring, giving me something to lean on.

I opened the quest window again.

When I thought about the Factory System in my mind, the facility window popped up. The generator blueprint I had acquired earlier was visible. It wasn't the clunky, oil-powered small generator design I’d seen on the internet; it was a form with a remarkably futuristic aesthetic.

As I selected the generator, a 3D hologram appeared before my eyes.

"Hey! This is just like 'Arc Factory,' a game I used to play!"

It looked just like the factory simulation game I had enjoyed for a long time. In that game, you become a factory manager on an alien planet, mining resources and processing goods until you eventually build an automated system. The system where a 3D blueprint appears before you build a facility so you can see where to place it was identical.

"I really loved playing Arc Factory. Could this be the world inside the game?"

There were forests in the world of Arc Factory, but since it was an alien planet, there were many colorful and unique plants. However, the forest I was in now looked like a typical Earth forest. No matter how I looked at it, it didn't feel like the alien planet I’d seen in the game.

"It gets more mysterious by the minute. Let's just build the generator first."

As I placed the generator on a reasonably flat spot, the hologram vanished, and particles began to fill in from the ground up. In an instant, the generator I had seen as a hologram took shape, and a white generator slightly shorter than my height was created.

"Wow, it just pops into existence in a few seconds? I didn't think much of it in the game, but seeing it in reality is insane."

As I approached the newly created white generator, an information window popped up.

As expected, it wouldn't generate power without fuel. Looking at the generator and the quest window, it seemed I needed grass and wood as biofuel, but could I just toss anything in there?

"But do I have to harvest this by hand? In Arc Factory, I could just zap things with a laser or something to harvest them!"

Just in case, I checked the Factory System and found a 'Tool Tab.' The tab contained various tools, from pickaxes to buckets, sickles, hoes, and axes. I selected the sickle.

Particles gathered in my hand, and a sickle appeared with a sharp *clink*.

"Don't tell me... I have to do all this manual labor myself?"

Given the look of the research lab and the way the generator was built, I expected the harvesting to be high-tech too. To think it was pure manual labor... I couldn't believe it.

I tried cutting a few blades of grass nearby and put them into the generator.

Whirrr...

The generator made a low sound as if it were about to start, but it stopped again in less than a few seconds.

"A few blades of grass don't do much. I'm going to have to harvest a ton of this stuff."

Swish, swish, swish!

I grabbed the grass nearby and hacked away with the sickle. Every patch of grass scattered around was fuel for the generator. As a bonus, it had the effect of cleaning up the area around the entrance. Since I wasn't used to using a sickle, it took a while to gather even a small amount. At least the blade was sharp, so it wasn't too difficult. After relentless hacking, I had gathered an armful.

"This should be enough to generate power for a while, right?"

I gathered the grass and stuffed it into the generator's fuel intake. As I started feeding it the grass, the generator began to hum to life again.

"Now that you've had your meal, time to get to work, right?"

I put all the grass in and opened the generator's info window.

I stared at the info window, my mind going blank.

"What?! Three minutes? I put in that much grass and it only runs for three minutes?"

I was dumbfounded by the news that an armful of grass, which had taken me a long time to harvest, would be deleted in just three minutes. Working for tens of minutes to run it for three was far too inefficient.

"The fuel efficiency is terrible! What do I do? Do I have to keep harvesting grass?"

After thinking for a moment, another method quickly came to mind.

'Come to think of it, I can just put wood in, right?'

I rummaged through the twigs scattered on the ground nearby. It was hard to find them because the grass was so thick, but I found a few and immediately put them into the generator.

I had only put in a few twigs, and it had already gone up by 0.6 percent. If I put in some thicker branches, it would probably exceed 10 percent in no time.

"Is wood the answer? I saw an axe in the tools earlier."

I switched from the sickle to the axe. The sickle vanished, and a heavy axe appeared in my hand. I had never chopped wood before, so I took a few swings at some branches nearby.

Thwack!

I thought it would take a few swings to cut through, but unexpectedly, the branch was severed in one go. Encouraged, I cut off several branches from a tree.

"Chopping wood is more fun than I thought!"

Thwack! Thwack!

The sound of chopping echoed through the forest. It definitely felt more satisfying than cutting grass with a sickle. As I kept chopping, I started to get ambitious.

"What if I try chopping down a whole tree instead of just branches?"

Just for fun, I took a swing at the base of a tree.

Thud!

I felt a heavy impact. I'd never swung an axe at a tree before, so I wasn't sure, but it sank deep into the wood on the first try. I kept the momentum going.

Thud! Thud!

"It's cutting better than I thought!"

Whether it was the quality of the axe or my own strength, I was able to fell the tree quickly. Seeing the tree collapse gave me a strange sense of satisfaction.

"It's great that I cut the tree down, but how do I put this into the generator?"

Getting it in was a problem, but moving it was an even bigger one. I tried to lift the tree, but it didn't budge. I had cut it down with great enthusiasm, but the follow-through was lacking.

"Do I have to chop this into small pieces like firewood?"

There was no saw among the tools, and while I could probably make firewood with the axe, the thought of how long that would take made my head spin.

Then, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

"Wait, can't I just put it in my inventory?"

I opened the inventory window and touched the tree. The entire tree vanished and appeared in my inventory. Then, just in case, I ran to the generator.

I opened the generator's info window and dragged the tree from my inventory into the fuel slot.

"Ohhh!"

It was just as I thought. The inventory was there to hold items, but I had briefly forgotten because it felt so real. Seeing this happen, I was certain that this was indeed a world inside a game. I should have been sure when I built the generator earlier, but it seemed I hadn't fully grasped the reality of it yet.

"This makes things so convenient! To be able to move such a huge tree without even touching it? Is the inventory really this broken?"

While I was marveling at the inventory function, a quest completion window popped up.

Ding!

A new quest appeared. Since I had built the generator, I just needed to supply power to the research lab. When I saw the warning about insufficient power earlier, I had wondered what the hell it wanted me to do, but I was relieved it was easier to solve than I thought.

Having built the generator once, creating a power grid wasn't that difficult. I had played factory simulation games for a long time, and the familiar operating method actually made me feel a sense of kinship.

After building the power grid and entering the research lab, the interior looked much brighter.

"So the lighting was this bright all along, but it was only partially lit because of the power shortage?"

I had thought it was dim because there were no windows, but it was just the lighting being weak. It was nice that the interior was brighter, but it still felt lonely and empty inside.

"Ugh... what do I do now?"

No sooner had I finished speaking than I heard another notification sound.

Ding!

It was a chain attack of quests. As soon as I finished one, another appeared. Of course, it was better than having none, but was it just my imagination that it felt like it wasn't giving me a moment to rest?

"Huh? The quest name is... 'Let's create a companion'?"

Usually, wouldn't it be 'Let's find a companion!' or 'Let's get to know a companion'? 'Create' sounds a bit weird, doesn't it? Of course, it wasn't impossible, so I brushed it off and headed straight to the medical room.

With power flowing smoothly, the medical room was much brighter. The strange, slimy liquid still remained on the floor, and the transparent tube—the 'pod'—where I assumed I had been, was clearly visible.

The next content appeared. Looking at the quest details, I opened my inventory and found two items that hadn't been there before.

"Arc Core? Ether Capsule? I've never seen these while playing Arc Factory!"

I took both items out of my inventory. The Arc Core was a glowing yellow orb the size of a baseball, and the Ether Capsule was a cylindrical device the size of a canned drink. Both looked like they contained immense energy.

I couldn't tell what they were even after examining them closely, so I followed the quest's instructions and inserted both items into the slots on the pod. The pod began to operate, and a holographic screen appeared before my eyes.

Various characters flashed across the screen rapidly, like a computer booting up, and then it presented two choices.

"Huh? Suddenly asking me to choose a gender?"

For a moment, I wondered what this was about, but the quest name was clearly 'Let's create a companion.' I suppose it meant I should choose the gender of the companion. I instinctively clicked 'Female.' Because whenever I play games, I'm a total sucker for female characters.

The screen changed, and a window for customizing a woman's appearance appeared.

"Oh! This is more thorough than I thought! The graphics are good, too!"

I saw a 3D model of a bald woman in her underwear. I could adjust everything in minute detail, from the shape of the hair to the shape and thickness of the eyebrows.

Drawing on my long experience with games, I started customizing with the goal of making the prettiest female character possible.

"I like blonde characters, but since this feels like live-action, I'll go with a bright, silver-blonde hair... and for the expression, a bit of a fox-like look..."

I got lost in customizing my female character, pouring all my personal tastes into it. I didn't have a watch, so I didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt like at least two hours had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gone by.

Only after I finished the customization did I feel how stiff my body was.

"Aigoo, did I spend too much time on this? But I can't just do a half-assed job on the character customization!"

Feeling inwardly proud, I pressed the completion button.

"But now that I've customized her, how will the companion appear? Surely she won't just pop out of thin air, right?"

As I pressed the button, the pod began to make a sound and started operating.

I didn't know it then. How naive I was being, and that I shouldn't have just thought of this as a simple game world...