His hands still trembled as he sat inside his shelter, staring at the flickering System Notifications. His body ached from the fall, from the mad sprint through the ruins, from the sheer terror of nearly dying—again.
He had barely made it out.
Someone had been here before him. A civilization had built something.
And then, something had gone horribly wrong.
He rubbed his face, exhaling sharply. He needed to process this.
He had water now. That was huge. The system had unlocked a way to create a source—limited purification, but still. He could finally stop barely scraping by on what little moisture he could extract from the air.
But the AI's last words—
Containment breach.
That phrase sat in his mind like a stone.
What had been contained?
What had been breached?
Whatever it was, it had left those machines behind. Guarding the ruins.
The wasteland wasn't just empty sand and scorching heat.
The Next Day
He forced himself to move. To act.
Because no matter how terrifying the ruins were, he still had to survive.
And that meant one thing:
Water.
He pulled up the System Log, reviewing his new feature.
System Upgrade: Terraforming Rank F (10%) [Basic Water Source Creation Unlocked]
Feature: Limited Purification
Can convert contaminated water into drinkable form
Requires Energy Points for purification
Efficiency based on environmental stability
Contaminated water.
That meant the system expected him to find existing water—but not safe to drink.
He frowned, standing at the entrance of his shelter. That complicated things. He had assumed he'd just be creating water. But if the system was guiding him toward purifying something…
Then there was already water in this wasteland.
It was just hidden.
That sent his mind racing. The ruins had been buried under sand for God-knows-how-long. If there had been a civilization here once, they would have had infrastructure.
Pipes. Wells.
Something.
Maybe even underground reservoirs.
A spark of determination lit inside him.
If water was buried, then he needed to dig.
The problem?
He had no proper tools.
The system's crafting features had allowed him to make basic sand bricks, but digging was another matter entirely.
He needed something sturdy—something that wouldn't break the moment it hit rock or metal.
He opened the Crafting Menu, scanning for options.
Crafting Unlocked: Basic Tools
Crude Shovel (Sand + Hardened Plating)
Basic Pickaxe (Stone + Machine Core Fragment)
His breath hitched. Machine Core Fragment?
That meant the Machine Core he had found wasn't just for the door. It had other uses.
He hesitated. He only had one.
If he used it for a tool, would he regret it later?
The memory of the ruins flashed through his mind—the red lights, the broken AI, the buried secrets.
No.
He had to move forward.
Survival first. Everything else came later.
Digging for Life.
The first strike of his new pickaxe sent a shock through his arms.
The ground beneath the sand was hard. Not just compacted stone—something else.
His heart pounded as he chipped away, revealing metallic plating beneath the surface.
His mind raced. This wasn't natural.
This was infrastructure.
Someone had built this. The lost civilization.
And if there was metal beneath the sand…
Then maybe—
He kept digging.
Hours passed. Sweat dripped down his face, but he refused to stop. The sun burned overhead, but the anticipation drove him forward.
And then—
The ground gave way.
His stomach lurched as the floor beneath him collapsed, and he fell straight down.
Into darkness.
Pain jolted through his body as he hit the ground hard, dust and sand cascading around him. He groaned, coughing, blinking against the sudden darkness.
Then he realized—
It wasn't completely dark.
A faint, eerie blue glow pulsed from the walls.
And in the dim light, he saw it.
Water.
A pool of it, still and untouched.
His heart hammered against his ribs. He had found it.
Crawling forward, he scooped a handful—
And immediately recoiled.
It was wrong.
The surface shimmered unnaturally. An oily, almost metallic sheen spread across it.
Contaminated.
Just like the system had warned.
But if the system could purify it…
His hand hovered over the water. He focused.
Terraforming Energy, activate.
A faint hum resonated through the chamber. The water rippled, shifting from an oily, toxic sheen to a pristine, glassy surface. A fresh, clean scent rose from it—real, drinkable water.
For the first time since waking in this hellish wasteland, he had fresh, drinkable water.
A grin broke across his face.
He wasn't just surviving anymore.
He was rebuilding.
This world had tried to bury him.
But now?
He was digging it back up.
With shaking hands, he scooped a handful and drank. The moment the cool liquid touched his tongue, relief crashed through him.
Ding!
[Survival Status Updated]
Hydration Restored: 100%
Dehydration Debuff Removed
Energy Recovery Boost Activated (10 Minutes)
A surge of warmth spread through his limbs. His mind felt sharper, his fatigue fading slightly.
He let out a breathless laugh. This was more than just water.
It was life.
As he drank the water, something shifted in the chamber.
A faint hum.
Like a machine waking up.
A chill ran down his spine.
Slowly, he turned.
On the far wall, embedded deep into the metal, strange symbols flickered to life.
And then—
A voice.
Faint. Cold. Ancient.
"Terraforming Project Status: FAILED." "Containment Status: CRITICAL." "Reactor Core Status: UNSTABLE."
His breath caught.
Reactor core?
He barely had time to process it before the walls trembled.
A deep, distant rumbling echoed from below.
And suddenly, he wasn't sure if he had found salvation.
Or if he had just woken up something worse.