Darkness.
It pressed in from all sides, thick and unnatural. Aiden Knox didn't remember falling asleep. One moment, he was alone in his cluttered workshop back on Earth, soldering a custom interface chip for an AI drone. The next, he felt his stomach lurch, like a plane hitting turbulence—only worse.
Then came the cold. And silence.
Aiden's consciousness clawed its way upward, through the black sludge of unconsciousness, until with a sharp inhale, his eyes flew open.
He was lying on his back, staring up at a sky he didn't recognize.
Purplish clouds drifted overhead, lit from below by two glowing moons—one white, one crimson. The trees around him stretched high into the air, their trunks spiraling unnaturally, and their leaves shimmered like metallic foil.
"What the... hell...?" he rasped, sitting up.
His body ached like he'd been in a car crash. His hands were scraped, and his hoodie was torn at the shoulder. Grass and dirt clung to his jeans.
This wasn't Earth.
As the panic started to rise, a sudden chime echoed in his mind—clear, digital, mechanical.
[SYSTEM BOOTING...]
CHRONOFORGE INTERFACE v1.0
User Detected: AIDEN KNOX
Verifying Cognitive Sync… 87%… 100%
Core Protocols Initialized: SCAN | FORGE | INVENTORY | BLUEPRINT | UPGRADE
Welcome, Engineer.
Aiden froze.
"What the hell was that voice?" he whispered.
It wasn't external. The words had been projected into his brain, like a thought he didn't own. His breath came faster. He clutched his temples, scanning for speakers, implants—anything.
Then came a visual overlay—floating text, semi-transparent, hovering just above his vision.
[ChronoForge System Online]
[Status: Injured]
[Inventory: Empty]
[Blueprints Available: 0]
[Energy Core: 5% Remaining]
[Objective: Survive | Analyze World Structure]
"No, no, no—this isn't real. This is some kind of dream. Hallucination." Aiden stood up on unsteady legs, brushing off his pants. "I must've been working too long without sleep. Burned out. Crashed. Maybe I'm in a hospital."
He reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a bent circuit board—his custom micro-AI core. It sparked faintly in his hand.
Still here.
"Okay... not a dream."
Suddenly, the System spoke again.
[SCAN FUNCTION AVAILABLE – Would you like to scan your surroundings?]
"I guess I have nothing to lose..." Aiden muttered. "Yeah. Do it."
[Initiating Area Scan...]
... ... ...
Flora: 63% unknown. Fauna: 0 nearby. Energy Readings: Weak leyline detected.
Status: Minimal Threat. Resource Grade: C.
"Leyline?" Aiden blinked. "As in… magic?"
He turned in a slow circle, taking in the alien forest. Despite the glowing plants and twin moons, it was eerily quiet. No animals. No people. Just rustling leaves and the faint hum of energy.
[New Objective Unlocked: Gather Resources | Craft Basic Tool]
[Recommended Blueprint: Shock Pike (Tier 0)]
[Materials Required: Metal (x1), Conductor (x1), Organic Insulator (x1)]
A small icon lit up in the corner of his vision, like a quest tracker from a video game.
Aiden let out a shaky breath. "Okay... whatever this is, it's guiding me. Might as well play along."
He began searching the area, forcing himself to focus.
Within minutes, he found a twisted metal fragment embedded in a tree—likely a remnant of whatever event brought him here. It was scorched but usable. For the conductor, he pried wires from the broken AI core in his pocket, hoping the system wouldn't mind the improvisation.
The insulator was trickier, until he noticed a vine wrapped in fibrous bark, exuding a waxy sap.
[Materials Acquired. Compiling Blueprint…]
Shock Pike (Tier 0) – Crafting in Progress… 12%... 42%... Complete!
Before his eyes, a schematic unfolded in midair—like a glowing hologram—then collapsed into light.
In his hand, metal pulled itself together, wires snaked inward, and the bark wrapped around the handle. It felt warm for a moment, then solidified.
A crude but functional weapon now rested in his grip: a spear-like rod with copper wiring and a sparking tip.
[Shock Pike Acquired – Durability: 100% | Effect: Stun on Hit (5s)]
Aiden stared at it, dumbfounded.
"I just... built a weapon out of garbage. With my mind."
The System chimed again.
[Forge Level 1 Achieved – Unlocking 'Modular Crafting']
Aiden grinned, despite himself.
As bizarre as this world was... this, he understood. Crafting. Engineering. Systems. Blueprints. It was like a twisted version of his old workshop—only now the materials were stranger, and the stakes were higher.
Then something rustled in the bushes.
Aiden whirled, raising the Shock Pike.
Eyes reflected in the moonlight—six of them.
A beast stepped forward. Low to the ground, canine in shape but with jagged crystalline growths jutting from its back. Its growl sounded like scraping metal.
[Threat Detected: Crystal Hound – Class D Predator]
Weakness: Electrical Surges | Mobility: High | Estimated Danger Level: Medium
"Oh, great," Aiden muttered. "Didn't even get a tutorial fight first, huh?"
The creature lunged.
Aiden didn't think—he reacted.
He sidestepped, barely avoiding the charge, then swung the Shock Pike. Electricity arced from the tip, slamming into the creature's side.
The hound yelped and skidded, its limbs convulsing from the current. It tried to recover, growling louder.
[Target Stunned – 3 Seconds Remaining]
"Three seconds is all I need," Aiden growled.
He charged, jamming the weapon into the creature's exposed flank. The burst of electricity cracked the crystals. The beast howled—and didn't get up again.
Panting, Aiden stepped back, heart pounding.
[Enemy Defeated – Crystal Core Acquired (x1)]
Experience: +45 | Forge Level: 1 → 2
New Blueprint Unlocked: Arc Battery (Tier 0)
He stared at the corpse, still smoking. Then at the weapon in his hand.
"Okay. This world is insane," he muttered, "but I think I just found my way to survive."
He pulled the crystal from the beast's chest and slipped it into a pouch made from his hoodie pocket.
Then, without warning, the system spoke again—this time in a deeper, more authoritative tone.
[WARNING: Unregistered Technologist Signature Detected]
[Leyline Authorities Notified. Dispatch ETA: 1.3 Hours]
Aiden froze.
"Leyline... authorities? What the hell does that mean?"
He turned in a slow circle.
Somewhere out there, someone—or something—was coming. And they knew he didn't belong.
But now, Aiden wasn't just a lost human in a foreign world.
He was an Engineer—and he had a system designed to turn scraps into salvation.
He looked up at the moons above, his grip tightening on the Shock Pike.
"Come get me then."