Chapter 1: She Was Reborn

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: She Was Reborn

Rowan Rhodes’s eyes snapped open. Above her stretched a clear blue sky, the sunlight just a touch too blinding. The familiar, briny scent of seawater filled her nose. She sat up abruptly, her gaze sweeping over an endless expanse of ocean. Various resources and wooden crates drifted with the waves. Beneath her was nothing but a crude little raft, while a shark swam leisurely in circles around it. For a moment, Rowan couldn’t tell if this was reality or a dream.

She wondered if she had survived.

"System?" Rowan called out instinctively.

At her voice, a virtual screen materialized in front of her. A string of data sat in the upper left corner of the interface.

[Sea Survival Game Calendar: January 1, 9:00 AM, Weather: Sunny. Novice Protection Period (Countdown: 1 Day 14 Hours 52 Minutes 33 Seconds)]

On the left side of the main screen lay her personal attributes.

[Name: Rowan Rhodes (Official Player???)]

[Level: Level 0]

[Thirst Value: 85/100]

[Fullness Value: 88/100]

[Life Value: 86/100]

[Equipment: S-level Life Heart (Damaged) (Restores all statuses to full once daily)]

[Skill: C-level Collection]

On the right side of the main screen was a model rendering of the raft.

[Territory: Initial Raft]

[Level: Level 1] [Upgrade]

[Introduction: Composed of crude Wooden Boards]

[Specifications: 1x1 meters] [Expansion]

[Durability: 99/100]

[defensive power: 100/100]

[Current Equipment: F-level Hook Claw]

[Unlockable Equipment: None]

At the bottom were five additional tabs: World Channel, Leaderboard, Backpack, Trading Hall, and Announcements. Rowan tapped the World Channel.

[District 122: (99,998/100,000)]

"SOB! Someone please save me! I’m a complete landlubber!"

"This is terrifying! There’s a shark right next to me!"

"It’s the first day, and we’re still in the novice protection period, so the sharks won’t attack you. Hurry up and use the provided Hook Claw to grab treasure boxes and save yourself!"

"The treasure boxes are too hard to hook! Aiming is impossible."

"What’s the deal with being an apprentice player?"

"Isn’t it obvious? You have to survive the novice period to become an Official Player."

"People have actually died. Two people are dead already in such a short amount of time? What happened?"

"I checked the logs. It’s probably people trying to jump into the water to salvage treasure boxes! If you drown in the sea, you’re dead for good."

"Where are these treasure boxes you guys are talking about? I don’t see any."

"..."

In the World Channel, players from District 122—Rowan’s region—were frantically spamming the chat with comments. Seeing this familiar scene, Rowan snapped back to reality. She had actually been reborn. She had returned to the very first day the Sea Survival Game descended.

In her previous life, the Sea Survival Game had appeared out of nowhere, dragging everyone between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five into it. Death in the game meant dying in real life. No one knew what clearing the game would ultimately bring; they could only follow its rhythm and struggle endlessly to survive.

At the beginning of the game back then, she had been just as lost and helpless, missing the optimal window for development. Even when she rallied later on, she remained stuck at the absolute bottom. Later, while exploring a small island, she had stumbled upon the Heart of Life. This led to her being hunted by other players until, driven into a corner, she threw herself into the sea.

And now, the Heart of Life sat squarely in her Equipment slot. She wondered if rebirth was a miracle brought about by this very item.

Standing up, she surveyed her surroundings. Looking out over the familiar stretch of ocean, Rowan let out a long, heavy breath. No matter what, since she had come back, she would use the advantage of being a Prophet to bolster her own strength. She refused to ever again experience the nightmare of finding something precious, only to be relentlessly hunted by everyone because she couldn’t protect it.

Rowan immediately opened her Backpack and took out the Hook Claw that the game provided to every player.

[F-level Hook Claw: Can salvage ocean resources. Durability: 100/100 (1 point deducted per use)]

Gripping the Hook Claw, Rowan fixed her gaze on the various resources constantly drifting through the surrounding water. Given the raft’s current distance traveled in nautical miles, the only things appearing nearby were Wooden Boards, iron nails, random trash, and wooden crates. Wooden crates, however, could be opened to yield substantial resources, including food and water.

Rowan began to scan the area, tossing her hook to pull in the floating supplies. Wooden crates spawned randomly; until one showed up, her priority was to not let a single visible resource slip away. For the next stretch of time, she threw her hook at every single item on the water’s surface. At first, her aim was a little off, but after two or three tosses, the muscle memory of a veteran player returned.

Finally, after twenty consecutive casts, a wooden crate drifted into Rowan’s line of sight. With swift precision, she hooked the crate and reeled it in.

[Obtained: bread*2, mineral water*2, iron nails*2. Items placed in Backpack.]

She was used to this. Her starting location had always been an area with a notoriously low spawn rate for wooden crates. Just as she reached out to cast again, a notification box popped up on the screen.

[Warning: Player is in a state of thirst and hunger. Once these values reach zero, Life Value will drop.]

There was a daily limit to how many times a player could use the Hook Claw, tied directly to their Thirst Value and Fullness Value. Both of these naturally depleted over time and required regular replenishment. The physical exertion of using the Hook Claw only accelerated this drop. Right now, even though her stats were hovering near the warning line, it wasn’t a problem as long as it didn’t endanger her life.

Rowan shifted her focus to her Equipment tab. The Heart of Life that had brought her back in time offered one daily chance to restore her condition to full. This meant her effective salvaging time was double that of anyone else.

Rowan opened her Backpack to inventory her haul: Wooden Boards*13, bread*2, mineral water*2, iron nails*2, clay*3, trash*5, empty wooden crate*1.

Currently, her Backpack only had ten slots, with a stacking limit of ninety-nine per slot. Every unique resource took up one slot. Once the Backpack was full, she would have to expand its capacity to hold anything else. Expanding slots required Space Stones, which were incredibly rare. However, she knew of an island that held an abundance of Space Stones. But that was a matter for the future.

Her main priority right now was to level up her raft as much as possible during the novice protection period. The novice protection period lasted exactly two days, but even these two days were far from peaceful. On the second day, the circling sharks would begin to attack the rafts. If a player’s raft was too small, having it damaged by shark bites without timely repairs would turn into a waking nightmare.

Once the novice period ended, it wouldn’t just be marine life attacking the rafts; different natural disasters would also spawn at random. She remembered that the first disaster following the novice period was Extreme Heat. During the Extreme Heat phase, the temperature would climb relentlessly. To survive, players would need massive amounts of water, as well as shade and cooling equipment. Only by upgrading the raft could she unlock more equipment.

Currently, upgrading the raft required only two basic resources: Wooden Boards and iron nails. Aside from fishing them out of the ocean, she could also dismantle the wooden crates directly. Dismantling crates, however, was an ability reserved for Official Players who had acquired a Skill after surviving the novice protection period.

But Rowan was different. She had brought back her C-level Collection Skill from her previous life; she was already an Official Player. This was her advantage.

Wasting no time, she continued tossing her Hook Claw, pulling in more supplies.

[Warning: Player’s Thirst Value and Fullness Value have reached zero. Life Value is beginning to drop.]

[Life Value: 80... 75... 71...]

The numbers continued to plummet. Anyone else would have panicked by now, but Rowan gritted her teeth and endured. She was determined to squeeze every last drop of value out of her current stamina.

It wasn’t until her Life Value dropped to 30 that Rowan finally activated the Heart of Life. The moment her Life Value instantly restored to full, her mind snapped back to sharp clarity. Being yanked back from the brink of death made her heart pound wildly. It was such an adrenaline rush! But it was also deeply satisfying.

Taking a deep breath, she stood up straight. The Hook Claw flew out once again. She needed to stockpile more supplies to trade with others for empty wooden crates in the Trading Hall, all to upgrade her raft as quickly as possible.