《Cave Genesis: I have SSS level skill! [Survival, Game-lit, fast-paced progression]》 PROLOUGE: Welcome to the Underground World! Dampness! Chills! A mix of mildew and the earthy smell penetrated Marcus''s nose. "Where is this? Have I been kidnapped?" Marcus tapped his head. Perhaps it was because of a hangover or because he hadn''t woken from a dream, but he found himself in some underground cavern. Even if this were a kidnapping, no kidnapper would go to the trouble of digging such a massive underground chamber, right? A deep voice sounded in his mind before Marcus could figure out his surroundings. [Welcome to the ''Underground Survival'' game!] [We understand your surprise and panic, but we suggest you set aside those useless emotions. They won¡¯t help you survive. You are now all situated in separate, randomly distributed underground caverns, where you won''t encounter others for the time being. You can only rely on the shovel in your hand and your physical stamina. To survive, you must dig tunnels and search for resources in other caverns.] [Survival is your top priority. If you don¡¯t want to die quickly, please remember the following rules.] [1. All caverns are interconnected. You can dig through the soil to reach another cavern. However, once you leave your current cavern, it will no longer be safe. 2. Traveling through different caverns consumes ¡°Stamina Points.¡± When your stamina is depleted, you won¡¯t be able to proceed to other caverns for a while. Don¡¯t worry, stamina regenerates over time. 3. Caverns contain treasures and opportunities, but they also hold monsters and traps. Everything is unknown. Before entering the next cavern, you¡¯d better prepare for battle. 4. Killing monsters will make you stronger. 5. Once you¡¯ve explored 80% of a cavern, or if you¡¯re lucky enough to find a ¡°staircase,¡± you can advance to the next level. With each level, rewards and dangers increase. Be cautious: once you move to the next level, you cannot return to the previous one. Ensure you¡¯re strong enough to handle the challenges. 6. By focusing your mind, you can open the game interface. More features will require you to explore them yourself. 7. Lastly, remember this: Greed will cost you everything.] [Good luck with the game. I¡¯ll be waiting for you on the 100th floor.] The voice abruptly disappeared, as though it had never existed. Marcus now had time to observe the cavern he was in. It was square-shaped, around 20 square meters, with dirt walls sealing all sides, including the top and bottom. The cavern was entirely enclosed, yet somehow there was a light source that allowed Marcus to barely see his surroundings. The space was empty¡ªno dangers, but no resources either. In all four directions, there were glowing blue door-like areas, presumably tunnels leading to other caverns. ¡°This place is completely sealed, yet I don¡¯t feel suffocated,¡± Marcus muttered to himself. ¡°Normally, humans would consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide in such a confined space. First, you¡¯d feel discomfort from the rising CO2 levels before experiencing oxygen deprivation. But I don¡¯t feel any of that, just a slight thirst.¡± ¡°So this must be a game mechanic, making sure characters don¡¯t suffocate in sealed caverns.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Marcus quickly accepted the reality that he had somehow been transported into an underground survival game. If what that voice said was true, he could verify it easily enough. Out of the seven rules, the sixth one was the easiest to test: focusing his attention to open the game interface. Marcus concentrated and mentally said, "Open game panel." The next second, a translucent interface appeared before his eyes. In the centre of the screen was a model of himself, dressed in tattered clothes and holding no weapon. At the top of the interface were several function tabs: [Attributes] [Inventory] [Crafting] [Trading] [Territory] [Chat] Seeing this, Marcus now fully believed it was real. Even though he couldn¡¯t understand how such a bizarre thing had happened when it truly occurred to someone, they had no choice but to accept it. He focused and opened the function tabs one by one. First, he opened the [Attributes] tab. Immediately, a series of stats for his current body appeared on the translucent screen: [Name]: Marcus [Level]: LV1 (0/10) [Health]: 100/100 [Attack]: 10-20 [Defense]: 0 [Magic]: 0 [Mana]: 30 [Stamina]: 100/100 [Hunger]: 85/100 [Thirst]: 45/100 (Mild Dehydration) The clean interface made it clear: that Marcus was currently weak and vulnerable. The health, attack, and similar stats were self-explanatory to anyone who¡¯d played games before. Stamina was the resource mentioned in the rules, required for travelling to other caverns. As for hunger and thirst values, Marcus found them unnecessary¡ªhe already knew when he was hungry or thirsty, didn¡¯t he? Next, he opened the [Inventory] tab. Inside, there was only one item: a shovel. He attempted to take the shovel out of the inventory, and almost instantly, it appeared in his hand. The shovel was old and worn, with a rough wooden handle and a rusted metal blade. Marcus seriously doubted whether it could handle the task of digging through walls. [Worn-Out Shovel] Quality: Rough Attributes: Attack: 1-2 Evaluation: A rusty shovel¡ªhow strong can you really expect it to be? Surprisingly, it added attack power. Without hesitation, Marcus equipped it, and his attack power increased to 11-22. "Let¡¯s check out [Crafting] to see if I can make a better weapon," he thought. The result was disappointing. The crafting interface was completely empty, with nothing available to create. It even displayed a message indicating that crafting blueprints are required before crafting is possible. The [Trading] tab was similarly barren. At this early stage, players didn¡¯t even have enough resources for themselves, let alone anything to trade. Opening [Territory], a depiction of a shabby wooden house appeared on the screen. [Do you want to enter your territory?] ¡°Yes!¡± Without hesitation, Marcus confirmed. A moment of dizziness later, Marcus found himself inside a "room." Calling it a room wasn¡¯t entirely accurate¡ªother than wooden floors, a ceiling, and four walls, there was nothing else. Even the spots where windows and doors should be were just open spaces, letting in gusts of wind. Through the doorframe, he could see that the outside was still an underground cavern, similarly sealed with dirt walls. The difference was its size¡ªit was much larger, roughly 100 square meters. The room itself only took up about 10 square meters. The remaining space outside might be usable for farming? Other than that, there were no tunnels in the surrounding walls. The only noteworthy feature was a blue circular portal not far from the doorway. Stepping on the portal would return him to the original cavern. Marcus, ever observant, noticed a small map in the upper-right corner of his vision, along with a countdown timer. 09:46:54 09:46:53 ... ¡°What¡¯s this countdown for?¡± Focusing his attention on the countdown, a notification immediately popped up. [Tip: Your territory is not a safe haven. When the countdown ends, monsters will descend. If you¡¯re unarmed, you may end up as their meal!] Marcus¡¯s pupils widened in shock. Thank goodness he had checked every tab thoroughly! If he hadn¡¯t seen this warning, he might¡¯ve been attacked by monsters in his sleep. In just over nine hours... that would be exactly at midnight! Marcus couldn¡¯t help but wonder if there would be any unlucky players who didn¡¯t notice the countdown and went straight to sleep, only to wake up as monster fodder. Top of Form V1 CHAP1: Early Loot! After studying his territory for a while, Marcus roughly understood that, even crafting, building doors, windows, or a bed for his wooden house also required blueprints. It seemed farming was still a long way off. The countdown was still ticking, but instead of heading straight to the next cave, Marcus decided to open the last available function to see if there were any hidden pitfalls he had missed. The [Chat] interface was divided into [World Chat] and [Regional Chat], and Marcus first entered the former. Despite the restriction of being able to send a message only once an hour, the chat channel was still flooded with messages. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Why have we been thrown into some survival game? Does anyone know?¡± ¡°I¡¯m so scared, wahhh!! It¡¯s so dark around me, and I think I hear rats. Can someone save me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m starving. I didn¡¯t even eat lunch. I¡¯m about to die of hunger. Can anyone spare some food?¡± ¡°Water! I need water! Someone, give me some water!¡± ¡°Whose stupid prank is this? Send me back, or you¡¯ll regret it!¡± ¡°I¡¯m the CEO of Tes*a company. If someone can send me back, I¡¯ll give them a billion.¡± ¡°I was in the middle of something, not even wearing clothes, and now my body is pixelated!¡± ... The world chat was filled with complaints about being thrown into this survival game or cries for help due to thirst and hunger. Marcus, however, focused on something different from everyone else¡ªthe number of people. It wasn¡¯t just him who had been thrown into this underground survival game. Many others, or perhaps everyone, had come as well. Luckily, Marcus was an orphan. His parents had died when he was in his teens, and he had never had a partner all these years. There was no one else he needed to worry about. Out of a sense of thoroughness, Marcus also opened the [Regional Chat], which had content similar to the world chat. Aside from some joking and unserious messages, rest of the messages were people begging for food and water. In fact, the majority of the messages were pleas for food and water. But who had food or water now? Even if someone did, they¡¯d keep it for themselves. There was no way anyone would give it away freely. Understanding this reality, Marcus felt a growing sense of urgency. Not to mention the beast attack nine hours later¡ªif he didn¡¯t find food and water, he might starve or die of thirst! Just as he was thinking about this, Marcus felt his throat go dry and scratchy. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was a mild sign of dehydration or just psychological thing. He left the wooden house and stepped back into the previous cave through the blue portal. There were four tunnels in different directions, and the caves beyond them were completely unknown. Whether there was food or monsters, it all depended on luck.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡®Leaving everything to luck¡­tch, this is such a trashy game.¡¯ But faced with four identical walls, Marcus couldn¡¯t make a decision and had to rely on his instincts to pick one. Standing at the tunnel directly in front of him, he took his shovel and dug into the wall. Contrary to his expectation of hard-packed soil, the dirt here was soft and easy to dig, requiring little effort¡ªeven a frail girl could manage it. A large chunk of dirt was dug out and automatically went into his inventory. [Dirt +1] [Dirt +1] ... After gathering 10 units of dirt, a blue door-shaped passage opened up. Marcus raised his shovel, prepared for a fight, and stepped toward the glowing portal. [Ding! There is a hidden reward in the current cave that has not been claimed. Would you like to proceed to the next cave?] ¡°Yes¡­ Wait, no, no!¡± Marcus blurted out ¡°yes¡± but immediately realized this wasn¡¯t a simple message about entering the next level¡ªit was a notification that there was a hidden reward he hadn¡¯t claimed. ¡°Phew, that was close. I almost missed it!¡± A hidden reward¡ªjust thinking about it made Marcus¡¯s heart race. Normally, only exceptionally lucky players would encounter hidden rewards. Marcus felt like he had hit the jackpot. Putting his exploration of the next cave on hold, he meticulously searched every corner of this one. After thoroughly examining the entire cave, he confirmed that he hadn¡¯t missed any spot but still couldn¡¯t find the hidden reward. Could it be messing with him? The message only informed him that there was a hidden reward left to claim, but if only it could also indicate the exact location! ¡°Where¡¯s the hidden reward? Why can¡¯t I find it?¡± Marcus tried asking the air. Sure enough, a voice immediately responded. [In the northwest corner, dig about 20 centimeters down with your shovel to find the hidden reward.] ¡°The northwest corner¡­ Which way is northwest?¡± Marcus stood with his shovel, trying to figure out the direction, but eventually gave up. Without sunlight in the cave, it was impossible to discern directions. There were no more hints this time. It seemed the guiding voice only responded to questions about hidden rewards and wouldn¡¯t answer other queries. Direction-related questions, apparently, fell into the latter category. After fumbling around for a while, Marcus finally noticed a small map in the upper left corner of the game interface. It showed a progress indicator marked ¡°0%¡± and also labelled the cardinal directions. The ¡°0%¡± seemed to indicate his exploration progress. With a sense of direction at last, Marcus headed for the northwest corner. He dug twice with his shovel and suddenly hit something hard. Clearing away the loose soil by hand, Marcus uncovered a wooden chest. ¡®This must be the hidden reward mentioned in the prompt.¡¯ The chest was locked, but Marcus wasn¡¯t worried. With his trusty shovel, he pried the chest open to reveal its contents. A weathered parchment scrolls, a sleeveless leather armour, and a brooch shaped like an arm. [Warrior Class Scroll]: A crude parchment detailing the requirements for changing your class. You must follow its instructions to reach a designated cave and complete the class change (note: some skills require the Warrior class to learn). [Lost Heirloom Leather Armor] [The Third Hand] The hidden reward consisted of three items. While the leather armor¡¯s stats were negligible, having an extra piece of equipment early on was better than nothing. The Warrior Class Scroll was a valuable item, especially in this mysterious survival game where everything was uncertain. ¡®Ha, not only for crafting? People even need scrolls for upgrading their class. I wonder how many people are going to die withing today!¡¯ As soon as Marcus picked up the scroll, a blue line appeared on the map, akin to an auto-navigation feature in games. It even helpfully displayed the distance: 35 tiles. Luckily, the direction pointed to the tunnel he had already opened. Otherwise, he¡¯d have to dig through again. As for the final item, ¡°The Third Hand,¡± its fine quality left Marcus breathless. At this stage, gear like this was practically a divine artifact, and the list of special effects was dazzling, clearly emphasizing its value. Marcus quickly stored everything in his inventory, equipping the leather armour immediately. Though it left his arms exposed, it gave him a sense of security. Even after all this, Marcus felt he might be wasting resources, so he used his shovel to dismantle the wooden chest for its materials. [Wood +4] After squeezing out every last bit of value from the chest, Marcus cheerfully stepped into the next cave. ¡°What things await me in the next cave?¡±