Before O'shae could even regain his vision, he felt himself falling. He started to flail his arm slightly as he blinked a few times to readjust his vision. As he regained his vision he could see the sky above him. Before he could even fully recover his vision he then felt himself fall onto something and then the cracking of a branch. His body was flung to the side before breaking into another branch. He would continue to fall through branches, breaking them. After a few seconds he finally hit a thicker cluster of branches which slowed his fall significantly before he fell to the ground with a thud. The wind was knocked out if him and he let out a heavy gasp. he rolled onto his back and arched his back as the pain traveled through his body.
"Sh*t!" He yelled out.
He laid there a while longer as he took deep breaths. Once his breathing was regular he rolled back over and slowly got up. He looked around noticing that he was in a forest like area.The trees were dark and seemed to grow to maybe around 40 feet feet with a trunk the width of about 9 feet and a crown width of dozens of feet. It's trunk was pewter. Its leaves were also pewter and bulbous. O'shae bent over to pick a leaf up. It felt grainy like sand. Upon further observation the tree bore cylindrical, tan fruit. The tree which O'shae estimated that hell threw seemed sickly for some reason. O'shae assumed this wasn't a tree from his world.
He looked away from the tree and stretched his arm and legs, his whole body feeling sore from the fall. He sighed in relief thinking of what would have happened had he been off by a bit.
"Welcome back O'shae, I have been installed with parameters to help you while you participate." A robotic female voice spoke.
O'shae jumped back slightly before realizing that the voice came from his wrist. When he looked down he realized that he was wearing a thin wrist band with a screen on it.
"Scared the hell out of me! We can talk about that later though, what's going on?" O'shae said, hearing his own robotic voice.
"You are participating in a challenge after being randomly chosen. Details can be found as you find 'loot crates' and other caches."
"Loot crate?"
"I have been given names of things based on what you would easily understand."
O'shae didn't respond for a moment as he thought. This was weird, freaky even. He was basically kidnapped by aliens to play a game. This was more than freaky actually. Mid way through a thought the wrist band spoke.
"Please locate designated beginner items to assist you. According to the details given to me they will be located in the hallow of a nearby tree." The voice said.
At least he was going to be given something to help him out. He looked around and remembered the sickly looking tree. He walked over to it and walked around it until he found what seemed to be an opening. He knelt down and reached inside with a bit of disgust from the tree. He felt something hard like metal and pulled it out. Once he got it out he noticed that it was a black box with a handle on one side.
"Well, hope it's something useful." O'shae said as he brought his hand up to scratch the top of his head.
He then brought the hand down and pulled up on the handle. To his surprise when he pulled the handle the box sprung open and screen appeared. For about ten seconds it said 'Please choose two items from the selection' before going to another screen that showed a few items and their names. He composed his self and kept his excitement in check. Who wouldn't get excited over getting something from outer space? This stuff was cool! When he tapped the items descriptions showed up.
When he looked through he saw things like blades that heat up and bows that auto aim! This was all advanced technology! After a few moments something caught his eyes.
"Adaptable robotic limb base" he read out loud to himself before tapping the image.
The description popped up and he read it. 'An base that can be attached to most species with a compatible limb space. This base adapts to mostly any robotic arm that it is attached to and may even make non-technological arms function' he read silently. This. This was goddamn perfect. Without hesitation he tapped the confirm button and chose the first item. A wide grin formed onto his face. He had suspected before that he may never get his arm back and may even die, but his survival chances just sky rocketed.
Now it was time to choose the next item. As he looked he finally noticed one that was blinking a yellow light that said recommend. The name was 'System'. He tapped it and read thw description. 'A unique item only given to you based on your specific interest. Description not given'. O'shae was a bit frustrated about the fact that it had no description, but it gave him enough of a hint of what it was. He supposed it was like what he read in web novels. Without a doubt he was going to take it! He tapped the confirm button and his excitement went up even more.
"Hahahaha! When I get back home I'll be cool as f*ck!" He said loudly.
He then looked back to the box, said 'Good Luck' before the screen went off.
"Huh?"
All of a sudden a loud whistling sound resonated from the sky before a five foot tall metallic rectangle crashed into the floor only a few yards from O'shae. He jumped back and tripped falling onto his back. He quickly recovered and got up.
"I could have died!" He said, saying the obvious.
The metal box then had steam come out of it as it's walls fell down to reveal the arm base, a rudimentary arm next to it, and a pill. O'shae approached the big box and bent down slightly to pick up the arm base. He held it in his hand. It was light, no more than one pound. It was black with some golden lining on it. How would he put it on? He held it up to his missing arm and suddenly grabbed onto what remained of his forearm. He quickly let go as it unraveled itself and crawled from the remains of his forearm to his shoulder. After a few moments it finished. He noticed the bandages he had on it had even been taken off. Now a black silicon fiber looking material with golden lining covered his remaining forearm and shoulder.
"Alright, that was weird too" He said as he looked at his shoulder.
He then looked at the rudimentary arm. It was a simple robotic arm. It was similar to the ones you'd see at a factory. It was all black and had two 'fingers'.
"Damn, it'll have to do." He said as he grabbed it. He held it up to the adaptable base and the base once again did all the work. It slithered over the end of the arm, attaching itself it and making sure it was stable. O'shae could feel the entire process as he felt the arm being connected to his nerves. After a few moments when it was done, he tested it out. He moved it around a bit, feeling that the two fingers were comparable in feeling to a thumb and index finger.
"Yeah this should work. Anyways, last thing." He said to himself as he looked at the pill.
He grabbed it with his real hand and looked at it for a bit. It must be the system somehow.
"Down the hatch." He said as he dropped it into his mouth and swallowed it.
Immediately after five seconds he felt as if he had been drugged for a moment. Just as quickly he felt normal again. The next moment, a screen appeared in front of him.
'Welcome User. I am the system. Right now I have to function, but as I am with you I will grow and become more functional' A screen read in front of him. After O'shae read it, it disappeared.
"Damn! It's useless!" He yelled out. He thought he was going to be able to use it to become stronger way more quickly like the guys in the web novels, but instead it was going to use him! O'shae saw this as a complete loss.
"Who would even add such a useless thing!" He yelled out. Finally he yelling had caught up to him. An arrow whizzed past him and stuck into a tree nearby. The shooter was obviously a bad aim as it was too far to even be considered a warning sign. He then heard an unintelligible noise that was probably a curse. O'shae looked up and saw the one who was attacking.
This hide-covered biped has a vulpine head, with bright, goldenrod, canine eyes, which seem to urge communication. It has a bewhiskered mouth which is which is good-naturedly crocodilian. It has twitching, small, rabbit-like ears. Its muscular neck is maned with the vital blood vessels and spinal cord in the back of its neck. This beige-shaded beast has a canine torso. Its forearms are nimble and short. They end in muscular, draconic, with a poisonously pattern clawed hands. Its two hind legs are weak and thin but with a definition of muscularity. They end in nimble, feline, poisonously patterned clawed talons. It has a stub for a tail that's only four inches long.
O'shae had never seen anything like it, but didn't wait to talk to it. Without hesitation he began to run.