Lucas, an ordinary young guy by all standards, had only one thing that made him stand out: he was a pro at staying home.
While everyone else was out risking their necks in real-life dungeons, chasing power and glory, Lucas chose a different path—staying away from danger and getting lost in the virtual world. He wasn't dumb.
In a world full of monsters where things could go south real quick, fighting and adventuring was no joke.
In real life, you only get one life, but in games?
He had all the lives he could ever need.
Lucas always believed he was smart for avoiding any unnecessary risks.
Today, just like any other day, he was lounging on the couch, legs draped over the armrest, casually holding his phone, scrolling through his game dungeons.
His room was a mess—books piled up in the corner that no one ever read, delivery boxes, snack wrappers, and half-finished soda bottles scattered across the desk.
To Lucas, this was the perfect life—simple, comfortable, and totally stress-free. Leveling up and risking his life in real-world battles? Yeah, right.
No way was that ever gonna tempt him.
"Today's dungeon is easy," Lucas muttered to himself, eyes fixed on his phone.
His game character was smoothly dodging and wiping out a bunch of low-level monsters.
His fingers moved swiftly, tapping skill buttons here and there, smashing virtual monsters like it was nothing.
Goblins—those little newbie monsters—were just XP fodder in his eyes.
"If only real life was this easy," Lucas chuckled, tossing a chip into his mouth.
"Games are so much better—safe, free, do whatever you want." He was all about that simple satisfaction.
In the virtual world, there was no danger to his life, and everything was under his control.
But just as he wiped out another batch of monsters, something weird happened on his screen—it flickered, and a notification popped up that he had never seen before.
[Congrats! You've unlocked a special feature: Skill Extraction!]
Lucas blinked in confusion.
He rubbed his eyes and stared at the message: "Skill extraction?" he mumbled, frowning.
"What the heck is this? A new event? Game update?" Lucas was puzzled.
He had been playing this game a lot, but he'd never heard of any "skill extraction" feature before.
Sure, the game had some weird limited-time events and updates from time to time, but this was super random.
Curiosity got the better of him, as it always did for a seasoned gamer like him.
He quickly tapped the message to see what this was all about.
[You've unlocked the 'Skill Extraction' feature. Tap a skill icon to extract it into the real world.]
"Extract into the real world?" Lucas's eyes widened. This had to be a joke, or maybe some lame in-game ad.
Real world? C'mon, this wasn't some fantasy novel where game skills magically work in real life!
He was about to ignore it, thinking it was probably just a gimmick to get players to spend money.
Lucas wasn't the type to fall for stuff like that.
He prided himself on being rational, especially when it came to keeping games and reality separate.
"Skill extraction into real life… yeah, right," he scoffed, moving to close the notification. But right at that moment, his finger accidentally swiped over the Fire Blast skill icon.
The next second, his phone screen lit up with a blinding flash, nearly making him drop the phone in shock.
Lucas leaped off the couch, tossing his phone away, cursing under his breath, "What the hell?! What kind of stupid skill has a light show like that?!"
As he rubbed his eyes and tried to calm his racing heart, his mind started racing: What was that?
Did the phone malfunction?
What kind of crazy feature is this?
Did the game developers go off the deep end?
Just as he was about to pick up his phone, he felt something strange—a weird heat in the palm of his hand.
It felt real, like he was holding something warm, which made him uneasy.
His fingers started to tremble slightly. Something was off…
"What's going on?" Lucas stared at his palm, heart pounding faster.
Before he could figure it out, the heat in his hand got stronger, like something was building up inside.
Then, out of nowhere, a ball of fire shot out of his hand with a loud "BOOM!" It slammed into the wall in front of him.
A black scorch mark appeared on the wall instantly, and the smell of burnt stuff filled the air, like there'd been a mini-explosion.
Lucas froze, his brain short-circuiting.
His eyes were wide, mouth slightly open, standing there like time itself had stopped.
His hand was still in the position it had been when he cast the skill, his palm still warm, but now he was hit with a wave of disbelief.
"Did… I just use Fire Blast?" he muttered, sounding like he was in a daze.
This wasn't right. None of this made sense.
Lucas shook his head, trying to snap out of it, but the black mark on the wall and the smell in the air told him this was all very real.
He looked down at his hand, then back at his phone, feeling completely lost.
How was this even possible? He just tapped a skill in the game, and it somehow triggered in real life?
A real-life Fire Blast?!
He quickly picked up his phone. The game was still there, but now the Fire Blast icon was on cooldown, just like in the game. He couldn't use it again for a while.
"This isn't logical!" Lucas shouted, smacking his forehead, trying to calm down.
He frantically pulled up the game settings, hoping to find some explanation for this "Skill Extraction" thing.
But there was nothing. The game was still the same old game he knew, except for that sudden Fire Blast. No other hints or messages.
What's going on? What is this?
Lucas was almost panicking.
He knew he wasn't some comic book superhero or a guy from a fantasy novel who could control powers in the real world.
But that fireball from his hand had been too real, too vivid for him to believe it was all just a dream.
"Skill extraction…" he mumbled, staring at his phone screen and the now-cooling Fire Blast icon, his mind racing with a million theories.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Yeah, calm down.
First things first: figure out what this "Skill Extraction" really was.
Lucas sat back down, trying to analyze the situation.
He knew one thing for sure: he couldn't just go around throwing fireballs everywhere, especially without fully understanding what was happening.
If this power was real, it came with real risks, and he'd always prided himself on being careful.
"Can't just mess around with this," Lucas reminded himself.
He knew that, even though this ability seemed strong, using it without knowing the rules would be a mistake.
Real-world dungeons and monsters weren't like game ones where you could take your time experimenting. In real life, you only had one life, while in the game, you had plenty to spare.
Lucas decided he needed to figure out how this skill extraction worked.
He opened the game again and tried some other skills to see if they could be pulled into the real world.
But oddly enough, none of the other skills seemed to work.
"Looks like not all skills can be extracted," Lucas frowned, realizing that there were some specific limits to this feature.
It wasn't as overpowered as he first thought.
He pulled up Fire Blast again, waiting for the cooldown to finish. While he waited, he didn't attempt to use the skill in real life again.
Instead, he chose to be cautious and keep investigating the feature. He jumped back into the virtual dungeon, casting Fire Blast in the game to observe how it worked.
As he expected, the cooldown in the game matched the cooldown in real life. It meant that whether he used the skill in the game or reality, the same rules applied.
"I see…" Lucas nodded, starting to piece things together.
This skill extraction feature wasn't some cheat code that let him cast unlimited spells in the real world.
It came with its own set of rules—cooldowns, usage conditions, and maybe even more restrictions he hadn't discovered yet.
"Looks like I'll need to practice more in the game," Lucas thought.
He realized that while this feature was powerful, it came with risks in the real world.
Rushing into real-life dungeons without fully understanding how it worked was a terrible idea, especially when he hadn't fully mastered it yet.
Lucas made up his mind: he wasn't going to jump into any real-world dungeons.
Instead, he'd keep practicing in the virtual world, figuring out every detail of the skill extraction feature so that he'd be ready for anything.
From that day on, Lucas's life seemed a little different.
He still lounged on the couch every day, grinding dungeons in the game, but now, his focus was sharper, and he approached everything with more caution.
He didn't tell anyone about his secret, nor did he have any plans to show off his new ability.
Lucas understood that the real world was full of dangers, and maybe this skill extraction power was his key to controlling his fate. But first, he needed to be careful.
Even with all that power in his hands, he chose to play it safe. He wasn't about to rush into anything just because of one crazy skill.
Instead, he stuck to what he knew best—using the virtual world to train and find every opportunity and resource he could.
In the real world, you only get one life.