Max Thompson was doing what he did best: ignoring dialogue in a video game. His fingers hovered over the spacebar, rapidly clicking through what was probably an important plot exposition in "Dragon's Conquest IV." The NPCs' mouths moved silently as text boxes flashed and disappeared in rapid succession. He'd figure out the story later—or more likely, look it up on a wiki if he absolutely had to.
His room was a testament to his gaming dedication: energy drink cans arranged in neat rows (he couldn't bring himself to throw them away—they might be useful for crafting), old gaming magazines stacked in corners (for future reference), and a meticulously organized collection of gaming merchandise that would make a museum curator proud.
"Just get to the gameplay already," Max muttered, leaning forward in his gaming chair. The current cutscene was particularly long, something about an ancient prophecy and a world-ending calamity. Nothing he hadn't seen before.
That's when it happened.
His monitor flickered, not with the usual screen tearing he'd grown used to, but with a brilliant white light that seemed to pour out of the display like liquid sunshine. Max's first thought wasn't about the impossibility of what he was seeing—it was that he might have just lost his save data.
"No, no, no," he scrambled for the keyboard, fingers instinctively moving to Ctrl+S, though he knew it wouldn't help. The light grew brighter, spreading beyond his monitor to fill his entire room. His collection of figurines cast long, strange shadows that danced on the walls before disappearing entirely into the whiteness.
As the light enveloped him, Max felt a familiar sensation—like the loading screen of a new game, that moment of anticipation before spawning in an unknown world. His last conscious thought was to wonder if he had remembered to grab his phone charger.
When the light faded, Max found himself standing in what could only be described as the most generic tutorial zone he'd ever seen. Rolling green hills stretched into the distance, dotted with conveniently placed rocks and trees that practically screamed "tutorial resources." A crystal-clear stream meandered nearby, its path suspiciously well-suited for teaching basic navigation.
But what caught his attention wasn't the carefully crafted landscape—it was the translucent blue window hovering directly in front of his face:
```
WELCOME TO THE TUTORIAL ZONE
Current Status:
Name: Max Thompson
Level: 1
Health: 100/100
Skills: None
Inventory: Empty
Tutorial Objective: Survive and Learn
```
Max stared at the status window, then at his hands, then back at the window. Around him, other people were materializing in flashes of light, their expressions ranging from terror to confusion to wonder. Some screamed, some cried, and others immediately began demanding explanations.
Max ignored them all. His eyes had locked onto something much more interesting: a stick on the ground. Without hesitation, he picked it up. The status window pinged:
```
Item Acquired: Wooden Stick (Common)
Durability: 10/10
```
A smile spread across his face. While others were still processing their new reality, Max was already moving to the next stick, and the one after that. This was familiar territory. This was what he was born to do.
"Hey!" someone called out to him. "Do you know what's going on?"
Max glanced up briefly to see a confused-looking man in a business suit, but there were berries in a bush just behind him that needed collecting. He hurried past without responding, his arms already full of sticks, rocks, and various plants.
The tutorial had begun, and Max Thompson was going to collect everything that wasn't nailed down—and maybe a few things that were.