In the World's Apocalypse as the Dragon Cultivator

"From End to Rebirth: A Survival in a Long Road". FERALR for short. A RTS survival game with many interesting mechanics that make it unique in the industry.

A game where you make your city, and have to make it thrive and grow to win the game. In this part, it is like many others of its genre, but this is where similarities end.

For one, a vast and unique technology advancement trees based on your start, no path feeling alike just with a different skin. Different playstyles, rewards, equipment, and technology. While not strictly unique to it, it gave lots of fresh air in every replay.

Some styles have so unique mechanics that someone not privy to how the game works would scream "cheating" or "hacks" if they saw how some of them worked and related mechanics.

Another great point is the combat, having what you expect from a base-building RTS game, but also introducing the usage of Hero Units unexpectedly. Instead of the tried and true minion control, you could set your other minions in set patrols, positions, or overwatch, and then take control of a Hero Unit and suddenly have a hack-and-slash game.

This mechanic made combats fluid, strategic, and overwhelming. Every combat, even the simple tutorial ones makes blood pump out hot with how much strategy you can put it into. Using a long-ranged Hero Unit with a phalanx formation, or the contrary, make your troops long-ranged and use a close-ranged Hero Unit to draw the aggro and attention of the enemy.

There were other mechanics, but those were only to add more difficulty to the game. When I think about it, the game wasn't all that special unless you played it, which can be said about many games. Someone telling the mechanics and you seeing them for yourself are different things, after all.

(...)

It has been two years since we last touched any FERALR-related content. Ever since they stopped updating the game. 'I guess the collective survival server was the last thing I did there?'

A server with roughly a hundred players engaged in surviving the game growing their settlements, and advancing in the story. 'I think we were the only ones who finished the game with fifty players still standing by the end.'

One pesky mechanic was perma-death, you lost your settlement you lost the game, and even the save was gone. The same mechanic applies to hero units too. Only with exceedingly rare events they could bring a HU back.

He rarely goes outside these days, ever since getting self-sufficient and a good home office job, he only went out to buy groceries and work. In his room working and doing what he likes.

Yet life has become so boring, no. Not boring. "Lonely". Ever since he achieved everything he wanted, his social interactions outside of online forums and social media have become scarce, and even the online ones are slowly fading too.

Just two years ago, he had many online friends, playing and talking shit while playing video-game. So many people played FERALR. Yet there is no one talking about FERALR nowadays. A relic of the past.

'I wonder if LinLing-Er paisen is good nowadays?' One of the best players of FERALR alongside him in the past, himself, LinLing-Er, UltraMantisWarrior, BD96. They all must've moved out of FERALR too.

Going to his desktop, the icon of FERALR still is there. "Maybe some services are still there? Maybe LinLing-Er paisen is online too." Succumbing to the need to check the game one last time, the need to see if only a small part of nostalgia, of the sentiment of past glorious days there, he opens the game.

He checks the friend list. Unexpectedly, LinLing-Er is there too, online.  A message is sent to him: "The game servers are under maintenance. No online message or interaction between players can be had right now."

He closes the game, it was good to get a mini nostalgia trip, but since the game servers are not working right now, there is no reason to stay on it. "In hindsight, LinLing-Er never gave her contact besides the in-game."

It would make it so much easier to contact her too. "I will touch some grass right now. Have to buy food too." Getting up from the chair, a message pops up on the screen without his realization:

[Game successfully Updated. Applying Survival Update to the World]

Exiting his apartment room, he takes an elevator to the first floor. People are living their everyday lives as always. He managed to buy a cozy and nice living place in the last two years, a good view with many people there every day.

As someone who doesn't interact with people much, this little bit of socialization is enough, to see people get by with their lives. Even if it can be too lonely sometimes… As he steps outside, the first unusual thing is a shining object in the middle of the day, skies darkening drastically as the UFO starts to spin and expand, becoming an eye-like object.

It stops spinning to focus on him, the situation feeling all too familiar— "Wait, this is some high-end advertising campaign, right? It is like the start of—" A dark-red screen with greyish letters pops up before him.

[◯-San you have been scouted by our administrative team to lead up mankind in the

upcoming event known as Nemesis: The start of FERALR. You have four minutes to make 

your decisions and your Hero. Choose well.

Because of time constraints and the place you are in, the administrative team

decided to give you a screen to help you make your decisions.

Notification: Your Memory Shards and Soul Fragments will be burned by the second, use them quickly and effectively before they all burn up to access a Memento Gift]

'I already know that, dammit!' Closing the pop-up, the character creation scream appears. The MS (Memory Shards) and SF (Soul Fragments) right above the name section, quickly going down by the second, at alarming speeds. Just like the screen said.

[Memory Shards, are used to buy items, titles, and achievements of past runs, as well as to buy special rewards and inheritances from the Memento Gift.

Soul Fragments are used to buy powers for your current run, powers that can only be obtained through the Soul Fragments and not Memory Shards. Some options use both MS and FS to be bought. Some options can be boosted with MS and SF]

Without losing time, he clicks on the section.

[MS: 106.700--->103.432--->100.023

SF: 108.000--->104.905--->101.504]

[Availabe Mementos:

Dragon Born crystal—

Heaven Slasher Sword—

Gutterdammenrung Horn—

…]

  to see what he can buy with the quickly diminishing currency. The options diminish quickly. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" What is happening? It is a dream or a well-elaborated prank? it doesn't seem to be, it feels real.

Just like that, he screens quickly through the gift screen, seeing the options diminish, while some get discounts that disappear just as fast. "Bloodline! Bloodlines are good no matter what!" The bloodline gift jumps on the screen.

[Bloodline: A gift that bestows a simple bloodline unto the Hero. Ranges from goblins imps, and lower creatures. You cannot choose it. It can be boosted with MS and SF for a better, stronger bloodline and more resources.

Cost: 500 MS, 700 SF)

He clicks it immediately. 

[Do you want to buff the option?

Yes()

No()]

While a simple bloodline is good enough to help with the tutorial, it will have zero benefit after the tutorial, goblins, imps, and lower creatures are too weak to make a meaningful difference in the game after the tutorial.

This gift by itself is not good, it needs something more to be made good. This is why, he will buff it, there are not enough options.

[Yes(X)

How much? (EVERYTHING)]

And clicks on the buffing option, using all of his currencies to boost the gift. While buying another gift is a feasible option, with the points rapidly diminishing with each second, what he could afford changes by the second, indecision and thinking to make the options, the good options, lower drastically.

It is better to use everything in one shot than let points go to waste like they were going a second ago. A selection of species appears. An advantage of buffing it is that not only do better and stronger species appear, but you can choose them if they are not at the upper limit of what can come.