Riven didn't expect to die that day. He was just trying to finish his science fair project — a traffic override system built from scratch. Cheap parts, clever code, and a dream of making something that actually mattered. He'd spent weeks soldering wires, tweaking logic, and convincing himself that one good idea could change the world.
But the board had other plans.
It happened in the school lab, late afternoon. The air smelled like hot plastic and stress. Riven was hunched over his breadboard, ESP32 blinking weakly, motor driver humming like it wanted to explode. He adjusted a jumper wire, reached for the soldering iron — and then everything went wrong.
A surge. A snap. A sharp pain in his chest.
No dramatic explosion. No sparks flying. Just a quiet, final breath that tasted like disappointment.
Then… something strange.
[System Booting…]
[User Detected: RIVEN]
[Cause of Death: Voltage Surge]
[Welcome to GRINDVERSE]
[Survival Protocol Initiated]
He opened his eyes.
The world around him was nothing like the lab. He was lying face-down in a pile of rusted gears, the ground beneath him cracked and littered with broken circuit boards. Above, the sky flickered like a dying monitor — gray, glitchy, and unreal.
His body felt light. Not weightless, but… digitized. Like someone had scanned him and rebuilt him from spare parts. A glowing ribbon of text hovered in front of his eyes:
___________________________
| HP: 20/100 |
| XP: 0 |
| Inventory: Empty |
| Quest: Survive 24 Hours | | __________________________|
"What the hell…" he muttered, sitting up slowly.
His voice sounded normal, but the air around him pixelated with every word. He looked down — his hoodie was still there, but the school logo had been replaced with a strange symbol: a triangle inside a circle, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
He stood, legs shaky, and took in the landscape. It was a scrapyard of forgotten tech. Towers of old CPUs loomed like gravestones. Drones buzzed overhead, stitched together from fan blades and copper wire. A vending machine labeled "DEBUG SNACKS" blinked erratically in the distance.
Was this a dream? A simulation? Some kind of digital afterlife for kids who died mid-project?
He reached into his hoodie pocket out of habit. Empty.
[Inventory Updated]
[Item Added: Rusted Screwdriver]
A screwdriver materialized in his hand — old, chipped, but familiar. He gripped it tightly, like it might anchor him to reality.
Then came the voice.
"Welcome, Riven. You have been selected for Ascension. Survive the protocol. Earn your upgrades. Rewrite your fate."
It wasn't human. It sounded like a corrupted AI — part guide, part threat.
[New Objective: Locate a Power Node]
[Time Remaining: 23:58:12]
He spotted a faint glow in the distance — a tower made of stacked routers and blinking LEDs. That had to be the node. He started walking, each step crunching broken capacitors and melted plastic.
His mind drifted back to the lab. To the moment everything failed. He remembered the flicker of his code on the screen, the way his heart had stuttered, the quiet panic that followed.
He remembered wanting to matter.
A screech snapped him out of it. Something skittered from the shadows — part rat, part drone, with camera lenses for eyes and a tail sparking like a live wire.
[Threat Detected: Vermin.exe]
[Combat Mode: Enabled]
Riven barely had time to react. The screwdriver glowed faintly. He swung and missed. The creature bit his leg — pain shot through him like a static charge.
HP: 12/100
He struck again. This time, the screwdriver connected. Sparks flew. The creature exploded into a cloud of code fragments.
[XP Gained: +5]
[Item Looted: Damaged Servo]
[HP Restored: +3]
Panting, Riven dropped to one knee. His leg throbbed, but the pain felt… filtered. Real enough to scare him, fake enough to survive.
He looked at the servo in his hand. It pulsed faintly.
[Crafting Unlocked]
[Blueprints Available: Leg Stabilizer v0.1]
He smiled, just a little.
"Okay," he whispered. "Let's play." Because if this world was built to break him… he'd learn to rewrite the rules.
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Key Words:
ESP32 - It is a microcontroller used for basic beginner circuits. Its cheap so most students can afford
Breadboard- literally a board with bread like holes you can plug in wires and it also conducts power
Motor Driver - controls speed and direction for motors
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