That's when it appeared.
A blue flash in the corner of his eye. Then lines of light drawing themselves in the air before him, as if space itself were tearing open to reveal something. Bright geometric patterns formed a translucent frame, and within it, floating text.
SYSTEM INITIALIZED.
SYNCHRONIZING...
EVOLUTION STAGE DETECTED.
ADJUSTING PARAMETERS.
The man blinked. Then he blinked again, this time keeping his eyes closed for longer.
And he felt no surprise whatsoever.
'Ah. A system.'
The thought came with frightening ease, the words forming easily in his mind. He knew what it was, or at least recognized the concept. Still, he had no idea what it was for in practice.
His eyes scanned the interface. A loading bar filled slowly, in an electric blue hue. Clean design, clear lettering, too intuitive for someone who supposedly remembered nothing.
The interface updated.
EVOLUTION STAGE ADJUSTED.
COMPLETE SYNCHRONIZATION.
CURRENT LEVEL: 1
STARTING CALIBRATION WITH THE BODY.
Level one. What did that mean? This was a part where his memory didn't help; the concept existed, but the specific function didn't.
He watched the calibration bar slowly fill. 10%. 20%. 30%. There was something satisfying about tracking the progress, an almost primal feeling that something was being built, established.
Then came an unexpected problem.
At 47%, everything started to shake. The letters became jumbled as if they were made of water. The bar jumped back, then forward, then froze completely. The geometric patterns duplicated and overlapped like a TV with poor reception, visual static that hurt the eyes.
C-C-CALIBRATION IN AN#A-
ERR0R: 0xDEADBEEF
ATTRIBU##S NOT DETECTED---
SYS%%MA CORRUPTED
[!] CRITICAL FAILURE [!]
RESTARTING...
RESTARTING...
[RESTARTING FAILURE]
The man crossed his arms, tilted his head, and frowned.
"Is this serious?"
He spoke loudly enough for his voice to echo through the forest, indignant. The system, the only thing he had brought from his past, the only thing that could give him answers, was going to crash. Of course it was going to crash. Life wasn't complicated enough; it also needed a broken interface to match.
Error codes began to appear and disappear in rapid succession, a parade of failures. 0xBADC0DE. NULL_REFERENCE. SEGMENTATION_FAULT. CORRUPTED SYSTEM. Words that made sense and didn't at the same time; he knew the terms, but their practical meaning in that situation was completely abstract, although he knew it was bad news.
The interface flickered violently three times, almost disappearing completely. Then it stabilized into something that looked crooked, somewhat functional, as if it had been hastily patched up.
[EVOLUTION SYSTEM - BETA VERSION]
[STATE: UNSTABLE]
CURRENT LEVEL: 1
[!] ATTRIBUTES NOT DETECTED [!]
TO UNLOCK FULL FUNCTIONS:
COMPLETE BASIC TRAINING
SQUATS: 0/100
RUNNING: 0/10 km
PUSH-UPS: 0/100
He stared at it for a good few seconds, processing the words.
Squats. Running. Push-ups. Bodyweight exercises. It started to make sense in his mind, a test, perhaps. A way to assess his physical capabilities before unlocking the rest.
'Basic training. Okay, I can do this. Maybe it's tied to the level.'
It made sense. An initial test before unlocking full functions. To check if the body responded, if it was in minimal operating condition.
He positioned himself between two large roots, choosing relatively flat ground. Feet shoulder-width apart, back straight, eyes forward. His body knew what to do, it must have done this many times in the past, or at least had muscular knowledge of the correct position.
He descended into a perfect squat. Thighs parallel to the ground, knees aligned with his feet, controlled ascent.
He looked at the counter.
SQUATS: 0/100
Zero.
"...Huh?"
He did another. Slower, making sure the form was correct, that he was going down far enough, that he was going up at the right pace.
SQUATS: 0/100
Zero.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Maybe he'd mixed up the words. He looked at the other tasks.
PUSH-UPS: 0/100
RUNNING: 0/10 km
All at zero. He continued.
Five squats in a row. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Thirty. Fifty. He reached one hundred.
SQUATS: 0/100
Nothing.
One hundred and fifty. Two hundred. He tried to do them faster, slower, deeper, in many different ways. He even tried on one foot, balancing as best he could. It wasn't the execution, he was sure of that.
Zero. Always zero.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"
The voice came out louder than intended, echoing among the giant trunks. Up above, something that had been in the trees fled with the sound of wings and breaking branches.
He started running. He began trotting among the roots, dodging ferns, accelerating until he was really running. The soft ground cushioned his steps, but also demanded more effort from his leg muscles. He ran aimlessly, just moving forward, leaving behind the hole he had come from.
One kilometer. Then two, three, four. His body responded well, surprisingly well for someone who had just emerged from a stone tomb. Seven, eight, nine, his breathing became heavy, sweat dripped down his face, but he continued. Finally, ten.
He stopped, placed his hands on his knees, panting. He looked at the interface.
RUN: 0/10 km
Not a single meter registered.
The push-ups were his last attempt. He threw himself to the ground and began. One, two, three. Perfect form, body straight as a board, lowering until his chest almost touched the ground, rising with controlled force.
Ten. Twenty. Thirty. His arms began to burn, but he continued. Fifty. Seventy. His muscles trembled, sweat dripped from his nose onto the ground. One hundred. One hundred and thirty before collapsing, rolling onto his back, his arms throbbing like hearts outside his chest.
PUSH-UPS: 0/100
Zero. Again, for a change.
'Thinking about it, it would have been better if I had stopped after the first few attempts.'
He put his hand to his forehead, showing himself his own disappointment. He lay there, on the forest floor. Arms outstretched, legs stretched out, sweat running down the sides of his face.
And he began to laugh.
It wasn't a happy laugh. It was the kind of laugh that comes when things are too bad for any other reaction. The laugh to keep from crying. The sound came out hoarse, punctuated by heavy breathing, echoing strangely among the colossal trees.
"The system is definitely having problems," he said to the green sky above. He paused. "And so am I."
He was silent for a moment, just breathing. Then he mentally recapitulated.
'I woke up with no memory in a tomb under a thin layer of stone. Check.
Primitive world with giant trees and mushrooms the size of benches. Check.
Evolution system appeared out of nowhere. Wow, lucky!
Except the system is completely faulty and doesn't register anything. Oh, sure. It couldn't be missing. Check.'
The interface remained there in the corner of his vision, stubbornly floating. The motionless zeros. Three lines that were nothing more than empty promises. Until, in a thought, he made it disappear, feeling somewhat relieved; he wouldn't have to keep seeing something that didn't work as it should all the time.
Up above, strange sounds could be heard. Wings beating, but at a strange rhythm, unlike any bird his instinct told him should exist. Heavier, slower, as if large creatures were gliding among the treetops.
Down below, among the roots, branches broke at irregular intervals. Insects buzzed with a noise like a… motor?, some flew by nearby, as big as his hand, with wings that vibrated in a deep tone.
In the distance, something roared.
The sound was deep and low, so low that it felt more like a vibration in his chest than a sound heard by his ears. It made the ground tremble slightly beneath his exhausted body. The nearby insects fell silent for a moment, and even the leaves seemed to freeze.
And there he was. No memory, no functioning system, naked as a worm, in a world that made no sense at all.
"Well, it could be worse," he said to nothing, "at least that box I came out of wasn't ten meters deep in the ground. That would be the end of me."
He continued lying there a little longer, feeling the cool earth against his sweaty back, listening to the forest breathe around him. He needed to think. He needed a plan.
But for now, lying there seemed to be the only thing he could do at that moment.