Three sharp reports sliced through the air of the grassy field even as my bullets cut through the charging wolf. Well, two of the rounds did, and even then just barely.

One bullet narrowly missed the beast while the second grazed its shoulder. My third and final round punctured the creature’s upper leg, and then it was upon me.

Razor-sharp fangs tore through my shirt and into my unarmored chest, and a stylized overlay of red blood spatters cluttered my vision. I hammed the timber wolf’s face with my pistol, kicking at the creature’s heavy body as I did so.

Finally I struck the wolf in the eye, and with a yelp it backed away.

My vision was completely obscured by blood splatters, but I wasted no time in leveling my gun and emptying my remaining six rounds at the source of my assailant’s whining.

When the echoes faded, there was only silence. I stood still, breathing hard, waiting as the blood marks faded from my vision.

The timber wolf lay dead a few feet away.

Instinctively I reached back into my backpack to grab a new new magazine of ammunition, but a notification flashed in the corner of my vision.

None ammo! Scavenge, buy, or craft more.

That was disappointing. I tried a few gestures and mental impulses before my inventory screen opened in front of my face, a simple table of names and descriptions.

Makarov [old] One starting gun. Takes 9mm ammo. 12-24 piercing damage [6-18 old] Shiv [old] One starting knife. 10-12 piercing damage [8-10 old] Shirt [scraps] Keeps you warm. 1 armor [0 scraps] Trousers Hides your dong. 1 armor Candy Bar Full of energy. +2 hunger Bottle Water Keeps you moist and fresh. +5 hunger Flare Light for short time or start fire. 20 fire damage

Well then. Aside from the trouser description, nothing really out of the ordinary. At least I knew I didn’t need to manage hunger and thirst. It was too bad they didn’t give me any more ammunition or a healing item…

I started as I realized that I was gravely injured, but felt no pain. I fumbled with gestures until I found my status screen.

Health 8/50 Body Injury Arms Good Legs Good Hunger 49/50 Dry 50/50 Weight 2 kg [fast]

My health was very low. In any other game, my injured body parts would be pulsing with a recurring but manageable stab of pain every few seconds. Here, I felt… nothing. It was preferable to being in agony, but added to the game’s lack of atmosphere.

Oh, there was also an orange envelope icon blinking next to my status. I tapped it, and a private message unfolded before me. A block of Russian runes filled the window at first, but scrolled down to see English beneath. I hoped they were the same message, because my OS’ translator didn’t function in truVR.

Welcome, new player! The world of Kieva is harsh. Animals, bugs, other players, weather, and hunger can all easily kill a new player like you. Our guild is “Salvage,” and we help new players to get their start in this life. Supplies and weapons can be yours (we have ammo!) in exchange for a few short quests. Our base is marked on your map for convenience. See you!

I called up my minimap (the game seemed to use fairly standard commands, if not the most ergonomic ones) and saw there was a pulsing white dot about eleven miles to the north. Even better, the closest town seemed to be only about six and a half miles to the northeast. I should be able to camp out in civilization for the night and then get a fresh start in the morning. I could even ask about this “Salvage” guild and see if their reputation was any good.

Unfortunately, I saw none of the treasure spots mentioned by the Wayfinder perk, but I kept my eyes open as I walked. The environment remained more or less the same as I journeyed, but I didn’t mind. I liked the swishing grass. It was… peaceful. I needed a bit of relaxation after all the recent worry and stress. The cloud cover moved lazily overhead, and it looked as though it might rain soon. As I wondered if I’d make it to the town on my map before the weather changed, it occurred to me I had no idea what the day-night cycle was like here. If it were real-time, I’d have lucked out. I only game in the evenings, and I’d be happy to be always playing during in-game day.

I doubted Bug Hunt had a real-time cycle, though. It seemed like it’d be more annoying than anything. The only way it could be fun for a player is if they were online twenty-four hours a day, and I certainly didn’t plan on that. However, with the very slow rate at which the sunlight was dimming, it might be something as slow as a twelve-hour cycle. If that were the case, I might not make it to town before night fell.

Trees became denser as I journeyed, and the grass became sparse. Eventually I came upon a very broken asphalt road, and I traveled along that. I seemed to get a small walking speed boost from traveling along it. After about hour of traveling along the road (and almost two hours of walking in total) I heard the noise of human chatter in the distance. I had fallen into a daze (in real life, after all, I’d had a mentally exhausting day at work, and Bug Hunt wasn’t providing much stimulation) but the sudden presence of others pulled me out of it. Gathering my wits around me, I stepped off the road and into a stand of trees a few yards from the road’s edge. I lay prone and waited as three other players walked by.

The tallest among them wore some kind of sports protection fashioned into body armor, and carried a machete loose in one hand. The other two wore military camo and didn’t carry anything openly, though they wore handguns on their hips. They chatted loudly among themselves in a language I didn’t understand. I decided it’d be better to keep it safe and not engage three well-armed strangers, and held my breath as they approached.

The trio walked past the outcropping a short ways, but one of the camouflaged players stopped and turned to look right at me. He grinned and reached for his handgun, and I took off running.