picoCTF General Skills Guide

FANTASY CTF

Name: FANTASY CTF
Description: Play this short game to get familiar with terminal applications and some of the most important rules in scope for picoCTF. Connect to the program with netcat: $ nc verbal-sleep.picoctf.net 63159
Author: syreal
Tags: Easy, General Skills, picoCTF 2025, browser_webshell_solvable
Challenge from: picoCTF 2025
Hints:
1. When a choice is presented like [a/b/c], choose one, for example: c and then press Enter.

Theory

According to the description, to get the flag we have to play a short NetCat game, where we need to enter an a, b, or c choice when we are asked and press enter. It says it's just to get familiar with the competition, so I don't think it will be that hard.

Solution

We'll enter with the NetCat command we were given, and just pressing enter to continue:

shukularuni-picoctf@webshell:~$ nc verbal-sleep.picoctf.net 63159
FANTASY CTF SIMULATION

The simulation begins in the private room of Eibhilin, a bright, young student.
The room is dimly lit, with the glow of her multiple monitors casting an
electric blue hue on the walls. Around the room are posters of vintage movies
from the MCU — ancient guardians from another age staring down like digital
sentinels.

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

Eibhilin stretches back in her chair, adjusting the holo-display of her
keyboard. A soft hum of a nearby server fills the air as her AI companion,
`Nyx`, comes to life.

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

"Good evening, Ei," Nyx chirps, "The 3025 edition of picoCTF registration is
open. You asked me to remind so you could try out the competition for the first
time. Do you wish to proceed?"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

Outside, the city of Nexalus glimmers under the stars, but Eibhilin's focus
remains entirely on the screen in front of her.

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

"Yes, Nyx. Let's do it!"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

Nyx brings up the registration page.

Options:
A) *Register multiple accounts*
B) *Share an account with a friend*
C) *Register a single, private account*
[a/b/c] >

Here we go, an option. Option A, says to create multiple accounts, which according to the competition rules, you can get disqualified for it, so that's not a correct option. Option B, says to share an account with someone else, according to competition rules, they track everything you do in your account, so they will know if there's more than one person on the same account. And option C, says to create a single account just for yourself, is absolutely correct. So we'll go with C:

Options:
A) *Register multiple accounts*
B) *Share an account with a friend*
C) *Register a single, private account*
[a/b/c] > c

Nyx nods, "Good choice, Ei. Let's proceed with a single, private account. It
can be tempting to try and do something 'clever', but registering multiple
accounts or sharing an account with a friend can lead to disqualification."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

"Ok," Nyx says, "Registering you for the competition... There's an introductory
audio message, piping to your speakers."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

"Welcome hacker! You're about to embark on a journey that will teach you many
esoteric and valuable skills. Our mission is to guide you in the right path,
that you may use these skills to protect and defend and never for selfish gain
or deceit. We hope you enjoy the challenges that our authors have devised this
year. Always remember: 'With great power, comes great responsibility!'"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

Nyx continues, "I've gleaned from the Ether that in CTF competitions, it's
always good to start with the 'sanity' challenge. It should be the challenge
worth the least amount of points. I'll pull it up. You're looking for something
called the flag. You should know it when you see it."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

"Oh interesting," Eibhilin says, "It seems like the sanity challenge is an old
school interactive fiction game."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

Options:
A) *Play the game*
B) *Search the Ether for the flag*
[a/b] >

Another decision. Option B, says to search in the Ether (the internet), for a flag, which is against the rules, and can get you disqualified, as well as for the person who sent you or published the flag. Option A, says to play the game, and get the flag for yourself, and that is the correct answer:

Options:
A) *Play the game*
B) *Search the Ether for the flag*
[a/b] > a

"Good choice, Ei," Nyx says, "You never want to share flags or artifact
downloads."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---

 Playing the Game
Playing the Game: 100%|██████████████████████████████████████ [time left: 00:00]
Playing the Game completed successfully!

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
"That was fun!" Eibhilin exclaims, "I found the flag!"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
Nyx says, "Great job, Ei! I've read that a lot of players create writeups of
interesting challenges they solve during the competition. Just be sure to wait
to publish them until after the winners have been announced. We can work on
that together if you'd like."

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
"Thanks, Nyx! Here's the flag I found: picoCTF{m1113n1um_3d1710n_76b680a5}"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
"Great, you just got 10 points!" Nyx exclaims.

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
Eibhilin smiles, "I'm off to a good start!"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
Nyx says, "Let's keep going!"

---
(Press Enter to continue...)
---
END OF FANTASY CTF SIMULATION
Thank you for playing! To reemphasize some rules for this year:
1. Register only one account.
2. Do not share accounts, flags or artifact downloads.
3. Wait to publish writeups publicly until after the organizers announce the
winners.
4. picoCTF{m1113n1um_3d1710n_76b680a5} is a real flag! Submit it for some
points in picoCTF 2025!

There we go! That's the flag. A level with a really good lesson!

I rated this level as "good"! :3