Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

he would test the limits of his stamina. Running down the beach, he saw the green stamina bar drain. He would have to run a fair amount, because it was recharging as he exerted himself, replenishing the available energy. He made his way to the coconut tree and grabbed an armful of coconuts. He turned and ran back. The additional effort of carrying the unwieldy things was enough to consistently drain his stamina. He ran, or more accurately slowly loped, occasionally losing a coconut here and there. He ignored them and kept running toward camp.

When he was twenty feet away, his stamina bar bottomed out. He had wanted to see what would happen, but was not expecting the sudden fatigue that hit him. His arms went to jelly and he tripped onto his face. Fortunately, the visor kept him from eating sand as he fell. He felt boneless until his stamina bar gained enough to hit the 5% level again. He would have to watch that if he got into a fight. He stood up, brushed the sand off his suit, and gathered his dropped load.

He considered maintaining the suit for a while, at least until he could build a decent shelter and get situated. That was when his stomach issued an obnoxious growl, as if in protest. So much for that idea. He dropped off the coconuts at his camp and set off again to find one last thing that he could eat.

“Nick, just how do I eat with this suit on, does the visor open?”

“Once the suit is open to the environment it cannot reseal. It is a design flaw of this particular model, but it was not designed to be used outside of a very narrow set of situations.”

“From what you’ve been telling me, I was asleep for a while after the crash, and even more after I went through the bio-field or whatever, so how have I not starved?”

“The suit comes with a complement of nutrients, medications, and hormones. The suit working in concert with the nanobots was able to filter pure water and easily transmit nutrients to your system. If you are experiencing hunger, the suit must be depleted of the onboard nutrients, so completing the tutorial is more important than ever. How are you feeling?”

“Ok, I guess. I think I can hold out a little longer.” Gus replied, “The faster I finish this first quest, the faster I can grab a bite to eat and get some rest.”

Gus walked in the other direction down the beach, along a rocky section covered in bird droppings. The beach was narrower here, with large rocks protruding out of the sand and extending into the water. The ocean had smoothed the rocks and small marine creatures grew in grooves and indentations. Away from the beach, the ridgeline became a rocky cliff face. As he passed a crevice between two large rocks, Gus thought he saw something. He investigated and saw a small nest wedged in a small nook. It was empty, but he could see similar nests farther up the rocky area.

Gus climbed around until he found another nest with eggs in it down a narrow crevasse. He reached in and found four brownish gray eggs. The eggs were larger than a chicken egg and were speckled, with more spots on the rounder, wider end.

Shells and other debris were in the nest and Gus greedily extracted all of the eggs. He stared briefly at the eggs in his hands.

I always said I would be better if I got powers. To consider everyone’s needs not only my own.

He replaced one of the eggs carefully. Take them all and there won’t be birds soon enough.

He hoped these were freshly laid. He was hungry, but doubted he could eat balut. With excitement, knowing that he could finally finish the tutorial and eat, Gus carefully crab-walked down the rock and hustled back to camp with the eggs. Peeking at the quest information, the third objective glowed green. Good. Now it’s time to work on my shelter.

Upon reaching the camp, Gus hid the eggs under the driftwood by his clam. He began the process of transporting the fronds back to his shelter. The size of the leaves was a bit unwieldy, and only a few of the fronds could be clutched in a bundle by their bases.

He noticed it was much easier to drag the fronds without staggering and tripping, as compared to carrying them. As he made the treks back and forth to gather the fronds, he kicked some of his dropped coconuts toward the shelter as he passed them. Eventually he had brought everything to his camp. The hunger had become more insistent and he felt his stomach cramp up.

Now he had to make these fronds into something serviceable. At first, he tried placing the fronds in a big pile to make a nest-like structure he could sleep within. As he experimentally laid them down he noticed that the result was not very comfortable and even with the suit he could not find a comfortable position lying on the bumpy, irregular surface.

“Nick, could you instruct me on how to better utilize these?” Gus finally asked, fighting against his stubborn DIY tendencies.

“Are you sure? It may result in lower XP rewards…”

“Exactly how much lower?”

“It depends on how much help you get.”

Gus weighed the options. He really wanted to hit the next level and part of his pride resisted asking for help. He decided to try for himself first. He bent and folded the leaves, trying to create some pattern. After working for a while and coming up with nothing usable, he stopped and looked at the time. It was late afternoon and after ruining two of his fronds, he relented to getting some help.

“Nick, I thought this would be easier, so yeah, I’m open to suggestions.”

“First, begin by laying out a single frond.” Gus sat down and did as instructed. “Grab the third stem from the end and bend that one backward.