Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

Yes, just like that. Now fold these flat.” The appropriate leaf highlighted on his display. “Then alternate the bent stem over and under the other stems in its path. Now skip one stem and bend the one after that. Repeat the process for the entire frond.”

Gus got to work. The display highlighted to show him what was next in the process and slowly faded away as he began to perform the folds without instruction. As he really didn’t need strength for this task, he tried to see if he could complete the task more and more quickly. He also attempted to activate his Wreck-less skill to make the structure more durable. As he did, he felt a tingle in his fingertips as they flipped and flopped the blades of the frond into the patterns Nick had shown him. In no time at all, he had finished weaving one side of the large frond.

Nick instructed Gus how to finish tying off the ends so the woven frond didn’t unravel. Gus did as he was instructed and finished that side of the frond. He went on to finish three more and was able to form a makeshift lean-to that covered him from above and also gave a thin amount of padding below him. “That was easier than I thought, thanks, Nick.”

A ding sounded, followed by a trumpet fanfare. New logs prompted at the bottom of the display waiting for Gus to access and read them.

“Noice!” Gus exclaimed in his best faux-Australian accent as he scanned the new notices.

You have obtained (1) medium sized clam; 20 XP received

You have obtained (15) coconuts; 20 XP received

You have obtained (3) gull eggs; 20 XP received

Quest Rewards:

HP: +20

EN: +20

MP: +20

450 XP received (-50 XP for an assisted quest)

LEVEL UP! Congratulations, Level 2 reached

990 XP to next level

All base stats +1

Wreck-less is now Level 2, functionality improved.

50 XP awarded

940 XP to next level

Future level increases will give 5 points to allocate in basic stats at user’s discretion.

Gus checked his updated stats:

Gus Vannett

Level 2

Agility: 8/?

Constitution: 7/?

Charisma: 8/?

Strength: 7/?

Perception: 10/?

Intelligence: 11/?

Luck: 6/?

HP: 120

MP: 120

Stamina: 120

Then it hit him. Gus had never experienced a runner’s high, but this feeling was a combination of eating the best pizza of his life, the total relaxation of sleeping in with no pressing obligations for the whole day, and getting exactly what you wanted when opening Christmas presents all rolled into one. His whole being resonated with not just ecstasy, but happiness and ‘rightness’ with the universe. He lay there wordlessly, basking in the post-leveling euphoria until he heard an audible hiss, and the suit separated along its original clamshell seam.

Chapter Six

Eat It

Day 1 2:44 PM

13:22:52 remaining

Slowly the feelings subsided and Gus pushed the upper half of the suit off of him. Taking a couple more moments, he began to sit up and noticed that the display that he had assumed was a function of the suit was still interposed on his vision.

“Nick, how can I still see the display?”

“It is part of how you interact with the world as a super. It’s also much more functional than you may realize. The optic nerve is one of the areas with direct nanobot interaction and this display is only one of the ways they can assist you. You can now visualize other forms of electromagnetic radiation past normal human vision, as well as tactical, geographical, and other overlays to the interface.”

“Like VATS? Please say yes…” Gus begged hopefully.

“Exactly like VATS, if you enable that function, although you won’t have a noticeable ‘bullet-time’ effect until you level up your perception stat significantly.”

Gus fist pumped as he heard the news. “Just the fact that it exists is blowing my mind! Are there any quests with perception bonuses?”

“There are, but all of the introductory ones deal with hunting, and you do not even have a weapon yet.”

Gus’ stomach growled again, and he looked at his hodgepodge of food items. Feeling like he definitely would want to cook the clam and eggs in some way, he opted to try one of the coconuts.

Gus recalled a Hawaiian vacation he had taken in his teens as he looked for an appropriate piece of driftwood. Finding one that suited his purpose, he stabilized it the best he could and slammed the dry coconut husk on a pointy section of driftwood and twisted. The desiccated strands ripped free from the coconut husk. It took little effort to strip the coconut relatively bare, and as an added bonus there were a good amount of fibers that would serve to make excellent kindling to get a fire started.

Not having any tools to cut the coconut open, he hit it on some rocks until the poor thing caved in. He drank greedily at the liquid inside, spitting out small shards of coconut shell that had imploded in with his crude technique. In the past, he had always thought coconut water to be bland, but the taste was heavenly. All too soon he had drained the coconut dry. Fishing inside, he found a large piece that had coconut meat attached to a shell fragment and Gus tried to bite it, but found he could not put significant pressure on his teeth. All he knew was that it had been a while since he had eaten anything solid, and his teeth and gums protested at being called back into service. The soreness didn’t allow him to bite into the hard coconut the same way. Gus popped the small piece of coconut in his mouth, figuring he would gnaw on it bit by bit until he could pry it from the shell and regain his normal bite function.

If the coconut didn’t work out, he’d need to cook something instead. Gus looked at the remains of the suit to see if there was anything he could use as a rudimentary knife to get started. That’s when he noticed that his clothes, or what remained of them, were a threadbare gauzy mess. They were falling apart just from the