Lair by Carl Stubblefield (recommended reading TXT) 📕

maybe he was legitimately losing it. He definitely didn’t remember arguing or talking to himself ever before.

What if his brain was slowly rejecting the Nth there?

The feeling of worry intensified. It was odd; Gus usually was someone who never let things bother him, but so much of this was uncharted territory.

“Nick, is there a function on my display that lets me see around me, like a minimap?”

“There is, but it is associated with certain skills that you do not have. I can display a minimap, but it will only show the geography around you where you have already visited. You need an ability that can gather data and display the results on the minimap.”

Gus ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled. He was too shaken to even attempt sleeping now. He would have to find something else. This shabby shelter wasn’t going to cut it. Ever. He made preparations through the remainder of the night to move out; he would have to find something on this island that would give him some protection from the elements as well as from whatever was out there. Once he finished, he blew out a long, weary sigh.

He had done what little he could. For the remainder of the night, he kept his back to the wall of the alcove, his eyes wide, anticipating something out there in the blackness.

Gus strained to hear anything amiss in the environment, but his breath and the soft clicking as the crabs crawled over each other in the visor were all that he could perceive. Nothing else had approached when his night vision started to become blurry. Gus toggled it off, and saw the gradual approach of dawn had made it easier to see with ambient light instead of night vision. He immediately set off to find some semblance of civilization.

He refilled his coco-canteens at his watering hole and looked around. He filled the visor with some water to cook the crab. Despite his lack of regular eating, he did not feel hungry, his stomach knotted from stress. He cut down a large bamboo plant, wondering if bamboo was a tree.

“It is technically a grass,” Nick instructed.

Gus nodded and cut a small segment, then split it lengthwise. He did this again and made greaves and vambraces out of the hard bamboo. He first tried using Razorback to make holes but made a mess and splintered the bamboo. Activating Wreck-It-Gus resulted in much more smoothly defined holes to run his ties through. They made him feel sweaty in the already balmy heat. A message popped up:

Vambrace for it…

You have crafted a unique item: Bamboo Vambrace.

+50% reduction in damage to forearms.

You have crafted a unique item: Bamboo Greaves.

+50% reduction in damage to shins.

You should sell these; you’d be sure to bamboozle some noobs!

Gus grimaced. At least give me some XP for tolerating those puns! Not seeing how he could manipulate the bamboo to protect anything else, he continued on, determined to make some distance.

Carrying his visor bucket full of crabs was slightly awkward, but he adopted a gait that kept him from spilling water. In no time, the trek got boring. Something fell on Gus from above and he quickly looked up, squinting to see what was in the tree. He felt the jolt of adrenaline as he looked; Wreck-ognize activated and he saw the following information on the display:

Species: Falcataria moluccana

Falcataria moluccana is cultivated throughout the wet tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Uses: Providing shade for other crops, especially coffee; providing a soft-wood timber, whole trees can be used to carve canoes in some regions of the world.

Gus was startled to see the ability activate. He looked around and saw a thin brown seed pod nearby, which must have been what had fallen. Hearing birds and bugs chitter, he allowed himself to relax. Like a kid with a new toy, he began examining everything around him. He really didn’t learn anything useful, but he did find that one of the coconuts he had gathered had gone rotten. He couldn’t see it in his pack, but if he was aware of something in his possession, he could examine it. Otherwise he had to do a squint and focus to access Wreck-ognize.

He took a hiking break and removed the coconut in question from his pack. Cracking it open to check, he found the inside meat was slimy, with gray spots that peppered the usually bright white meat. He checked his remaining eggs and they were all good.

He continued following the stream and found another patch of bamboo. Finding and cutting a suitable bamboo pole, he made a slit along the edge. Removing the foam putty handle, he slid the blade into this and bound the slit sides tight with cords, praying that there was enough pressure with three-fourths of Razorback’s blade wedged into the bamboo to hold it in place in a clutch situation. With what Nick had said, slashing was going to do no real damage to these creatures. Piercing the brain was the way to go.

*Chime*

You have crafted a new weapon: Razorback Prime!

Slashing damage (+10%) transferred to Piercing damage (+20% currently)

Pleased with his work, but a little disappointed he didn’t get any XP out of the accomplishment, Gus continued onward, hiking uphill along the river. He used Razorback Prime like a trekking pole and reminisced of those times he played D&D as a mage with his fellow henchmen friends, during down time. Damn, I miss those guys. Dave has definitely got some comeuppance headed his way with all the pranks he’s pulled on all of us. Maybe I’ll keep my powers hidden for a little while he gets a taste of his own medicine. Gus brainstormed ways to troll his friend as he progressed higher and higher.

Reaching the top of the gradual incline, Gus broke from his reverie. The forest opened up on a large meadow. A mountain rose up on the left, and Gus could tell from this closer vantage that it must be the vestige