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  He paused before continuing, the confidence leaking from his voice. “I am, to be honest, not even sure how long this will take, or what results to expect. Wood and vines seem as good a place to start as any, and may give us a better idea how to progress after."

  Felix opened his mouth to object, and then closed it again. It really was a sound plan of action, with one tiny caveat. "How about a compromise? By the same reasoning, we could do spear components and potentially get a better weapon. Since the vine was used in both, why don't we start there, and we can decide our next steps once we see the results?"

  Koale grabbed the last vine, and extended it towards the desk. This time, the item was accepted. The icon appeared in the box, and inside the previously hollow bar, it now read 'Progress: 0%'. A coil of vine appeared on the desk.

  Felix stared at the vine and progress bar. There was no change. "Well," he said after a moment, "I know you are excited to start...whatever it is that needs begun, but I think we ought to do a pass for firewood and waterfruit while we've still got light.

  Koale agreed with minimal grousing. The two headed out, spears in hand.

  Liz had woken while the two had been experimenting with the desk. She assumed a perch on Felix’s shoulder and rode there like she belonged. As far as Felix was concerned, she did.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The gathering session took the rest of the afternoon. They weren't sure what the research would yield, but they wanted to be stocked up. The tentative plan was to spend the following day building up their cave with the materials gathered as best they could, and testing out the new desk.

  They already had plenty of stones, so they mostly gathered water fruit and sticks. Felix also took time to grab a number of the broad waterfruit tree leaves.

  He did so every time he went out and was adding them to the pile he called “bed”. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it was growing less awful each trip. Small victories.

  As the sun began to set, Felix and Koale examined a large rock. Neither was optimistic in their ability to make a chair that would stand up to a stiff breeze, let alone bear weight. To avoid squatting or hunching over the desk, this would do as an extremely rustic stool. It was shorter than they would prefer, but they couldn't carry a larger one. As it was, even with both of them together, Koale was so overloaded he couldn’t move. He gave Felix some of the heavier items from his inventory, and then they were able to move, albeit slowly.

  Once in front of the desk, they released the large stone with a resounding thuum.

  Felix leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. He wiped the sweat from his brow. He began to dump the goods next to him. He would put them away proper once he got back up, but he just wanted the weight off now.

  “Hey Felix,” said Koale, “Check this out.”

  Felix looked over to where the alien was leaning over the desk, but did not stand. “While we were gone, progress rose to 55%.”

  Felix finished unloading his inventory and rolled his shoulders. He clambered to his feet with a grunt. He ambled over and looked over Koale’s shoulder.

  “Well, I guess that answers how we are actually supposed to research. 55% in what, three hours? Four?”

  “About. I think the days here might be a bit longer than the standard, but close enough. If that rate is consistent, we should be able to do three a day if we stay on top of it.”

  Felix nodded agreement. “I don’t know what pace you were expecting, but that is a lot faster than I was. That we don’t need manpower here is just a cherry on top, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “It should be done sometime tonight, but that won’t be an issue. I’m still not comfortable with both of us sleeping at once.”

  “But we have a fierce guard lizard now,” said Felix with a grin.

  Liz was awake and climbed onto the desk to join them. After exploring the new desk, she climbed up Felix’s arm and settled onto his shoulder.

  Koale rolled his eyes at their antics, but with a smile.

  They set about what was rapidly becoming their evening routine. They ate, drank, and took what comforts they could. There were a few small variations; they needed to restart the fire.

  It had gone out during their overnight trip. Koale used the shorted atmospheric sensor again. Eventually they would need to find or make something else. The battery wouldn’t last forever. Still, Felix did take a grim satisfaction in it. At least it was now doing something useful.

  The second change came from the new addition to the group. As dusk settled into night, Liz grew more active.

  The little lizard began with a careful examination of the new goods. She licked a few with a hopeful consideration. Domain surveyed, she began to play in the flickering shadows cast by the fire. She even ran up the walls, and once onto the ceiling before dropping atop Felix’s head.

  Felix watched her for a while, but he soon laid down on the slightly leafier bed, and turned in. He needed some sleep before the second watch.

  When Koale woke Felix some hours later, he had a content smile on his face. “Check your build screen,” he said.

  Felix half sat up as he blinked away the sleep. With a groggy grunt, he opened up the requested screen. There was the research desk as before, and two new additions. That got his attention and he sat upright.

  Rope, 15’

  Fibrous, variable

  Net, 5’2

  Fibrous, variable

  Foliage, variable (optional)

  Not immediately useful, or at least, not to Felix’s still sleep addled brain. It was, however, full of potential. They could make two things which were, without a doubt, out of their reach a few hours prior. And that was from one completed research project.

  Felix dismissed the screen. “Great,” he said around a yawn.

  He could see the progress bar ticking up over at the desk, but he couldn’t read what it was. Felix waved at it vaguely. “What’s cooking now?”

  Koale followed the gesture to the desk. “Oh, yes, I started one of the spear hilt type sticks. Practical innovation and all that.”

  Felix stared hard at his science-happy friend. “You didn’t want to punch another tree, huh?”

  “Not even a little,” Koale confirmed.

  Felix pulled himself up and headed to the desk. Liz was on top, still awake, but curled up in a ball.

  Koale pointed at the stone stool that Felix was pouring himself into. “You should sit there while-”

  A terrible roar ripped through the air. Any lingering remnants of drowsiness vanished as terror flooded his system. Liz chirped and ran up Felix’s arm, and into his collar.

  The bellow echoed around the cave for what felt like forever. As it faded, absolute silence filled the jungle. The only sound in the survivor's ears was that of the fire crackling.

  Felix recalled himself, and pulled his remaining spear from his inventory. He knew it was a futile gesture. Whatever had made that sound was not close, nor was it a creature that would be intimidated, let alone harmed, by such a weapon. He knew deep down that this was true.

  “Practical seems to be a much wiser choice, all of the sudden,” said Koale, breaking the silence.

  His thoughts apparently were following a similar path to Felix’s own. He visibly shook himself.

  “As I was saying,” Koale said, “If you sit at the desk, the research goes faster. You don’t need to do anything with it. Everything else can wait until morning. I imagine we’re going to be rather busy and I’m going to sleep. Well,” he paused, “I’m going to try anyhow.”

  Adrenaline was still coursing through Felix’s system, and for once Felix was not jealous as Koale settled into the bed.

  With no further clamour, the jungle slowly came back to life Even Felix relaxed, though Liz continued to cower and clung to his neck. She was too warm for his liking, but Felix didn’t mind too much. He reached back and pet the little lizard’s head.

  Despite the unknown threat out in the jungle somewhere, Felix found hi
mself growing bored. He looked at the desk. It read:

  Researching: Branch

  Progress: 87%

  He tried to do the math for the remaining time, but he couldn’t concentrate. It was about an hour or two anyhow. After that the sharpened stone, but what then? No matter how fancy the spear, he didn’t care for their chances against that beast.

  As much as he enjoyed giving Koale a hard time, the log would probably be a good bet. The slot for the desk had been labeled “structural”, after all. Maybe it would open up some sort of fortifications.

  Or maybe they should just cut to the chase and pick a large stone like the one he was currently sitting on. Stone would surely provide something they could protect themselves with.

  He could just see it. The entire entrance to the cave would be blocked off by a massive stone gate. Stones which would have to be hauled from miles around. One at a time. The whole thing precariously bound together with vines.

  Okay, maybe wood was a better place to start.

  When Felix next looked at the desk, the stick was gone, and the label didn’t indicate anything was processing. Felix frowned and couldn’t help thinking that there should be some sort of alert for that.

  He pulled up the research screen and where it had previously been empty, it now held icons for the vine and the stick. He ignored the screen momentarily while he selected a sharp rock from his quick bar and offered it to the desk. It settled itself into the center of the desk. Above the words confirmed the selection.

  Researching: Rock, sharp

  Progress: 0%

  Returning his attention to the open screen, Felix selected the vine’s icon.

  Vine

  Researched tiers: I

  Properties: binding; fibrous;

  Traits: Unknown

  Well, that was helpful. If research revealed the properties as well as unlocking things they could make, there would be a lot less guesswork in their future. He selected the stick icon.

  Branch

  Researched tiers: I

  Properties: wood, small; haft;

  Traits: Unknown

  Nothing too surprising there. Felix switched to the build screen. There were two new additions, both of which would be useful in the long run.

  Rotisserie

  Wood, small x6

  Binding, variable

  Snare

  Wood, small x4

  Binding, variable

  Between those two and the net discovered earlier, they should be able to not only get more meat, but cook it better as well. Judging by the icon, the rotisserie was significantly less complex than what Koale had been talking about. It was probably for the best, though Felix wouldn’t mention that to his companion.

  With any luck, the stone “knife” would yield good results as well. From the sounds of it, there were bigger and nastier things than they had encountered thus far.

  ***

  “Welcome back to the GBK showing of Survival World. This section was brought to you by Newbreak Design. Newbreak makes the cameras that are used for all of Survival World filming, and you can trust Newbreak to capture all the special moments in your world. I’m Daviron and gracing me with their presences are, once again, Aerav of production fame, and the enchanting Islae of Rebus University. Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? What are your thoughts on these two’s adaption to the system, and how does it compare to previous newcomers?”

  Aerav cleared his throat, “Speaking from a series perspective, these two were implanted later than most, as we’ve discussed before. However, even with that late start, they are reaching greater levels of usage and understanding of the system they have been gifted than previous groups. Part of it is likely due to a smoother transition with the new generation of implantation bots, but I doubt that explains all of it.”

  “If I may?” said Islae. Aerav waved permission, and she continued, “Though it might be a facet of this new species, I posit it actually has more to do with the lack of prowess we’ve noted before. Others did not adapt as fast to the system because they did not have to. These two, well, that’s why the system was added, is it not, Aerav?”

  “Just so. And off topic a bit here, Daviron, but I must say, I am looking forward to seeing how this group deals with the manic season. I, for one, would not want to be in their shoes.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  What was left of the night was quiet. Even Liz settled down to sleep not long after Felix started the rock research project.

  By the time a new day broke, the sharp stone had finished. He tossed in one of the broad leaves from the waterfront trees next.

  He thought the bones or hide from the giant cave lizard would probably yield more interesting results, but they didn't have many of either and weren't going to get any more any time soon. He hoped.

  Logs would probably prove useful as well, but it had still been dark out when the last research had finished and Felix didn't want to leave the desk idling.

  Felix sat on the cave floor munching on a waterfruit. He had a picked at chunk of meat earlier.

  They were almost out of it, which was a bit of a mixed blessing. At least Liz seemed to like it. For a tiny thing, she certainly ate a lot.

  They would need more food soon, but the straights were not yet dire. They had waterfruit and several ration packs left.

  Koale was puttering about and waking up for the day, so Felix pulled up the information on the newest recipes. Most were tools, which would be helpful.

  Axe

  Haft x1

  Binding x1

  Sharpenable x1

  Recipes for a spear, pick, shovel and knife were identical. The knife differed only by the “haft” ingredient being optional. There were two other recipes that unlocked- campfire and a ladder.

  Campfire

  Stone, small x5

  Wood, small x10

  Ladder, Static, 8’

  Wood, variable

  Binding, variable

  They did have impressive new capabilities, but he wasn't sure it would be enough.

  Seeing Koale looking more or less awake, Felix decided to broach the subject.

  “So, big nasty out there, yeah? What’s our play? I figure we might be able to make a run for the pod. Maybe we can find something in there to defend ourselves proper. The snuffle lizards have probably cleared out by now anyway, with all the food,” he pointed to himself and Koale, “gone.”

  Koale yawned and grabbed a chunk of meat. “Well, I was thinking it over last night, because I certainly couldn’t sleep, and I’m not sure how much the whatever-it-is changes anything.”

  Felix started. “Are you kidding? It must be huge. And not just that, even the critters around here were quiet after the roar. It has to be fierce.”

  “I’m sure it is, but we can’t do anything about it. And more to the point, we can’t do much about just about anything we’ve run across here except for that rodent of yours. I’m not sure we could have even handled the big one here had it been awake.”

  Felix grunted. He could hardly dispute any of Koale’s words, but it sounded like his companion was giving up. “So, what then? Roll over and die?”

  It was Koale’s turn for surprise. “Of course not. Why would we- no, we prepare. We spend today working on making those tools we just got access to and researching.

  Even if we don’t find anything more helpful than what we already have, I have little doubt those spears will be better than we have now. They could hardly be worse. Then tomorrow we can reassess where we are at.”

  Felix mulled it over. One day of preparation would certainly help, but that brought up another issue. “If we wait, we are going to need more food. I vote we make and set the snares first. Maybe we’ll get lucky and trap something before the day is done.”

  “Knives before that? I see most of these require vines for binding. After the snares are set, I think we can just grab a few loads and make things in any particular order.”

  Felix nodded his agreement and s
tood. Before leaving the shelter, he set Liz down in the bedding. “Sleep tight, gal. You’ve got the watch tonight, okay?” He skritched the little lizard on the head and headed out.

  Glancing over the recipes, it looked like a whole lot of vine and branches ahead of him. He had his “knife” that he had been using already. He grabbed a branch off the ground for the haft component and headed over to the vines.

  Wasn’t a knife with a haft just a spear? He pondered it while he sawed through one end of the vine. Perhaps that’s why it was optional, but then, it didn’t explain spear being a seperate recipe altogether. He’d see soon enough.

  By the time the vine was free, Felix had decided he really didn’t care, and was just ready for the quality upgrade he hoped was coming with the system crafted knife. He took the vine and wandered back out of the tree line a ways. He opened the crafting menu. It was empty sans the research desk.

  He closed the screen and opened it again. Still empty. With alarm, Felix rushed back to the cave. Koale was looking at something in his hand when Felix barged in. “It’s all gone,” he said.

  “What?” asked Koale, as he put away what was clearly a new knife and gave his full attention to Felix.

  “Err, the crafting menu? That was a crafted knife in your hand just now? How did you make that?”

  “Using the menu, the same as the desk. What do you mean it’s gone? I was just using it.”

  Felix opened up the crafting screen once more. Everything was back. “Well, it was all gone. It’s back now. I tried to make the knife out there,” Felix hooked a thumb towards the exit, “but all the recipes were gone besides the desk.”

  Koale hummed to himself and stepped just outside the cave mouth. He walked one step at a time, pausing between each.

  While Koale did whatever he was doing, Felix took the time to craft the knife. One never knew when it might disappear, apparently.