Chapter 2

Liam slowly regained consciousness, though all his body wanted to do was sleep. He lazily opened his eyes, only to be met by the looming face of one of the duck billed dinosaurs. "AHH!" He let out a startled yelp that scared the animal off. It backed up a few paces and honked, seemingly offended. Looking at the dinosaur in detail, Liam was certain he had seen a picture of something like it before, but he couldn't remember its name for the life of him. Why is it I can remember names and words, but not when I learned them?! Even then, not everything comes to me…

The duck billed dinosaur took a cautious step forward, still curious about this strange creature it had found. Liam looked around him, and remembered he was still next to his berry bush. He dug under the bush and came up with a colorful berry cluster. He held it out to the curious animal, and the dinosaur lifted its head in surprise. It slowly crept forward, watching Liam for any sudden movements. Then without warning, it lunged forward and grabbed the entire grape bushel out of his hand. The animal then moved a few feet away and sat down, nibbling the treat.

Nice to know that some of these creatures are friendly. Liam thought, watching the curious duckbill eat. He noticed that the animal took great care to avoid both the black and white berries on the cluster. Not all that surprising, He thought to himself. Whatever is in those black berries must be quite powerful! Liam shook his head, and turned his attention to the future. Clearly there was food and water in this area, and the dinosaurs here appeared to be friendly. Therefore, it would likely be prudent to set up a shelter of some kind here. He would need to scout for a good home however, so he grabbed the last bunch of berries under his bush to save for later. It's too bad I don't have pockets. I want to start gathering materials.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, then the berries in his hand vanished in a blue flash of light. "Wait...WHAT?!" He spoke aloud. He looked around and grabbed a small rock off the ground and looked at it, but it stayed in his hand. So...am I just crazy? He turned the rock over in his hand, then realized something: The implant in his arm was flashing. Crazy as it was, he tried something. "Store it" He told the implant. Instantly the rock vanished in the same fashion, and the implant stopped flashing.

Liam started to examine the implant in detail, knowing that if it could store items, he must be able to get them back. He held it up in-front of his face…and suddenly his vision turned blue. Seconds later, he was looking at himself. Well a picture of himself anyway. He was looking at some kind of digital screen, with a panel labeled Inventory on the left and a computer-generated image of himself at its center. The inventory screen had pictures of the different types of berries he had picked up, as well as the rock he had just stored. Under his picture at the center, he could see various status bars telling him about himself, which confused him to no end. They showed his health (Thank goodness, its full), hunger (I suppose I could eat something), thirst (I guess I could drink too), stamina (How could it know that?), strength level (I'm not THAT weak!), weight (On an island of Dinosaurs, I still must watch Calories?), and fortitude (Whatever that means).

Then he noticed something odd. The labels had a plus sign next to them, and a notice on-top of the screen told him he had three Engram points available. He had no clue what these things meant, but on a hunch, he told the screen to add one to health. The number one-hundred on the bar suddenly jumped to one-hundred twenty, which came as a pleasant surprise. I can augment my body? THAT could come in handy! He put the other two points into strength and speed, and suddenly the screen changed. Now he was looking at a page full of pictures. Most of them were just black outlines, but at the top were color pictures of a campfire, a stone pick, a hatchet, and a torch. The screed then told him to choose what blueprints he wanted using three points. Blueprints? Can this thing make tools? He took another guess and asked for the pick, the hatchet, and the campfire. As fast as the screen had appeared, it vanished, replaced by the first page.

That's when he realized there was another tab next to the label of Inventory, called Crafting. OK I get it! I chose designs I want, then the implant tells me how to make them! Though apparently, I must earn the right to use new items, most likely it's based on how long I'm alive. Further investigation of the implant led him to images of the items he had chosen, and told him what was needed to make them. He willed the implant to close, and sure enough it responded instantly. OK then! Looks like survival just got a whole lot easier….

By the time the sun had begun to set, Liam had managed to acquire a small set of tools, which he had crafted simply by gathering sticks and rocks, and asking the implant for the tool that needed them. It broke so many Laws of Physics that his head hurt when he even thought about it, but he didn't question the usefulness of it. Breaking numerous tools in the process, he had started to gather large amounts of materials, stockpiling on wood, rocks, and food from more of the many bushes. He had even learned that by slicing thin strips of fiber from the long leaves of the plants, he could create lengths of strong cords that were used to tie his picks and hatchets together.

However, the best discovery he had made his first day was this: The ocean was drinkable. In a failed attempt to catch a small fish by the shoreline, he had managed to fall face first into the sea, and to his surprise discovered that the water wasn't salty at all! This was a huge revelation, because that meant if he stayed near the coast, he would never have a lack of water. This also meant he wouldn't have to travel inland to unknown territory trying to find a stream.

Another welcome surprise was making a new acquaintance. The duck-bill he had fed earlier had hung close by all day, wondering if more food would come his way. Liam rewarded its patience a few times while shredding bushes for the fiber strands, and it seemed to have decided to trust him. It felt nice to have a companion here, even if they couldn't exactly have intelligent conversations.

Liam had advanced his Engram level another couple levels, and was pleasantly surprised to find that his implant held the blueprints for Thatch building pieces. Creating them however, was a strangely simple process. His engram had a separate section for building structures (even going so far as to consider a campfire pit as a building). Like the tools, Liam simply had to collect the materials needed, and willed the Implant to make the piece he needed. After that, he simply imagined where the structure needed to go, and the implant made it appear with a flash of blue light. Deciding not to venture somewhere he didn't know anything about in the dark, he decided to set up his first home on the beach, right at the base of the cliff he had woken up under. By the time the sun had begun to set, Liam stood before a tiny little box made of thatch, made up of nothing more than four walls and a ceiling.

"Behold, my five-star hotel." He muttered to himself. Still, it was the best he could do for now. He slowly walked inside, curling up uncomfortably on the itchy thatch floor. He slowly drifted into an uneasy sleep, very aware of all the strange animal calls echoing in the night.