24 Chapter 24

[NetRedBane's POV]

Looking at the menacing creature before us I couldn't help but start to sweat and prepare to fight the predator with the only weapon I had available to me, my body.

Ian and I both knew that we would most likely not escape this creature alive and with our bodies feeling even weaker than an average man, that feeling was only enhanced further.

[A/N: Their levels indicate the amount of strength their bodies currently have, meaning at level 1 their physical strength is less than even that of an average adult]

Looking over at Ian, I could tell that even he noticed the decrease of our strength...

Suddenly, the Raptor charged forth towards us with its claws and maw ready to kill!

We hurriedly dodged to the side and I quickly scanned our surroundings for any weapon we could use against this beast.

I managed to spot a sharp seashell and once the Raptor charged at us once again, I dived towards it and grabbed it.

Now armed, I waited for the Raptor to charge once again and this time when I dodged to the side, I thrusted with all my might into its side.

It roared in pain and slammed its side into me, causing me to fall to the ground as it turned to me and tried to pounce on my body.

Just as its maw and claws were about to dig into my skin, Ian with his own weapon he got from the ground managed to attack the creature from its blindspot and pierce its eye with a sharp seashell, killing it.

Watching it slump down to the floor, we breathed out a sigh of relief.

"That's interesting," Ian commented as he stared at the strange implant in his arm that glowed a bright blue light.

"What?" I asked.

"It says that creature was called a 'Raptor' and from killing it I have gone up three levels and feel somewhat stronger than before, still not at my real strength yet though. It also says I have gained 24 Engrams which apparently I can use to unlock some new things in something called an Engram Tree."

"How'd you learn that?" I asked confused about how he learned all of this information.

"From something called 'Help' that shows up as a tab next to the screen.

"Well, that should be useful, anything else it says?" I asked.

"It recommends I get the Stone Hatchet Engram followed by the Campfire Engram, Spear Engram, Waterskin Engram, and the Cloth Pants Engram, Cloth Shirt Engram, and finally the Cloth Shoes Engram for a total of 24 Engram Points...all the engram points I earned from leveling up."

"I think you should do it, we have no idea what we're getting into or what this game is about, and it's better to start getting prepared for the night or to fight any more of these...dinosaurs that may attack us," I told Ian as I observed the carcass of the creature that resembled a Velociraptor from the Mesozoic Era otherwise known as the era of dinosaurs...

Ian nodded in agreement with my words and we both started following the 'Tutorial' offered by the Help box floating next to the inventory on our implants.

Oddly enough the first thing the Tutorial wanted us to do was...punch a tree...

Both me and Ian looked at each other just baffled by the ridiculousness that floated before us.

I then took a deep breath and walked over to a palm tree and punched it with my fist...

OW!

Motherfucker!

That hurts!

I kept punching until a chunk of thatch came flying off the tree trunk and a notification appeared in my implant that a piece of thatch was now in my inventory.

So I persevered and kept punching until the tree fell down and I had a bit of thatch and wood in my inventory.

It then guided us to some bushes and told us to start gathering the barriers growing on them as well as the plant's fiber.

From there we used 10 Pieces of Thatch, 1 Piece of Wood, and a stone we picked from the beach to craft a Stone Pickaxe in our inventory.

We had a Crafting Menu and in that crafting tab, we found that all of our learned engrams were stored there and that we could use the recipes given from the Engrams to craft their specific items.

It seemed that Note, Stone Pickaxe, and Torch were already learned from the start, so we did not have to use engram points to learn them.

We then used the Stone Pickaxe to chip away at a boulder to get flint and more stone which we then used to craft a Stone Axe.

Now that we had our basic tools needed for harvesting recourses, we crafted ourselves several throwable spears.

While I started getting to work on harvesting the Raptor for its hide and raw meat, Ian focused on crafting a campfire and harvesting some wood to fuel it.

Another thing we noticed was to the side of our vision was a set of stats that showed our Health, Stamina, Hunger, Thirst, Weight, Oxygen, and Torpidity.

While most of them I knew, Torpidity was unfamiliar to me.

"Hey, do you know what Torpidity is?" I asked Ian who was cooking the raptor meat over the fire.

"I think it has something to do with how tired or exhausted we are?" Ian replied before putting his focus back on the campfire and turning of meat.

"So we if that rises enough we might fall unconscious? That's concerning..." I replied as I thought about what could possibly cause us to fall unconscious besides tiring ourselves out.

Perhaps there is something on this island that can knock us out?

Or perhaps a plant that knocks us out?

Either way, if either of those things existed on this island the threat this island was rose a whole another level.

As we cooked our food and kept a watch on our surroundings I crafted us some waterskins and to both of our surprises, the ocean was made of fresh clean water...

"Wait...the Ocean is Fresh Water?" Ian asked confused.

"Seems so...how could that be? Are we just on an island in the middle of a massive pond?" I asked myself out loud.

"Could be, but before we can even try to escape the island let's focus on our current circumstance, hey...do you see that?" Ian asked as he pointed to a giant tower of metal that glowed red in the distance on another part of the island.

"Yea...I do..." I replied.

Putting that thought at the back of my mind, I opened my Holographic Screen and opened up the Tribe Menu, and created a tribe.

I named the said tribe, 'Noah's Ark', and invited Ian to it.

Once Ian was in the Tribe we were quite surprised to find that we could see our names and levels highlighted in green above our heads and it was permanent.

We realized long ago just by looking at each other while we were not in a tribe a yellow name and level would show up and disappear when we looked away, but it seems there are some benefits to being in the same tribe.

Once we ate some of the cooked meat and stored the rest in our inventory, we drank our fill of water from the waterskins, and started traveling down the beach towards the strange red tower we saw in the distance.