Chapter 3 - First Contact

[Wooden Spear]

[A wooden spear carved from an [Unnamed Tree] of [Planet J11397271]. It's no stronger or weaker than what could've been made by the wood found on Earth, but it glitters a dim purple under light]

Alisha smiles at the wooden spear she's just carved up. She made it from the wood of the unnamed tree she took that fruit from, and she marvels at the odd glimmer of the wood. It almost looks like it's been carved from stone, if not for the fact that it's too light to have been made from one.

She eventually lowers it onto the ground, placing it next to seven identical wooden spears.

Her plan's rather simple really. She wants to get herself the -Crafting- Skill. It isn't all that difficult really—all she needs to do is create ten Items. She's made a total of nine by this point; all she needs is one more wooden spear.

There's just one issue with that,

She takes a discreet glance to her left, towards the shadows beneath the canopies of alien trees. There's an indistinct shape hiding there, made known by the pair of bright yellow eyes. It isn't particularly hostile, but it isn't benign either. 

She lifts the leather covering her right eye, and the projected screen comes to life.

[Unnamed Feline Animal]

[An unnamed feline animal from [Planet J11397271]. Its ancestors came to this world when illegal Slave Traders crash-landed onto this planet. Small yet lithe, this animal is a skilled hunter. It waits for its prey to exhaust itself before it strikes.]

[Status: Confused, Scrutinizing, Hungry]

She brings the leather strip back over her eye, and she holds back a sigh. From what she can tell, the thing's trying to see what kind of animal I am, and whether or not I can be eaten. Considering that the animal looks no bigger than a house cat, it's probably never hunted anything her size.

But it's hungry enough that it's willing to give her flesh a try.

She hums. She isn't quite sure why, but she's not panicking. Maybe it's because the thing looks no bigger than the cat one of her team members likes to bring into the office. Maybe it's because she's bored out of her mind after spending hours monotonously carving spears out of wood with a knife. Who knows.

It's probably the latter. Developing a game might be monotonous at times, but at least she had the internet to distract her from time to time.

She takes another glance at the animal hiding in the shadows. It hasn't moved at all. It's just sitting there, yellow eyes piercing through the black. Is it waiting for something?

…oh. Is it waiting for her to sleep? Her -Identify- did say that it'll wait for its prey to tire itself out before it pounces.

She decides to give her plan a chance. She grabs one of the wooden spears she'd made, and she holds it close to her chest as she lays on the ground. She pretends to sleep, though she keeps her eyes barely open.

A minute passes, then two.

Then, slowly, the unnamed animal creeps out of the shadows. Her -Identify- hadn't been wrong—the animal looks a lot like a normal cat, just with claws that are visibly longer and fangs that protrude out onto its face. It crawls towards her, its steps silent and its eyes glimmering with hunger.

She shifts slightly, giving her an opening to jab her spear forward. The animal doesn't seem to see this, and she holds back a grin. Inch by inch by inch it comes, and once the animal is close enough-

She surges forward, jabbing her spear right at the animal.

Squelch!

Her wooden spear stabbed right through the animal's left eye. It screams, and in seconds it dies. She stares, at the spear she'd jabbed into its skull, at the blood that caked her hands, at the blood that was still leaking from the animal's corpse-

She takes a deep breath and pushes the building disgust away. She'll have her panic attack later.

She feels a prick in her right eye, and she sighs as she lifts the leather strip from her face.

[A [Unnamed Feline Animal] has been killed. Understanding has risen to: 20%]

[[Alisha] has completed the Achievement: [First Kill]! Producing rewards…]

Just as she reads that, space warps, and a syringe falls into her hand.

She stares at it, and a wry smile comes to her lips. It's a fairly normal syringe, filled with a reflective liquid. It almost looks like a syringe filled with liquid mercury or something, but she knows that it's far more than that.

[Filled Syringe (Strength Nanites)]

A syringe filled with biological nanobots. When injected into a living organism, the nanites will rapidly restructure the organism, increasing their Strength.]

[When used: +1 Strength]

She hums. A Strength Injection, is it? She'd been hoping to get one for Endurance, or perhaps Agility. But Strength will have to do.

She brings the tip to her arm, and with a breath, she stabs it in and empties the syringe into her body. She braces herself, and then grits her teeth as she feels her body burn from the inside.

In this wide and cruel universe, naturally increasing an individual's capabilities is a thing of the past. Of course, there are some people here and there that still do so—they're the 'hippies' of this world so to say—but artificial augmentations are essentially a necessity when it comes to the intergalactic wars being waged in the cosmos.

But, well, using artificial enhancers had its own ups and downs. Injecting a syringe full of body-enhancing nanites meant a near-instant increase in capabilities. That near-instant increase also meant an excruciating level of pain.

It'll get better the more someone uses it. Or at least she hopes it does. That's what she wrote into [Star's Empyrium]'s database.

The pain goes away soon enough, and she whistles as she looks down at herself.

The change isn't all that massive, but she's clearly fitter than she was just minutes before. The muscles in her arms and legs have become more defined, and she's fairly sure she's become somewhat slimmer as well. 

Although she hopes to get an [Eternal Appearance] Injection sooner or later. She likes the current look she has, and she'd rather not turn into a hulking mass of muscles.

Her team might have added that feature into [Star's Empyrium] as a joke, but this is her life now.

Suddenly, she hears a hiss coming from her side, and she turns just in time to see another of that same feline animal leap at her, its jaws wide open and ready to tear her flesh apart. 

She ducks just in time, and comes to see that there are more. An entire pack of those feline animals comes rushing out of the shadows, fangs bared and vengeance in their eyes. 

She quickly grabs another one of her wooden spears, and she takes a breath.

And she moves.

She takes a swing at the feline that'd attacked her first. She misses—striking its body instead of its neck—but it doesn't matter. Her recently increased Strength pushes right through, and she feels the feline's bones shatter as she sends it crashing into the sand meters away.

[A [Unnamed Feline Animal] has been-]

She quickly brings the leather strip back down over her right eye, but hisses as she barely avoids an attack at her leg. Another leaps for her waist, and she smashes its head with her spear. It mewls as it smashes into the dirt, and she quickly jumps back as another comes for her thigh.

"There's too many," she whispers to herself, staring at the pack of felines glaring at her. There are more than a couple dozen at this point, and she's only managed to kill three-

No, two. The one she just smashed into the earth is wobbling back up. Shit.

She can't run. These damned felines are faster than her, and she'll only tire herself out if she does. She can't charge in recklessly either, lest she let herself get injured and bleed out. 

The only thing she can do is fight her way out. 

She holds back a sigh. This is karma, isn't it? She'd joked about how it'll be easy to [Survive her First Night], and now here she is. 

Whatever. She'll beat herself up later, after she's taken down all these damned felines and finished her panic attack.

They all come rushing at her, and she begins to swing. Most of her attacks miss, but some do smash into the felines' bodies and necks. Most of her strikes are enough to knock them quite far, and some outright smash through bones if she hits them right, but she misses quite often as well.

When she misses, the felines come to bite her flesh apart. She ducks and weaves around them, but she's no fighter. Sometimes she's too slow, sometimes the felines attack her from somewhere she can't see, and sometimes she just outright doesn't notice.

And when that happens, their fangs smash into the tight-fitting suit she's wearing. Thankfully, surprising both her and the felines, the suit holds out against those sharp fangs the feline carries. The first time that happens, the feline's eyes are comically wide as it remains stuck to her left thigh, giving her the perfect chance to spear its skull right through.

Although, her suit doesn't stop all damage. Their leaps are powerful, and her body still feels the impact. She can already feel the bruises forming under her suit, and she can only grit her teeth as she continues to whittle down the pack of felines.

But like hell she'll fall here! She won't let some damned felines put her down. This is her new life, and like hell will it end here!

She feels a prick in her right eye, and she can almost hear her own heart pumping. She ignores it all and dives forward, leaping under a feline's bite as she spins and stabs her spear right through its belly. Blood splatters down onto her face, but she doesn't let it stop her momentum.

She skids to a stop, and spins once more to find a feline leaping at her, jaws aimed at her stomach. She twists to the left, and with a shout she shoves her spear right into its mouth. The feline croaks and then screams as her spear's edge explodes out the feline's backside.

She flicks her spear. The corpse falls onto the earth, blood leaking into the ground.

The felines are just a distance away, and she can see that something has changed. Their eyes are different. The vengeance-filled hunger has disappeared. It's replaced by caution, by fear. They no longer look at her like she's prey. There is no more confidence that she'll eventually fall.

Distantly, she wonders if that prick she felt in her eye was her getting some sort of Body Skill, but lets those thoughts slip past her as she takes a deep breath.

She takes a step forward, and leaps into a run. 

She slashes at one of the felines, but she can feel that something has changed. Her swing comes faster than before, and she can somehow tell that her attack will stab into the feline's jugular.

It does. The feline cries out in pain as more blood splatters onto her spear. But she quickly pulls it out and twists, letting a feline leap past her. She quickly stabs her spear through its skull before it can land on the ground. More blood splatters onto the ground, followed by another feline corpse.

She continues this. She swings and twists and stabs and kills. Blood paints the ground as the number of corpses builds.

Until finally she stabs her spear through the last living feline. She hits right in between its eyes, and she watches its eyes go dull. Blood begins to spill onto its fur-covered face, and she lets loose an explosive sigh as she flicks the corpse away. It crashes into the ground seconds later.

She takes in a pained breath, and she looks around. Blood and guts surround her, accompanied by over thirty corpses of recently killed felines. 

She stares listlessly at the mess she's made, before she slowly lifts the leather strip covering her right eye.

[Multiple [Unnamed Feline Animals] have been killed. Understanding has risen to: 100%]

[[Unnamed Feline Animal] has been identified as [Galins]]

[[Alisha] has gained the Body Skill -Novice Spear Combat-]

"Sweet." She says, managing a smile as she falls onto the ground. She can't feel her legs, nor can she move her arms. The strength that she felt just moments ago is gone, and she can only sigh. 

She decides to watch the stars above to pass the time.