Oath of the Survivor

Kyle stretched as he stepped out of his makeshift shelter, willing the enclosed curtain of bark and wood to part.  The heat immediately began to beat down on him, and he smiled.  It had been five days since he arrived, and Kyle had the cycles pretty well figured out.  There were always about four hours of intense heat, followed by a hailstorm that would herald four hours of chilling cold.  The Institute hadn’t been joking when they said that it was a harsh environment, but for Kyle that just meant opportunity. 

He stepped into the heat in nothing but his trousers, and began training.  His batons whirled through the air as he practiced, activating IGNITION intermittently as he moved through his routines.  All the while, ADAPTIVE REGENERATION was working on repairing the damage from the heat and his other skill.  Kyle’s routine was interrupted by the chirping and scurrying of the chicken-like lizards as they ran towards their nest, and Kyle knew it was time to move.

He found a clearing the day before that was devoid of any of the trees, and he braced himself for the least pleasant part of his training.  Kyle watched the storm front approaching, and closed his eyes with a steadying breath.  The hailstones pounded into his body, though they did little against Enhanced Carapace.  The minor wounds he did sustain were quickly patched up by ADAPTIVE REGENERATION, though it still hurt. 

He picked a couple gourds on his way back to the shelter, looking to eat a quick snack before the real cold set in and his training began anew.  This had been his routine – and the progress was impressive.  The small breaks and naps during the temperate periods kept him moving, and the consistent strain on his body was allowing ADAPTIVE REGENERATION to really prove its worth.  Already he felt a resistance building up to the ambient temperature.  The blunt force damage would take a while longer to build, but he felt confident it would come in time.

What’s more, along with the training came something he’d been waiting for.  Levels.  One level, to be precise.  Still, Kyle wouldn’t complain.  PARASITIC RESONANCE connected to the body of the large tree, and the bark opened like a curtain, revealing a cozy hollow that he’d created.  The natural insulation of the tree kept the space within protected, and it’s where Kyle stashed most of his equipment.  Along with a particularly grumpy drone.

[DR. MAYHEW, WE REALLY SHOULD EXPLORE THE AREA MORE.]

“I know, C.H.A.D.D.  And we will.  I just want to get a little more practice in.  Two, three more rounds.  Tops.”

[YOU SAID THAT TWO WEATHER CYCLES AGO, DR. MAYHEW.]

Oh yeah…  Kyle vaguely remembered, though at this point he’d fallen deep into his routine.  The bright side was, they had a lot of time left on the planet.  The countdown showed that less than sixteen percent of the total time had been completed, so there was still plenty of opportunity for him to get some practice.  “I tell you what, let me eat and meditate for a little bit, and then we can go take a look around.”

[THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.]

Kyle cracked the gourd open, and after he’d eaten the fruit within, settled in to meditate.  He drifted to his center, and saw the status screen waiting for him.

KYLE MAYHEW.  ARTHRO-HUMAN CHIMERA (PARASITE), SURVIVALIST.  LEVEL 43 (D)

CORE OF THE PARASITIC DEVOURER 0%

ADAPTIVE ANATOMY – 7/? – ENHANCED CARAPACE, AURIC PERCEPTION, EXOSKELETAL STRENGTH, CEASELESS VITALITY, INSTINCTIVE INTELLIGENCE, COVERT DEXTERITY, UNBREAKABLE WILL

VITALITY: 709

ENDURANCE: 798

STRENGTH: 297

DEXTERITY: 558

WILLPOWER: 1039

INTELLIGENCE: 1039

PERCEPTION: 807

FREE ATTRIBUTES: 18

He was pleased to see he’d gained another level, and quickly split his free attributes between Endurance and Strength.  He wanted to continue to shore up his survivability, and his Strength was rapidly falling behind his other attributes.  While Strength wouldn’t be a focus for him, he still wanted to make sure it didn’t get totally neglected. 

Satisfied with his condition, he put on his armor and the C.H.A.D.D.pack and exited the shelter.  “You’re sure the cold isn’t going to be an issue for you?” Kyle asked, concern in his voice.

[I’M CERTAIN, DR. MAYHEW.  EVEN WITHOUT THE UPGRADED PACK, MY DESIGN INCLUDED FUNCTION IN COLD STORAGE FACILITIES.]

The duo made their way across the rocky ground as the air got progressively colder.  C.H.A.D.D. continued to snap fern fronds as they navigated the terrain, slowly expanding the functional map of the area.  Kyle had to admit, he was curious about what the civilization on this planet looked like.  In the whole time he’d been here, Kyle had only seen the small chicken-like lizards.  That likely meant that the people of this world were either a good distance away, or relatively sedentary.  Either case made sense, as without Kyle’s unusually high resilience surviving in the wild would be a nightmare. 

The map indicated some anomalous readings at the edge of its range, and Kyle trekked across the dark stones as the cold began to abate.  Cresting a hill, he looked out at the field of stone before him.  Unlike the forested are he was in, there was no plant life to be seen.  In fact, the only thing breaking up the otherwise flat ground were massive outcroppings of stone.  C.H.A.D.D. released another ping, and Kyle understood as the map indicated several openings beneath the rocks.  There’s a cave system belowground. 

That made sense, and he was honestly a little embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it before.  Underground, the people would be insulated from the weather, just like the lizards he’d observed.  By now, the light was truly beginning to shine, bringing with it the full heat of the day.  Kyle felt ADAPTIVE REGENERATION providing relief against the sweltering temperature as he approached the nearest cavern entrance. 

He considered his options as he stared into the gaping darkness.  Barring something totally unexpected, Kyle could easily wait out the rest of the cycle and complete the challenge.  Even if the examiners didn’t intend for him to simply live through the extreme environment, he seriously doubted they would fail him outright.  On the other side, Kyle had been itching for something more since he arrived at the Hub.  The extreme environment was a good first step, but it had already lost much of its edge.  That decided it for Kyle. 

He heard his skin sizzling against the superheated stones before he felt some discomfort, and he descended into the abyss.

The abyss, it turned out, was actually pretty comfortable.  The further Kyle descended, the cooler the stone got.  Natural light had already faded to virtually nothing, which C.H.A.D.D. promptly rectified by projecting gentle orange light across the nearby area, aiding Kyle’s descent.  His attributes and grip strength more than made up for the lack of natural handholds, and soon Kyle found his feet touching down at the bottom of the hole.

He heard the snap of a fern frond as C.H.A.D.D. released a sonic pulse, and soon the map he’d grown accustomed to shifted as a new layer was projected below.  Snaking veins ran from the epicenter of the drone’s skill, and Kyle saw the tunnels nearest him branched into a massive network.  He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he saw something he’d grown all too familiar with on Earth.  It was the telltale glow of natural treasures.

“Is there anything alive down here, C.H.A.D.D.?”  Kyle’s voice echoed lightly in the tunnels, despite his low volume.

[RESULTS ARE INCONCLUSIVE, DR. MAYHEW, THOUGH I BELIEVE IT IS LIKELY.]

“Why is that?”

[THERE WAS SONIC INTERFERENCE WITH MY MAP.  I WOULD ANTICIPATE THAT THE ORIGIN WAS ANOTHER CREATURE USING ECHOLOCATION, OR SOMETHING SIMILAR.]

Kyle stifled a frustrated groan.  “That would have been good to know before I started talking.”

[GOOD NEWS, DR. MAYHEW.  THERE ARE SEVERAL LIVING CREATURES, AND THEY’LL BE HERE MOMENTARIILY.]

Kyle could hear the scrabbling of claws on stone, and he drew his batons as he took his stance.  Auric Perception had just started detecting the presences, and they didn’t feel particularly powerful.  Soon, four furry creatures turned the corner of the tunnel he was facing, making a beeline directly towards him.  C.H.A.D.D. intensified the light, and Kyle got his first good look at the creatures.

They looked like a cross between a ferret and a mole, standing only a meter tall but over twice as long.  Their eyeless faces had a star-shaped nose and a ridiculous number of whiskers over snarling, snapping mouths.  Long, bristly fur covered their bodies, and each of their four legs were tipped with wicked claws. 

The group slowed as they approached Kyle’s position, and he hoped that they would do the smart thing and turn away.  Unfortunately for the beasts, they didn’t seem to recognize him as anything other than their next meal.  They gave off high-pitched chirps as they moved to surround him, one scrabbling along the ceiling of the cavern to get behind him as the others charged.

A pulse of red energy filled the cavern as IGNITION flared to life, mana burning through every limb. He only activated the skill for a moment, and it was enough.  Brutal strikes landed against each of his assailants, crushing bones and cracking the stone as the air itself cracked under the pressure of Kyle’s attacks. 

Kyle suspected the beasts were in the middle of E Grade, and were far from powerful variants.  IGNITION had definitely been overkill, though it was the first time he’d been able to practice it in a combat environment.  The baton crafted by Themestra held up to the strain fine, but the same couldn’t be said of the standard-issue one he’d purchased from Corthian Mining.  IDENTIFY showed him that the force exerted by the multiple strikes had caused some minor structural damage, and it likely wouldn’t be able to hold up to many more uses like he’d just done. 

Kyle looked at the fallen beasts with pity, knowing that he didn’t currently have an effective means to use them.  He hated wasting the meat and hides, and would have loved to have resources like this back in his early days of survival.  Nothing to be done for it now.  Setting the remains to the side, Kyle continued his walk deeper into the caverns.

~~~

“You see?  He couldn’t handle the environment after all.  You were getting worked up for nothing.”  Rupiniax grinned, revealing sharp, pointy teeth.  He and Suerrillax had been watching the human with some interest over the last several days, as the only individual remaining in the Practicum who had not either made contact with their planet’s nearest settlement or exited the test.  It was enough to draw some interest, particularly when he started exposing himself to the elements. 

Many dismissed it as a foolish show of bravado, including Rupiniax.  The human’s decision to move towards the cave system seemed at face value to be a reinforcement of that idea, but she thought differently.  If it wasn’t for all the standouts among this group of applicants, Suerrillax was certain the stranger would have gotten far more attention.  No, her instincts told her there was something special about this one.  He wasn’t going to the caves because he’d been beaten down – far from it.

She met Rupiniax’s smile with one of her own.  “We’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?”