Chapter 5: Relocating and showing the ropes

 "I'm Silas Cosaint, and I'd say it's nice to meet you despite the circumstances, Boudicca." After introducing himself, Silas realized she was in a similar state to himself, being a fresh spawn, but unlike him, she had no clue what situation they were in. He grimaced as he debated whether he should give her a warning of some kind. With a frustrated sigh, he met eyes with the warrior queen of ancient Britain and said, "How much have you seen of this island?"

 Seeing the grim look that overcame the young man's countenance, Boudicca replied somberly, "This land is savage, and the law of the fittest rules. I've seen beasts that moved with the intelligence of men ambush and devour a group of men about a two-hour run down the coast. They deserved it, though. Those men were little better than beasts." In the last sentence, she spat with venom and cursed the men.

 Putting aside the apparent hatred Boudicca spoke with, Silas was more concerned with what kind of beasts she met. He asked urgently, "What did they look like?! The beasts, I mean."

 She spoke with a tremor in her voice, "They were bipedal lizards larger than a man with curved talons on their feet. They moved in coordination with one another. Communicating with a shrill call as they set up an ambush."

 Silas felt a rush of fear run down his spine as only one dinosaur on the island fit that bill. Raptors, and unlike their in-game counterparts it seems they are highly intelligent. He scanned the tree line nervously.

 Boudicca noticed the brief flash of recognition followed by fear in Silas's face, and asked, "What is it? Do you know those creatures?"

 "Raptors or Utahraptor Prime is a fast and highly aggressive pack hunter of this island and are one of the most numerous predators on this island. If you ran into a pack of them this close it means we need to move as they could still pick up your scent." Silas spoke urgently as kicked dirt over the fire snuffing it out before taking a moment to rip the now cooked limbs off the Pego's torso and passed two to her. "I don't know how long we have before they catch the scent or even if they will, but we need to move. Will you come with me?" 

 Not hearing any falsehood or sign of deception, Boudicca agreed to go with him for now. 

 The duo ate quickly in silence as the threat of being hunted loomed at the forefront of their minds. After finishing the final piece of Pego ribs, Silas grabbed the sole belonging of his, the stone pick he'd meticulously crafted earlier and stood before pondering their route to safety. 

 Eventually deciding on crossing over the small shallow river between here and the rock spire covered sand bar separating the lake from the ocean. The water ought to help dilute any scent trail and it was generally a safer area on that side of the lake. It was their best bet as he didn't feel like risking travel inland until they had more to work with other than some stone tools which wouldn't do much against the more ferocious inhabitants of the island. 'A bow would be awesome right now' Silas thought as any form of ranged damage would be a lifesaver in this world of dinosaurs. 

 "We should follow the coastline for now which means crossing to that craggy sand bar. I don't think I want to risk a run-in with anything else in the close proximity that the forest would be." Silas was relieved after his words as Boudicca just gave a wave of her hand seemingly saying, 'let's go'. 

 The water was crystal clear as he approached and a tropical warm temperature as he entered, and started wading towards the other side as the water only came up to his waist. at the deepest. He was focused on the task at hand, and about jolted out of his skin when he felt something brush up against the back of his leg. looking down in fear of what might have touched him, to reveal an almost catfish-like fish that he recognized as a Coelacanth. He let out a shuddering sigh of relief as he'd imagined all the worst possibilities first.

 Looking at it now as he waded towards the other shore the Coelacanth seemed to follow him almost like it was acting as a guide. Taking a look around he realized that an entire school of coelacanths had encircled them as if acting as guards for them in the shallow water. Silas had a realization as this may be caused by his passive skill Nature's Blessing.

 'This is magical...' Boudicca thought as she looked at the scene before her as their path was guided by school of colorful fish, and the largest of which swam at the young man, Silas's side, almost seeming like a dog faithfully following its master. It was as if the man in front of her was blessed by the Fae themselves. As they reached the other side, the coelacanth that followed at Silas's side did a quick flip out of the water before splashing down and swimming off with its school.

 "Who and what are you?" Boudicca asked with a mixture of caution and wonder, as she watched the school swim off into the distance.

 "I'm not really sure at this point, but for now I'm just someone with an affinity with animals." Silas said with a shrug, before turning and setting off down the beach at a decent pace. 

 After about twenty minutes of walking in silence, Silas decided to show her how to use the implant while they traveled. He held up his left arm where Boudicca could see his implant, and asked, "Have you used this yet? If not I can show you how it can help us survive out here."

 "What do you mean use, and what is this thing?" Boudicca asked rubbing around the edges of her own implant as she eyed it confused as to how it seemed to fuse with her skin seamlessly.

 "That is a Specimen Implant, and it has multiple functions that are better shown than explained so would you tap the center of the implant?" Silas asked, and she did so.

 He continued as Boudicca's status screen appeared in front of her eyes as a hologram, "This is the main screen of your Implant, and the middle window shows your condition and abilities quantified as numbers. The Left window shows your inventory which is a listing of all items you carry and functions as a storage space for said items. The last window is self-explanatory, as you can see it's a full-body view of your current look and you can rotate it to view how you look or to inspect hard to see places like the middle of your back. Silas went on to explain the Crafting menu, Engram tab, and Tribe menu. 

 "So you're saying this 'Implant' is capable of all this and we can grow stronger purely by crafting new gear?" Boudicca questioned, as she felt it to be surreal and like magic. This thing could make one stronger than the best warriors from her homeland, and faster and more resilient too. Not to mention how simple it was to instantly learn how to create things that would take most years of apprenticeship to come close to. 

 " Yes but it's not enough as this island has things that are far more deadly than the raptors you met, and considering you met other survivors you can bet there are going to be aggressive tribes as well to worry about." Silas said in warning

 By this time they'd already rounded the craggy rock spires of the sand bar and could see the ocean leading into a small inlet that ran deeper into the island. Looking around Silas noticed some ruins partially hidden by a copse of short palm trees near the rock spires. He waved Boudicca over and they found a small crumbling stone brick structure with stone brick archways leading to it. 

 "Well this is as good a place as any to set camp as it's at least somewhat out of the elements and concealed." Silas said looking up at the rapidly setting sun, Silas started collecting nearby debris from the small trees nearby.

Seeing his actions, Boudicca began digging a deep depression in the sand near the center of their small hideaway, before gathering stones to stack up for a proper fire ring. 

After gathering what he deemed to be a sufficient amount of dry palm leaves and logs alongside smaller material for tinder and kindling, Silas set two large bundles to the side before adding the tinder to center of the fire ring. Then he began the monotonous and frustrating process of lighting the tinder while pulling out his flint and stone cutting tool. 

After the fire was lit, Silas handed one of the two extra bundles he'd set aside to Boudicca. 

"Here's something you can use for bedding for tonight, and we'll see about getting better situated in the morning." Silas said, before taking his own bundle and laying it in a corner of the ruin where his back would be against the wall out of the elements and he had a clear view out the entrance. He spoke out courtesy after checking the time through his implant, "I'll take first watch and will wake you after the first four hours. It's 7:30pm right now so I'll wake you at around 1:30am."

Boudicca at first wanted to argue that she would be fine on first watch. But eventually abstained from saying anything and just gave a nod of gratitude, and spoke a quiet, "Thanks" She laid down and took one last look at the young man who seemed kind but full of mystery she'd only known for a couple of hours, but already felt like she could trust him in spite of her trauma caused by men.