Next up, Paul thought to himself, food and shelter.

While in a typical survival situation, shelter would be the number one priority, Paul wasn't sure what it would do for him in this underground cavern. He didn't think he was capable of constructing anything that would keep a death-rat out, and it wasn't like it was going to rain. Food it is. Paul was still desperately cold, but he had just walked for hours and wasn’t yet hypothermic, just extremely uncomfortable. Paul mentally added "Clothing" to his list of goals.

Walking from the stream that fed the pool, Paul made his way to the mushroom grove that surrounded it. For the first time since he woke up underground, he was feeling hopeful. He found water. He could see. He had his rock. He was still naked and terrified, but he was holding the ravening, gibbering fear in the back of his head kept at bay for now.

Looking over the grove, he examined his options for a food source.

Bugs, moss, lichen... Voles! Or something that looks like vole. Close enough.

Paul noticed a small vole-like creature munching happily on a mushroom.

Mushrooms, snakes, spiders, lizards.

He immediately disqualified moss and lichen, doubting that they would have any caloric value for him. Mushrooms were abundant, but he didn't know if they had as much of a predilection for poison as their terrestrial counterparts. He was worried about snakes and spiders for the same reason.

Okay, first up, voles and lizards.

Paul sat down to quietly watch the grove, to see if any other creatures came into view.

That looks like a grasshopper, but its legs are all backward, there's what looks like a slug - probably poisonous as well, that looks like a giant rat with four eyes...

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK

With the noise of the gurgling stream nearby, Paul didn't hear the death-rat approach. The rat was maybe forty feet away, glaring at him through the glade of mushrooms. Paul didn't move a muscle, hoping that its vision or instincts were movement based, but the beast dashed his hopes by slowly padding towards him. Paul's hind-brain screamed for him to run again, fear crashing over him like a wave, threatening to pin him against the seafloor, drowning him in terror.

Nonononono. I found water. I found light. I found things that I may be able to eat. I am NOT going back to the darkness again.

Paul lived near the ocean on Trappist-4, and enjoyed going to the beach. The waves there were vicious, and could smash you against the sharp coral if you weren't careful. If you dived into the surge, however, you could come up unharmed on the other side. The power of the wave was the same; it was how you dealt with it that determined if you merely popped up behind it as the surf crashed against the beach, or if you wound up gasping and bleeding after it receded. This time, as the feat washed over him, Paul dove into it.

Yes, this is terrifying, yes, I think I may piss myself after drinking all that water, yes, I'm probably going to die again. But I know I WILL die if I run.

Paul's hand ached from holding his rock so tightly and for so long.

*Fear Management has reached level 2*

SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!

Paul screamed inside his head. He did not need this right now.

*Notifications disabled while subject is experiencing heightened levels of stress*

Paul blinked in surprise.

Did the messages listen to him?

He cursed to himself as realized that the rat had crept close to him while he was distracted. Steeling himself, Paul slowly got up, his eyes not leaving those of the rat as he rose into a crouch, his hand to hand combat training from his two weekends a month in the Guard coming back to him.

Center of gravity low. Feet apart. Hands up. Elbows in. Chin down. Look for vulnerable areas. Eyes. Throat. Groin. Sinus. Temple.

He slowly moved backward, until he could feel the edge of one of the glowing shelf fungi behind him. It would limit his mobility, but he didn't want the rat to get behind him, either.

Wait, it's warm. Is the fungus giving off heat?

Paul banished the thought for another time. The rat approached hesitantly, unlike the other times he had faced them. Now that Paul wasn't running, it seemed more cautious.

The rat squinted as it came closer seeming to shy away from looking directly at the fungus.

Is it sensitive to the light? That would make sense if it usually hunts in the dark.

Relinquishing the reassuring feeling of the warm fungus behind him, Paul sidled around backward, deeper into the mass of phosphorescent fungus. He hoped that the rat would possibly shy away from the light, but he wasn't so lucky. The rat followed him in, obviously uncomfortable with the amount of light, but not willing to give up on his prey.

The leap was sudden, the rat committing to the attack with a powerful thrust of its hind legs, mouth open and slavering as it shot toward Paul's neck.

The stab of fear Paul felt as it flew toward him almost made him miss as he swung hard with the rock, impacting with a crack on the Rat’s skull, twisting it aside. Sharp claws dug into Paul's flank, flaying strips of skin from his ribs, but he was still up.

The rat made a high pitched whine as it landed, twitching its head. Paul didn't give it a chance to recover, landing a hard kick with his instep to the creature's mid-section.

Rolling with the impact, the rat scrambled away, only to dart in again, ripping a thick chunk of Paul's calf apart. Paul bit down on a scream, pushing the pain away, but he couldn't put weight on that leg like he was used to. He wondered if the rat had severed a tendon.

The rat leaped again, but with Paul's injured leg, he couldn't turn to meet it in time, and the impact knocked him to his back. Trying to hold back the rat’s jaws with his left arm, Paul bashed again and again with his rock in his right hand, aiming for the creatures left eyes. He screamed as the rat's teeth bit through his radius of his left arm, but managed to score a hit on one of the rat's eyes, turning the glowing orb into a bloody pulp with his blow. The rat echoed his own screams at a higher pitch as it thrashed away.

Oh, fuck that hurts.

Tears streamed down Paul's face as he fought the searing pain that threatened to overwhelm him. He shakily rose to his feet again cradling his left arm against him, which was bleeding profusely. The rat circled him warily, making small keens of pain.

Serves you right, you mangy little asshole.

The rat coiled to spring again, and Paul met its charge with a scream of pain, fear, and a just a little bit of anger.

"Stop trying to kill me, you fucking piece of shit!" He connected again with his rock, missing the rat’s temple and eyes, but impacting with a *crunch* on the beast's jaw, shattering teeth and bone. The blow knocked the rat on to the side, and it landed hard on its back.

I've got you now.

Paul moved to lift his rock high and slam it down on the creature, but found he couldn't lift it. In fact, he couldn't lift much of anything. He felt light-headed as he fell to his knees.

Did it get colder? He looked down.

Oh shit, I've lost a lot of blood. Oh fuck.

By now the rat was back on its feet. With Paul unable to lift his hands to defend himself, he felt it claw at his face and throat before he thankfully lost consciousness.

Goddamnit, that was a good rock.

*Would you like to bind Item: [Rock] to you?*

Does that mean I get to keep it? Then fuck yes. I like this rock.

*Processing Death*

*Alpha Level Implant - Beginning Reconstitution Process*

*Processing skill gains*

*Pain Tolerance has reached level 2*

*Pain Tolerance has reached level 3*

*New Skill Gained: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Level 1*

*New Skill Gained: Bash, Level 1*

*New Skill Gained: Vital Strike, Level 1*

For the first time, Paul was able to process the slew of messages that he received as he took his first breath in a new body.

He woke in darkness again, cold and naked. However, this time, there was a difference.

In his hand, he still held his rock.

Pushing the messages away, he got to his feet. He had a rock. He could see in the dark.

And he knew that while he had severely injured the rat, he just woke up in a fresh body, unharmed. Suppressing his fear was easier now as well. It didn't go away, it was still there like a ball of ice in his gut, but could keep it there, contained. Instead of focusing on his terror, Paul held onto the tiny flame of anger from his battle with the rat, feeding his emotions to the fire, kindling it. Fear was a valuable emotion, but right now he needed the anger more.

Paul strode down the tunnels again, toward the cavern and the pool. Grimacing, he tossed the rock in his hand.

I'm coming for you, asshole.

With his night-vision improved, Paul moved quickly, avoiding the small pitfalls, ledges, and rocks that had given him so much trouble before.

His feet still hurt as he walked over the rough surface of the caves, but he was able to push the feeling aside. Reaching the glowing cavern entrance, he was surprised by how quickly he arrived. When he first made the journey after his first death, it had taken him hours, but he now estimated that the distance was only a few kilometers.

Amazing what a difference being able to see a few feet in front of your face makes.

Paul stalked into the cavern, moving silently through the mushroom groves to the glowing fungus where his battle had occurred. His hands grew sweaty, and he wiped them on his thigh so that he didn't compromise his grip on his rock. Once again he was taken aback by the vibrant colors of the cavern, but focused on stealthily moving forward. As he approached the shelf-fungus, he moved even slower, head on a swivel, expecting the rat to leap out at him at any moment.

He came to where the battle took place, bracing himself to find his own corpse, but instead all he found was smears of dried blood where he and the rat had fought.

Does my corpse disappear when I die, or did it drag it away?

Paul hoped that it disappeared, he didn’t care to come face to face with his own dead body.

With no immediate threat, Paul made his way to the stream again, using his left hand to cup water into his mouth, not willing to let go of his rock with his right.

*Silent Movement has reached level 2*

Good, it's waiting to tell me until I'm not in danger now, or at least waiting until when I don't think I'm in danger.

Moving back to the battleground, Paul peered closely at the blood.

I know I hurt it pretty badly, it had to be bleeding.

Moving slowly in a circle, he spiraled out from the site, looking for traces of blood. For an hour he paced through the mushroom grove. He found several snakes, one lizard, two voles and lots of insects, but no trace of the rat. His hopes of revenge fading, Paul as about to give up, when he saw two reddish-brown drops of dried blood on one of the low-lying mushrooms.

*New Skill Gained: Tracking, Level 1*

Paul pumped his fist, then immediately felt silly for doing so. Turning his attention back to the blood splatters, Paul wondered how this skill would help him. Looking at the blood droplets again, he realized that by drawing a line between them, he could determine the direction that the rat had moved. Slowly moving that direction, Paul found another drop, then another. Paul didn't know how, but he could tell that the blood splatters were getting fresher as he followed them.

The grove grew sparser as he moved, and Paul made an effort to move silently again, noticing that doing so felt more fluid and natural than before.

Just what are these skills doing? I didn't only learn how to track; it's like the knowledge of how to do so was just placed in my brain when the skill activated. The same with silent movement. I could have practiced moving like this for hours and not feel as stealthy as I do right now.

Shrugging, Paul moved on, leaving the dense grove of mushrooms and moving further away from the pool. It was darker in this portion of the cavern, columns, stalactites, and stalagmites casting long shadows away from the light source. The darkness made it harder to see the blood on the ground, but he was able to find it still. A drop here, then two paces away another, then ten paces from that, yet another.

The drops led him to a massive column of stone, the result of a stalactite and stalagmite growing into a single column of stone thousands of years ago. Moving to its shadowed side, Paul realized that the column was partially hollow, a recess carved away into it. With the utmost care, Paul edged himself around the opening, dropping into his fighting stance. There, looking out from the darkness, were three glowing red eyes and one that was a bloody ruin. Paul had hoped to sneak up on the rat, but it seemed that it knew he was coming.

Maybe I'm not as stealthy as I think. Or maybe it can smell me.

The rat sprung at him, but it was slower than before.

Or maybe I'm faster?

In either case, Paul was able to leap aside, only suffering a small scratch on his bicep as he dodged. Turning itself around, the rat went for his legs, but as it approached Paul kicked it hard on its snout. While it was stunned, Paul fell on it with his rock, bashing in on its head, again and again until it stopped moving.

Panting, Paul sat up and struggled to catch his breath. Killing the death-rat felt anticlimactic, and looking at its corpse, it looked smaller than it had seemed when it was trying to kill him.

*Bash has reached level 2*

*Kick has reached level 2*

Paul still wasn't sure what all of this meant. He did know one thing, though. Looking down at the corpse of the rat, he mentally crossed off "food" from his survival checklist. He wondered how rat tasted.

Probably terrible.