"Status."

[Class: Healer (3)]

[Profession: Cook]

[Bravery Bonus: +1 to most-used stat. (Currently: Perception)]

[Current Available Quests: Retrieve Knife from Schang Cat. Time remaining: 2 days]

Still can't figure out how to view my available abilities. But now I have a dead cat to go with my dead dinosaur, and nothing to cut it up into convenient steaks with.

I try using the dino teeth on the cat, which doesn't work, then try using the cat teeth on the dino, which really doesn't work. By the time I'm done with those attempts, I'm thoroughly tired of dragging corpses around.

Thankfully, while Steak 2 ended up in the fire in all the scuffle, Steak 1 and Steak 3 fell on the grass safely and can be retrieved. I only made it two bites into my dinner before being ambushed by the thieving whatever-cats, and I'm hungrier than ever after the fight.

I brush off the dust and chow down, applying salt as necessary. It transforms the meat, turning it into something I can't actually compare to anything from earth. But I can already tell, it would make amazing bacon.

Alas, before I get fancy with the ingredients, I need a way to start carving things up again. And that means following my first quest.

I don't look forward to confronting the schang cat again. Sure, the dinosaur had the whole primal terror thing going for it, but the cats were faster and much smarter. Unarmed, I don't like my chances. I'd much prefer to go to battle with some proper armor.

"I don't suppose you could grant me some kind of skinning or tanning profession too?" My shirt's a lost cause, and my jeans aren't much better. I have this whole schang cat pelt, and a substantial amount of dino hide, but nothing to work them with. Nor, if I'm honest with myself, more than a vague idea of how to do so.

"Tailoring?"

No response.

"I always thought antagonistic snarky systems were a stupid contrivance, but right about now I'd be happy for some snark."

The system does not deign to respond.

"All business, I see?" I sigh. "Heal."

It's more a precaution, just in case the steak was undercooked and some foreign parasite or bacteria survived. The last thing I want is to end dying of stupid mistakes.

The wave of energy doesn't do anything visible, but I'm confident that if there were anything dangerous in what I ingested it will have removed it.

No level, unsurprisingly. I do worry about my leveling. Both times so far it's been after a fight, but not after I defeat the monsters. After I repaired the resulting (extensive) damage.

Does that mean I'm fated to be some kind of masochistic berserker? That my only path to power is letting myself be hurt more and more severely?

I really hope I'm drawing the wrong conclusions here. I'd love this to be like a standard RPG where I can get experience and level up by killing monsters rather than by being torn to shreds by them.

Evening is drawing on now. The sky is darkening, the shadows lengthen. My fire is low, but still present, so I pile on some more sticks in vain hopes of building up enough coals to last the night.

If I know anything about wilderness survival, it's going to get cold.

The closest thing I have to a blanket is the dead schang cat. I eye the corpse distastefully, but since I have no way of skinning it if I want to use it I'll have to use the whole thing.

"Do I really want to sleep under a dead body, in a place that is already demonstrated to contain who knows what predators?"

But I know I can heal monster bites. I don't know if I can heal hypothermia. Of the two, I'd rather risk the monsters.

I drag the dead cat over near the fire to look it over. It's smaller than me, but it should be enough to cover me if I curl up. The fur is bristly and rough. Not my ideal blanket material, but it's better than nothing.

Is there anything I could use instead, like a convenient tree with giant fuzzy leaves? I look around, but no such luck. The trees around here are spindly, spiky things with needles rather than leaves.

I do climb the tallest tree nearby and search the horizon for any sign of civilization. As dusk falls, any campfire or town lights should show up clearly, but again I find nothing.

At last, exhausted from my struggles and too weary to keep trying to come up with a better plan, I curl up as best I can under the dead cat, whisper a silent prayer for whoever's listening to protect me through the night, and close my eyes to sleep.

It's the dead of night when I'm awakened, instincts snapping me from full slumber to full alertness in an instant. I lie still, listening to the rustling as something clomps toward me. I can just make out a vague lumpy shape against the stars, like a dinosaur camel, but before I can figure out what it is the shape splits.

It's only then that I realize: it was a rider on a dinosaur.

My first thought is 'YES! I WANT ONE!'

My second thought is usurped violently as a silver gleam pierces through the night, illuminating my assailant as he points a glowing spear directly at my face.

He looks vaguely human, but he's growing a scruffy beard from all the wrong places, like his eyebrows expanded to surround his eyes completely and cover his cheekbones.

The light of his spear casts sharp ominous shadows on his snarling face as he leans over me, but his voice - though rough - is entirely matter of fact, which makes his words all the more chilling.

"Give me your quest or die."