He sat beneath the shade of several trees by the stream, not far from the beach. He’d successfully lit a fire and now grilled the meat he’d looted from the panther. The crackle of fat hitting the fire blended with the booming of distant waves and the rustling of leaves. A cool wind tousled his hair, and he brushed it out of his eyes for the umpteenth time.
A coconut sat beside Darren with a crude face carved onto it. He turned to it. “Not a bad spot, eh, Wilson?”
He pitched his voice up and put on a posh British accent, “Not at all, Darren, not at all. Now you just need to get off this dump and make it home.”
“Gee, thanks,” Darren said, dropping back to his usual Aussie drawl, “Can’t let me just enjoy the fruits of my labour for even five minutes? Next, I’m going to get a quest telling me to get off my butt and get back to work, too.”
A notification flashed on the corner of his vision. “What a crazy, random happenstance,” he muttered as he opened it up.
<<<<>>>>
Quest alert!
Find shelter. Night approaches faster than the weary traveller expects on the islands. Build a shelter to protect yourself from the dangers of the night.
Reward:
-
1,000XP
-
2 Pieces of Eight
Accept?
Yes. No.
<<<<>>>>
1,000XP and 2 Pieces of Eight? Pathetic. Stupid low-level quests. He selected no, and the notification vanished.
“Speed,” he said to Wilson, “is the order of the day. Not piddling around making huts on a beach. 1,000XP is not enough to tempt me from my course.”
Another notification flashed. Darren let out a long-suffering sigh and opened it.
<<<<>>>>
Quest alert!
Find shelter… Now. Night approaches much faster than the weary traveller expects on the islands. Build a shelter to protect yourself from the dangers of the night.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Reward:
-
5,000XP
-
1 Dubloon
Accept?
Yes. No.
<<<<>>>>
Darren pursed his lips. “What do you think, Wilson? The AI in charge of this dumpster fire is listening to our conversation and seems to really want us to build a shelter.”
He pitched his voice up again, “Well, I hardly think it’s worth ignoring the AI. It clearly has a plan for you and knows something you don’t.”
“You make an excellent point, my fine, nutty friend.” Darren rotated the meat, giving a satisfied nod at the nice crispy fat of the cooked side. “However… I find myself disinclined to listen to an AI who,” his voice rose, “disconnected my body and put me in a coma!” he finished at a yell.
He selected no, wishing he had one of the ancient mechanical keyboards his old man talked about, so he could slam a finger on the Esc key. It was hard to forcefully think a no.
The notification jingled again in his vision, and Darren swore and nearly threw his precious food. He pinched the bridge of his nose and ground his teeth a moment before opening the notification.
<<<<>>>>
Quest alert!
If you don’t want to die for real.... Find shelter. Night approaches much faster than the weary traveller expects on the islands. Build a shelter to protect yourself from the dangers of the night.
Reward:
-
10,000XP
-
5 Sovereigns
Accept?
Yes. No.
<<<<>>>>
Darren rolled his eyes and minimised the notification. He couldn’t quite bring himself to refuse 10,000XP and the coin at this point. That was half a small ship right there, but he wouldn’t be on the island by nightfall anyway. He was comfortable sailing at night here; he’d spent most of the last few days doing so, as the best raiding could be done by the light of the stars.
The meat finished cooking, and he took a bite. Hot fat dribbled down his chin, but he barely noticed as flavour exploded in his mouth. Crisped fat, salty despite not using salt, gamey, deliciously tender. He groaned. “Heavens to Betsy, I love the food in this game. Perfection with every bite.”
He took a few more mouthfuls until the food icon maxed out, then he stored the rest in his inventory. Another quality-of-life feature in the game was that food didn’t go bad when in your inventory. The focus was piratey life and fun, not extreme realism. Thank goodness…
Darren pulled up his Shipwright skill to refresh himself on what perks it actually gave.
<<<<>>>>
Shipwright lvl 1 (0% Proficiency)
Description: Blessed with an innate understanding of marine travel, watercraft almost seem to build themselves under your practised hands.
Effect: Knowledge of basic shipbuilding techniques. Faster and easier production time when building watercraft.
-
Duration: Passive, constant
-
Range: Self
-
Cooldown: N/A
-
Additional Active Effects:
Increase your Proficiency to advance your knowledge of more complex building techniques and larger watercraft types.
Invest Skill Points in Shipwright to add additional effects.
<<<<>>>>
Nothing major right now, just things being easier than normal. He had no idea what that would look like, practically, as it was a new skill the AI had given him when it spawned him as an NPC.
No time like the present, though…
“Alright,” he said, “time to go build a raft. Guard the fire, Wilson.” He threw a couple of larger logs on the fire, grabbed his flint axe, and strode off to wreak havoc on some innocent trees.