Scott stood at the edge of a stream of neon purple water. The stream intercepted the land, and the water flowed to the sea where it spilled its purple color under surf and over sand. Flying insects hovered above the water. An odd frog croaked and plopped in the stream.


    Scott knelt, and he dipped his fingers. The water was cold, and it trickled around his fingers. He wondered why it was purple, and he chewed his bottom lip as he frowned. He was thirsty. Tremendously thirsty. Ah, but how safe could neon purple water be?


    He cupped purple water and sipped from the bright pool in his palm. He tasted nothing but fresh water. It went down cold between his lungs, and he felt soothed. He laughed as he cupped another palm of water. It seemed potable.


    He had all he needed. The sea offered fresh food, and the land offered fresh water. What a place to wake up in!


    The sun was shining, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the sea was as calm as a sea could be. Scott knew that fair weather wouldn’t last. On the coast of such an expanse of sea, he was bound to see storms. He wondered how terrible storms on a new world would be. It seemed that the flora survived, for there were still trees and underbrush. Life survived here.


    Unless he built shelter, Scott worried he might not survive. He followed the neon purple stream inland. The banks of the stream teemed with flowers and leaves and fronds. He could not recognize a single plant. The trees were all foreign to him. Calls and birdsong echoed beneath the canopy. Purple caustics scribbled trunks and the underlayer of canopy leaves and along the myriad jungle vines.


    Mud sucked his soles, bushes resisted his passing, insects swarmed him. On he pressed, blazing up stream. The stream widened as he trekked. Even at its narrowest it could fit a handful of rafts.


    Scott clambered over a fallen tree. On the other side, after dismounting the tree, Scott froze. He gaped at the ground, and his eyes went wide. There, at the base of a thorny fern, lay a branch.


    “Whoa,” Scott uttered.


    He reverently picked up the branch and held it out in a shaft of hazy sunlight. The wood was dark orange where it was missing its grey bark. The branch was as thick as a bottle of water, and it was nearly as long as a baseball bat. It wasn’t quite straight, and a knot in the wood had caused a slight lump, but it was…


    “Awesome.”


    Scott knew what he had. His first weapon. He beat his own palm with it until he felt the sting and had to shake out his hand. He whacked a tree trunk with it, and the top of the tree trembled. Infinitesimal debris rained around him. An insect plummeted. He was pleased with his branch. He loved it. It was his branch. A legendary find.


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    Spirit soaring, Scott continued following the stream. When he caught himself humming, fixated on his awesome branch, he quieted and kept keen. He could not afford to relax in a new world where a system that had put him and everyone on earth through a cataclysm still loomed.


    At a bend in the stream, the underbrush rustled a few dozen paces in the jungle. Scott halted and crouched. He gripped the branch in both hands, and he peered through the brush.


    The rustling drew near, and Scott felt that something knew he was there. Bushes trembled, vines swayed, long fronds bobbed.


    Scott lifted his branch above his head. A creature dashed out of the brush toward him. Scott thought it was a cat on first glance, but he realized it was only as large as a cat. It was a beetle with a fin down its spine.


    Scott brought his branch down upon the beetle. The first hit stunned the beetle in place, and it staggered. He rained blows upon it until its carapace cracked and yellow gore oozed from a gash in its abdomen.


    Level 1 scavenge beetle slain.


    5 xp gained.


    “There we go!”


    Scott marveled as he gazed upon the scavenge beetle. The massive thing induced a fright in him. His heart was beating rapidly, and his chest heaved with his breaths. He’d done it. He’d encountered his first monster. He felt powerful. Yes!


    Scott drank from the neon purple stream before continuing up alongside it. He focused on keeping keen. As he went, his grip on his branch slowly relaxed. His posture relaxed, and he didn’t dart his gaze about as much.


    Relying on his ears, he blazed ahead. The sun was revealed through infrequent gaps in the canopy, and it seemed to be at zenith when he again saw it.


    Head tilted to the sky, he heard rustling. More than one scavenge beetle headed toward him. They rushed beneath the underbrush all at once. Scott beat them as he was forced back until he stood ankle deep in the water. The beetles bucked at the edge of the stream. One by one, Scott dashed in to beat them. One was larger than the others, and it took thrice as many thwacks to slay it.


    4 level 1 scavenge beetles slain.


    20 xp gained.


    1 level 2 scavenge beetle slain.


    20 xp gained.


    Scott frowned, and he rubbed his chin. He was excited to slay his first level 2 monster, but he worried. All the beetles seemed to have known he was there. They had come straight to him, and they had rushed to attack. Five beetles was more than he could handle. They had forced him back so far that his pants were soaked to the knees. He wondered if he would encounter more beetles the farther he traveled. What would he do if they swarmed? He had to be careful.


    Scott found himself grinning. Yes, he had to be careful, but he felt driven to level up. He was just about halfway to level 2, and he had no abilities.


    Scott’s stat sheet:


    Level 1


    Experience 047/100


    Strength 10


    Wisdom 0


    Intelligence 1


    Dexterity 5


    Constitution 4


    Abilities none


    Inventory 00/10