Leo sat huddled in the shallow cave, the small fire he'd coaxed to life providing a meager, flickering defense against the crushing cold of Yamatai. Lara was resting nearby, her head resting on her knees, the rusted pipe laid across her lap. Even in sleep, her hand was clenched, a testament to the raw survival instinct that defined her.
He knew she wasn't truly sleeping, merely conserving energy and remaining in a state of hyper-alert rest—a skill he would need to learn, and quickly.
For Leo, rest was a luxury he couldn't afford. The System's notification was a blazing, urgent call to action behind his eyelids.
[Level 1 Reached: Attribute Points Allocation Unlocked!]
[Please Allocate 3 Initial Attribute Points:]
[Strength: 5]
[Dexterity: 5]
[Stamina: 5]
[Mind: 5]
This was the moment. The character creation screen he never got to fill out. His new life began right here, with three precious points.
Leo's old body had been weak, defined by the lack of these very attributes. But his mind, the mind of a gamer who had spent years theory-crafting builds, was sharp. He knew exactly what was needed for this specific game world: early survival and synergy with the main protagonist.
Lara Croft was already a prodigy: high Dexterity (climbing, aiming), high Stamina (endurance, resilience), and high Strength (melee combat later on). What she often lacked in the early stages was Mind—the ability to assess the bigger, non-physical threats and manage resources efficiently.
But what about Leo himself?
Option A: Go all-in on Mind (3 points). This would amplify his Meta-Strategist trait, letting him predict enemy movements, identify weak points faster, and master resource management (like rationing his lighter fluid). It would make him a perfect support character, the Oracle. Downside: He remains physically frail against melee threats.
Option B: Balance Physicals (1 each to Str, Dex, Sta). This would give him baseline competence across the board. He could run, climb, and fight slightly better. Downside: He excels at nothing and his Mind advantage remains minimal.
Option C: Focus on Stamina and Dexterity. Stamina was essential for enduring the cold, resisting poisons (which were coming), and outrunning enemies. Dexterity was crucial for platforming and dodging.
Leo mentally shook his head, a grim smile playing on his lips. This wasn't Dark Souls; this was Tomb Raider. The early game demanded two things: endurance against the environment and precision to exploit traps and movement.
He settled on a calculated, two-pronged approach.
[Attribute Allocation Log]
* +1 Point to Stamina. Rationale: Immediate survival. Stamina governs resilience to the environment (hypothermia, cold, rain) and general health. Yamatai is trying to kill him with exposure before the bad guys even get a chance.
* New Stamina: 6
* +1 Point to Dexterity. Rationale: Crucial for early mobility. It enhances climbing, balancing on treacherous terrain, and dodging attacks. This synergizes perfectly with the Quick-Time Reflexes skill.
* New Dexterity: 6
* +1 Point to Mind. Rationale: Maximizing the Meta-Strategist trait. Every point in Mind would make his meta-knowledge faster to process and more accurate in real-time. This is his unique edge over Lara and the entire hostile environment.
* New Mind: 6
The System flashed, acknowledging the
allocation..
[Attribute Allocation Complete!]
[New Base Stats:
[Strength: 5]
[Dexterity: 6]
[Stamina: 6]
[Mind: 6]
[Level Up Protocol Finalized. EXP Bar Active!]
Leo felt a subtle but profound change ripple through his body. His constant shivering subsided. His muscles, though still aching, felt less leaden. Most strikingly, the chaotic noise of the jungle—the wind, the dripping rain, the distant waves—coalesced into a kind of low-level map in his mind.
He could hear better. He could process the threat vectors faster.
The System was silent now, leaving him only with the persistent, glowing EXP bar resting just below his line of sight, like an immutable heads-up display.
He opened his eyes. The world looked... clearer. He could almost see the geometry of the rocks, the slickness of the moss, and the tiny, almost invisible tracks of small animals in the dirt—all potential survival resources. The Meta-Strategist trait was no joke.
Lara stirred and sat up, rubbing her temples. She looked immediately at the fire, then at Leo.
"We need to move. Dawn is coming, but the weather isn't letting up," she said, her voice gravelly. "I heard a noise outside a few minutes ago—something large moving through the trees."
"Could be an animal. Could be a Solarii patrol," Leo replied calmly. He stood up, stretching his new, slightly more flexible body. He felt ready. "I think the patrol is more likely. They'll be checking the wreckage for survivors and supplies."
He bent down and picked up a sharp-edged rock, testing its weight. "We need more than that pipe, Lara. We need to scavenge what we can before the Solarii strip the beach clean."
Lara stood, gripping her pipe. "The beach is too exposed. If they have bows, we're targets."
"We stick to the high ground, then," Leo countered, his Mind (6) already calculating the most efficient route. "We move parallel to the beach, through the upper forest line. We can monitor the debris field from above, and if we spot anything, we drop down, grab it, and retreat."
Lara studied the terrain, then looked at him with an expression of grudging respect. "You're thinking like a tracker, Leo. You're not just guessing."
"Survival is a mental exercise, Lara," he said. He didn't have to lie this time; his strategy was genuine. "We're two brains against an island full of bad luck."
They moved out of the cave, the faint, bruised light of dawn making the world look metallic and dangerous. Leo took the lead, trusting his new perception and his meta-knowledge of the local ecology.
They followed the uneven tree line. The ground was treacherous—slick mud, rotting leaves, and sudden drops hidden by dense foliage. But Leo, with his increased Dexterity (6), moved with a controlled, almost cat-like grace, placing his feet with a precision that surprised even himself.
This feels like the advanced platforming tutorial, he mused internally. The pathing is almost visible.
His Mind (6) was constantly working, mapping the environment.
Water source nearby, contaminated, needs boiling.
That heavy log could be pushed down the embankment—a potential trap or deterrent.
The trees here offer excellent materials for a makeshift bow, but we lack the necessary cutting tool (Machete/Axe).
Suddenly, he stopped, holding up a hand.
Lara instantly halted behind him, the pipe raised. "What is it?"
"Footprints," Leo whispered, pointing to the mud. "Fresh. Heavy boots. And not just one set. Three, maybe four. Heading toward the beach."
Lara knelt, examining the prints. "They're too deep. They're carrying something heavy. Supplies, or perhaps... other survivors." Her face tightened with a flash of desperate hope.
"Don't let your guard down," Leo warned. "If they found the supplies, they're Solarii. If they found survivors, those people are already prisoners or dead. We avoid contact."
They continued tracking the patrol from a distance, moving slowly until they reached an elevated position overlooking a small cove.
The sight below was grim.
Two figures in heavy, oilskin coats and hoods—clearly Solarii—were dragging large, waterlogged crates up the black sand. They looked rough, armed with crude knives and short, hooked weapons.
And then Leo saw it: a man in a ripped shirt, barely clinging to a piece of floating debris, trying to crawl ashore. A survivor.
One of the Solarii spotted him and let out a harsh, guttural shout. He stalked over, not with a sense of rescue, but with cold, predatory intent. He kicked the struggling survivor back into the frigid shallows, then raised his crude, rusted knife.
"No," Lara breathed, her hand tightening around the pipe, her entire body tensing with white-hot fury. "We have to help him, Leo!"
Leo grabbed her shoulder, his Strength (5) barely enough to restrain her, but his Mind (6) giving him the mental authority she needed to hear.
"Stop! Look at the terrain!" Leo hissed, pulling her down behind a thicket of ferns. "They have the advantage. We're on open ground. If you charge, they'll flank you, and we'll both die. We have one chance to do this smart, Lara, not just bravely!"
Lara was shaking, torn between her moral outrage and the cold logic of survival.
Leo, peering through the ferns, ran a quick scenario through his mind, leveraging his Meta-Strategist trait.
Scenario 1: Direct Attack (Lara vs 2 Solarii). High probability of failure (55%), high chance of injury (80%). They are armed; she is not.
Scenario 2: Distraction and Attack.
Leo scanned the environment again. The two cultists were focused on the survivor, and they had carelessly piled the heavy crates right at the water's edge, near a steep, slick incline of wet rocks.
"Lara, do you see that heavy wooden barrel they just pulled up?"
She nodded, her eyes glued to the scene below.
"It's near the top of that steep rock. If we can roll it down, it will gain momentum and hit them with enough force to incapacitate or kill at least one. It's a classic environmental hazard setup."
"It's too far," Lara argued, looking at the distance. "And it's too heavy for one person to move without making a lot of noise."
"It's not too far for a rock," Leo countered, his mind fixated on the principle of physics-based traps he knew the game used. He found a fist-sized, sharp stone and lobbed it up the incline, testing the trajectory and distance. It landed with a dull thud right beside the barrel.
"You'll create too much noise," Lara worried.
"We have no choice! Get ready to move the moment that barrel rolls," Leo instructed, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm. He pulled out his Zippo lighter again. "I'm going to create the distraction, you create the hazard."
He took a deep breath. His Dexterity (6) was focused on one task: precision throwing. He aimed for a small patch of moss and dried vines draped over a dead branch, twenty feet above the Solarii.
He struck the Zippo, igniting the small flame. With a snap of his wrist, he threw the lighter hard and fast. It was an impossible throw, but his new Dexterity gave him the edge. The Zippo tumbled through the air, landed perfectly on the dry patch of moss, and flared briefly, setting the moss alight.
It wasn't a huge fire, but it was a sudden, unexpected flash of light and smoke high up on the cliff.
"Hey! What's that?" one of the Solarii yelled, looking up, momentarily forgetting the struggling survivor.
That was Leo's cue. He bolted from the fern cover, sprinting toward the top of the incline near the barrel, using the moss fire as cover. Lara, seeing his reckless commitment, followed, pipe in hand.
Leo slammed into the barrel, putting every ounce of his new Strength (5) and Stamina (6) into the push. It didn't budge. It was too heavy.
"It's stuck!" he grunted, straining.
Lara was instantly beside him, pressing her shoulder against the wood. "On three!"
"One! Two! Three!"
They shoved simultaneously, both exhausted and powered by pure, frantic adrenaline. The barrel finally broke free, rolling slowly at first, then picking up terrifying speed as it crashed down the slick rocks.
CRASH!
It slammed into one of the Solarii—the one closest to the water—with a sickening crunch. The cultist didn't even scream; he was simply swept under the barrel and into the churning tide.
The second Solarii spun around, knife raised, eyes wide with confusion and fury. He had momentarily lost track of the survivor, only to find two new ones—a young woman with a pipe and a breathless young man—standing above him.
Leo pointed past the cultist toward the survivor, who was now crawling slowly back onto the beach. "Lara, the guy! Go!"
He knew he had to keep the second cultist distracted. Leo didn't have a weapon, but he had something better: Mind (6).
The cultist charged, a furious roar tearing from his throat.
Leo didn't try to dodge entirely. He sidestepped, letting the cultist's momentum carry him past. As the cultist lunged, Leo activated his new skill, timing it perfectly:
Quick-Time Reflexes (Active) Triggered!
The world slowed to a crawl. The cultist's knife blade, rusted and sharp, was a hair's breadth from his stomach. Leo saw the rotation of the knife, the wide, ungaurded arch of the cultist's body, and the perfect moment for a counter.
In that extended second, Leo spun and delivered a brutal, snapping head-butt right into the cultist's exposed jaw. It wasn't powerful (his Strength was only 5), but the precision and timing were perfect, amplified by the System.
The cultist stumbled, disoriented, the QTR window ending as the world snapped back to real-time.
Lara, who had managed to drag the half-drowned survivor to safety, saw her opening. She raced back, the pipe a blur of motion, and delivered a devastating blow to the cultist's temple.
The Solarii dropped like a stone, unconscious or dead.
Leo stumbled back, gasping, checking his body for injuries. The cultist's knife had grazed his jumper, but the attack had failed.
[Host: Leo]
[Enemy Defeated: Solarii Scavenger (Melee)]
[EXP Gained: +100]
[Sub-Mission Complete!]
[Objective: Neutralize Hostile Threat (Early Encounter)]
[Reward: +50 EXP]
Leo leaned over, sucking wind. One hundred and fifty EXP. His first major step in progression.
Lara stood over the unconscious cultist, the pipe lowered, her chest heaving. She looked at Leo, her eyes wide, a strange mix of horror at the violence and exhilaration from the fight.
"You… you ran right into his knife," she whispered. "But you moved... I've never seen anyone move like that."
Leo forced a weak smile, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head from the head-butt. "Just a really good head-fake, Lara. Now, let's take his gear and get out of here. We have a survivor to stabilize."
He grabbed the Solarii's knife—a rough, functional blade—and looted a small, sealed pouch. He didn't check the contents; he only cared that he had a weapon and a bag.
Lara looked at the knife in his hand, then at the terrified survivor they had saved, then back at Leo. Her wary respect had just solidified into something far closer to partnership.
The sun had finally broken through the clouds, illuminating the deadly, beautiful jungle. They had survived their first real combat encounter. The game had truly begun.
Chapter End.