Consciousness returned slowly, not like a wave, but like droplets of water gradually filling an empty vessel. The first thing Kenzo became aware of was the warmth of a coarse blanket covering him and the strange, yet soothing, scent of herbs in the air.
He forced his eyes open. A low, thatched roof greeted him, not the forest canopy. He was lying on a simple bed inside a small, dimly lit hut. His body felt incredibly weak, every muscle aching.
[Welcome back, Host.] Prometheus's voice sounded in his mind. [Your biological system has stabilized. Most of the toxin has been successfully neutralized by an externally administered substance. Based on the light-dark cycles, you have been unconscious for approximately two days.]
Two days. Kenzo processed the information. He wasn't dead. He'd been saved.
A shadow moved in the corner of the room, and an old woman stepped to his side. Her face was a map of deep wrinkles, a testament to a long life, but her eyes were clear and sharp. She was one of the villagers Kenzo had seen before. The woman placed the back of her wrinkled hand on Kenzo's forehead, checking his temperature.
She then said something in a soft, questioning tone. Her words flowed like an alien music, not a single one of which Kenzo understood. The language barrier stood firm between them.
Kenzo could only shake his head slowly, trying to smile to show his gratitude. The woman seemed to understand. She nodded, then walked to a small hearth and returned with a steaming bowl of warm broth.
Helping Kenzo sit up, she offered him the bowl. "Supu," she said slowly and clearly, pointing at the broth. Then, she pointed to a glass of water on the bedside table. "Akva."
Though weak, Kenzo's mind went to work. Supu. Akva. This was his first lesson. He nodded and repeated the words in a hoarse voice. "Supu... Akva." When he tried to mimic a third word that sounded like "good," he mispronounced it, which made Elara let out a small chuckle before patiently correcting him. The moment felt warm and real.
[The word "Supu" has a 99% correlation with liquid nutrients. The word "Akva" has a 99% correlation with H2O. Data stored in the temporary lexicon.]
The woman smiled, seemingly pleased with Kenzo's response. She then picked up some wilted leaves from the table the remains of the herbs she had likely used to treat him—and showed them to him, then pointed toward his mouth. The message was clear: this poultice had saved his life.
A feeling Kenzo hadn't felt in a long time bloomed in his chest: indebtedness. On Earth, debt was a threat, a cold number collected with angry shouts over the phone. Here, debt was the warmth of broth and a wrinkled hand that cared for him without asking for anything in return. For the first time, he wanted to repay a debt not out of fear, but out of sincere gratitude.
Over the next few days, under the care of the old woman he learned was named Elara, Kenzo's strength slowly returned. He spent his time observing the village life from the hut's window. He saw the little girl he'd met in the forest, Lina, playing cheerfully. He saw the men, including the leader of the search party named Borin, return from the woods with game.
Prometheus worked silently, passively absorbing every overheard conversation, every interaction, building an increasingly complex language model in Kenzo's mind.
On the fifth day, Borin came to visit. The sturdy man brought a few orange-colored fruits as a gift. He smiled warmly upon seeing Kenzo was able to sit up on his own.
Their communication was clumsy, a mix of the few words Kenzo had learned and a great deal of sign language. Borin asked how Kenzo was. Kenzo replied with a nod and the word "good."
After the pleasantries were over, Borin's expression turned more serious. He led Kenzo to the hut's doorway and pointed toward the simple wooden fence that encircled their village. On one side, the fence was in ruins. Several posts were broken, and there were brutal impact marks on its fragile boards.
Borin then mimicked the angry snort and charging motion of a boar with his head.
Kenzo understood immediately. The Stone Boar. The creature that had nearly killed him was a real and regular threat to this village. The fence was their only defense, and it was clearly not enough.
[Material: Standard wood. Low structural integrity,] Prometheus analyzed from a distance. [Incapable of withstanding repeated kinetic force from the previously observed organism. Repairing it with the same method and materials will only result in the same failure.]
It was then that Kenzo saw his opportunity. He had no strength, no money, and no hunting skills to repay his debt. But he had something else. Something no one else in this world possessed.
"Wait," Kenzo said, the one word he knew would get Borin's attention.
He grabbed a piece of charcoal from near the cold hearth and, before the bewildered Borin and Elara, he began to draw on the clean wooden floor.
First, he drew the current wooden fence, then drew a large 'X' over it. A failure.
Next to it, he didn't draw a thicker fence. He drew something smarter. The sharp, logical charcoal lines looked stark against the worn, uneven wooden floor of the hut. He drew a deep trench in front of the fence. Then, at the bottom of the trench, he drew a row of hidden, sharpened wooden stakes, pointing upwards. A simple defensive design from Earth's history, a death trap for anything that tried to break through.
He finished his drawing, then looked up at Borin. He pointed to the drawing of the trench, then pointed to himself, and tapped his chest with a look of pure confidence