Propagate: A survival litrpg

Day 10

I've decided a few things after I passed out last night.

First of all, I've named the dark crystal ‘hexsidian’, because it looks like obsidian, and it curses people. Other than that, I'm going to hold off on ranking up my skills for now, except for one. [Sense of self] it almost seems like it hasn't done much, it's very passive. Don't let that passiveness fool you though, I absolutely would have died multiple times without this skill. I think it's tapping into the system and feeding me knowledge in the form of intuition. Either way, this skill is kind of my calling card, or trump card? But I think trump cards have to be active..

< [2nd] Tier [Sense of Self] Has ranked up into [3rd] tier: [Existential Empower]- A being is composed of three parts. The soul, the vessel, and the body. This skill strengthens the vessel, empowering the connection of the soul and the body. >

Ah yes, incredibly vague once again! Knowing this system, that means this skill is super strong! It's still passive though, and I have a feeling it's gonna stay that way.

Class - Survivor | lv 21/25 2006/2100 xp *

Race - Modular Human m

Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+3)

Name - Maximilian Condition- Curse of Soul Fray

Hp- 1900/3800 (1/2)

SkP- 2 Stp- 0 Souls- 111 7 0

Special Skills -

Existential Empower ||| lv1/20

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Corruption Resistance ||| lv1/20

Class Skills -

Desperate endurance | lv2

Emplacement 2/3 | lv1

High Hound | lv1

Defense Orientation | lv4

I don't feel different at all.

While i've been doing this, i've been organizing and stacking all of the wolf material brain-washed-me tirelessly dismantled for me last night. Looking at the sheer volume of everything, I understand why my arms hurt so much last night. What I don't understand however, is how my [int dismantling] isn't maxed out?! I got it to lv4 by butchering like ten monsters. You're telling me I didn't max it out by doing a hundred of these damn wolves? Now that just doesn't add up. My only guess is that I get less skill xp the more I dismantle the same thing.

I sigh as I finish stacking the folded wolf pelts into a neat pile right next to about eight other heaps of wolf pelt. I have another stack dedicated to the greater wolves and the commander. I actually couldn't dismantle the cannon wolves, at least, without a masters degree in mechanical engineering. They were more machine than monster, a weird mix of internal organs and reactive metal. Even their brains had some sort of non organic matter mixed into it, the brain was hard, like plastic. I have no clue how this thing was made. Can anything make something like this? It couldn't have been born, and I don't think humanity is capable of engineering something like this.

I'm not saying that because it's so complicated, though it's absolutely out of my understanding. I'm sure a few nutjobs that dedicate their lives to this sort of thing could figure out how it works. What has me so confused is the mix of organic and inorganic. It just seems so impossible, so seamless. I'll chalk it up to the hand of god and move on, no use dwelling on something I can't do anything about.

After my little excursion last night.. It's finally rooted into my mind just how little I know about this world. And I won't figure things out about this place if I stay cooped up on this little island of mine. Diamonds are made under pressure, even I'm perceptive enough to see how much more I grow in and after fights.

I had a terrifying thought.. What if I lost access to the system? This status of mine has carried me throughout my whole experience in this world. If I somehow lose it.. I'm screwed. It's a death sentence. That might be impossible, but again, I know so little about this world that I can't come to a real conclusion about anything. The common sense between my world and this one is completely different.

For this reason, I'll leave. I'll leave this island, and go on an adventure to learn about this world, but my true purpose is to find people. If there are people, I need to invest my everything into them. But if this is a world of monsters only… I need to let go of that hope, and prepare for my hopeless future. I want to know so badly. Am I alone here? I need to know. I have this weird, foreign drive. A desperation to find people, even though I haven't even been alone for that long. I guess its true what they say about humans being social creatures.

Obviously, it'd be a much better move to just hole up in my home and power level for awhile. Get stronger and then go outside, but I have this unnatural, desperate feeling. Like if I dont talk to someone soon, ill go insane. my intuition is all I have to go on in this world, and it hasn't led me astray yet. it might be a big mistake, but you know what they say; Suffering builds character!

That's why I need to prepare for my trip. Even though it's a waste to leave after I just made my house, I have no choice. I stare into my knife, more of a short sword than anything else. The multicolored blade shows my mildly distorted reflection.. I've seen better days.

My armor is worn and unworking in many places. It's time for an upgrade. Using my impossibly thin blade, I cut between my shirt and the metal plate. I cuss out past me as I carefully thread my knife through the glue. Once done, I move on to the shoulder pauldrons and the back. Once done, I get a good look at both my tattered shirt, and myself.

I look closely into the distorted mirror from my knife and look at myself properly for the first time in over a week.

“... I have abs?”

Not exactly, but any.. ‘Extra fat’ I had before was completely seared away. I was now solidly built, and my already thick arms were taut with muscle instead of loose flesh. My hands were pretty average before, but now they are way bigger, actually, am I bigger? I can't really tell. I was 6’2 before, just how tall am I now? My face is still.. A little better? What? That's not right, I surprisingly look a little pleasant, what's my charm?

< Charm 11 {locked} >

“System, explain.”

“Damn, I really did just ignore that part huh? “

…I've gotten distracted again.

My plan is to use the commander wolf pelt to make a cloak, because even with this “knife” it still took a bit of force to make incisions on the pelt. I know I'm downplaying the wolf quite a bit, but it’s hard not too, the knife is just too good.

The knife itself is purple with splotches of darker purple and slices of black swirling within. The crystal blade is a few inches longer than a foot, and is oval shaped at its tip. The handle is this smooth dark stone, it looks like the volcanic rock that made up the gash I saw near the hexsidian crystal. It doesn't have a guard, just the handle, and a black x shaped binding. The blade itself is both impossibly thin, sharp, and durable. I have a feeling it becomes better the thinner the crystal is. Which obviously defies physics, but I fought a gun porcupine, so anything goes in this world.

The rest of my armor consists of lizard scale forearm guards and some skin I put over my shoes and halfway up my shins. The shoes are fine, though I know the armor would barely do anything anyways. The arm guards, however, are completely destroyed. My left is just straight up gone, while the right is in tatters.

For my new armor, I have some plans. My chest piece will be a combination of the commander wolf's skull, as well as the greater wolf's rib bones. This armor will focus on preventing blunt force damage, as well as puncturing. It's not made to block arrows or acid, but things like bites or claw strikes I should be able to resist.

I have no intention of ever taking off this armor, so I will not design for that. For my arm and shin guards, I'm cycling between three designs.

Break rib bones into 3 pieces, then tie a bunch of them together (somehow), and wrap that around my arm/leg, forming a tight spiral of bone.

Make a cuff out of spinal columns/ leg bones, make a flexible blanket of bone so it can move, then wrap it around whatever body part.

1 or 2 but skip the complicated shit and just glue it to my clothes again.

The problem with #3 is that I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt, so I’d have to glue that crap to my skin, and uhhhh.. I don't wanna do that.

For #1, I could tie it together with bind twine. But my fear is that during an attack they could get cut. I also had an idea to make small holes in the rib bones, using a needle made of hexsidian. The problem is, that will take a long time, could compromise the integrity of the bone, and the string I'd have to use would be so thin, it would be super weak.

I have a similar issue with #2, I don't know how I would connect the bones together.

Well, for now I'll work on my wolf cloak. My plan is to imbed wolf teeth into the sides of the split. You know how jackets open up? That's what I call the split. I don't know what the actual word for it is..

Ah, I should mention. I described the angler wolves to have, well, the teeth of angler fish. But for some reason, the commander and greater wolves looked like normal wolves, well, minus the eight eyes and crown of horns..

Similar to other deep sea creatures, they had multiple layers of shark teeth. So now I have plenty of arrow material. Though I'll definitely make a few arrows out of the hexsidian.

I'll imbed the wolf/shark teeth into the left side of the split, and then make little pockets in the right side, like the loops you would put a belt into. I'll make notches in each shark tooth, so they get stuck in the loops. That way, I can open and close the cloak easily but slowly. It'll have to do until I learn how to make a real zipper.

---

While I was making my cloak, I had an idea for my arm and leg armor. I'll go with a combination of 1 and 3. But first, I'll wrap leather around my arms and legs, and then i'll glue the rib bone fragments to that, making sure the ribs are as tight and compact as possible.

It's been about three hours, and my cloak is now complete. It's not super comfortable, but it doesn't irritate my skin so I'll deal with it. On the bright side, I can't feel the wind through it at all, the temperature suddenly went from slightly chilly to perfectly neutral. As for the design, it's simple, but very.. Savage.

I made sure to include a hood, and I stitched in a ring of the shark like teeth, like a necklace or collar, using bindweed in an x pattern. It looks really good. So good in fact, I put even more decoration on it. I put the two biggest greater wolves ' skulls on each shoulder. I did the ‘tooth zipper’ idea I thought about before, and I threaded even more teeth into the bottom of the cloak. They sit about two inches from the ground, but they are much looser than any of the other teeth, so they sway in the wind much more.

Once I completed the cloak, I ran over to the river to get a better look at myself. It might be a bit conceited to say, but I look badass! Now for the extremity guards..

First of all, I need some leather. I have materials from a couple different monsters I hunted like five days ago, but I want some high quality, fresh material.

Which means it's hunting time!

I want to get this over with fast. [Dash]!

In an instant, I rocket off into the forest, tracking any monsters that seem more reptilian in nature. Soon, I come across a small clearing, taken up by a huge monster, it's twice as tall as me, and has two heads! Actually, it reminds me of the thicket lizards!

I flash in front of it, the lizard dragon doesn't have enough time to react as I cleave my knife through the left head's neck. I can tell instinctually that the wound was shallow, and with only twenty seconds left with my [dash], I ran to a tree without looking back and [lept] into the higher branches.

I crouch down and ready my bow, pulling back three arrows I aim at its eyes, and fire! Its head ducks down, the top and middle arrow miss, with the lower arrow pinging off its plate like armor. It roars in fury and starts slowly trotting towards the tree, its massive frame clearly slowing it down.

It seems to be a melee tank type. Resistant to attacks and then destroying its opponents in melee. Its claws are pretty large, but it doesn't seem to have any ranged attacks. I feel pretty impatient today, so I'll end it with this.

I pull out the special arrow I made, and carefully coat it with poison. The last arrows were fired as a test shot, so I didn't poison them. I pull back the arrow, and use [power shot] to further increase its strength. That familiar orange glow coats both my bow and arrow, and I release the glowing bow string and watch the energized arrow whistle through the air.

The arrow pierces through the right head. It slams through its armor, the arrow head peeking through its jaw, the right head slams to the ground dead. I can tell from [Toxicology] that the poison won't spread through its entire body, though it will certainly weaken it. I resolve to wait for its decline before finishing it off. Until I see it bite into the dead head's neck, and rip it off. With the dead weight gone, it begins running away.

I became infuriated, and started chasing it. It's faster than I thought, but still not faster than me. I glide through the air, jumping from tree branch to tree branch like tarzan. I wasn't just going after it though, I was slowly landing on lower and lower branches. Once the cooldown for [power shot] was up, I lept upon it, and severed its last head in the same spot I had struck before. The sheer kinetic force behind the blow, along with the weakened spot, easily beheaded the beast and it came to a rough stop, tumbling over itself without the mind to control itself.

As I leapt over to collect the beast's body, I mentally thought that I should make a holster for my knife, instead of just shoving it in my waistband every time. With my inhuman strength I lugged the beast over my head, and began the short trek back home.

< you have leveled up! LV21 -> Lv22 | +1 SkP +3 StP>

<[Toxicology] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv4>

<[Dash] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv4>

<[Acrobatics] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>

<[Targeting] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>

<[Power Shot] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2>

Class - Survivor | lv 22/25 386/2200 xp *

Race - Modular Human m

Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+3)

Name - Maximilian Condition- Curse of Soul Fray

Hp- 1900/3800 (1/2)

SkP- 3 Stp- 3 Souls- 112 8 0

Special Skills -

Existential Empower ||| lv1/20

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Corruption Resistance ||| lv1/20

Class Skills -

Desperate Endurance | lv2

Schematica (⅔) | lv1

High Hound | lv1

Defense orientation | lv4

Passive Skills -

Simple Crafting || lv10/10

Multishot || lv5/10

Tracing || lv6/10

Int Dismantling || lv9/10

Grinding || lv5/10

Greater Deft || lv7/10

Toxicology || lv4/10

Targeting | lv2/10

Long Strider | lv1/10

Body Strengthening | lv5/5

Acrobatics | lv2/5

Regeneration | lv1/5

Terrain Sense | lv2/5

Active Skills -

Dash | lv4/5

Leap | lv2/5

Power Shot | lv2/5

Resistances -

Greater Pain res || lv1/10

Shadow res | lv1/5

Stats - (+5 phys) (+3A)

Strength 34

Speed 38 (+5A)

Stamina 35

Dexterity 56 (+35)

Intellect 33

Sense 56 (x2) (+35)

Vitality 19 (½)

Charm 11 {Locked}

I try to keep at least one skill point on me at all times, which is why I didn't evolve all three skills at once yesterday. Now that I have an extra, I'll go ahead and rank up [Body strengthening] and [Simple crafting], ah, and also put those three stat points into strength, every little bit helps with this heavy bastard..

< [1st] Tier [Body Strengthening] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Body Reinforcement]- increases the level ceiling, and strengthens the body's defenses.>

< [2nd] Tier [Simple Crafting] Has ranked up into [3rd] tier: [Complex crafting]- Greatly increases crafting ability, bolsters ability to both make plans and craft without them. It becomes possible to create complex ideas without full understanding of the exact mechanisms. Increases workable material rank limit, now including metal. >

Once home I begin dismantling the lizard dragon. It only takes me half an hour as I only want the hide for leather. I prod my new [complex crafting] skill, and ask it how to strengthen the leather, tanning I believe it's called. The skill seemed to push up its glasses, as information flooded into my mind, detailing the process, and providing me with a list of resources.

The first step was to dry out the hide, though I didn't need to do much, as the skin had already dried out by the time I had finished skinning the beast. Next I have to submerge it in a special solution. There's a plant combination I can use to copy the formula, so I use [Tracing] to look for the ingredients.

I combine all of them, mashing up and straining all sorts of weird grasses and vegetables. I have to wait for it to dry out so I can powder it.

In the meantime, I need to fill a pool with water to bathe my hide in. so, I used my so-far barely used shovel that I made for my house, and dug out a rectangle about four feet long and three feet wide.

Oh wait, how will I get the water in here?

Okay, uhh.. I'll make a bucket! I hollow out a disconnected tree stump, and coat the inside with glue. Then, I make like a billion trips from the river and back into the square. I also coated the square with glue beforehand, so don't worry about the water leaching into the ground.

Once full, I realize the solution hasn't dried out at all. It's at this moment [complex crafting] chimes in, saying that it'll take at least a day.

..why didn't you say that before!!!

---

Day 10

Okay, it's day time now, the solution has dried out, so I grind it into powder and.. The water in the square evaporated. I sure am glad that little bit of physics carried over to this world. Sigh.. I'll get the bucket..

An hour later, the now full square, slightly cloudy from the tanning powder, was filled with the hide.

So, how long will this take?

[Complex Crafting]: at least three days.

You mother fu-!!!!

---

Day 13

It's not like I've been doing nothing this whole time. I've been doing a bit of hunting, and the survival bonus finally came in, netting me 912 xp. Other than that, I've made a real oven. I've stacked stones on top of each other, with some stone rods on top as the grill. Held together with glue of course.

Besides that, I've made walls. I stabbed like 30 tree trunks into the ground. I've walled off all the other entrances between the stone barricades. I made a storage rack out of sticks and bindweed, as well as chairs, a table, and multiple unlit torches using more weird plants.

I've also finished making my ‘master’ arrows. It's the same type as the one I used to kill the lizard dragon. When I made the hexsidian knife, the pillar of crystal I made it out of barely lost any material. I still have a lot of hexsidian left. I even went back to that place with the original pillar of hexsidian. I call it: The Gash.

I harvested more of that smooth stone. It's really weird, the whole rock is like a bunch of fibers stuck together, with a smooth sheet covering it, like cable. It has good synergy with the hexsidian. So, I combined the ‘volcan stone’ and the hexsidian into five master arrows. Then I turned the rest into eight throwing knives. Apparently, [multishot] doesn't just apply to arrows.

I'll use this leather to make a belt and a sheath, along with my wraps.

For the third step, I need to lay the wet hide over a table, and work the hide. For the next hour or so, I “lovingly” beat the fuck out of the hide. I took out my frustration on the hide, feeling it soften slightly with every beating.

For the second last step, I have to smoke it. Luckily, I've already prepared a smoking area. In fact, I've already smoked a lot of meat in preparation for my journey. This process will take eight hours. This time, I read through all of the directions before starting, which is baking 101.

In the last four days, I've taken up meditation. And knitting. I'm serious! Even the system acknowledges me!

< Acquired Skill: Meditation >

< Acquired Skill: Stitching >

Oddly enough, meditation is listed as an active skill. I don't really know what it's supposed to do, other than assisting in my leisure.

I easily meditate to pass the time. I don't get bored at all. My mind feels fresh, and during this peaceful time, I think about my past. I reminisce about the olden days. I miss it.

Eight hours later with renewed conviction, I take the smoked leather and begin the final step; oiling. Despite the frustration I have towards it, I would feel regretful using an incomplete product due to laziness. During the last four days, I had laboriously collected all the materials for a luxurious oil. Don't ask what it's made of.. You don't want to know..

I lay the hide on the table and begin rubbing down the entire hide. Working it, and putting time into the process. Dusk approaches as I look upon my work. The leather is stunning. What was once a dull, grassy color had become a vibrant emerald green, shimmering like a jewel.

My eyes are so incredible I can work perfectly fine even in the dead of night. I begin stripping the leather, fashioning a belt and loops for the various knives and poison vials. I then made a fancy leather holster for my knife, decorated with smaller wolf bones and volcanic stone.

Then, I make two more belts, wrapping them around each shoulder, crossing in an x pattern across my chest, both attached to my belt. I then connect the shoulder straps to the cloak, sticking a bone through the strap and cloak, piercing through the wolf skulls on my shoulder, making them look like horned wolves. I wouldn't want my cloak falling off mid fight.

Wasting no time, I wrap the strips of leather around my arms and legs, making sure they are comfortable but functional. Then, I take the prepared bones and begin binding them to the leather, circling around the leather in a spring shaped skeleton.

Hours pass, I craft gloves out of the perfect leather, putting claws on top of the knuckles. Once done, I put on the finishing piece, the chest armor. Fashioned out of the commander wolf's skull, with dozens of ribs stretching out and wrapping around me.

I curved some of the wolf spines into hooks, and I hung two quivers onto them on the left and right sides, tightly secured and perfectly symmetrical.

I stare into the forest.

Once dawn comes. I will leave this place, and venture far outside. What challenges will I face, what obstacles will I need to overcome? I won't know until I see it for myself, but this is my opportunity to see the world, and see if there's hope for me after all.

I can feel the temperature changing. Fall is coming, I hope I find what I'm looking for, wherever it may lie.