Propagate: A survival litrpg

Day 4

I went to sleep right at dawn, and now it's like an hour past noon. I know I said I was going to hunt all day today, but seeing as I don't have much daylight left, I'll be moving onto the island first. After that, I'll focus on making an actual shelter. I'm tired of being eaten alive by bugs every night and sleeping on grass! Although the bug problem isn't nearly as bad as it would be on Earth, it still sucks waking up with bites all over.

As I make my base plan, my skill [Primitive crafting] tells me an actual hut is way out of its price range. But I remember watching some forest building videos on Youtube before, so I can probably just wing it, while using [Primitive crafting] to make pieces of it.

The base idea I have is just a dome made of woven sticks and leaves. A couple large and flexible sticks (or branches) are stuck deep into the ground and then bent into an arc. All of them intersect each other at the top like a star, then I tie them together with bindweed. I might need to make it into twine first though, we’ll see I guess.

After the vertical part, I make rings of much shorter and thinner sticks connecting the branches horizontally, I make each ring like, 2 inches apart? This plan is definitely a draft. One twig in a horizontal arc connecting the vertical branches, make that into a ring connecting all of them, start from the floor and work my way up, making more rings a few inches apart and upward.

I do need to account for a door though, which I can't work out in my head, so I'll Just think about it when I make the hut.

I stand on the beach, and only now do I think; how the hell do I get there? So I decide to walk the perimeter and see if there's an easy entrance, which there isn't, I find after like 15 minutes. [Strider] is already showing its usefulness, cause I'm not tired at all. While there isn't an easy entrance, on the other side of where I discovered the water, and by proxy the island, The river thins quite a bit.

It looks like a swimmable distance, if it was me from 4 days ago that would be quite an overestimation, but now, with my improved stats and [Strider], and probably [Will] too, I can cross it with little trepidation. The only issue is, how will I get my stuff across too? For the record, my 'stuff’ counts as the source crystal, my bow, bedding, and like 200 arrows and more supplies to make them. Stones, sharpened and unsharpened alike, Sticks, some stripped, most not, and like 8 spools of bindweed. [Focus] is crazy.

Actually, since I have so much bindweed, can't I just make a raft? Not for me, that would take way to much effort, but something I could pull along behind me as I swim over there. So I decide to do that. I jog into the local forest bordering the beach, because plains don't exist on this planet apparently, and I look around for fallen branches. The search goes pretty fast, as fallen twigs and ripped-off branches absolutely litter the floor of this forest. Some trees look like they were stepped on by a giant, others torn in half while some had huge 5 fingered claw gashes in its bark. That's not concerning at all. I gathered like 18 three foot long branches and got out of there when the occasional popping and screeching turned into a cacophony of sound, endlessly getting louder and joined by more voices in its chaotic choir. I got the hell out of there, I don't like this forest.

I made the raft. There's really no reason to detail it. I just used like three spools of bindweed to tie the wood together. I put all my stuff on it. Some of the arrows I put on the rolled up leaves and grass bundle I called my 'bedding’, to weigh it down so it wouldn't fly away from the wind. I remembered I would have to deal with wet clothes once I got to shore so I decided not to. Like, I stripped, and put them all in a neat stack next to the source crystal, which I took care to really tie down, and also separate from the wood to keep a mini fire from happening. I found some fire proof plant stuff (courtesy of [tracking] of course) and I crumpled it and put it under the fire source, they were leaves from a very out of place tree. The leaves were the color of smoke, with black veins and orange sparks flecked across it. The bark of the tree looked like burned wood, and maybe it was, but I find it hard to believe leaves would still grow on a smoking tree.

So now I was almost naked in the forest, I still had my underwear on. I don't care if there's no other humans here, I don't want to be balls out in such an open area.

I grabbed the rope of the raft and began swimming out to sea. Well it's not the sea, but you get it. As I did so, I checked my status notifications, [focus] forces them to collapse into a notification menu, so I only level up once I check it.

<[Primitive Crafting] Experience threshold Reached. Lv3 -> Lv4>

Apparently that skill really wanted me to make something other than arrows for once.

<[Deft] Experience threshold Reached. Lv1 -> Lv2 | +3 Dexterity>

So I get plus three every level instead of five? That kinda sucks, but I get it, balance is important after all. It’ll still be really good once it hits level 5 though. Now that I think about it, I wonder what happens at lv5?

Both [Strider] and [focus] activate as I trudge through the water, going slowly but surely. They aren't resonating like my other skills did before though, I wonder what's up with that?

Suddenly, my world expanded, My sense increased, I could feel the water around me, and the fish rushing beneath me. I check my active skill list.

[Focus]- Active | Attention focused and sharpened on objective

[Stride]- Active | Stamina use reduced, movements less costly

[Clarity]- Active | Senses enhanced, spatial awareness mildly increased

I feel an eel brush past my awareness, and I freak out when I feel its sliminess without touching it. As my emotions spike, The skill deactivates, and I sputter to a stop, halfway to the island. I think my heart stopped for a second there. I took a few long breaths as I tread water, I could feel ripples of movement beneath me, and I knew I would be able to see the sea critters beneath me if I looked, which is why I didn't.

I begin going forward again, now riddled with trepidation. The tiniest tinge of dusk arrived by the time I reached the beach, the sun still very visible. I pull the beaten up raft to shore and check my items. The only real hitch in the journey was [Clarity] screwing me over, all my stuff was a bit moist but otherwise dry, while the source was in perfect condition.

Cool.

I pull my raft up the beach, which turns into a gravel beach much to my animosity. I don't have shoes on so the whole journey hurt. I got all my stuff off the raft and started wandering around the island. I can't really tell you the size, but you could put a castle on here, Is that a good indication? Idk man.

I wander around the tall forest, the trees look like slightly red spruce, but the leaves have thorns. Eventually I found some rocks that look like a petrified thorn patch. Huge spikes explode out of the ground, reaching up 10 feet diagonally, While 15 feet wide. Like a wall of spears. It curved down and backward, and I noticed there were a few more of them, in a ring but with huge openings between them. Like a broken down wall, it looked like an earth mage got into a death match here. It looked really cool though.

When I crossed the threshold, into the place the rock spears almost seemed to be guarding, I saw a massive clearing, bordered with saplings across from me. Where I walked in the clearing wasn't very long but quite wide, I'd say 80 feet long forward, and 120ft on the sides. The rocky outcroppings were segmented but put in a half circle formation, It looked deliberate, like barricades.

Right across from me was the wall of shrubs and young trees. Great for base building, I could hear a river flowing from behind it,surely an offshoot of the massive one that kept the island cloistered.

I had been dragging the raft behind me up to this point, my right arm slightly aching from the constant strain. I drag the raft to the center of the clearing, and then leave to go find sticks and kindling, which doesn't take long at all.

I stab sharpened stones into the ground in a ring, about a foot across, then I set the fire source on some dry leaves and cover it in more kindling. While I was out, I also searched for sources of crafting materials, I confirmed there were plenty of bind leaves and rocks I could harvest stones from, I also found these weird diamond shaped fruits, dark purple with pastel spots. [poison detection said it was the most poisonous thing I had seen yet. I decided to gather a few, As I had a plan.

When I fought the lizard, I noticed my arrows could pierce, but the piercing alone didn't do much damage. So, I'm going to mash up the fruit, and coat my arrows in it. Boom, poison arrows. I mash the fruit with a blunt rock against a flatter rock. Then I smear the juices on my arrowheads.

The sky turns gold, as I set up my leaves and grass bed. I border it with heavier stones so the wind doesn't carry it away. Then I take my bow, 40 arrows and 10 poison arrows, and go hunt for dinner. Sunlight filters through the leaves of the canopies hanging overhead, making beams of light illuminate patches of ground. I run through the forest, searching for an easy target, and finally I set my sights on my meal.

A giant frog, covered head to toe in actual metal plates, like a knight. Its spine is covered in sharp ridges and its eyes glow yellow through its metal mask. It's still pretty small though, sitting up it comes up to my knee. The only gap in its armor is for the eyes, which is about an inch wide. I [focus] and wait, I steady my breathing, knock a normal arrow, and pull back. I juice [aim] for everything it has, I focus harder and harder. It sits still, and I fire. The arrow pings ¼ of an inch above its eye holes, and it immediately goes into lock down. Instead of running away like I thought it would, It wraps its body around itself like a roly-poly.

But.. the eyehole is still showing. I'm confused. I knock back another arrow and with less focus, I shoot again. I miss and the arrow pings off its nose. I choke back my confusion and [aim] again. I shoot, I strike. The arrow enters its eye hole and I hear a deep bellow. Must have been its death throes.

< lv9 Bulwark Amphibian Slain 588 XP acquired>

Lv5 | +1 SkP +3 StP>

<[Archery] Experience threshold Reached. Lv2 -> Lv3>

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

“Put all stat points into stamina.”

I trot over to the frog to inspect my kill, Despite [dismantling] telling me, once again, I cant use the materials, I decided to ignore it and drag the frog back any way. I was about to make a stone axe, but maybe I can pound this frog's metal armor into something better.

“Oh yeah! Do that fusion thingy too!”

“Ye.”

< Will, Focus, and Clarity have fused into Special skill: Sense of self || lv set to 2 >

< Congratulations! You are of the first 100 in this Dimlet to acquire this skill! >

< Sense of Self: combines will, focus, and clarity. Provides heightened senses, obtains rudimentary 6th sense, obtains increased sense of the body, and Increased control of the body. Sense stat increased by 5. Increased grace and flexibility. Increased 3d maneuvering. >

I had already dragged the frog back to the stone barricades by the time I really started reading the notifications. I Idly flipped through the screens as I dragged the frog back to my little encampment.

You know that scene in Ratatouille where the chef guy reads the note, and he doesn't really care at first but he slowly starts descending into panic as he really registers what the note says?

Well, that's me right now, jaw to the floor as my brain really registers what my eyes are seeing. I read the first sentence, then I reread it again and again.

“Control.. Sense.. Grace.. 6th sense? 3d Maneuvering!?!? What the hell is this!” I had muttered at first, before my eyes traced across some truly daunting words, and I started shouting into the darkening forest. I've never seen a skill like this, no wonder it's listed as [special]. I thought skills only provided knowledge or boosted stats! And to think, I thought [strider] was a high level skill when I saw it had 2 effects, but this one has 7!

I drag the frog across the threshold of the spear-icaddes and plop down once I'm close enough to the now raging fire. I throw much more kindling into the inferno before I start cutting apart the frog. As I rip the plates off of it, I check my Status.

Class - Survivor | lv 5/25 312/500 xp *

Race - Other World Human m

Name - Maximilian Condition- Nominal, Excited, <[]>

SkP- 0 Souls- 1 0 0

Special Skills -

Sense of Self || lv2/10

Skills -

Primitive Crafting | lv4/5

Archery | lv3/5

Tracking | lv3/5

Dismantling | lv1/5

Sharpening | lv4/5

Poison Det | lv2/5

Aim | lv2/5

Deft | lv2/5

Stride | lv1/5

Class Skills-

Desperate Endurance | lv1

Stats-

StP - 0

Strength 15

Speed 15

Stamina 13

Dexterity 23 (+8)

Intellect 25

Sense 19 ( Sight 5, Touch 3, Sound 4, Taste 3, Smell 4 ) (+5)

Vitality 15

Charm 8 {locked}

Modularity-

Nervous 125% | Immune 125%

My vision has quadrupled, my sense of sound and smell have doubled. I'm not overwhelmed like I feared I would be if I buffed Touch. Now, Rather than being more sensitive, I could feel things with more clarity, I could feel more with less, it's hard to explain, as usual.

[Class Skill] huh? Is it a one time thing, or will I get one every 5 levels? Actually, what does it even do?

< Class Skill: [Desperate Endurance] 3 mins without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. For every level in this skill, these survivable limits are increased by one fold >

< Current bonus: air 6min | water 6d | food 6w >

I really could have used that skill yesterday. But still, that's like.. Really, really good! This skill will significantly increase my chances of survival in this damn forest.

Once I finish tearing off as many of the metal plates as I can, I begin cutting away its flesh, separating its meat and bones, as well as cutting open its stomach and ripping out the organs. I won't eat the head so I throw it far away from my camp, after all, I don't want to lead animals over from the smell of unused meat.

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

Now the skill had stopped being mad at me for handling meat above my level, and started actually directing me. I had been using my experience with the rabbit as a basis of what I should do, obviously messing up and having to wing a few parts of the dissection. Eventually I cut off enough meat for a hearty feast, and I began cubing the meat and putting it onto sticks I had sharpened into skewers.

I had long since changed out of my soaked undies and changed into my cargo pants and shirt, choosing to shurk the underlayer of protection. I had stuck the drenched piece of fabric on a nearby sapling, poor guy.

As I sat near the fire, Waiting for the meat to cook, I looked through the modification menu. Looks like every time I level up a body part, it needs one additional soul per level. My nervous and immune systems needed 2 souls to level up again instead of one. So this time I'll level up a different part. I'll go integumentary this time, which will affect my hair, nails, and most importantly, my skin. I haven't gotten a serious injury yet, and I'd like to keep it that way. I lock in the choice, but I don't make it happen just yet. I'll save the pain for after I eat.

The meat finishes cooking and I tentatively lick a piece of frog to test just how hot it was. I snack on the frog as I lay on my back on the grass. And as I fall asleep, I trigger the modification. As I fall unconscious and the uncomfortable feeling of change washes over me, only a single thought remains.

Well what do you know, frogs really do taste like chicken!