Day 1.12

August pushed himself back to his feet and moved towards the forest once more—this time, he didn’t intend on going in further than a few meters. He set about picking up any loose sticks, branches, and other forms of wood for the firewood stock.

While he was doing it, he opened the [Menu] and turned his eyes on the two new entries that existed inside [Role].

Ruler

Evader

Leadership

Survival

[Leadership] had some skills unlocked already, and below were more, but they seemed to be greyed out.

Recruit

Recruit a willing participant to your Faction from the world around you.

Exile

Exile a member from your Faction, removing all benefits gained through the system.

Delegate

Set errands and basic tasks to be fulfilled by members of your Faction.

Assign Role

Set Roles for members of your Faction.

The unlocked skills seemed less like actual magic and more like things he could have done before he’d had this strange system jammed into his head. [Recruit], [Exile], and [Assign Role] suggested that he might not be as alone as he once thought. [Delegate] seemed unnecessary for a group that was willing to work together.

Skill Points – 0

371/500 EXP

He’d somehow managed to gain some amount of [EXP], and he wasn’t sure if it was from completing the survival Quest, taming [Efkini], or creating the [Lean-to] and [Basic Campfire]. The other skills seemed to require skill points to unlock them, some of which required more than one.

Ruler I – 0/10

Others are more willing to follow you; +1 Population limit.

It’s like this – 0/1

You can pass on an understanding of a blueprint to a member of your Faction on touch.

Morale – 0/1

Members of your Faction have an easier time maintaining high spirits in the darkest of times.

Replenishment I – 0/5

Members of your Faction will experience an increase to their natural health regeneration and restfulness after sleeping; +10% increase per point, Lasts 2 hours.

August had a flash of insight upon reading the description for [Ruler I]—he backed out of the [Role] page and selected [Faction].

Population – 0

Assigned – 0

Unassigned – 0

Settlements

Lakeside Hovel

He scrunched his nose up at the [Lakeside Hovel] part, feeling a bit offended at his hard work being called something so belittling. The main piece of information he’d been looking for, however, had been the population count.

August had tamed [Efkini], and the population count hadn’t gone up at all. If the [Ruler I] skill increased the population limit, and taming creatures didn’t take up any population count—that had to mean that there was something that would. Had he been wrong about [Summon]? Did it not summon more of these monsters?

What exactly was a [Voithos]?

Even with the new information, he wasn’t sure he could risk it—he continued stripping the forest floor of any useful wood and navigated back to the [Role] menu before checking the [Survival] role.

Health Regeneration I

Health slowly regenerates when out of combat.

Mana Regeneration I

Mana slowly regenerates when out of combat.

Stamina Regeneration I

Stamina slowly regenerates when out of combat.

August frowned; he’d already been regenerating Mana; else, he wouldn’t have been able to tame [Efkini] in the first place. In order for that to occur, it must have already been working in the background.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he’d gone against the order of things by taming a creature before completing the survival quest. But he most likely would have noticed the Mana regeneration regardless—he had used [Analysis] a handful of times already after all, and if he’d used [Burst] at any point in time, it would have become pretty apparent.

Skill Points – 0

371/500 EXP

The [Skill Point] and [EXP] seemed to be shared across roles, which either meant that once it hit [500/500], he would receive a skill point for each listed Role, or it might be that he would receive only a single skill point to use. As opposed to the group-orientated skills inside [Leadership], the skills inside [Survival] were much more individually focused and seemed all the more useful.

Animalistic Charisma I – 0/5

Targets are more susceptible to your charms; Taming Effectiveness is increased by 1 point per level.

Prey I – 0/5

Remaining still decreases the likelihood of being found; +5 bonus to stealth per level.

Predator I – 0/5

Analysis passively detects lifeforms within 2 meters; +2 meters per level.

Increasing his [Taming Effectivness] was probably incredibly important if he wanted to survive here for long, and while he wasn’t yet sure exactly how the [Taming Resistance] worked, he felt comfortable in assuming a higher rating there wouldn’t hurt.

[Predator I] seemed like something that would save his life because being able to tell if there was a monster hiding above him in the trees would most likely save his life as well, or at the very least provide him with a headstart on running away.

[Prey I] was arguably more useful at first glance; running away and hiding was perhaps his only real option at present. It had been the rationale for why he’d chosen [Evader] in the first place; avoiding danger was something he’d need to rely on, and stealth was a big part of that.

August backed out of the Menu again, focusing on picking out useful wood amongst the increasing lack of light. [Efkini] seemed to enjoy being able to use its chains more liberally once more, and the sounds of it sinking deep into the trees followed him as he searched.

He’d been off on his prediction of two hours of light left—it had been less than fifteen minutes, and he was already having trouble seeing. He rushed to collect as much as he could and then turned back, following his compass towards the lake and then using his still-burning fire to navigate back to his camp. August sat down next to the fire and began removing his new collection, sorting it into neat piles to one side of the shelter.

[Efkini] plopped down on the dirt beside him, chirping out a curious note. He wondered if the monster thought it was strange that he appeared to pull all of these things out of thin air. Given that it swung around a forest using chains that emerged from its body—whatever baseline it had for strangeness was likely far different from his own.

“Hey, Ladybug,” August said quietly, turning his head to face the thing. “Your summary said that you ‘subsist’ on ambient Mana—does that mean you don’t eat anything? Do you even have a mouth?”

‘Ladybug’ leaned to one side, putting most of its weight onto one of its spikes, and August couldn’t help but compare it to a dog tilting its head in confusion. He reached for one of the Sadapples in his inventory and then held it out in offering.

Ladybug made no motion to take or really acknowledge the blue fruit. He forced himself to take a bite out of it, hoping that the monster might register the situation as being offered something to eat—his face scrunched up in an uncontrollable grimace at the taste.

“Yeah,” August sighed, “It’s not much of a gift, is it?”

The communication issues between them were going to be a problem, and he turned his mind back to the skills he’d acquired earlier.

“[Delegate]?” August said, trying to call on the command.

Select Target

Select Task

Select Return

[Select Target] only had one option available, [Efkini]. August selected the monster before checking [Select Goal]. Unlike the first menu, this one held a great many options, listing off what appeared to be a hundred different sub-menus.

He searched them for a minute, but the trend was obvious enough—tasks consisted of general duties, searching for things, keeping a lookout, gathering basic materials, guarding places or people, and a whole host of other jobs.

[Select Return] was the condition by which the duty was finished, and it seemed to change based on the previous options. Gathering materials left the finish condition as a flat number while guarding had it change to a duration.

Efkini – Ladybug

Guarding – August Marlow

Duration – Indefinite

The system seemed to pick up on the nickname he’d give the creature, but confirming the [Delegate] conditions didn’t seem to change Ladybug’s behavior in any way, and August couldn’t help but wonder if it had done anything at all.

The light was entirely gone now, leaving just him, the fire and a monster, surrounded by infinite darkness they held all kinds of monstrous creatures. With nothing to interfere with the atmosphere, the stars above were both painfully bright and terribly wrong in their placements.

August wondered if he’d survive the night.