[Dreamer] Chapter Three

After I hit level two, I noticed my Engram Points went from 0 to 10.

Unlocking Stone Tools and the Campfire Engrams for 7 total points, I had only three remaining.

Opening my crafting menu, I memorized the materials I needed to craft a Stone Axe, Spear, and campfire.

The first thing I needed to collect was flint, and, so with the pickaxe in hand, I headed over to a boulder sitting in the field and began whacking away at it with the pickaxe.

+2 Stone

+3 Flint

+4 Stone

+7 Flint

+3 Stone

+3 Flint

+6 Stone

+9 Flint

Noticing a chunk of the boulder disappearing in motes of light with each hit and flowing into the implant in my arm, I wondered just what kind of technology the implant in my arm actually was.

I then used what I had to make a Stone Axe through a Guide.

Once I had an Axe, I began chopping away at trees nearby, getting a decent amount of thatch and wood which I then used to craft myself a campfire and a few spears.

Before I even realized it, it was getting dark out, and I started feeling really cold.

The pack of trikes was still roaming the field and lazing about, so I felt it would be safest to set up camp here, lighting the campfire with some flint and wood as fuel only took a few minutes.

The Trikes were hesitant to come closer to the fire, but I was relieved to see that still remained near.

Not even realizing it, I soon passed out from exhaustion, feeling a bitter and chilling cold on my front, and a nice soothing warmth on my back from the heat of the campfire.

I managed to get a few hours of sleep before the fire went out and I woke up in the dead of the night, feeling a bitter cold and my body going numb due to lack of clothing.

I quickly got to work on starting up another fire, but due to the cold or my sluggish hands, It took nearly half an hour before I got another fire started.

At this time, I noticed that my health actually went down due to how cold it was, if I didn't start a fire before night..I would have frozen to death...

This time, I made sure to put more wood on the flame, in hopes that it would last longer, and after an hour of restlessness, managed to fall back asleep.

Hardly getting any sleep that night, morning soon arose and it slowly started getting warmer as the sun rose on the horizon.

In the middle of the night I hit level 3, and almost immediately used some of the points to unlock Cloth Clothing.

I had my Stone Axe and Pickaxe stored in my inventory, as well as three of the four spears I managed to make last night, as for the last spear, I currently had it close to my person in case I needed to defend myself as I gathered fiber to make some clothes as well as as many berries I could grab which I consumed immediately in my hunger.

When I felt I had enough fiber, I began weaving cloth fiber clothing following the Guide and ended up with a baggy shirt and pants that caused annoying ich.

The engram also included wood sandals, cloth shoes, and cloth headwraps, but due to my lack of hide, I ended up making Wood Sandals, which were as uncomfortable as you would think, and ended up just tossing them to the side not long after due to how uncomfortable they were.

I also made some cloth fiber gloves, which helped warm up my hands and gave me a better grip on my tools and spears.

From there, I began gathering as many berries as possible, eating most of them to get some food in my stomach.

And after eating what felt like a hundred berries, I felt mostly full and energetic.

Then I noticed a young Trike the size of a dog at my feet and without a thought, I brought down my hand that was full of a random assortment of berries, excluding Stim and Narco berries.

Then I noticed something strange.

Just under the baby trike's title, the species name, gender, and level that floated above its head had a new line of words underneath it.

[Tame: 5%]

With each berry, it ate, the percentage only rose, and after it ate all the berries I offered the percentage was sitting at 13%.

Seeing that somehow the baby female trike was being 'Tamed' by just me feeding it berries, I wondered if it would work on the adults as well.

But before I tested that theory, I wanted to see what would happen if I fed the baby trike until it reached 100% tameness.

After a few minutes I managed to raise the number to 40, but it seemed the little guy was now full.

Noting it down in my mind to check on it later, I grabbed more berries and headed over to one of the adult trikes, who always kept an eye on me.

They warily stared at me as I slowly and calmly approached them, with my hand out and full of various berries.

Making sure they did not become aggressive or agitated by my approach, I sighed in relief when I got close enough to reach for the Trike and it began eating from the palm of my hand.

After a few minutes and the Trike ate all of the berries I had, I realized the tame rate was much slower than compared to the baby trike, more than likely due to the Trike before me being that of an Adult.

Deciding to keep gathering more berries, I was surprised to find that not long after, I leveled up again!

[You have leveled up to Level 4!]

Seeing that I had two stat points from Levels 3 and 4, I put one in fortitude, which I assume would help me deal with the cold, I saw it go up from 0 to 10 and immediately felt my hair stand on end and my skin go numb.

When I regained feeling, I noticed the temperature felt much more tame than before, the morning chill was much easier to deal with.

As for the last stat point, I had two options I wanted to improve.

Health and Stamina.

Both for obvious reasons, but what stopped me from immediately choosing Health, was fear of the horrible pain again.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to give improving stamina a try.

Just like Health, it increased by 25, rising to 125.

The only thing I felt from the upgrade was a bit tired, which was much better than the pain I would have felt from improving my health.

Taking a deep breath, I walked over and sat down next to a tree, opening up my interface and looking at the new Engrams available to me.

I had 33 EP at my disposal, gaining 10 at level 2, 15 at level 3, and 20 at level 4, and using 13 EP so far to unlock: Campfire Engram, Stone Tools Engram, and Cloth Clothing Engram.

[Thatch Construction - Level 4 Requirement - 20 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of Thatch structures]

[Hide Sleeping Bag - Level 4 Requirement - 5 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of hide sleeping bags, provides a respawn point]

[Basic Storage - Level 4 Requirement - 5 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of basic storage for the survivor's person or dwelling]

[Basic Trapping - Level 5 Requirement - 5 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of basic traps]

[Slingshot - Level 5 Requirements -3 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of basic slingshots]

[Phiomia Saddle - Level 5 Requirement - 1 EM - Description: Allows for the creation of a basic Phiomia Saddle]

[Preserving Salt - Level 5 Requirement - 1 EM] - Allows for the creation of Preserving Salts]

Looking at the new options available to me on Level 4 as well as the future options Id have by Level 5, I couldn't help but wonder what kinds of things I'd unlock later on in the level if I were to reach such a point.

Taking a deep breath, I considered my current options.

I had 33 Engram points at my disposal and all of the engrams of level 4 only cost 30 Engram Points, thing is, I don't know if it would be wise to unlock everything.

Sure, being able to build a home for myself would be great, but it would also mean that I would stick out like a sore thumb, be easily seen, and leave possibilities for me to be ambushed or attacked.

Unlocking the Hide Sleeping Bag and Basic Storage Engrams left me with 22 points I could use to either unlock Thatch Construction or save until later use, and due to my situation, I felt it would be better to save the points until either I needed to use them, or unlocked another engram that would be useful.

However, there was one line in the description of one of the Engrams that raised concern.

'Provides a respawn point'