“The cave entrance is secure. I filled up on food and drink,” Nate said to himself as he mentally checked off on his planned preparations for completing his core formation. Check Stats.

“Yes,” Nate said in response to the thought as he pulled up his user interface.

—————————————————

Name: Nathaniel Redsun

Level: 9 (Exp. 1296/900)

Health: 110/110

Energy: 80/0

Primary Class: Calm Survivor (Level 12)

Class Skills:

Survivor’s Need (Passive) (Level 12)

Survivor’s Awareness (Passive) (Level 10)

Survivor’s Resistance (Passive) (Level 14)

Secondary Class: None

Stats:

Speed: 17 Agility: 17

Stamina: 21 Strength: 19

Intelligence: 19 Perception: 23

Wisdom: 21 Will: 23

Stat Points Available: 0

General Skills:

Silent Presence (Passive) (Level 11)

Dark Vision (Passive)(Level 17)

Pain Resistance (Passive)(Level 15)

Bleeding Resistance (Passive)(Level 3)

Infection Resistance (Passive)(Level 9)

Poison Immunity (Passive)(Level 1)

Burn Resistance (Passive)(Level 1)

Fear Resistance (Passive)(Level 12)

Archer’s Sight (Passive)(Level 19)

Duality (Passive)(Level 4)

————————————————

“I only need another twenty units of energy to get to 100. Each beast core has been giving me around four to five energy units, so these eight cores should be more than enough,” Nate said to himself as he continued to cycle through his preparations.

Nate didn’t really keep track of time but these preparations had taken him several months by his guess. His new home had proven to be secure and safe, but that didn’t mean that his time outside was pleasant. Killing enough beasts to get his energy up wasn’t easy.

He had only had one really close call in all of his hunting excursions. A large armored beast had attacked him while he was in the process of removing a core from a pig beast. Thankfully, the beast had only knocked him away before going about eating the corpse of the pig beast. Nate had limped back to his cave home in severe pain, but he managed to survive.

Recalling the whole incident, Nate laughed. Lucky.

“Ya, lucky,” Nate responded to the thought then chuckled at himself at a notification that popped up.

[‘Duality’ has increased to Level 5]

Nate had originally been hesitant about the skill, but it had proven itself over the course of his hunting trips. He had first felt that the secondary thoughts were something akin to an invader of his mind, but he realized that it was actually just a different part of himself. The skill gave him another viewpoint and allowed him to multitask very efficiently. This was most helpful when hunting. As he moved through the wood hunting, Nate could be on the lookout for signs of beasts to kill and lookout for danger at the same time. While it may not seem like a big difference, Nate had noticed that it had significantly speed up his hunting process. Usually, he would have to check the conditions for safety before he could pursue a beast. Now, he could do both at the same time without doing them separately.

With the skill increasing in level, Nate felt like everything was in his favor so he sat down on the floor of his cave and began absorbing the power from the beast cores as he choked them down.

[4 units of Energy obtained]

[5 units of Energy obtained]

[5 units of Energy obtained]

[5 units of Energy obtained]

[1 additional unit of Energy required for Core Formation]

Nate could feel a humming in his head where the core was beginning to form. He took out one of the four remaining beast cores and popped it into his mouth.

[5 units of Energy obtained]

[Core formation beginning...]

[Nanite construction initiation procedure...]

[Modified user protocol running...]

[Nanite core construction start...]

As he listened to the system alerts sounding in his mind, Nate focused on the feeling of something developing in his head. From the feeling, the core was forming somewhere near the base of his brain. The energy from his gut was making its way to his head quite rapidly and a swelling feeling in his head continued to build.

Nate was surprised that the process wasn’t painful. Everything he had gone through before had been painful. But just as his surprise appeared, he began to feel warm. It was like his whole body was burning. Sweat began drenching his clothes. It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortably hot.

The heat from his body continued to grow. Nate had some concern but at the same time, he began to feel drowsy. The feeling of drowsiness was almost worse than the heat. He didn’t want to go to sleep during this ordeal. He wanted to be able to react to any situation if it occurred.

Despite his effort to stay awake, Nate eventually succumbed to the drowsiness and fell asleep.

*************************

Nate awoke to complete darkness inside the cave. Night.

“How long was I out for?” Nate questioned himself. He couldn’t tell, but his assumption was that he hadn’t been out for long. This guess was mostly made off the fact that he felt wonderful. In his past experiences of passing out, his level of hunger and thirst was usually a good indicator of how much time had passed. Feeling so good, he doubted that he had been out for more than a few minutes. However, his previously drenched sweaty clothes were completely dry.

“Doesn’t matter,” Nate said to himself, “I am fine so that’s all that counts.”

Feeling so great had him curious about the other changes he had experienced so he pulled up his user interface to investigate any changes.

—————————————————

Name: Nathaniel Redsun

Level: 10 (Exp. 0/1000)

Health: 100/110

Energy: 0/110

Primary Class: Calm Survivor (Level 12)

Class Skills:

Survivor’s Need (Passive) (Level 12)

Survivor’s Awareness (Passive) (Level 10)

Survivor’s Resistance (Passive) (Level 14)

Secondary Class: None

Stats:

Speed: 17 Agility: 17

Stamina: 21 Strength: 19

Intelligence: 18 Perception: 23

Wisdom: 18 Will: 23

Stat Points Available: 10

General Skills:

Silent Presence (Passive) (Level 11)

Dark Vision (Passive)(Level 17)

Pain Resistance (Passive)(Level 15)

Bleeding Resistance (Passive)(Level 3)

Infection Resistance (Passive)(Level 9)

Poison Immunity (Passive)(Level 1)

Burn Resistance (Passive)(Level 1)

Fear Resistance (Passive)(Level 12)

Archer’s Sight (Passive)(Level 19)

Duality (Passive)(Level 5)

————————————————

Looking over his user interface, Nate was shocked by the level of improvement. Nothing had really changed. The only thing that had changed was his level and energy.

“My energy is empty. Maybe I should absorb the energy from the remaining beast cores and see what happens,” Nate thought.

He started popping beast cores into his mouth one by one.

[5 units of Energy obtained]

[4 units of Energy obtained]

[4 units of Energy obtained]

Once he was done he pulled up his energy display to confirm that the energy was absorbed.

[Energy: 13/100]

“So what do I do with this energy now?” Nate questioned himself. Hunt? Nate glanced up toward the cave entrance. Light from the sun was already beginning to peek into the cave. The early morning was the perfect time to go hunting.

Nate stood up, grabbed his gear and made his way out of the cave.

*************************************

Because of his familiarity in the area, it didn’t take Nate long to find a grove of trees dropping nuts on the ground. He walked up to one of the areas and grabbed a few nuts off the ground. Looking up the tree, Nate tucked the nuts into a pocket and started climbing.

As usual on his hunting trips, he found a perch and readied himself for a group of pig beasts to begin grazing through the grove.

Nate took out one of the nuts and cracked it open. Just as he was about to pop the meaty inside into his mouth, a system alert sounded.

[A skill, ‘Identify, has been created]

[‘Identify’ has increased to Level 1]

“Cool,” Nate said as he opened up the skill information to review.

[Identify (Active)(Level 1)(Exp. 80/100)]

[‘Identify is an active skill that allows the user to see system information on the target. 5 units of energy for each use.]

“Holy shit, an active skill,” Nate was excited to see something new for a change.

“[Identify],” Nate mentally commanded as he looked at the remaining nut in his hand.

[Bur Oak Acorn]

Nate was floored that it actually worked. However, his excitement was quickly cut short. Pigs. Nate looked up from the acorn and glanced off into the distance towards the sound of something coming through the forest. He could see glimpses of black fur that indicated a group of pig beasts was headed his way. Realizing that his chance had come quickly, he readied his bow.

As the beasts neared, Nate decided to test his new skill again and looked at the leading pig, “[Identify].”

[Black Boar]

Excited, Nate looked at another of the boars and used the skill again. Nothing happened. Nate’s excitement had gotten the better of him and he had forgotten that the skill used energy each time it was performed. He didn’t have enough to use identify another time. Pigs. The secondary thought brought his mind back to the task at hand.

The boars had continued to get closer and were now within shooting distance. Nate put his thoughts away and pulled back the bow. The arrow was sent sailing into the lead boar dropping it immediately. Nate had learned that if the lead pig was killed, there was usually one of two outcomes. The remaining pigs would either scatter or just stand around confused. This time, they just stood trying to figure out why their leader had fallen down.

Nate readied another arrow and sent it into the next pig. Similarly, that pig dropped in its tracks. The remaining pig realized something was wrong and darted off into the woods. Nate immediately began climbing down the tree.

It didn’t take long before Nate had two cores in his pocket and a pair of hindquarters strapped to his backpack. He headed back to his cave with a smile on his face.

****************************

Sitting in his cave by the fire he had created eating a roasted pig, Nate truly felt like the pain and struggles had been worth it. His path so far may not have been what he had expected, but he was thankful that he had gotten to experience what he had so far. With a mix of his own experience and what little knowledge he had, Nate had developed a bit of understanding of himself.

With an understanding of himself came an awareness of a lack of understanding of the world. He knew a bit about the dregs of Newcomb City, but that was it. He didn’t know if other cities were different or even if they had other people like him in the wilds. Nate had a desire to know more about the world.

But coupled with that desire for information, Nate carried a fear of what may be out there. He had finally stabilized himself in the wilds. Sure there were risks, but he honestly felt good about his situation. Having a bit of security allowed him to think. So, Nate sat in front of the fire filling his belly and thinking about his goals for the future and the purpose of the Singularity’s system for human advancement.