Waking up in the morning had all the joy of the day after you went to the funeral of your best friend. I learned so much in these dreams, but they hit me with so much emotion that there were times that I didn’t think it was worth it. Today would be one of those days where my morning was me mulling over the dream and working on getting my emotions in check.

I still had to get around to using the two new cores that I made. So while it was going to be a little hard, it wasn’t going to be the worst thing ever. After all, it wasn’t like I needed to go and talk with people today. I just had to make an equipment choice.

After lunch was time to socket some gear. With the speed at which I could now make cores, I figured it was a good idea to take a look at what I’d to see what would happen. I wanted to start to understand what the cores could do and how they work. Since I couldn’t ask Sam as I was out of questions about my gift, I figured I would need to work on some control groups to see what happened. That being said, the first thing I needed to do was to figure out what gear was the most important and would help me the most moving forward.

I’d already put a core in my lean-to, which helped with the first rule of survival. The second rule after shelter was water. While I did have a stream close by, I might see about getting my water skins socketed. I could also see going with some of my tools. If the quality of the starting item mattered, then having better tools would let me make better items, which would allow me to make better items… So I would have to do the test with my early crude stone knife and my well-made one to see if there is a difference. If not, it would make sense to put cores into quickly-made items.

The other thing was the likelihood that these items had been given a core in the past. If a stone knife counted as a knife and a steel knife was a knife, I wouldn’t get the world first for the core. Also, if cores had been put in stone knives, I felt that they hadn’t. If they did count the same, I’d only get a few levels, but I might be able to spawn new ones from my equipment.

I knew that buildings could get cores, but I didn’t know if my training field could, and if it could, where would the core even get put. Same with my swimming pool. I knew that I thought of it as a pool but was it or did it count in this world as just a part of the river. If it was just part of the river, could I give the river the core, and if I did that, what would happen?

Then there was the flip side. Things were so small that I didn’t think the core could fit on like my bone needle or thread. I should try both, but I had no idea what would happen because they were so small. Then there is also the question about just putting a core in a stone or mana stone. Something that I wanted to try at some point.

This brought back the question of what I would give a core to. Since I had no guidelines as to how they should function or what they should do, only that this should help with my problems of remembering earth and not being able to level. I figured that I would go with some equipment to see what happened.

First, I’d socket my best water skin which sadly was the one that Sam gave me to start with. Then I was also going to socket my pack. I figured that those items would help me on the move. Which I’d not been on too much of late as this spot was great for living if short on company.

First up was to make the socket for the water skin and then for the backpack. It took a while to figure out how I wanted to attach the core. I ended up taking the stopper out of the skin and adjusting it to hold the core.

I then carved a mount into the frame of the pack. As I was working on the pack, I realized that I’d not been working on my socketing skill because I thought I’d have to have something to put in. I could work on socketing everything I’d so that I could just put it in when I got the cores. That way, I could drive my skill up to 20. However, I was unsure if there would be benefits to leveling it like that.

I got the core, which once again was almost not there in the way it looked and felt. The thing was as light a tissue but cold and crisp like holding cut quartz. I slid the nickel-sized core into the little setting that I’d carved into the stopper. As it connected, I felt it firm up in my hand. The edges of the setting adjusted themself to fit the core perfectly. The bag felt like it firmed up, and the seams tightened up as well. A second layer formed over the first with thicker leather and a strap that appeared to let it hang on my side.

Item core created

World first!

Beverage storage core!

As your Beverage storage core is the first, it is uncapped in level

Normal Beverage storage cores will be capped at level 2.

As your Beverage storage levels, its helpfulness increases.

I opened up the interface to see what this Beverage storage core could do.

General

Showing up in all gold.

Arn’s Beverage storage

Level 0

Type item core

Class Ultra Rare

Durability 100/100

This is Arm’s beverage storage container. While it does let you drink directly from the storage skin, this is for transporting a beverage. This Beverage container has a core. Like all items that have a core, it can level. However, as this is an item core, it can not reproduce itself. To make new beverage storage container cores, the correct building must be constructed.

This only had two tabs. Growth and Traits

>Growth

To level your item core, you must use it for its purpose and provide it material to level to the next level.

Wood 0%

Leather 0%

Mana 0%

Stone 0%

>Traits

These are the abilities or traits that your beverage storage container has.

Fresh- This container keeps your beverage fresh as it was put in.

Durable- This container is durable; it will not wear out from normal use durability will only decrease with targeted attacks.

This wasn’t as great as the house core, but it was a start. I could see the use of having several of these for a trip. Since it would keep the contents fresh, it would mean that water wouldn’t go stale. As it said that this was a beverage container, I’m betting that if I ever added fruit juice to this, it wouldn’t make wine since it wouldn’t be fresh.

Next up was my backpack. Just like what I’d seen the previous two times, I saw my crude socket for the core shape up and then the core attached. The wood on my pack straightened out and looked more finished. The joints looked like they tightened up, and the fur went from looking kind of dingy to being clean and straight. It had clumped up and tangled as dirt had gotten on it, but now it looked as nice as the day it came off of whatever animal it had been part of. Even better, if I could tell, the fur looked like it was shampooed. The simple flaps on it before got draw-down straps, and the opening also looked like a drawstring was added. The frame of the pack looks like it also picked up a body curve like the expensive frame packs from the outdoor stores.

Item core created

World first!

External frame Pack core!

As your External frame Pack core is the first, it is uncapped in level

Normal External frame Pack cores will be capped at level 2.

As your External frame Pack levels, its helpfulness increases.

I triggered the menu for my improved pack to see what I got out of it.

General

Showing up in all gold.

Arn’s External frame Pack

Level 0

Type item core

Class Ultra Rare

Durability 200/200

This is Arm’s external frame pack. This pack looks just like all the other packs that the wild humans use. Sticks held together with leather strips to then have a single large bag held to it.

This had the same two tabs. Looked like that would end up being standard.

>Growth

To level your item core, you must use it for its purpose and provide it material to level to the next level.

Wood 0%

Leather 0%

Mana 0%

>Traits

These are the abilities or traits that your fur pack has.

Lighten- This pack is designed so that when carried, the weight affects you less. Everything in this while on your back is 10% lighter.

Durable- This container is durable; it will not wear out from normal use durability will only decrease with targeted attacks.

“Now this will help!” I happily said.

A 10% reduction of weight of what is put in there is huge. It would make it so I could carry much more. This, of course, meant that moving equipment to set traps just became something much more manageable. It was almost time to scout downriver.