Propagate: A survival litrpg

Day 6

I wake up before daybreak, the moon just two hours shy of being overtaken by the sun. My body is battered and bruised, but my mind is broken. Flooded by such extreme emotion for so long, now… I can't feel anything anymore.

Mania.. The system hid it from me. For so long, I've had this subtle, uneasy feeling. Unable to diagnose it or get rid of it, it fell into the back of my mind. It was most likely mania. It makes sense now. Ever since I got here my sense of urgency has been.. Lackluster. I forgot I needed water for god's sake.

I think it was because was repressing my panic and fear. Why? Maybe as some kind of survival insurance. Like, whoever made the system, put it in to assure my survival. That's the only real reason I could think of. It only moderately clouded my judgment, unlike what you would expect of mind altering… skills? Techniques? Drugs? Who knows.

The lethargy is real, and to distract myself from my latest wave of depression, I look at the newest tab on my status.

<4 Achievements pending>

Achievements huh? Enlighten me.

<+5 Stp's>

All points into speed, and uh, what does [death resistance] do?

<[Death resistance]: for every level, the chance of dying from a sure kill hit will be reduced by 1%, includes instant kill effects of curse magic.>

Class - Survivor | lv 10/25 586/1000 xp *

Race - Other World Human m

Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+2)

Name - Maximilian | Condition- Fear (Minor) | Stress (Lesser) | Curse of Soul Fray |

Hp- 1000/2000 (1/2)

SkP- 0 Stp- 0 Souls- 24 7 0

Special Skills -

Sense of Self || lv5/10

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Out of 99 huh..

Death resistance seems pretty crazy, but it's actually well balanced. Every level in a skill it becomes slightly harder to raise it. Rank ups especially make it harder to raise. Getting it all the way to like, lv 50 or so would definitely take years. Not to mention, every skill can only be leveled up by using it, or doing something related to it. I'd have to constantly be on death's door to raise that skill to a decent level. I wonder if at lv 99 i get to rank it up and become invincible.

As for the achievements.. This really is like a game huh? I'm also cursed, which is pretty cool I guess. I feel so drained from the last 12 hours of emotional flooding that I can't seem to muster any surprise or dread.

“Ughhh.."

.

..

…

“..system, what does.. actually, first of all, what's a curse?”

< Curse Magic- a deviation of shadow magic created by Corruptus’ acolytes. A type of binding magic which restricts the very soul, spells can endlessly absorb ambient magic to become permanent. >

Corruptus? Who the fu- actually, i don't really care.

“So what does [soul fray] do?

< Soul Fray- an upper intermediate to advanced class curse magic. Halves hp and regeneration, Decreases the effect of healing and support magic, increases the effect of debuff and binding magic. >

Damn, it effectively halves my vitality. Shadow magic huh? I wonder what other elements there are. Surely there's the basic ones: fire, water, air, and earth, but I wonder what else there is.

“Alright, so what are all the elements?”

< Information exceeds authority >

“...What.”

Well this has never happened before. Maybe it's an error? I'll ask again.

“What are all the elements?”

< Information exceeds authority >

“Whu- hey! Elements! What are they!” The denial works me up, transforming my melancholy into frustration. “ It's a little late to hold out on me now don't you think?”

This time the words transmit emotion. A pretty solid; 'stop asking’.

“So you're telling me, you can tell me the exact extent of my curse, along with random lore about the world, but asking basic information like; the elements, exceeds my 'need to know’ basis?!”

I stood up, and started yelling at the ground. I sway on my feet, and look at the sky, dawn is breaking, so I decide to get off my ass and do something.

It’s modification time, I'm gonna spend all my souls to get the other systems to the level my current ones are. Then I'm gonna maximize my immune system, because I want to try something.

Total reinforcements- 7 | Total Modifications- 0 | Souls- 24 7 0

Body systems-

Muscular-2 Skeletal-2 respiratory- reproductive- nervous-1 immune-1

Circulatory- Integumentary-1 Digestive-

I'll tick all of the systems up to two, and see how many souls I have left.

Total reinforcements- 18 | Total Modifications- 0 | Souls- 9 7 0

Body systems-

Muscular-2 Skeletal-2 respiratory-2 reproductive-2 nervous-2 immune-2

Circulatory-2 Integumentary-2 Digestive-

Actually, I don't have enough to max out Immune and put points into digestive, so ill just leave it alone for now.

Immune- 4 | Souls- 2 7 0

And now, my immune system is twice as strong. Every reinforcement makes a part 25% better, taking my immune system to 200% efficiency. I lock in the choice, and it starts before I even sit down again. Instead of the pain of the first time, or the jello feeling of the muscular and skeletal changes, this one feels like every inch of me is writhing. My blood boils, and my nerves turn to ice. My chest expands, and my skin gets noticeably thicker.

I will not detail what reproductive-2 did. But for my fellow men out there, we are so back.

After the unbearableness of the changes, which was more extremely uncomfortable than painful, I feel like a new me. My skin feels like it was dipped in god's lotion, my hair going from ’a quick wash in water’ to ‘shampoo and conditioner’ I almost felt like I didn't need to shower anymore. Almost. The stink was still there, but I don't think I could even get sick from that kind of stuff anymore.

Not only did my lung capacity increase, but so did my efficiency. Now I need less air. In fact, I don't even need to breathe as much any more. I think it dictates talking as well, cause I can make my voice WAY louder now. Poor birds, they've had to leave their nests like 18 times. I can exhale with force now, enough to freak someone out but not to use as an attack or something.

As for the reproductive upgrade.. Let's just say, if I find people in the future, I'll be investing in this one big time. Emphasis on big.

The reason I wanted to upgrade immune so much is because of an idea I had. If [sense of self] was a three-way fusion, what other skills could I fuse?

Special Skills -

Sense of Self || lv5/10

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Skills - Stats -

Simple Crafting || lv3/10

Multishot || lv2/10

Tracing || lv2/10

Dismantling | lv2/5

Grinding || lv1/10

Poison Det | lv2/5

Poison App | lv3/5

Aim | lv4/5

Deft | lv3/5

Stride | lv3/5

Dash | lv2/5

Leap | lv1/5

Pain res | lv1/5

Stats-

Strength 20

Speed 20 (+5A)

Stamina 17

Dexterity 26 (+11)

Intellect 25

Sense 25 (+10)

Vitality 20

Charm {Locked}

Poison application, poison detection, you know other skill has poison in it? I checked the skill shop- [Poison RESISTANCE]. Do you see where I'm going with this? I scan the forest, using [poison detection] until I find it. Seeing the affect a little bit of diamond fruit has on creatures, id be suicidal to try and eat it. I walk into the forest, and a couple hundred feet later, I see these bright yellow grape looking things. They hang down from a tree like a coconut, but instead of a palm tree, this tree has serrated bark. Do those leaves have eyes..? Well whatever.

I use [Leap] and jump up into the air, I overshot it a bit and end up like 5 feet above it. I did aim close enough, so I wrapped my body around the yellow grape things. They're kinda like traffic lights, they look normal size from a distance, but this thing is the size of my entire body. The individual grapes the size of a large golf ball. My weight is too much for the fruit to bear, and it drops to the ground with a thud.

I tumble forwards, and come face to face with a.. Wolf.. thing. It seems it was peaking out of the shadows of the forest, watching me. Its fur is very dark blue, looking black without the sun reflecting on it. Its eyes are ghost white, completely, this thing has no pupils. Its teeth stick out of its mouth, shaped like long spines, reminiscent of an angler fish. Its tail is-

On reflex, without my bow, I rear back and smash my fist into its ugly face. My twenty strength sends it sprawling into a tree 15 ft away. For the record, this thing wasn't just watching me and doing nothing, mfer was salivating, i saw it twitch to tear my throat out, I just moved before it could even get in the proper stance. Nervous-2 is amazing.

It got back up without a sound, guttural growl permanently stuck in its throat. Its tail, a black whip devoid of fur with a little mouth at the end, swishing back and forth, aggressively. And that growl was echoed. White eyes shone in the shadows of the forest. The sky was no longer dark, but that side of the forest was thicker with trees than the rest of it, the trees had adapted to blot out the sunlight, encasing the inner forest in dark shadow.

They growl in unison, slowly, ever so slowly creeping forward. Wow, they have a whole army in there. Judging by how I sent that one flying earlier, they can't be above level 10, but they have strength in numbers, and without my bow..

I crouch down, facing the monsters, and locking eyes with each one in kind. I pick three of the yellow grapes, then I pick 6, then 9. I stop, and fumble with my basket a bit. Once they are situated within I, heroically, turn tail and run.

As I expected, they immediately start chasing me. Thanks to my 20 speed, I'm faster than them, and they're not gaining, however, there are way more than I thought. I thought there were like twenty of them due to the pairs of eyes. I slow down and look behind me to see a river of bluish black fur streaming out of the shadows. screw twenty! There's like a hundred of them!

I make a beeline for my home base, it's not like I've actually made any structures there yet, but I will need to kill all of them so they don't try to come back. I remember about my [dash], which I then use. I blaze a trail, now effectively with 40 speed, I outpace the black-blurs easily. No, that is not their official name. I'll call them… angler wolves. Like timber wolves, in the naming sense.

I get back to base, and my advanced hearing tells me they’re a lot further away, but only by a few minutes. Dash is on cooldown, but [leap] sure isn't, I grab an unholy amount of arrows, poison, and some dried frog meat, as a treat. I'm pretty tired now, but I turn out of one of the auxiliary entrances in my base, in an attempt to lead them away. I find a tall tree and [leap] onto one of its middle branches. 30 seconds later, the hoard arrives at the base of my tree, gnashing and tearing at the stump.

I ready three arrows at a time, and start firing over and over. I put my bow horizontally so I hit multiple at the same time. I start cackiling after every arrow. The bodies pile up but there is no end in sight for the constant stream of angler wolves. Then I see these bigger ones, covered with metal plates on their spine and tail, as well as coating their claws and teeth. They look kind of sci-fi, with glowing and pulsing blue lines running through the metal, one of them is even bigger though, with a crown of horns on its head, though they look metallic. He must be the commander.

Then I see another type, standing back, as if waiting for orders. These guys are even more sci-fi. For one, their legs are separated from their body, their shoulders are metal, and separated horizontally from their body by a metal cylinder, making them unnaturally wide. Also, you know, the massive cannon on their backs. An oval of metal forged to fit on its back, a few inches tall with what is clearly a cannon fitted in the metal, with gears on the side of its base, indicating its ability to move.

The trickle of adversaries comes to a stop, both my enhanced nervous system and sense stat, allow me to count their numbers quickly, and with precision. 167 angler wolves. A sea of blue fur shifts beneath me as they claw at the base of the tree, with the big wolves and cannon wolves staying back.

I assume the big wolves are leaders, watching the situation and directing the wolves. I can't really tell because they don't have ears and their eyes aren't moving. I pick up one of my poison containers, all of them are hollowed out wood with a thick wood plate on top, tied together with bindweed. I rip off the bindweed on the container, and start dipping my arrows into the poison three at a time. I use [poison application] to assist me in the coating process. It takes more skill than you might think, the poison is better applied letting it cling to the head better and spread when injected, faster.

I start shooting down into the mosh pit, while crouching down on a sturdy branch. I pause for a second, and on a whim, I take an arrow in my hand. I set my bow down and stand up to my full height. I aim the arrow at one of the wolves' skulls right beneath me, and I throw it with all my might, straight towards the ground. The arrow pierces its head, but seeing as it's still moving, the arrow didn't go through its skull, I guess even I'm not that strong.

I dump a hundred arrows into the slightly dwindling hoard, still tearing into my tree. I can feel it shuttering from lack of support, so I gather my things and [Leap] to the nearest tree. If the wolves are disheartened by having their progress reset, they don't show it. the commander wolf nods its head in my direction, and the wolves immediately start heading towards me. I think they have a hivemind or telepathy thing going on, cause none of the wolves actually saw the big one make that motion.

It takes one minute exactly before my status notifications kick in. It seems to suppress notifications to not break my concentration while I'm fighting, and it deems a battle ‘over’ after sixty seconds of peace.

< lv9-19 Angler wolves Slain x57 5890 XP acquired>

< you have leveled up! LV10 -> Lv15 | +5 SkP +15 StP>

< Various skills have leveled up >

I almost fall out of the tree.

Jesus christ! That's.. Way more xp than I thought, I was expecting like 3lv's max! A good time though, I have some skills I want, and some skills to rank up.

Class - Survivor | lv 15/25 476/1500 xp *

Race - Other World Human? m

Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+2)

Name - Maximilian Condition- Stress (Minor) | Curse of Soul Fray |

Hp- 1000/2000 (1/2)

SkP- 5 Stp- 15 Souls- 59 7 0

Special Skills -

Sense of Self || lv5/10

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Skills - Stats -

Simple Crafting || lv3/10

Multishot || lv5/10

Tracing || lv2/10

Dismantling | lv2/5

Grinding || lv1/10

Poison Det | lv2/5

Poison App | lv4/5

Aim | lvMAX

Deft | lv3/5

Stride | lv3/5

Dash | lv2/5

Leap | lv2/5

Pain res | lv1/5

Class Skills-

Desperate Endurance | lv1

Emplacement 2/3 | lv1

High Hound | lv1

Stats-

Strength 20

Speed 20 (+5A)

Stamina 17

Dexterity 26 (+11)

Intellect 25

Sense 25 (+10)

Vitality 10 (1/2)

Charm {Locked}

Multishot went up, as well as leap and aim, which is now maxed. I'll just go ahead and rank that up now. And while I do that, what does [High Hound] do? I can't decide if the name is cool or weird.

< [1st] Tier [Aim] Has ranked up into [2nd] tier: [Targeting]- Further increases the ability to aim, increases ability to aim at specific spots within an area, assist in ability to hit moving targets. >

< [High Hound]- doubles efficiency of the sense stat. Senses can now be visualized. Provides rudimentary versions of other senses: life detection, spatial awareness, danger detection, energy perception, mana perception.

Doubles efficiency? You don't mean…

Sense 50 (x2)(+10)

Oh my god. My.. everything! just doubled. The entire world looks weird and wavy now, I need a minute…

---

I'm good now. I've had to move trees three times, but I'm finally getting used to my new sense. My starting stat for vision was one, now it's ten. My vision is ten times better than before.

You know how if you look far enough fog forms and you can't see forever? I don't have that anymore. I can see through fog, and darkness barely affects my vision. My smell, hearing, and everything else is amazing now, I'll have to try out taste later, maybe on these angler wolves.

They are still ceaselessly tearing away at my tree. The big wolves have started pacing, still stationed in the back. It's dusk now, and they might be getting impatient. I take aim at the wolves again and notice it's easier to aim now, most likely an effect of [targeting].

Have you ever played a game, where if you hold a gun, there's a circle around your crosshair telling you how much your bullets spread? Well that's what I had. This circle would confine my arrows, it would guarantee I would at least hit close to whatever I was aiming at. I would be able to hit the mob, but nothing more than that. Now though, I can aim for specific parts. It's more general like aiming for the head, body, or legs, but Im sure it will get more specific as I level it up.

Skill shop!

Purchasable Skills -

Slashing resistance | Impact resistance | Piercing resistance | Swordsmanship | Archery | Spearmanship | Shieldmanship | Claymanship | Brawling | Smithing | Crafting | WoodWorking | Masonry | Pottery | Poison resistance | peralysis resistance | Pain tolerance | Pain resistance | Petrification resistance | Body strengthening | Mental Strengthening | Fear resistance | Stress resistance | Starvation resistance | Dehydration resistance | Asphyxiation resistance | Elemental resistances (13) | Mana Perception | Mana Manipulation | Mana Swell | Strengthen Stomach | Strengthen Skin | Strengthen Lungs | Power | Swift | Perseverance | Endurance | Deft | Wisdom | Spirit | Glamour | Sense enhancement | Basic Elemental Magics (4) | Death resistance | Stealth | Steal | Leap | Power Shot | Dash | Mining | Lumbering | SIeving | Smelting | Tracking | Farming | Dismantling | Butchery | Guard | Appraisal (+) | Leadership | Acrobatics | Feather Foot | Piercing enhancment | Cuting enhancment | Smashing enhancment | Weapon techniques (+) | Light Armor | Heavy Armor | Adaptation | camouflage | Grace | Balance | Regeneration | Instinct | Precision | Dodge | Longevity | AIm | Night Vision | Channeling | Swimming | Cartography | Terrain Sense | Poison Detection | Danger sense | Throwing

Still a lot of stuff. I don't want to touch magic right now. I can tell it'll be hard to use, and time consuming to learn. I'll take.. [Regeneration], [Body strengthen], [Power shot], and [Acrobatics]. I'll save one point just in case. Now allow me to explain why. [Regeneration] because that stupid wolf nerfed my vitality, and now I'm permanently on half health. [Body strengthening] Is similar to [deft], in that it upgrades my stats, unlike it though, it affects all of my physical stats and gives them a smaller bonus, starting at +3 then going to +1 for every level. [Power shot] is an active skill, it makes my next action do more damage. In case I ever run out of poison, or If a monster has tough defenses, I can use this to counter it. [Acrobatics] is for my [leap] skill. Being sent into the air is scary, and I've almost fallen off the trees a few times. I've also missed my target branch multiple times, so hopefully this will remedy that. I always aim for a branch in the middle tier of the tree, and I almost always miss and hit the lower branches. Ah, I'll also put 5 points into intellect. It's been awhile since I've touched that stat.

Class - Survivor | lv 15/25 476/1500 xp *

Race - Other World Human? m

Achievements- The Special | Self indulgent | (+2)

Name - Maximilian Condition- Stress (Minor) | Curse of Soul Fray |

Hp- 1150/2300 (1/2)

SkP- 0 Stp- 10 Souls- 59 7 0

Special Skills -

Sense of Self || lv5/10

Death Resistance \ lv1/99

Passive Skills -

Simple Crafting || lv3/10

Multishot || lv5/10

Tracing || lv2/10

Dismantling | lv2/5

Grinding || lv1/10

Deft | lv3/5

Poison App | lv4/5

Targeting | lv1/10

Stride | lv3/5

Pain res | lv1/5

Body Strengthening | lv1/5

Acrobatics | lv1/5

Regeneration | lv1/5

Active Skills -

Poison Det | lv3/5

Dash | lv2/5

Leap | lv2/5

Power shot | lv1/5

Class Skills-

Desperate Endurance | lv1

Emplacement 2/3 | lv1

High Hound | lv1

Stats- (+3 Phys (Str, Spd, Vit, Stm ))

Strength 23

Speed 23 (+5A)

Stamina 20

Dexterity 29 (+11)

Intellect 30

Sense 50 (x2) (+10)

Vitality 11.5 (1/2)

Charm 8 {Locked}

My status is getting really complicated now. Looks like there's 3 levels for conditions. From the bottom we have minor, lesser and normal, which just shows the name of the condition without the parenthesis. Somewhere after that is major, and I'm willing to bet there's a greater too.

I've been hiding up here for like two hours, it's time to finish this. And it seems the commander wolves agree. I feel particles in the air get drawn to the cannon wolves, the blue lines start to glow as power coalesces into the cannon. Seeing as it's a cannon it's most likely powering up for a long range shot. There's ten of them in a row, and only one is powering up. must be a test shot. [Leap] is ready, but I have an idea. I use [power shot] and ready my bow and one arrow. Energy infuses both my bow and arrow, I pull with all my might and send the arrow flying. It flies twice as fast with twice the power. [Targeting] shows its worth as my arrow hits right where I aimed it, straight into the cannon's mouth, I hear a “weeerrrr" sound, and the wolf makes a confused whimper, before it explodes. Blue fire erupts from its entire body as it explodes, taking out half the entire row.

< lv6-15 Artillery Sci-Bark Slain x4 431 XP acquired>

The commander barks a command, and then all the Sci-barks form into a semi circle 4 feet away from each other, all facing me. They all charge up, and the wolves below me start scratching even more furiously than before. I take shot after shot, aiming at the mouth of the cannon like before. I miss 50% of my shots, but I still take out another three before they finish charging. The last three fire at the same time, but i'm already in the air. Unfortunately, there aren't any more undamaged trees nearby, so I [Leap] as far away as possible using [acrobatics] to adjust my in-flight trajectory. I land safely and start firing into the rapidly approaching hoard. Twenty more bodies hit the floor before their gnashing jaws are upon me, and I trigger [dash].

I run around, looking back to fire more arrows, my supply runs thin, but finally, the last of the angler wolves falls. I can't even feel a second of relief, as a sense of overwhelming dread barrels towards me. With twelve seconds of [dash] left I leap to the side as a bright blue shell of pure energy slams into the ground eight feet away from me, creating a crater in the compact dirt. I sense the danger again and barrel roll with the last of my [dash]. Another 5 foot circle is blown to ash as I feel the sense of dread again, but different. I look towards the source, and see both another energy shell, and the commander wolf lunging at me.

Out of options, my advanced sight lets me see everything, seemingly slowing down time. An ordinary human wouldn't be able to react in time, but I can. In the time it took me to grab the jar, the wolf was jaws open, lunging for my throat. Exactly what I wanted. I grasped the wooden jar of poison and shoved it all the way to the back of the wolf's throat, and crushed it once it reached its windpipe. Right hand covered in poison, I snap my forearm upward in a L shape, making the wolf unable to bite me or close its mouth. I wedge my bicep between two of its spine like teeth, making them bleed at the gums before breaking off. I watched it struggle, as the poison worked through its system until It stopped moving, and seconds later, I saw the kill notification.

All that's left are three glouring cannon wolves, and the body’s of the fallen. I make quick work of the rest of the wolves, spending 6 arrows to kill the three of them. That is until I get rushed by the four remaining big wolves. Somehow, I had forgotten about them. But after all this? I can't lose. [Power shot]'s one minute cooldown is up. I snipe one big wolf in the head, but suddenly, all three are upon me. Caught in a whirlwind of gnashing claws and teeth, I feel my blood flow out of me from numerous wounds. Another wolf drops dead, an arrow shoved in its eyes. Eyes sure are a convenient weak point. I continue the melee, until [leap] can be activated. I launch myself away from them, skipping on the ground to move further with the extra momentum. I take my bow and few remaining arrows, and fire from 30 feet away. The last wolf falls dead at my feet.

I take home the corpses of the three intact cannon wolves, and the commander wolf. The corpses aren't all that far away from my base, so I gather the four big wolves and twenty of the higher level angler wolves. I stew over my status as I mindlessly butcher the corpses. I reach into my basket and start absently eating my frog meat, but it's way juicier than I remember. I feel one of my skills warning me, and I look down to see the half eaten yellow fruit I had picked before the horde's assault.

Goddamn it.

< lv7-19 Angler Wolf Slain x110 7887 XP acquired>

< lv14-23 Great Angler Wolf Slain x4 892 XP acquired>

< lv29 Angler Commander Slain 2369 XP acquired>

< you have leveled up! LV15 -> Lv21 | +6 SkP +18 StP>

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

<[Multishot] Experience threshold Reached. Lv5 -> Lv6>

I lay on my bed of grass and prepare for the absolute tummy ache I know I'm about to receive.

---

Pain.

Yeah, it hurts. Hours of agony later, and I have finally acquired the skill.

< Acquired skill: [Poison resistance] >

I'm sure my latest class skill [Defense Orientation] probably helped with the acquisition. Honestly, with how growth oriented my class started out as, I thought I was going to get all growth skills, or none at all. Seeing as how I haven't gotten any before now, I'm surprised I finally got such a useful one.

Now that I think about it, how come I got [Poison resistance] after only a few hours pain, but only got [Pain resistance] after days of suffering? how are they different from one another? even more questions with no way to find answers.

< Would you like to fuse: Poison Detection, Poison application, and poison resistance? >

There's the notification I was looking for! Fuse!

< Skills: Poison Detection, Poison application, and poison resistance have fused into tier 2 skill: [Toxicology]! || Level set to 3 >

< Toxicology- Combines detection, application, and resistance into an ultimate knowledge skill all about poison. Shores up holes in knowledge granted between skills, and widens the range of knowledge. Rather than knowing a lot about the major parts of poison. You now know everything there is to know about poison! Detection becomes automatic, resistance is strengthened, acquire knowledge of how to maximize the effect of poison.>

That's a long description.

I'm tired of being productive. so, for the rest of the day, i'll just acquire materials for tomorrow. Flexible tree branches, temperature holding leaves, and bind twine. Ill dismantle the wolves for their meat and fur, and walk around looking for more source gems. Tomorrow, i'll finally have a house!