Meanwhile, Ciella and I found ourselves in a land that corresponded with the Tropics. It was a very fertile land with lots of forest and the sea.
"Why did you choose to come with me? Are you enjoying this game?" I asked Ciella.
I was slightly concerned.
"I'm an aspiring Dream Knight. If this game could somehow help me understand the role of Dream Knights better, then it's an opportunity I can't afford to waste" Ciella said.
"You know Dream Knights are the Defenders of the Dreams Of Humans. Sometimes, that role involves fighting off evil Nightmares and sometimes…it involves guiding humans towards the fulfilment of their Dreams" I explained.
"So why did you choose this location?" Ciella asked.
"I chose it because of you" I said.
Ciella's eyes widened in surprise and then she blushed.
I noticed her flustered expression.
"I mean you're the least experienced in our group so I had to choose a location that could very easily support us both. Ariel isn't a combat type but a support type and that's why she chose a land that was very fertile too. Saito's abilities are geared towards combat and she's an amazing leader. That's why she chose to go with Ariel to at least play the role of the 'Hunter'. Keiran and Concordia as well as Arlene and Mitsuki have amazing ability in both combat and support so they chose very challenging lands. Keiran went with Concordia to neutralize potential jinxes directed against her and Mitsuki went with Arlene to do the same" I explained.
"I see. Stronger Dream Knights watch over less experienced ones" Ciella realized.
I looked over our initial tutorial and explained it to Ciella.
"For now, we need to find shelter from adverse weather conditions. Fortunately, we are in an area with lots of trees and a lot of the trees that usually grow close to the seaside usually have fronds" I explained.
"What do you intend to do?" Ciella asked.
"First, some light logging" I said as I crouched slightly.
In the next instant, I had disappeared. I streaked past a line of trees and sliced them across with a horizontal chop. The trees I hit fell to the ground.
"For starters, we need something sturdy for shelter. It doesn't necessarily have to be large" I said and measured each of the trees I had cut.
Then I chopped them into even suitable sizes after cutting off all the fronds. I left the logs out in the sun to dry. Next, I began to dig the foundation by breaking the solid earth and scooping it up with my fingers. Due to my immense physical strength and speed, it didn't take very long to complete the foundation and my HP and MP weren't significantly depleted. Next, I began to weave the fronds into ropes by intertwining them around one another. After completing that phase, I began to bind the evenly chopped wood together with the woven fronds. Ciella watched me as I worked. She seemed very impressed.
"I didn't know you were this capable" she admitted.
"Well, this is a form of Weaving and since I am a Dreamweaver, it sort of comes naturally to me" I explained.
Next, I began to set the bound logs into the foundation according to the rectangular pattern I had dug out. I refilled the foundation to enforce them and secured them by rebinding them with the ropes made out of woven fronds. When I ran out of logs, I cut more of them and repeated the process till the entire perimeter was completely covered with erected logs. After that process was complete, I began to focus on weaving more ropes out of fronds.
"If you begin to feel exhausted, let me know Ciella" I said seriously.
Ciella nodded.
"Can I at least help you with the weaving?" Ciella asked.
"Do you know how to weave?" I asked.
"Not really but I have done some hemming in the past" Ciella admitted.
"It's easy. You take a number of leaves from the fronds and begin to intertwine them around one another" I explained and showed the process to Ciella.
She initially had a hard time but quickly began to master the process. While Ciella busied herself with weaving ropes out of fronds, I made a ladder out of some of the chopped wood and woven ropes. Then I began to create the roofing materials out of whole fronds bound tightly to pieces of isolated wood. I made a door and set some of the chopped wood erect in positions I felt the building's centre of gravity was weak. Then I began to create the roof's support system out of wood laid horizontally over the walls in a crisscrossing fashion. After that process was complete, I laid the full fronds bonded to the chopped wood over the roof and reinforced them with woven ropes till they completely overlapped. Finally, I made the windows to allow air in. Then for some finishing touches, I added the floor.
Ciella laughed.
"Normally, the floor is made first you know?" she said.
I smirked and gave her a thumbs up.
"That's precisely why the Weaver Of Calamity won't see this attack coming" I said.
In their location that corresponded with the Carribean, Saito and Ariel had set up a similar structure. In the location that corresponded with North Africa which was mostly desert, Mitsuki and Arlene first found their way to the sea, then set up a shelter by creating a zone of antigravity and setting up blocks. With precise gravity control, Mitsuki created the structure of the shelter.
"Is it safe? I hope it doesn't come down on us while we're asleep" Arlene said with a look of concern.
"I can set my sigil to control the structure autonomously. That way, I can even minimize my MP use" Mitsuki said.
"I see" Arlene realized.
"I'll also set it to notify me when there are anomalies" Mitsuki said.
"How are you able to keep the structure sturdy in an antigravity zone?" Arlene asked curiously.
"Think of it this way. There are areas of varied gravitational force surrounding the entire structure. It's sort of like a skeleton that gives the body of a person or animal its shape. I can use supergravity zones in vertical layers to support the structure and antigravity zones in horizontal layers to keep the blocks light and afloat. This way, though the weight of the blocks have been for the most parts nullified in terms of vertical pull, the supergravity fields on either side of the framework keep the entire structure rigid making it impervious to a horizontal collapse. This framework actually completely nullifies the entire structure's centre of gravity preventing a collapse" Mitsuki explained.
"That's quite impressive to the point of being scary" Arlene said with a weird expression on her face.
Suddenly, in our various lands, we all received notification messages.
"Congratulations on completing the Caveman Level. The next level is the 'Hunting And Gathering Level'. You have all acquired a new skill. It should aid you in your progress but be forewarned, just as there are recovery items in this game, there are also items with the potential to inflict stat debuffs" we read the message in our various lands.
In the land that corresponded to the Carribean, Ariel and Saito opened their message and read it. Then Saito checked her skills list. There was a single skill in a list entitled 'Key Skills'.
"Hmm…Key Skills…not items?" Saito thought and accessed that list.
The skill was named 'Libra'.
"Libra? Isn't that one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac represented by Scales?" Ariel asked.
Saito nodded.
Meanwhile, in their land, Arlene and Mitsuki had also found the skill.
"Libra huh? One of the twelve signs of the Zodiac represented by Scales" Mitsuki noted.
"You know that 'Scales' are also the symbol for 'Justice' right?" Arlene asked.
Mitsuki nodded.
"Ironically, they can also be referred to as 'Balances'. You know, in ancient Egyptian lore, it was believed that when a person died, they had to face Anubis, the lord of the dead and his scales" Arlene explained.
"Anubis? Wasn't he supposed to be that half jackal-half human deity?" Mitsuki asked.
"Exactly, from the neck downwards, he had the form of a human however his head was that of a jackal. The dead person's heart would then be weighed on the Scales against a feather from Horus. It was believed that Horus' feather symbolizes Freedom. If the person's heart was heavier than the feather, they'd go off to eternal torment. If it was lighter than the feather, they'd go off to eternal bliss" Arlene explained.
"Scary! Those ancient Egyptians sure had some scary myths!" Mitsuki exclaimed in horror.
"That's precisely why San warned us against jinxing ourselves when we chose this location and why Keiran went off to attempt to nullify jinxes aimed at Concordia. It's also why you chose to come with me. Technically, a full revolution is composed of two half revolutions. At that point, the scale would be completely balanced" Arlene explained.
"Ariel inadvertently chose a place with lots of Sun and Beaches. The Beach also is the point where the Sea meets the Land. I'm not sure if she was aware of this when she made that choice but it was most definitely good judgement" Mitsuki said.
"Then there's the name of this level. The 'Hunting And Gathering' Level. Do you really think a pack of hunted animals would stay in the same place?" Arlene asked.
"Nope, they'd definitely scatter in different directions to evade capture" Mitsuki said.
"Exactly, most of the 'Hunts' carried out by our ancestors were for animal based foods. Ironically, most of the 'Gathering' were for plant based foods. When they began to gather both plants and animals, the early stages of farming began to take shape" Arlene explained.
In our location that corresponded with the Tropics, I explained to Ciella what Arlene had just explained to Mitsuki.
"It's about time to check out how the Libra Skill works" I said and accessed the Skill.
A menu popped up with a scale. On the left side was a symbol for debuffs and on the right was a symbol for buffs. There was also a notification that showed a brief note.
"The Libra System measures the genome of animals against that of humans. Priority is placed on the digestive system of the animal" the notice read.
"I don't get it" Ciella said.
I thought about the system for a while.
"We'll figure it out later. For now, we should secure a good water source for ourselves. I'm going to search for springs. Will you come with me or stay here?" I asked Ciella.
"I'm coming of course" Ciella said.
We both looked around the area seeking springs. Fortunately, we didn't have to search very far from our shelter. Ciella and I drank some of the spring water a little further upstream and then began to return to our camp.
In the area that corresponded with the Carribean, Ariel and Saito prepared to search for food.
"I still don't quite get how the Libra System works" Ariel admitted.
Saito smiled.
"Do you know how our ancestors decided which foods were edible and which were poisonous?" Saito asked.
Ariel shook her head.
"By observing animals of course. Animals that shared a close relation to humans were more preferable for observation purposes. If such an animal preferred a specific kind of food, the likelihood that that kind of food was edible was very high. Likewise, if such an animal avoided certain kinds of food, the likelihood that the food in question was poisonous was very high" Saito explained.
"I see" Ariel realized what Saito was getting at.
"Since we are mammals, the preferable animal for observation must be mammalian or very close. I think that's what the Libra System does. If the animal we observe closely matches our genome, the Libra System should produce a very high reading. If the animal does not, the reading will be low. It would be best to hunt for herbivores instead of carnivores though. Herbivores tend to provide greater support in terms of food production" Saito explained. "Omnivores aren't bad either" she added.
"What about carnivores?" Ariel asked.
"To hunt down a carnivore would be to risk getting eaten ourselves. At least omnivores can be trained to focus on a plant diet instead of an animal one" Saito explained.
"But smaller carnivores may not be so bad either" Ariel said.
Saito nodded.
"You're right" she said.
Saito and Ariel then began to explore their continent observing various forms of wildlife. When they found one that produced a very high reading on the Libra System, they concealed themselves and observed its feeding habits. The animal they observed led them to various sources of food. When they found fruit trees that were preferable food sources for an animal that produced a very high reading on the Libra System, they concealed themselves and observed its feeding habits. The animal they observed led them to various sources of food. When they found fruit trees that were preferable sources for such an animal, they marked the location on their maps, gathered the fruits and returned to camp. There, they ate the fruits and replanted the seeds.