The first step to survive in a world gone crazy? Be crazy yourself.
Leon knew that going outside was dangerous and could potentially result in his death, but that was exactly what he planned to do.
Yes, he was crazy.
To get answers and to fill the void in his head left by his fragmented memories, he needed to go outside and explore.
He was not the kind of person to stay idle, that was too boring.
All of his plans and work for the past 4 hours all led back to one simple truth… curiosity. After catching sight of that humanoid, whatever it was, the flames of his curiosity blazed hotter than ever before.
He wanted to go out there on an expedition to see what was out there, to see the civilization that made this planet, Neo-Tokara home.
And for that, he needed an upper cloak.
"The people in this world obviously wear clothes right?" His eyes widened. "Don't tell me this is some Garden of Eden type of world".
Thinking of men and women going about naked without a care in the world, he shuddered. "Nah, I need a cloak, right now!"
First, he needed to gather raw materials, and for that, he went back to the wasteland where he started another search through the scrapyard for suitable scraps that he could use to craft an upper cloak.
This was not the world that he remembered from his fragmented memories, and until proven otherwise, he had to assume that he would not see any boutique shops to easily get clothes from, hence his decision to get his hands dirty.
This time, with a more directed approach to his scavenging, he soon found salvaged scraps of tarpaulins used to cover machinery and damaged industrial conveyor belts.
He observed them with sparkling eyes. "This can serve as the main panels for my cloak". He smiled and continued scavenging.
Leon was practical about his cloak blueprint. He was not going for aesthetic, he was going for practicality and value. He wanted to craft an upper cloak that could also double as armor.
He scavenged some aluminum siding, including discarded wires that can act as cords to stitch the pieces together.
He also scavenged thick, insulated cables that can act as makeshift belts and shoulder straps, including assorted fasteners like nuts, bolts, and metal clips to create functional closures to the cloak, and to also give it reinforcement.
By the time he was done gathering, he was sweating profusely but he remained full of energy. "This will do".
With that, he returned to his shelter and started processing.
He cleaned, flattened, stripped, weaved, cut, and shaped the materials with maximum efficiency, the system guiding every single one of his actions as he processed the materials, and soon the assembly part came.
Since he didn't have a schematic blueprint for a cloak, he couldn't just use his Construct ability like he did with the drone. And since he didn't scavenge any cloak, there was no foundation to use Deconstruct on to get blueprint fragments and subsequently the blueprint for a cloak.
He had to manually work for it this time.
Leon was extra careful considering that he also wanted comfort with the cloak. He carefully stitched the fabric panels; he added the metal reinforcement, the fasteners, and eventually added a hood.
It took him a full hour from the gathering stage to now, but finally, his cloak was ready and the HUD screen appeared again.
DING!
~----~
[You have crafted a Basic Scavenger Cloak!]
[Your Craftsmanship and Assembly Ability has increased!]
…
[You have created an F Rank Blueprint: Leon's Cloak]
[You have been rewarded with 2 Data Points]
[Current Data Points: 42]
~----~
Leon smiled in satisfaction at the contents of the HUD screen as he patted his chest with pride. "No need for praises, don't mention," he grinned sheepishly. "I know I'm HIM".
After an hour of relentless work, the final product is a protective, asymmetrical cloak of mismatched tarpaulin and dented aluminium that was held together with crudely-fastened wires and industrial bolts.
With this, Leon was finally ready for his expedition but he did not go out immediately. First, he decided to rest and recover the mental juices that he already expended in the past few hours.
And so, he had his longest sleep stretch since awakening in this world.
Hours later, he woke up to find the System's HUD screen on with its contents waiting for him to read.
~----~
[Signal Detected: Unknown source Humanoid signature detected within 800m!]
…
[Signal source lost.]
[Bio-scan anomaly: Human DNA, 47% match to baseline Homo sapiens.]
~----~
Leon was alarmed.
"It's the same guy!" He muttered as his gaze turned sharp.
Seeing how close the person came this time, he inhaled sharply, thanking the heavens for how lucky he got. "I can't afford to stay put anymore".
"I must go out first, or eventually, they'll find my shelter".
Talking of finding here, he wondered…
Before his awakening, this underground facility seemed derelict for an exceedingly long time, maybe decades or even more. So, how come they never found it all this time and were only coming close now after he awakened?
"More questions and no answers," he sighed. "Well, let's go out there and look for answers since the bastard System won't answer us".
Without hesitation, Leon finally stood up to leave.
Outside, it was early dawn.
Leon already learned to read the temporal patterns of this world after 2 days since his awakening.
Even though the world was in a constant state of perpetual evening, the sky colors changed at every interval. And from his calculations, the current pale green pigmentation of the sky from residual ADE discharge meant dawn.
He didn't go out without arming himself though.
He would have preferred a gun, but since he didn't have a blueprint and the necessary raw materials to craft one, he settled for arming himself with a makeshift spear that he crafted by combining a metal pipe with a few flux crystals that he harvested.
~----~
[Weapon- Flux Crystal Spear]
[F Rank]
[Effects:]
>+30 ATK.
[Special Ability: 1]
>Energy Detonation: When activated, on forceful impact against any surface, one of the portable energy cells inside the spear detonates violently to deal massive explosion damage.
…
[You have created an F Rank Blueprint: Flux Crystal Spear]
~----~
On his first day after awakening, Leon only survived the encounter with the Rabbit because he smashed a massive battery cell that he scavenged at it and it somehow detonated, heavily injuring the Rabbit.
Then, he didn't understand but now he did. The reason why the cell battery detonated was because it was created using Flux Crystal.
Besides, unlike when he created the Cloak's blueprint, the System didn't give him any reward for creating the spear blueprint. "Maybe it rewards only once?"
And with this, including more knowledge about the power system of the world, Leon finally left on his first true expedition into the wasteland.
He was extra cautious but confident this time.
Like a shadow, he moved farther than he had moved before, slipping through skeletal skyscrapers that were half-submerged in the glass dunes.
The System overlaid environmental readouts as he moved, indicating ADE density, radiation, and a working real-time heat map though it indicated that it was a limited-time System boon. It was more like a beginner perk.
Leon felt a bit bummed that it was a limited-time advantage, but still, he appreciated it as with it, he avoided confrontations with wandering Neon Beasts.
After the Rabbit, he'd faced a few more Neon Beasts already over the course of the past day. With his ingenuity, he killed most of them and for those he could not kill, he escaped.
It didn't take him too long. Just 30 minutes in and he spotted traces of humanoids: recent footprints, drag marks, and an improvised campfire that was fused to a wall.
He also found something else… a drone.
Leon picked it up because unlike the drone chassis that he scavenged previously, he noticed a curious symbol on it. It was the symbol of a circle broken by jagged lightning-like lines, forming the rough outline of a shattered circuit board.
The primary color of the circuit board is black, while the secondary color is a flickering electric cyan.
At its center glowed a small open hexagon. From the hexagon, flickering thin neon filaments spread outward like veins, but the lines end abruptly before completing the cycle.
Leon's eyes flashed with curiosity as he stared at it. "This symbol… what does it represent?"
The System HUD screen lit up at that moment.
DING!
~----~
[You have discovered "The Broken Circuit", the symbol of the Freegrid Collective!]
~----~
Leon blinked. "Freegrid Collective?"
His brain churned as ideas flowed through his head. He already had a hunch about what this symbolized. "This is one of the powers in this planet, right?"
He didn't get to speculate for long though, because the HUD screen lit up again with a notification that made his eyes light up.
DING!
~----~
[You have discovered traces of one of the factions in Neo-Tokara: The Freegrid Collective!]
[You have gained the title: Explorer]
[You have unlocked hidden System Function: Track]
~----~
"Well, that's rich".