Chapter 2 – Savant

While Dream had intended to continue off for a while, he found that the wounds on his leg were worse than he imagined. So after barely walking for half a mile, he found himself a tree to sit against.

"Sheesh... That dog did a number on me. At least the bone isn't broken. Probably. Uh, catalog. I need bandages and a disinfectant. What's a good disinfectant?"

[A good disinfectant would be-]

"Who's there?!"

Suddenly shooting up, Dream brought out the gun and aimed around after hearing a voice. 

[Nobody is there.]

"Then who's talking to me?!"

[I am talking to you.]

"And who are you?!"

[I am Savant.]

"Savant?"

[Yes.]

"...Hang on."

[...]

Remembering that name, Dream brought up his status and looked at his skills. Sure enough, one of his passive skills was named Savant. 

After realizing that this was just a voice in his head, Dream calmed himself and sat back down. 

"*sigh* Okay then, Savant. So what exactly are you? I've never had schizophrenia, so I don't think I'm imagining things."

[I am a skill.]

"..."

[...]

"...Anything to add to that?"

[No.]

"Alrighty then. Another question. What can you do?"

[I can communicate with you and answer questions.]

"...Fantastic."

Dream massaged his temples as he pondered over this piece of work. He was pretty sure 5-year-olds could communicate better than this. Despite that, he had an inkling as to what this Savant might be able to do.

"Hmm, ok Savant. Whats 7,338.46 multiplied by 472.2"

[3,465,220.812]

"Hmmm. I have absolutely no clue if that's right. Oh! Savant, what is the Joules force of a 45-gram bullet traveling at a velocity of 900 meters/second?

[18,225 Joules of force]

"Huh. So you're like a mathematician."

Dream was pleased as he heard the answer. It was the force of a 50 BMG bullet, and he happened to know that little detail. But while he was happy about having a talking calculator with him, he wanted to see if this intelligence was able to be a bit more useful, so he asked a question as a small test. 

"Savant, what are my other passive abilities?"

[...]

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

<[Savant] has...>

<[Visualization] has leveled up!>

"Hm? Why is it leveling up so much?"

Dream was surprised at the sudden notifications, but he didn't do anything to stop it. After a couple of minutes of him letting Savant do its thing, it leveled up 6 times to level 7 and finally gave him a response.

[Your other passive skills are:]

"Only two? Uhh, you're missing one."

[...I do not understand.]

"I have another passive skill called [Visualization]."

[...]

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

<[Savant] has leveled up!>

[Your passive skills are:]

"Uhh..."

Dream sat there dumbly for a second. He was confused. Why didn't Savant get it right the first time?

"Savant? What did you do to find that information?"

[I read the signatures of the skills bound to your soul]

"Signatures huh? What are signatures?"

[Signatures are the data that marks each of your skills.]

"Okay, and I have a soul?"

[That is correct.]

"So there really are souls... Are skills attached to the soul?"

[That is correct.]

"Interesting. So you missed visualization the first time. Why?"

[I could not recognize the skill signature.]

"And you found it after I told you the name?"

[That is correct.]

"So I guess those other skills that were given to me were different than visualization. It was the only one that wasn't given to me. I happened to just have it. That's probably why he didn't recognize it. And I guess him learning something new allowed him to level up so much. Talk about power leveling."

Dream smiled for a bit. Leveling anything up was fun. It gave him the same dopamine response as leveling up in a game.

And while he would love to continue and experiment, he needed to take care of his leg first that stung to no end. 

"Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Savant, are you able to use the catalog?"

[With your permission, I am able to utilize your skills.]

"Then I give you permission. Get me some water, disinfectant, a small towel, bandages, and a sealer for my leg."

[That will require the consumption of mana. Do you approve?]

"Yes."

[Understood.]

The next moment, all the things he asked for appeared. Dream quickly proceeded to clean his leg with everything. He rubbed the wounds down with water and applied the disinfectant, cleaning it up. After it was clean, he took the sealer which was a kind of artificial bio-foam for deep wounds like these, and applied it. It would greatly promote his healing and protect it. And finally, he wrapped it all nice and snug in bandages. 

"*sigh* Alright. Much better. Although it'll leave some nasty scars, I'm not really in the position to stitch stuff up. After I reload, we should keep moving."

Taking the box of bullets out of his backpack, Dream went and reloaded the almost empty magazine. Once it was full, he loaded everything into the bag and set off once more. 

Since he had no sense of direction, Dream just randomly proceeded through the forest while looking for anything remotely interesting. He also thought up many random questions to ask savant. 

"Hey Savant. Use the visualization skill to model a blade of grass."

[Understood.]

The next moment, Dream saw a blade of grass appear in his mind. It was so life-like, and he felt as if he could 'see' all the details of the blade at once, like it was data being input in his head.

Getting excited, Dream continued to ask Savant to model different things that he saw. Trees, birds, bushes, berries he didn't dare eat, the dogs he recently fought, his gun, and more. Because of his excessive requests, Savant ended up leveling to level 11. Visualization also leveled up to level 7. When it did, his mind felt clearer, and he also felt as if he had more of that mana energy. 

Feeling vitalized, Dream kept requesting Savant to do more and more complex things as he thought about what to do next. He also started summoning things he knew he would probably need as his mana regenerated, packing them into his bag. 

While Dream would love to find civilization, he didn't know if that would happen today. In fact, after walking for several hours, the sun got close to setting. Realizing that he would have to camp out for the night, he went and picked out a spot to set himself up. 

The spot was actually under a giant tree he found. All the trees in the forest he was in were huge, but occasionally he came across some especially big ones. This was one of them, and he decided to dig himself a fox hole under the huge roots to sleep in. It was dirty, but he had blankets and it would be much safer than camping out in the open. 

Unpacking some things that he summoned, Dream got to work. He took out a tactical shovel to dig out a space under a root near the surface. After spending almost an hour doing that, he finally had a decently sized fox hole enough for him and his items. With that, he took out a tarp and some blankets, setting them across the dirt inside the hole. 

By this time, the sun was already almost completely set, and the clouds that he could see through the trees were a fading pink. It was a nice sight, but not a rare one. So after relaxing for a bit, he threw his bag and any other loose items into the hole. He then crawled in and sealed the entrance with some other big rocks he found scatter around, leaving plenty of cracks for air flow.

With the gun on his chest and the throbbing wounds on his leg, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. 

..........

......

*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff*

As daylight started streaming over the horizon, Dream was awoken to the muffled sounds of birds chirping and an animal sniffing the entrance to his fox hole. 

'Wait, sniffing?'

Realizing what the sounds outside his hole originated from, Dream immediately popped to attention. His body was naturally vigilant as he was in a foreign place, and waking up quickly wasn't difficult. 

Grabbing his gun, Dream looked through the cracks of the rocks. Outside he could see the figure of a medium-sized furry animal. It sniffed and even clawed at the rocks, curious about what was inside.

Drema just laid there, feet toward the rocks, with his gun aimed. He really didn't prefer to fire a gun inside this hole, but if the dog or whatever was outside insisted on clawing its way in, he would do so. 

*Howl!*

Not long after, there was a loud howl that rang out through the forest. Hearing that, the animal outside perked up and turned around, dashing off into the distance. 

"...Thank god."

Sighing in relief, Dream laid back down. 

"That was probably a wolf. Looks like I need to be more careful outside. They should be mostly nocturnal though, so the days should be fine."

With that Logic, Dream kicked down the rocks and carefully crawled out of the hole. He focused on his hearing and sight, making sure that there weren't any other animals around.

<[Awareness] has leveled up!>

<[Awareness] has leveled up!>

As he looked around, two notifications popped up. With them, Dream felt his senses strengthen a bit, which he used to scan around further. Only after he confirmed that nothing was around did he relax.

"Awareness? I guess it makes my sense better. I can definitely see and smell better."

Taking a deep breath, Dream took in the fresh aroma of the morning forest. He felt refreshed, and even though he was woken up early, his energy was at its top. 

"I haven't had a good morning like this in a long time. Sigh. Now, what the hell am I supposed to do?"

Realizing that he was still stranded in a forest, Dream sat against the tree. Even after pondering for a while though, he couldn't come up with any plans. There weren't any directions, and he couldn't find any form of civilization. 

"I'm just gonna have to keep wondering. Though... this is a good spot to stay. At least at night. I should return here if I can't find another place to sleep."

As he said that, he pulled all the stuff inside the hole out. 

*Growl*

Suddenly, Dream heard a low rumbling sound. It didn't actually come from any animal though. Just his stomach. 

"...I guess I am pretty hungry. Hey Savant?"

[Listening...]

"Can you summon me a breakfast MRE? I think there was a hash brown one."

[This will require the consumption of man-]

"Just do it."

[Understood]

With that, a big bag of food appeared next to Dream. After sitting down, he dug in and chowed on the hash browns, crackers, bread, and even the drinks and small bag of candy inside. 

After eating it all, he was full and energized. 

"Mm. That was better than I thought it would be. Now, I should probably start hiking. I'll need all the daylight I can get."

Saying that, Dream stood up and prepared to head out. He summoned another two magazines for the gun, the bullets to fill them, and a holster that could hold everything. All this took most of his mana, so he stopped there, and after hoisting his bag and situating himself, he began walking once more, leaving the fox hole behind.

..........

As high noon came around, Dream was still walking. He still hadn't found even a trace of civilization, and he was starting to get worried. But there wasn't anything he could do except walk, so he trudged on. 

He wasn't just walking though. As he walked, he had Savant create a map of where he had gone. For this, he actually had Savant directly use his Awareness skill, something he discovered was possible after some experimenting. With that, Savant was able to use the skill to map the surroundings, creating a virtual map using Visualization. 

This resulted in leveling Awareness to level 10, Visualization to level 14, and Savant to level 18. 

It wasn't that much of an improvement, and since Dream had no idea if there was a max level or anything of that sort, he didn't know what was good or not. However, there was one thing he could make guesses about. His stats. 

After the skill level ups, his Magic stat actually rose from F- to F. When that happened, he could feel more mana inside of him. It was a pretty substantial increase, almost double in fact. With that, he could summon more things, so he was happy. 

It also gave him a good gauge on how the stats worked in this world. His stats were F, so he assumed it would go up to E, then D, then C, and so on. It was pretty simplistic and made gauging your strength against others pretty easy. Or at least it would if he could find anybody. 

Either way, as he hiked, Dream kept his mind and Savant busy. For many hours nothing happened, and as the sun started to set, he searched around for a place to set up camp. 

Thankfully, he managed to find himself another big tree and proceeded to dig himself another fox hole. By the time it was getting dark, he was all set up and ready to go to sleep. Although he surprisingly wasn't tired at all, even after all the hiking he did. So instead of immediately climbing into his claustrophobic bed, he sat back comfortably against the tree and scrolled through the catalog. 

While he hiked, Dream had summoned himself some lighter athletic clothes suitable for activity and occasionally summoned some more ammo and magazines for his pistol. He found that his mana regenerated rather quickly, so he didn't skimp on grabbing whatever would make his travels more convenient and safe. 

Right now, his mana had filled up all the way, and he was thinking about upgrading his stuff a bit. The first thing that came to mind was his gun. He wanted a better one, so he went scrolling through some of the submachine guns and assault rifles. 

"Let's see... If it's for animals, I'd want higher calibers. Wouldn't want to get caught by a bear only having a pistol. I've gotten quite a bit stronger after being enhanced by mana, so I can easily handle the weight of the stuff I carry. Adding a rifle to that wouldn't do much. Let's get myself a 7.62. That'll keep me plenty safe. I can get one that's automatic, and there's different variations, so let's make it compact..."

Dream mumbled to himself as he went through tons of different options. Some of the guns had long barrels, some were semi automatic, some were full auto. Dream had his preferences though, and after contemplating, he gave all his specifications to Savant who summoned him the one he wanted. 

Soon, after expending the majority of his mana in one go, a gun appeared next to him. It was a black short barrel bullpup. The gun was very bare and its only attachments were the small semi-holographic iron sights and a select-fire switch. It could fire 7.62's at full auto and it was designed to be very stable. It was also very durable and could survive the heat from the powerful rounds. He could drive this gun through thousands of rounds and it would continue kicking. 

After the gun came a few drum magazines and plenty of ammo. With that, he was completely drained of mana. 

"Alright! Let's fill these drums, then I'll be set. My next choice is definitely going to be a sniper caliber gun though. Then if I ever run into a bear or something, I can take care of it with relative ease."

With a wide grin, Dream opened the ammo boxes and started loading ammo. Once everything was set, he decided to climb into the fox hole for the night and go to sleep. This time though, he was much more content as he had his new trusty rifle by his side.