Chapter 2: So It’s Really a Roguelike

As Feng Xue continued to imagine warmth, his body warmed up once again, feeling the tangible changes. This sparked some excitement in him, despite the rough start—this ability to influence reality was top-tier in any universe. He wondered about the extent of this power—if he could manifest his thoughts into reality, that would be…

His thoughts were interrupted by a sneeze triggered by a sudden gust of cold air. Realizing he needed to maintain the warmth through continuous thought, he stopped his wild speculations and focused intensely on imagining a warm environment.

However, he knew this wasn't a sustainable long-term solution. As an infant, setting aside the problems of hunger and thirst, the sheer amount of sleep he needed was a pressing issue.

"I must find a way to get out of this snowy landscape!"

Feng Xue resolved, first attempting to imagine someone picking him up and carrying him away. However, this idea quickly fell through as his imagination wasn't strong enough to maintain a warm environment while simultaneously conjuring a person.

"I guess freezing a bit won't kill me!"

Feng Xue gritted his teeth, ceasing the imagination of warmth and started visualizing a person instead. As the image slowly formed in his mind, he began to experience a slight headache. At the same time, in front of him appeared…

"Get away from me, you old coot!"

Startled by the indescribable thing he had conjured, which dropped his SAN by 3 points, Feng Xue immediately ceased his imagination. He realized that human imagination indeed had its limits; he couldn't even construct a complete, normal-looking person.

"Not enough knowledge, not enough samples, limited understanding of life forms… once I get through this, I need to seriously study biology, medicine, material science, and more. Having such a powerful ability but only being able to use it in the most basic ways would be such a waste!"

Reconstructing the warm environment, Feng Xue began to adjust his strategy. He could imagine a small car but couldn't move himself into it nor conjure an AI. Even if he could muster a coil motor and a matching battery from his high school knowledge, it would result in a crash rather than transportation to his desired location.

"Ah, to be caught unprepared!"

Crying out in frustration from within his swaddling clothes, Feng Xue abandoned the idea of moving himself and instead considered how to attract someone to rescue him without affecting his own state.

As time passed, he could clearly feel his body's fatigue growing, and the SAN value in his view had dropped to 91.

"Look on the bright side, I've lost more than five points without going temporarily insane, but I wonder if it will give me a negative status like the illumination value…" Feng Xue consoled himself, then had a flash of insight, as if a sniper laser had targeted him—

"Fire!"

With that thought, Feng Xue immediately changed the direction of his imagination. Under the pressure to survive, he could easily conjure feelings of warmth. Now, he just needed to give this warmth a source.

Feeling the warmth on his body begin to transform, becoming directed and varying in intensity, Feng Xue mentally noted it was feasible and continued to add details.

The outline of wood formed below the focal point, and the shape of the flames was drawn bit by bit.

Although the flames had no color, didn't flicker, and looked more like a simple drawing of concentric water droplets, they indeed appeared.

With the appearance of a reference, the difficulty of imagination plummeted.

The rough lines were replaced by detailed particle effects, the originally transparent color gradually took on an orange-red hue, and as the memory of a middle school physics class became clear, the flames burning on the wood started to layer. As this process continued, the snow on the roadside began to melt under the heat of the flames.

Smoke slowly rose into the sky, and the firelight seemed to attract attention. As Feng Xue's SAN value had dropped to 82, his body was finally lifted by a pair of large hands.

"Saved!" Feng Xue glanced at the ordinary face that had picked him up and breathed a sigh of relief. As he fantasized about whether he would be adopted or sent to an orphanage, whether to play dumb or dominate everything that challenged him, the scene in front of him froze, shrank, and finally turned into a dim square.

Though he re-entered a dream state, Feng Xue was now as aware as someone in a dream realizing they were pantless—fully awake. As the patch of rationality crumbled, a settlement screen appeared before him—

[Operation Ended, Successful Survival]

[Node Settlement: Dreams +3]

[Item Drop in Progress…]

[You have obtained Campfire (White)]

"Damn, it really is a freaking meat pigeon!" The plans Feng Xue had for the future shattered in an instant. He wanted to curse, but held it back, instead turning his attention to the so-called collectible.

The icon was simple: a campfire burning on a pile of wood. Next to it, however, was a small attribute section—

Name: Campfire

Category: Survival Aid

Quality: Common White

Effect: Hope +2, SAN +10

Note: A small wish ignites the fire of life.

"Ah, this…" Feng Xue's gaze moved up; the SAN value that had fallen to 82 was now back at 92, and the number behind the book icon on the left had changed from 0 to 2.

Glancing at the right side where the dreamcatcher was, the number behind it had indeed turned to 3. This insight made Feng Xue, a player of integrated strategies, suddenly understand.

"SAN must be similar to the health, illumination, or stress values in Darkest Dungeon. This 'Hope' seems to be a rare resource similar to those; though I don't have operators to use it, the Dreams awarded at the end of a node must be a sort of currency."

With this assessment, Feng Xue looked towards the upper left corner, suddenly feeling the urge to click exit. As the thought arose, a popup appeared—

[This exploration is not yet finished. Save progress? Yes/No]

"Can even save progress? Is it that user-friendly?" Feng Xue was surprised by the result, as being able to enter and exit at any time meant the stakes weren't as high as a death game where failure meant real death.

Selecting the [Yes] option, a wave of fatigue washed over him, and within a few breaths, he uncontrollably drifted into a state of half-sleep…

After an unknown amount of time, Feng Xue's consciousness returned. Feeling his body regain sensation, he slowly opened his eyes. The interface that had been before his eyes was gone, only a small icon remained in the upper left corner of his field of view.

More than that, what concerned Feng Xue the most was the dim room and the unfamiliar ceiling above him…