Chương 15: System Control

Mark woke up feeling great. He felt warmer and safer than the day before and not nearly as sore as he had been the previous few days. It was a great payoff to his upgrading his lean-to. The camp felt different. Not the shelter or the fire, but the whole area. He felt like he could feel more. Something had changed. He pulled up his status. His eyes focused on the last line. [Territory Control: Locked] He focused on that line, and then it expanded.

[Territory Control] Zone: Unnamed Forest Sector Status: Partial Control Control Level: 32% ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark stared at it. Control: what did that mean? He looked around his camp, at the shelter and the fire. He then looked into the trees towards the traps he had set. This was his, or at least it could be. He walked into the forest with new eyes; he could see things he had missed in the past. He picked up a trap and turned it over in his hands. One of the cords was loose. There was a warped branch out of place.

It would still catch something, maybe. But not well. He crouched lower, looking at the ground around the traps. There were tracks there, faint, hard to see, but there. They curved slightly off to the side of where he had placed his trap. The animals were not walking where he thought they would. So he moved the trap over a few feet. Not far but enough to make a difference. He looked at it again, and then around it. It was still not quite right, so he moved it again and then stopped. This place felt right.

Mark continued to the next trap. This one too had imperfections in the tension and some cracked wood. He needed to replace some parts, get better wood, and get better cord. As he roamed through the area, he saw where traps were missing and places where the traps were completely in the wrong place. With his new insights he repaired or improved each of his existing traps. He was able to find more of the carrot-type vegetables. Berry bushes he had missed before. He expanded the area he had used in the past.

He found an area where animals came to dig and feed. Kneeling down, he brushed away some of the dirt with his fingers. There was a root thicker than the others. It was rough and knotted. He pulled on it gently. It did not move. Of course, it would not be that easy. He dug around it more carefully, loosening the soil before pulling again. This time it came free. He turned it over in his hand. Heavier than the others. He glanced around the area and found more disturbed ground. More signs of digging.

The animals came here for this. He held it in his hand. For lack of a better word, it was a potato, or at least that is what he planned to call it. He continued to check his traps, finding two field mice in them, and collected them. Again, no XP because of the level difference, but he gained meat and scraps of hides for his collection. In another trap he found a level 2 razor rabbit and got 7 XP for this one, a little less than half of what he used to get. When he got to the stream, he found two small river fish.

No XP but more fish and bones. Looking at the trap he could see where to make it better. A larger stone over here and a few stones moved over there would make it more productive. Walking upstream for a ways, he found another good location for a trap. This area had bigger fish he could see in the river. He paused next to the edge of the stream, watching the water flow. This section moved faster; it was also narrower. The current pulled tighter between two of the rocks.

That was different; he crouched down and studied the flow. The smaller trap he had built would not work here; it was too weak and open. He picked up a few stones and set them in place. Not blocking the water but guiding it, forcing it to flow inward. He shaped the flow into the path he wanted. He then found another rock and moved it. Then another; the current narrowed and focused on the spot where he wanted it to flow. Finally, he set the final piece into place and stepped back.

The structure looked crude, but the water moved through it exactly how he wanted it to. That was enough. Then he received a system message. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. [New Craft Discovered: Improved Fish Trap] Effectiveness: Medium Passive: May catch medium-sized fish over time ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark then turned back to the forest; as he moved, he spread his traps out farther apart. He did not want to overhunt a single area.

The area covered by his traps had nearly tripled. He continued forward through the trees. Something had changed; he could feel it. The forest felt different, not just unfamiliar but wrong. He slowed, looking around. The ground looked the same. The trees hadn't changed. But something in the back of his mind just didn't line up. He kept looking around, not being able to figure out what had changed. His hand tightened on his bow. Then he finally realized what it was. This area was not his.

Then he received a system message. [Notice] You are leaving your controlled area ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark then realized there was a boundary. Mark took one more look around and then headed back into his area. After a few steps, he realized it felt right again. If he stood here, it was his. He turned around again and walked toward the border. The feeling returned. Past this point was not his. Finally, back in his area, he continued to place and adjust traps. Then he found them again. The heavier tracks like last night.

They went right through the middle of one of his snare traps. It had not tripped, but it was completely destroyed. He followed the tracks into the forest. They did not wind through the trees but followed a set path, as if there were a purpose. He could sense that it had territory of its own. But this was his area. He had continued expanding his control; he looked at his status. [Zone Status] Control Level: 38% ◈ ◈ ◈ He was making some progress. But he still could not exactly figure out what gave him control.

He looked toward his camp and his new traps. His movement through the forest. Did it all count or only some of it? He adjusted one of his traps and checked the status again, but there was no change. He continued to the next trap and tightened the cord and reset the tension. Then he checked it again; still nothing changed. Whatever was required, he had not yet done enough. He stepped back and looked wider. Not just one trap but also the area. He moved three in a line, adjusting the spacing.

Closed a gap he hadn't noticed before. Then checked again. The number had gone up. It was not just fixing things; it was connecting them. Improvements meant control. He continued to look for and fix issues. Small adjustments here and there, and he found it again. More tracks like before. This time he followed them farther into the forest. These were fresher. They looked like they had been left only moments ago. Then the forest went quiet. Not silent but wrong. Then he heard something.

At first he could not tell what, and then a branch snapped. He then slowed down and ducked under cover. Then he saw it, thick hide, layered like bark in texture. It blended into the forest. If Mark had not seen it move, he might have missed it. It stopped and turned, looking back in Mark's direction. He froze, trying not to make a sound; he didn't even breathe. Trying to remain as still and quiet as possible. Finally, it turned its head back and continued on its path.

Not long after, it passed one of his newly placed traps. It stopped and looked at it, then made a snort and just ripped through it. The trap did not slow it down at all. Mark stopped trailing it. That thing had a path, and it didn't care about anything in its way. He looked at the ground, and then the forest around him. He really did not have anything that could stop that thing. He opened up his zone status again. [Zone Status] Control Level: 34% ◈ ◈ ◈ The number had dropped. That thing was pushing him back.

Mark decided it would eventually come down to him or the beast. Mark slowed as his camp came back into view. It looked the same: the shelter, the fire, and the cleared ground. But it did not feel the same. Before it had been a place to survive. Now it felt like something he had built. Something he wanted to hold onto. He stepped inside the edge of it and paused. The feeling settled in again. It was familiar, and for now he controlled it. This was the center. And the forest didn't feel empty anymore.

It was now contested. This was not his area yet. But it would be.