Chương 41: Complication

When Mark woke up, he could smell something cooking. Dale must have gotten an early start. He walked out to the cooking area, and there were some new changes. Dale had put up a wooden rack near the fire, and it looked like he was drying some of the fish and meat they had collected. Dale had jumped into his role of group cook like he was always designed for it. He looked over the drying rack to see how Dale had put it together.

He had a 2-layer design where the meat went between 2 racks and was cinched tight, and then it was rotated over by the fire to make sure it dried evenly. While he was looking at it, Dale came over and flipped it to change sides. Dale smiled at him and said, "Drying of the excess food will extend the time the meat is usable. If you find more of the salt, bring it back; it will help in preservation and add flavor to what I can make." Dale then went back to work on some project he was working on.

Mark then saw Ava and Bramble off to do their morning trap run. Camp was settling into a regular routine. After eating his breakfast, he went over to the crafting table and looked over the axes that they had made last night. They had eight of them made up. They each planned to take two, one to use and one for a spare if something broke. The rest would be added to the camp tools that anyone that needs them could use.

Mark put the four spare ones in the tool bin and pulled out the older axes in there and put them on the table to dismantle. Some parts could be re-used; the rest of the non-usable parts would be disposed of. Mark then sat down and made more torches the way Cora had shown him last night so they had a few spares in case the ones they had burned out. He had just finished when Cora showed up. Cora said, "You ready to go and explore more of the cave?"

Mark said, "Yes, just waiting for Ava to get back from the trap run she is doing; then we can leave." A few minutes later Ava came back to camp. The three of them picked up their gear and headed out with Bramble following behind Ava. The walk to the cave went pretty quickly. They all paused for a moment as they lit the torches and headed into the cave. [System-Controlled Zone] Control: 0% Stability: Low Conditions Unmet ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark received a new message when he entered today.

Similar to yesterday's message but with a few differences. Conditions unmet. What could that mean? As they walked into the first chamber, they expected it to be empty. But there in the middle was a rootling. They only thought about it for a moment, and then Cora moved in, and the rest of them followed. The new axes worked great; The fight went smoother and quicker than yesterday. They looted it and searched the room, adding a few things to inventory, and headed towards the next chamber.

In it they found two root crawlers. Yesterday that room only had one. They paired off like yesterday and were able to kill them with less trouble this time; the new axes made a huge difference. When they looked around the room this time, there was a change. One of the walls was different than last time. There was a patch of rock that was different, almost white in color. Mark went over and was able to pull a couple chunks off. It was a rock different from what they had found before.

He was able to work with the new stone and break pieces off it. It was sharp, similar to glass. Mark realized that this material would be an upgrade to their current rock. If he had to guess, it was something like quartz. Seeing the value, he gathered what he could easily break off the walls to use in future tools. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. After that they moved to the third room. In it they found only one rootling.

They were able to quickly kill it. Mark moved over to where the salt was and this time filled 3 containers that Dale had given. The water flowed into a puddle before it seeped out of the room. Mark noticed that the silt in the bottom had a few different colors. He went over and ran his hand through it. It had sand like crushed rock, and then it had some heavier material, possibly ore particles of some type. As they looked around this time, they realized that they had not found mushrooms like the day before.

The quartz material was new, and they did not find mushrooms this time. The cave even felt a little different today. Mark thought about the changes today so far and the conditions unmet message. What was needed to progress in this area. The challenge they found was very manageable, yet the cave was different. Even the tunnels seemed just a little changed from the day before. They stopped and talked—should they go farther or return?

Ava spoke out, "I want to see how far this goes; it's still early in the day, and we have plenty of torches." So they continued forward through the only tunnel out of the back of the room. The tunnel was smaller than the previous tunnels. Walls were damp, with more water present. Then the walls started to be coated with roots. They were on the walls, floor, and even the ceilings, like they were growing down from the tunnel.

Each step was harder to take; the floor was crowded, making it hard to step around the roots. When they were to the point that they would have to stop soon, the tunnel finally opened up. The new chamber was three times the size of the others. This was different. Roots everywhere. Walls, ceilings, and floors. But the real change was the center of the cave was a huge pile of roots, knotted and tangled. It wasn't just a mass of roots; it was the source of everything in the cave.

Mark looked towards it and realized this was not just a pile of roots, but it was the source that the other root monsters came from. [Rootheart Level 5] Mark at that point realized that the roots were not just growing but moving. The limbs were reactive but not aggressive. They tightened the closer they moved. Mark said, "Surround it. It's alive, and we need to kill it. Be careful; it's a higher level than the small ones we have killed before." They all circled around it.

The limbs started to move faster, and they had to keep on their toes. Hacking and slashing until they all stopped their motion. It was still not dead. Mark said, "Cutting the limbs and roots is not enough; we need to hit the center." They had to continue hacking at it until they reached the center and finally received the kill notice. When it finally stopped, they gathered and looked around the room. As they watched, the roots' limbs were slowly withering and turning to dust.

Mark said, "Looks like we need to loot before it crumbles away." With that, they all reached out and looted. Mark received 80 XP, 10x the amount of the little plants. His loot consisted of a root core fragment listed as a key item. 4x dense root fiber and a concentrated mineral cluster. When the looting was done, it dissolved away. The room was now quiet. The group searched and picked up more of the dense root fibers; they were the only thing left in the room after the Rootheart and its vine limbs dissolved away.

Searching the room, they found an indent like what the other tunnels looked like in previous chambers, but the way was blocked, going in only a few inches. So this chamber was the end of the cave for this visit. They talked about what they'd seen—how it had changed, what might happen next. No one had an answer. They'd have to come back and see. When Mark stepped out of the cave, he received a system message. [Zone Interaction Complete] Control Increased: +2% Current Control: 2% ◈ ◈ ◈ Mark smiled.

"Oh, that's interesting."