Chương 47: Southern Sector

They had started to gather for their trip to the cave. Mark was there, Ava and Bramble were ready, and Lena was sitting on a chair waiting. Cora had not shown up yet, but she told them last night her plan was to come, so they just waited for her. Mark pulled up his territory map while waiting. He looked at the cave where they planned to go. He looked at the representations the map gave for his trap lines. His current location standing in the camp.

He followed the stream down the left side and reviewed the resource area listed. Last, he looked at the area to the south. When he first gained the map and zone control, he was told there was a point of interest down there, but he had never gone there. With one last look around, he closed his map. [Zone Control Inefficient] Unsurveyed Territory Detected Southern Sector Stability: Unknown Expansion Recommended"Oh, that complicates things." Cora walked up and said.

"What complicates things?"

"When did you show up?"

"Just now. What's complicated?"

"I went to review my zone map that shows me where things are in the zone, and as I closed it, I got a new system message."

"Did something change?"

"I am not sure. But I think I need to bow out of the cave run today. I need to go see what the system wants me to find." Lena said.

"Oh, that leaves us a man down. Are you sure about not going?" Mark replied.

"Yeah, the system prompts I have received in the past normally lead to some good, so I want to follow them." Tom walked over.

"Cave run again. You said man short? I want to see what all the cave talk is about can I tag along? Not much at fighting, but I bet I could find something you guys overlook." Lena looked over to Dale.

"What about you, Dale?" Dale replied.

"I'll pass maybe another time. You guys can tell me about it when you're back."

"Ok, let's head out." With that, Lena, Tom, Cora, and Ava headed out of camp. Just after the gate opened, Ava whistled, and Bramble ran over and followed them. Mark pulled up the map again and looked it over; the entire area was grayed out. What was down there? What did the system want him to find? Mark waved goodbye to Dale as he, too, then exited the gate and started to slowly move south. Mark walked slowly with his bow in hand. All his time here he had not explored just for the sake of exploring.

It had always been to fill a need. First it was water, then food. Even to the cave he went because Cora had asked for his help. But this time he was going because he wanted to see what he had missed out on. He had known in the back of his head he needed to do this for a while. He was still not in control of the zone. He wanted to know what changed when he got more control. He had gotten distracted with the cave, forgetting all about the zone. The system, like usual, wanted him not to forget.

He headed southwest initially. The only point of interest in the south was something listed as a "burrow cluster." So he was going to start his search there. When he had walked for 30 minutes, the trees started to thin, and the vegetation also came to an end. Another 10 minutes and the trees stopped altogether. The area was lumpy and full of rocks, and there were burrows of various sizes. Mark at first saw nothing but dirt and rocks. Then something moved.

At first he thought it was just the wind swishing the dirt around. But looking closer, he realized he was looking at something. Until it moved again, he was not sure, as it blended in well with the terrain around it. What he realized was it was a lizard of some kind. Not one of those cute little ones you see, but big, the size of a dog. Once he realized something was there, he started to see their tracks and the signs of their tails dragging through the dirt.

There were so many tracks that he realized that was why he initially did not see them. Not trails followed, just crisscrossed tracks in random directions. He slowly moved forward, but not watching the ground well enough, he accidentally kicked a rock. Then they moved. There had to be a dozen or more. They were fast too. They darted, and into the holes they went. He continued forward, passing the first hill or burrow as the system had labeled it. Twenty feet forward and the next burrow started.

He realized there were a lot of burrows. He turned west toward where he knew the stream should be from the map even though it was still shaded out because he had not explored it. As he passed burrows, he realized there were at least 3 types of these things, maybe more. He kept making enough noise on accident that he could not yet identify one. Finally, he stopped and just waited. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

To his left he finally saw one stick its snout out of a hole. Mark stood quietly and just waited. Finally, it came out and climbed onto a rock to sunbathe. He was then finally able to identify one. [Dusktail Burrower Level 3] Mark started to raise his bow to see if he could kill one, but just the slight sound of him nocking the arrow caused it to dart away. Mark stopped standing there with his bow out and arrow nocked.

When he was just about to step forward, he saw it again come out of the hole and move toward the rock. Without waiting, he loosed the arrow, and it hit. Sadly, it did not kill it outright, but he was able to quickly go over and kill it with his spear, as it could not move away with the arrow sticking out of both its sides. He was able to loot it, getting 4 XP and receiving tough hide, fatty meat, thick scale plate, and tail fat deposit.

To him most of it did not sound useful, but he would see what Dale and Tom thought about it. He continued going west toward the stream; he was about halfway now. He finally was able to identify another type. [Ridgeback Skink Level 2] This one was in a group; he could make out 4 for sure, but there could have been a couple more. Being prepared this time, he shot towards the clump of them. To his shock, he actually speared one directly through its center and killed it.

He went over to it and looked at it before looting. These were about one third the size of the dusktail's, but there were more grouped together. They seemed more social with one another, whereas the other seemed to be more of a solo creature. He reached down and looted this one, getting no XP because of its level; he received flexible hide, lean meat, ridge scales, and hardened claws. He finally stopped trying to be stealthy and just continued west, wanting to know if they stretched all the way to the stream.

When the stream finally came into view, he could see the mounds going in all directions as far as he could see. He then pulled out his map to see that a good swath of the burrower cluster was revealed. He saw that it extended both north and south a ways from the line he had traveled. He then started heading back east, traveling faster this time, covering the distance relatively quickly to the eastern end of the burrows and the start of the forest again.

[Adaptive Zone Cleared] Cave Control Increased: +2% Current Cave Control: 7% The system message was a surprise for Mark. He had assumed when he did not go to the cave that his progress would be stalled. He had worried that he would have to always be present to get credit for the cave control. The zone control system was not about only him. It was about the community he was helping to build. He was not alone in the effort. Others could help; it was not all about him. What did they find?

It would all have to wait until he was back. But he no longer felt like he had to do everything. He traveled east for another 15 minutes until he found a path that ran roughly north and south. It stood out to him, as he could see footprints, and the path seemed well followed. This really piqued his curiosity. He knew his camp was north, so he followed the tracks south to see where they lead.

The path wound through the forest, not in a direct north-south path, eventually heading more east from where he found it originally. He finally realized the path was coming to an end. There was a clearing ahead. Signs that it had been occupied. He moved forward slowly, not wanting to frighten anyone. When he passed the last tree and had a full view, he realized nothing, well, no one, was there. The place was a wreck.

He could see the tracks of some predators, some lean-tos that looked worse for wear, and a fire pit. He saw a piece of a broken spear that had what he would guess was blood on it. But there were no signs anyone survived. He searched the camp. He found what could have been some basic tools, a pile of wood for the fire, and three broken lean-tos. There were some remnants of food on the ground, but nothing looked like it had been recent. He went over to the fire pit and touched the mostly burnt log.

It was cold and had been for quite some time. He wondered how long they had survived here. He brought up his map to look for what details it might reveal, and where he was had a POI marker that said "ruined camp." The area east was still not revealed, so he finally left the camp behind, continuing east. The trees thinned and ended not far east from the ruined camp. The area got more moist, and the ground started to be spongy, like it was wet. The farther he walked, the more water he saw.

Not a lake or pond but a marsh. He could see reeds sticking out of one of the pools of water and walked over and harvested some. These could possibly be used for arrows. Maybe other crafts. He continued farther east and saw some birds with long legs that were nesting in the reeds. Walking in its direction, it saw him and moved away from him. He continued to where it was nesting and found a nest with 4 eggs in it. Apologizing to the bird that looked displeased, he gathered them up. He had missed scrambled eggs.

No idea if these are good or not, but Dale might find them interesting. He continued to walk further east, weaving through the marsh. There were areas he found that were so soft he could not walk through them and other areas where the ground was sturdy enough to walk. In some of the bigger pools he found that he could see some fish darting around the reeds. One larger pool of water had a large log in it with what he identified as a mud sheller some type of water turtle, lying on it.

There were many different types of vegetation throughout the marsh. Most of it, he did not know if it had any value, but he picked up a few items and would have those that know more come and explore more. In one area he also found what must be clay. Different from what he had found before. He traveled about two thirds of the distance across the area that was now labeled as marsh on his map before he realized that if he did not head back to camp, he would not make it by dark.

Using the map as a guide, he headed as directly as he could towards his camp. Just after he passed out of the marsh and back into the forest, he received another system message. [Territory Map Updated] Exploration Status: South: Partially Stabilized New Points of Interest Added: • Burrow Cluster • Ruined Camp • Marshlands Mark stopped to read the message. Then brought up his map again. All the areas he had visited showed just a few more details.

He could see that almost all of his zone was visible without the shaded-out areas it previously had. He closed the map and then started to take another step when another message appeared. [Territory Control Threshold Reached] Control Level: 80% New Function Available: Shared Territory Awareness This trip had been worth it. Not only did he now know where many more useful resources were, but he now hit another control threshold for the zone. But what is shared territory awareness?