Chapter 2 Seeking Territory

'Now that I have sufficient protection I can safely explore.'

looking round him Darwin takes in his surroundings.

trees with vegetation interspaced between. Specks of light pierce the thick canopies above him. Water could be faintly heard to his right. The forest seems to be thriving but the buzzing of insects, the scuttle of animals, the croaks of toads all are nonexistent.

Taking in the facts Darwin comes to a conclusion, given the lack of sounds means that a predator is near.

Ali is no different after experiencing her own version of bloody evolution she instinctively crouches in a ready position. Fangs bared, eyes narrowed, claws drawn, the Alicanto is ready for battle.

*Gaooooooh!*

Accompanying the roar was the rumbling of footsteps. Barrelling through the trees comes what has to be the largest bear Darwin had ever seen. Nuzzle stained with blood and eyes with no soul the bear lunges at Darwin.

Ali, seeing this, tackles the bear to the side, stopping its initial lunge. Its front paws pinned to the ground the bear can do nothing as the bird bites into its neck ending its life

[Your pet Ali has killed an aether enhanced brown bear ]

[For being the first human crown to kill an aether enhanced lifeform you have been awarded a basic summoning pool blueprint]

[Realm announcement the Crown Darwin has successfully killed the first aether enhanced lifeform FAME +1]

[Announcement the realm rankings have been unlocked]

[Current rankings]

1. Darwin (FAME 1)

2. N/A

3 N/A

4. N/A

5. N/A

…

'So this is the power of a tier 6 with a single move it subdued then killed this bear, and judging by the announcements this is supposed to be a great challenge, one worthy enough for it to garner fame.' Darwin thinks to himself. 'Obviously this is only a challenge because of how early into this competition we are.'

Darwin shakes his head bringing himself back to reality and more importantly to the blueprint he now holds.

[Basic Summoning pool]

[The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)]

'Aether core, could it be' Darwin thought looking at the corpse of the bear lying near him.

"Ali open its chest and look for a core, '' Darwin commanded.

Ali, hearing the order, begins to use its claws to pierce the hide of the bear's chest and after digging around for a bit comes out with a dimly lit orb.

[bronze grade aether core]

[an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform]

'HA yes I was right these aether enhanced species do have aether cores, although it is the lowest grade the blueprint doesn't specify a grade so it should be fine' Darwin thought to himself.

…

To the east was a waterfall flowing into a cove. The cove was surrounded by trees and fertile land.

'This is the perfect place to establish my territory.' Darwin thought. He could use the waterfall for fresh water and since the land was fertile Darwin could start his own farm to be self-sufficient,

the only thing missing was a source of stone since the forest would essentially give him unlimited wood as long as he replanted.

Taking out the housing token Darwin crushed it and established his territory.

[Congratulations on establishing your territory]

[As your Territory is the lowest grade it spans half a mile in radius, you may construct buildings with either a blueprint or manually within your territory note that manually made buildings do not come with any bonuses]

The house could barely be called a house at best it would be called a rickety wooden shack. It looked like it could be blown over with the slightest gust. The only redeeming feature was the undamaged wood and the roof. The inside was not much different, just a wooden chair, bed and table.

'Info' Darwin thought while looking at the house

[Crowns house]

[Tier/Level 9/1 ]

[can be upgraded(1 unit of wood, 1 unit of stone)]

"Units again? How much is a unit anyway?" Darwin thought out loud

As if called, the system explained how a unit of something is equal to 10 pounds of a resource.

Pondering for a bit Darwin decided to have Ali gather enough resources to both construct the summoning pool and upgrade the house.

Ali went and knocked over a tree intending to bring it back to Darwin when suddenly the knocked over trunk disappeared into specks of light.

[Your pet Ali has gathered 108 units of wood. Transferring to warehouse]

[Name: Darwin]

[Territory tier/level: 9/1]

[Skills: None]

[Talent: Evolution*]

[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]

[Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 1 aether core]

Checking his pockets for the aether core it turns out that it was transferred to his warehouse.

"Ali dig down and see if you can find some stone" Darwin commanded after he finished checking his pockets

Ali chirped hearing the command and dug down and found a quarry of stone

After a little over 30 minutes Ali had gathered enough stone for 55 units.

Checking his status again Darwin saw

[Name: Darwin]

[Territory tier/level: 9/1]

[Skills: None]

[Talent: Evolution*]

[Evolution: a tier 1 talent allowing the holder of this talent to simulate evolution in a smaller time frame.]

[Warehouse: 108 units of wood, 55 units of stone, 1 lowest grade aether core]

Bringing up the status of the house again Darwin clicked on the upgrade button. Immediately after the resources were taken from his warehouse and fused into the house. The wood looked strong enough to actually survive the night and the foundation was no longer of wood but stone.

Bringing up the status of the house showed Darwin that the house had been upgraded a level

[Tier/Level 9/2 ]

[can be upgraded(2 units of wood, 2 units of stone)]

After upgrading the house Darwin brought out the blueprint for the summoning pool.

[Basic Summoning pool]

[The most basic summoning pool. Allows the owner of the blueprint to construct the basic summoning pool(10 units of stone, 10 units of wood, 1 aether core)]

Seeing that the blueprint called for an aether core Darwin wondered if he could evolve the core so that maybe the summoning pool would come out stronger with a higher tiered core.

'Evolve' Darwin activated his skill on the aether core after taking it out.

[bronze grade aether core]

[an aether core is formed from the gathering of aether either from the atmosphere or formed in an aether enhanced lifeform]

[can be evolved

Gather: the aether core has sat absorbing aether in a moderately aether rich environment. Evolves into a green bronze tier aether core]

*Note cores are divided into several tiers: bronze, green bronze, iron, black iron, silver, white silver, gold, green gold, platinum, black platinum, emerald, white emerald*