Solomon stepped through the force field bubble without breaking stride. It brushed against him like a curtain against his skin, but it didn't do anything to slow him down.

Once inside, he found another stone plinth. This one lacked the sphere of light. Instead, the top was marked by three circular depressions in the stone.

Solomon pulled his tokens out of his inventory. Unsurprisingly, they were a perfect fit for the three little hollows. As soon as all three tokens were in place there was a click, then a hum, then a sphere of light that slowly pulsed into view. He reached out and touched it with his hand.

Would you like to claim zone #000450791?

"Yes," Solomon said. This seemed like a big enough occasion that he ought to speak out loud instead of using the mental interface.

Congratulations on taking control of zone #000450791! Territory management comes with valuable rights and important responsibilities!

For gathering all three Zone Control Tokens, you have been awarded Basic Building: Fortified Courtyard!

The ground shook beneath Solomon's feet. The grinding rumble of stone moving against stone came from all around. Looking through the force field, all he could see were moving shapes and colors. Another, sharper sound drew Solomon's attention to the plinth in front of him, which was climbing out of the ground and flowing into the shape of an obelisk.

When the sound and movement finally stopped, there was only the briefest pause before the shimmering bubble faded from view.

Solomon now stood in the center of a courtyard, as promised. The four walls around him were made of solid stone, save for four doorways allowing access to the yard and the windows set at regular intervals. The structure was bigger than what he usually thought of as a single family home. If it was to serve as fort, arsenal, barracks, and city hall, though, it was going to be pretty cramped.

Acting on instinct, he took a step forward and reached out to lay his hand on the obelisk.

Zone #000450791 Territory Management

Base income: D$100 / day

Population: 2

Daily expenses: D$0

Net income: D$102 / day

Available for purchase:

Loading, please wait...

When the purchase list finally populated it was the first time Solomon had seen a scroll bar on any of the system's blue boxes. Skimming through the available items revealed a dizzying array of options, ranging from the mundane ("palisade wall") to the cryptic ("ether channel mark iv model b") to the pricey but intriguing ("teleport gate").

Solomon tore his eyes away from the options list as Mort and Kanmi approached. "What is all this?"

"The System gathers up free energy from everything living within it," Mort said. "When you claim territory, you get a cut."

"The more you conquer, the more you earn," Kanmi said, clapping him on the shoulder. "It's not just a slice from a bigger pie. The System treats you better once you hold more ground."

Solomon shook his head at Kanmi's enthusiasm. He understood the impulse. A part of him saw the D$102 daily income and wanted nothing so much as to make the number go up.

He didn't enjoy risking his life, even if he was getting a taste for the rush from coming out on top in a life or death struggle. Was it a risk, though? He'd managed to conquer one zone all by himself. For any future fights he'd have Kanmi by his side. Taking down zones might even be safer than making the trip back to what had been centers of civilization.

"We can think about that once I've got my family safe. Don't we need more people, anyway?" Solomon asked. "How does conquest work outside of the dungeons?"

He and Kanmi might be able to go on a conquering spree, but Solomon had his doubts about their ability to hold onto their winnings. Two people, however skilled, could only do so much.

"There's ways around it, but yeah, more people would make things easier," Kanmi admitted, before gesturing at the obelisk. "Conquest is basically about taking control of the command pillar."

Solomon took another look at the obelisk. "There's gonna be one of these every square mile?"

"To start," Mort said. "Later on you can upgrade your pillar to control more territory."

"That's the fun part," Kanmi added.

"We're in the middle of nowhere, though," Solomon said. "What happens if nobody gathers all the command tokens?"

Kanmi grinned. "Every dungeon break fills in for a token. After the third, you get a wild zone. We're going to be living next to a gold mine, as long as we're strong enough to get rich."

Solomon grimaced. The thought of thousands, or tens of thousands, of square miles being taken over by wandering dungeon monsters was alarming. Especially when his new homestead was smack dab in the middle of it. Maybe it was better than being square in the path of an alien-led army, but he would have rather had another option.

"All right. Let's go," Solomon said. He began to turn away from the obelisk, but paused when Mort cleared his throat.

"It's up to you," Mort said, "but if you still want this place to be here when you get back, you might want to tweak your settings a bit."

"Like what?" Solomon asked.

"First you'll want to turn off spawning in the dungeon and outpost so there's no outbreak while you're gone," Mort said.

Solomon stared at him, aghast. "Why isn't that the default?"

"Are you kidding? You gotta max it out so you can farm that thing," Kanmi said. "But, yeah, not while we're gone."

Solomon was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the idea that a monster was just a walking pile of resources. He started to turn back to make the change when Mort spoke up.

"You also might want to put some income into structural reinforcement."

"It's not on already?" Kanmi asked, alarmed. "A pile of rocks isn't going to hold back anything serious."

Solomon took a look around. The walls looked sturdy enough to him. Still, better safe than sorry. He wasn't hurting for cash, anyways.

It took a few moments to dig through the interface and find what he needed, but in the end he was able to turn off spawning and assign all of his daily income to reinforcing the walls.

Kanmi visibly relaxed as it came online, though Solomon couldn't see a difference himself.

"That should be enough to hold down the fort," Solomon said.

He waited for a moment to see if there were any further objections. Receiving none, he pulled out the token Mort had given him and used a fair chunk of his MP to activate it. The token levitated out of his hand, then shot forward and vanished in a puff of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a black stallion. The sheer mass of the horse was intimidating, but it waited patiently for him to approach.

Solomon squared his shoulders and took a step forward. He'd never been horseback riding before, but he figured it would be less unpleasant than all the other new experiences the system had put him through. All he had to do was grab hold with both—with his hand, and keep it pointed in the right direction.

It would get him to his family quicker. For that, he could endure a little pain.