CHAPTER 1: THE BLOCK

  Part 4: Edges and Echoes

  Kai moved like a shadow between the broken walls and leaking pipes of Sector 12, his newly claimed servant limping a few feet behind. The air was thick with the stink of rot, chemical runoff, and steam pouring from manholes like ghosts. But Kai barely noticed.

  His mind was elsewhere.

  Territory.

  It wasn’t just a word anymore. It was a feeling. A pressure behind his eyes. He could sense the edges of his control like a sixth sense. A border he hadn’t known was there before.

  As he passed the noodle shop, the sense began to fade. The system let him know before he even took another step.

  Warning: You are leaving Claimed Territory.

  Strength, Perception, and Agility buffs reduced.

  Abilities restricted. Domain Influence: None.

  He stopped cold.

  Like stepping off a stage and into silence.

  His hand flexed around the pipe in his coat. Outside the zone, he was just a street rat again. Still faster than most. Still sharper. But not sovereign.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  He turned and took a step back.

  Territory Reentered.

  Buffs Restored. Influence Active.

  Power flooded back into his limbs—subtle, but real. A gentle pressure on his skin, a clarity in his hearing, his sight. Like stepping into focus.

  Kai looked at the cracked pavement beneath his boots and exhaled.

  “So this is what it feels like to be a god in your own cage.”

  Aron, the marked servant, leaned against a dumpster and wiped blood from his nose. “H-hey… whatever that was… I don’t wanna fight it, alright? I’m loyal. You saved my ass.”

  Kai didn’t answer. He was still thinking.

  He needed to expand. Fast. The alley was too small. A king ruling a shoebox was still a joke.

  The system hadn’t told him how to expand yet, but he was already guessing. If claiming meant domination… then maybe it was about control. Authority. Influence. Maybe even blood.

  He eyed the adjacent block. A busted liquor store with boarded windows. A place the Skulls used for drops. Abandoned now, but known turf. Unclaimed? Maybe. Maybe not.

  He took a slow step toward it. As he crossed the invisible threshold between his alley and the sidewalk beyond, he felt it again—that subtle pushback.

  Like the world telling him: This isn’t yours.

  And his mind whispered back: Yet.

  Claim Attempt Possible:

  Prerequisite: Full Control or Submission of Area

  Options:

  — [Clear Hostile Presence]

  — [Mark as Passive Territory (Temporary)]

  — [Establish Core Beacon (Unavailable)]

  Core Beacon? he thought. That sounded long-term. Permanent. Heavy.

  But the idea of even temporary control had him moving forward. His steps carried more purpose now.

  “I need eyes,” he said, glancing at Aron.

  “M-me?”

  “You’re marked. That means you’re mine. You want to live? Then act like it.”

  Aron nodded quickly, scrambling forward. “What am I looking for?”

  “Signs of gang presence. Anyone marking this block. I want it clean.”

  As Aron moved, Kai leaned against the rusted frame of a bus stop and closed his eyes. He focused inward, trying to feel the system more. Not just see it—understand it.

  He thought about the junkie. How he’d felt his pulse. How the man’s fear had echoed in Kai’s bones like a second heartbeat.

  Was that what control felt like? Was that power?

  Or was that something worse?

  Kai’s thoughts drifted—past the blood, past the fight—to the fire.

  He remembered the orphanage burning. The sirens that never came. The way no one cared that twenty kids had screamed into the night and only five had crawled out. He remembered running. Starving. Fighting just to exist.

  This system… it could erase all of that. Flip the food chain.

  No one had ever given him power.

  So he would take it.

  One block at a time.