The week passed peacefully enough for Shen Zuo, despite the number of injuries he picked up from the beasts he ran into.
Most of the time, though, he only encountered ordinary beasts, the kind considered below the required level.
On the third day of that week, he remembered something important that Zhou Ji had once taught him...
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"The Growing Map... is a map that keeps evolving. It never stays fixed; it keeps shifting and speaking to you as it goes.
I'm the one who coined the term, and the idea behind it is simple: you start with a crude, primitive map, then develop it over time.
But developing it doesn't necessarily mean filling in every detail or completing whatever gaps it has... no.
What it actually means is that you can draw an entirely new map from scratch, one better than the last.
There's no single, final map. There's a whole series of maps, each one revised, reworked, sometimes abandoned altogether, until you eventually arrive at the best version.
And that's not all. You can also add markings to the map to indicate specific things.
For example:
A red circle marks an area where a flying creature can be found.
An X marks a spot where resources have been found.
A question mark (?) marks an area that hasn't been explored yet, according to the current map.
A gray circle, or any other color, marks territory under the control of a particular beast.
And you'll notice that the color of the mark alone can carry meaning on its own.
If a mark is red, no matter its shape, it relates to a flying creature.
If it's green, it points to a crawling or reptilian creature... and so on."
Zhou Ji said, looking at Shen Zuo, then continued in a firm tone:
"Now, I want you to make a map of this mountain... our home. You've got two days. That's it."
Shen Zuo shot back, agitated:
"What? How do you expect me to make something I only just learned about today?!"
Old Zhou Ji answered lazily, waving his hand without a hint of concern:
"That's your problem. Two days, that's all you get. Get up, move your ass... and I don't want to see your face until you're done."
Shen Zuo thought to himself, furious:
You know what? With every ounce of strength I don't even have left... damn all of you!
Zhou Ji smiled slyly, then said, mocking:
"Care to repeat that?"
Shen Zuo blurted out quickly, trying to wriggle out of it:
"I didn't say anything!"
Back to the moment Shen Zuo remembered Zhou Ji's instructions...
At the time, he hadn't had the proper tools to draw a map, but that didn't stop him. Instead of giving up, he made do with whatever he had around him.
He grabbed an animal hide he'd kept from before to serve as the surface he'd draw the map on.
Then he looked around at the nature surrounding him, gathered a few plants, and mixed them together somehow until he managed to extract a green pigment.
He later mixed that green with fire ash, using a technique Zhou Ji had taught him, until he ended up with a crude substance he could actually write with.
Shen Zuo also knew a simple way to make red, yellow, and orange, so he decided to start with those three, since they were the easiest.
The rest of the colors were more complicated, so he set them aside for later and made these three the foundation of his initial map.
Then he began wandering the edges of the forest, recalling landmarks he'd seen before.
He sketched out the first lines, placed the first markers, laying down the very first building blocks of the "Growing Map" he had in mind.
He spent the rest of that week drawing the map, expanding it, and organizing it.
In the present moment.
Shen Zuo stopped over the body of a small rabbit. Even though he'd already dried a good amount of deer meat, meat cooked fresh with salt was always better. He grabbed the rabbit by its ears and began making his way back to the small cave.
Half an hour later, he arrived, and the place had changed quite a bit. There were now a few small mounds of dirt piled beside the cave; it looked like he'd been expanding it. As for the fire pit, he'd gathered a batch of large stones and arranged them into something like a seating area, even though there was no one else around to sit with him.
Before he started skinning the rabbit or doing anything else, he stepped into the small cave, which was now lined with the hides of several animals, mostly Frelta deer hides. The rest of the hides looked like they came from rabbits or other herbivores. Once inside, he pulled out the knife and set the axe aside, but kept the sword with him. Then he took out a few other things, like a small container of salt.
It wasn't late in the day, nor early, somewhere around midday, and the sun was scorching. He was sweating, but he paid it no attention. He lit a fire and began skinning and carefully cutting up the rabbit. After an hour of work, he'd finished everything. He ate, then stood there for a moment, thinking. So far, he'd only killed three Level One beasts out of the 150 required, and that clearly wasn't going to be enough.
Beside him, five hides sat tied together, clearly visible.
He stepped into the cave to escape the heat of the sun.
Shen Zuo sat down in a corner of the small cave, on ground lined with the hides of the deer he'd killed during his first days here. On one of the walls hung a piece of animal hide that had, over time, turned into something resembling a map, growing bit by bit alongside him.
He drew a small black circle near the bottom edge, marking his current location: "The Small Cave." Right beside it, a blue X marked a nearby stream he'd discovered earlier, with a small note written above it: "Permanent water source."
To the north, he'd placed a green question mark, marking an area he'd heard nighttime roars coming from, one he hadn't yet dared to explore, with a cautious note written beside it: "Unknown territory."
To the south, there were three faded yellow X marks, representing spots where he'd found strange stones and rare plants; he'd used one of those stones to make the blue pigment for the map.
The map wasn't precise... but it wasn't misleading either. Every symbol had been born from experience, and every line was the trace of a step taken across hostile ground. It was his Growing Map, reflecting how he himself was developing, day by day.
Shen Zuo picked up his axe, kept his sword at his side, and tied the five hides together into a bundle strapped tight against his waist. He tucked the two small stones he used to start fires into his inner pocket, then looked up at the sky. The sun was leaning westward, but the heat still bit at his skin.
He tightened his belt and muttered under his breath: "North this time... let's see what's waiting for me out there."
Then he walked steadily in among the trees, pushing deeper into the thick shadows, where the only sound was his own footsteps falling in rhythm with the light roar of the wind.
Two hours later, Shen Zuo reached the farthest point he'd previously explored in the forest, on its northern side. This was exactly where he'd stopped last time, the moment he'd heard that beastly sound.
He advanced with steady steps, and thanks to his experience and long training in using his sense of hearing, he was able to pinpoint the direction the sound had come from with fair precision.
He began advancing cautiously, every sense on high alert. After half an hour of continuous stalking, he reached the area he'd been aiming for and hid himself among the trees, though that didn't help much, since the trees here were sparse and spread far apart.
Ahead of him, he saw a group of "Craigars," beasts short in stature but broad-shouldered. Their hides were a dark, almost black gray, covered in irregular black patches, much like a hyena's coat, except those patches weren't just coloring... they were small holes venting out dark vapor.
Their heads were wider than those of an ordinary hyena, and their lower jaws hung slightly loose, as though there weren't enough muscle to hold them properly in place, but their mouths still carried a row of fangs curved inward, as if built specifically for tearing rather than chewing.
Their eyes were pure white, with no pupils at all, but if you stared at them long enough, you could feel something moving behind all that white.
Their voice wasn't a bark or a roar... it was a distorted, metallic screech, as if their beastly throats had rusted over, and every cry they let out forced the air around them into some kind of frantic dance.
They carried a massive hump on their backs, like a camel's, covered in coarse fur as sharp as needles; it was said that fur could shoot out like poisoned quills when the creature grew furious enough. Their tails didn't hang down; instead, they twitched restlessly, like a scorpion's tail, ending in a thick, muscular, spiked mass capable of striking with the force of a whip.
They moved as if laughing, mouths always hanging open, their cracked tongues lolling out, but that smile was nothing more than a mask over a predatory nature that knew no mercy.
Instantly, Shen Zuo's sense of danger spiked to its absolute limit... his heart began pounding hard, and everything around him seemed to fall silent, waiting for the coming clash.
But suddenly, Shen Zuo remembered something and broke into a wide grin, thinking to himself: "Finally, luck's smiling on me!"
After that grin, he grabbed one of the five hides tied into a bundle, pulled the two small s
tones from his pocket, and struck them together, setting the hide ablaze.
Then, quickly, he hurled it toward the group of Craigars.