The plant growth on the ground was different in colour, darker, the green of it having developed a depth that absorbed the already minimal light rather than reflecting it, and the root systems on the ground were not the slow continuous rearrangement of the lower tiers but something more structured, the roots holding positions for meaningful periods before shifting, the formations they created having recognisable shapes that persisted.
The Gold class Wood Snakes had been in this territory long enough that the territory had become an extension of them in a way that the lower tiers' territory had not been.
They had shaped it.
Neil paused at the edge of the transition and looked at the architecture of the place, the way the root formations created natural corridors between the massive tree trunks, the way the canopy's gaps were positioned to allow the particular quality of directionless light to illuminate specific areas while leaving others in genuine darkness.
A hunting ground.
