The timer reached zero at dawn.
Rook was already awake when the System chimed.
[Tier 1 Farm Plot — Harvest Ready.]
He stepped outside into the cool morning air. Mist clung low to the ground, the valley hushed as if waiting. The farm plot looked different now—rows of tall grain swaying gently, thick stalks heavy with yield. It didn't look miraculous.
It looked reliable.
Rook knelt and cut the first bundle free.
The System responded immediately.
[Harvest Initiated.]
[Food Resources Acquired.]
[Territory Stability Increased.]
[EXP Gained.]
He worked steadily, methodically, until the storage racks filled with grain and vegetables that hadn't existed days ago. Real food. Not scavenged cans. Not ration bars torn from looted shelves.
Food that came from here.
By the time Lena emerged from the cabin, rubbing sleep from her eyes, the smell had already started to spread.
She stopped short when she saw the spread laid out on the table outside.
Bread—rough and uneven, but warm. Stew simmering over the campfire, thick with vegetables and scraps of dried meat. Nothing fancy.
Enough.
"You harvested," she said quietly.
Rook nodded. "Eat."
That was the signal.
Lena sat.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. She tore into the bread first, hesitation giving way to hunger, shoulders sagging as the tension she carried finally loosened. She closed her eyes after the first bite.
"Oh," she breathed. "That's—"
Real.
She didn't finish the sentence.
Rook ate as well, slower, watching the valley while he did. The sound of chewing, the crackle of fire, the steady rush of the stream—it felt almost obscene compared to the chaos he knew lay beyond the trees.
Beyond the boundary, people were still fighting over scraps.
Inside it, there was breakfast.
The System chimed again, softer this time.
[Territory Morale: Improved.]
[Population Sustenance: Stable.]
Lena looked up at him, crumbs on her fingers, eyes sharper now.
"This changes things," she said.
"Yes," Rook agreed.
"People will come," she added. "Not just desperate ones."
"I know."
"Some won't ask."
Rook swallowed the last bite of bread and wiped his hands.
"Then they won't eat."
Silence settled—not uncomfortable, not tense. Just understood.
Lena glanced around the valley, at the walls, the tower, the farm now stripped clean and ready to be replanted.
"You built a future," she said. "Most people are still trying to survive today."
Rook stood and began clearing the table.
"This isn't a feast," he replied. "It's proof."
Proof that his way worked.Proof that time, when managed, could be turned into power.
As the sun climbed higher, the smell of cooked food lingered in the air—an invisible banner announcing something dangerous to the world outside.
For the first time since the System arrived, Rook wasn't hungry.
And that made him very hard to move.