《The Laq Docte: Din》 Chapter one: I鈥檓 here. On the ground is person of some interest. His muddied state is rather recent. Only a portion of the dirt has begun drying. He has the strength to push himself up, yet what he is fighting to achieve doesn¡¯t require it. Instead the trouble originates from the sporadic thoughts going through his mind. These thoughts range from observing his surroundings. Questioning his existential place in the world. And attempting to distinguish between heaven, hell and Earth. ¡®Why am I alive?¡¯ One thought rises above the others, repeating without end. ¡®Why am I alive?¡¯ Every iteration changes slightly, from confusion to anger. In response, an overwhelming shadow settles down on his back. This shadow is transparent in nature and difficult to see, impossible through ordinary means. After the burst of angry internal screams, sadness follows. The shadow remains steady, finding itself a new home. Despite this inner turmoil there lies a different danger. In the thick underbrush slides something ominous. Near imperceptible movements. The grass moves in tandem with it. The soft wind, almost as if commanded to aid it. Unaware, the youth continues his internal struggle. One step away from death. Like the flicker of a frog''s tongue, a slim shadow shoots towards its prey. The practiced movements feel effortless, it is hard to imagine anything but the blood soon to flow. The figure goes from a blurred shadow to a pitch black snake. Its gaze filled with thirst, yet to realize it has been immobilized. Somehow this muddied person has captured its assailant. The unhinged jaw gaping, ready to swallow mountains. ¡°What!?¡± Confused. The youth has a split second to spill out a quiet shout. His hand tighten reflexively. The predatory beast acts in turn and utilizes its tail, it flickers to strike its prey. The youth shivers and before realizing what has occurred his other hand has gripped the other half the creature. ¡®A snake?¡¯ As the words cross his mind, he hears a light crack. His dominant hand has killed this frightening predator. ¡®How?¡¯ A bombardment of questions begin to rise, pushing his previous gloom aside. His stomach growls. A feeling of weakness washes over him, his head spinning near fainting. This is a new sensation. ¡®Hggh!¡¯ A swallowing sounds out. He has moved yet again, without his will. His lower jaw red from the snake''s blood. ¡°What is going on!¡±
Level increased by one! You have killed a wild snake. It¡¯s origin still unknown. Killing snakes of the same type, will slowly gather information
Blasted by the glaring sheen of the holographic window, the youth skitters backwards. ¡°What is this?¡± Perhaps burned out, his voice seems calmer, no longer shouting. ¡®Increased by one? Is this a game?¡¯ Having come to some understanding his expression becomes blank, clearly in deep thought. ¡®If this is a game, do I have abilities?¡¯
Abilities
Passive
Instinct
Active
¡®Instinct?¡¯
Instinct
Any increase in attributes will increase the instinct attribute with a one to one ratio. It is impossible to allocate points to instinct. ¡°You specialize in surviving! You have developed greater instincts through a life and death experience!¡±
¡®What the.¡¯ Before his arrival in this world. This youth had cast himself off a towering building. In that short moment he was falling, he felt true relief. He did not feel fear. Took no notice of the air bashing against him. Eyes staring at the ground below, his mind elsewhere. He was free of any existential chains. Only resolve remained. And now he was here, in this dim place. ¡®Life and death experience!? Where is the death!¡¯ The previous gloom returns, and the illusive shadow seems to hover above him. Its calm gaze on him. This shadow is less a representation of a person¡¯s temperament and more the projection of his instincts. Here to watch over him.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡®What do I do? Where am I?¡¯ Finally, this young man takes in his surroundings. The wild flora giving him a sense of foreboding. The tree¡¯s so large they disappear into a fog. Impossible to see their end. After quiet contemplation. And further study of the dead snake in front him. He decides he might as well look around. ¡®Worst case. I¡¯ll die.¡¯ The thought feels depressive yet when the words ¡®I¡¯ll die.¡¯ crossed him, there is a sense of excitement. After a short survey, the youth begins feeling the difficulty of traversing the wild environments. ¡®Is this the amazon?¡¯ Once in awhile his hands flicker out and slaughters without hesitation. Sometimes what follows that, is the animalistic feeding, a small portion of the prey is devoured. This has the young man gagging. His eyes filled with disgust. Blood begins to accumulate on his clothing. The blood doesn¡¯t remain flowing for long and now is no longer red but a dark black. The stench of blood is attracting nearby beasts.
You have reached level three! Attributes will be distributed for you until you reach level ten. It is recommend you find a village or other survivors! It¡¯s easier to fight in a group. Note that fighting in a group provides less experience and distributes it evenly.
¡®How am I supposed to find anyone in this god forsaken place?¡¯ After numerous unconscious killings. The youth has stopped jumping in surprise and now only audibly sighs, lamenting his fate. The previous gloom grows stronger with every failed assassination attempt. ¡®These things are useless! Aren¡¯t you a wild animal? Aren¡¯t you all vicious killers?¡¯ During his aimless wandering he begins scolding his attackers. Disappointment can be felt in his tone. ¡®Am I not tasty? You come here to kill me but all you do is die! Are you mocking me?¡¯ The stench of death grows strong enough that the attacks of the surrounding beasts lessen. It is mostly scavengers following behind him now. Feasting on his fallen attackers. ¡°Stop following me!¡± ¡°Uuuuuu!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look! You¡¯re not cute! Look in a mirror!¡± The pack of four legged scrawny beasts look at him with appreciation. Even high above, on the tree branches, you can see ungainly but ferocious birds squawking at the young man. With exasperation he turns around and continues moving through the unforgiving terrain. ¡®Do what you want.¡¯ Theses beasts, while not smart, realize their provider wants peace to hunt. They begin hiding themselves. This fools the young person into believe he successfully chased them away. Even with the ominous aura of death, hungry predatory beasts continue to assail him. All comers are killed without mercy. Not one creature is left intact, even beasts with thick hide. His fingers bore into their eyes in a brutal fashion. Once he feels too tired to continue, he rests. The mysterious fog his blanket and the luscious tall grass his bedding. His defenceless figure has an illusionary shadow hovering above him. More tangible than before. This has to do with his unconsciousness. While in deep sleep his body acts without him and slaughters everything that threatens him. Only the scavengers, bearing no ill will towards him are allowed to come close. They happily eat the slaughtered attackers. Their expression no longer only carry appreciation but subservience as well. Their large number continues to stave of larger packs of beasts. This happens because they are scavengers. They do not attack beasts. They instead live off the leftovers of others. These beasts are rarely seen in the open like this. These days continue. His level increases steadily. It is only when he reaches level eight that he finds other people. ¡°Stay away from me.¡± His first response is to warn them. He can¡¯t assure their safety around him. He doesn¡¯t forget to give them a charming smile. A group of five stare at him. Three young men and two women. One similar ages as the men and the other just old enough to be their elder sister. ¡®I can¡¯t believe I found other people out here.¡¯ ¡°Why are you so scared? This big brother won¡¯t hurt you.¡± Two of the three men have a rather suspicious expression while the third seems timid. Similar to the two women. He stands a few meters behind the two men. ¡°Look at how dirty he is.¡± A mocking laughter rings through the otherwise quiet area. The two men still haven¡¯t noticed the herd of scavengers stalking the young man. The scavengers know to be quiet, not wanting to spook away their providers prey. The young man looks at his clothing. The blood dried up and mixed with dirt and smudged green from sleeping on the grass. It is easy to understand their misconception. ¡°We¡¯re in a jungle. Want me to shower?¡± From his perspective, they¡¯re all dirty. But any outside observer would agree he looks proportionally more dirty, the filth near fusing with him. He isn¡¯t accustomed to being this filthy. Currently he is not his usual self. Even his charm seems lacking. Hidden beneath layers of dirt and dried blood. ¡°Oh? Angry? T. Is he angry at us?¡± ¡°He looks angry. What will we do?¡± ¡°Maybe we help him. Give him a shower?¡± ¡°What do you mean P.K?¡± Baffled by their conversation the young man just looks on. ¡®Are they trying to make fun of me? But we¡¯re all lost in a jungle. Aren¡¯t we? Who has time for this?¡¯ The confusion only increases as they look on with what they think are innocent expressions. ¡°Seeing how dirty he is. Even pissing on him won¡¯t be considered bad but good.¡± ¡°Oh! You¡¯re a genius P.K. And there is five of us. If we all piss on him th-.¡± ¡°Exactly T! What do you guys think? Should we help him out?¡± After the act ends the two look at their companions. Who in turn look away, either at their feet or into the depths of the jungle. ¡°What? Don¡¯t feel like helping? T. I don¡¯t think they want to help!¡± ¡°Ai. Brother P.K. Not everyone can be as magnanimous as us. Even after we took them in,feed them and help guide them through the jungle, they still act like this.¡± Stopping, the man named T, sighs. His tone and expression desolate. His visage gives of the impression of a wronged hero. ¡®Are they insane? Jungle fever? I was happy to find people. But what is going on?¡¯ ¡°Alright. Forget it then.¡± ¡°I guess one more to our party won¡¯t hurt. What should we call you?¡± ¡°Brother T. Don¡¯t we all have nicknames here? We should give him a name since we found him.¡± ¡°Oh? Like scientists discovering a new species? He certain fits the bill. He barely looks like a person.¡± ¡°How about brother Shitstain?¡± ¡°Fitting! I have never heard a more fitting name!¡± It was up to this point that the blood washed youth silently turned and started walking away. It is obvious he isn¡¯t welcome. ¡°Hey! Where do you think you are going!?¡± ¡°Brother Shistain! Don¡¯t leave! Seeing their new friend leave they chase after him. They need more people. Their group used to have seven people. Two had been sacrificed for their survival. More fodder is required. They keep laughing as they run towards him. In truth they were nervous. Everyone felt fear wandering this everlasting twilight. ¡®Maybe the jungle makes people crazy? Is it the lack of sunlight?¡¯ The young man steps aren¡¯t slow but the two men easily caught up. The fellow called P.K. a shortened version of Pareankth Kaen, a name too hard to pronounce it becomes impossible to translate. As it is a name and can only be translated to mean, River lilies and rivers align. P.K. Reaches out, aiming to grab at his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± It is hard not to hear the two running towards him. And when he realized one is reaching for him. He shouted out. It was too late. His silhouette blurred. When all movement ceased. Brother P.K collapsed like a bag of rocks. His neck broken. ¡°Huh?¡± Baffled. His partner. Named T. Who was only a step behind, watched his friend die. ¡®It happened as expected.¡¯ Even if he had grown used to his body acting on his own. He had never killed a fellow human. He felt a tinge of nausea only thwarted by the pulsing pain in his hand. ¡°You fucker!¡± Snapping back to his senses, T. struck out, this strike seems to be filled with more than just an angry man¡¯s rage. ¡®He¡¯s dead.¡¯ As the thought emerged. It felt lonely. Uncaring. But there was also blaring envy found in it. The disgust was fleeting, soon he felt as if nothing had happened at all. And true to his thoughts, his body moved. Now two bodies were lying motionless, half buried in the jungle grass. Originally the two groups had only been a couple tens meters apart. The other three people still saw the events unfold. ¡°Stupid.¡± He looked at the three and gestured towards the two on the ground. They obediently nodded. ¡®I hope they won¡¯t be as stupid as them.¡¯ After giving them a deep look, he turned around and kept walking. The look was a warning. But they were too far apart, it went unnoticed. It hadn¡¯t been but a few minutes before he noticed the three were following him. It wasn¡¯t that he had keen senses and felt them following. The scavengers felt the intruders were on their turf. After being threatened by the flock of beasts looming in the surrounding they sprinted towards their saviour. ¡®They¡¯ll die.¡¯ Thinking the trio was there to avenge their friends. He sentenced them to death with a calm gaze. ¡°Please!¡± ¡°Save.¡± ¡°Us.¡± Deathly pale, the three, as if practiced spoke in turn. ¡®Is this scripted? Because it¡¯s a game? Is this a quest?¡¯ He was still unsure of what to make of his surroundings. It all felt real. But it was real in a strange way. He felt dissociated with his actions and surroundings. ¡°From what?¡± The words came out. The confusion arrived instantly. Behind them was nothing. The scavengers knew better than to intrude upon the killing field. But the beasts were bound to be disappointed. The three newcomers weren¡¯t slaughtered as expected. They instead tagged along. Worst of all. Some of the beasts killed were cooked whole! This was considered stealing from their mouths. What little intelligence the beast had was focused to a terrifying degree. Their minds spun faster and faster. Thinking of ways to rid themselves of their new rivals. But even if they planned and plotted. They wouldn¡¯t disgrace the almighty slaughterer and kill in his presence. These days were the easiest the three had ever experienced. They were well fed and felt safe. Even their defender didn¡¯t demand their bodies as payment. They no longer suffered continuous humiliation. These days were considered good. Chapter two: A following. ¡®If they are going to follow me everywhere can¡¯t they at least keep up a conversation.¡¯ Despite the benevolence of their saviour, they didn¡¯t dare speak, afraid they might provoke his ire. He was grateful for the cooking. After eating properly he didn¡¯t act like a wild animal, biting down and swallowing raw meat and hide. ¡®Guess I¡¯ll have to carry the conversation.¡¯ ¡°Where are you guys from?¡± He put on a light smile. It was a sincere question, he was curious. But the dried blood painted a ugly picture. They felt more fear towards him than the monsters out there. ¡°I- Ah!¡± Having spoken up, the ferocious slaughter¡¯s eyes moved to the young girl. These eyes felt boundless. In those irises was the universe. If she hadn¡¯t looked into his eyes, it would have been fine. But now she was spellbound. This had to do with his eyes and the fear she felt. Her chemical imbalance left her muddle headed. ¡®She looks so lifeless.¡¯ Thinking he might accost the girl, the older lady spoke in her stead. ¡°I¡¯m from Evalon. The Lonsong supercluster.¡± The words came out. They felt real, but instead of clearing things up they muddied them. ¡®Longsong supercluster? What is that? Isn¡¯t Evalon a perfume?¡¯ Seeing as there was a pause after she spoke, the third person spoke up. He felt pressured to speak. ¡°I¡¯m from Deratick. I¡¯m not sure where it is located.¡± His face brought forth a tinge of red. He felt ignorant. Previously he had been made fun of for not even knowing where his planet was. ¡®I¡¯m not sure what to make of all of this. Is this a simulation or have I been teleported to this place?¡¯ What staggering luck. His guess is as close as it could be. These people were moved here. How or why still goes unanswered. ¡°You said supercluster, right? Do you mean your solar system?¡± ¡°It is the cluster my galaxy is in.¡± ¡®It¡¯s a name for a group of galaxies?¡¯ Because of the young man¡¯s disinterest. He didn¡¯t notice that his companions weren¡¯t identical to what he knew to be human. He had thought they were strange. But that was allocated to them just being weird. The young girl still remained silent. She was confused. A blank look on her face. But she was no longer afraid. ¡®Isn¡¯t it polite to ask where I am from? Why did they just go silent?¡¯ A bit exasperated. He glanced back at them. Two of the three shivered. The third didn¡¯t notice. Still in her own world. ¡°I¡¯m from Earth. I lived in a highrise in a large city.¡± After speaking, he wondered why he said that. Then he asked himself if he should tell them he was a scion of a great family.. He had lived off his great great grandfather¡¯s inheritance just like his father and father before him. The family didn¡¯t work. They just paid people to work for them. They¡¯re wealth fluctuated but never diminished, only increased. Many rich families were famous but his wasn¡¯t. Their whole family were like ghosts. Something their great great grandfather had beaten into his sons and grandsons. Instead they had other rich families serving as their mediator to the rest of the planet. ¡®This didn¡¯t work at all.¡¯
You have reached level ten! After reaching this milestone you are granted one ability. You have been granted the ability: Improved instincts!
¡®Huh!?¡¯ Stunned. Completely out of it. He stands there unsure what to make of the situation. After rereading the ability information he found he added nothing but an increase to his instinct attribute. ¡®I¡¯ll never die at this rate. I¡¯ll be an old man like the ancestor.¡¯ Having reach this trail of thoughts his gloominess rose to new heights. ¡®There has to be a way to end my life.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t for the lack of attempting. Everytime he tried ending his existence. Fate interfered. The three were watching their saviour stand in a daze. But this wasn¡¯t a rare occurrence. Every once in awhile he would do this. But after a moment. Someone plucked the courage to speak out. Leaving the other two ghastly pale and shocked. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Having been alerted he was in fact not alone in this world. He glanced at three. Shook his head and continued walking. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡®They haven¡¯t even asked me my name.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m Din Laq Docte.¡± Din. One of the youngest in the new generation of the Laq Docte family. He wasn¡¯t any less exceptional than the rest of his siblings or cousins. He said the words with warmth and pride. It gave others the feeling that he was doing them a favor. A favor of telling them his name. ¡®Can¡¯t you guys at least tell me your names?¡¯ These people really were too impolite. Din couldn¡¯t help but think in this way. ¡°I¡¯m called Feli.¡± ¡°Suit.¡± ¡°I am Seri.¡± After a rather penetrative stare, the three caught on and spat out their names. Feli. From Deratick. A rather sad young man. His gaze still avoided direct eye contact. Suit is a unique name, even on Evalon. She was a child of two celebrities. And internationally famous since infancy. The last one, the young girl, Seri. She felt an odd sense of safety, with rare bravery she smiled her brightest smile. ¡®We need toothbrushes.¡¯ If the girl knew his thought she would at the very least falter three steps back and snap her mouth shut. But as they were. Filthy and fighting to survive. None of them had the things necessary to maintain themselves. ¡®I wish they would at least talk amongst themselves. Feels creepy to walk in silence like this.¡¯ Having reached level ten. Din begun allocating his attributes, it was also his first time seeing his own status.
Strength: 10 Intelligence: 10 Dexterity: 10 Wisdom: 10
Willpower: 10 Constitution: 10 Stamina: 10 Health: 200
Mana: 150 Health recovery: 20 Mana recovery: 15 Instinct: 70
Points to allocate: 7
¡®I can¡¯t put anything into health, mana or recovery.¡¯ After a while. He decided it didn¡¯t matter. He put everything into wisdom
Strength: 10 Intelligence: 10 Dexterity: 10 Wisdom: 17
Willpower: 10 Constitution: 10 Stamina: 10 Health: 200
Mana: 150 Health recovery: 20 Mana recovery: 18.5 Instinct: 80.5
The seven points into wisdom gave him mana recovery and proportionally his instincts increased as well. ¡®This instinct stat is out of control.¡¯ ¡°What levels are you guys?¡± This time around they didn¡¯t hesitate to answer. ¡°I¡¯m level fifteen, and Seri is level seventeen.¡± Having regained her confidence, Suit spoke for herself and the girl. She didn¡¯t know it, but she felt protective of her. Despite being two levels lower than her. What had shocked Din, was that their levels were so high. But before he could ask, Feli spoke up. ¡°Nineteen.¡± ¡®Something is off. How can they be so high level?¡¯ ¡°How long have you guys been out here?¡± It was only up to now that he found out they had been here for two months longer than him. They had entered a survival camp. From there they had gone out to hunt once in awhile in large groups. The experience wasn''t high but they hunted great quantities, food had to be acquired for every meal. There was also bonus experience for accomplishing some unique things. Most of the time, it would be to hunt a specific species enough to gain information on them. But their experience had never grown as fast as now. The group shared experience with Din. Who miraculously slaughtered everything. The beast here aren¡¯t too strong. Any average fighter has little issue fighting them. ¡°After that we got separated and ended up lost in the jungle.¡± Finally he had a better idea of what was going on. It still felt wrong, something was missing but at least he wasn¡¯t as ignorant. It turned out that their camp had been raided by a rival survivor camp. Once people taste the increase in strength and new unique powers they became dangerous. More dangerous. The strong begin coercing the weaker. Once in awhile a small dictatorship sprouts. And over time they compete for territory. In its essence, a survivor camp is just a gathering of people. But these camps were different. They gave benefits to those in control of them. It provides empowerments, sometimes quests and most importantly, they stacked and even multiplied. When in the hands of the same person. The small scale wars never ended. This wasn¡¯t many wars over a short period. Instead it happened over periods of weeks and months. To them them wars was maybe the wrong term. But it was devastating. People die and have to endure hard injustices. ¡®This is kinda fucked up. They just kill each other like this?¡¯ After the thought crossed his mind he mocked himself. As a scion of a wealthy family, he knew the allure of power. ¡®Maybe I can help the Laq Docte rise in this place. Grandfather used tell us to create our own opportunities.¡¯ Thinking up to this point, he felt he was right. If he can¡¯t die. He can do what he was taught to do. Conquer, dominate and flourish. It wasn¡¯t enough to just win over your opponent. You had to crush them, gain complete domination. Step three is to stabilize your roots. To make sure you won¡¯t drag the family down. Even if the Laq Docte weren¡¯t famous. That just meant the common folk didn¡¯t know them. Being the titans they were, they had fought battles that shook not only countries but all continents at large. This was a pride of the Laq Docte. Despite his bizarre circumstance, Din still held onto it. He did more than hold onto it. He worshipped it. ¡®I need to find one of these survival camps.¡¯ Even if the three knew that there were benefits from controlling survival camps, they had no idea how you would control one. The ones in control were mostly brutal or at least charismatic. Some were smart tacticians but most relied on brute force in all things. ¡®At least they¡¯re a bit more chatty now.¡¯ There is a sense of relief in Din¡¯s tone now. He knew this was a strange place and his bizarre ability kept reminding him. But there were at least other people. ¡®Those two don¡¯t have a lot of character, but this Suit woman has a way about her.¡¯ It was now easy to see that Suit was someone of great character. This didn¡¯t mean much out here sadly. ¡®I think sister would have liked her.¡¯ The gloomy atmosphere that had dissipated slightly returned as he thought of his family. He felt rage when he thought of his failure. If it was just that it would have been fine but because of his emotions, the projection of his instincts became clearer. While the three couldn¡¯t see a figure, they felt physically unwell if they looked at Din¡¯s back. This was instinctual fear. These days blended into one. It wasn¡¯t impossible to tell if it was day in the jungle but sometimes it felt that way. All they drank was the blood of beasts. Not a source of water could be seen. At most drops of water could be found in miniscule quantity in the form of condensation. But all that would end now. Today they found the smallest of creaks. ¡°Water!¡± Shocked out of their own thoughts they look up to see Din rush off. He could hear the running water. ¡®It really is water!¡¯ The creek was narrow, one hand could block it up temporarily. If you followed it to its source or end, all you would find was disappointment. But Din didn¡¯t know this, and neither did his companions. So they walked back and forth to no avail. ¡®What is this creek? How can water come from the ground like that?¡¯ Despite reluctance to leave the creek, two days later they continued their journey until they found a remnant of some sorts. ¡®What is this? Metal?¡¯ The four man team were surveying the area. It was only a few tens meters. There were obvious signs of a building''s foundation. ¡°What do you think it is, Din?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure.¡± After flicking his finger on the moss covered pole it rang out like it was hollow. ¡®A sign?¡¯ Time passed and they ended up concluding the building was made of type of cement and metals. Such a building couldn¡¯t have decayed to this extent naturally. ¡°It was probably demolished. Probably with explosives.¡± Even as he said it, Feli himself felt it was strange. Why would there be a demolished building out here in the jungle. Who would need to destroy this place? Even if they wanted answers, the ruins wouldn¡¯t provide them. ¡®I¡¯m taking this rod.¡¯ The metal rod was covered in green moss. It looked more like a plant¡¯s stem than a metal rod. ¡®Feels too light to be iron.¡¯ Having taken a good look around they gave up the area, Din decided it was time to continue traveling. Conversation was still spars but on occasion something would come up. Strange looking flower. A new type of beast or someone leveled up. Din managed to reach level thirteen. He felt allocated points to wisdom was a mistake before so he put them into intelligence. However as soon as he did he felt it was a mistake as well. He hadn¡¯t felt any tangible increase in his intelligence, only an increase in his mana. He felt this whole system was outrageous. In the end he opted allocate the rest into stamina. At least he didn''t regret that decision.
Strength: 10 Intelligence: 17 Dexterity: 10 Wisdom: 17
Willpower: 10 Constitution: 10 Stamina: 24 Health: 200
Mana: 185 Health recovery: 20 Mana recovery: 18.5 Instinct: 125.5
He cursed the instinct stat for being so ambitious. He felt exasperated, a type of mental exhaustion. Chapter three: Node. The sense of time had left the group long ago. But today it would finally end. They were on the cusp of civilization. Before they saw anyone, it was screaming at them. It was easy to see that people would be close by. It was here that the herd of scavengers wouldn¡¯t follow them anymore. ¡®This looks suspicious.¡¯ In front of Din was woven green rope. It couldn¡¯t be considered impressive but it was clearly rope. ¡°This is rope, right?¡± ¡°Looks like it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s rope.¡± Only Feli wasn¡¯t sure. He felt it was maybe a tree vine. Despite its course outlook. But he didn¡¯t dare voice his opinion. Even to this day, he felt Din¡¯s casual smile was filled with unprovoked malice. He felt like a mouse being glared at by a cat. ¡®Why would it be here?¡¯ Cuddled by his upbringing he had never seen such a simple alarm system. ¡®I should take it with me. Rope might be useful.¡¯ Getting a grip on it he began pulling it. And in the distance a rock fell down. It was near, but far enough to dismiss the sound it made. The sound made by hollowed out tree. It wasn¡¯t loud but it was easy to discern it once you knew what it was. ¡®This a lot longer than I expected. Why would someone tie rope randomly. Can this be a trap?¡¯ What Din couldn¡¯t have known is that in the past these ropes had been used for traps. But in the end, they only ended up hurting those it was meant to protect. With the survivor camp being alarmed, it wasn¡¯t too serious. They had never actually had it work as intended, more often than not they had no idea why it had been triggered. Few tens meters away, two men were casually making their way towards the makeshift wooden drum that had been slammed by the rock. ¡°These things are a waste of time.¡± ¡°Better than nothing.¡± ¡°How is it better than nothing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. It makes me feel safer, that¡¯s worth something.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t be safe much longer. Tiar has been planning an attack ever since he found the other camp.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even talk about it. Why does he want to attack? Don¡¯t we have enough here?¡± ¡°Maybe he wants fresh stock, if you know what I mean.¡± ¡°Man. If I get a good skill at level thirty I¡¯m going to create my own camp. And live like a king.¡± ¡°How are you going to get to level thirty if you keep dodging the hunts?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got my ways. I¡¯m getting experience from all my ropes.¡± It was up to here that they stopped talking. They were shocked. In front of them was a man. His eyes clear as the ocean blue. They almost felt like they had fallen into water. ¡®These two are pretty big.¡¯ The man¡¯s eyes only distracted them for a moment. They realized he was stealing their rope. They weren¡¯t sure what to make of it. Din saw them looking at the rope. He felt a bit guilty. He was stealing their rope after all. ¡°Ah this. This isn¡¯t what it looks like.¡± One of them was going to speak but suddenly felt baffled. They now felt like they had caught someone in the act. They found a thief! ¡°You¡¯re stealing the rope?¡± ¡°He has good taste. That¡¯s quality rope.¡± It was a strange encounter. They should have been alarmed. This man was covered from head to toe in dried blood. But they mistook it for dirt. They had seen stranger things. But the most baffling of all was the pride in the man¡¯s voice. This was pride in his rope. He felt it was quality rope. ¡°Ah. It was just lying around. Thought it would be useful.¡± It was only up to here that they came to. This was a foreign invader. If he was from another camp. He was an enemy. If he escaped here and informed a different camp about this location, it might spell disaster. The other option was they were new arrivals. In either cases they had to act. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°You need to come with us.¡± ¡°Can I keep this rope?¡± ¡°No you can¡¯t keep the rope! This is my rope! What do you mean can you keep the rope!?¡± ¡°Calm down Hore.¡± ¡°Ah. Sorry.¡± ¡®Is this a special rope? Why is he mad?¡¯ Before following them, Din glanced behind him and the other three people came from hiding. ¡°These three are with me.¡± The trio felt odd. It was a sense of warmth and relief. But it was overwhelmed by their nervousness. They hadn¡¯t heard nice things about other survival camps. It was common to be killed on sight or taken as labour slaves or worse. When the two saw the other three they were surprised but quickly they became thrilled. Their eyes like windows to their souls. It was easy to see their happiness when they noticed two of the newcomers were female. ¡®I guess their camp doesn¡¯t have a lot of women.¡¯ The previously unenthusiastic men became almost bubbly, but they still did not speak to anyone other than themselves. To Din and the others, it seemed strange. It wasn¡¯t that they were naive. They saw their expression change. However even after discovering them, they didn¡¯t speak one word to them after telling them to follow. ¡®It just keeps getting stranger and stranger.¡¯ The camp wasn¡¯t far off. They couldn¡¯t afford to defend too large an area. Limited by their population. Soon other people could be seen. There was surprise and then shock followed by either worry or pity. No one felt the new people to be pleasing to the eyes. This might be paranoia or the filth they were covered in. ¡®What a strange bunch.¡¯ After walking between the cottages. The housing looked worse off than common city slums. But they were discernibly cleaner. There was no issue so far, no one even bothered to ask questions about the group. But that wasn¡¯t because they weren¡¯t curious. They just seemed naturally timid. Din was counting houses and people. He felt there was room for a lot more people here. It was at this point when he felt his body twitch. His neck snapped in a direction. His vision focused on one particular survivor. ¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯ He felt the familiar ache after the rapid movement. But the person watching him was startled and fell backwards. The momentum carried and rolled on full cycle before stopping. ¡®What is he doing?¡¯ Of course Din wouldn¡¯t understand what happened. That person harboured killing intentions. Had he been closer to Din he might have been struck down. Some people noticed the quick action and felt it odd, but it wasn¡¯t much stranger than what they had experienced these last months. After watching the fool roll backwards and retreat. Din¡¯s looming shadow dissipated slightly. The oppressive feeling he gave off lessened greatly. ¡°We brought new people for Tiar!¡± Lounging on makeshift chairs were two similar looking men. Their gaze was lazy but that¡¯s just the impression they gave. ¡°Who are these people?¡± There wasn¡¯t much to say but before they could even begin a skinny man strolled out. He was fully naked and gave of the same lazy expression as the two men sitting in the chairs. ¡°Tiar! These are the people we just found.¡± Tiar didn¡¯t seem like he heard the man. He was frowning and looking at the four. After a moment he glanced at the two men that brought them. His frown deepened. ¡°Fuck off!¡± It sounded like he spoke through his nose. Some would feel it irritating. ¡°Bu-.¡± ¡°I said. Fuck off.¡± The two lazy looking men stood up. It looked like it took everything they had to stand up. Like a cats after a long nap. Seeing them stand up they quickly shut up and began walking away. They were furious. They had expected a reward but instead were treated like this. ¡°Take those two. Have them bathed then bring them.¡± Not wanting to waste another moment here. He felt it beneath him. And was insulted he had to smell them. No one spoke but Tiar had already left. The two men looked at the women and gestured them to come. Suit and Seri were hesitant and looked to Din. Din was in his own world, thinking. But Suit¡¯s and Seri¡¯s hesitation was like a slap in their face. People did what they told them to. They had worked hard to create this merciless lazy image. Seeing them look to the filth ridden Din. They could smell him from where they stood. Finally their lazy look changed. Like practiced they both squint their eyes. A smile crept out. Once they smiled, they looked handsome. Too handsome. At least that''s what Feli thought. What right did they have to have such sparkling smiles? This was the jungle. This isn¡¯t a place for handsome young men like these. It wasn¡¯t until he saw them move towards Din that he forgave them. He didn¡¯t think holding grudges against dead men was worth it. The three were all thinking that they were going to die. But they still didn¡¯t warn them. Maybe Din would have, but he was ignoring them. Still thinking out his plan. He felt this place was good. He had gone so far as to treat it as his own. He was planning how to improve things. Once they got close enough, the two attack together, wanting to destroy this filthy thing. Din had been carrying a metal pole in his hand since the ruins. He hadn¡¯t bothered to clean it. He tried for a bit but the stick felt more like moss than metal at this point. This allowed for this rare opportunity, they struck out. But two loud cracking sounds suddenly emerged. ¡°I knew it.¡± Feli felt a bit smug. He¡¯d watched this insane act happen countless times. These two felt dangerous but they weren¡¯t wild animals. They weren¡¯t hiding in the shadows ready to pounce on them. He even felt a bit superior to them. Aren¡¯t you strong and handsome? There was no sense to be found in Feli¡¯s thoughts. Suit¡¯s and Seri¡¯s thoughts were much simpler, they thought along the lines of, as expected. ¡°Uh.¡± He felt a bit baffled. He really wasn¡¯t expecting to be attacked like this. He was trying to solve problems he hadn¡¯t even encountered yet. But now he was struck out of his reverie. Two men dead. Their faces mangled. ¡®My pipe!¡¯ The pole from the sign was bent out of shape. He felt a slight tear at his heart. It had been bending slowly as it hit the beasts along the way. But it was much cleaner. He had lessened the blood splatter by at least a quarter. This pipe had sentimental value now. ¡°Why did they attack me?¡± No one had an answer for him. Some of the nearby people were a bit shocked. They had seen people killed for small things. But this were the leaders right and left hands. These two went everywhere with Tiar. They couldn¡¯t fit the image of them dead into their heads. It was like putting a puzzle piece into the wrong slot. It wasn¡¯t right. ¡®That¡¯s four. Four people I¡¯ve killed. Not even father killed anyone.¡¯ Having suddenly thought of his father, a foreboding feeling crept out from Din. The shadow seemed to come alive. He felt angry. He felt angry that he accidently thought of his father. He felt angry that they made him think of his father. If they weren''t already dead, he would have felt like beating them up. A few moments passed, Din stewed in his thoughts. Oblivious to his surrounding. From an outside perspective it looked like he was staring at Tiar¡¯s shed. They thought he was going to challenge their leader. No one felt like standing up for their leader. They didn¡¯t think it was a good or a bad thing. No one liked Tiar. Tiar wasn¡¯t the only leader this survival camp had served under. Tiar was fourth in line in the current generation. A generation that had only existed for a few months. It wasn¡¯t that the previous leaders were weak. It was that they were betrayed or ambushed. One had even died to a small wave of creatures. They didn''t have good feelings towards any of these leaders. All of them were vicious. Cruelty seemed to go hand in hand with leadership. ¡®Maybe I can find someone to fix it.¡¯ He really did feel this pipe was a good thing. Even he realized he was getting too emotional over a piece of metal. He turned around, spotting one of the survivors his eyes lit up. The survivor was unlucky enough to match his gaze. The bright blue eyes trapped him. He couldn¡¯t look away. ¡°Where is the river?¡± He felt too shocked to respond. He had never seen such eyes. He began asking himself questions he never thought he would. Soon he blushed and looked away. ¡®What is with these people.¡¯ ¡°You. Where is the river?¡± A few people had already pointed in the direction. They felt a bit coerced. Why did they all point at the same time? They looked at each other and felt a certain camaraderie. It was a strange feeling. It wasn¡¯t until Din¡¯s was few steps away that they realized what they were doing. Finally lowering their hands they slowly followed behind. They felt this person was interesting. Interesting enough to observe, so they followed. ¡®Do they all want to make sure I clean myself? Do smell that bad?¡¯ He looked at Suit, Seri and Feli. They noticed his gaze but didn¡¯t match it. They all knew it wasn¡¯t smart to look directly at Din. They had all met that gaze a few times. It stuck with them. ¡°Do I smell?¡± All of the people following stopped. Do you smell? Yes you smell. This thought was mirrored by all of them. The could smell him from afar. But no one answered. They had just seen him kill two men. ¡®No need to answer. I can read your faces easily enough.¡¯ Chapter four: Organize. ¡®They really are strange.¡¯ Standing naked at the bank of the river was a clean Din. He saw them all look at him. He felt they were acting a bit strange. He was a Scion of wealthy family. He had never bathed alone before. But he still felt it strange that twenty some people were just watching him. Even the two women were taking a few glances at him. ¡®Maybe they were worried I wouldn¡¯t be able to get rid all the dirt? I guess it has kind of dug in. I¡¯ve never been this dirty before.¡¯ Having found a reasonable answer, he began carefully clean himself again, occasionally casting a glance at the crowd. Looking for affirmation. In the end however he begun feeling annoyed. He could only clean himself so much. This has to be enough. ¡°Clothes.¡± They were a bit stunned. Was he demanding their clothes? It was at this point they finally felt themselves to be a bit ridiculous. This was a group of twenty some men, watching another man bathe in a river. A lot of awkward coughing began. Turning the awkward silence into awkward fit of coughing. Din felt it was strange but he just sighed. This place really wasn¡¯t Earth. But how could people act in this way? It¡¯s fine if you want him to clean himself but isn¡¯t this going too far? ¡®At least I¡¯m clean.¡¯ He looked towards the other three people bathing. They were bathing with their clothes on. Feli had at least stripped to his underwear. But the two women were squirming in the deeper parts of the water. Initially they wanted to wait for the group of men to leave. But it turned out they weren¡¯t even looking at them. They felt a sense of loss but didn¡¯t know where to put that feeling. ¡®I¡¯m getting a bit hungry. I should go find something to eat.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m getting food.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡®They really can¡¯t hold a conversation.¡¯ Dressing in clean clothing. He felt the clothing was a bit weird. But he wouldn¡¯t judge. This was clothing acquired as a reward or purchased. It wasn¡¯t much and there was an abundance of it. It came with one of the perks of controlling a node. These node were called by different names but those who controlled them knew they were named support nodes. ¡®This place is better than I thought.¡¯ After being brought food and a place to sit down to eat it, Din felt at ease. ¡®I should go take control of this place. After the meal I¡äll begin.¡¯ There was a feeling of complacency in his thoughts. He really did take this place as his own. If his thoughts were made public, people would be baffled. Some might even spit on the ground out of reflex. This was arrogance. Arrogance that was nurtured and groomed. It wasn¡¯t that he thought Tiar was weak. Or that he was strong. It was that he never considered him from the beginning. This was because of his lack of fear. He didn¡¯t fear death. He felt that if death caught him. He¡¯d bow politely and follow obediently. But this wasn¡¯t the case, he had felt out of place. ¡®This food really isn¡¯t half bad. Could use some variety.¡¯ The food situation was in dire straits. The survivors fear of this man compelled them to offer their best wares. Taking the food for granted, Din ate neither fast or slow. This wasn¡¯t savouring a meal. This was proper etiquette. Something drilled into him. ¡®At first they seemed a bit timid, but since the river they¡¯ve all been blatantly following at staring at me.¡¯ Din stood up. Looked around the area. The weather here was always humid but there was no need for roofs. No rain managed to pierce through that foggy veil. ¡°Where is your leader?¡± ¡®Might as well get this over with.¡¯ After being led back to previous house, Din saw the two men that attacked him earlier. He was surprised. ¡®That skinny guy before was this Tiar?¡¯ Being so entranced in his thoughts and plans. He hadn¡¯t even registered the man. ¡®I¡¯m sure it¡¯s fine.¡¯ Maybe he would be attacked. Maybe he would be killed. But it didn¡¯t matter. He wanted control over this area. If he had to kill this Tiar for it. Then this Tiar fellow had to die. This wasn¡¯t apathy. This was a sense of superiority, The Laq Docte had rights to all things. He felt it was this camp¡¯s benefit to have him in charge. He was doing everyone here a favour. If half the people died before he gained power. That would be fine to. This was arrogance. Not only this. If any of his cousins slaughtered their way through this camp and took control. He¡¯d felt it was right as well. After all. The Loq Docte were the world''s benefactors. This is what he was taught. And it was what he believed. Living for the family. Dying for the family. Everything was fine. If it benefitted the family. This was an iron rule. Some would call this brainwashing. Others indoctrination. But Din called it truth. Din had planned to die. He wasn¡¯t allowed. So he roamed aimlessly. It wasn¡¯t until he found this survivor camp that he found a goal. He wasn¡¯t qualified to better the Family back on Earth. Not yet, at least. But out here. He could create an outpost. In his mind. He had to assume that more of his family might be transported to this place. And he needed to create an organization to welcome them. This is what Din believed he should do. This is what he thought his great grandfather would do. What his grandfather and his father would do. It was what he would do. ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°What the fuck are you doing in here!?¡± Din had arrived inside the isolated wooden shed. It wasn¡¯t large by his standard. It was even smaller than the servant quarters back home. But it was split into two. He had to open two doors to find Tiar. ¡®Is this where all the women were?¡¯ What stunned Din was the sight of over fifteen women. Clothed and unclothed. He wasn¡¯t sure what to make of it. But he was relieved. He had been worried there weren¡¯t enough women for his plans. ¡°I need you to hand over the control of this survivor camp.¡± Instead of exploding in anger, Tiar just stood there glaring at Din. Tiar wasn¡¯t your average person. Tiar had always been a careful man. He wasn¡¯t smart in a conventional way, but he was cunning. He quickly realized that his two friends must have been killed. This meant he had at least some strength. He didn¡¯t attack. He was better at counter attacking. His ability had given him this chance. Only two people knew what his ability was. They were now dead.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Where are Kem and Del?¡± These were nicknames. Their real names were five times as long and a chore to repeat. This appeared to be common practice. ¡°Your friends outside? Dead. I want control of this camp, please.¡± This situation left the women a bit lost. Most people would feel at loss. Why were they talking so casually? Only the initial shout had felt violent. Rest was like two friends chatting about how their weekend went. ¡°You killed them?¡± ¡°They killed themselves.¡± This is what Din believed. He wasn¡¯t at fault. He didn¡¯t even feel victimized, he just felt they had killed themselves. He felt jealous, it seemed so easy. Din took a step forward and reached out his hands. ¡°Control.¡± Tiar didn¡¯t move. He stare into those mystifying eyes. He almost felt like giving the node to him. He snapped out that train of thoughts and frowned deeply. He was thinking Din might have some kind of hypnotism ability. The more he looked into those bright, unwavering eyes, the more assured he was. He was certain of it. ¡°Fuck you.¡± Tiar wasn¡¯t going to attack. He was waiting for his chance to use his ability. He wanted Din to attack him. And he knew how to provoke people. A small smile crept up on Tiar¡¯s face. He held a mocking expression. He knew the best way to make people hate you, was to make them feel looked down upon. So he began speaking down to Din. Every word crafted to eat away at his pride. ¡®I guess I have to kill him.¡¯ It was a rather casual thought. He wasn¡¯t comfortable with killing. But he had the determination built from over a decade of Laq Docte indoctrination. He was in the right. If this Tiar had to die, then he had to die. It was simple. So he took another step. His hand swung out with his bent metal pipe. It was green again. He had washed it in the river. This was the chance Tiar was waiting for. He activated his ability. It was a one off counter. It would negate an attack and stun the opponent for a brief duration. But that duration was enough to use his strength to dominate. ¡®What is this?¡¯ It was like his body fell a sleep. His hand limped down and his hand lost the grip on the pipe. But even before the pipe could begin to fall. Tiar struck out with his fist. He was level thirty two. He would break his jaw with this punch. And even if he didn¡¯t he¡¯d at least knock him out. Or so he thought. Behind Din was a shadow, watching. The moment Tiar showed his intention to strike. It acted. Their movements appeared mirrored. A punch for a punch. Tiar was shocked. How could this guy still move? To make things worse, when he was about to connect with his fist. His hand got slapped away like a pesky fly. This was Din¡¯s left hand. Din¡¯s right fist hit Tiar¡¯s jaw. The blow jolted his brain and numbed him. He lost all feeling in his body. But he wasn¡¯t dead. He wasn¡¯t even allowed to fall to the ground. Din had somehow used the momentum to spin and follow up with a heel kick. This was also his instincts using Din¡¯s body. Din was just coming out of his disorientation when Tiar hit the floor. It was a dull sound. On the floor Tiar was bleeding, the blood sifted through large cracks on the shoddy floorboards. His eyes were wide open but he wasn¡¯t alive. He had died before landing.
You have acquired a support node! You will receive ten percent increase in experience while within your territory. You can expand your territory by adding adjacent support nodes your network or by conquering special territorial beasts. Territorial beasts are kings of beasts and command a large number of beasts. They also possess support nodes and may invade your territory. It is recommended you build a strong force before challenging Territorial beasts. You can build up your territory by using resource points. You can gain resource points for holding control over your area for a period of time. Resource points are added every seven days. You can also gain additional resource points for completing certain objectives. These objectives can only be discovered randomly. Your area has two outstanding objectives.
Objectives:
Defend the perimeter
Push back the eastern beasts advancements.
Renovation
Build shelter for all members of your territory. Currently housing fifty three out of sixty eight
¡®Good.¡¯ Din continued to read other information available. The people present weren¡¯t sure what to do. He stood there occasionally flicking his hand in the air. ¡®Looks like I can¡¯t do too much for now.¡¯ He was reading what he could buy from the node support store. But he never stopped reading. After finding out he could buy some information he didn¡¯t hesitate to squander every resource available. Most would find a way to strengthen themselves or save up to strengthen themselves. Din wasn¡¯t too smart. He wasn¡¯t a genius. But he didn¡¯t need to be, he was educated. And he was now obsessively ambitious. He was completely devoted to his family, it was the reason he had to die. He would take his own life without hesitation if he believed it was for the family. It was the reason he had felt such complacency when facing death. This was the devotion of a person instilled with the ideals of his father, his grandfather and great grandfather. ¡®Let¡¯s begin then.¡¯ Din¡¯s eyes returned to their former brightness. He had read all the information he could and had a few minor things he could accomplish for now. He swept his gaze over the women. He met their gaze, one by one. This was him instilling confidence in them. He was taught to do this. The only meaning was to say, I am worthy of your faith. But not all things work as intended. What he incited wasn¡¯t trust but fear. He would be fine either way. This was just something he had to do. After the last person had been scrutinized he decisively turned around without a word. The node support system had information about a lot of things. He couldn¡¯t buy every information he wanted, but he could buy what he thought was vital. Din hadn¡¯t liked having holograms cluttering his vision but now he walked around with it completely plastered in front of him. A map was in front of him. He adjusted it to be somewhat transparent, allowing him to avoid tripping as the walked. He had pressed down on the map, revealing a few highlighted locations. There weren¡¯t many, only two. He didn¡¯t know what these location were but according to the map these were worthy enough to highlight. Information about these highlighted areas were something he had to buy. It wasn¡¯t expensive but relevant to his current income, it was taxing. Having felt he had come to a decision he lifted the map up twice in succession. This time around every tiny bit of land was highlighted. But there was clear difference from area to area. Some areas were a deeper color. From a faded yellow to a dark red. This was the most expensive part he bought. This is something he spent a great deal of thought on. This was fertile land. And from what he saw, he needed to clear out a lot of trees. ¡®Right now it doesn¡¯t matter. But in the future I¡¯ll have every scrap of fertile land worked.¡¯ People watched this person walk about, ordering people around in a very casual way. No one felt they had a reason to object. He had ordered people to gather everyone. He was going to set up an expedition. They were going to beat back the advancing forces. This would take a week or so. Tiar had also had plans to deal with the invading beasts. But his plan was slow and inefficient. But it didn¡¯t require him to do anything. ¡®This place will do.¡¯ He sat down in an area that had a lot of tables and chairs. If you could call them that. He sat there while more people arrived. A lot of them were confused but there was order in the camp. People who acted brazenly were usually the first one to be made example of. When he was assured everyone had arrived, aside from those still out hunting. He began interviewing every last person. His questions were fast and to the point. He wanted to know what kind of materials he had. And he wasn¡¯t talking about wood and stone. He considered everyone here a tool. A finite resource. Quickly everyone had been questioned and a few people were selected into a group and they stood together on the side. They were confused. Everyone was confused. Following this he split them further into four more groups. He gave the group''s name. One, two, three and four. The last group was still standing off to one side, not even give a name. They were becoming nervous. ¡°That is all. You can go do whatever you were doing before. I¡¯ll have things for you to do later so stay close.¡± After sending the four groups away he turned to the last seven. Among them was the rope enthusiast. The rope enthusiast remember how this new leader liked ropes and he was planning on offering his ropes to him. But he didn¡¯t dare speak up until addressed. ¡°I want to three to work together on something for me. You are no longer needed to hunt. If you need experience in the future. I¡¯ll make sure you are guarded while doing so.¡± When he spoke up to here he calmly looked them over. They all felt nervous. But a few of them felt relief. They had thought they were going to be punished. ¡°You will be building things for me. You two will follow this man. You will create ropes with him. The more the better.¡± Din felt he needed a lot of rope to clear out some of the larger areas. He also felt, due to the lack of machinery here. That creating easier way to move things was important. ¡°You four. You will focus on building housing in the future. But for now I need you to make some rafts for me.¡± After explaining his needs he waves them off. He assigned group number three and four to them. If they needed anything they should go to them. After this he went to the river and began walking along it. The river spanned through the entire territory, straight through the middle. He would expand to either the south or the north. Following either end of the river. He had also planned focusing the farming along the rivers. The area was pretty large and there were many areas suitable to farm. But he wanted make sure they had easy access to water. Along the way he picked up anything that looked edible. Sometimes he would randomly throw things away before they entered his mouth. This was his instinct making sure he wouldn¡¯t eat poisonous food. He felt only two things would be worth farming. One was a common grass that grew everywhere. It looked green but could be milled into something like wheat. He had bought his information. And the other was a ground vegetable. It was tasteless but held a lot of nutrients. In the future he would increase variety. But these were the easiest to gather in large quantities. ¡®I¡¯ll just make smaller farms for everything else until we get enough seeds. In a few years I¡¯ll have abundant variety.¡¯ Years. He didn¡¯t care about why he was here anymore. All he wanted to do now. Was to plant firm roots. For the family. If it would take him his entire life. If he had to leave it to his children or his children¡¯s children. He would do it. This was his determination and ambition. It was as bewildering as it was firm. ¡®The problem are these trees.¡¯ The towering trees were thick and hard to topple. He didn¡¯t have the tools needed to cut them down. He¡¯d have to work with what open land there was for now. Later he would clear the land to create aqueducts and proper water irrigation. But this had to do for now. He wandered for a while. A few things in his hands. Fruits or vegetables to grow in gardens. He¡¯d have to set a dedicated area in the camp for them. He returned to the camp. The only thing that he wasn¡¯t decided on. Was the experience. His level had risen to twenty four. He had stopped randomly allocating stat and just evened them out resulting in twenty four in every category. He couldn¡¯t think of a reason to do it any other way. He felt it was strange that he was given the option at all. Had he been given a skill that required mana, maybe he wouldn¡¯t be so indecisive. If he had an ability the relied on strength and speed. He¡¯d know what to do. But in the end he had no idea what was going on. All he could do was let the stats just grow even.
Strength: 24 Intelligence: 24 Dexterity: 24 Wisdom: 24
Willpower: 24 Constitution: 24 Stamina: 24 Health: 340
Mana: 220 Health recovery: 34 Mana recovery: 22 Instinct: 230.5
¡®Instinct. No matter how I look at it. It¡¯s annoying.¡¯ In four levels he would be granted another ability. From level thirty and above. Experience in this area would feel very low. There were a few level thirty people or some close to it. These people carried an air of an expert in the camp. But just levels alone weren¡¯t enough. You had to be lucky. You had to get an ability that let you dominate. One of the most dangerous thing a person could do. Was reveal one¡¯s abilities. Only by being mysterious would the abilities be enough deterrent to garner respect. Tiar had held his abilities closed to his chest. He had used it to counter the powerful attack of the previous leader. ¡®Now I need to arm my militia.¡¯ He had thought it through. Wooden spears would be good. But anything that hit hard was enough. Wooden spears would be disposable, good for one kill at best. It was best to put faith into more sustainable things. He gathered group one and two. Began explaining some things. Before nightfall every man and woman had two sticks, a rope with a stone bound on one end and a lasso. This was the best thing Din could come up with. It wasn''t great. But he felt confident. And even if he only had his bare hands, he¡¯d still march them when tomorrow came. ¡®I need those resource points.¡¯ This was the problem. Whatever he would do. He¡¯d meet a bottleneck there. Somethings could be done with labour. But other things required him to buy it outright. And he needed to be able to sustain thousands if he wanted to build his organization. It was night, but it was hard to tell. A lot of people found it hard to sleep but eventually they dozed off. Initially some people had wanted grab some of the leftovers. They wanted a piece of the women, since Tiar was dead. But seeing their new leader arming every man and woman, they grew timid. Not only this. But those women had a strange bond. From the outside it looked like they hated each other. But they were united. They didn¡¯t want to face similar humiliation as before. And they had suffered for a time now. But they had always had each other. So no matter what happened, they weren¡¯t in it alone. This for some reason made it so they didn¡¯t feel it was that bad. They could suffer because everyone else was suffering. It felt natural. This changed now. They had expected their lives to continue in a similar way. But it didn¡¯t look like that blue eyed man held them in any regard. He had swept them with a gaze that pierced them. Each had different thoughts of what had happened, but in the end they couldn¡¯t figure it out. Chapter five: Culling. Today Din found out how bad the food situation was. Half the people went hungry for majority of the day. Not starving, eating just enough to survive. Many died from randomly eating poisonous plants or fruit. And no one thought of eating the weeds that grew everywhere. They could still hunt and forage so it hadn¡¯t come to that. Din felt this couldn¡¯t go on. He commanded them to gather all the grass. Some of it was useless but majority of it was right the type. He told them to crush it into mush. It looked unappealing but it did really taste like wheat. It wasn¡¯t a nice taste in this form. But it filled the bellies of the entire camp. ¡®Good. I¡¯ll have them gather this grass along the way as well.¡¯ After eating. Over eighty percent of the camp was moving east. This area wasn¡¯t dangerous to begin with. They crushed anything in their way. It took them less than half the day to reach the first pack of beasts. They had four legs and leather wrapped bodies. Like small hairless bears. Slowly they killed their way through. The area these things had occupied was rather sizeable. And Din¡¯s team couldn''t kill as fast as they had been moving earlier. Soon three days had passed. Every day they fought in a rotation. But they felt odd pride. Before, this should have been a tiresome activity. But now they felt a sense of camaraderie they had never experienced. On occasion Din spoke to his people. He shared some vague goals. Gave them a light explanation as to why they were doing this. And what would be happening in the future. They were stunned. It was hard to believe. They expected him to act like others. Belligerent and domineering. He was certainly domineering but it didn¡¯t feel like it. It felt like a gentle hand encouraging them. They just didn¡¯t realize it. Having so many people. They leveled slowly. But the women were most excited. They had already gained three levels. Most of them hadn¡¯t been allowed to join hunts. Or not needed to. The men felt they needed to be sheltered. And if it wasn¡¯t for that. A lot of them didn¡¯t want to hunt either. There wasn¡¯t much difference in strength between women and men now. If they were on similar levels. No one would acknowledge this for now. And this was only speaking in terms of physical strength. Where battle experience and abilities were excluded. When one of the women reached level ten. An aura washed over the entire group. Din took this woman to the side. Spoke to her in private. She had an ability to passively grant stamina regeneration. This was a unique attribute. Din didn¡¯t know it was. But he did appreciate it. ¡®She¡¯s important.¡¯ She was now the most important person in this camp. If everyone else died, they could be replaced. But this kind of aura was unique. He ordered her to stay by his side and never leave. This roused some scorn, for both Din and the woman. She felt the many burning gazes on her. She couldn''t help but feel self conscious. But she was too shocked to show it. Her female friends didn¡¯t know what to do. They had agreed to be united. But they now felt jealous. When they realized this feeling, they felt angry. They wanted to revolt. But this wasn¡¯t the time for it. Soon their whispering died out. It was their turn to fight the beasts. The beasts were more united out here. But they weren¡¯t stronger. So even someone at level one could fight them one versus one. It was their quantity that was frightening. Or it used to be. Today was the mark of their last day out here. Din stood there tapping the air. He had an a soulless look on him, which gave his smile a creepy feeling. Few dared to look at him. He ordered the people to march back to camp. Beside him was the same woman. She was now feeling a bit smug. She had been afraid at the start. But now she felt she was important. She had made eye contact with her group of friends many times. Quickly she realize they were jealous. Confused she didn¡¯t know what to do. Then realized. Yes. You should be jealous. This man was the leader. And he had chosen her. The more she thought this way, the more the smugness crept out. It was to the point where she would look at her female comrades with pity. There was a quiet war going on between them. But no one but them knew. Din had took the time to properly analyze the situation while out here. He realized the men were like hungry wolves. Their eyes on a woman any waking moment. This was to be expected but he still felt they could show a little more restraint. Even he didn¡¯t take too much of a look when all of them were naked or half naked in front of him. This furthered his sense of superiority over others. His faith in the Laq Docte family grew even stronger. He felt a familiar intoxicating feeling. Once back. He laid down some rules. Women had to choose a man. They could give terms and were given three days to decide. Women were allowed to leave men for others. No fighting between camp members was allowed. He didn¡¯t care if it sounded unfair or biased. He didn¡¯t want his tools destroying each other. This amount of women wasn¡¯t enough for now. He would prefer it if they outnumbered the men. Too few women would leave too many volatile men. They weren¡¯t hard to control but they might act in a way that was harmful to his plans. All the women were huddled together talking amongst themselves. After they got over the initial shock they felt angry. They had to choose? Or else what? This was humiliation. And some of them felt they needed to take a stance. But they lacked vision. Over half the women had already begun weighing and measuring the men in the camp. The plan was to stand united and not pick anyone. It was a foolish decision. Din wasn¡¯t merciful. In a normal situation, he wouldn¡¯t care at all what they did. But he needed children for the future. And all camp members were his livestock. Despite their apparent resolve. Half the women began making demands of the men in secret. The camp wasn¡¯t large so soon everyone knew. This ruptured the short lived alliance. And by the end of the second day. Every woman had chosen a companion. It wasn¡¯t a hard decision. Everyone here knew each other for the most part. And for some reason, everyone here was good looking. Some might be skinny or fat. But even then they had certain charm. No one realized this. So no one spoke up about it. Even Din had never considered that the level of attractiveness his camp had. On earth he could have set up a modeling agency. What Din hadn''t considered was that some women took up to three men. This was a difference in culture. Only a few looked down on the men. Those without women still just felt envious. After discovering this, Din felt he was short sighted and had much left to learn. If he had to redo it. He would have just divide the men evenly amongst the women. He voiced his idea out to a few people. And it was obvious it wouldn''t work out for now. The iron had already cooled. ¡®I just need to find more people. I won¡¯t make the same mistake twice.¡¯ The days passed. Soon everyone had a roof over their head. They could sleep outside, but the lack of privacy was detrimental to Din plans. ¡®I have to be careful to let them have enough energy after working. It¡¯s good that there are no ways to prevent pregnancy out here.¡¯ It was fortunate that Din kept most of his thoughts to himself. A vast majority of them would provoked to anger. The next days were focused on setting up farmland. Small offshoots in the rivers were created. A small funnel for the water to flow through, carefully managed by a hatch. It was primitive and shoddy work. But it saved them hours upon hours of work every day. Labour was fine. But Din had bigger plans than to use these people to mule water back and forth. Soon a simple pulley system was formed alongside the river. Used to ferry materials up and down the river. The ropes would need to be replaced every ten to twenty days. Din had wanted to make a bridge over the river as well. But shelved the idea for now. ¡®It¡¯ll be too much work. Once we resupply our rope, we¡¯ll create a hang bridge from two trees.¡¯ The farming work was hard, but Din had made sure everyone had time to rest. Every seven days they only worked four days. This was Din¡¯s idea of efficiency. Rest of the time he encouraged hunting. Even going so far as to reward people for taking his crafters out to get experience. For now, nothing else could be done. A couple months passed like this. According to Din¡¯s information, the grasswheat should harvestable in two to three weeks. The opportunity to hunt lessened but Din had reached level twenty nine. And should reach thirty before the grass wheat harvest began. ¡®It turns out those places were rich in metals. I can¡¯t do much with them for now. But in two weeks I can set up a forge.¡¯ Most of the required farmland had already been prepared. So Din set his sights on the next objective. Mining. Problem was, he couldn¡¯t buy tools for it. He couldn¡¯t make them either. But once he bought this forge. It opened up the path to mining. And he¡¯d devote majority of his workforce to it then. ¡®If I can arm everyone with metal weapons. We should dominate the other two camps.¡¯ He had researched the already known camp. And even found another camp. Two members of his camp were very impressive. They could easily avoid beasts attention. He hadn¡¯t given them much, but they were ecstatic to be chosen as scouts. It was easy work and were promised women once new ones arrived. This was a rare chance for them. From their perspective, Din was benevolent towards women and for him to promise them one. It was beyond expectation. Din himself felt these people were simple. He had one women by his side. He wouldn¡¯t let her out of his sight. He felt her potential in future fights was too great. There had been another person that had given others a buff. But it was a single use a short duration. Nonetheless this person was also treated well. This caused a perception shift amongst the people. They now came willing forward and explained the abilities to Din. After two additional people received special treatment. Everyone became greedy for benefits. ¡®There is a trend. A generic attack skill without much potential, followed by a passive skill that bolsters attribute growth. And there are offshoots like Jao¡¯s aura.¡¯ There were other variations he hadn''t found. A passive or active defensive ability. And control abilities. It wasn¡¯t that they were rare. They would only be granted at level forty five and sixty respectively. And this was the reason it was so difficult to unite any land. Once a few individuals had a control ability. Any man could be killed. This was why a ruler had to have loyal subjects. Unknowingly, Din was cultivating this in his people. Loyalty that is, it was what he had been taught to do. ¡®Tomorrow I buy the forge. And a week later, hopefully i¡¯ll be able to buy the tools to begin the mining operations.¡¯ The forge would be placed closed to the river, midway between the river and the mining site. Everyone had been prepared and they only lacked the tools to begin harvesting. The soil was so rich in metal they could scoop it up and just sift through it. But he didn¡¯t have sifts. He didn¡¯t have a forge. Not yet at least. Din had no way of knowing how to work the metal, or anything to with harvesting the metal. But he would buy the information. Once he had the information, it was a matter of trial and error. He had also found out that any crafting could lead to objectives. In almost all cases these were personal objectives. But he catalogued them all. He was hoping the forge would trigger another objective. But he¡¯d have to wait until tomorrow to find out. People were already gathered around the planned forge area. An awkward road lead from the metal resources and the river. Forge would be built in between. Din was waving his hands in the air. Up and down, then twisted his open palm. In front of him was a holograph of a large building. ¡®This is bigger than I expected. It almost reaches the fog.¡¯ The forge was larger than any shed in the camp. Perhaps twenty sheds would be of a similar size. He could place the forge wherever he want. He could even use it to remove a tree, if it was in the way. The foundation could be lifted up a meter above the ground. But he felt it would look odd. He then rotated the building to his taste. ¡®This should be fine.¡¯ Innumerable soft particles of light began appearing. The sight was mesmerizing at first. Many would never forget this experience. Soon a rough foundation had been set. The walls came up. But no one could see what was happening inside the building. Inside the forge, various items manifested themselves. An eternal fire rose. Four different entrances to the furnace lead to anvils. Clearly it was meant for four people to work at once. ¡®This is amazing technology.¡¯ His thoughts were mirrored by many of the camp members. A few of them had seen incredible technological achievements. But this was something different. Advanced technology always seemed like magic. But was this magic? They couldn¡¯t tell. Some were sure it was magic. Some were certain an alien race were just this advanced. When the building finished. Din stood in place. Going through his node support interface. He was looking for the things the forge would unlock. ¡®Alright. I can buy beginner forging methods, but no recipes. The forge already has an area to work the unfiltered metals.¡¯ He was slowly making his way through. To his surprise, he saw he received some resource points. These were different however. And bound to the forge. ¡®This is a bit strange. Not bad but strange.¡¯ There was no explanation for this new resource. There never had been any for the other resource either. Only a way to accumulate more. After a few moments, people began exploring the forge. It was a bit of a disappointment. Only a select few found it amazing. When Din snapped out of his reverie, he began ordering people around. Supplied them with new tools and what they had to do. The next few days were peaceful for the most part. The initial deposit of metals to the forge were enough to last a week.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The problem was the inefficiency of getting the metals to a usable form. So mining labour was at a minimum. People were still assigned in rotation to do things. But their schedule of three days work, four days off remained. In the forge Din watched over people work. The heat was staggering but not to a point where you couldn¡¯t get used to it. ¡®We need to make a form to pour the metals in.¡¯ No one had prior forging experience so they really had no idea what to do. Even if they were told what to do. A solution was found. They dug up the thick mud around the riverbank. The mud was used to create a form to pour the metal in. A week after the forge was created. The first metal stick was produced. The person in charge received staggering bonus experience and a recipe for the stick. This recipe was a holographic representation that only he saw. He was ecstatic. Soon the sticks began rolling out as fast as they could produce workable metals. This kept going over time. Before long the people mining gained bonus experience and a method to ease the mining. Even the people separating the soil from the metals began receiving bonus experience and a method to increase efficiency. The experience was great at first but the subsequent productions were one tenth of the first one. But they were still ecstatic. They didn¡¯t need to go fight terrifying beasts to level up! They could just stay in the camp and work for the experience. Din was happy as well. He received a new camp objective.
Objectives
Arm the militia
Produce enough weapons to arm half the population Currently five out of thirty four are armed with metal weapons
It didn¡¯t matter if the resources given by these objectives were low. They were still at least four weeks worth of resource points. ¡®Good. I was going to arm every last man and woman anyway.¡¯ They had hammers and a grinder in the forge. But those were mostly ignored. Until one day someone was casually spending their free time roaming around the forge. They hadn¡¯t been impressed at the start, but now they were creating weapons here. He felt it wasn¡¯t beneath him anymore. After watching the workers toil away in the sweltering heat. He felt again that this was beneath him. But he wandered around, saw the racket of unused tools on the wall. He saw the grinders. He stepped on a petal and it began spinning. His thoughts went to his home planet. He had sat on similar things in the gym. It was an immobile bicycle. It was heavy and hard to spin, but he liked it. He felt nostalgic. He was one of the people that had already received a metal rod. He was proud of his stick. As many others were. Din was in the forge today. He was wondering about some things. He had tried to make swords but whatever they made, it was worse off than just the metal rods. Today he saw someone sit behind a grinder. He was just making it spin and spin. He was about to ignore him when he saw the guy lift up his rod. At first the guy was a bit hesitant. But soon he placed one end of the rod on the grinder and sparks began raining down. ¡®What is he doing? What is that thing?¡¯ Even if Din was in charge of this whole place and had access to information no one else had. He had no idea what half the tools here were for. This grinder apparatus had been inspected by him. But he still had no idea what it was for. Even when he saw the sparks fly into the air he wasn¡¯t enlightened. ¡®He¡¯d have to spent a few weeks at it if he wants to destroy the rod.¡¯ Reassured he couldn¡¯t destroy the stick, Din continued watching. After a while he got bored and continued wondering how to make swords. The man on the grinder was inspecting his rod. He was a bit worried. He didn¡¯t want his rod to be damaged. He saw that he made some small progress, one end of it been shaved away. It wasn¡¯t enough to create an edge. He thought to himself that might be able to create a sharp point on the edge if he worked at it. And he was enjoying himself. It wasn¡¯t like he would destroy the rod if he shaved off a little more. So he continued playing around. Three days later, he returned to the forge. His stick was almost complete. He was a little smug. He had been bragging to some the guys he was friends with. The word began to spread. Someone had been messing with his rod. A lot of people wanted rods and so when they heard someone was playing around with theirs. They were angry. Some went so far as to tattle on him. Din went to see the guy. He was in the forge right now, just grinding away. ¡®It does look okay.¡¯ After watching him for a few moments Din turned around and spoke to the people creating metal rods. He also went outside and ordered some people around. Soon all the rods were gathered. A few people were selected and moved from mining duty to grinding duty. The man on the grinder had a bit of a blank look on his face. He had just been messing about. But now his job was to grind all day. He used dig up the soil in the mining area. This wasn¡¯t much better in his opinion. The forge was really too hot. He had only spent a little time here every day grinding a bit out, before being overwhelmed by the heat. But it was too late to regret it now. He was a grinder. He felt people¡¯s respect but he wasn¡¯t satisfied. It really was too hot in there. ¡®This makes things a lot simpler. I need to change up the training with the rods.¡¯ Now that the rods had a new function, they needed be able to use them effectively. The rods weren¡¯t long. They were considered one handed weapons. ¡®Shouldn¡¯t we have shields as well? That makes sense right?¡¯ The days passed in a void. If it wasn¡¯t for the constant rotation of people working they¡¯d probably loss all sense of time. After a week. Some shields began popping up alongside the rods. They were a bit tricky to make. Because they need to create handles on the flat disc. The man who pioneered this handle was celebrated by the forgers. Really a genius. This was how they felt. He also received substantial experience bonus and was granted a recipe for the handle. The shield was still just something they poured into a mold. The handle could be attached to numerous things. It needed to be attached to the shield and this was what the recipe was. Din got another objective to clear. Half the people needed to be equipped with a shield. So their attack had to be delayed for some time. The grass wheat had been harvested and people were busying themselves with finding ways to cook with it. Some just made soup with it and beast meat. But many wanted bread. And devoted their spare time to find ways to mill the wheat. Someone wanted to create a waterwheel by the river. But he had no idea how to do it. Eventually someone decided to copy the grinder. This was an endeavour and a half. It would have been too hard for him. But the forgers were excited to help him. They also wanted fine bread. Even if it was green. The handle expert relayed his wisdom in a way that a grandfather relayed his teachings to his grandchildren. He was very smug. He¡¯d fall asleep at night smiling. Din had been trying hard to think about the future prospects of things. But it was sad that he wasn¡¯t all that smart. He was educated. He had unswerving will. His ambitions could be considered absurd. Conquer, dominate and flourish. This was the Laq Docte mantra. Din could be like this because he wasn¡¯t his own person. He lived for his family. He was taught that everything else lacked worth. He believed that if it wasn''t for the Laq Docte, the people of Earth might even regress back to savages. This was blind faith. Even to this day he thought of a way to die. He had been commanded to die. And he believed he needed to die for the family. So he jumped off his high rise apartment. There had been no hesitation. He believed this was needed of him. For the family. But to his shock and much grief, he hadn¡¯t died. that wasn¡¯t all. he realized he couldn¡¯t even have others kill him. For a zealot like Din. This was a form of torture. Currently Din was in his shed with a woman. He had just ended his activities and was dressing himself. ¡®I need at least two descendant.¡¯ He needed to have firm roots on this planet. If his family could come to this planet. They needed a firm foundation to work with. This is what drove Din. A few of the women already had swollen stomachs. They still had to work. Din assigned them handcrafting jobs. He wanted to properly mark people. He had them create insignias that would be sewn into clothes. Surprisingly, the most prolific tailor was the rope enthusiast. He wasn¡¯t the most talented. But he had burning desires. There wasn''t much need for military order. But Din still thought he should establish a chain of command. Everyone had jobs to do but also had to attend battle training. It wasn¡¯t too strict but he did assign some superiors. These people commanded five to eight people each. They only had right to command others while training or during battle. This became awkward at times. One of the lead forgers was a subordinate to one of his own subordinates. They came to a mutual understanding of respect. Soon they became more like co-leaders. Din didn¡¯t care. He wasn¡¯t a military commander. He just did what he thought he needed to do. ¡®What am I going to do with this.¡¯
You have reached level thirty! After reaching this milestone you are granted one ability. You have been granted the ability: Improved instincts!
It was a bit strange. Every point he spent from now on would increase his instincts by two. In addition to this his strength and dexterity would increase by one for every ten points in instincts. He wasn¡¯t sure if he should be angry or happy. He was just disappointed he didn¡¯t receive an aura ability.
Strength: 48 Intelligence: 30 Dexterity: 48 Wisdom: 30
Willpower: 30 Constitution: 30 Stamina: 30 Health: 400
Mana: 250 Health recovery: 40 Mana recovery: 25 Instinct: 188.5
His strength and dexterity both reached forty eight. Eighteen points for the hundred and eighty points in instinct. Din looked at the information in front of him. He stared at it for a long time before sighing to himself. He didn¡¯t know what to do with it. Some people could now conjure ranged projectiles to throw at enemies. But him, he had three passive abilities. He was confused. No one really understood what was going on this place. They just tried to survive. They all had their own stories. Most of them were important people on their home planet. But now they were all here. Some digging up metals. Or farming. The luckiest ones were the people with crafting skills. If they found a recipe. Din would allow them to focus entirely on crafting. Otherwise they had to labour. Today Din was thinking. Too many people were finding things to craft. He needed more livestock. His eyes pierced north. He was going to attack the north survivor camp. In just a week. He¡¯d have enough to finish two objectives. He had finished the arming over half the people. Soon everyone would have a sharpened rod. Once he finished the objective, he could buy the rods from the forge interface. But he felt it was a waste. He had his eyes far into the future. He needed more facilities like the forge. There were numerous production buildings he could buy. The forge was just the most useful one in his mind. Today they would finish the last shield. And tomorrow, they would march. Only few were left behind. Eight pregnant women and some crafters. The two were already making sure the march would be unnoticed. Din had planned this attack for a time now. He wasn¡¯t worried he¡¯d fail. It wasn¡¯t because he was sure of his success. He didn¡¯t view failure and success in the same way normal people would. Anything he did was an experience. He was taught that not all things can succeed. If he fails and every member of the camp dies. He¡¯ll find another way. There wasn¡¯t much to think about. The other members of the camp were confident in their chances. They had trained. They were armed. Even to the extent of having shields. They could fight with up to three people in a formation. Most hadn¡¯t realized how confident they all were. On the day of the march, Din played with a metal rod. Fifty people would go fight today. They had estimated the other camp had twice as many members. But they weren¡¯t worried. Because they also knew that their members were in similar shape as they had been in, before Din arrived. Din didn¡¯t believe he¡¯d meet much resistance. Of course the other camp¡¯s leader might consider fighting back. But he¡¯d just have to kill him. On the way, Din made sure they gathered any fruit or vegetable that was safe to eat. This wasn¡¯t for his people. This was part of his plan. There was no need to fight in his mind. Instead of worrying about how the battle would go. He was planning how future roads would be built. ¡®Even if we can build around these trees. I think it¡¯s better to just take them down. We can use them as materials for more rafts and houses.¡¯ Since he didn¡¯t have machines, the river was the best way to move large quantities of food or other materials. The road would be built beside the river with possibilities for expansion. If the traffic required it. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡®Once we take over this node we can abandon this area. And head back.¡¯ It didn¡¯t matter where the people would live. The road would only transport miners and the materials. But that was far in the future. ¡°Din!¡± ¡®This is one of the scouts. What did he want to be called again? Shadow something.¡¯ He had given them orders to return to him if something came up. Din had completely forgotten his name. So he stared deeply into his eyes. He was trying to recall. Shadows errants. That was the codename he wanted. He had actually begun feeling independant. A lot due to the fact he spent little time in the camp. But now he felt more afraid than when he had to stand only a few meters away from a large pack of beasts. ¡®It¡¯s impossible to remember all these names.¡¯ ¡°Shadows errants requests to speak.¡± He felt that Din was unhappy with him. He saw those eyes, it was his second encounter with those eyes. Last time he felt pressured, this time he felt like his soul was being groped and fondled. It wasn¡¯t until he mentally gave up that he felt relief. ¡°Did you see something?¡± Forty nine people watched this engagement. The feelings were split two ways, one felt pity for the man. The others were envious. There were whispers in the camp. The leader¡¯s gaze could change a person. That¡¯s what was being said, these were rumours. Din¡¯s eyes were no different than others. Perhaps a bit too bright. Even in the shadow of the forest they still shone. What made them different was his intentions. He didn¡¯t show indifference. It wasn¡¯t curiosity, anger, lust or love. His intentions were always to appease. This was hard to learn. Almost as hard to learn as it was hard to teach the loyalty, the undying devotion Din felt for his family. This was because this devotion wasn¡¯t just a feeling. It was a character, a personality. His interest were the interest of his family. This was a near impossible achievement. In stories you¡¯ll hear of people willing to die for others. This was a similar thing. Except that wasn¡¯t the limit. Din would live for the family. This meant that even in his dreams, he dreamt of a future where Laq Docte would save this world from itself. To have such character. You can achieve a degree of sincerity only the most devote zealots might achieve. Others fought for gods, Din fought for Laq Docte. It wasn¡¯t strange that people felt his gaze held power. It was because in truth. It did. It could invoke fear, admiration, respect or even love. But what it would never do, is provoke people''s ire. Most would at least feel a urge to please. After briefing Din on the problems ahead he left as quietly as he arrived. Din wasn¡¯t worried. ¡®We¡¯ll still have to change course.¡¯ The scout has informed him that an unexpected number of roaming beasts were seen. They were not directly in their path but they might stumble on a few, there was no direct danger in this. Din had other thoughts on the matter. He estimated that a beast invasion from a neighbouring territory was beginning. They were soon to cross the border from his land to the enemies. Had he strafed some distance north-east, he would enter the territory of a beast king. Whether he was correct in his assumption didn¡¯t matter. If they encountered a beast tide, they¡¯d kill a beast tide. At this point in time. Few things would oppose this troop. Their training was shallow, their weapons the works of amateurs. This was all true. But in this location, they were kings. They were unrivaled. Perhaps only organized beast kings could overrun them. And so they continued their march. A new path was configured. It was not accurate, but it didn¡¯t matter. While the marched, Din felt the lack of real transportation. He didn¡¯t know how to fix this problem. He was thinking about using the river, and a lot of rope. But the idea was only forming, he had to consult his rope fanatic. He also decided to let that waterwheel guy have a few people to help him out. In the cover of enormous trees and thick fog, time was ambiguous. Din thought about one issue to another and before he knew it, he was only a few dozen meters away from the enemy camp. Din walked ahead of the group. When he was a ten or so meters ahead of the group he waves his hand. The rest began following after him. It was hard to miss the arrival of fifty people. They were quiet but they couldn¡¯t turn invisible. People screamed and ran towards the camp. Din felt this was natural and continued slowly making his way towards the camp. Some people didn¡¯t even run, they just watched on as people walked passed them. Din matched the gaze with one of the men. He was holding up a half made basket. Weaved out of the thin bark of a particular tree. He appeared mature. But his calm gaze surprised Din nonetheless. He stopped for a moment. Forty nine people came to a stop as well. Din nodded to the man. The other party nodded back. They felt like kindred souls. They had similar characters. Except one had ambition, while the other did not. The difference might not seem great. But one was to be a king and the other a peasant. These two didn¡¯t know. But one wrong or right action and they would be fated rivals or bosom friends. Seeing the man nod back. Din felt assured and kept marching into the heart of the camp. The camp¡¯s leader could see Din¡¯s troop arrive from where he stood. He saw Din stop. He was confused. Everyone was confused. But it didn¡¯t last long. Today he couldn¡¯t be lost in confusion. Today he might lose his life. But it wasn''t that he wasn¡¯t confident in his abilities. He knew that man Din greeted. He knew he wasn¡¯t simple. He didn¡¯t necessarily fear him, but he did respect him. He had been here for a few months. The food situation was hard on many, but somehow that man always had meat. He¡¯d vanish from the camp. When he was seen again, he was roasting a new beast. He was thinking about these things. And Din drew closer. But he still hadn¡¯t properly laid eyes on Din. he was still thinking, Their camp had over hundred people. Only twenty percent wasn¡¯t here at the moment. But they nearly outnumbered them two to one. He was thinking this. He also knew a day would come where he¡¯d have to expand the camp. He¡¯d know that someone might attack him. But this wasn''t enough people, or so he thought. But that trail of thought changed when he started noticing the items these newcomers were wearing. He was baffled. Are those shields? And metal sticks? You all have the same stick? This made him more confused than ever. Where the hell did you all get these sticks? Not just sticks. But shields and sticks. And you all look so relaxed. Is this a quiet stroll around town? We¡¯re about to go to war here. Din came to a stop maybe twenty meters away from their gathered troop. They were armed with various things. Mostly wooden sticks, some even just had a basket of stones. ¡®This is worse than I expected.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t referring to their weapons or number of people. He was looking at their bodies. They were skinny. The shelters were some form of tents with the occasional shack. He wondered how long they had been here. He guessed maybe a month. Of course he guessed wrong. They had been here half a year now. And changed leaders three times. Only this new leader was better received than the others. He didn''t arbitrarily punish people. He only kept five women by his side. This was considered modest. He demanded people went out hunting at least two times every ten days. That was the extent of his dictatorship. Rest of the time he¡¯d go out with his team and hunt. When they returned they would share some of the spoils before shutting themselves in with their respective women. ¡°I want this support node.¡± The silence was biting. But no one felt the words were strange. Only the manner they were spoken. It didn''t feel like a demand. It felt like a good friend came to you and asked you for a small favour. A few people had the idea that maybe these two knew each other. And for some reason they felt reassured. ¡°What can you give me?¡± Initially he had intended to fight. He was confident in his abilities after all. His level was reaching forty, after hunting like a madman with his trusted team. When Din heard those words he smiled. His gaze softened further. He already liked this person. So he walked closer. This scared quite a few people. Even if he smiled, they couldn¡¯t see his eyes. But their leader did. So he wasn¡¯t afraid. ¡°I can promise you some things.¡± A vague answer for a vague question. It didn¡¯t seem to mean much. Many would feel it was nonsense. But they knew a quiet fight had begun. ¡°That¡¯s good, should we find a more quiet place then? Please.¡± He didn¡¯t wait for Din to answer he turned around after gesturing towards a rather large shed. ¡®He¡¯ll be useful.¡¯ Useful. At least he thought so much. He did not think the man who had been weaving a basket would be useful. That man wasn¡¯t a follower. And couldn''t follow others. This camp¡¯s leader was different. He¡¯d want earthly things. He wanted women, good food, exciting battles and most importantly, a purpose. In this camp he already had three of those. And Din would give him the fourth. ¡°My name is long.¡± Din nodded. Quite a few people had long names. Some were even difficult to pronounce. ¡°So they call me First. Because I always draw first blood.¡± The words sounded like a hidden threat, but they weren¡¯t. First was a violent man in a way. He wasn¡¯t straightforward. He was cunning to an extent, but he liked the feeling of danger. Din thought it over for a moment. He wasn¡¯t thinking this man liked to fight. He was still wondering why people kept renaming themselves. This was a mystery to him. He treasured his name like gold. There was severity in his voice every time he spoke it out loud. ¡°I am Din. Of Laq Docte.¡± First didn¡¯t understand this way of introduction. But he didn¡¯t care to think about it either. You can be of the sun and moon, for all I care. This is what he thought. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Din mirrored First words. This was again something Din had been raised to do. He did these things unconsciously. There wasn¡¯t much intention behind it. ¡°If you have any needs. I¡¯ll see to them. I intend to move you all down south with me.¡± First hadn¡¯t expected this. But then again, he didn''t care either. ¡°There is a beast invasion south east.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll deal with it on the way back.¡± ¡°I want a place to stay, no worse than this house.¡± He called it a house. No one would call this a house. Din felt this wasn¡¯t an issue either way. He nodded, indicating he¡¯d provide one. ¡°I also want those sticks and shields. For me and my men.¡± Din felt this was obvious and gestured to the woman by his side. This was his woman, Jao, she never left his sight. She was too important. She walked towards the door of the shed, whispered a few words to the person outside. And soon ten rods and ten shields were laid in front of First. First was a bit shocked. He felt this was a bit extreme. Too fast, but he snapped out of his thoughts after inspect the weapons. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°Good.¡± In truth. This was all First wanted. He fought hard to think about other things. But eventually sighed and began waving his hands in the air. He was accessing his support node interface. He had to transfer the ownership. Only this way would Din be able to take over the area, without killing him. This was the best way to achieve ownership of support nodes, the area would retain their resource points this way. In addition. If you killed the owner of multiple support nodes, you would only receive the nearest support node. The others would go back to their neutral state. In their neutral state, anyone could claim them. Even beast kings could be born in such conditions, allowed the time. The way past this was being conferred the support nodes. Only when the current owner of the nodes gave them away could you receive multiple support nodes at once. ¡®After the people eat, we¡¯ll get rid of this invasion. Then head back.¡¯ Din took a look at the updated benefits of having two connected support nodes. It was a minor increase. The main benefit this time around would be the increase in resource point income. ¡®Once I¡¯ve got a few support nodes, the bonus experience multipliers will begin to shine.¡¯ The only way to gain experience in such a low level zone was to conquer many zones. Once multiple zones were united, the experience gain would sky rocket. If you gain ten experience for killing an ordinary beast, then you¡¯d gain eleven when controlling a support node. It wasn¡¯t until you controlled multiple nodes that you¡¯d feel the increase. Ten zones would double the experience per support node. So the experience would go from ten percent per zone to twenty. Meaning two hundred percent experience or thirty experience per ordinary beast. This meant you would level at a decent rate, but also any newbie would level at an incredible rate as well. Making it easier to train new troops in less time. This was one of the important benefits of multiple support nodes.
You have acquired your second support node! You will receive an additional ten percent increase in experience while within your territory. You gain additional resource points every seven days you hold your current support nodes.
There wasn¡¯t much to it. The resource gain was only so much. Chances of being invaded increased, allowing for more resource points, from objectives. Din wasn¡¯t impressed. It also dawned on him. Even if people had to come to him personally to challenge him, beast invasion would drag him across his territory. He again felt the lack of transportation. In the end he¡¯d have to construct roads and perhaps even capture and tame beast. When his thoughts came to this point, he felt it was sensible. Why not capture beasts, rear them and raise them for transportation, even food. The more the thought about this, the more he felt it was a viable option. He now imagined great swaths of land littered with domesticated beasts. ¡®It is the Laq Docte way to bring people civilisation.¡¯ Din had already ordered his people to feed the hundred some new recruits. He was now thoroughly entranced in his thoughts. He felt intoxicated. Every thought of the future filled him with a sense of justification. His Laq Docte family really were the light in the darkness. It wasn¡¯t until people had finished eating and First came to speak with Din that he snapped out of his reverie. His woman hadn¡¯t left his sight. She was used to this. Sometimes Din would fall into this intoxicating reverie, he¡¯d assume a pious expression. This was him reaffirming his believes. On their way back they fought the beasts. Having over hundred and fifty people they obliterated anything in their path. First got to see the fruits of Din¡¯s battle training. He felt impressed but also slight disdain. He felt he could improve their methods. After discussing with Din, Din agreed to make him a commander. First fit the part like a glove. He didn¡¯t care what they would do. He was excited at the thought of training people. He imagined hundreds, perhaps thousands of people rushing into battle. Him taking the lead. He was lost in this train thought. Din ignored him. He liked the man, but Din didn''t like them as people. He liked them for their use. Maybe only the man weaving the basket could be considered friend worthy. That man had tagged along as well. He was dead quiet and hard to notice. Din even forgot about him. Even the people walking close to him didn¡¯t glance at him. It didn''t take them long to beat back the beast invasion. Din elected to sleep where they were for the night. Despite people''s increased stamina, sleep seemed a different phenomena. Chapter six: Structuring. After returning to camp, some changes had to be made. Sheds needed to be built. The farmland was sufficient as is. Din had already planned on at least a few dozen sheds in anticipation, but more had to be made. The farmland was sufficient and easy to expand. People still had work. Forging had to be done and everyone still trained. Din was for a lack of a better word, bored. But this wasn¡¯t an issue. He could be patient. Today he sat outside his shed. Jao by his side. Din was reading from the interface. He was going over what he considered frivolous. These were consumable items. Strong medicine that would keep you alive. There were pills that gave you attributes, monstrously expensive in Din¡¯s mind. A few month¡¯s worth. The less expensive ones were just temporary. What really shook Din was the experience boost you could purchase. Temporary boost to experience. He was almost cursing. ¡®Have they all been buying these things?¡¯ There were many things he couldn¡¯t wrap his head around. Why were the camps in such poor shape. From what those people he met in the beginning had said, the two camps they had seen were in no better condition. That¡¯s five camps he had some information about. Five camps, all struggling to even feed themselves. ¡®They can¡¯t have been buying this stuff, could they?¡¯ He was bored. So he spent more time thinking about worthless things. Soon two weeks passed. Followed by two months. He had gone and taken over the southern camp. But his level held fast at level thirty. The amount required to cross thirty to thirty two wasn¡¯t small. Without ten nodes under him he¡¯d have to struggle. The camp now contained one hundred eighty seven souls. Seventy of which were women. And despite the unbalanced ratio, not one person was without a companion. A few women were near immobile. It didn¡¯t seem like they¡¯d take a whole ten month period to give birth. This was unexpected. But Din was happy. Din was happy that new generations were being born. The new generation would be easier to mold. Parents would crave stability. Which was the biggest benefit for now. After thoroughly feeding his sense of superiority over other camp leaders, praising the Laq Docte in tandem. He thought he¡¯d need a hobby. So he had a small rod ground in the grinder. Eventually it had a the semblance of a dagger. It wasn¡¯t much. But a few had been made before. The forgers often chased after recipes in their free time. A bunch of tools had been made. But it was a fruitless endeavour so far. Din held this dagger tight and began carving a thick tree branch. Time moved a bit faster. Even though he didn¡¯t enjoy carving. It was something to distract the mind. His woman, Jao, joined him in this activity. But she felt it was worse than doing nothing. She¡¯d want to go around the camp. Din would take her around the various places people worked. He was very serious about this, he felt his presence gave purpose. Jao mimicked Din and gave people a deep glance. She gazed at them with aged wisdom of an elder. The more she looked, the more she felt pleased with everything. She felt a burden. She had to be a model to look up, she was an inspiration to these people. She had slowly adopted these thoughts after deep consideration, Din had no idea what was going through her mind, after all he wasn¡¯t a talkative person. And neither was she. ¡®Should I feel out these beast kings?¡¯ There was no particular reason as to why Din hadn¡¯t aggressively expanded his territory. He was just being meticulous. There was a surplus of food now. Every man and woman was armed. They had stopped creating additional rods and moved into a more experimental phase. But the main reason why Din hadn¡¯t taken the initiative to expand was that every known adjacent area was under the control of a beast king. And his information on them was abysmal. From the amount of beasts during an invasion, he felt he required more people. This wasn¡¯t because he felt the beast would be strong. But he wanted up to thirty people fighting at all times, over several days. Maybe he had enough now. He could wait years if he had to. But he was planning on taking on one of the two eastern zones. Any one node was connected to other five nodes. A rough hexagonal shape. He was going to begin with the north-eastern zone and make his way in a circle until he had all areas. He didn¡¯t know that ten nodes would give him the pivotal increase in experience he would want. but even without it, he¡¯d continue to amass territory. Din had sent his to scouts to all nearby areas, all they found were beasts. Beasts in every direction. They were talented. But to stay safe, they would be slowed down. And the deeper you go into beast king territory, the harder it was to stay out of sight. Short invisibility, it was impossible to survey properly. ¡®If this isn¡¯t enough, i¡¯ll come back in ten some years, die or find other camps somehow.¡¯ It was an odd thing to think. But a decision had been made. He would take all available hands, just over hundred and fifty people. This was the beginning of Din¡¯s expansion. He took the lead, even Jao had to stay back. He explained it to First that he had to make sure she wouldn¡¯t be crippled. It looked like a worried lover to First. But he took it seriously. He knew to do this much. He only felt it phrased wrong. But he wouldn¡¯t correct him. But he didn¡¯t understand Din¡¯s thoughts. DIn had near two hundred people under is control. Not one of them, beside Jao had an aura. Not only did the aura provide a unique attribute but its range was exceptional. This had to be respected. He also felt protective of a lot of other people. But not to the extent that he felt them irreplaceable. And that¡¯s what the aura represented. Like a lonely hero he walked thirty meters in front of the group. Few beasts attacked. But they still attacked. The camp members and Din had hunted them extensively, but they never seemed to lessen. Today however, there were clearly less of them.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Once Din had crossed the north-eastern border, not much happened other than a beast pack attacking. It wasn¡¯t until twenty people had crossed the border that Din stopped. He received an objective. He was to kill two hundred beasts. ¡®Not the beast king?¡¯ It was strange. He thought. Only two hundred? They can easily kill this number many times over each week. What people didn¡¯t understand, was that objectives weren¡¯t there to directly reward people. Not as much as they were there to provide a hint. They are a form of guidance. It was an impersonal and disconnected system. Because it had to be. But everyone took it as rewards. After consecutive beast attacks, it looked like Din would be overwhelmed. His metal rod was bent out of shape. It¡¯s edge long dulled. But he had ordered them not to help. He was trying something out. It wasn¡¯t until he was finally snagged in the arm. His skin ripped open and he felt the pain. This was a new kind of pain. His body twitched and leaped backwards. First took it as a signal to assist him. People thought Din was showing them a strong front. To inspire them. People felt tense. A sense of pride swelled them. Would they be able to do this? Fight so many and so viciously. Din felt the pain. It was now burning. He almost reached out to buy medicine from the interface. If it wasn¡¯t for it directly interfering with his plans for the Laq Docte. He was swirling with thoughts. He felt light headed, maybe due to the pain. But it might have been because he felt he found a way to die. Exhaustion. It was difficult. He¡¯d have to surround himself with beasts. Once his instinct felt threatened he¡¯d lose control. If he wanted to beat this, he would have to plan. He wasn¡¯t sure if him still being alive was affecting the Laq Docte. His disappearance didn¡¯t achieve what his death should have. He had been too late and as his family expected, he was transferred to this planet. And since Din was here. That meant that others in his generation didn¡¯t get the chance he was allocated. But Din didn¡¯t know this. Din wasn¡¯t like his elder brothers, like his more reliable cousins. He was the most devoted Laq Docte member they had ever seen. But instead of instilling confidence they felt it was counterproductive. So the heartless decision was made. He had to die. This to, was for the family. They felt the blind devotion meant he couldn¡¯t work independently. Din¡¯s would vehemently deny this were he told. And if not, his world would crumble. He wasn¡¯t the smartest. He wasn¡¯t the most cunning. He wasn¡¯t dumb by any measure but he certainly wasn¡¯t their candidate. The Laq Docte family didn¡¯t sprout out from nowhere. The had forced their way to the top out of nowhere some hundred years ago. Din¡¯s great great grandfather had been sent here. He managed to claw himself back. And every generation a new person would be sent here. This was a secret only the highest echelons knew. Even Din¡¯s father wasn¡¯t informed. And yet he had been ordered to have the youngest eligible Laq Docte to be killed. To kill his own son. This form of heartlessness was hard to teach. Foster something that was a part of you, only to discard it at the whims of others. Yet here Din was. Fighting to kill himself. Fighting to give the Laq Docte a place in this world. Din was still savoring the pain. It was worse than he had imagined. The shock still hadn¡¯t left him. He was afraid of it now. To Din however, fear was miniscule in comparison to his ambition, and dwarfed next to his devotion. The bleeding was stopped with a tightly wound cloth. It was a deep wound but his body didn¡¯t seem to care. It was already clotting and healing. Now the practice formation began fighting in relentless rotations. They fought hard and fast. It wasn¡¯t until a day''s work was done that they began slowing down. The groups split further down, two parts slept while two equally large group split down further and kept guard. While in a beast territory, you¡¯d have to defend from a seemingly endless hoard. They had long finished the objective of killing two hundred beasts. Din had assumed he¡¯d get a follow up objective to kill the beast king. But nothing happened. So they continued to delve deeper into the territory. Their rotations were working as intended and despite some battle fatigue, there were no problems to keep this up for weeks without end. Din was thinking about how to go about delving deep enough to be surrounded. Din however underestimated his Instincts attribute. The more Din knew, the more he experienced. The more effective his Instincts would become. If his instinct thought there would be a chance he¡¯d be surrounded and killed. It would take over ruthlessly, kill its way out as fast as it could and escape. This wasn¡¯t within Din¡¯s control. If Din wasn¡¯t as headstrong as he was, with so little desires of his own, his instincts might take him over entirely. He¡¯d lose control. He¡¯d be trapped as a passenger. But this was just one possible outcome. It might also end with him adapting to the Instinct attribute. This would give him senses few could compare to. It wasn¡¯t until the eleventh day that someone died. It looked like an accident caused my complacency and fatigue. Someone had taken the wrong stepped, fumbled slightly and a beast had ripped into their throat. Din had been watching over the battle. He had not attended the battle training at all. When he did step forward to attack, it looked lackluster. People watching had all been training for the passed few months. They felt strange watching his poor form and attacks. But occasionally a beast would attack Din. This would cause some outrageous and efficient movements that slaughtered the attacker in one blow. A few people had a counter attack ability, but they still felt this was strange. It didn¡¯t seem to have a cooldown and he seemed to have endless mana. No one knew his abilities. No one dared to ask either. But that didn¡¯t stop them from guessing. On the fifteenth day seven people had died. They got sleep, they got rest but there was a different kind of fatigue plaguing them. All they did was fight, watch people fight, eat and sleep. There came a point where everyone began dreaming they were fighting. Time began to feel like it had come to a crawl. This was mundane slaughter. Odd conversation began sprouting up. People talked about things they¡¯d never mention before. On the eighteenth day a bellowing howl forced the fighting to stop. A beast three times the size of a normal person. Two staggering hind legs and long arms that looked skinny in comparison. ¡®This is the beast king?¡¯ Din¡¯s eyes shone. He rushed to meet it. It had stopped. It had never seen this many people before. Hundred scrawny little shits were slaughtering his minions. These were it¡¯s thoughts. This beast had the mind and temperament of a rebellious teenager. It hadn¡¯t been this furious when fighting other beast kings. This was more an insult than anything. It didn''t care if thousands of beasts died. What it cared about was face. It was hard to say who would know it experienced this humiliation, but it felt like the whole world was watching. It was confused. Din was still moving towards it. This was yet another slap in its face. Who the hell is this now? Why is it charging at me? The beast felt it was ridiculous. When he was close enough it stepped forward to meet him. It was furious and felt it beneath it to even have to do this. But it did anyway. Clearly it¡¯s minions were useless. It took the initiative to attack. This had a translucent shadow act decisively. Din suddenly ducked forward and leapt to the side. A fist larger than his head slammed into the ground like a hammer. Din struck back at the arm. It was swift and heavy blow. The beast king¡¯s forearm bone fractured. It wasn¡¯t entirely broken. But it was painful for it. This wasn¡¯t a new type of pain for it. It had fought to control this area for a long time. It had been here for years by now. But the fact this little creature was able to cause this kind of damage shocked it. The beast king retreated backwards. Inspected it¡¯s arm. Who the hell are you? It stared into Din¡¯s eyes. What the hell are you? How did you hit me so hard? It had a thousand questions. Din saw the intelligence in its eyes. He was surprised this time around. ¡®Don¡¯t look at me like that, you attacked me.¡¯ Din thought he was in the right. Despite having just orchestrated a massacre. He didn¡¯t even acknowledge that it had been him that charged at the beast. ¡°This is my land now.¡± He thought it might understand him. It didn¡¯t. It saw Din was trying to talk to it. This was also a type of insult. It wasn¡¯t afraid of Din. It was just shocked, so there was some confusion. Seeing Din trying to talk to it. It felt angry again. Being what it was. It charged at him again. Everytime Din would dodge and strike back. Except now it didn¡¯t leap back but continued attacking. Soon it¡¯s right arm was no longer just fractured but entirely broken. The swelling near doubled its forearm. It didn¡¯t know how to use its legs to attack, so it began using its left arm. Or right shoulder. This continued for a while. They had monstrous stamina, the beast far surpassed Din in this aspect. But it didn¡¯t matter. It couldn¡¯t hit Din. Everyone was watching this exchange. They didn¡¯t feel it was real. How could he move like that? This creature was three times his size. Even if he was fast, wasn¡¯t this too exaggerated? Everyone except Fist felt this way. He was thinking how he made the right choice that day. He had gone with Din to the third camp. He had see him easily kill their leader and seven other people. But even then, he thought he could put up a fight. Not anymore though. He didn¡¯t think he could fight this beast king. This whole thing was absurd. An hour passed before the beast king lost the use of its left arm. It had no choice now but to leap like a monkey. It was trying to stomp Din. But this was impossible for it to achieve as well. Din began striking its legs instead. The beast felt worried now. It could recover from its wounds. But not here. And not in a short time. It would take at the very least a dozen days. So it ran. Din couldn¡¯t kill it either. He didn''t have the strength. But he chased after it. After a few minutes a holographic window alerted him of something. He waved his hands and kept chasing. Soon he lost sight of the beast. He stopped. It was out of character but he felt angry. It wasn¡¯t until he read the alert he received earlier he began to smile again. He had gained control over this support node.
You have acquired a support node! You will receive additional ten percent increase in experience while within your territory. Additional resource points are added every seven days.
He expected more. This was the same as conquering the other nodes. But far harder. When he glanced over his current resource points he changed his mind. Turns out that areas controlled by beast kings came with a sizeable sum. ¡®If it¡¯s this much I can afford to build some leisure buildings.¡¯ There were no leisure buildings to buy. There were many buildings Din thought were extravagant and not worth the resources. But only he described them as leisure buildings. Things felt different now. Sure it took some effort taking over these territorial beast¡¯s nodes. The reward was great. This would save Din years of effort. He saw the light. He might as well build all the buildings. He still wouldn¡¯t touch consumables. That was too much waste. ¡®I still need more people. Not every person can be talented.¡¯ What he was referring to here was the production buildings he was going to buy. Just buying them wasn¡¯t enough. He needed people to occupy them. ¡®Thousand?¡¯ The number was people. He thought it would be enough. He¡¯d be wrong. Some things required more than just passion. How was a simple person going to stumble their way through formations. Through scriptions. Even just forging was turning out to be exercise in futility. Din couldn¡¯t buy recipes. These could only be earned not bought. He could buy information and beginner refining methods. But even this was limited. His network of nodes. Accompanied by certain success in their respective fields had to be achieved. Only then could more advanced material refining and techniques be unlocked. Then they could buy recipes. But only of the lowest tier. This wouldn¡¯t be of much help to the crafter in question, but any other lesser crafter could benefit immensely. Chapter seven: Expanding. The camp was very busy after returning. The whole ordeal took a great toll on people. A lot dreaded Din¡¯s declaration. He had told them they would set out in another two months. Seven had died. Two women and five men. It somehow felt different now. In the past a lot of people would die, especially when they became too weak to fight properly. These seven death¡¯s put a new unknown pressure on people. They remember how Din had chased that giant beast away. They weren¡¯t grateful or awe inspired. They felt left behind. Originally all of them had a similar start. Why was this fellow so strong in comparison? In truth. They weren¡¯t all that weaker than Din. They just couldn¡¯t move like his instincts. The more they trained, and the more fighting experience they gained. The closer they would be. Din¡¯s instinct only knew what to do because somewhere Din had learned them. It exerted his body to the best of its knowledge. Knowledge Din possessed but had no idea how to use. The more danger Din got into. The more his instincts knew to be careful of. After this he had gained considerable experience. The first building was called a refinery. This place was exactly what it sounded like. It made sense to Din to build this building first. Currently he could afford one other building. But he wanted people to discover the refinery first, he looked down on people and thought they were simple. If multiple buildings were created, they might be overwhelmed by the new information. It was an absurd attitude. But how would anyone know his thoughts? The refinery described itself. In it you could learn methods to refine materials. Some, they already knew. But still benefited from. The people that mined and worked the metals felt enlightened. Some people began trying out working other materials. There weren¡¯t any other production buildings, but people had already built sheds from materials bought with resource points. Largest benefit came to the group of rope makers. They were enlightened and a large scale gathering of a previously useless flora began. Din felt they were on to something and ordered a new plantation. They could make fine thread. This mean he would no longer need to buy it. It would take years to make up for the cost of the building, if only thread was considered. But they might be able to make planks for sheds. There were even ways to further improve metal refining. This would increase durability of all future production. This was because the metal was purer. ¡®I would have bought it sooner had I known.¡¯ Some things had to be left to fate. Din had saved quite a sum before taking the beast¡¯s node. But he still could only afford two buildings. The refinery was the cheapest. Even cheaper than the forge. What surprised Din was that he could buy more information on valuable materials. This was different than before. He had to buy specific information for wild plants and trees. And even more precious metals. There was even gems. But he had no idea what the use for these were, so he put it out of his mind. ¡®If it¡¯s like this. I should set up the other building as well.¡¯ This new building was called Scriptions. This was a confusing thing. Similar to the refinery it didn¡¯t directly produce items. If the refiner was a foundation, then scription was the roof. But it was a mistake to build. It required too much time to study. If they had a fledged out novice scriptionist, it would have been worth many times the resource points. It was unfortunate. ¡®What is this stuff?¡¯ Din and a lot of other people now had access to the beginner methods to scription. All of them felt it was confusing. It looked easy. Someone wanted a head start and even began practicing. She was engraving her metal rod. But it wasn¡¯t this simple. It was because it wasn¡¯t magic. This wasn¡¯t a genuine game. Materials were needed in tandem with it. After spending some time reading Din noticed it. The inscriptions needed those gems. It rather precise amounts as well. The more Din read the more assured he was. So he began buying some information from the refinery. There was a method to work the gems into a powder. That powder could be used into inks, special metal paint, fused into threads or scorched into leather. Once Din felt he had read up enough, he was overwhelmed. This required a lot of effort. And the end result of it was unknown. These gems did not exist on Earth or anywhere else for that matter. They were artificial a byproduct of some sort. They were similar to the source of power that held this world together. If used right they could produce a source of energy. Like gunpowder it required mechanism to harness its power. Without it was just an explosive energy source. No one here knew any of this. So this was just labeled magic. Even Din was beginning to come around. Was this magic? It wasn¡¯t that they were narrow minded or closed off. It was just hard to imagine something you¡¯ve never been exposed to. Even the most creative of people require a foundation to build on. ¡®It¡¯s good I didn¡¯t build this building first.¡¯ He felt regretful. He felt this was the only wrong decision he had made since got here. He was fully immersed in this failure. Even while feeling the weight of it on him. He began ordering people to prepare a quick excavation of these gems. He didn¡¯t set out to make it a full fledge operation. He wanted to see if this had any long term benefit. It took some time to get the refining down. It was decided to make a type of ink. This required a different form of refining. Herbs were picked and refined. It was more shoddy work, but it could be considered useful for practice. The hardest part was to create the right ratio of refined gem dust versus amount of ink. This further massacred its quality. By the point they had workable product the benefits of the end result scription was so low it was near negligible. The most fundamental use of it was just to slather it on whatever you wanted to empower. The empowered items could result in more durability and cause a minor repulsive force. The higher quality the inscription, the higher durability the item needed. If it was used on armor it would deflect impact in a similar way. The metal rod¡¯s quality wasn¡¯t high but it was capable of handling this poor quality inscription ink. Soon they tried out the new ink. The ink wouldn¡¯t last. Metals needed to be engraved and then you¡¯d fill the engravings with the special painting. Din was disappointed in this. He saw the impact the ink caused. He felt it was as useful as the consumables. He couldn¡¯t know that the ink was just a horrible product. The scribing had also not reached novice. This was just slathering it on. The energy flowed in a specific way. It needed to be scribed in a way that complimented it. It could also be empowered further but without instructions it was hard to divine. Even with Din¡¯s lack of interest in this field. Quite a few people thought of themselves as intellectuals. This whole scriptions fiasco ignited their scholarly spirits. It would take a miracle, a lot of tedious labour, refining and blind luck. For them it was a worthy quest. What else was there to do out here? In their minds, they were already labouring in a jungle. With no end in sight. This was a form of liberation. There weren¡¯t enough people to get into this subject. At first there were fifteen of them. Din didn¡¯t assign anyone to it. Two weeks in and there were only five people that continued the good fight. They had to march to the gem mine. Haul it back. They needed to refine both gems and herbs. Din had a few people volunteer to practice refining so this wasn¡¯t too much of issue. They got better at making ink and even tried their hands at metal paint. The rope enthusiast ordered one of his subordinates to help them. He wanted that infused thread. When he got it he was happy. The thread was near identical and in short supply but it¡¯s tensile string at least doubled. There wasn¡¯t much of it but he just needed for the most fragile parts. Din was somehow inexplicably interested in everything this man did. He had long forgotten his name. But Din didn¡¯t need to know anyone else''s name. Everytime Din talked to people. He would state his purpose and called them you or just not bother with it. No one would call him rude for it. They got used to it and soon it was expected. A month had passed since they returned to camp. A new star had risen in the refinery. The basket weaver that Din felt was different from other people. He had stumbled into the refinery looking for more materials and decided he¡¯d just do it himself. He didn¡¯t dislike the people but he didn¡¯t like them either. After finding out about the new refining methods he refined the bark of small bush plants. He also wanted to work with threads so began doing that as well. It was like the awakening of sleeping dragon. He stopped caring about his handicrafts and obsessed over refining. Din had no idea. Very few people even noticed. But in the refining community it was considered impressive. Near two months had passed since they returned and Din felt they rested long enough. He told them they¡¯d march for the eastern node tomorrow. This journey was very similar. Shorter by a day. The beast king this time around moved on four legs. It wasn¡¯t as smart as the previous one. This time Din didn¡¯t fight it alone he had them swarm it. It was quickly beaten into unconsciousness. Once unconscious they hammered a rod into its brain. Like nailing a hammer. It took effort to pierce its thick hide and bones. Only two people died. Din was very unhappy about this. He felt these people were doing it intentionally. It wasn¡¯t hard to stay alive. Din reached level thirty two. He was somewhat baffled how slowly it went. They had killed thousands of beast by now. He let people rest again after taking the node. He built an Artificer. They contained methods to work with leather, threads and other handcrafted materials. This time around Din was happy. He had bought too many clothes for these people. He felt they could walk around naked. It wasn¡¯t cold here, even at night. This time around the near half the camp was interested. The many different methods allowed people to pick something they liked. Still many people didn¡¯t care for any of the production jobs available and focused on hunting and training. People like First. Din kept to his carving. A few people mimicked him and took up whittling as well. A few genuinely liked it. He still felt it was boring. But when he had nothing else to do he continued to carve away. It was cathartic. It had to be said. He wasn¡¯t gifted in this. The reason he continued was he was taught to divert his mind. Being idle is a poison. He believed this. With the artificer and refinery he got higher quality wood to mess around with. He¡¯d been making forks. Din made a decree that everyone would take up an occupation. He allocated people work, to supply materials and refine them. Right now they didn¡¯t want for any specific tools. He was thinking about this transport issue. His animal rearing plan wasn¡¯t working. These animals would not calm down. He had hopes for their offspring but they¡¯d need be born first. And it didn¡¯t look like they were active in breeding while in captivity. Once he took his tenth node he¡¯d be able to buy a animals. Very expensive animals. They¡¯d be loyal and follow him and this camp¡¯s members into death. Until they he could only try to breed wild beasts. Din¡¯s woman, Jao, took up refining and working with leather. She was making carpets. Din didn¡¯t know what to make of this. He thought she should make something more useful with it. Once the first small carpet was made he changed his mind. He liked the feeling on his feet. He felt his world was too small. ¡®Maybe the entire floor could be leather.¡¯ He took it up with Jao. she felt it was an odd request. But she liked refining leather. She didn¡¯t mind doing this. She also felt Din was a strange man. She had gotten used it. At least she wasn¡¯t ignored. He was a bit reserved in bed but that wasn¡¯t a problem for her. At least he made sure she was taken care of as well. There was a lot of pride in her now. She was very satisfied with the situation. A lot of the women were very satisfied. They took pride in their man or men. With all the new production jobs, Din again felt the lack of people. He had sent his scouts on a job. They traveled to the north-eastern node. To check out the adjacent nodes. If he found a new camp of people, he¡¯d rush over and steal them. He needed more people. At the drop of a hat, they could expands their farms to accommodate thousand more people. During the time of rest. People got more and more used to their situation. At first they didn¡¯t like all the rules. They had to work, and take a production job.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Those that didn¡¯t enjoy it felt oppressed. If it wasn¡¯t because they were free to pursue whatever production they wanted it might not have settled. The communities around each production helped settle people down. It was no longer just about creating something, a chore. It was not about the other people doing these chores. One day someone created a poor bow and arrow. It was created with flexible refined wood, refined thread that had been infused with refined gem dust. It wasn¡¯t very good. But it was a bow. A method to shoot projectiles. This was one of the rare recipes. Din was thrilled about the development and assigned a ten man team to the person. She was a bit overwhelmed at first but got used to the sense of power fast. She now had ten subordinates. She could demand materials now. With the production of bows. Arrows had to be made. She didn¡¯t get a recipe for it so they kept making poor arrows. A second individual felt this was a chance. He began spending all his time creating prototype arrows. In the end it was too hard to find a replacement for feathers. After a few weeks, he found a replacement. It was a product by the basket weaver acknowledged by Din. The bark was very light nearly see through. It couldn¡¯t be used for much. It had been sidelined and stored away. Now it became very popular but people didn¡¯t know where it came from. Soon they found how to replicated it and a recipe for an arrow appeared. This was a momentous occasion. The camp could now wield bows. Soon there was established mandatory shooting practice. First was very enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. On their next node hunt. They lost no people. The beast king¡¯s hide wasn''t easy to penetrated but they took him down with ease. They lost no people. There was a celebration when they came back. Din said a few words and praised the bowyer and arrow maker. He really was happy with them. Din was getting closer to ten nodes. It didn¡¯t seem like there would be any issue. Once they resupplied the arrows they would take the next area. Things were progressing fast. Far faster than Din had ever hoped. He still wanted more people. A few kids had popped out. The camp was very doting on these newborns. Jao was still not pregnant. Din wasn¡¯t surprised. It was rare for a Laq Docte people to produce children. This was not due to a lack of trying. His father was over fifty when Din was born. She didn¡¯t feel good about it. People will always doubt themselves. She felt they had tried very hard. He however didn¡¯t care at all. He wanted descendants. But they could appear in a few years. If things didn¡¯t look too bright he¡¯d take more women. He had six nodes now. That was sixty percent experience increase. It still barely dented his path to thirty three. The next threshold was level forty five. Those without it, would be guaranteed a defensive ability. At sixty they¡¯d have a strong chance to get a control ability of some sort. Even with ten nodes. Level sixty was only achieved in dreams. Whatever the issue would be. Din would simply gather more nodes until he ran out. When he felt they had enough arrows, they took the south-western node. It was as close to a flawless takeover as it could be. This beast king was fast. It was fast and no lesser than the others. The camp however now had metal tipped arrows. These arrows could penetrate its hide. Hundred arrows left no room for opposition. ¡®We could take over the western node.¡¯ He thought it through. Spoke to First, who instantly agreed. He was too eager. Din wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it. So they marched from the south-western node and headed north. Straight to the western node. They conserved their metal tipped arrows for the beast king. Its hide was thick as bark. Yet it was riddled with arrows. The wobbling porcupine had even arrows pierced into its eyes. It reached its brain. There was nothing to stop Din¡¯s advancement. ¡®That¡¯s eight nodes.¡¯ They¡¯d have to cross an entire territory if they wanted to take over more nodes. His scouts had not found any other camps. But that didn¡¯t mean there weren¡¯t any. It was impossible for them to travel without end. They got to rest just like the rest of the camp. There are six nodes surrounding the core node Din was developing. Surrounding those six nodes were twelve other nodes. His scouts had gone to five of them. They retreated once the amount of beasts were too numerous. No one knew that this might not be a sufficient method. If the node was being discarded like all of Din¡¯s auxiliary nodes. They¡¯d be populated by beasts. Once they go to the actual node. They should discover whether it is really a beast king''s territory. Back at camp everyone got back to their usual jobs. The forgers felt they had lost a lot of face when the bow and arrow was introduced. Weren¡¯t they the weapons experts? They felt they had to do something so they stopped their pet projects and worked together. One of the oldest. And mind, this is oldest by a few years, not much more. He made his voice slightly deeper and conveyed his wisdom. He suggested that it was easiest to improve upon already existing thing. So they tried improve the rod. That didn¡¯t work out. Eventually they conjured up the small metal arrow tips. This was heralded as a great discovery. And the forgers felt pride once more. There was a lot of fire lit under the crafters. Prestige came with great inventions. And they didn¡¯t need to invent anything. Just recreate the wheel. So to speak. That was also on the menu. Some people fancied themselves to be woodworkers. And a waterwheel was under construction. They had problems with the gears or whatever made it spin like it did. They had requested taking apart a grinder. This wasn¡¯t popular with the forgers. Forgers held a lot of weight. Din didn¡¯t care at all, but they never brought it up with him. They only argue amongst themselves. There were things they had taken for granted. Like wheels, which were now something important but not out of reach. On a routine stroll. Din was reminiscing about one of his father¡¯s teachings. His father used to say. People can¡¯t read your mind, but you can let them pretend they can. This was a part of a larger lesson, how his appearance not only needed to maintained but manipulated. His father taught him many things. Every Laq Docte was treated like a rough diamond. They had to be polished into brilliance. Their edges had to be sharpened. Most of Din¡¯s lessons came directly from his grandfather. His grandfather was near a century old when Din was born. His favorite saying was that he didn¡¯t know what he didn¡¯t know and barely knew what he did know. On multiple occasions Din thought about these words. And he had always agreed with the words. His deferred meaning might change, but he felt they were correct. He would often study his betters words. These words were his gospel. If accumulated into a book. He¡¯d call it the Laq Docte bible. In truth, Laq Docte were more philosophers than entrepreneurs and visionaries. They managed the footing on Earth through indirect means. It could be called luck. It wasn¡¯t ingenuity. It was because they were all raised by a high functioning but mentally disabled man that had survived the traumatic experience Din was now facing. At least similar. But from persistent insanity sprouted a cult like mentally seen in Din. Din of course didn¡¯t think of things like this. He felt immense love for his family. Jao was now more confident in her demeanour. She wasn''t just reaffirming her actions now. She firmly believed she was a pillar of the community. No one would argue with her. She had been isolated from other peoples in the way that Din was isolated. He didn''t let her out of his sight. This could be considered oppressive. She was very much a servant without the look or mentality of a servant. Perhaps she didn¡¯t love Din. And maybe he didn¡¯t love her. But from an outsider''s perspective they were much looked the part of lovers. Regal as they were. Din never thought about these matters, Jao did, but these thoughts were rare and brief. It had been some time since the refinery settled down into a steady pace. But today something new occurred. There was a batch of refined herbs sitting in a pile. It wasn¡¯t a large pile. There was a tinge of blue but for the most part it was white. This was a product similar to salt. Maybe not the composition but the taste. This opened another floodgate. Before long numerous herbs were refined into spices. This was very popular. It had a multiplicative effect on the variety of food in the camp. The most impressive feature was that sometimes meals would be made. And they carried an empowerment. These empowerments only lasted a few hours. But to Din this was an incredible achievement. He knew how much those consumables cost. He dedicated a team to mastering meals that granted empowerments. These empowerments ranged from few percent boost in experience, attributes or even unique things like stamina regeneration or health recovery. Everyone just enjoyed it due to new variety of tasty food. Din saw the grand scale a few percentages could do on a gathering of many. Once he had thousand, ten thousands or more under his heel. One percent increase was a great difference. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine the bustling the camp had. They were only slightly less than two hundred. But they all had schedules to keep. Few people spent their downtimes relaxing. Almost everyone went from a designated job to their hobby. In their endless twilight the camp never felt asleep. Food was plentiful. Materials came faster than they could use them. It was a golden age of sorts. Din took over the ninth node. He¡¯d have to travel across a whole territory to take the next one. There were still buildings to buy. But he wasn¡¯t going to buy leisure buildings. He¡¯d buy a archery range. A dominus. Whatever could increase the training of his troops. But not leisure buildings. These army related buildings however did not exist. The river that ran through his three nodes was very straight. Next to no twists or turn. But there were a few. Din was supervising the camp¡¯s largest engineering feat. they were placing the new waterwheels. These waterwheels would perpetually pull on ropes made by intertwining their finest threads. Using these ropes tied to waterwheels places far apart, they would pull their rafts. Heavy materials could be transported at low risk. With minimum labour. The ropes would need to be replaced periodically but that was the cost of business. They built this waterwheel pulley system downstream. South. He was going to take the southernmost node once they finished this project. He was in no hurry. He wasn¡¯t aware of the significance of the first ten nodes. The biggest issue with this basic waterwheel system. Was the twists in the river. Once they turned up, they had to place down the wheel and place a new one nearby. This took incredible amount of rope. But it wasn¡¯t an issue. What Din had was materials and labour. He could afford being this wasteful. It was a questionable decision. But it still was true that they didn¡¯t have much to do. It was a pet projected glorified as a transportation system. If anything. They could use the extravagant amount of rope they had accumulated. The system would become obsolete once Din got ten nodes. He¡¯d be able to buy beasts capable of carrying him around. As far as Din was concerned. If he didn¡¯t need to walk everywhere, it would be fine. But in the end. What Din really wanted. Was more people. Once he had a couple of cities up and running. Few million people working as cogs in a self sufficient system. He¡¯d set up a government while his family sat in the background. He hadn¡¯t factored in the fame his name would carry. He had already shone too bright. This light wouldn¡¯t be squashed easily. He¡¯d need to completely vanish. Whether that would be a option was up in the air. The tenth area was as easy as the other six beast king territories.
You now have ten support nodes. Your ten support nodes have been merged into a tier one support node. Your first tier one support node grants a bonus of hundred percent experience bonus. The bonus is additive with previous experience bonus. Having created a tier one support node all adjacent support nodes will merge into nodes the size of five to ten nearby nodes. Every subsequent tier one node will grant an additional hundred percent increase.
The real threat this created was a team of beast kings. They would also grow faster. The amount of beasts in each territory would increase. The increase wasn¡¯t only multiplicative. It would also increase the strength of each individual beast. Din wouldn¡¯t know this until he tried to take one out. It would be hard with just two hundred people. For now it would be difficult. Once they had a few thousand beasts killed with the tripled experience bonus, they might even reach level forty five eventually. What did happen was that all people within a certain range of Din¡¯s tier one support node, were informed where it was. The reason of this could be considered twofold. One, it addressed the expected lack of people. And second, it allowed people the chance to attack. And this was going to happen. Killing those beast kings was difficult. A lot of people had to die to overwhelm them. Other multinode communities knew that the easiest way to take over an area was fighting other people. Other people wouldn¡¯t be so strong that they¡¯d need hundreds to kill them. The best of all however was they could just assassinate the leader then slowly take over the neutral adjacent nodes. The nearby areas were now dangerous as well. They either had to move further away or be engulfed in an unbeatable war with the tier one beast king territories. There is a window where they could move. Two or three months from now and Din¡¯s tier one node would be surrounded. People from unrated support node system all got notification and the wording was very obvious. Either they joined the new tier one node. Or they attacked it. In a ten node radius multiple communities either moved in the opposite direction or moved towards Din. The wording was very clear. No one decided stay where they were. Din also knew nothing about this. He was annoyed though. ¡®Why does it need to help the beasts?¡¯ This was the words of the ungrateful. The system was very fair. Beasts were still tools, fuel for people to kill. A pressure to push people. The beasts were given a chance to evolve. Their capacity for intelligence was their greatest benefit. It was increased. But the price was being a living target. Din quickly moved on, he was reading the new changes. There was a whole slew of things he could buy. From items, animals and information. They tried the waterwheel system back to camp. It wasn¡¯t as fast as Din expected. If he didn¡¯t have unshakable convictions, he¡¯d purchase beasts. He still steeled himself to buy what was clearly a building to rear animals. Animals of war. Presumably capable of transporting people as well. Din now thought they should focus on creating wheels for wagons. Shouldn¡¯t be hard to do, right? This is what he thought. This was the mindset of almost all people. It isn¡¯t that hard. Yet they had spent untold hours trying to create the simplest of things. Trying to replicate what they had back home. It was easy. And yet they still continued to fail over and over again. It was obvious from an outside perspective, they even judged each other. You can¡¯t even do this? But it was hard to see failure in themselves, they had no mirrors here. Near two hundred handsome people. And no mirrors. Some would find it humorous. Din was overwhelmed. He had been blindsided by the sudden information. From extravagant pet projects to towering progress. He felt like he had been climbing a mountain only to fall down the otherside. If you could consider the fall a positive. It took them just a day to travel back with the waterwheel pulley system. Din was now determined to use them for something else. The river was relatively straight so the travel time back wasn¡¯t too long. He felt it slow because he didn¡¯t need to move. It was counter-intuitive. If he really did have to move large, heavy quantities of metals, gems or whatever there was. The system would be invaluable. But it would need people walking beside the rafts for safety. The system required latching onto the raft. This meant smooth transitioning with a heavy raft. Without it there would be a high risk of snapping the rope. The ropes had impressive tensile strength. Not comparable to metal chains but they were well within the means to drag a few heavy loaded rafts. The issue was the constant pressure, it could work them down over time. Perhaps their durability could be made to last longer. Din still hadn''t made a bridge over the river, he had completely forgotten about it. And right now he didn¡¯t care. He could begin rearing beasts. He was very determined to rear beasts. They would be easier to breed than the people. People were the biggest bottleneck right now. They could shoot arrows, wield their metal rods or use their abilities. But the numbers were too low. He wanted more. The more time passed the more apparent it was. There were twelve children born in the camp so far. They were growing up fast and strong. It would only take them five years to reach the similar growth as ten year old back home. This had to do with this place. It was unusual, they were born faster, grew up faster and would be brighter. Maybe not smarter. But their reflexes would be at a slight advantage. In the end they were only just barely at an advantage compared to a Earthen child. Excluding future levels. Din was in for a surprise. Ten different camps were within a ten node radius. They had all decided to head towards him. Whether they would try and attack the camp, request a merge or voluntarily join. It was still to be seen. They¡¯d roll that dice when they arrived. There was little to no time to scout the camp. They had to decisively leave for either the great unknown or towards Din¡¯s tier one node. Traveling across over nine nodes was at least a fifteen to twenty day activity. They had to hunt and sleep during the journey This wasn¡¯t hard but it was tiresome. The other option was to move away from the node. Where they¡¯d almost always have to confront beast kings. This would probably mean losing a few members at least. The choice wasn¡¯t difficult. More people. Better land. Tier one node promised three hundred percent experience bonus. Anyone with a sliver of ambition would jump at the chance. Din¡¯s people were strong. Armed with various tools. Low durability metal rods, daggers, spears and swords. The rods were the only thing that lived off a hunt without heavy maintenance. It was strange to many. But without a recipe, the durability would fall dramatically. It wasn¡¯t enough to pour molten metal in a mold and sharpen it. But people liked swords. So there were a few of them made. They made for flashing looks. But in the end they never lasted a battle. There was something else Din found interesting. The weapons and various other products they had made had not reached tier one. His craftsmen could still not be considered novices. They were still apprentices or beginners. Of course there was a difference from beginner to beginner. What he was curious about now was how to get to tier two. Tier two node. It was an obvious trend. He had to climb this ladder. He had no idea where this ladder would lead. But he would tread this ladder with conviction. He¡¯d do it for Laq Docte¡¯s sake. The deeper the roots. The better. ¡®With the increased Income I should be able to buy this Agricultural building.¡¯ Din wasn¡¯t the smartest person, he wasn''t stupid either. He was educated in many things. And he knew what agriculture meant. This building might seem to a dream for farmers. The price for it was astronomical. But only because Din was moving faster than estimated for these things. He¡¯d need a few weeks before accumulating enough resource points but it was an easy choice for him. It was a great choice in the long term. He had other great options. And many lesser options that would have a more immediate effect. Once his population increased, he would need great farm fields. He had land. But his efficiency was low. Either he¡¯d need travel far to sow fields or increase output. The Agricultural building would solve this problem. Din was however instead excited over the potential animal husbandry. After a five days. The first flock of people arrived. They were ready to attack. But there was only eighty of them. Once they saw the heavily armed forces they hesitated. Din went out to meet them. ¡°Are you the leader?¡± It was a rather hostile voice. He had tried to hide it but it wasn¡¯t very well hidden. ¡°I am Din, of the Laq Docte.¡± This man felt the introduction as odd as First had felt it was. First was stood two meters behind Din. He had a mocking smile. First thought. You think you can beat Din? You think you can talk your way out of here? He had been there when they went for the third node. The way Din spoke to them was baffling. As amiable as a family friend. Even he had experienced it first hand. There was softness in his eyes that both scared people, and attracted them. Not a sexual attraction, more a closeness between kindred souls. ¡°Laq Docte?¡± He was confused. He had never not understood what people were saying. Only when he said it outloud he realized it was a name or a title. ¡°Whatever you are. We¡¯ve come to make a deal.¡± ¡°Would you like to sit down with me?¡± Din gestured and two stools were put down. A table brought forth and some cold water from the river. ¡°You must be thirsty from a long journey.¡± The man felt more confused now. Wasn¡¯t he intimidating. He was bigger than Din in every way. If he reached over. Who could stop him? The more he thought like this the more he was sure Din was hiding his strength. Maybe he had a powerful ability. He hadn''t even known what a tier one node was. But this Din had one. Maybe he was level forty? Fifty? Sixty? He had no way to know. ¡°We want a merge.¡± It was time for Din to be confused. But he nodded and held his mild smiling expression. ¡®Why would I merge with you?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t in contempt that he thought this. Maybe he had something to offer Din. he was willing to listen. Worst case scenario. He¡¯d just kill the man. ¡°A merge. That might be an option, what do you suggest?¡± What do I suggest? I suggest a merge! His thoughts were creeping forth. He felt his intentions were obvious. He had grown accustomed to power. He wasn¡¯t going to be a follower. He hadn''t seen the facilities in the camp they were still just near some half-assed sheds. ¡°I suggest.¡± He paused to exhibit his exasperation. ¡°That we merge. We split the nodes. You hold what you have now and i¡¯ll take the future ones.¡± All that mattered was he kept control over some nodes. If he didn¡¯t control a node, he¡¯d lose access to the node support shop. Din felt this was a waste of time. He stood up. ¡°You join the camp now. Or you die here.¡± Din waves his hands in the air and two rows of archers lifted their bows. They hadn¡¯t pulled the string back. Merely made some low shouts and readied them. This was what people had to deal with. He¡¯d have a soft smile and provide a friendly conversation and then they met with the emotionless domineering of a righteous zealot. ¡°All of you step to the right, over there. If you don¡¯t intend to fight. You have three seconds.¡± He would never actually have this many people shot. He needed more people. But he absolutely would kill five or seven of them to make a point. ¡°Wait! Wait! We¡¯ll join!¡± It wasn¡¯t the people behind that shouted. But their leader. He was incredibly afraid of arrows. He had a recurring nightmare since he was peppered by a small animal with needles. Seeing all those arrows he felt light headed and when he heard Din say move to the right if they weren¡¯t going to fight, he woke up from his shock. ¡°Great! Welcome. Follow First, he¡¯ll take you to the kitchen. Get some food in you.¡± He breathed in a deep breath. And nodded. ¡°Come see me after you eat. I have some questions for you.¡± Din hadn¡¯t spoke so much in a long time. Usually he¡¯d just throw out some orders. He liked using gestures to convey things. He would smile and nod. He¡¯d look people in the eyes. It was a whole ordeal and people were often inconvenienced by it. However Din wouldn¡¯t acknowledge this. He thought other people were bad at making small talk. It was another thing the Laq Docte were better at, these were his thoughts. When the man returned from dinner. Din had returned to his shed. Din¡¯s shed was only a bit bigger than the others. First¡¯s shed was actually a bit larger. He asked him how they found him. After all it made little sense. He had scouts and to travel here randomly was impossible in his mind. He found out of the message people had received. He was thrilled. He set up some patrols and had people focus on both expanding farmland and building more sheds. It never occurred to Din that many people could revolt. His people never so much as made a peep. Maybe he was complacent. Best guess was he was blinded by arrogance. Whatever it was. He was getting more people. In less than a month he¡¯d build his agricultural building. The camp was always lively. But now it was more so. People had to get accustomed to the schedule. Very few people weren¡¯t required to follow the rotations. Jao was one. Women at certain point of pregnancy. Lead crafters. That meant people with recipes. There was also the basket weaver. Din didn''t care what he did. He didn''t want to order him around. It was out of character for Din to feel like this. But he embraced it. In the next few days new people would arrive. The largest was just over one hundred and twenty. Two things happened. One, they¡¯d ask to join the camp. And the other was some show of intimidation. One individual had tried to ambush Din as they sat down to talk. This man died. His men that intended to attack after the signal was given. Died as well. Twelve people got struck down. The rest were spared. Din valued people after all. He wanted more. To the point of being greedy. It took some effort to introduce people to their system. The more people arrived the more work had to be done. This work was easy to spread around. There wasn¡¯t much pressure on people. But what they found weird was the all the crafting. They had to find a hobby? Who orders people to take a hobby? What will you do if we don¡¯t take up a hobby? They felt it was strange. But over two hundred people were doing it. They weren¡¯t going to object. A hobby didn''t demand much from them. They just had to laze around for a bit. In the end of course they would ideally find some passion in it. People had to sleep outside for a while. It wasn¡¯t hard building sheds, but it did take some time. They had gotten used to it however. Even in their original camp they had to sleep outside or share housing. Chapter eight: The great hen. Din felt like a great big hen. A great big mother hen, he looked towards the camp. Yesterday they had broken a thousand people. In just eleven short days he¡¯d buy the Agricultural building. There was a slight food shortage, but it would right itself next harvest. Until they they¡¯d have to go hunt a bit more. This hunting fell to the battle training troops. First issued his closest men as his direct subordinates. His men would make sure the hunts went on in an efficient and organized fashion. The days kept trickling by. Only two more groups came. One with two hundred people. And another with just under a hundred. There was no opposition. But they also did not confer their nodes to Din. They could keep their nodes for over six months before it went neutral. Din hadn¡¯t thought about this. If he had he¡¯d threatened them or killed them. It was only a matter of time before one of them used it as a bargaining chip. Soon this moment would come. Once they fully felt they had lost any semblance of power. they¡¯d come to bargain some back. This was natural. When that moment came. Did had just bought the agricultural building and was reading through the information on it. There were too many things there. Information about too many fruits and vegetables. An abnormal amount of animals. He got interrupted from his reading. There was a sense of relief in Din. This was a monstrous amount of inane information. But Din felt obligated to read it. ¡°I would like to take head of forging.¡± This man was sharp. He had a suspicious look around him. Most people would feel this way. Din however didn¡¯t see it. ¡°Head of forging? What would you do?¡± ¡°I want authority over them.¡± He further explained but the more he spoke the more Din felt this was pointless. ¡°If you want to be head forger, get a recipe.¡± It wasn¡¯t until the man offered his three nodes that he got Din¡¯s attention. ¡®How could I overlook this.¡¯ A smarter person would have realized it sooner. Din reflected over this failure. Then looked into the man¡¯s eyes. ¡°There is no position available in my camp.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Din stood up. And told Jao to get someone to get all the other leaders. Before long all of them were gathered. This was a closed off shed. Only Jao was still there. ¡°I gave you all ample opportunity. Didn¡¯t I?¡± The gathering felt it was strange. Only two thought they understood. Din didn¡¯t leave them time to ask any questions. ¡°I''ve taken you in. I let you live. But here we are. I give and give. And get nothing back.¡± No one felt like speaking up. They didn¡¯t know what was going on. But it felt like a build up to something dangerous. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you a chance today. You confer your nodes to me. Or I¡¯ll settle the matter myself.¡± When the words came out they realized what this was about. They felt the tension skyrocket. Then they felt insulted. He wanted their nodes for free? But Din felt the weight of a heavy betrayal. His calm self was angry now. It was out of character for Din to lose his composure. Although it didn''t look like he lost it. He was seething with anger. He somehow retained a kind smile. But that smile didn¡¯t reach his eyes anymore. They were still bright. But they no longer carried goodwill. They were now just normal. Boring almost. But the stark difference felt odd to them. Still no one cracked. They were in a closed off space with Din. there was fourteen of them, and just him and a woman. Din patiently gazed at them. He was trying to hold back. He was about to kill them. ¡®One word.¡¯ All he wanted. He wanted someone to say something.
Levat Koramsins Outtlettum transferred three support nodes to you
The man stood up and bowed slightly. He had expected this to happen before he even entered the camp. He was surprised it took this long. Din¡¯s eyes lit up and he looked at him. He was very happy with this person. Soon another person transferred his two nodes. These two were incidentally the two that had understood Din from the beginning. He bowed similar to the previous man. The rest saw this and felt it annoying. Couldn¡¯t you stand your ground for a bit longer? Now there is just twelve of us. They wanted something. They couldn¡¯t give up their nodes for free. That would be absurd. Just as Din¡¯s mood was coming under his control. Someone coughed, indicating he wanted to speak. ¡°Careful with your words.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. There was no room for discussion in Din¡¯s mind. The discussion was over when they entered his land. It ended when he knew they existed. The only reason they were still alive was because he wanted all of nodes and not just the nearest one. ¡°Can you buy them from us?¡± Din thought it over in a flash. ¡°Name a price.¡± He didn¡¯t hesitate to answer. ¡°A woman and a bigger shed.¡± Din looked at him. He was confused. This wasn¡¯t a large price. But he had a rule in the camp. Women had to choose a man. Did this man not have a women? He really didn¡¯t have a woman anymore. He had a bad reputation. He had been less than gentle. ¡°How many nodes do you have?¡± ¡°One.¡± ¡®He wants to bargain with me, with one node?¡¯ Din attacked, it looked awkward. The guy countered with an ability. But once he acted, Din changed. The shadow took control. The man fell to the ground and Din now had one additional support node. ¡°Anyone else have a price?¡± This wasn''t Din threatening them. He just attacked because had just one Node. And he felt the man worth less than a woman. Was this man going to birth a child? Din didn''t think so. They felt a bit awkward. Despite being ready for a fight. This was a bit unexpected. They had been talking about terms. Why was he now dead? They hadn¡¯t at all expected this. Three of them realized the key factor. One support node. They now knew the only reason they were alive was because he wanted all of their nodes. Not just one. When they thought up to here. They came a bit more cunning. ¡°Two nodes, I just want to be excluded from all responsibilities.¡± ¡°Done.¡± He transferred two nodes over. He had three, but figured this would be enough. He could still access the consumable shop. Six months of resource points from a single node was valuable. He was right. He had struck while he could. But he didn¡¯t think far enough. Din would make sure he had all nodes. All had to do was ask around. It was doubtful whether people would lie for their previous leaders. ¡°Next?¡± Some wanted positions. Others wanted women. But all they got was the right to be excluded. At least they didn''t need to fight. Five days after the exchange five of the men were politely asked back to meet with Din. everyone but one died. The one left alive had two nodes. Din wanted two nodes. ¡°It¡¯s good that you are sensible.¡± It was rare for Din to be spiteful. He was perhaps too naive. But not naive enough to be taken advantage of for free. It was only a moment but afterwards Din reflected on it. He had never felt this before. He was cursing these people in his mind. They were dead on the floor. But still felt frustration. Jao had watched him slaughter these men mercilessly and then smile as he sent the last one away. She felt this a natural thing. Din now had one tier one node and twenty six unrated. This was a two hundred and sixty percent experience bonus. Coming up to five hundred and sixty. He was ecstatic. He felt like the Laq Docte ancestor was watching over him. He felt him smile at him dotingly. To say his feeling was better than sex was an understatement. This was a spiritual pleasure. He envisioned a bright future the Laq Docte would provide. Din had so much resource point income now that he almost felt like buying a leisure building. Not a large one. Just a small one. He drew upon his belief in in Laq Docte like a believer to his god. He settled down after a few rounds with Jao. It really was out of character for Din to act this way. Jao had never seen so much passion from Din. She didn¡¯t like it. She had grown used to being reserved, to being regal. But we all have our crosses to bear. These were her thoughts. Things quieted down. Din had the fire taken out of him. He put emphasis on establishing people''s schedules. Other than that he actively went out on hunts with Jao. the experience was substantial and not long after they felt their level rise. Din¡¯s map was now zoomed out further. In it were hexagonal shapes. The nodes under Din¡¯s tier one node was blacked out the surrounding areas were yellow sprinkled with blue spots. The blue spots were his new unrated nodes. If he connected enough of them together he¡¯d create another tier one node. Further away, in a ten node radius from Din¡¯s tier one node. There were red nodes. These nodes were not affected by the tier one node. The yellow nodes were dangerous. Five to ten of them would merge into one. To take them they would have begin a slaughter. This slaughter would be three to five times larger than previously. Two to three thousand beasts killed. This would force a fight with the node¡¯s beast kings. The reward would be increased as well. Not proportionally, considering the difficulty would be many fold. It could be considered faster. Take out the nodes respective beast kings and gain a whole slew of nodes. Din had to do this if he wanted to turn his twenty six unrated nodes into tier one nodes. He contemplated the map. The nodes were spread in a near circular pattern. He would just have to pick a direction at this point. But he didn¡¯t mind. The creation of arrows and bows was slow. They were limited by the people who had a recipe for the bows and arrows. Then there was the metal rods and shields. These things took time. Because of this, Din wasn¡¯t in a hurry to take over new nodes. He felt that going in unprepared might causes a large amount of casualties. He could definitely take over a node with this amount of people. But every dead man and woman was less future children. This would have negative effects in the long term. A new invention swept the camp. Earplugs. It was material refined from tree sap. It was popular because there were always people awake. There was a constant rotation of people making their sleep schedule varied. This meant noises were never ending. And people wanted to sleep. There was an everlasting twilight and they could block out what little light there was, inside their sheds. Leaving only the noise to worry about. Din would still roam about with Jao on occasion. Jao had been nervous with the new influx of people. Would they know how great she was? Every time Din and her showed up people would at the very least acknowledge them. She and Din would gaze approvingly. She felt things were even better. She cherished these moments, if she could she¡¯d carve them into her bones. Her favorite was the Artificer. It was where most of the women would go. Only there she¡¯d fully feel the envious gazes on her. This was better than any nectar. After a round, Din decided to take up a new hobby. He had a waterwheel and a grinder moved to his shed. There he took them apart and put them back together. He¡¯d occasionally pick up a piece of wood from the refinery. He wasn¡¯t some genius. But he couldn¡¯t spend all his days whittling away. Sometimes he¡¯d call over some woodworkers. Even the leader forger would have to pay a visit every once in awhile. The lead forger had pioneered a way to smelt handles on things. This invention was applicable to many things beside handles. What Din wanted to make was gears. Once he had gears he could make better use of the waterwheel power. Gear made from refined wood was more durable than metal for some inexplicable reason. Or so Din thought. He stopped caring about making gears and was now trying to figure out this nonsensical difference in durability. After numerous experiments it was obvious that it was the wood. The wood had been refined from hacked of tree roots. These were the roots from the mines. After they had dug down considerably they began hitting roots. The roots came from the very large trees that shot into the fog. These roots were far more flexible than the metal and considerably more durable. Once Din and his team of researchers came to this conclusion they felt great satisfaction. This was in spite of knowing the small amount there was of it and the difficulty of extracting it from the ground. Just solving the inconsistency was reward enough. Din also commissioned a hold on the material, for personal use. He returned to his whittling. To practice his gear making he used lesser materials. Not wanting to waste this rare material. They used a gear to create a rough grinder. This grinder used the waterwheel for power. One without ropes. It was made entirely of metal casted from molds created with a claylike substance. Din was planning on making his own tree-made gears. There were multiple reason why the roots were more durable. Not only was it because the roots of the tree were growing in metal laden soil. The metals were worked into low quality. It would not be wrong to say the metal was ruined. Following the poor refining, the extracted metal was impure. It would require a more advanced refining techniques to extract the defects. The new grinder was repurposed to grind down the farmed wheatgrass. This was a rough process but produced far better results than manual labour. It was a minor achievement and caused next to no change. They manage to get finer material which they then refined further. This resulted in a softer wheatgrass bread. This bread wasn¡¯t popular. But it was easier to work with it. All in all, it looked like a waste of time. In the end, it was only a hobby to Din. It was normal for people to try out different crafting. Some would make themselves useful things with no interested in pursuing it further. One particular camp member had made herself a bed covers, leather socks thick enough to be considered shoes, and was currently working on a way to shave her legs. Din spent most of his time whittling. There wasn¡¯t much else to do beside making sure weapons and arrows were being produced. When Din saw people wearing simple leather clothing, he felt this was a good thing. Two days later they had a team producing pants and jackets. They had to create two to four thousand arrows. Metal tipped arrows. They needed over ten to twenty thousand non metal tipped arrows. The time it took to create one metal tipped arrow, three to four non metal tipped arrows could be produced. There were people actively trying to learn how to make these arrows, eventually they would receive a recipe for one. If they mimicked the original creator slowly. They only had to repeat the process. One day they¡¯d complete a replica suitable enough to be granted a recipe. There wasn¡¯t much Din could use to reward people with. But one of them was the right choose their work. If you were a original creator a recipe you could even be excluded from mandatory things like hunting, battle training or fighting. The former node leaders all held this right. Or to be exact they had the ultimate privilege of not having to do anything at all. A decree had been announced. Anyone who could create a useful recipe could be granted a position in their respective field and be excluded from unwanted activities. He had to emphasize, to make sure people understood that it had to be a useful recipe. Because there appeared a lot of recipes with no observable merit. One such recipe was for a hard cracker. Made from ground and refined wheatgrass. While the cracker wasn¡¯t inedible. It had no other benefit. Chapter nine: Arrows. Three month¡¯s flashed by. The camp had churned out over twenty thousand wooden arrow. And five thousand metal tipped arrows. The mine had seen serious action. Multiple production related methods had seen improvements. In the early days. With all those new workers and increasing demands, a lot of people had to pick up various new methods. The continuous work allowed for more practice. This meant that new people quickly picked up methods such as mining, refining. There was a demand for the forging, but the greatest demand was the woodworking. This was threefold. One was actually gathering enough wood. Wood was gathered from small trees. Sometimes a branch of the great trees could be broken off. There was no quality control so anything that could be worked into a arrow shaft was used. Once the wood was gathered they would refine it. This wasn¡¯t a difficult process. But they required a lot of wood. A byproduct of sorts, a bark of a specific tree was also refined, but in less quantity. This material was used as fletching. The refined wood was moved to the woodworkers who would carve them into arrows. A lot of material was wasted in this process. People needed learn. A lot of people needed to learn. And they did. Ninety percent of the camp were learning a skill one way or another. The three days people had to rest was something they didn¡¯t understand at first. They would just do nothing and relax. But this wasn¡¯t something everyone could manage. They would eventually be tempted to discover a recipe. It was an era of war. And war required resources. The materials were not in place. Even the hard crackers saw a use. They had a long expiration date. Din rewarded the person with a small team of people who would pursue food related recipes. He had to endure a teary eyed man sob. The man hadn¡¯t felt so emotional because he desired the position. He felt the acknowledgement to be priceless. He had been mocked for the most useless recipe. They would head north in less than a week. Din had gotten information from the people that came from the other nodes. ¡®Five to ten of those beast king at a time.¡¯ He felt it was excessive. If all those people hadn¡¯t arrived he would maybe feel a exasperated. With his thousand some people, he¡¯d shorten the path of progression by a few years. On the day of the march, Din was sitting in a trance. This was his usual tradition, he¡¯d spend time thinking of the Laq Docte wisdom. Once he woke from his reverie, he began strolling to the north of camp. People had already gather. Only eight hundred would go on this time around. Those left behind would be pregnant woman, women that had given birth this year and their children. The rest would maintain the camp. There were also a select few that were not required to do anything. All of which opted to staying behind. Traveling with eight hundred people was a challenge. They needed to carry food and supplies. They also had to kill along the way. They cooked what they killed. They had to travel through two and a half node before getting outside Din¡¯s tier one node. Once they did, the amount of beasts multiplied. These beasts were stronger. But eight hundred organized people were hard to stop. It was tempting to lighten the load and use arrows, but they were held in reserve. Until they didn¡¯t need to conserve strength. If one had to guess. Five thousand or more beasts had to be killed before inciting the rage of beast kings. This was what Din thought. He wouldn¡¯t be wrong. Unless he directly found a beast king within its territory, a massacre was the only solution. The experience was nothing short of amazing. Din had reached level thirty eight. Whether this was a fast growth was debatable. There were battle fanatics that were at higher level. As they progressed further into the territory, time became blurry. They would fight and sleep in rotations. The distance they moved every day was abysmal. Number of felled beasts became staggering. And even with eight hundred people the experience only got better. For the uninitiated, this kind of constant killing was traumatizing. Even the experienced ones were being consumed by the environment. There were thirteen people that persevered through the constant slaughter. First and his people. Then there was Din and Jao. Din didn¡¯t realize he was unaffected by some sort of battle craze. His zealotry kept his thoughts on his beliefs. What was strange, was Jao. It would seem her state of mind had undergone a more drastic change than previously assumed. To remain untainted by the killing wasn¡¯t an easy task. First and his men had a different view on the fighting. This was what they were good at. First had carved his men in his image. Din had his Zealotry. But Jao couldn¡¯t be explained away. She had to have developed something firm to hold onto. This wouldn¡¯t be a belief in Din. While she felt admiration for him early on. After spending so much time with him, he lost all mysticism. On the eleventh day some of First men began feeling the effects of constant slaughter. They held their ground and used the opportunity to temper themselves. Once consumed by the fighting it was hard to get out of it. The effects weren¡¯t physical but it could affect their sleep schedule. That would affect them physically. On the twenty third day they had reached six thousand. No one was counting. Even Din felt they were just mindlessly killing at this point. Jao had fallen to the effects affects four days ago. But no one noticed. There wasn¡¯t a direct external sign that would give you away. Din was frowning. There was a lull in the fighting. It would happen occasionally. He was looking at his attributes. There has to be a point to this.¡¯ He wasn¡¯t satisfied with unsolved riddles. There were too many of them in this place. He didn¡¯t like having to explain things away with magic.
Abilities
Passive
Instincts
Active
Instincts
Any increase in attributes will increase the instinct attribute with a two to one ratio. For every ten points in instincts you gain a one point in strength and dexterity. It is impossible to allocate points to instinct. ¡°You specialize in surviving! You have developed unparalleled instincts through a life and death experience!¡±
Strength: 77 Intelligence: 42 Dexterity: 77 Wisdom: 42
Willpower: 42 Constitution: 42 Stamina: 42 Health: 520
Mana: 310 Health recovery: 52 Mana recovery: 31 Instinct: 356.5
The screaming of battle had started up again but Din was still wondering about things. The more he thought it over the less he felt he understood. He understood what some of the attributes would do, they were self descriptive. Instinct hower just kept increasing. What was the benefit? These were Din¡¯s thoughts. Instincts were not only a tool to keep Din alive in a reactionary manner. The further it increased the more it would try to predict what it required. Every dangerous scenario Din had ever experienced, witnessed or knew of was at its disposal. The more expansive it was, the more it would use. Like a separate existence, it learned. Every waking and sleeping moment Din experienced, it experienced. It used information Din received in far more efficient way. It also became more independent. This Independence could potentially steal Din¡¯s mind away. This would be incredibly difficult for it. It already had this power in short bursts when danger was eminent. This was a loophole that could be exploited. The army had begun using arrows to conserve energy. This sped up killing and eased the pressure on the troops. Arrows were used rapidly. On the twenty seventh day a beastly cry could be heard, it echoed through the battlefield. The beasts retreated. Once the roaring was dying out a second one burst forth followed by a third, fourth, fifth. It was now too hard to notice the amount of beast howling. It was as if the whole forest had come alive. ¡°Metal tipped arrows!¡± First shouted. His shout was drowned out by the beasts. But his warning wasn¡¯t needed. Anyone would recognize the situation. The first beast king to make an appearance was leaping from tree branch to tree branch. They had seen a beast like this before but never so big. It was easy to see the strength of the branches, it swung and let its grip go. The momentum carried it to the next branch. First and his men were staring at the beast when the second came out. It a type of lizard. Although it appeared to just be a snake with legs. ¡°Fire!¡± As soon as the tree traversing beast was within range, there was no hesitation to rain down on it. They expected it, but they were still surprised to see how effective it was. Eight hundred arrows clashed against each other. Most of them missed but with hundreds of them, the beast was killed outright. The snake was faster, but they had more arrows. ¡®Why would it swing around like that?¡¯ Din didn¡¯t feel anything was off. He expected beast kings to arrive. He had personally fought one before. He had also seen them killed. What he felt was strange was their approach. It did make sense after he thought about it. The beast kings couldn¡¯t all be in the neighbourhood right? This is what he was thinking. The lizard was the next target. But these kings weren¡¯t dumb. When the lizard saw its rival and companion killed with such ease it dodged behind a tree. It was still ferocious and blindly arrogant. It slithered out of sight like like a snake and leapt with its four legs when it had to go from one place to another. The third beast, then a fourth joined the fray. They hadn''t seen the first beast be downed. All they saw was that shitty lizard jump around like a clown. Weren¡¯t you always flicking your tongue at us? What are you doing? The new arrivals felt the lizard was playing around. Beast king''s would play around with their food and minions all the time. But this wasn¡¯t the place for it. These were invaders. They had killed thousands of their combined minions. They rushed forward gallantly. They weren¡¯t going to play around. These scrawny little attackers were going to die. These were their thoughts. To their dismay what met them was eight hundred metal tipped arrows. This wasn¡¯t something they could slap off. They had abilities just like the people did. But they didn''t have a movement ability or a defensive ability. They had attack abilities. They did the only thing they could. They attacked the arrows. Their combined blow allowed them to knock tens of arrows away. But more followed right after them. It was rare but one of didn¡¯t die right away after the onslaught. But it was in no state to do anything but lie there immobile. Everyone assumed they were dead. The lizard took the opportunity to strike at the army¡¯s formation. First and his men confronted it. They didn¡¯t have defensive abilities but they could still block with their weapons and shield. Jao and Din still hadn¡¯t moved from their position. Jao¡¯s eyes were bloodshot. Far from Din¡¯s zealous eyes. He was just shocked none of them at died yet. He saw First¡¯s men get knocked backwards. But they didn¡¯t die.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Fifth, sixth and seventh beast king came from the same direction. The lizard had retreated once it saw the battalions turn to it. The three frowned when they arrived. They were wild beasts. They had ferocious expressions, but they saw three dead beast kings on the ground. All covered in those tiny sticks. All the tiny people had one of those sticks. It was easy for them to figure out what was going on. They followed the lizard to hide behind trees and shot from cover to cover. First was breathing heavily. He had taken a blow from the lizard by himself. He stood his ground. But it still felt like a truck had slammed into him. ¡®People will die if this continues.¡¯ Din wasn¡¯t worried. He just genuinely felt that people would die now. The beast would inch their way towards them. Once closed enough they¡¯d charge. First could stop one of them. Din, himself could stop one if he chose to do so. But wasn¡¯t going to. He didn¡¯t want to. He felt that some people had to die. This wasn¡¯t a sadism for the sake of sadism. This was more philosophical nonsense he inherited from his betters. Soon they were struck. The lizard had learned. It slithered and scurried around the army. Splitting their attention. When the beasts attacked. They attack one after the other, barely a second between them. The lizard retreated fast. But it caught a few arrows. It managed to kill three people. The other three weren¡¯t as experienced or cunning as it. They struck hard but didn¡¯t retreat. They killed seventeen people in total. First stopped one. At a price. But the other two killed fourteen between themselves. The snake saw the last of its allies fall and ran. It couldn¡¯t win this fight. Din watched it vanish. When it turned around and went out of sight, his interface alerted him. The last beast was still silently dying. When people approached its oversized maw it used the last of its power to take one more life with it. It had given up and was defeated. But it still chose to go out with a bang. They skinned the beasts. Even the strips they were useful after being refined. Din was looking at his map. Ten black nodes had been added to it. Twenty now in total. Outside this were blue dots sprinkled about. These were unrated support nodes. Outside this was Din¡¯s area of influence. These nodes were marked yellow. Further outside of those were red nodes. The yellow and red nodes had expanded further.
You have taken a tier one node. Tier one support node grants additional hundred percent experience bonus. The bonus is additive with previous experience bonus. Every subsequent tier one node will grant an additional hundred percent increase.
¡®That¡¯s seven hundred and sixty percentage.¡¯ The increase in experience looked like it was getting out of hand. But this little increase wasn¡¯t enough. They could rise to forty five quicker. But only by a small margin. Din was now level forty three. This was a threshold all the high level people were on. Not even first had reached forty four. The experience required was too substantial. After taken one or two tier one nodes they would maybe bridge the gap. They could also slowly grind it out once back at camp. It wouldn¡¯t take them longer than a year or two to reach forty five if they just hunted once every few days. Even with them all reaching the same levels there was a clear difference. By the time Din had reached level forty five, First would have been forty five for months. Every node support had ten subnodes that could be considered unrated. They granted ten percent experience each. Once ten unrated nodes came under a person¡¯s control and were physically connected, they would become tier one nodes. The nodes would retain the ten percent experience increase and each individual tier one node would grant an additional hundred percent. The first tier one node would grant an additional one hundred percent bonus. Din now possessed the equivalency of forty six unrated nodes. Giving him four hundred and sixty percent experience. Twenty of those were considered tier one nodes. That was a two hundred percent bonus and one hundred percent, respectively. Leaving the grand total seven hundred and sixty percent experience. Now that din had expanded the influence of his tier one nodes. He might interfere with other unrated support nodes. These new affected areas would never be able to cross tier one beast nodes. They had three options. One was to take the chance they wouldn¡¯t be invaded. This could leave them safe for a long time. But they wouldn¡¯t know this. Second was to run. If they were strong enough, they could ignore majority of beasts and just travel for a few days. Maybe stumble on a neutral node or even an occupied one. The third and last option was to directly gift away their node. This would alert Din. They would also come under his control. They would benefit from the incredible experience bonus. Then they would have to hope Din came to rescue them. This would be their best bet. Not because it was safe to join tier one node communities. But because Din valued the manpower. Even if there was only five of them. He¡¯d march over. There was a chance for a new crafter. Maybe he¡¯d find a genius. It didn¡¯t matter what kind. There was also the chance of a unique ability he could make use of. Whatever it was, Din was very honest in his ambition. Once Din and his army returned to camp they were allowed a week¡¯s leave. This endeavour left them tiered. It was longer than anyone expected. There were still a few hundred people working to maintain things. They were informed of the loss of life. Not everyone felt like talking about it. But with eight hundred man army. A few wouldn¡¯t mind sharing. First was unsatisfied. He was strong and trained hard. But if he had to be honest with himself, he¡¯d been too relaxed. He had indulged in training the camp members. He could be considered the strongest man in camp, so he fell into complacency. This was a rude awakening. He spoke to Din. Din agreed with his proposal. They were going to allocated more time to training. A week went by and people rejoined their rotations, the schedules had to be changed. Arrow production had never stopped. But now it returned to its former productivity. Din started his gear making hobby again. He was experimenting further to create a valve. This was something that he felt was holding him back. Without a working valve a lot of things were impossible. Din wanted a water tank. When they went south he realized the land was on an incline. It wasn¡¯t much but a few hundred meters away you could see a rise of four to five meters. If he could pipe it down, the descent would do most of the work. They would need a lot of valves. A pipe was one thing. With time they could manage it. But a valve had small parts and they had no means to create them. It wasn¡¯t too important but it was a meaningful goal. It made the whittling a little more bearable. Din would talk to other woodworkers and metalworkers about the issue. They weren¡¯t directly ordered to work on this project but the implication was there. If they succeeded in this, Din would award them. The people who already had stable position didn¡¯t really care, but there were plenty of opportunistic camp members that wanted benefits. Even with many people working on it there was little progress. They had to possess certain finesse to manually carve the pieces. The tools they had were lackluster. Most tools, they made themselves. Tools weren¡¯t everything but they were in such poor quality that they actively sabotaged. If they got better at working the metals, the quality would go up by a grade. Maybe they¡¯d reach quality beyond unrated. Din wanted to upgrade the Forge but they needed at least one tier one recipe. And without a tier one metal refining method, it would be impossible. Resource points were accumulating. There were very few things that required buying from the support node store. But that was only in Din¡¯s opinion. There were hundreds of things people would buy in a heartbeat. Especially when it came to their hobby production. Everyday life had resumed. People would tend to farmland. They¡¯d harvest every two to three weeks. Despite continuous arrow production, it was the culinary methods that advanced. The arrow production had met a threshold in material. As with every produce, a certain level of material was required to reach higher tiers. This was something the agricultural building facilitated. If the camp kept improving farming conditions incrementally, they would begin producing higher grade materials. Once higher grade materials began showing up and people still had to eat, they would eventually achieve a tier one food related recipe. Difference was that the agricultural building wouldn¡¯t be upgradeable like the forge. Not with just a tier one node. What it would do was unlock a variety of unrated recipes that could be bought and studied. This would increase the chance of more tier one recipes. This is the process for all production activities. Realizing this will go a long way. But there is no indirect way to discover this. They have to put the pieces together themselves. An outsider or an experienced craftsman would think this was obvious. But they had no way of knowing. Even if the knew, they wouldn¡¯t know if the material was superior or subpar. The people here weren¡¯t raised craftsmen. It rare for them to be from poor backgrounds, even more so to have a background in a craft. Rare didn¡¯t mean it was impossible. A person with experience in working with their hands would have an advantage in Din¡¯s camp. But they wouldn¡¯t know how to extract metal and refine it. Din wanted a person experienced in a craft. Any craft. But to his amazement every person here was a person above the middle class. When he began realizing this, he began taking note of their attractiveness. Women were a bit worse off compared to the men. These were Din¡¯s thoughts. He felt it was strange. After ruminating on it for a while he decided it was just another mystery. It wasn¡¯t impossible to guess, but even if he did it wasn¡¯t of much value. It became hard to sustain the arrow production, without traveling further and further from camp. The solution was to take out a tree. Even to this day they hadn¡¯t gone so far as to chop down one of those behemoth trees. And it would be hard to say when they would. What they would do was chop down the large branches. This required multiple edged metal tools. They had enough of those. The durability was awful, so they used quantity to battle it. They replaced the tool once they broke or dulled enough. In this way, like insects they stripped branches as thick as trees. Arrows were small so one branch was enough for tens of thousands of arrows. They were to complacent and hurried in their refining. It wasn¡¯t something they sought to improve upon. But with the amount they used it was hard not improve. With time more women got pregnant and people would sometimes talk about the strange birth rate. Even with a blurred sense of time, they knew the women were given birth too fast. The children were growing up fast and strong. It was yet another mystery. Din was very happy with this trend. There were some women that were expecting a second child. He was so happy with this he began planning a housing area allocated to families with children. This would be an experimental neighbourhood. Here he wanted to set up flowing water. The pipes were being produced. These pipes were not well insulated and were prone to leaking. It would remain that way until they had a reliable way to smelt them together. The water flow might suffer, but this wasn¡¯t an issue. People felt it was strange at first. Pipes were being placed near the riverway. Next to the pipes a different group of people were setting up a rough road. The road used the leftovers soil from the mine. It had been piling without end. Now it went away faster than it came. Din hadn¡¯t informed people of what he was doing but the pipes made it obvious. It would have been better to use a water pump. A water pump wasn¡¯t something they knew how to make. They could pour metals into molds. And that¡¯s exactly how they made the pipes. This whole process took a few months. The arrows were finished and they were ready for another attack. But Din wanted to see the piping through. Most of his time was spent on creating valves for the family houses. He was going to make sure they had running water on demand. He would begin with a communal shower area. A public fountain and then the houses would be added into the system. They had set up a single pipe linked with a shoddy shower head. If all went right, water should flow through in a few moments. There was a huge gathering when the promised moment arrived. People who had worked on the road and pipes were excited. It was rare for the camp to collectively enjoy something. These were the fruits of their labour. When the water spurted out. It was brown. A minute in it had cleared out. This was a momentous occasion. The next day they took eight hundred people and headed northeast. Din was still riding his high after meditating on Laq Docte doctrine. They could have taken more people but Din felt that even five hundred was enough. They only took eight hundred on Din¡¯s whim. This invasion took a similar amount of time. People rapidly reached level forty to forty three. People like First, Din and even Jao were all at forty three. First was most anxious about the lack in levels. They took out the beast kings with similar ease. Losing not one person. Din had decided to try and fight all of the beast kings at once. At first it looked like he would be able to. But before long his instincts took over and he retreated. The army took it as a sign to unleash a barrage. This barrage was not only unexpected but from a close range. There was no room for survival. Even if the first barrage didn¡¯t kill them the second did. First was again baffled by Din¡¯s battle techniques. He was sure Din never trained. He went on hunts. But it looked like a stroll to him. Casual hunting for experience. Din would go around trying to eat things every chance he got. Even when he ate something poisonous he¡¯d purge like no one had seen before. This was Din¡¯s instincts at work. He could buy information about local vegetation but sometimes he¡¯d come across unknown plants. Without hesitation he¡¯d try to eat it. This was something of a headache for Jao. While the plant wouldn¡¯t kill Din, they did cause less than desirable effects. Something only she had to deal with. While the success in the most recent expansion was satisfactory, they returned to camp right after. They still had a bad taste in their mouth. Not even First had reached forty four. Din came to the decision that they could depend entirely on arrows. It would require slightly longer wait between attacks but their duration would shorten. The next few months were uneventful. The water system was expanded. It wasn¡¯t much but the family neighbourhood was established. It was meant as an encouragement. He wanted people to have more children. He was still a few million people short of his goal. He and Jao were standing outside the slightly isolated neighbourhood. Din was looking on with approval. Jao felt pressured. From her perspective, Din wanted a child. And he did but he wasn¡¯t as worried about it as she thought. The only requirement to enter this neighbourhood was pregnancy. This area was quieter, the sheds were larger and every inch of the floor was covered in soft pelts. This was a kind of luxury. Not enough to cause envy, but it was something. Outside of this new water system everything was running its normal course. Arrows were being produced. People experimented. There were improvements in all fields. Slow but steady. A lot of people felt things were going well. They didn¡¯t see why they had to take over nodes. Even at the cost of lives. They didn¡¯t have choice however. If they revolted, took up their bows and swarmed Din. They could kill him. But they wouldn¡¯t. There wasn¡¯t much discord in the camp. But these people had their own minds and stories. There were people that felt oppressed, they felt forced to labour. There were rules they didn¡¯t agree with. On the other end of the spectrum there were people that were exceptionally happy with the situation in comparison. If there was an attempted revolt. It would be a small one. They¡¯d have to assassinate Din. then assert their power. But even with Din¡¯s death. They wouldn¡¯t gain his nodes. Only one unrated one. They could quickly take over neutral nodes. But so could anyone. If they were organized, they could deal with the aftermath. Organized, united and convinced twenty to thirty percent to join them. This was the usual pattern revolts followed. Gathering hundred to two hundred people would be impossible in Din¡¯s camp. This was because the situation was too stable. Food was guaranteed, water was easily accessible. They had things to occupy their time. They had routines to follow. Every two to three months Din would go out with his army. They¡¯d take over a territory. Din would decline to join in. This resulted in some casualties. There were people that felt he was doing this intentionally and earned their malice. These people would rather admire First and his team. They put their lives on the lines for them. He would just stand beside Jao. Watching them fight. It felt cold to them. They knew Din was strong. Why wouldn¡¯t he fight? If they thought this way, what were Din¡¯s thoughts? He felt like a farmer watching his crops grow. Just like a farmer wouldn¡¯t plant himself in the ground. He wouldn¡¯t fight unless he felt a purpose to it. His goal was never to get strong. He cared too little about personal power. In his mind what was important was the people. Not in the sense of each individual but as a collective. He wanted enough people so he could create a threefold society. One where in the shadows, Laq Docte would rule. Outside this would be a layer of government, including the army. The third layer would be the majority. People without valuable abilities or production skills. These would be labourers. The real challenge to this society of his would arrive once they people began reaching level sixty. When people had the power to overwhelm each other temporarily, the real contest for power would arrive. Disorientation would have little effect on Din. But physically immobilizing him might be enough to breach whatever defences he had. With enough loyal people he could overcome this challenge. With how experience was shared, they¡¯d have thousands of people reaching level sixty not long after them. After taking two additional support nodes the experienced reached one thousand two hundred and fifty experience bonus. Over two hundred people had now reached forty four. First had leveled midway through the fourth tier one node. Din, Jao and the rest of the higher level troops began leveling up in the hundreds in during the hunt for the fifth node. One of his unrated nodes merged into his tier one node. Din wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it. It felt like he lost something instead of gaining it. What did happen that confused him was the suddenly received four more support nodes. His camp numbers reached one thousand five hundred sixty one. ¡®They can just give me their node?¡¯ He deliberated on it for a while. Took count of their arrow supply and made a decision. They had to go get these people. Bring them back. Most of the army was confused. They had done four takeovers now. Every time they would head back right after. Now they heard they were heading to some unknown direction. Din eventually informed a few people. The information was then proliferated to others. There were two new dots on the map. They were only one node apart. There were a few nodes this so close to each other, but it wasn¡¯t uncommon. What Din couldn¡¯t know was that these two neighbouring nodes were in a stalemate of sorts. If they hadn¡¯t been holding each other back, they might have expanded to four or five nodes. They were the most battle hardened groups so far. They had their own rules so even if there were casualties, they were few and far between. They had been in a middle of a routine skirmish when they had been alerted of Din¡¯s recent expansion. They quickly convened a meeting. There was some differing of opinions, but this was two old communities. They had been here for over three years. They already had some kids. Those without children still thought it would be better to hold the camp or move away. They had pride that was hard to put into words. But in the end, they needed to think about the children. They couldn¡¯t imagine fighting five or more beast kings simultaneously. The best choice was to give away the nodes. They would wait a month, if nothing changed they¡äd run out of the territory. Once they came to this decision they suddenly felt their fighting was pointless. They couldn¡¯t become friends overnight but they all knew each other intimately. To their great fortune, Din was already on his way. It was six nodes away and would take time. The army was overbearing and easily slaughtered their way through. They had begun conserving their arrows. Only the most prolific archers were allowed to shoot. This didn¡¯t mean they slowed down. The army¡¯s formation became tight. They wanted to bypass as many beasts as they could. First was happy about the situation. He wanted to fight more. He was becoming increasingly obsessed with personal strength. Him and a few others. This obsessive behaviour was common. It was hard to find a person that wouldn¡¯t lose themselves in one way or another. It was a matter of interest. There were people that would spend their free time mining. This was manual labour with recreational intentions. There was a surprising number of people that took interested in archery. Interested didn¡¯t mean much without the talent for it. But there were a handful that were far above the others. These people took on the responsibility to kill as fast as they could run. When they were resting they doubled the amount of people with arrows. It took five days to travel the distance. It was an impressive time. But the price was fatigue. It was a shock to the node¡¯s members felt when they saw the bloodshot eyes of Din¡¯s army. They weren¡¯t really expecting anyone this soon. If at all. Din looked at the gathered people. He was very happy at the moment. He was tired. They had spent most of their time walking and fighting. His eyes were shining. The unusually bright blue eyes shone. He was smiling wider than usual. It was a warm gaze. ¡®They look experienced.¡¯ This was the main reason he was happy. Out of all the people he had encountered out here, only First and the men First recruited had this look about them. A whole camp of Firsts. This was an exciting moment. They even had children with them. They would slow them down but this was also good. He let his men rest for the night before they head over to the neighbouring node. This node was so well traveled that the ground was stamped into a road. They travelled by the edges. Unwilling to anger the beast king. This beast king was something they had encountered a few times as well. Every time the camps engaged him, they stopped each other. Until the three parties backed up. This beast king was also battle hardened veteran at this point. It had been wedged between two battlemaniacs for over three years. Just like the people could learn and become stronger, so could it. It had happily abandoned this node as soon as it got the chance. It had grown immensely but it was terrified of these insane scrawny beastlings. It was levels above its peers and would assert its dominance over this new tier one beastnode. It could savour the feeling of a king once again. Din was happy to see the other node. These people were battle hardened. The only issue was the children. It took them twelve days to return home. People on both sides were shocked. Din went out with eight hundred and came back with over twelve hundred. There was some shock after they arrived. The large infusion had to be accommodated. They began building sheds. There was some confusion with the scheduled rotations they were expected to do. But it wasn¡¯t difficult work. It was labour, battle training and experimenting with a hobby of some sorts. Labour was miscellaneous but it was mainly gathering materials and refining them. Beyond that there were farming duties. Sometimes Din would arrange people to work on his pet projects. This could range from fetching better soil in this expanding garden, to digging for tree roots. Then there was production in general. From cooking to making arrows. It was a lot to take in, but it was managed properly. They were not expected to know how to do things. Din made sure that people with families were allocated houses. The men who lived there didn¡¯t really care. But the women were becoming increasingly smug. This was the type of smugness Jao had early on. Before it developed into a blaring superiority complex. Of course Din didn¡¯t know about this development. If he knew the effect he¡¯d nod in approval before looking down on them and praising the superiority of the Laq Docte. There weren¡¯t too many people who would have the bearings of a superior. But this outbreak of family women was something hard to accept. Chapter ten: What does trust mean? Din wanted to do something new. He was thinking about sending two set of troops, each taking a different support node. This meant he had to trust them to confer the ownership onto him once they took it. He didn¡¯t trust people at all, but he didn¡¯t need to. If they took the nodes for themselves, he¡¯d just go and kill them. He could also just take a larger group head from node to node in an overbearing manner. He had over fifteen hundred people under his command now. Aside from children, pregnant women and the exalted few. They were all battle ready. This domineering and steady advancement came from equipment, preparation and firm discipline. There were other tier one nodes. Non were managed like Din managed his node. There were many that did encourage crafting. It was hard to say whether Din¡¯s way of doing things was wrong. But one thing was true, his people fought well, their battle capabilities second only to their production skills. In the future, it would be harder to get a hold on equipment with enough durability to survive the throes of battle. With how strong people could become, the metal rods and shields wouldn¡¯t last. Even metal tipped arrows may lose their great effectiveness. It was hard to say when, but for now a sea of arrows was all-powerful. It was hard to say what would come first, a tier one recipe or a tier two node. The size of it was massive. This was hundred unrated nodes. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things it wasn¡¯t much. But ask a person to travel from one end to the other and they¡¯d feel the size. Din decided on sending two six hundred man groups. He went along with one group and trusted First to handle the other. First was excited to lead the six hundred people. In truth he was already in charge majority of the time. Din didn¡¯t want to command people. If he could trust someone like First to confer the tier one node he¡¯d probably stay in camp. He had grown used to whittling. He was getting better at it. But now he had to escort this six hundred man army. He could whittle on the way but it wasn¡¯t the same. He now needed stillness and concentration to create his small gears and parts. Without First, Din had to take proper command. He wasn¡¯t overbearing like First. He lacked that explosive energy. But his charisma came from a different place. He had a blank expression, he was walking ahead of the army. This was a bit out of character. He had been hit by a stray thought that sent him thinking about his grandfather. He wasn¡¯t far ahead of the group, they still used arrows to take down anything that moved. Nothing was fast enough to attack him. The army was confused and worried. Jao didn¡¯t seem to mind she just kept strolling along. She was too used too his peculiarities. This went on for hours before Din decided to pick up a bow. He shot five arrows before returning it. He managed to miss every shot. ¡®It¡¯s harder than I expected. We¡¯ll have to increase the training.¡¯ If the people knew what he was thinking they¡¯d probably feel cold sweat run down their backs. Their leader was this useless? It shouldn¡¯t be surprising that he was a bad archer. This was his second time holding a bow. And first time shooting one. He was always honest about his ambitions, but his ambitions didn¡¯t require him to be strong. He would be long dead if it wasn¡¯t for his Instincts actively saving him. It was an absurd situation. He could fight if attacked. He would retreat if endangered. But it was impossible for him to be a good fighter without training. There might come a time where he found the value in personal strength. But that would be too egotistical for someone who cast themselves away. It was a contradictory phenomena. Without personal strength he wouldn¡¯t be able to stand where he was now. But Din¡¯s thoughts were simple. He would nurture people to do his work for him. He would think differently if he knew his great grandfather¡¯s personal strength. It was no coincidence that the Laq Docte rose to power. There was a reason for his long lasting life. Laq Docte was a name his great grandfather had chosen for himself. He reinvented himself. But Din wouldn¡¯t know this. Din might feel proud that he was walking down a similar road as his great grandfather. It was similar but at the same time wildly different. The area he occupied was an unrated zone. This meant it his tier one nodes and above would be limited. If one wanted to gain experience there were two ways. One was to take over support nodes and expand them. Another was to travel to higher tier zones. It was a qualitative difference. A tier one node wasn¡¯t the same thing as a tier one zone. A tier one zone had people, beasts and whatever between. They would grant more experience. Perhaps each individual fight might become more challenging but overall a strong determined person would experience a meteoric rise. This was the path his Grandfather took. He left trails of nodes he took over but in his impatience, left them behind. Din¡¯s path was that of conqueror. As he had been taught. Once he conquered, he¡¯d dominate. This mean taking control entirely. This was the epitome of do as I say, not as I do. Din¡¯s great great grandfather didn¡¯t have the steady mind, he had. Especially these zealous beliefs. His last and final object would be to flourish. He would make sure to develop his land. This is what he did. It was a continuous process. It would never end. There were few things Din was sure about. He knew people had to have a purpose. It didn¡¯t matter what it was. So he gave them one. This is why he was so prolific when it came to productions related things. While he was surprised by and welcomed any creations. His greatest benefit had been the bow and arrow. This was unquestionable. And they were in great use now, trivializing Din¡¯s conquest. This was Din¡¯s sixth and seventh tier one nodes. And increased the experience benefits to one thousand seven hundred and ninety experience bonus. Ninety nine unrated support nodes. Seven tier one nodes. This was nine hundred and ninety experience for the unrated. And eight hundred for the seven, tier one nodes. Din was satisfied that First had conferred the node to him. First¡¯s group had finished half a day before them. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for communities such as Din¡¯s to rise like this in the unrated zones. It was the easiest to dominate. This was due to a lack of natural enemies. It wasn¡¯t until two node systems encountered each other that there would be opposition. Din had discussed with First and left it to him whether they would go for a eighth and ninth node. Being who he was, First went for the eighth node. Having arrows to dominate, their fatigue wasn¡¯t comparable to when they had to face the beasts with short metal rods. There was a sense of urgency coming from Din as well. He was patient but it didn¡¯t change his expectations of ten tier one nodes. They continued to move. They would continue the conquest. Arrow supply had run dangerously low after they took the ninth node. Din considered taking the tenth without arrows. They had been away now for thirty days. This wasn¡¯t much considering two nodes. But people were fatigued. The killing never seemed to end. Even with them shooting arrows and resting properly it took a toll. Din decided in the end that the tenth node potential was worth a little sacrifice. He reminded himself that forty percent of the group was made up of women. He considered pulling the women back and have them use the last of the arrows but decided against it. If they died, they died. First on the other hand decisively returned to camp. He was still level forty four. He had no idea how long it would take to reach forty five. He knew how to hold back and not risk the lives of the camp members, he wasn¡¯t a rabid dog out to fight the world. Unlike Din, he wouldn¡¯t go into a fight so risky just to save some time. In Din¡¯s footsteps he¡¯d return to camp and stock up on arrows. There were two nodes that entered Din¡¯s tier one node radius. They had not been as decisive as the previous two. One decided to hold their ground. To fight to keep their home. While the other made preparations to exit this tier one nodes sphere of influence. It was all in vain however. Din was in the process of acquiring his tenth tier one node. This would cause his influence to expand tenfold. Every neutral or occupied node would come under his command. The beasts would depopulate but grow stronger. Din¡¯s army was now on their forty third day of fighting. They were now reduced to metal sticks and shields. They had reserve arrows for beast kings. Having to go face to face with such quantities of beasts muddled their minds further. Mistakes were now common. But there were still no casualties. Din wasn¡¯t an expert but he saw his people become sloppy. He had made sure they were rested and had enough sleep. But still they were like this. He wasn¡¯t sure why. Once the beast kings arrived people were a bit dull. Din took part in this battle. He was willing to pay a price for this node but he wouldn¡¯t squander their lives wantonly. They lost a staggering twenty eight. This was nine beast kings. They didn¡¯t work together perfectly but they had an understanding. The initial barrage of arrows halted two out of the nine. The other seven reached them before they could shoot a second one. They defended themselves and hammered at the beasts. Those out of melee range would continue shooting arrows, killing beasts with confidence. Not on beast king was allowed to escape. They were all put down. There was a long silence after the fight ended. There were a few people wounded to the point of being immobile. These people had to be tended and then carried back. But the fighting was over. They could return home now. Din had almost forgotten about the dead and wounded. He was reading the new information.
You have acquired ten tier one nodes that are directly connected, resulting in a single tier two node. Your first tier two node will grant an additional two thousand experience bonus. All neutral unrated and occupied support nodes will be transferred to you. This is a one time event. All subsequent tier two nodes will grant an additional one thousand experience bonus. A tier two support node will influence all support nodes in a twenty support node radius. All materials will begin enhancing over time. Wildlife will strengthen through the more bountiful environment and have been bestowed with an increase in intelligence.
His map was now populated by a tens of blue dots. From one to a staggering seven. It looked like a nearby community was close to a tier one node. To their dismay, they were now absorbed in Din¡¯s tier two node. Only tier one nodes and above would remain unaffected. This was a one time occurrence during the first time a Tier two node was created. In the future he¡¯d have to directly take over tier two support nodes to expand. His population now skyrocket from just above fifteen hundred two two thousand eight hundred. Nearly doubling the population. Din was ecstatic. He ordered his people to tend to the wounded and carry them back. It would take some time to travel back. Once back he¡¯d send troops to go gather his new arrivals, he needed multiple parties to go out and gather them. Every member of the tier two node were alerted of the new development. They had a window of ninety days to get to Din¡¯s tier two node. This wasn¡¯t difficult for most parties but Din would send people to get them anyway. On the way back to camp he bought a more detailed map. He couldn¡¯t directly communicate with his people but he could give them a map with a designated path to travel. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. He¡¯d send his men along this path, in hopes of intercepting them. Making sure they wouldn¡¯t be overwhelmed during their travels. The two largest camps, five and seven support nodes were confused. The leaders felt robbed. All their hard work swiped form under them. This could only be considered them being unlucky. They could try to revolt. It was almost certain that there would be some conflict. But din¡¯s people were well equipped and experienced fighters, they would be hard to contend with. In general, people had similar strength when comparing physical bodies. It came down to their techniques, battle experience, personal abilities and equipment. The difference between a level forty and a level thirty was noticeable but not enough to let one overwhelm the other. One might be able to lift hundred kilograms while the other eighty. This wasn¡¯t an insurmountable advantage. The next few days were busy. There was a need to double the farm production. They had to build hundreds of sheds. Even before people began trickling in the entire camp was very lively. Every free hand had a use. With a tier two node, some previously hidden resources were uncovered. Even new plants began sprouting. They still needed to improve their gathering and refining methods. The gathering methods allowed for the acquisition of less spoiled materials. This meant they were easier to refine. A great refiner would still require good material to work with, but the higher limits of material gathering weren¡¯t too high for tier one material. Tier two material would be durable and would need strong durable tools to gather effectively. Without them they would be hard set to refine them to a respectable degree. It was only a matter of time before they would produce their first tier one recipe. Agriculture would improve further and the fertile soil would be enhanced a degree. With how organized his camp was, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to adjust to this new influx of people, despite their population. This was because his camp was united for the most part. The two numerous nodes had two hundred to three hundred people. They might cause some disruption if not handled right. If they were determined to fight, they would have to die. Din didn¡¯t bother with these things. He¡¯d handle them like he handled all opposition. He¡¯d demand their submission one way or another. There wasn¡¯t room for anything else. Group of people came every few days. Sometimes there would be sparks of an altercation. But bows weren''t a commodity others had. This was the way things went. They would come in angry and hyped up. Determined to achieve something. But it was an impossible to fight a battalion of archers without at least shields. They were left frustrated. Din didn¡¯t care, he was happy they were here. Every new group was sent to an orientation. There they would be informed of what was expected of them. They felt strange. What is this? Why are they talking to use like we applied for a position to work here? These were a portion of their thoughts. For the first time in a long time, a large number of people felt disgruntled. Why did they have to mine or learn how to make arrows? We have to take up some bullshit hobby as well? What hobby? We are living in the goddamn forest here. This type of thinking wasn¡¯t rare anymore. But they had things to do. They could gather and talk but they still had things to do. A revolution wouldn¡¯t happen over night. The problem was they were tired. The workload was heavy these days. When they had days off they had to at least make a showing at one of the productions buildings. Before they knew it, two weeks passed by. Talk of revolutions had dulled a bit. They didn¡¯t quite realize it but this place gave them something they didn¡¯t know they wanted. It was hard to forget they were ripped from their homes. Inserted into this twilight zone. They were fighting beasts and having to deal with other people like themselves. That feeling was now dulled. It would always be like this, people would obsess over pain and forget it when it¡¯s gone. Now their pain was alleviated. It hadn¡¯t vanished entirely, but the twilight forest felt brighter. This allowed them to be happier, even if it was fleeting. This process repeated itself for almost all new arrivals. For some it took longer but in the end they all began to see things differently. It was only the former leaders and those directly under them that still held onto their frustration. It was only a matter of time before they lost themselves to complacency. From the outside it looked like a harmonious transition. Din had no idea about people''s struggles. He was back to his whittling. The months flew by. The camp was always moving. Din was like a quiet stone in a river. He would do the same things without end. Jao was similar in this way. She would take it upon herself to make sure people were following rules. Going so far as to invent menial punishments. This was harmless for the most part. If people were irritated, she was practically untouchable. Everywhere she went she¡¯d have guards with her. Din had relaxed his protective behaviour. The aura was still something he cared about but he still hadn¡¯t encountered a situation where it was vital. She was still irreplaceable and her ability unique, but her importance had diminished in his mind. She still needed protection however. Jao had been on one of her strolls when a big commotion began. There was bustling in the kitchen. A rather unassuming man had been doing his duties and refining the wheat into a fine powder when he was shocked by an alert. It informed him that he created a tier one wheatgrass. This meant a new era in food was beginning. With higher tier materials they could make tier one recipes. The harvesting method of Wheatgrass was limited, requiring mediocre skill. But with how the agricultural building provided better soil and the tier two nodes further enhancements. It pushed the materials above tier one, allowing subpar techniques to achieve things that would otherwise require a few more months if not years of practice. The discovery spread like wildfire and Din awarded the person with a request. He wasn¡¯t a refining by choice and requested to be excluded from manual labour. This blindsighted Din. He expected him to go in line with other pioneers. But it turned out he just wanted to focus on creating clothing. After the commotion died down, Din had people that had created food related recipes experiment with the new wheatgrass powder. He was disappointed to find that it resulted in nothing. It would still take some time. It just required one lucky creation. Initially Din was thinking about having the man return to refinery to make more wheatgrass powder. But to his pleasant surprise, multiple people managed to create more. It made people think the first guy to refine it was just lucky. But what was done was done. Even though five months had gone by in a flash, they still hadn¡¯t managed to create enough equipment for the entire camp. This was near three thousand bows, three thousand sticks and shields. They were bottlenecked by those with the recipes. There were people who had learned them, but it was still too few. The next tier one material to advance was the fibre used to create threads. This was because the material had reached beyond tier one. The thick trees would take longer to develop. The mines however were already tier one. It was just harder to work with, too much quality was dissipated during the processing. No one really connected the tier two node improvements to these recent breakthroughs. Even if they did, it would just be a fleeting thought. Din would consider expanding his territory again. He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect out there. What he would meet was a similar horde of beasts. Stronger, faster and more durable. This meant maybe one or two more arrows. There could be encounters where the beast would be more intelligent and not blindly charged towards them. They might retreat and gather more allies. Depending on the type of beast they might even wield thick branches as clubs. The main benefits these beasts received was an increase to their intelligence. One day they might meet a rally of beasts holding rocks. Only to see it hail down on them. It is questionable whether Din¡¯s army would be impeded by this. It would be hard to say what it would take to threaten Din and his staggering force. The only regrettable thing was that this area was unrated, meaning the beasts here were unrated. Resulting in lesser experience gains. This wasn¡¯t unavoidable. If a person chose to wander from node to node. They would exit this area they were transferred to. Once in a tier one node zone they could gain experience at a greater rate. If you continue in this fashion you could level up without requiring endless experience boosts. This was the path the first Laq Docte took. Eventually reaching a point where he could return home. How, why and at what cost. This was a different story. What Din would know. Is that his Great grandfather was somehow still alive. This was a family secret. His grandfather was more lively than his oldest son. Din was not privy to this information. He had also experienced his great grandfather¡¯s profound teachings. But he didn¡¯t know how old he was. People continued working with tier one materials. There was some competition in the air. People had seen the benefits of discovering new recipes. Some were focusing on refining materials that hadn¡¯t reached tier one. They way they saw it, this was a chance to get ahead. People were burning with ambition. Only those that already been working for over a year had any chance of grabbing this opportunity. Or the ambitious and talented. There was a whole slew of plants, from flowers to small bushes that hadn¡¯t been made into anything of worth. The most anticipated was the metals they worked on since day one. They still didn¡¯t have a name for it. But it had a silver gleam. But that wasn¡¯t enough to go on. Similar to the green wheatgrass, only now did they know it¡¯s real name. It was still considered a grass. But its name was Blueweed. It was named Blueweed due to its blue hue when under the sun. fields of it would look like an billowing ocean. Here in the twilight it never touched the sunlight and was labeled green grass and later wheatgrass. There were other food products that achieved tier one status. The way they were harvested and refined was different. But higher requirements and less practice meant it would take some time. Din had gone out for a few days. He went with a group of hundred. He wanted to survey the area. He wanted to check the difficulty. There was clear difference. The greatest difference was in melee range. A lucky strike would still settle a fight but those were now rare. They would still stand little chance against a volley of arrows. But they would also scatter quickly and similar to tier one beast kings, they would take cover and wait for a chance to strike. They could have kept exploring but Din felt satisfied with the results. After a discussion with First, he decided to send more groups. These groups would number from hundred to two hundred. They went to all adjacent areas. The area was in a lull due to the tier two node¡¯s appearance. On the way they might meet new beasts. The different types of beasts reached double digits. These beast would no longer charge once anything was in sight. Some wouldn¡¯t even attack preemptively. But in the end, they still lacked tools like shields and bows. There were some that would take up sticks but these were rare. And even more less likely to attack on sight, opting to ambush their prey. This wasn¡¯t good news. If these beast developed to this point. It meant that beast kings, which were of course stronger than the average beast. They would be smarter as well. What Din didn¡¯t know is that even if predictable, the surrounding areas weren¡¯t directly the same as previous arrangements. The areas wouldn¡¯t grant an entire tier two node but one fourth. They would also have one beasts that commanded thousands. Some of which were only a little less powerful than itself. This meant it would be more organized. It was smarter. But being a beast it was still limited. The most dangerous factor was it possessed a defensive ability. A defensive ability was something that hadn¡¯t appeared in a beast before. Not to Din¡¯s knowledge at least. He had seen people with defensive abilities. These abilities were rare. Currently he knew of six holder of these. One of which he had killed. A defensive ability was usually enough advantage to make you a leader of a support node. All but one person he knew to have a defensive ability were former support node leaders. This might not be as prevalent once people reached level forty five. It was only a matter of time until they hit level forty five. Only First and a few others had reached it. These were active fighters who would go temper themselves in their free time. They all gained a defensive ability. But they had kept it to themselves. Knowing it was powerful. Not all defensive abilities were reactionary in nature, some would be passives. Some would be weapon related. A riposte for example, used to disarm the opponent''s weapon wielding hand. There were some that were magical in nature. An invisible force that felt like a strong gust of wind. Deflecting the blow without affecting the caster at all. Making counter attacking easy. There were quite a few variations. But they never had to deal with one on a beast before. It was hard for them to recognize when a beast used an ability. It would be hard if it was a normal attack. Which in near all cases it was. But a defensive ability would be easy to notice. If a beast suddenly deflected a blow? This would be obvious. There would be beasts that would gain metal like skin. Some permanently, others temporarily. There was qualitative difference of course. Din had yet to encounter these beasts. It was hard to say whether he¡¯d lose his life to one. Overwhelming power and a surprise defensive ability might be enough to take him down. He had however experienced six defensive abilities. He might not know how to deal with them, but his Instincts might. First and the other level forty five people realized as soon as they got their new ability that it would the most effective if others didn¡¯t know about it. They might end up using it against some fierce beasts, but in their minds, the biggest danger was still other people. It was hard to shake this trail of thought. Once in the throes of battle, they could use it to guard their lives. They still had to practice the ability so they would need to train alone or find someone they could trust their lives with. It wasn¡¯t long before Din reached level forty five. Din didn¡¯t get a defensive ability. He already had one. He also didn¡¯t get an ability that would bolster his attributes, he already had one. He had gotten a defensive ability that took the form of his Instincts attribute. He wasn¡¯t the only one with such an attribute. It was a common attribute. People¡¯s Instinct attribute was often too low to be effective enough to outmatch their own battle senses. To them it was more of a intuition. Something they¡¯d act on and not have act for them. When Din gained his second ability, it corresponded to his defensive ability. Him having no desires of his own, it was impossible to assign him an ability to his preference. People had gained abilities fitting the metal rods or had urges to have ranged abilities like guns. This was because this was what they wanted and was within reasonable boundaries. Paranoid people would be granted defensive abilities early on. It wasn¡¯t unusual for them to want strength and power to protect themselves. Then there was Jao. She felt empathy with her languid sisters in arms. This and corresponding traumas triggered her aura ability. The ability no longer fit her thoughts and wants. So when she reached level forty five it was adjusted. She never fought. She was always protected. This caused another change in her personality. She felt inconceivably secure. She also possessed a certain empathy towards her people. Different from before, she now wanted them to grow, she wanted them to be strong. As if a Queen, she wanted great things for her subjects. When her ability arrived, it was morphed into something different. Much like Din¡¯s and others had been bolstered. He aura now provided further stamina regeneration and a ten percent increase to all attributes. She already possessed an ability that increased her intelligence and wisdom. This along with her allocating her attributes to intelligence, wisdom and constitution caused her mana and mana recovery to grow significantly. Much like other people, she didn¡¯t really know what to do with her attributes. But she felt she was an intelligent person who possessed great wisdom. In this way her personality dictated her abilities. But others who aligned more to a natural way of thinking couldn¡¯t do the same. First was an aspiring fighter, perhaps an adrenaline junky. His abilities complimented him as well. This was also a negative in a way. His abilities focused on one versus one combat. This meant while he could hit hard, he wouldn¡¯t have great effect on large number of attackers. A great soldier in a row of thousands but not fit to fight thousands alone. Had he decided to travel and reached higher tier nodes, he would have excelled. Lesser number of beasts, but stronger. This was quality over quantity. In Din¡¯s army, it was different. People without strong wills would fall into the rhythm of war and want to defend themselves from multiple attacks. The same way they¡¯d want to strike many at once. Once the bows were introduced some felt the urge for their arrows to hit. It wasn¡¯t easy to hit a moving beast. Some would gain abilities that corresponded to this. Their arrows splinter mid air causing havoc. Others would gain great precision. In this way people grew individually and as a whole. It was people that didn¡¯t have to fight wars that would gain more unique abilities. None of this was coincidence. The world read their intentions. Every person like an antenna, sending signals to the world. They are easy to read, even if mixed and jumbled. This they did unconsciously. This was also a grand technology. It would be easy to allocate this to an omniscient, an all knowing god. But it was technology, reading the unfiltered intentions people oozed out unknowingly. It is not impossible to see this information leaking out. Some, more sensitive would see it as an aura or feel an odd sensation to said aura without seeing it. This happened with Din¡¯s instincts. It was cruel, unwilling to bend. It was animalistic, only wanting to survive, treating everything as a potential threat. It was also these intentions that were used in tandem with people when they crafted. Especially when they created new recipes. Din had allotted the people who found recipes substantial freedom. But he still demanded they gained experience. At some point, they to, would gain new abilities. These abilities might however not be useful for fighting. This was hard to achieve while living in a hostile environment. But the camp was exceptionally safe. The key point to all this was that Din didn¡¯t have such desires. He bizarrely didn¡¯t have any wants. He only did things for the Laq Docte. Abilities that would benefit the Laq Docte didn¡¯t exist in his mind. There was not an attack, aura or defensive ability that would benefit the Laq Docte family. This left Din with a trifecta of passive defense and attributes to go along with it. Going so far as to scale with itself. Now Din¡¯s fourth ability diverged from a combative nature to a production one. Or that was the intention. Since he couldn¡¯t be given an ability in line with this wants and needs. He had to be assigned one that aligned with how he spent his time. And he spent his time whittling small delicate parts. This required willpower and dexterity.
Strength: 84 Intelligence: 45 Dexterity: 163 Wisdom: 45
Willpower: 124 Constitution: 45 Stamina: 45 Health: 550
Mana: 325 Health recovery: 55 Mana recovery: 32.5 Instinct: 398.5
If strength increased muscle mass and density. Intelligence increased the execution speed of abilities and the capacity to contain the energy source, mana. Dexterity would increase the efficiency of an action. This mean utilizing whatever strength you had. But it also meant control of your limbs. This wasn¡¯t flexibility of your limbs, but it allowed you to further sense and increase your limitations. Wisdom related to your mental recovery. Allowing for continued exertion for longer intervals. And easier recovery after potential traumatic experiences. It could be considered a mediator to a serene mind. Jao for example had this in ample numbers, furthering her already steady personality. Willpower could allow you to expend what mental power you had to achieve stability for a duration. It just so happens that Willpower and Dexterity were cornerstones of any production skill. And it was what Din was now gaining in ample numbers. Instincts being the most neutral attribute there was, it was related to it once more.
Instincts
Any increase in attributes will increase the instinct attribute with a two to one ratio. For every ten points in Instincts you gain a one point in Strength and Dexterity. For every five points in Instincts you gain one point in Willpower and Dexterity. It is impossible to allocate points to instinct. ¡°You specialize in surviving! You have developed unparalleled instincts through a life and death experience!¡±
Din had long since put all this behind him, but he still reread the whole thing. He was numb to it at this point. This was in line with his character. He had leveled up on a routine hunt. It was a twenty man group that moved fast, and killed fast. Once back at camp he already put the new aspect of his ability at the back of his mind. It wasn¡¯t until he picked up his knife and began whittling that he felt the merits of the new changes. ¡®This isn¡¯t right.¡¯ Din was the type of person that knew himself. However deluded he was, he would still know himself. He did what he believed was correct. He could make mistakes, but these were mistakes he knew he had to make. Regret was one thing. Hesitation was another. He never hesitated. There was too much resolve battered into him. He was a confident person in this sense, and it was apparent to any person that interacted with him. So when he picked up that knife and felt the change. He was shocked. This way of moving, this sense of clarity wasn¡¯t him. The sudden burst to his Dexterity and Willpower was to fast and dramatic. This was because even when people got abilities that bolstered attributes, they would be added incrementally. And if it wasn¡¯t added incrementally, it wouldn¡¯t be this excessive. But even with all this, Din was only like this because he really was himself. And now he felt different. It would make sense that he¡¯d notice earlier, but just having Willpower and Dexterity in abundance wouldn¡¯t make you amazing at everything. It was only because he whittled every day, he was practiced. So when his movements improved, he knew something was wrong. This all sounded dramatic, and it was for Din. But that was only to him. Others might feel the difference and shrug it off right away. It was only because Din was used to being in control of his faculties that he reacted so strongly to the changes. After he settled it with himself, he began testing further. He didn¡¯t notice much. If anything it was easier for him to concentrated. The metric of improvement was so obscure he couldn¡¯t measure it. All in all he was a bit put off by it. There was nothing he could do about it so he put it to the back of his mind. And with that it was over. One threshold crossed and the next was miles away. Din never really considered his progress so far to be enough. If anything he was still just adjusting the soil, the seed hadn¡¯t even been thrust into the ground. Perhaps in ten or twenty years he¡¯d feel like he took a solid step forward. Far reaching, almost frightful plans. They were still rather loose. He was working with what he could. The only way he knew how. With staggering patience. Chapter eleven: Chaotic order. When they finally moved in force. Over two thousand and five hundred people armed with metal weapons, shields and fine bows. This was a terrifying force. They now had tier one recipe wheatgrass crackers. The first tier one recipe. This wasn¡¯t a harvesting method or a refining technique. But a production recipe. Its greatest merit was the long shelf life. It was a rough, crunchy cracker. It would last months on end, in open air containers. It didn¡¯t have much in the way of taste but it would go with whatever they hunted. It also had decent satiety. Din couldn¡¯t award the man further. He had little to offer. So he just gave him more subordinates. This was Din¡¯s greatest resource, people. They had brought a sizeable army. Each equipped with two sets of melee weapons, a shield, a bow and arrows. There were too many people this time around. They didn¡¯t have experience in commanding such a large number of people. After realizing the unorganized chaos, Din and a few others discussed solutions. They ended with splitting the army into five. Five hundred some people in each group. They travelled in a spear formation. One group took the lead. The next two would stay to the left and right, few tens meters apart. This then followed by the fourth and fifth group even further out. This might not be ideal but they felt they had more control like this. Din didn¡¯t take lead of a group and let First¡¯s other men take that role. All he wanted was to expand what he could expand. He was also mindful of not rushing to fast. This is why it took them more than a half a year to take a firm step towards further conquest. This was despite overwhelming military power. Both in numbers and equipment. Din did this because he wanted stability. He didn¡¯t want a prolonged fight with the unknown. He could deal with some sacrifices, even felt they were necessary. He felt they were needed. It gave people perspective and nurtured dependencies. This was something he was taught. It was a ruthless mindset. These were things used to control the masses without doing so directly. There was no need for personal control. Not if you nurtured your people in the right way. It felt emotionless, filled with indifference. But to Din it was a mercy, a gift. This was righteous justification. Death and suffering, presented as gifts. Only the deluded would see this. Din was nothing if not immersed in his delusions. His older brothers, cousins and extended family felt this way to thinking to be right. But Din knew it to be true. A minor difference. The current expedition was going as expected. They killed, ate and slept. There were too many of them. They were organized but not enough. The chaotic atmosphere resulted in them slowing down. They still slaughtered beasts in record numbers. But their efficiency was down when the proportions were considered. It didn¡¯t have much meaning. And it was hard for anyone to think of this point at all. Most felt they were doing better than ever before. This was misconception brought to them by large numbers. Only a few didn¡¯t feel they were doing better. But even they felt they weren¡¯t doing worse. This difference in time was large enough to make this activity continue for a month longer than expected. This was a month of nonstop killing. Waking up. Killing. Eating. Killing. Dreaming. Killing. A cycle of death. This sort of living was inducing temporary insanity. It was temporary because it wasn¡¯t changing them fundamentally. Only heavily influencing them. This insanity manifested itself it strange conversations. People would smile when they saw a beast fall down and blood flowing. Most of them time people would at least indulge themselves a bit and smear fresh blood on their faces. Their expressions twist back and forth. What they never were, was confused. There was no confusion. There was nothing strange about smearing a bit of blood on themselves. There was a qualitative difference in this insanity as well. People like First would feel it but in a different way. It was more composed. Only Din was unaffected. There was no room for thoughts about killing and blood. There was no thrill to be had in killing. Not for Din. What was contradictory, was that this influenced state didn¡¯t cause chaos but order. The further people dove into this madness the more easily they followed orders. Perhaps they would walk into death willingly. It was hard to say. To say they were fearless was wrong. To say they were mindless was also wrong. As far as Din was concerned. They were just acting like they animals they were. Fragile plebeians, unable to handle the harsh world. To fight fire with fire was a term applicable to Din in these moments. His madness easily overcame this pathetic influence. What was this wave of water against his vast oceans? Outside the odd conversations and blood used as warpaint it was difficult to point towards this madness. Fatigue explained a lot of it away. Mental fatigue wasn¡¯t something easily whisked away. It is hard to say whether this kind of fatigue could accumulate beyond a certain point. It could be argued that falling to into the rhythm of the environment was to guard the psyche. Like clotting up a wound, the body might be saving itself.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. This might be why Din gave of a more aggressive zealotry aura while capturing new areas. These were all things no one noticed, but everyone felt. It could be said that Din doubled down on his believes when contested. While others could only allow it to affect them. In this way they live through what was longest excursion they had ever experienced. This prolonged period caused some to feel despair. It was often these people that made mistakes and were struck down in battle. Some of them died. This irritated Din. He again felt they were wasting his resources. These people had to be fed. They were trained. They had to raise children. He wasn¡¯t only frustrated by these people. But also others, that allowed this to happen. This wasn¡¯t anger just passing thoughts. There were numerous such thoughts that he treated like fleeting clouds. This was because most of his thoughts would lead to Laq Docte doctrine. Once a thought touched on the subject of Laq Docte. It would stay on Laq Docte. Din would immerse himself in it. Feeling enlightened and serene. Even when consummating with Jao he would stumble into this reverie. Jao was used to this and would take over majority of the work. This was another suffering she endured. Jao felt like martyr in many ways. She felt she suffered a lot. But it wasn¡¯t in vain. She was a hero. She was a pillar. This is what she felt. Jao¡¯s aura was now serving a purpose so grand that even ordinary people felt she was too powerful. Feeling the slight increase in power wasn¡¯t much. But there were people that could recognize the value. Thousands of people. All stronger. This was easy to assess. It was hard on Din. He didn¡¯t care for himself, but now he had this person. Jao. She was his woman, but more she was extremely valuable. Now he had something he valued. He had to trust people to protect her and hope others wouldn''t attack her. All these things were a headache to Din. It should have been a headache at least. But in the end he would wander onto a Laq Docte factoid. This blasted away any potential worries he had. Whether this was a bad thing or a good thing is debatable. He wouldn¡¯t intentionally neglect people. But it was something beaten into him. These people weren¡¯t valuable enough. Even Jao. In the end they were all tools. On the forty sixth day of the expansion, Din was immersed in melancholy. He missed his great grandfather''s wise teachings. Today was just like the days before it. They marched, slept, rested and ate. Din strolled along alongside Jao. They didn¡¯t look wartorn. What was surprising or perhaps not. Was that Jao was only slightly affected by the atmosphere. Her eyes still firm. Her thoughts overwhelmed any strange urges. This was the effects of her personality working in tandem with her allocated attributes. This was how these things went. It wouldn¡¯t be dangerous to allocate all your attributes into one area. But once you got additional increases from other areas, it would start to affect them. Those with towering strength could have a calm and easygoing personality. In time they would feel the urge for violence. To vent their violent frustrations. This didn¡¯t make them violent. They wouldn¡¯t be prone to anger. There was a difference between the two. Din was influenced in this way as well. In a most dangerous way. He could become timid as a mouse one day. His instincts could take over completely. Imprisoned by his collective senses. These were senses he couldn¡¯t feel. People will ignore the vast amount of information they receive. Din¡¯s illusory shadow did not ignore this information. These were your instincts. A subconscious mind so incredibly powerful it could even make use of the most obscure things. Every person holds this power. And they all use it to an extent. This can be a smell triggering a memory. A sense of danger. It manifests itself in countless ways. Din was nurturing this subconscious mind. Not intentionally of course. It was his fortune that he was a true person. His thoughts united. A true person. A soul of the Laq Docte, with no room for anything else. His subconscious mind followed this trend as well. The difference would be their tactics. How they achieved their goals. One was emotionless while the other filled with zealotry. Din was filled with emotions he suppressed with his faith. His subconscious had no emotions to speak off. This was the difference between them. Both would be domineering tyrants. It was hard to say which would be better for the world at large. Both would want the world to bow to Laq Docte. No emotions didn¡¯t mean much. It didn¡¯t mean indiscriminate killings. To kill for pleasure was impossible. All was for survival. Be it his own or the family. To survive was more than just keep a life intact. It was to thrive. To flourish and grow. It meant to expand. Until all threats were gone. Procreation is a form of survival. Removing all threats meant at least some tangible control over the entire world. It meant unwavering subjects that devoted themselves to the Laq Docte. Or its puppet government. Din still had control for the most part. It was only when he was in risk of death that his instincts took control. This wasn¡¯t just physical control. But his mind as well. It wasn¡¯t a blackout. He¡¯d become a passenger for a moment. It was a smooth transition. It was so smooth that he couldn¡¯t feel the loss of control. It was an illusion of control. There was no disconnect, so it felt natural. As long as it remained in this way, he would be safe. Despite not feeling the discomfort of losing control. Din still held back when it came to fighting. He didn¡¯t like the thought of not being in control. He still felt in control, but somewhere he knew something wasn¡¯t right. Only when he had a purpose, he¡¯d fight. He was planning on fighting the beasts once they arrived. But something felt off to him. He knew this time around. Perhaps he always knew. With as much time he had on hand, he didn¡¯t have time to question everything. He did feel that maybe he couldn¡¯t put himself in a deadly situation, intentionally. This was a discouraging thought to Din. But had resigned himself to it. He could only let it go and focus on digging up the soil. Dig his roots as deep as he could. Back home on earth there wasn¡¯t much change. Another Laq Docte vanished. Three generations of Laq docte. Nine individuals in total were missing. His grandfather¡¯s generation, his father''s and now his own. They were all either dead or somewhere in this world, with Din. Three people for every generation. This was a hard price to pay. The rewards could be worth the sacrifices. But only if the individuals were loyal to Laq Docte. This is why the Laq Docte were so eccentric. They had long seen passed their little planet and gazed into different worlds. All the riches on Earth were nothing in comparison. This is why they didn¡¯t work. They didn¡¯t accumulate wealth intentionally. Not anymore. None of it was worth anything. Not in their eyes. Means to an end at most. There was no grand reason as to why Din and previous generations weren¡¯t told they would be teleported here. It was perhaps the thinking of the great patriarch, that he experienced all these things blind. So they should experience them blind. This was a backwards way of thinking. But who was going to change an old dogs thoughts? If another individual returned to earth they would almost certainly inform the family of their experience. This was because they wanted to help the Laq Docte. All these things aside. When Din was compared to his other family members. When taking progress in this world in account. He was the furthest behind. This was because he was the only one still in an unrated zone. It would be hard to detail his two cousins journey so far. To keep it simple they had left this unrated zone before Din had taken over a support node. Whether this was intended or by accident was unknown. Only Din was still struggling in an unrated zone. Amassing useless territory. This would leave Din dismayed. He would want to act as support for his cousins. Only to find out they abandoned their starting area. It was absurd. The way Din did things. Not absurd as in stupid. But once you left an unrated zone it was easy to realize advantages that came with it. What was even more clear was once people had enough personal power, it was harder to hold together any kind of sizeable force. With thousands needing to experience insurmountable slaughter. These would not be simple people. Even now. Din¡¯s army was rather dangerous. They reached level forty five one by one. This gave them more survivability. A single mistake could reap a life. But with abilities to save yourself the risks became negligible. And people knew it. It was only the less experienced fighters that were dying due to mistakes. The rest always corrected themselves with powerful defensive abilities. With the amount of things they hunted and the bonuses that applied to them. They were leveling to forty five faster than ever. First had yet to reach forty six but hundreds were now at forty five as well. This was discouraging to say the least. A natural course of action was to travel to tier one or even tier two zones at this point. But how could they know of this option? Billions upon billions lived in these unrated zones. Only a fraction left it. But this fraction was still enough to populate tier one zones. It was on the fifty fifth day that a familiar bellowing was heard. Far from the armies location, a gathering of six large creatures occured. Each beast commanded ten to twenty beasts. It was easy to see there was some discipline within their ranks. Previously they had been waiting. It was only now that they had all gathered that they sent out a united roar. Their eyes were bloodshot in what was either anger or excitement. These beasts were far smarter than before. But this didn¡¯t mean they knew battle tactics. They would advanced as a united front. Take on these invaders. Their animosity toward each other put to the side. Din¡¯s troops stood still, their formation now tighter. They lined up in rows. The plan was to form a half moon. A whole circle was too much, it would spread them too thin. But half a circle was just right to utilize their advantageous bows and arrows. Din had been a part of this scheme but had only agreed to the plan. Feeling it all a bit pointless. They just had to shoot these beasts down. This was what he felt. Chapter twelve: War, give me war. They were still in an ordered line. Five groups packed tight with some space between them. All waiting to confront the raging beasts. To their disappointment, the beasts didn¡¯t bravely charge at them. It was replaced by six calm beasts. This was an oddity. Perhaps they were holding back their composure. But if this was the case. It was even more terrifying than an enraged and charging monstrous beast. This was a confrontation of a different variety. This was a battle of wills. A strange one. But these creatures were definitely not simple. They could be considered within the range of bows. But the camp members felt it would be pointless to start shooting now. Soon the beasts gestured and let out a few roars. The beast split up, advancing in as much cover as they could. If the whole army wasn¡¯t already drowning in the influence of slaughter, they would have probably questioned these actions. First¡¯s men and a few dozen others felt cold sweat run down their backs. This wasn¡¯t normal at all. They felt even the beasts eyes to be off. They felt their eyes were strange because unlike before, they now tried to convey their intentions. A threatening glare. Perhaps mockery. Afterall how can these tiny things compare to them? Hubris was perhaps the greatest weakness in battle. For beast and men alike. Complacency and hubris. But no matter how much the beasts hid, they still had to close the distance between the army and themselves. Before they could do this, they had to inch as close as they could. First didn¡¯t feel like watching it happen and ordered the first volley to be fired preemptively. First felt it was easy to predict where the beast would go to next. Their actions weren¡¯t at random. Recognizing patterns were something people were adept at. The first volley took out a staggering six. Wounding two others. Their whimpers shadowed by furious roars. These roars simmered with anger but were intended to rally their troops. The beast knew to keep calm. They were hunting, this was no place for griefing. Din and specially trained fighters were located in key locations, ready to confront a frontal assault. He had made the decision to participate in the battle this time around. One less free beasts could mean saving tens if not up to hundred lives. A hundred lives. This was a valuable resources that propagated. And there had already been enough sacrifices so far. The first volley had been a success. The following volleys were meagre in comparison. One or two beasts wounded at most. But that was already enough. One less agile beasts was a lot. Din¡¯s army was strong. As a whole. But whose to speak of their individual power? How were they going to defend against beasts double their size. This was what many of them thought. The plan was to hold back the beast, to allow them rain down arrows onto anything that came at them. When the first beast charged forward there was no way to react by shooting it. And when one beast charged. They all charged, as if choreographed. Small battalions were ready to meet them. Their steps firm, shields ready. They only wanted a brief moment to allow their most skilled archers to strike. They couldn¡¯t allow the entire two thousand some troop to fire simultaneously. They¡¯d slaughter the beasts and men alike. Even Din wouldn¡¯t plan something like that. Not with only two to three thousand people. It was a massive waste of resources. When the beasts met metal shields they used abilities to strike at them. This looked like a simple swipe of a paw. A headbutting. A tusk or horn striking forth. These attacks tore through the shields. A lot of people felt their bones tested. Few left with fractures. But no whole broken bones. They were pushed or thrown back. But they had stood their ground. All but a few. It was only people like First and Din that had struck back instead of receiving the attack. They could dodge it, so they dodged it. They could strike them so they struck them. This was both arrogance and vigilance. First dodged so he could attack. Din dodged because he was forced to. Din didn¡¯t strike because he wanted to. Din struck in self defence. From an outside perspective they looked like great warriors. But only one of them was one. The other a puppet. Eight beasts could not be stopped. They wanted to rush forward, cause havoc and kill these invaders. But it wouldn¡¯t be that easy. Behind this first line of defence was another line of defenders. Behind that was another. Eventually they were all stopped. And they were all pierced by metal tipped arrows. This happened despite them utilizing their defensive abilities. A volley of arrows would contain more than hundred arrows. This wasn¡¯t easy to defend against. It was only the more passive abilities that could. Their hide hardened to such lengths that the metal tipped arrows could only cause them discomfort. But what was a little pain in a fight like this? These few beasts reaped lives of defenders one after another. Only to be stopped by people personally trained by First. The fighting soon died out. The beast didn¡¯t have much ground to stand on. There were too many people here. Had they not had ranged weaponry in such quantity, they could have had a good fight. Something worth mentioning. But not this. This was just another day. Killing was done. So now they tended the wounded, rested and ate rations.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Din was pleased. He thought these beasts weren¡¯t half bad. He wanted some for his own. He imagined thousands of these. Mounted by strong fighters. Beasts were something he felt lacking. There was a lot be said about the endurance of a beast in comparison to a person. There was no competition. If his army had beasts, they might be able to cut down half the time they spent traveling. This was a great amount of time. Even if they were just transportation, it was a massive benefit. Din¡¯s territory expanded once again. His influence spread to other nodes. Unrated nodes. He still hadn¡¯t met a tier one node. People from these unrated nodes were given the choice to join Din or flee. They no longer had the option to stay in their little spot of land. Not an unrated node. Tier one node would still be able to retain its territory. They could even take advantage of the spreading influence to capture adjacent nodes. Din read over the new addition. He also saw his population rise steadily. It ranged from forty to the low hundreds. These people were stranded as before and needed to be escorted back. Small groups numbered up to a hundred were sent to get these people. This was almost a routine now. Perhaps others didn¡¯t feel the need to get these people. They were foreigners in their minds. Maybe even enemies. But it wasn¡¯t their choice. They had to follow orders. A rebellion or an assassination might occur one day, Until then, they were Din¡¯s subjects. With two tier two nodes, Din was confident it would only take time to reach tier three. If there was such a thing. This was the only thing he had as a goal. It might be better to refer to it as a path towards his goal. He was creating an country. Right now he had a village. Once a government of any sort was established, he could call it a town. Until then this was a camp or a village. Right now there was no need for a government, as military might was in command. Later this would change to a different managerial government. This was a part of cultivating an illusion of free will. Without that, a sense of dystopia would be instilled into people. This is what Din was taught, so it was what he knew to be true. But this was still some ways away. Right now they had more than three thousand people. Over six hundred additional people came from the new unrated nodes. It wasn¡¯t hard to maintain order with so few people. Who didn¡¯t know everyone else in the camp? It was impossible to get away with anything nefarious. People had their own minds. And when enough were gathered you would have all sorts. Some would not adjust to totalitarian rule. They might not abide to strict laws Din or his subjects put forth. To manage dissatisfied people, Din needed to either create a force to subjugate them or give them a purpose. Once enough people gathered, Din would have to give a select few more power. Allowing them to govern his settlement. This day would eventually come. The likeliest outcome was to establish a firm government when they were no longer at war. Or when less than four fifths of the total population was required to go to war. These were Din¡¯s plans. Whether he¡¯d see them to fruition was a different matter. It might be years or as short as few weeks. Once back at camp Din returned to his routines. He¡¯d roam about with Jao, who was in high spirits. Like many others, she didn¡¯t like all that fighting. Din was making wooden valves. These valves were made from tree roots that grew in metal infused soil. They were very durable. The valves leaked and could be considered poor productions. But they were all they had. Din had tried to have them forged, to no avail. He still didn¡¯t like carving. His only enjoyment came from his meditation sessions. The grand wisdom of the Laq Docte kept him entertained. Jao got more into crafting. She couldn¡¯t spend her whole time surveying the camp. She also felt a bit overwhelmed with so many people. There were times where people didn¡¯t recognize her. This was very discouraging to her and she didn¡¯t know how to address the issue. Din unexpectedly held similar views as her. There were uses in being well known. People had to know their leaders. But he couldn''t print propaganda. The solutions were organized rallies. The camp was already split into districts to manage work rotations. This was just Din and Jao going around acknowledging these people. Giving them a firm nod occasionally. It was bizarre event to a lot of people. Jao was thrilled with these rallies. She even felt she had underestimated Din. He had regained a small amount of mysticism in her mind. These events were a few days apart and it would take considerable time to go through the entire camp. But what they had now was time. A lot of time. All weapons had to be made from hand. This meant they had to manually harvest materials carefully. Refine them and then produce something passable. These were rushed products so they suffered in quality. Even when rushed it was an immense time sink. Food was however something steady. They required enough to feed thousands now. But this was an easy task in comparison. Most of the effort was put into creating grass wheat crackers. Din had bought a few applicable unrated cooking recipes. These had been unlocked after the first tier one recipe had surfaced. This increased variety was welcomed. The amount of people that chose to spend their free time cooking multiplied. Din had considered buying a cooking facility. It wasn¡¯t expensive but Din felt it was. He¡¯d much rather save up. He wanted something less frivolous. These thoughts of his would have been cursed if they were to be leaked to the public. It was fortunate that only Din had access to the tier one and tier two shop. It wouldn¡¯t be until later when Din would discover he made a mistake not creating a public store. This was another building he considered a leisure structure. What he didn¡¯t know was that creating this building would allow his node members to begin accumulating resource points. These points were the same as Din¡¯s. These points were spent on multiple things. Such as forging equipment. Or any production related thing. Din would receive a small percentage for every purchase. These points are usually adapted as general currency. This happened because the building didn¡¯t explain this. The main thing he took from the briefing, was that he himself wouldn¡¯t have anything to purchase from the building. These people didn''t have resource points. Why would they need a store? He felt it was strange but so were a lot of things. And it was as said before. A mistake not to create. This place was called a market. A vague term. And initially Din was very interested in it. Before realizing it sold nothing unique. Nothing unique in comparison to his own buying capabilities. But Din did have an excessive amount of resource points after taking a second tier two node. His plans were to upgrade buildings. He had upgraded the only field he could. Food production. He was satisfied with it. If it hadn¡¯t been for Din deciding to reach out for advice he would never have considered the market. This wasn¡¯t even a production building after all. ¡®They have to understand I listen to them.¡¯ Din was deciding whether to actually waste considerable amount of resources on this market. It was only when he heard that quite a few people did actually have points to spend that he came around. The build location didn¡¯t matter. It wasn¡¯t actually a building as much it was a statute. Din felt it looked like an antenna. If antennas were designed by modern artists. All members of the camp were collectively informed by a private alert of the recent building. This time however, it was far more detailed. What was miraculous is that they all had the same objective. To read the description, sell something worth at least ten points and buy something worth at least five. Din did not receive this objective. But Jao did. And she was excited, like many others. Din was milling around. Almost every person in camp was eerily staring into space. They were reading or trying to figure things out. He was a bit disturbed to be honest. Did he make a mistake building this? He couldn¡¯t organize his thoughts fast enough. Before long he had roamed off towards his shed. The camp was however in a great upset as time went on. Everyone was zooming back and forth. The market structure was small and rather unimpressive. But people had to get within a certain range of it to sell their items. There were quite a few things they could sell. And they sold a lot of things. This was the biggest crisis the camp had ever experienced. Resources were being depleted. Sold to an inanimate object for resource points. There was no way to calm this chaos. But no one was trying to. Who was supposed to? This was a free for all. It took a few hours before things calmed down. Din had returned. He of course couldn¡¯t see how many resources were pilfered and sold. But he was informed of some of it. He didn¡¯t really care. He had seen his resource points rise for every transaction, buying or selling. He had already made up the cost for the market structure itself. To underestimate people''s greed was a dangerous thing. What made Din feel puzzled was the things people bought. People bought clothes in terrifying quantities. All sorts of luxuries like plates, glassware and other madness. Din was very confused. Jao had bought such things as well. He wasn''t sure what to do about these things. But in the end, he did nothing. He just once more judged and praised the Laq Docte¡¯s superiority. ¡®This can¡¯t be right.¡¯ Din felt his head swirl a bit. He took two steps backwards before steadying himself. ¡®They are buying playing cards? And is that candy?¡¯ He couldn¡¯t be sure what he was seeing. Not everything looked exactly as it did on Earth but it wasn¡¯t impossible to deduce some things. After coming out of his shocked state he shook his head in disapproval. Jao was beside him, she also felt these people were wasteful. Her thoughts would have staggered Din even further. It was his great fortune that he could not read minds. The camp was much more lively now. Initially for the first few days, production suffered heavily. This was because people could buy a lot of things. And they would also sell things here and there. They realized that finished products were worth far more than the base materials. Even just a simple refinement yielded great results. Finished food products, weapons and other miscellaneous things were worth pursuing even if only to sell them. There were some penalties. If they could be considered as such. And that was that market¡¯s value was depended on quantities it had. One bow might be worth hundred points but a thousand suffer diminishing returns. First ten might hold the value of one hundred points while the next ten might only be valued at ninety nine. This was hard to feel. People sold a lot but the quantity wasn''t great. Perhaps if they had over hundred thousand people buying and selling the values might fluctuate in a more violent way. Noone purchased consumable experience boosts. Not only were they a small percentage increase, a limit to how much could be gained. But also a limited time frame. Everyone had experienced the increasing experience bonuses. And the marginal increase in overall power. It was only on thresholds that allocated new abilities that they felt a sense of progress. With how slow the leveling had become, despite the extravagant experience bonuses. It was hard to say when they¡¯d reach the next threshold. Level sixty. A pivotal threshold. Chapter thirteen: Blood of my blood. Din was once told of a saying. It went along the the lines of a man¡¯s death was marked at the moment that the last man said his name. This is a debated saying. Some want it to mean that without thought of a person, the person ceases to exist. Other posit that they never exist to begin with. Both are nonsensical. In the great Laq Docte doctrine there is an occult phrase. It says, and we must paraphrase here. That if a man¡¯s name is forgotten he is reborn. This is why all older Laq Docte forgo their names when retiring. This phrase can be originated from the patriarch himself. As is expected. He experienced trauma that caused him to forget his name. And in passing he said that was when he felt free. His words were then twisted and turned. Discussed and debated. It got to a point where even the patriarch himself did not know where this mysterious saying came from. Everytime Din heard others speak his name he would feel slighted. It was an odd thing to feel. He bore his name proudly. But that didn¡¯t mean he felt others had the right to speak it. He prefered being referred to as camp leader. Leader, commander or boss. Even Jao didn¡¯t call out his name. He didn¡¯t feel these people were worthy. Once Jao became pregnant he¡¯d most likely shift his view on the mother of his child. Until then she was just a valued asset. It was hard on Din. He always kept up appearances. This was what he was taught to do. To do otherwise was to shame the family. Worse, he himself believed it to be blasphemy. Seeing as he was only an educated zealot adhering to his upbringing. Showing slave like subservience to the family. He was only educated. He wasn¡¯t scheming or inventive. Not any more than others, at least. So it took him months for him to cook up an idea. An idea to rename himself. It was a simple decree. Like a king would convey a new law. He had A few people create a ranking system. There was a need for it. Not dire. But issues were cropping up and stricter discipline was a solution. These were made up military rankings. He would be Leader and First was called Commander. The difference was little. Some might even argue that First had more power than Din. And in many ways he did. But he still took commands from Din. Making Din the unseen tip of the pyramid. This matter didn¡¯t change much. People were now aware that some people had to be addressed in a certain way. But for the most part things stayed the same. It looked like people were happy. But this wasn¡¯t the case. When people sat around laughing. Joking about home or this twilight jungle. They would sometimes laugh with their all their hearts before descending into uncontrollable sobbing. This was a common occurrence. Very few people felt like they belonged here. Perhaps only a person like First would willingly come here. Not even Din wanted to be here. He¡¯d return the second he could. The problem was how to return home? Many if not everyone had thought about this. None had a way. And it was made clear to them early on that this wasn¡¯t their planet. Like travelling to a foreign country, it was obvious something different about this place. For most it was the other people. Everyone was a humanoid and only looked a bit off.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. In some cases they were indistinguishable from each other. There were cases where some stood out. Longer ears, strange hair color, longer fingers and other such differences. But even those could be attributes to a variance within the same species. It also helped soothe everyone that they were so beautiful. It might actually be the largest factor. For many, it was hard to harbor ill feelings to someone they considered good looking. This may seem vain but it was truth. Of course the opposite could appear as well. But this was rare, people secure in their appearance didn¡¯t really care about the looks of others. Din could be considered striking. But he was still just about average in his camp. There were some terrifyingly handsome people within the Din¡¯s domain. As bizarre as it would seem, all of them were male. Not one woman was considered to be breathtaking. They were all beautiful in their own right but not when compared to their male counter parts. This was a another thing no one mentioned or even took note off. There is an explanation for this phenomena that also answers why they are here in the first place. Or at least a skin deep reason as to why. How can still be considered an unknown. It shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to divine that reason. Din¡¯s ancestor gained something special from this world. It wasn¡¯t only Din¡¯s ancestor, everyone here is a descendant of a person that managed to survive and leave this place. Their gains different, but all passed their genetic improvements to their offspring. A stronger genetic inheritance not only gave them good looks but more potential. This potential isn¡¯t much. It is at best an easier time adjusting to changes happening to their bodies and minds. All members of Din¡¯s camp have changed in their temperaments. Even Din. His zealotry has managed to stabilize substantially. If he wasn¡¯t his own person before, he had solidified this foundation. Leaving him a puppet of the Laq Docte. To his great fortune, no Laq Docte is here to control him. Without control he may yet see a day where he can find a purpose other than the betterment of his family. As far fetched as it might sound. But Din can be considered below average when changes to the psyche is considered. Even just turning to Jao, you¡¯ll see a person as different as day is from night. ¡®What can they possibly be buying?¡¯ Din is currently watching his resource points grow. The amount isn¡¯t much but it is constant. ¡®I don¡¯t understand.¡¯ After thinking about it, Din felt curious. This was another mystery. So the ordered some people to survey. The results were confusing. These people were buying everything. If it was for sale. Someone was buying it occasionally. ¡®This can¡¯t be right.¡¯ Din was reading from a type of ledger. It wasn¡¯t his, but something his subordinate handed to him. They had used to it to write down the information. After a few moments he realized something. This ledger was expensive. Once this came to mind he began flipping through the store options. His frown deepened and he became quieter. His breathing was almost still. He really couldn¡¯t understand. He consulted with Jao. She didn¡¯t have anything to say. She felt people were wasting their resource points. But even she was frivolously spending points, if you asked Din, that is. Yet another mystery. He wasn¡¯t happy about it, but what could he do? Din came out of another deep thought and saw one of his subordinates waiting for him. ¡®What does he want?¡¯ He took measure of him. Then looked at the man beside him. ¡®Did I ask them to wait?¡¯ ¡°You can go now.¡± One of them had a strange look on his face while the other looked like he was holding in a laugh. ¡®Why aren¡¯t they leaving?¡¯ ¡°Sir. The book.¡± It was now that Din realized he was still holding onto the ledger they handed to him. It didn¡¯t take him long to respond. ¡°This is my book now. You can go.¡± The man was clearly unhappy about it. This Ledger was expensive. It was a pedia of sorts. It could hold insurmountable information in it. It was for this reason that Din wanted to keep it. Out of everyone in this camp. Din had bought and researched the most. His stockpile of miscellaneous data was staggering. Even further, it added additional options to his map. He could plan out buildings. Add tags which could be turned on and off. There was no way he would return the ledger. As for purchasing one for himself? He thought it was too extravagant. And he would make much better use of it anyway. It wasn¡¯t surprising turn of events. This was always how Din acted. He was superior. He was superior because he was a Laq Docte. To Din. This wasn¡¯t him stealing from the poor man. No, to Din, it was a favor. There was no other way around it. This reasoning was a part of why there was a rumor around the camp that the leader was a kleptomaniac. It was odd. There was little to dislike about Din. As a leader at least. But he had this absurd streak of just grabbing things from people and not returning them. Of course this was because Din knew these items were in better hands. He often lamented how inadequate the people were. This also mixed into his praise of the Laq Docte family. To Din¡¯s infinite fortune, no one knew his mind. If they did, a revolution might be near. Not even Jao had an inkling that Din¡¯s superiority complex was so severe. This had to do with his demeanor. He was taught to please. Not as in server but as in instill good will. To allow others to feel respect and adoration towards him. It was a contradiction to his families low-key status. But this education wasn¡¯t for Earth. It never had been about earth. The whole reason why they were low-key back on Earth was because in the grand scheme of things, Earth didn¡¯t matter. Din of course didn¡¯t question this for one second. He acted as he was supposed to. It was only on rare occasion that his emotions caused an uncharacteristic response. Chapter fourteen: Growth. Things went as expected. People were trained. They were sent to fight for more territory. These things happened in the span of six months. Due to the size of the territory and some other unknown factors, people kept appearing in and around Din¡¯s land. These people had little other choice but to seek asylum. There was some fairness involved. There was a grace period where one could tread a more dangerous path. The offer they received was too enticing. An established village was something people would seek out. Din of course welcomed all comers. He noticed that his terrain expansion served little purpose at this point. He didn¡¯t see value in the experience bonuses. He now knew his real bottleneck was production. Every part of the production chain. From material gathering methods, refining techniques and production recipes. They all had to see improvements if he wanted to keep his overwhelming advantage over the environment. This was because strength wasn¡¯t in levels or experience. Perhaps the individual looked stronger. It was apparent that this didn¡¯t matter much. What he needed was military strength. And that meant equipment. There was a limit to how much abilities could do. They were extravagant and very strong. But wars were fought over long periods of time. Any one person couldn¡¯t use their ability for weeks or months without end. Even ten or twenty times a day might be too much. This lead to conclusion that the greatest increase in strength was equipment. Any equipment. Even food related items could increase the power of one soldier. Which in turn increased them as a whole. One minute longer in a fight turned to thousands of minutes across the whole army. There are always exceptions. Some people have managed to achieve an equilibrium, allowing them to cast their abilities near endlessly. Din wasn¡¯t one of those people. He instead didn¡¯t have much of a reservoir of energy to draw from. Most of it was reserved by his unconscious mind. Jao built her attributes in a way that complimented continuous ability use. Her ability weren¡¯t very destructive. She also had a portion of her mana reserved. This was her aura at work. To gain an ability like an aura is difficult. Almost exclusively because it required a very empathetic person. You could be a domineering fighter and gain an aura. It was not reserved for passive people like Jao. It is a personality trait that is exceedingly rare. People might argue that they were empathetic and this ¡®theory¡¯ about why aura was rare is nonsense. Those people would be wrong. Not all hope is lost on this front. There exist a way to gain very specific abilities within the higher tier nodes and zones. It might even be possible within this unrated zone. If the right prerequisites were met. Just like how buildings or upgrades required certain achievements. Din recognized this about buildings and upgrading them as well. Maybe not to a high degree but he felt he understood how things needed to progress. With that he tried to put more emphasis on all three levels of production. He and some people he discussed with were in agreement that materials were an important factor in creating higher tier recipes. It could be said that the only requirement was to create a certain level of recipe to unlock favorable things. Material extraction and material refinement were instrumental in creating an environment where this could be done. This was because one can only practice so much with subpar materials. At best you would achieve the absolute limits those lesser materials could be manipulated to. Within the same tier, higher quality materials could be used in a slightly different manner. And that slight difference could mean months or years of strenuous practice. In the low tiers this wasn¡¯t too bad. And still achievable by blundering along. Another factor was passion. Mindless production might create a recipe, but the chances were low. Passion is a strong emotion. Obsession being a subset of general passion. For example, all obsession are passions but not all passions are obsessive. With strong emotion, it is significantly easier to produce a desirable result. This applies to all parts of life in the twilight forest. Firsts passion for battle was the reason why his abilities were a step above others. This wasn¡¯t only because his physical prowess was above others, but it did help. An opposite to this passion is Din. He practices carving with vigour but not with passion. The issue can be circumvented by using other passions. This means Din could use his need to uplift the Laq Docte to create a tier one recipe. He¡¯d be able to do this if he believes that the Laq Docte needs something desperately. For Din, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to play these mental gymnastics. He already sees the world through a Laq Docte filter. All people do this to an extent, Din being above the average in this aspect.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. If the system in place was looked at with an overarching outside perspective it was not hard to see that no path is absolute. There always appeared to be at least two options to chase. There were and always would be exceptions to every rule. Often many exceptions. Din might seem like such an exception. Something unexpected. But was he? Perhaps surprising, but he isn''t. To be unique in this world. This is a difficult task. There have been many fanatics like Din. A person that isn¡¯t his own person. Sometimes these people are bred slaves. Sometimes their mind holds them captured, destined for madness. Or like Din, lovingly taught to love the Laq Docte. Din¡¯s advantage over a zealous monk or a wishless slave is his lack of rules. Staggering overconfidence in himself. Because after all, he is a Laq Docte. Monks would also be like this. Absolute superiours over non-believers. But these people would recruit and indoctrinate more people. These people could be considered their peers. In a similar way, Din¡¯s family were a monk¡¯s believers. But Din wouldn¡¯t recruit. It was blood or nothing. Or as the saying goes. Blood of my blood. ¡®I should do something else.¡¯ Even someone as patient as Din was reaching a limit. He had carved too many things. But he long lost his purpose. He had many different kinds of gears made of wood. All sorts of tools. Useless tools. Wooden pickaxe, wooden dagger, wood sword, wooden chair. He had masks and gears. He even had a few statues of Jao. Something Jao cherished. But for some reason she never voiced her feeling towards them. ¡®I¡¯ll go have a look around.¡¯ Din had come to a point where he didn¡¯t even need to go conquer new areas. He might go just to go. He had nothing else to do. His and Jao¡¯s walks became more common. They would often stop and watch people. Toiling away over one job or another. When Din and Jao went out today he moved towards the scribers. He thought he might try it again. He, like many others. Had dabbled in this and that. Everything except forging. Since that required him to stay in the forge. The forge was always filled with people. His intent this time around was to use his carving to engrave things. He had found out that with a high quality knife, even metal was carvable. This was obvious. Some wood was more durable than metal. He had a three groups of five working on creating a better dagger. This was this world influencing him. He might not recognize it, but he was now fond of creating things. He could do without reading. He didn¡¯t need people for conversation. He didn¡¯t like exercise, but he had acquired a taste for creation. It hadn¡¯t neared passion, but it was something he had begun enjoying. A slippery slope towards obsession. It was bitter enjoyment. It wasn¡¯t carving in particular that he enjoyed, but the process of creating something. This was how most people felt. Most people were like this. Any person that enjoyed a craft of any kind would feel that everyone felt like this. But the reality is, only a fraction enjoys creating things. Instead, in Din¡¯s camp, majority of people acquired the taste for creation. Like a local dish was popular only within its place of origin. In this way, it could be said that everyone within Din¡¯s territory were destined to find that delectable fruit, that was creation. The largest testament to this, was Din himself. A person who wasn¡¯t his own person. Taking enjoyment in something not directly beneficial to his core beliefs. It sounds dramatic, and it is dramatic. It¡¯s dramatic for a reason, because this wouldn¡¯t happen anywhere else. Din had been cemented. He was a soul of the Laq Docte. But this could be considered an attack on his foundation. Given few tens of years and he might even come to be his own person. A terrifying thought. Someone this decisive, this patient and determined. If he were to gain his own desires. It could be frightening. It could be frightening, but Din was going down the path of production. He didn¡¯t participate or enjoy gathering material. He wouldn¡¯t go out of his way to refine anything either. His mind was centered towards the final steps of production. And he was in one of the greatest positions for it. He had numerous people under his command. They worked towards creating the materials he would himself use. It is an extravagant way of doing things. Some would even argue that not knowing the detailed steps from gathering, refining and finally production was detrimental to one¡¯s progression. There of course is a fourth step. Also an initial step. It was to produce the material before it was harvested. They did this through farming. But some would even farm metals. This was possible and this was done. Perhaps not in unrated zones. But civilizations such as Din¡¯s in a tier two zone would have a person that fiddled with the process. It is a misconception that metal can¡¯t be farmed. It very much can. The process it naturally forms appears to be staggering. Staggering in that is too time consuming. But this is wrong. Great metals could be formed in a moment. With enough concentrated energy, they can be created. In the way that plants are grown. Metals can be planted. They, like plants require the equivalent of fertile soil. The seed is the concentrated energy thrust into the right environment. It¡¯s nutrients is the continuous energy inputted into it. It might sound difficult but this is true to all higher tier materials. They like all lifeforms, need vast quantities of energy. This could be considered an unquestionable rule in the universe. All things need energy. What quality and quantity that energy is, is dependant on miscellaneous things. A burst from the lightning or an earthquake could already create miraculous metals. Given the right environment, everything was possible. But these things were very rare. Most material is created over the course of terrifying amount of time. This was unsustainable for a large force but enough to create many treasures. This was demonstrated with Din¡¯s force. They were on the brink of many tier one recipes. But would that mean that their entire force would upgrade a grade? This was of course impossible. The tier one material would be limited. The people who could work tier one material were scarce. This was the depressing truth. This was also one of the reason that large forces had difficulty expanding. Din was already taking a few months to take over adjacent nodes. He relied on superior equipment such as bows and arrows. Various melee weapons and armour. The armour was perhaps negligible. But there were cases where it was life persevering. If Din expanded his territory towards a tier one zone. He¡¯d have to go through a similar process as his unrated zone. But the greatest difference was the qualitative strength and intelligence each man or creature possessed. This meant it would take longer time to achieve things. What could be done in half a year in the unrated zone, was at least nine months to a year in a tier one zone. This is also why there were few empires. They took too long to establish. They were difficult to expand and their politics were volatile. Overthrowing a royal line or a government isn¡¯t as difficult as it seemed to the common peasant. Enough planning and will, even gods could be slain. What this meant was that established empires were almost never stable. They existed of course. Some stood tall for generations, thousands of years long. Din¡¯s little village was still unorderly and could be called chaotic. But it was still considered being managed properly. This was because the population was still small. If Din or First issued a command. It would be done. There wouldn¡¯t be any delay or permissions required. It also helped that Din, albeit unaware, cultivated an environment where people felt real adoration towards him and cared about their surroundings. They still did not necessarily like their neighbours. It was hard to know all residence personally. But they did hold them in a higher regard than outsiders. Sure they hadn¡¯t had to deal with outsiders in a over a year now. But that didn¡¯t mean there wouldn¡¯t time in the future where they had to fight other territories. Din wouldn¡¯t even consider fighting for territory. He¡¯d acknowledge the other side then expand into a different direction. Being who he was, he might actually try to assimilate whatever other area it was. But only if he believes it was for the benefit of the Laq Docte. The issue with this way of thinking is that Din was expected to look not five or ten years into the future. He was expected to look passed his own lifespan. This was a grandiose way of doing things. But Din did indeed not care about current affairs. One died? This is fine. Millions died? This is fine. What mattered is that in the end, that the Laq Docte prevailed. Over their own people or other threats. This could be seen in their extravagant expenditure on Earth. They made sure the planet would be prepared for anything. Their investment into preemptive measures was staggering. If there was ever a wonder why the rich kept getting richer. It was because the Laq Docte spent it on protecting the Earth. It sounds like a magnanimous thing. But they did it for their own selfish desires. They considered the Earth their own. And any wealth on earth was theirs. This was protecting their property. Din didn¡¯t know about these things. It was still not required of him to manage such affairs. But he was still trained to. He looked far a head. Whether he had the wisdom to do so is another matter. His decisions might be questionable but his motive wasn¡¯t. It isn¡¯t hard to see why Din would make mistakes repeatedly. But it was also easy to see why he would make what could be considered cowardly decisions. He had lived in this place for too long now. He had even reasoned that his father had asked him to take his own life was to send him here. Din was incapable of believing that any other Laq Docte could bear him any ill will. Anything he or other family member did, was for the continuity of the Laq Docte. Other Laq Docte members were also like Din. Naive to the point of idiocy. This was indoctrination. To them it was a fact. The Sun shone bright. They breathed in air. Ice was cold. And the Laq Docte lived for each other. Of course the reality was much crueler. And a person like Din was a pawn. A wild pawn as it would seem. But a pawn nonetheless. Chapter fifteen: Craft. Din was now just four nodes short of a tier three node. Assuming tier three nodes required ten tier two nodes. Not an unreasonable assumption. He wasn¡¯t thinking about this though. Over the passed few months he had sunk himself into Scription. He was carving mysterious runes into anything worthwhile. Scriptions can be considered one of the final steps of creating an item. It was also called enchanting. This was because people understood what enchanting was. But scription was description of the act of writing. What Scription was in reality, wasn¡¯t writing. It was creating pathways for a certain type of energy to flow through. This wasn¡¯t as mystical as it seemed. This wouldn¡¯t work on Earth. As earth didn¡¯t have the materials or the quality and quantity of energy required to merit a response. Just like electrictricity, a type of energy can travel through certain materials easily. So could the energy, the mana that Din and everyone here used could. This energy wasn¡¯t random. It wasn¡¯t magic as Din had assumed. He couldn¡¯t be faulted for thinking this. After all, many of the recent phenomenons couldn''t be explained. He had initially tried to explain it away with advanced technology. But most would find it hard to imagine how these things were possible. At a point, advanced technology and magic became synonymous. And this was what happened to Din, and most others. There were still some people that considered themselves too smart to believe in the unexplained. Magic was never option for these people. Because their ego wouldn¡¯t allow it. In the end. It was the result that mattered. Of course understanding how this energy functioned and acted would be instrumental in Scription and in all other steps of crafting. Without this information, trial and error was king. A sloppy, unreliable king. But king nonetheless. And it was how Din and other Scribes practiced. They required a new item every time they finished their scription. This was no issue, constant production of arrows allowed them a near endless supply. The difficult part in the end was documentation. When Din began his scribing he stumbled along. Later on he was appalled with how poor their practices were. He demanded that all scribes reported their scribing patterns and organize them accordingly. Din went so far as to buy a public ledger. As much as it pained him to squander resources he felt this was necessary. In the end they began finding certain patterns would increase the speed and piercing capabilities of arrows. This would increase their overall destruction but not directly. Anything that didn¡¯t hit or pierce wouldn¡¯t do any worthwhile damage. Speed increased piercing. And piercing increased the overall destructive property of an arrow. An oversimplification but it serves to explain their progress. Of course not every scribe liked scribing unto arrows. But most did. Because it was what Din was doing. And it was a smart decision. Din did award people who made progress on the scription of arrows. The humorous part in all of this was that they only progressed this fast because they could study the work of their peers. Din felt they had created a superior arrow. And the final product was infinitely close a tier one arrow. The difference between the two were near negligible. The problem was that the amount of scribers were low. And the amount of talented scribers was non existent. They all depended on hard work. There was only one person that could be considered talented scriptionist and that person kept to himself. But he wasn¡¯t limited to only scription. Even more tragic was that he enjoyed farming and wasted his time taking care of various farms. And his personal garden. A tragedy. What was surprising is Din¡¯s adaptability. It was surprising to the existing scribers. To anyone that understood what Din had been doing in his spare time, it was only acceptable. His steady hands and the quality of his scribing was one or two steps above all others. An impressive feat. Ingenuity and talent only get you so far. Combat theory versus practical use. If Din had theoretical knowledge about how to use his body efficiently then his unconscious mind, his instincts, were using that knowledge. The difference was that people required certain amount of time to parse their own knowledge and then act on it. Din¡¯s unconscious mind had no such delay. It possessed no hesitation. All it had to was react. Every attack had certain parameters it would register and act accordingly. This was a artificial intelligence versus a user typing commands. A user could possess incredible ability and throw out commands fast but eventually he¡¯d need to lean on his muscle memory, his unconscious knowledge. This was the reason Din was still alive to this day. He had been educated rigorously. But knowledge without practice only serves to broaden the mind. Numerous math equations. Anatomy. Martial techniques. It went on an on. But learning was different from remembering. And knowing was different from doing. What Din had practiced without end was his demeanor. He acted in an elegant way. Because this is what he had been told to practice. His unconscious mind had all opportunity to use his accumulated information. It still had parameters it had to follow. When the instincts act, they have a small window to react. The faster the opponent the less time. This creates hard limitations. There is no forethought. Without planning its potential is diminished to a degree it becomes a niche. Niche. But what a powerful niche. This niche can be used in a different ways. There will always exist limitations. Dire limitations. A person with a great mind for tactics could like Din. Activate his instincts to partake for a moment. This allows them to create miraculous tactics. This event is straining. Far greater strain than what Din experiences. Din reacts in a flash. While the other experiences prolonged exposure to the tremendous pressure. There might be a time where such pressure can be endured. But at the stage people like Din are at, it is torture. It is not just Din or other unique souls that experience such a phenomena. It is instead every individual in this world. Their method of use differs. This is the reason why physical training is only incremental increase in power. When the use of abilities are discussed. Any success in this world is dependant on conquering this power. And they will have to, whether they want to or not. It can¡¯t be said that that Din and his subjects have progressed far in this regard. If at all. If this is a journey of a thousand miles. They have only put on their shoes, yet to take a single step. These are a distant things. To gain dominion over one¡¯s hidden faculties. There are must be a price. How it is paid can be varied but it is always received in the same way. And what is gained cannot be lost. Not without outside interference. There is a reason why the people in this twilight forest are not only objectively beautiful but also youthful. A young mind is adaptable to change. Younger minds would be preferable but some physical attributes are needed to meet requirements. Din and his people couldn¡¯t divine this knowledge. And even if they could, it is in practical terms, useless to them. They had yet to lay down the foundation to begin building. Right now there was a time of quiet preparation. The eighth and ninth tier two nodes were upcoming. In the less than a month''s time two battalions would be sent out. People got used to fighting. Their confidence was unmatched. But most still dreaded going out to fight. It was no longer just about fearing for their lives. Now they were split from their friends and family. They were torn from their hobbies. They would even come to miss whatever job they were assigned to. Taking over a new node was too time consuming. This was also why Din no longer went out to fight. He felt it was better use of his time to stay at base camp. While there wasn¡¯t incredible amount of experience to gain in camp. They still were harvesting materials and hunting. Everytime an item was harvested, refined or produced. Slight experience was shared with all members of the village. Even those fighting hordes in the tier two beast nodes. Their killings was spread to people staying back home in the village. This was a different experience than what they got for killing. This was for completing an event within Din¡¯s territory. It wasn¡¯t much. But it accumulates without end. Those that fought would still gain substantial experience. Fighting wasn¡¯t the only source of experience of course. Production was most lucrative so far. Outside of slaying beasts. This had little meaning. People wanted to increase their levels. But the ambiguity of the next ability was working as a deterrent. It was people below forty five that still craved experience. For talented fighters, fastest way to gain experience was to seclude themselves and hunt beasts. This was because even if the experience was shared with he entire camp they would still get great experience for harvesting material. The process was discovered by some of the hunters that hunted for entertainment. They have their own culture and it was considered a custom to work your own prey. This meant skinning it, carve up the meat. Then they might even cook a portion of it while out hunting. Or eat parts of the organs raw. They were fast and efficient. And it gave them great experience. Only a select few tried this method. Most gave up on it, it was boring and tedious. Only those that enjoyed the activity would seek it out.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The experience bonuses exceeded even the war effort. Because the war consisted of too many people. They would share all the experience. Din himself was gaining bountiful experience through his recent Scribing. This was because Scribing could be considered one tier higher on the crafting list. There were different ways to compliment items other than scribing. Further refining for example. It went on undiscovered. There was also embroidery. Similar to Scribing except one dug into the item and the other applied more onto it. Embroidery was popular. Not for empowerment but for vain reasons. But even then they could still use their embroidery ability to empower items. There was also reforging. It would grant similar experience but was far more prone to degrading the item in question. And likely to end in failure. Pyrography was another undiscovered way to enlist Scribing onto wooden items and leather. These all afforded considerable experience. A crafter with talents could soar. Assuming he has the efficiency and dedication to the art. A real artist would suffer. Their painstaking effort dedicated to a single object wouldn¡¯t be rewarded in experience. The item would benefit. But the experience was the same. Assuming they could create same tier objects faster. Which is within reason. The arrow production was cheap and steady experience for the whole village. Even newborn children were gaining levels with ease. The early levels will be instrumental to increasing their future potential. They will adapt faster and might in the end posses greater power than their predecessors. Their late arrival is a downside. Ten to fifteen years isn¡¯t a long time but it also isn¡¯t short. This was real pressure on them. This applied in the normal circumstance. But this unrated zone¡¯s future kingdom that Din was trying to build was different. Different, not in that it¡¯s a kingdom. kingdoms cannot be said to be many but they are not few. It is also impossible to say that this kingdom was growing fast. It could be said to be below average. This was because Din isn¡¯t aggressive and with no ambition other than long term prosperity. All in the name of Laq Docte. It is different because Din is who he is. This comes back to Din¡¯s zealotry. Him not being his own person. Living for something external. Having such a person lead. This is one of few unique scenarios that are an oddity. It is hard to imagine a devoted monk ruling a kingdom. He had the righteous cruelty you get from a zealot. A type of belief that was as real as the air he breathed. He also had the distaste of the mundane world. This was in term of wealth. This was twofold. One was his already luxurious lifestyle. The other was his complete disregard for social views other than the one provided to him by the Laq Docte doctrine. This allowed him to make decisions that he believed would benefit the kingdom in the long term. The kingdom that would then later serve as a pillar in these lands, for the Laq Docte. People growing up in such an environment will be met with prosperity. Because Din needed his people to prosper. Short termed success meant nothing to him. The future everything. Everything about this sounds too good to be true. While nothing said was untrue, it didn¡¯t address the forced participation. People in camp were in no way free. At best, they could enjoy this life. At worst, they could only endure and do what was asked of them. Din didn¡¯t pay them for their services. He might reward people in some fashion. There were punishments for those going against orders. Without established laws, laws were something erected as an afterthought. Once an disagreeable act was discovered, they would be retroactively sentenced for it. This meant that crimes and punishment for said crimes were created after the fact. It also meant that some acts. Even if considered evil were not condemned. What was condemned was what Din, and only Din, felt was counterproductive. He did not want to nurture a culture that was negative in the long term. Stealing wasn¡¯t much of an issue. Noone in the camp had been officially punished for the crime of theft. This wasn¡¯t because Din felt that theft was trivial. This was because it didn¡¯t affect him. And if he was informed of it, he wouldn¡¯t consider it detrimental. His way of thinking this through was that more theft was sure to continue. But what was there to steal? In his mind, nothing was worth stealing. It was strange. Because he could be considered the most prolific thief in the camp. He himself of course saw it in a different way. Everything, children, man and woman. Grain of green wheatgrass to the towering trees. Everything was his. If anything, he was just allowing others to use his things. This sounded extravagant. And it might be. It was understandable when one realized that he considered the entire world to be a possession of the Laq Docte. It wasn¡¯t his possession. But the Laq Docte¡¯s. He was a Laq Docte. The world was his. He wouldn¡¯t try to reason this with himself. This was just a truth. Just another constant. What did occupy his thoughts with was how to increase productivity. He wanted more breakthroughs. It was now common place to discover a new unrated recipe. With them being more common they weren¡¯t valued the same. They now had to have a direct benefit to the camp to be considered worthwhile. There were still generous treatment towards inventors. Their talents couldn¡¯t be quelled. It was however only those that discovered something of real value that were assigned assistants and fair amount of allocated resources. Since the beginning of the resource point store, the value of resources and items in any form had risen in a dramatic fashion. While things like wheatgrass were still considered low in value, due to their abundance. It had multiplied in value in spite of its quantity. Wheatgrass was one of the least valuable natural resources. The only things with less value are things like tree leaves and water. New housing district had to be erected. This idea came from one of Din¡¯s advisors. This was an intelligent person. Not like Din who bumbled along. They were going to create a production district. This required a way to import all resources efficiently. That meant solid streets. It also meant they needed to be alongside the river. As that was the most powerful force of transportation they had. Manually pulled carts had been created. These were carts without any dampeners. It was uncomfortable to ride on. Even a tired person would choose to walk rather than ride one. This is not only due to a lack of stabilizing equipment. But the road they used were too rough. Rough roads meant they had to go slow. And it also meant that the carts would often suffer. Their wooden wheels broke. Axels snapped. This would lead to other damage, worsening it. It was still their most effective way to haul the large amount of resources to and from refineries. This new district needed new buildings. New buildings meant that Din had to repurchase the same buildings. He was not happy about this. And while Din wasn¡¯t happy about it, he wasn¡¯t stupid either. He understood his advisor¡¯s plan. In the end it would pay itself back over time. The increasing number of different specialized fields of production needed a central hub. They needed real facilities to train people. Which meant they needed buildings whose purpose was no longer to create but to teach. Teach people efficient ways to learn. They also would serve as a way to research more efficient ways to harvest, refine and produce. That would include the effectiveness of refining a finished product or additions such as scriptions. It was a grandiose affair. These were lofty ambitions. Not only Din saw into the future. People with great minds did as well. An intelligent person did not necessarily pursue things like this. But it needed an intelligent person to do so. A sufficiently intelligent person that also had the capability and ambition to do things like creating facilities that would only see benefit in the unforeseen future. It was people like this particular advisor that identified the importance of careful material harvesting. People that spent their time working with materials all day also had inkling about these things. But it still required some ability to think through these things in an abstract way. This lead to even further research into harvesting. They had to have people dedicated to it. These people would have to work with prolific miners, dedicated farmers and so on. There wasn¡¯t much improvement seen in any particular field. But when everything was looked at as a whole. They were like a raging river. The largest benefit was the harvest of metals. As this particular field was the one the required it the most. In general all other fields were on par. It could be argued that the refining process was the lacking part. The refining process was however not lacking. Not lacking in comparison with other refining practices the camp had achieved. It was only harvesting. Which was now increased by a grade. These things were all underway and were being heralded by a team of people. Din was part of the planning and only placed down the buildings. Din was instead with First. This was one of Din¡¯s most recent rituals. He¡¯d come here with First. Every week they would hold small competitions. It is a show of strength. They exhibit their fighting abilities. This was twofold. One, a simple fight between peers. The other, the one that Din felt interested in, was less a fight and more a dance. In front of him was a stage. This stage was built with solid wooden planks. These planks bordered on tier one durability. He felt the sound of feet tapping on it satisfying. On this stage was an indifferent man. He didn''t look like he was supposed to be up there. This was a common occurrence. It wasn¡¯t that the man was forced. It was just how he was. Many men were like this. Unwilling to show emotion. Instead he held a threatening gaze. It wasn¡¯t until the beat of drums began that it could be understood what was happening. The many drums created a rhythm and the man showcased his abilities. Fighting a shadow of a foe. The sight could be said to be educational and entertaining. This was the largest entertainment venue in the village. It would draw large crowds. Especially when women took the stage. When the drums died down, the only thing left was the heavy breathing of a sweaty man. His indifferent and threatening gaze gone. Thunderous applause engulfed the area. Din clapped. Only First and a few select shook their heads. Their eyes sharper, they saw too many flaws. It was impossible for Din to see anything profound in this act. He just enjoyed the atmosphere. He also used it to casually practice his engraving. Unknown number of items had been massacred in his is careless hands. But Din was wealthy in this forest region. He never ran out of things to mangle. Always an item in hand ready to be sacrificed. No one said anything. Very few people knew how many items he went through. This was what was required of Scriptionist of any variety. But few could be as carefree. It is the attitude that made it extravagant. Some would say this was out of character for Din. To waste this way. Wasn¡¯t he always careful with his resource points? And in truth he was. But he was sparse in his spending only because he believed in the camp¡¯s greater interests. He spent without hesitation if was for the prosperous future. As for the items he wasted. These items were his items. The best use of them were to use them. He thought of it as creating a demand. And building a foundation. In truth, these items weren¡¯t much. They took some effort to create but the camp was creating more than they could use. The reason it was a waste, was because people would sell these to the shop. But Din saw further than that. He was also spoiled by the amount he possessed himself. Scriptions were complex. They required meticulous, steady hands. But the complexity came from discovering new patterns. Din didn¡¯t need to discover new things. He just needed to apply the known patterns. And he did this repeatedly. The failure rate was a staggering eighty seven percent. And instead of decreasing it looked like it was increasing. But Din took no note of that. He was just killing time. One failure at a time. He didn¡¯t care about failure because his objective wasn¡¯t to succeed. Personal achievements like this were meaningless to him. Even if he succeeded a hundred times in a row. It would barely put a dent in the demand. Most of the time he used arrows. Arrows were hard to Scribe, they were small and easily broken. Broken to the point they wouldn¡¯t handle the stress of being shot. But Din would also carve into metal rods. Or anything that caught his eyes. This was the reason why people began hiding their things when Din walked by. He was growing into a notorious thief. Most dictators were feared by the masses. And Din was as well. The reasons were different. This eccentric would steal without a second thought. Even First and Jao had to deal with this. Their belongings had to be fought for. Din would take things he could reach for. If they held onto them, he¡¯d let go. Afterall he didn¡¯t care about the items. As soon as resistance showed up he¡¯d relinquish the item. He¡¯d instead feel puzzled and ask himself why they cared so much about this and that. It was a comical event. First resorted to hiding his flashy items he had ordered made, custom items he used himself. They were flashy but had utility. These items were all suited for combat. This change resulted in people began regarding First as a more down to earth, reserved type of person. Which was far from true. Jao however took a different approach. She pointed at things and with a firm tone, say a word. Din would nod and acknowledge it. They were boring like this. He would of course not take things she said were her¡¯s. But it was still a headache for her. Sometimes she¡¯d forget and the items would vanish. These items would be found later. Every time they¡¯d have strange carvings in them. Beautiful carvings. But they would no longer serve any purpose, as they were now broken. The kind of Scriptions Din and other Scriptionists did was of the lowest standard. One were the item would just be imbued. This meant a one time transformation of the item. Giving it more durability. It also gave the feeling of belonging. Like a lovers hand in yours. The more intricate Scriptions would see this transformation and in addition store energy within them. This energy could be weaponized. That is just one of the uses. Another method was to create an output. This meant the item required three Scriptions that were connected. One that took in energy, and another that stored it. This was a battery of sorts. And the last one was an output. This would also be restricted. It was restricted because he needed be in contact with the users. The power would channel from the outside world, into the item and into the user. This was a qualitative difference. This not only empowered the item further, it empowered the user. A miraculous effect in the eyes of the uninitiated. There were further more iterations of scriptions that pushed the limits. It would be the make the energy flow in an entire circle. From the environment to item. From the item to the person. From the person to the item. And finally from the item back into the environment. This may not sound like an improvement but this gave the item the ability to grow. An item that grew not only with the user but the environment as well. This was an impossibly high difficulty. Most of the difficulty came from creating the input and output to and from user. This was especially so in cases of things like small tools or weapons. The Scriptions needed to be small enough for the user to cover it with their hands. Larger items like pants or jackets would be easier to work with. This was balanced by the difficulty of use. An item¡¯s input is easier to use if it¡¯s through the hands and feet. It is easier because it is what people practice doing. They practice their control with their hands and the item becomes effective immediately. While a piece of armour would take some time getting used to. These things were one of the reasons why Din failed so miserably. He was trying to engrave very small things. Arrows have very limited space to work with. And this was still only the lowest level of Scriptions. One that would only increase and item effectiveness by half a grade at best. It¡¯s called Scriptions, this is because it is studied through scribing. Often on bland, paper like materials. But it ends up requiring extensive ability to utilize theories written on paper. Not only does one require the ability to carve into the material, they need to know how deep or shallow they can go. This is just scratching the surface. There are still other ways to induce a Scription effect. Reforging an item to naturally absorb energy to strengthen itself. This is also impossibly difficult. Even more difficult than Scription itself. But such items are infinitely superior in durability and potential. These things were possible because Scription was only a way to study a natural phenomenon. Before there were crafted weapons there were items born from nature. Items possessing innate ability to use higher tier energy. Such items were the foundation of Scription. They were studied and mimicked. Scription itself was just a scholarly pursuit. While engraving, pyrography, reforging and other tools were used to imprint the profound markings learned in Scription. The reason Scriptions can be considered too difficult is due to a lack of readable knowledge. The most expedient way to learn is to mimic. Din was practicing unrated scriptions. These were not good scriptions. They enhanced durability of an item. But that was the extent. When speaking of durability, this is not only the hardness of a material. It is also longevity of its sharpness. Enhanced items would also give the wielder a familiar feeling. Allowing them to adjust to the item. This feeling of familiarity could rouse obsession in people. To not have such items after having coming in contact with them, this can be considered painful. These sorts of items are still some ways away. Perhaps only in tier three zones and above could one begin searching for such things. Right now Din is looking over his most recent failure. His gaze piercing the small wooden item. His thoughts about to spill out. ¡°I¡¯m afraid I would only cause people headaches.¡± Jao was sitting near him. She didn¡¯t look up from her fiddling. Only nodding. She felt this was right. Din did cause people to feel light headed. This was what she thought. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how many items I¡¯ve broken so far.¡± This time Jao looked up. She did so because he spoke two sentences. Which in her experience meant he wanted to say more. ¡°I might break everything they own.¡± It sounded like Din was being self depreciative. But this wouldn¡¯t be true. He didn¡¯t feel dismayed at so many continuous failures. He felt he learned a bit from everyone of them. ¡°It¡¯s fortunate then. With your abilities, no one will come asking for you.¡± Just like Din sounded self depreciative, Jao sounded like she was ridiculing. Jao however never had such intentions. And Din didn¡¯t take it as such. He felt she was very reasonable. ¡®That¡¯s right.¡¯ With that Din picked up a new sacrificial item and began working. Jao watched him make the initial stroke before returning to her own work. With them both staying outside their humble housing, their guards heard them as clear as day. The guards weren¡¯t like them. They heard them bickering. The held in a laugh. They even thought to themselves. Only she would dare openly mock Din like this. But Din and Jao were too boring for that. Chapter sixteen: Future potential. While his forces fought a war of attrition with the neighboring beast nodes. Din and Jao made sure people would know who their leaders are. They would entertain small groups of people for short periods of time. Sometimes answering questions. Jao was fond of meeting the children. They were growing up fast. Still within reason, but far faster than what Din knew was normal. Din also examined every child they came across. He was interested in his future people. And he felt it was a promising future. Not one child had gotten sick. They were running around like little tyrants before their parents had time to shut one eye. Din had looked for First and others for guidance. After seeing children capable of grabbing small items like branches. He thought if they could grab branches, maybe they should make arrows. As it turned out, he was being unreasonable. He wasn¡¯t sure why either, but everyone he spoke to was adamant that children under two years old shouldn¡¯t make arrows. His thinking can only be blamed on his upbringing. He wasn¡¯t taught theses things, so how would he know? At least this was how he felt. He wasn¡¯t convinced but the matter wasn¡¯t too important. ¡®Two or three years aren¡¯t far away. It won¡¯t be too late to have them pick up arrow production.¡¯ Other than establishing a strong presence, Din and Jao would find a place and sit down. They¡¯d take up their respective production activity. Jao had actually begun dabbling in growing her own materials. She¡¯d also refine them and use them for whatever she wanted. This wasn¡¯t a rare thing anymore. Din and Jao had encouraged people to create their own gardens. And people, having little to do, experimented with it. It was people who liked doing one thing and one thing only that didn¡¯t bother. People like Din. Din was obstinate on doing the same thing. There is something to be said about working with materials from planting a seed to embroidering a beautiful piece of clothing. This processes allows people to understand in more depth. It can be considered a correct path. If they are looking to better their craft. Din didn¡¯t do this in any sense. Din didn¡¯t even stick to a single type of material to Scribe unto. One day it would a stack of arrows. Another would be a handful of metal poles. Even a pile of innocent riverstones wouldn¡¯t escape the purge. This was not a good way to learn Scription. It wasn¡¯t even a good way to enhance his carving ability. But he still progressed at a steady pace. In the village there is a lack of talented people. But there is no lack of enthusiasm. It is instead rare to see anyone not fiddling with one thing or the other. In addition to people discovering this conscientious and industrious side of themselves. The store allowed for added incentive to create an item so they could sell it. This was a rule set up by Din and his council. It is too difficult to stop people from selling raw material. So instead they allowed them to sell finished products. The expedient soul would feel this was constricting. But Din was cultivating more than just a little village. People¡¯s way of life had to adapt to this village. This meant he had to guide people to act in the village interests. This can be difficult. Tell a person to turn left and they¡¯ll turn right. Guidance. The keyword. Din was educated in these things. But he had never used this knowledge. This was why he would take advice from smart people. It shouldn¡¯t be surprising that Din took advantage of others talents. This was perhaps the most humble sector of the Laq Docte Doctrine. There is absolute sense of superiority preached. Yet it turns around and acknowledges that people can be capable. And it is a Laq Docte¡¯s duty to guide these people. An outsider might feel this was contradictory beliefs. But a Laq Docte would feel this was normal. And Din knew this was true. It wasn¡¯t too difficult to reason this. Not to Din. People can have talents and intelligence that was staggering. But would they know how to use these gifts? Din would answer no. Every Laq Docte would answer no. People were headless chickens. They came in many forms but in the end a headless chicken is a headless chicken. There were a lot of strange things that Din had been taught. Some could be considered ignorant. There were numerous reasons for this. The main culprit was the great ancestor himself. His numerous life experiences were translated in different ways. There were instances were the same story was interpreted in two different ways and both had been lectured to Din. This was a part of why Din acted the way he did. His view of the world was distorted, to say the least. One such thing was his blatant thievery. Another odd thing was he¡¯d wade into the river to bathe himself. This was public nudity and he had no qualms about it. He had never bathed alone his entire life. A part of a Laq Docte¡¯s training was a steady mind. They needed to be able endure their future hardships. In the end, the reason for their rigid education was because a few of them would be sent to this exact place. To this day, only the Laq Docte ancestor had returned from this place. It was hard for them to know but they assumed the others had perished. It isn¡¯t impossible to return back to earth. As is proven by the Laq Docte ancestor. There are different ways to do so. Some require sacrifice and others steep requirements. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Out of the Laq Docte youngest generation. Out of the ones sent to this mysterious place, Din was most likely to return back to Earth. One of the reason was because of his village. He had a lot of manpower to gather what he might need. Assuming he survives any potential revolution. Another reason is that he would desperately return to his elders. He was walking in the dark and his Laq Docte family was the light. What¡¯s more, he might actually be able to bridge the worlds. This was possible. The benefit to doing so wasn¡¯t much, if any. The benefit would be to Earth. Earth would bath in an energy source previously near nonexistent. To bring people to this world would be the next step. This step was difficult. Din and others in his village might be able to cross the aforementioned bridge and back. But Earthlings wouldn¡¯t. To move through this bridge, first one required a body and mind that could survive the journey. This might be possible for Earthlings in a decade or so after the bridge is first created. The same reason that the Laq Docte ancestor is staying back on Earth is why he wouldn¡¯t be able to go back. He failed at something and paid a heavy price to return. Not yet at least. There is always a way. The question is whether they would be willing to pay the price. And Din would. Din was willing to die for the family without second thought. A devoted zealot. As dramatic as it sounded, it was a truth hard to ignore. It isn¡¯t impossible for Din to save himself from such a fate. To release himself on the stranglehold of the Laq Docte doctrine. It was difficult because he could be considered worldly. He traveled the planet. He studied broad subjects to esoteric things that only applied to the Laq Docte. Without the option to broaden his already very broad mind, it is difficult to get new perspective on the world. This in addition to Din constant reinforcement and meditation. Life altering events can be called sparse. Perhaps a child will bring a new side to his blind zealotry. Tragedy might shift his view. But tragedy required losing something valuable. Only thing of real value in this world was the Laq Docte. It is hard to say whether he held strong emotion when regarding Jao. If he does, he didn¡¯t know it himself.
You have acquired a support node! You will receive additional one thousand percent increase in experience while within your sphere of influence. Additional resource points are added every seven days.
¡®That¡¯s nine.¡¯ First¡¯s group had returned already while the other group had just finished taking over a new zone. ¡®That¡¯s ten thousand experience increase from the first nine nodes.¡¯ Din had been dismissive of the experience bonus as it was hard to feel. Experience was a slow accumulative thing. It was like watching grass grow. Making it difficult to care about. But that only applied to the small increments. Once the nodes evolved to a higher tier, the experience boost felt tangible. This is not unreasonable. An experience boost, it means that the energy concentration increased by the same factor. That increase is the actual reason for this bonus in experience. Peoples body slowly adapt to this energy and absorbs it, preparing it in a way. If everything went as expected then that bonus would come once one more tier two node was acquired. Din had been walking with Jao when these news hit him. So now they stood there, quiet and still. Their guards were used to this. Not just Din but even Jao would suddenly stop to ponder things. The unconscious reason Din was giving this more thought than would be expected. Was because he felt the want for an improvement in his production efforts. If his initial ability of blind instincts lashing out in his stead was nothing but tedious, the ability that enhanced his production was the opposite. This is a type of reinforced behaviour. A fighter would unconsciously want for even stronger abilities. Their limited views would make it so their abilities would align with their present abilities. Din had originally not been in this cycle. But now he felt this hidden force pulling at him. Like the erosion of trickling water. It wasn¡¯t impossible to notice but easy to dismiss as uneventful. It was instead Jao that held true to her personality. She was not engulfed by these things. This was because she felt genuine empathy towards others. This wasn¡¯t necessarily a kindness, it didn¡¯t make her without vanity. Her empathy was that of a superior watching over her people. She a shepard and they her herd. This could be seen in an charming commander caring for his troops. Only in a position of superiority could you lead your lessers towards greater heights. This was their logic. It can be seen that Din had a similar mindset of superiority. But his empathy wasn¡¯t present. He had no wants for their personal benefit. Instead everything was a means to an end. This meant neutrality in all things. Neutrality in the sense that everything is and was handled through the way of the Laq Docte scriptures. This is why all of Din¡¯s abilities were enforcing Din himself. Because that was all he could do. As he was the only Laq Docte here. In the presence of other Laq Docte, It is likely he would develop abilities that supported his kin. As his empathy laid with them. In all likelihood he would have developed supportive abilities. The only present threat to this mindset was a selfish desire to better his production means. It was miniscule threat. But it slowly eroded, patient as a small creek. Once he snapped out of his reverie Din called a few people over. Mainly people in charge of military affairs. He wanted to know when or how things were going. He had been informed after First¡¯s return a week earlier that there were some issues cropping up. As in turned out, from two different direction, a beast invasion was occurring. This wasn¡¯t a large issue but it had to be dealt with. After being briefed on the ongoings of his military, he felt the a slight headache. It looked like this invasion wasn¡¯t as simple as originally believed. Instead more beasts were encroaching on his nodes. On his map he saw the plague inching in, from five different directions. This wasn¡¯t many beasts but it was still odd. He and his other military advisors couldn¡¯t help but be puzzled by this turn of events. This wasn''t the first time they had to deal something like a beast invasion. They were common enough but never in this quantity. They concluded that this had strong relation to them conquering the eighth and ninth tier two nodes. These people were young, but they were not stupid. They maybe lacked wisdom but they still saw the patterns. Something was actively working behind the scenes. And this time, that force was pushing back. Forcing them to use majority of their military power to stave of the invasions. The reason for the urgency in staving of this invasion was due to its nature. This invasion begins small, but quickly expands, growing stronger and stronger. One such invasion was still manageable and easily scoured even once it grew to an unruly size, but this many had to be stomped out at birth. This was the first time in its short history that there was a sense of unease in the village. This was a real threat. In recent time, all fighting was done long ways away from the original camp. But people were feeling a tinge of claustrophobia. This was because they realized that if there were five invasions, there would be six. Then seven, eight, nine. Who knew when it would end? In truth, it was a test. It was a threshold for this small civilization. Once a tier evolves, so did the surroundings. The size was large, this would spread their forces. The beasts were stronger, smarter and most importantly, more aggressive. Without the power to even withstand a few beastnode invasions, how would they withstand the stronger beastnode invasions in the future? This was a precaution, aimed the village inhabitants. If they can¡¯t fight of something of this scale, they had no place in acquiring a tier three node. Despite perceived neutrality bordering on indifference, the system in place has the intention of guiding this world''s inhabitants. Din and his military advisors were thinking things through. It was quiet discussion, sometimes only a word would be added. Every word had the group descend further into thought. They were like this because they mimicked Din. Despite his many inadequacies, he was charming to a fault. His actions were subconsciously admired. Often during their many discussion about the future of the village. Din would be present. His presence very apparent. His demeanor seeping through and influencing these great thinkers. Before they knew it, they adopted Din¡¯s long pauses and single word sentences. They didn¡¯t say it outloud but they felt it to be mysterious. This leads to them wanting to be seen as mysterious. Creating this odd quiet council. They did create results. Enhanced further by their various devices used to jot down their thoughts. These were devices like Din had. At first it was just about the accessory, later on they began relying on the item¡¯s usefulness. It could be considered amusing from an outside perspective. But it was instead a status symbol now. Slowly people were creating a difference in class. As of now, this line was ambiguous and could be bought into through some sum of resource points. But things like embroidered signia¡¯s and changed disposition were harder to achieve. Din had these made specifically for this purpose. To differentiate the people. Too much equality is dangerous. It causes instability. Without goals to strive for, society would begin to fester a diseases. Those in position of power have to fear losing it and those without it, crave it. With the village being as a small as it is, this is not an issue. Din¡¯s stranglehold of the people is too tight. Only when he is required to loosen his hold will this psychological manipulation see use. After a long quiet period, Din and his advisors hatched a plan. They spread the forces as they could while also planning an expedition to take the tenth tier two node. The forces were spread so thin that even Din and Jao were going out into the field. Jao welcomed it. Din just felt an obligation to further the village. Din¡¯s group had gathered the people capable of using ranged abilities, most using the bow as a medium. A select few could conjure material from the environment. The most fantastical of abilities. These abilities were the most draining and very limited in comparison to those that used bows, arrows or other medium to deal damage from a distance. The idea formed when there was a consensus about the minimum requirements to safely kill invaders. These were herds of beasts, perhaps not stupid, but leaderless. For an organized force, it was easy to guide them into gauntlets, then pepper them with arrows. This only required coordination, any ranged specific abilities were unnecessary. While the beast kings of a tier two beastnode could not be dealt with, with such ease. Din was now leading a group. He did so in a casual way, reliant on the disciple instilled into the troops by his military leaders. It was surprising how fast they traveled. They were walking a stamped down road. Allowing them to increase their pace. In addition, their collective stamina had become impressive. Even Din had no issue with the continuous brisk pace. This was in part due to their increase in levels, better food and general exercising. But a large portion was attributed to Jao¡¯s aura. Chapter seventeen: A stroll. The journey to the last tier two beastnode was dull. But Din and Jao enjoyed it, treating it like a vacation from their stressful duties back at camp. It wasn¡¯t until they had to go off the beaten path that the charm of it all was diminished. This was when Din had the brilliant idea of stationing themselves at the back of the troop. After repositioning themselves, they could enjoy the stroll through the jungle. In particular they examined any foreign plantlife they found. The smaller critters were frightened by the commotion but also curious, allowing people to spot a few small beasts skittering about. Jao mentioned she wanted a pet. This was still impossible. For some reason the beasts were extremely resistant to domestication. Din had high hopes for domesticating the offsprings of various beasts. This endeavour was still not bearing any fruit. So Din only shook his head at Jao¡¯s pet inquiry. Jao didn¡¯t acknowledge his reaction and kept calling out to the critters when they appeared. She was sure that she could attract one. This casual walk of theirs was beginning to taper off. This was because the troops had begun encountering roaming packs of beasts. Putting a damper on their mood. It took them half a day getting used to the commotion, after all they had ample experience with the brutal atmosphere. It helped they didn¡¯t find it interesting. The troops had excellent archers with abilities to match, allowing for a smooth passing. Din and Jao received experience by proxy, matching or exceeding their gains back at camp. This wasn¡¯t surprising but instead expected. It was perhaps strange that the difference was so small. Once the fighting began, it wouldn¡¯t end. The longest pause would be measured within the hour. This was the reason that the village was organized as it was. To acclimate people to different sleeping cycles. Din and Jao didn¡¯t have to follow any such rule but they had already grown accustomed to it. So They would rest according to the schedule. Even with all the fighting, Din and Jao didn¡¯t act. They weren¡¯t commanding anyone or overseeing the fighting. Din had even picked up random rocks and sticks to carve. Jao was instead refining the leather skinned of the killed beasts. No one felt this was strange. It is hard to say what people¡¯s expectations of Din and Jao were. It wasn¡¯t to go out and fight the beasts. Many of the people here hadn¡¯t witnessed Din fight, but they had heard stories. The stories served Din well. Sometimes they were exaggerated, bordering beyond belief. Even without exaggeration, they were somewhat hard to believe. Jao was never expected to do anything but be present. Her passive aura left her more revered than Din. This left the two to do nothing but fiddle around. The days passed by in a flash and today Din had been carving a sizeable rock into a tree. This was one of the smaller trees, not the larger behemoths that never seemed to end. Jao didn¡¯t feel she had the tools or a suitable workbench for anything advanced. So she began churning out handles. They put these onto bows. They were popular amongst the women, as Jao had decorated the leather in tasteful patterns. Sometimes embroidered and sometimes burned. This was something she had begun doing to the smaller items she made. It started with simple patterns. They were not like Din¡¯s scriptions but they were inspired by it. This meant if she wanted to, she could scribe unrated scribing patterns with a reasonable success rate. It was sad that the patterns she had access to weren¡¯t considered beautiful. It was because the intention wasn¡¯t to better anything. It was aesthetics. They should be pleasing to the eye. This was the only intention. Until the very moment the shocking roars and shrieks could be heard, Din and Jao spent their time fiddling around while the men and women fought a war of attrition. Jao rose to her feet, she looked ahead, trying to locate the origin of the bellowing beasts. Din remained seated but raised his head to look at Jao. Jao worried for people, so she wanted to see their enemy. Of course she didn¡¯t have to take action, and it would detrimental for her to do so. Din however did not care in the slightest. He only looked up because Jao had stood up. It was only Jao that could merit this kind of attention from Din. Once he saw she wasn¡¯t moving, he resumed his delicate engraving. He had begun drafting a new pattern. It was asymmetrical and shallow. It could be considered ugly. This was a scription pattern that woulda activate once, gathering ambient energy, empowering the item proportionally to the size of the scription and the size of the item. If it failed, nothing would occur and the item remain a small sculpture. If the completion was successful, it would quickly extract nearby energy. It would guide the energy to a degree. Which would then settle as well as it could. This meant it was now imbued. Allowing it a passive defence fueled by the energy. This defence could be considered its durability. The durability is the ratio of innate quality of the material, density and quantity of energy imbued into it. Quality being the purity while density is how concentrated it is and quantity the amount of energy in proportion to the items capability. Even when the battle met its apex, Din continued carving. Jao stood there still as a statue, worried for the fighters. Only when someone was wounded would she lament. When the last beast king died, only seventeen people had been wounded. Only one of the wounded could be considered sever. But even then, no one died. This was because this particular group had too much offensive power. Their aim true and the power behind every projectile a degree higher than their peers. Jao happily went to inspect the beast kings corpses. This was fine leather. It was a scarce resource. Even Jao¡¯s status, she couldn¡¯t get enough of it. This was because not only would the material be harmed by hundreds to thousands of arrows, the people skinning them didn¡¯t have adequate ability to harvest it. In the end only a portion of an entire beast¡¯s hide would be considered in perfect condition. Then she had to make sure it was delivered to her and not some other crafter. Over the past few months it had become something of a belief that only with untouched beast king hide could they create a tier one recipe. Jao had such lofty ambitions. She also liked the prestige of it. It was the best of the best. And only she and a select few had the right to possess such things. This was how she felt. Din acted in a similar way. He would use the best materials and tools. Going so far as to create a special division that focused on making tools for his sculpting and engravings. They even made burners for Jao so she could burn patterns into leather. Along with specialized needles that could pierce beast king hide. These were all rare things and difficult to make. The shop of course offered a variety of tools. But these tools were inferior to what the people made. It was inferior by design. People only required mediocre talent to surpass the shop¡¯s wares. While Jao carefully carved out the most desirable hide, Din was reading the alerts. Like before they told him the experience bonus had been increased. The village was uplifted a tier. Tier three village, stationed in an un unrated zone. Majority of the information was repetition of previous messages. Only the ratios of experiences gain had increased. There were some buildings made available. Din would build them once he returned. This is what he planned to do. It wasn¡¯t until he gleamed at the information of one of the buildings that his expression changed. He went from a charming half smile to a blank stare.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. It is hard to remain dignified when surprised and concentrating. But somehow Din held a regal disposition that gave of the feeling of self reproach, as if he was mocking himself. He wasn¡¯t scolding himself, he was shocked and due to his bearings, managed to hold onto his concentration. Allowing him to persevere and continue reading. ¡®A lot of things make sense now.¡¯ What Din was reading, was a lackluster summary. This message alluded to returning home. How that would be done was omitted. ¡®This isn¡¯t Earth after all.¡¯ It seemed like an obvious thing. But this was the first time it sunk in and settled. ¡®It was all planned.¡¯ For the first time Din had a concrete explanation as to why his own father asked for his life. But to Din it was only a fleeting realization. He already knew his father was infallible and only working for the great upheaval of the Laq Docte. It was never in question, there was never any doubt. What Din was thinking instead was his upbringing. His cousins and elders. It made more sense now. The more he thought on it, the more it made sense. ¡®I was right all along. I am here to spread the will of Laq Docte.¡¯ Din no longer had a blank stare but one of deep reverence. He went through his memories and only stopped to praise the immaculate preparations. ¡®My cousins, brothers and sisters must be here. They are probably all creating places of their own.¡¯ To Din, it was the most reasonable thing. If any Laq Docte were on this world with him, they would be doing what he was doing. Digging a deep hole in fertile soil, planting deep roots. After an intense reverie. Din managed to read the alerts in their entirety. Leaving only tidbits of inane information. ¡®I have to return home. They will have answers.¡¯ Din continued this line of thinking. Assuring himself that with the ancestors wisdom and through the families infallible means, they would have predicted this outcome. He was also assured that this was the path he should take. He would break new ground and report home. Ready for whatever plans they had in store. After understanding what he should do, he reminisced. In particular he examined the moment he threw himself of that high rise. The feeling of martyrdom that surged through him. It was a type of high he hadn¡¯t experienced before. Now he felt it again, it wasn¡¯t the same but similar. He relished it. This type of feeling didn¡¯t lay further foundation to his firm believes. Instead, reinforced it. He even felt like like discarding his carvings. They were nothing after all. Unconsciously he had begun relying on the carvings as a way to express himself. He didn''t know when or how. But now that the thought of discarding it came to his mind, he felt conflicted. The rarity of this cannot be undermined, to cast it away is to throw away any opportunity he had to become his own person. While Din didn¡¯t realize the severity of the situation, he did feel something new, something strange. It was a strong contrast to his previous zealous high. This befuddled swirl of emotions, left him in a vulnerable state. He was confused, happy and sad. ¡°Look!¡± It wasn¡¯t until these simple words reached him that Din snapped out of this uncomfortable state. He looked up to see Jao. ¡°Perfect condition. What should I make?¡± The large piece of leather was almost too much for her to told up. Her bright eyes and smile were at odds with her bloodied clothes. Even her face had smears on it. ¡®...¡¯ Surprisingly Din was drawing a blank. He wasn¡¯t sure what he was seeing. Jao was near covered in blood. It looked like a disaster had struck. It was only her demeanor that indicated otherwise. ¡°We need to work it right here. We can¡¯t go back until it¡¯s been processed.¡± Jao was caught up in her own atmosphere. She really did feel satisfied this time around. A large part of the beast was completely untouched. Due to the aim and power of the archers. She didn¡¯t even dare image that she could get so much material. Her guards were wearing awkward smiles. She had somehow managed to carve out this piece of leather. Perhaps because of the time they spent together, the first things she wanted to was show it off to someone. Only one she knew that could appreciate it was Din. Din was coming out of a very vulnerable state. This allowed him to be easily influenced, and when he saw here happy smile and messy look, he couldn¡¯t help but be caught in it. He took a good look at the large hide. ¡®Might be enough to cover the entire house.¡¯ He was referring to their shed. And it was indeed large enough to blanket the entire shed. ¡°Maybe a carpet?¡± ¡°That would be waste! Look how smooth it is. Feel it. It has to be clothes.¡± After having his suggestion struck down, Din only smiled and nodded. He saw she was really excited. He didn¡¯t realize that he, himself, was caught up in the atmosphere. They exchanged a few words before Jao begun wantonly ordering people to set up for the processing. She had to make sure the hide was properly worked. Din wouldn¡¯t have cared either way but was now especially amenable in his attitude, even if it appeared to remain the same. In the hustle of it all, he resumed his carving. The time it takes to properly secure this amount of hide was questionable and hard to measure, but Jao would make sure it was enough. With more downtime on his hands, Din began reading the detail information of things. Skipping only generic boosts to already placed experience bonuses. ¡®Difficult but not impossible.¡¯ Din was reading the requirements for some things. It was a bit convoluted. Building A might require something from building B that in turn required something else. It went down like this until it became too hard to follow. So Din took began carving a tree. Every branch was unique, carrying a sense that it came from a different tree. He didn¡¯t need to do it this way. He could write it into his device. But Din had ample time. If anything it was what he lacked least. ¡®I wonder how long this will take. I think I need more people.¡¯ When he thought it through, it always came back to people. The other option was to cease his conquering. Which he would do. They¡¯d have to cut back on any warring, and play defence. But even if he had everyone working only on progressing towards this Flag building¡¯s requirements. It would still would come short. These requirements were things like unlocking a tier of recipe. But in this case not just any recipe but a recipe related to a craft in a specific building. This was because some buildings needed to be upgraded to even begin working on another requirement. This was how it twizzled around and dove into obscurity. Din couldn¡¯t help but stop thinking about it and just work through it with his carving. He¡¯d delegate the work to his betters. He, himself, wasn¡¯t suited for this kind of work. Since he wasn¡¯t suited for it, he¡¯d focus on other things he was suited to do. Like acting as a leader. To make sure the camp was productive where it could be productive. This didn¡¯t mean he was good at doing that. It just meant that he¡¯d make sure the right people would work at making the camp productive, and they were doing just that. It may sound like a useless position to hold, but it was one of great importance. Because Din served as a restriction and could make sure prosperity wasn¡¯t being discarded for expediency. This was another thing derived from the well of wisdom that is the accumulated knowledge of the Laq Docte. The mantra of patience, seen in the great texts came from the longevity of its original inspiration. The ancestor himself. It came to fruition due to the wizened age of Din¡¯s great great grandfather. He was too old, yet young still. He retained the youthful appearance reserved for those just about to bloom. It can be said that it is hard to achieve perpetual youth. And it can be said to be easy. Like most things it¡¯s relevant to the person. And there are few things impossible in this world. Din spent his days chipping away at his newest creation. He soon realized that this particular piece was too small. He had to toss it aside and get a larger, a rather bulky piece of wood. His creation, halfmade was picked up by one of Jao¡¯s guardians. She, the guardian, quickly put it away. Anything made by Din or Jao held some value. She could even sell it to the vendor for some extra points. One reason is due to the fanaticism and other the materials they tend to use. She received some glares, but she let out a soft grunt and pretended not to notice. Only glancing at Jao, making sure she wasn¡¯t stepping on her toes. Which of course, she wasn¡¯t. Jao had no time to pay attention to anything but the leather that was being hauled back to camp. Her eyes rarely leaving it. She had become a bit obsessive. It isn¡¯t surprising. This material would last her a long time. She could work tirelessly for months without running out. It¡¯s value couldn¡¯t be measured. As it was too hard to attain. On the other end Din was worrying about his new material. This bulky piece of wood was hard to lug around. Even with added benefits he received for leveling. He was going to put it on top of the wagon carrying Jao¡¯s leather but was stopped. He felt resigned. They only had three wagons. Two of the three were being used to carry Jao¡¯s leather and the last, perishable food things. The size of the piece was about ten or so inches taller than him and slightly wider as a whole. This wood was lighter than him, but not light enough. After careful consideration, he justified having some of the people help him carry it. He thought to himself that it was a way to conceptualize a problem. With this tree of his, he could make the complexity easier on they eyes. The more he thought this way, the more reasonable it seemed. This decision wasn¡¯t popular with the people forced to carry Din¡¯s pet project, but they wouldn¡¯t complain. They felt slightly annoyed but also a sense of pride. The sense of pride came from the fact that Din was the leader of the camp. A saviour figure of sorts. He was eccentric at times, a great artist to some and had a bizarre charm hard to resist. Just the description alone didn¡¯t sound like he¡¯d make for a good leader. Charm or likeability isn¡¯t required of a good leader. Only perceived as desirable. Whatever people were feeling, Din didn¡¯t care. He cared about the greater scope. The next ten, hundred or thousand years. He wouldn¡¯t live to see hundred some years. Yet he felt deep concern about it. He wanted Laq Docte descendants to prosper, and best he could do was create a place where they could. With the new tier three village, it¡¯s area of influences spread once more. This locked in more smaller unrated support nodes, both occupied and not. There was one tier one village, just starting to spread their influence, aiming for tier two. Whatever it was, Din was happy to see the constant flow of people joining his village. The bonus experience he gained from these small nodes, were negligible at this point. What he desperately needed was more people. More people meant more people crafting. It was impossible for Din to predict how long it would take to achieve his new goal. He wanted to build this flag building and satisfy a specific requirement within it. This flag building was a means of travel. It was expensive for the most generic of purposes, but even more so for what he wanted to do. The building itself wasn¡¯t too expensive. It did require multiple such buildings to have any use, aside from his grand aspirations. This building is meant to teleport people and goods from one such building to another. The basic requirement is having two such buildings and the resource points to activate it. The limitations included a set distance required between two Flag buildings and that they be within Din¡¯s territory. But what Din wanted didn¡¯t need either of these things. He needed to upgrade the building and then pay a price to travel back and forth from this place and back to Earth. There were limitations to this as well. Any one person can only return to their own home planet, and no other planet. They could stay permanently and never return here, if they choose. For all intents and purposes, Din and everyone within Din¡¯s domain could return to their home planet if they satisfied the requirements. While it sounded reasonable. In truth the resource points needed for the travel alone, was beyond even Din at the moment. Perhaps after a few years of accumulating wealth, could Din afford it. On the way back, Din and Jao continued to fiddle with their respective hobbies. While they couldn¡¯t quantify it, they felt the experience was multitudes higher than before. The esoteric feeling only those that met an experience bottleneck could know. To them the sensation was like a calm creak becoming a raging river. While Din wasn¡¯t as concerned about increasing his levels he was intrigued by it, so he did take note of it and did keep it in mind. There were others, like First that took it very seriously. The type of people that chased after experience at all cost were the type of person that sought to increase their personal strength. This was a type of personal obsession, a pursuit of power that Din couldn¡¯t relate to. Jao also couldn¡¯t relate to these people but she still encouraged them, as she did for most things. When it came to a duel, these people would excel but in wartimes, it was quantity over quality that mattered. Even if their influence could change an outcome of a war, it was through strategy and command. It came from boosting morale, something a great leader would do. That is what First and his men did inspire to do in some sense. They felt a strong sense of camaraderie and wanted their men and women to fight to the best of their ability. The most effective tool on the battlefield was the strategy conjured by those capable of entertaining and developing abstract thoughts. There are too many variables involved in a war for a hot headed warrior to take into account. It was instead the cold blooded, calm strategists that would assure success. In a war like Din¡¯s, such strategies were not needed. Their biggest problem was logistics. Delicate rotations of fighting and rest. Food for the entire troop. Near all battles Din and his people fought were with simple beasts. It was a war of attrition rather than one of exceptional strategy. And because the wars were simple, Din could split up his forces. Their superior firepower allowed them completed dominance. These times would change now, Din wasn¡¯t going to expand his territory for a period. But even then he¡¯d have to keep training people and make sure any invasion was dealt with. Chapter eighteen: We craft. After returning, Din was busier than ever. This was by his own volition. There was great restructuring to be done. Schedules had to be changed. The village shifted from a budding militaristic movement to rampant production. To instill people with a sense of urgency they had to think of new ways to motivate. Unlike fighting in a war, producing items required a different motivation. They weren¡¯t fighting for their lives. Thousand failures were expected. This could be demotivating. To adjust efficiency Din¡¯s advisors created small divisions, these division would work amongst each other to a goal. They¡¯d either work side by side or together. It was obvious that a simple quota for production was impossible to set. Some products took minutes while others days or even weeks. Instead they¡¯d have to write their progress. This change was unpopular. People didn¡¯t understand why this had to be done and many felt pushed into it. But many felt it was better than the constant fighting and training. Another grand change was the moving of the shop. It was isolated and guarded, to make sure people didn¡¯t sell materials. Selling fleshed out products was still allowed. People had to be managed. There was also a need for organizing the data from all the reports. There was already a group of people tasked with collecting all available data and categorizing it. Similar to the managers that upheld the rotations, they were allocated more people. Din was thinking about the issue with the tier one village that had cropped up. After they had absorbed all nearby resources, only this tier one village was left. He didn¡¯t want to send just anyone to talk with these people. After mulling it over and some advice he decided only he, himself, could do this right. Din wanted more than just a takeover he wanted all the people, preferably unharmed and alive. What he needed most was people. A lot of people were strictly against sending their leader, when they could crush any resistance with a storm of arrows. Din thought over his other conquering. He even went so far as to talk to First. First had surrendered without much resistance. He had been compensated and could be considered a powerful force within Din¡¯s domain. But First just shrugged and said he went with his gut feeling. He was ashamed to say that he had felt a kind of trust towards Din on their first meeting. It was too embarrassing, even for someone as brazen as him. In the end, Din felt he was wasting time and just tasked an sizeable force dedicated to the military aspects of the village to join him. First requested to join, which is how First became the new commander of this excursion. Jao didn¡¯t go this time around, it was too unpredictable. This was an unprecedented situation. It didn¡¯t take these disciplined troop too long to arrive before their target. They were allowed to arrive directly in front of the bustling village. To achieve a tier one village, one needed little other than enough manpower. And they certainly had that. Their weapons were lackluster, mostly broken branches with sharpened ends. Din¡¯s troops couldn¡¯t help but feel disdainful. What savages. They were even dirty. Even the disorderly sheds left them dissatisfied. It was hard to miss the group of a few hundred strolling into the village and before long a mass of people had gathered, looking at Din and his people with caution. Din stood in the front. His bright blue eyes scanned the crowd. A few unlucky people were caught in his gaze and couldn¡¯t help but feel safe even with the noisy surroundings. The leader of the this tier one village was within the crowd. She had a grim look on her. She had been shocked when she got the announcement about a tier three village. Unlike Din, she acted quickly once she had military power and gather as much land as she could. She was smart and passionate. It was true that this village wasn¡¯t the prettiest. Yes it was messy. The people weren¡¯t disciplined. But she did hold firm hand over the people. She wasn¡¯t originally from this village and had been wandering about with her group of fighters when she found it. Similar to Din, she found it easy to take control. Since that day everything began improving, earning the respect and appreciation of the residence. The last thing she wanted to was relinquish any control. She was going to fight. She had prepared for this arrival. When Din and his men had strolled in they missed all the people in the trees ready to huck down rocks and other stacked up projectiles. But now that she saw them she was questioning the tactic. They had bow and arrows. Every last one of them had arrows in the tens. How would they fight this? As she was formulating a counter plan, Din locked eyes with her. She was dazed, while Din was sure she was the leader. This was because she didn¡¯t lose her composure. Her strong will made her like a lighthouse in the storm. She did feel odd. This person was a good person. This was what she felt. Din finally smiled a reassuring smile, telling her this was all okey. Instead of being enraptured she frowned. What was this? She had never met this kind of threat. She took two steps back but held eye contact. She didn¡¯t realize she did but Din saw. He was surprised. He knew not everyone would be influenced by eye contact alone. Many people in the Laq Docte house were resistance to his pleading and persuasions. But never since he arrived in this place had he met this kind of resistance. He had been warned about people like this. These were strong people. Strong enough to be considered a threatening enemy or a powerful ally. Closing his eyes Din cast his thoughts towards the great word. He needed the holy doctrine in this situation. When his eyes closed. His enemy, this mysterious strong will leader of a tier one village, was released. Once she had her bearings, she felt cold sweat running down her back. She felt an itch, as if tens of insects were grazing on her skin. ¡®What was that!?¡¯ It was hard to describe this feeling. If anything was esoteric, it was this. Only by experiencing this type of manipulation could you understand it. This was because it was a very natural sensation, like sensing the heat of the sun or the chill of the snow. Even without touching them it, you know what it felt like. She was too shocked to feel fear. But she wasn¡¯t too distracted to abandon her plan. She glanced up. This was a mistake, First wasn¡¯t a simple man, maybe his intentions were, but he wasn¡¯t. One near imperceptible glance and First saw it. He didn¡¯t crane his neck. He assumed danger was present above, and wasn¡¯t willing to disrupt Din¡¯s plans by acknowledging it.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Instead First stepped forward and in a low voice whispered it to Din. Din didn¡¯t move and only kept his smile. ¡®If I let her wait any longer she might signal an attack.¡¯ Din was trying to figure a way out of killing everyone here. He treasured people too much to kill them all. But in the end, his own people were more valuable. His own people had grown accustomed to the way they did things. Order and discipline was more valuable in the long term. If he let too many of his people die here. This new influx of people might not measure up. Perhaps it was worth to gamble on it, looking at the grand scheme of things. ¡°Miss.¡± He¡¯d have to see if he could just talk his way out of this. It had worked before. ¡®Even if it fails, it¡¯s better to try.¡¯ She knew he was talking to him. But should she respond? She thought to the moment where their eyes met. She couldn¡¯t help but frown again. It wasn¡¯t much but it was an easy tell. She frowned. This meant he was right. She wasn¡¯t exactly oozing femininity. Her hair short and her clothes more fitting on a bum than a woman. In Din¡¯s eyes it was clear she was a woman. She had shorter eyelashes, she has a narrow jaw and a small chin. It wasn¡¯t enough to call her a woman but Din was sure. She herself wasn¡¯t sure how to feel about it. She was often mistaken for a man, or to be exact a young boy. Perhaps in the real world it would be harder to identify women by things like shorter eyelashes but out here in the twilight, it was easier. They had no mass produced makeup items. By the look of this woman, it wasn¡¯t really definite that she¡¯d even use them if she had the opportunity. She couldn¡¯t help but look down, did these give her away? But then she shook her head. ¡®Impossible.¡¯ No matter the explanation, she couldn¡¯t figure it out. And like any person, she was curious. ¡°How about we sit down and talk about this, miss?¡± Din gave her time to respond, but seeing that she was in deep thought he pushed on. ¡°I can explain some things to you.¡± Din didn¡¯t need them to physically join his village. They were in his span of influence and would contribute to his village eventually. The issue was that this tier one village had only one way to expand and that was towards a budding tier three beast nodes. They would never be able to expand. If by some fluke, a beast invasion occurred near here and clashed with this tier one village, there is low chance that they could fight it off. Din was looking at her and the people beside here were looking at her. Only Din¡¯s people didn¡¯t look at her. These people were calm and ready to attack, and wouldn¡¯t let themselves be distracted. She felt pressure. She held command and her words would decide life and death. The fighter in her wanted to attack, but she wasn¡¯t like Din. She wasn¡¯t callous. To her this village didn¡¯t mean too much. She was a fighter and she was ready to fight. Yet, now she was responsible for thousands of lifes. Understanding the weight, she didn¡¯t see any other choice but try her hand at negotiation. Whatever that was. ¡®Worst case, I kill him.¡¯ She was confident in one thing. If she had to fight this temptress. This blue eyed manlet. It wouldn¡¯t be an issue. This was what she felt and thought. It was harsh to call Din a manlet, he isn¡¯t lacking in his physical prowess. His role as a temptress however had its merits. In all ways but few, Din was a seducer. Everything about the way he conducted himself was meant to appease the viewer. This wasn¡¯t something he was born with, it was something that was ingrained into him. It was taught, and taught with the persistence of a river carving its path through stone. The talks were held in an open area. Their forces far enough away that they wouldn¡¯t hear what they were talking about. Initially she wanted Din¡¯s army to back off. It wasn¡¯t until Din reminded her of her guerrilla army above them that she agreed changed the venue. ¡®Do they not have a river near here?¡¯ It sounded like a reasonable question. But Din was quick to remember that he had a map of the area. A river could be considered close and far away. Too far to do lavish things like bathing. Instead they bought all their water from the support node. This was exactly how they bought materials for the sheds and the generic clothing. Din¡¯s camp did this as well but did not depend on it. ¡°You can sit.¡± Din looked around. There were no chairs here. He was confused for a moment before sitting on the bare wooden floorboards. ¡°I am Din Laq Docte.¡± There was no hiding the pride in his tone. Din always pronounced his name with what seemed like infinite pride. ¡°Omer Kark Ka Re Mo. I¡¯m called Ome.¡± Din felt slight headache listening to her long and oddly pronounced name. He was used to it, but he still found it annoying. Majority of people had names like these. Long and hard to pronounce. Some sounded more like spitting than talking. He wasn¡¯t sure what to make of it. The simplest explanation was that names are not translated. As names are their own entity and have no synonym. Din could only nod. He had a soft smile on. He looked around with curiosity. He was certain this was her shed. She didn¡¯t like the way Din was scrutinizing things. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± She regretted the words when they came out. She shouldn¡¯t be like this, who cares if he looks at her things? ¡°I want you to join me.¡± Instead of answering her question, Din asked her to join him. This could be considered rude, but it was him being polite. ¡°Join you what?¡± ¡°I want you and your people to come under my rule.¡± Din let the words hang for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill your people. How about this? We¡¯ll fight for it. You versus me, you can choose how to fight.¡± It was her turn to be confused. He wanted to fight her? This manlet wanted to fight her? Was he underestimating her? Anyone that knew her would know she was a fierce fighter. No one in the camp was a match for her. Impossible. When she had thought this far, she became suspicious. She thought, maybe he has some secret ability? She had seen many counter attack abilities that were terrifying. Some would daze a person for a moment. And for many fighters, that moment was everything they needed. After thinking it through thoroughly, she decided maybe it was better not to risk it. She gave Din another detailed look. Her eyes scoured every surface. She was becoming more and more sure she could easily defeat him. She had been avoiding it, but eventually her gaze turned to his eyes. Din¡¯s eyes felt bright even in this poorly lit shed. He smiled with his lips closed. ¡®She is not bad.¡¯ He had no idea what she was thinking but he did admire her patience. She appeared to be choosing her words carefully. It is fortunate for Din that he couldn¡¯t hear her thoughts. Being repeatedly judged as weak and frail. Woman like skin and so on. ¡°My village has running water. We have schools for children.¡± Din stopped her for a moment. He wanted her to understand that children were well taken care of. He didn¡¯t make too many assumption about women, but he did make the assumption that women care a great deal for children. ¡°Everyone has a job to do. We will no longer be warring after this. The next few years we will be focusing on empowering ourselves.¡± He was listing positives. But he knew that maybe it wasn¡¯t all positive for her. ¡°We will still need to defend ourselves from beast invasions, and require talented commanders for this.¡± He paused for a moment. Seeing if she was going to respond. ¡°We need talented people to train our people. I feel these things are suitable for a capable person like yourselves.¡± For the first time in a while it looked like she was going to respond. Din in returned gave her a small gesture, indicating he would listen. ¡°I will not be someone''s woman!¡± Din was expecting many things, but this left him hesitating. ¡®What does she mean?¡¯ It wasn¡¯t that Din didn¡¯t understood the words. He just didn¡¯t understand why she would even think about speaking them. He was entirely lost. His smile didn¡¯t fade, but it did look less charming. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Left with no choice, Din just asked her for clarification. But it looked like she took it in a strange way. She let out a small puff of air and looked at Din in disdain. ¡°What do you mean, what do I mean? I won¡¯t become your woman.¡± Din was even more confused at this point. But he had the inkling that she was misunderstanding his intentions. ¡°You can be your own woman. I will assimilate your people into my society.¡± Din paused for a moment. Allowing her to digest his words. ¡°I have a few rules, but for a person like yourself, they are there for your benefit. What I want is for you to continue controlling this village, eventually connecting it with my own.¡± She still had a suspicious gaze but she was liking what she heard. She was still suspicious. But that was because she was narcissistic. She didn¡¯t even consider that he wasn¡¯t after her beautiful self. In her mind she was a powerful, smart and beautiful. It was impossible for Din not to be enticed. She didn¡¯t at all consider that her current appearance was that of a filth covered boy. This made it so that any flowery promises Din made, made her more suspicious of his intentions. Ome, as she was, has tremendous willpower. Her thoughts were her own. She wasn¡¯t easy to influence, but Din was still making progress. Every moment they spent discussing, she felt more at ease. The thought that he was trying to entrap a beauty like herself never went away, but she did feel Din¡¯s conditions were good. Soon her thoughts turned around. Of course he would offer this much. How else would he win her over? He was a bit handsome, sure, but was that enough for a treasure like her? Ome didn¡¯t think so. The only conclusion was Din was trying to win her favor. She could only laugh at the thought, she wasn¡¯t that easy to ensnare. When the two walked out of the shed, Din already had control over the village. Ome was smiling a victorious smile. Every person waiting in the trees came down. Din explained what would happen in the future. What their responsibilities would be. His words weren¡¯t detailed, he would let others explain their rules in depth. When he was going to build some buildings he became conflicted. He felt it would be a waste to build out here. These people didn''t have much. The land was not valuable. It had generic resources, which they were already extracting back at the village. In the end he felt nothing here was worth keeping. After a night''s rest, Din decided he would take them all back. This was moving thousands of people. This included young children and pregnant women. It would take a long time. Din cared about people. He cared about them in the terms he cared about a scarce resource. He wanted even more people. His farms were outputting more than they could reap. They lived in great abundance. It is easy for them to make room for thousands if not tens of thousands of extra people. On the way back, Din¡¯s mood was exceptional. He enjoyed the long trek. He carved along the way. The carvings were shoddy because he was moving. But they were made in a way that allowed him to add detail to them later on. Multiple small statues began accumulating. Some he gave to young children, children old enough to walk around. This action humanized him. But only Din knew that those statues were all flawed and he considered them ruined. It was too difficult for him to carve while walking. Most of the statues would end up having a cut that was too deep to mend. This meant if he kept whittling away, its integrity might fall apart. Chapter nineteen: Allocation. Once Din¡¯s team returned, the large amount of people didn''t shock anyone. The new arrivals expected this much. What was surprising, was that they had living quarters for most of the people. Families were extracted from the common rabble and assigned to a family building. Even before their village was upgraded to tier three, they were still building excess houses. Just like how they continuously expanded farmland, ready to work it at a moments notice. Ome was waiting for Din to come try and win her over. But once Din returned he went back to his casual life. He would take strolls with Jao when he or she felt like it. On occasion he will join scheduled meetings. His council was working their hardest to manage the village. It could be said to be on the brink of becoming a town. Town meaning they had expanded enough, they had venues for entertainment and more access to different facilities than before. Din now had access to advanced systems such as a functioning waste disposal system. This meant toilets in whatever locations he wanted. There was already a a public outhouse. This was about to change in the coming months. Houses were being remade with studier materials and underground plumbing. This was an endeavour Din couldn''t regulate to others. He was in control of building things and couldn¡¯t give that power to others. He was willing to share this ability, but he could not do it. Not yet at least. Everything was done through buildings and their respective upgrades. This was another part of the flag building. Once it was up and running, he will be able to designated a mayor of sorts. A person who rules over a certain amount of land. The prerequisites were the issue. For every regional leader, this is the mayor, a flag building is needed. This also tied in that it would connect the flags together. All Flags built after the first flag are considered subflags. These flags need to be built ten unassigned nodes away from each other and within twenty of any flag building. Din had read this, but as of right now it had no discernable use. Perhaps if they found a rare resource somewhere they might use it. There is also the case where the territory becomes too large to traverse through normal means. Making these flag buildings a worthwhile endeavor. Neither of these cases applied right now. Din¡¯s one and only goal right now was to achieve multiple tier three recipes. He knew he needed at least two different types of tier three recipes. What he couldn¡¯t know yet, was how difficult the process would be. Or how long it took. With no way to estimate the time, he gave up thinking about it. If it proved to be too time consuming, he would focus his efforts of bettering this society. Everyday there were improvements. They came in small increments and at times hard to notice. These improvements were spread across multiple different fields. Din spent majority of his time carving and engraving inscriptions. He could be said to be good at it. This was in comparison to others. Yet he was still not the best. There are two brothers that took up carving some time back. They did this as a hobby. Their designated job at the time was to gather wood. They were very good at extracting high quality wood. They were good at processing it. And unsurprisingly, they were good at using it. This was because they had spent a long while studying wood. It was their job and hobby to do this. They had passion for it. Anyone with ambition could move from one labours job to another before moving towards a more production related occupation. But they didn¡¯t care for this. Many people didn¡¯t want to gain status by producing one thing or another. A large percentage of people liked doing things they understood. People like this would become good at what they did. Maybe they lacked passion or ambition to expand on this skillset. Maybe they just liked the safety of it.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. For whatever reason, these two brothers took up carving some left over wood. These were small pieces, sometimes discarded items. They could easily get their hands on premium product, but they were eccentric. It was a waste not to use the wood they collected and prepared. This was how it started. To this day, these two brothers were not well known for their craftsmanship, but they had long since been recognized for their premium materials. They were more than just laborers at this point. They had their own school of sorts. In it they taught people how to extract various types of wood-like materials and how to process them. Din knew these two brothers. He knew them well. Not well enough to know of their impressive carvings. But he did get most of his materials through them. They made the best wood, so Din gave them adequate resources to allow them to progress further. He wanted more people like them. This resulted in less materials in the short term. But in a few years, it would be returned many times over. It was in this way that Din¡¯s patience shone brightest. It might not sound impressive. Who cares about a bit more wood later on? Why couldn¡¯t they just increase and decrease things as they went along? A hard to answer question. Din¡¯s case would be simple. He lived for the Laq Docte. A person who wasn¡¯t his own person would work for something else with earnest ambition. Din did just this. His goal is always the greater picture. His vision always tries to see further. This is for the Laq Docte. Any form of expediency is only coincidental. Just like these two brothers, many people were finding their talents. Their talents were appreciated and nurtured. This meant that they were also tasked with teaching others. It was hard to manage how people taught. This created varied teaching methods. Most inefficient and poor. Even if it was in a shoddy state. Any teacher was better than none. It relied on the student putting in most of the effort. The teacher would at most guide. This wasn¡¯t the case for the two brothers. They dedicated a lot of effort in documenting each extracting method and processing method. They didn¡¯t have much in a way of teaching, but their wealth of information put them two or three steps above others. Din had browsed through their catalogues. He gained a lot from it, despite never doing a inkling of work. He just understood better why things had failed in the past. More knowledge meant less trial and error. More guidance meant less trial and error. In the end it required less time to achieve desirable results. There was still mistakes to be made. Having experienced people around, it was easier to get criticism on their work. This was in general how things were being done in the camp. The higher the proficiency of the individual crafter, the more they had to depend on themselves. With a community being nurtured, they could now at least communicate with their peers, seek their advice. This further increased the rate of recipes being discovered. Discovering a recipes became more common, but it still didn¡¯t lack admiration. A discovery in and of itself indicated that the individual had in depth knowledge of his creation. These were capable people. Worth nurturing. And that is what happened. This meant they had more freedom but also more responsibilities. This was how things were proceeding. The village was being developed further. A more defined townscape was forming. There was a large focus on creating new housing districts with wider open roads. These were roads that echoed their former civilizations. Large open roads with no vehicles. There were still carts being moved up and down the roads, but it didn¡¯t have the same flavour as a crowd of cars. The beginner shelters were being replaced and the old sheds torn down. In its place were made more community buildings. All centered around crafting. People were getting used to paying things with resource points. The prices were hard to estimate. But only niche items were being sold, as everything else could be bought in the shop. The village only lacked electricity. They still had no machines that required any power. Every job required a degree of labour. Din was not happy with that. Labour was a waste in his mind. Labour should be minimized. He wanted more hands on crafting. This was the bottleneck. But even after reading over every building. Scanning the shop. Even consulting his teams on how they could acquire power and the tools that used them. Right now their largest source of power was the watermill. It was used to grind grain and various other products. The downside of this was that the watermill grinded subpar materials. It lacked the energy people put into it when they processed them. This lowered their quality. Lower quality materials were only acceptable when it came to food. This was not a priority, so they continued milling large quantities of green wheatgrass. It was considered lower quality, but in its fine powder form it made for softer bread. Which remained high in demand. In general, most of the population ate it two times a day. The population keeps growing. This is not only through the wandering people that join but also increasing pregnancy rate. Few months of stability, continued stability alongside an increase in quality of life, has allowed people to settle down. There are still people entering this world. They are confused and afraid. This is the most common type of person to join Din¡¯s domain. While this faction of low level new arrivals is the largest influx of people, they are still a minority. This has been recognized and they are given laborious jobs, to instill discipline alongside a lax schedule. Due to the large amount of productions occuring in camp, from extraction, processing and crafting, their experience gain is immense. This fact would allow them to ignore any fighting. And level entirely by proxy. But this is not allowed and every new arrival is trained to fight. They are trained to fight because the fighting appears to be without end. The fighting originates from the hostile adjacent beast nodes. These beast nodes, acting like an infection, try to spread their influence into Din¡¯s domain. Din has designated people to deal with these infestations. Unsurprising, this is an easy task. While the new beasts have tough hide, higher intelligence and greater numbers. Din¡¯s camp is now overstocked in metal head arrows, theses arrows pierce even beast kings. While the damage they deal is mitigated to a degree, they are reliable. First and many of his greatest subordinates are all capable of commanding their own troops. Ome has her own troops. Her troops consist mostly of her own people but also many of Din¡¯s people. Her role as a commander left her satisfied to begin with. With facilities like toilets, showers, baked food and more, has left her ecstatic. Many people feel this way. The quality of life in the camp has practically skyrocketed in a short time. A few months away, every house will have running water. Improvements from there on will be fewer. Right now the focus is spearheaded towards researching tier two and three recipes. This means the finest materials, processed to the highest degree they are capable of. Just to have a chance of crafting something adequate. Outside of supporting this development. Everything is out of Din¡¯s hands. He can only patiently wait for progress. After delegating work, his time is now reduced to the mundane carving and roaming about the settlement. Chapter twenty: Progression. Din and Jao continued living a peaceful life. Jao has more materials than she could handle. And still had a standing order for more. On the support node¡¯s borders are constant influx of beasts trying to get a footing. Like locust that never seems to end. It destroyed any sense of logic. Even if they beast bred fast. Their numbers were to large. That¡¯s what most people thought. In the case they thought about it at all. It could be said to be odd. But it was still within reason. Even children birthed in the village were growing up at an astounding rate. This has to do with the natural environment they are raised in. On one end the ambient energy is bountiful here. Adding to the energy they are baptised in, their levels continue to increase through proxy alone. The main fault in this process is the mental stability of a child. Growing up too fast doesn¡¯t allow them to reach mental maturity. This is not impossible to combat. Their physical bodies grow like weed. But their life experiences are lacking. The best way to combat this is to educate them. This education should include at least a degree of fighting and crafting. Majority of it is proper socialization. Only when interacting with the more mature populace can they learn proper behaviour. They cannot lack interacting with their own peers either. Its requires delicate balance. And surprisingly Din¡¯s schedule does this naturally. Children will have schooling and free time to spend with their peers. Alongside this they will be learning crafting and physical training with amongst the adults. This fast growth can also be seen in beasts. Their growth competing if not surpassing the children. The grow up fast and wild. Din and the other adults can¡¯t be considered old. Some of the children are quickly reaching the peak of their physical growth. Once this happens, the first generation of children will easily blend into the old generations. The difference in appearance too small to differentiate. The camp¡¯s people are slowly shuffled into a tiers. This is a class system. Meant to distinguish the more important people from the commoners. This is not beneficial to the society at large. But it is beneficial to a ruling class, like Din. And Din¡¯s most powerful subordinates. After calming down any war effort, majority of any unhappiness has diminished. People are still forced to defend the territory at times. But even that is safe. At most their frustration comes with having to travel and spend time out in the wild. A new addition to come out from tailors like Jao. Was a easy to use tent. This has since been mass produced to meet demands. These tents do not do much as the climate in the forest is mild. But the degree of privacy is welcomed. Many different types of long lasting food products have been discovered. Further increase the quality of life for the common soldier. Quite a few cooks have been moved towards border camps. Their jobs to provide a more palatable food. This was initially not popular with cooks. But the benefits became apparent quickly. Unlike most professions. Cooking requires the freshest of ingredients to progress. In the defensive border camps. New meat and fresh produce is readily available. Allowing passionate cooks to improve their skill set. This can be seen from the amount of recipes discovered. Majority of them are now discovered in the border camps. These discoveries didn¡¯t go unnoticed by the those in charge of managing the camp. Soon other materials were sent from the camp.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Materials for the most part were unprocessed. As the requirements for a processing facility was cheap. Unlike places like a forge or an artificers. The tools were easily moved. This was a good thing because it meant Din didn¡¯t have to build a processing facility at every border camp. The fighting at the border camps is constant in a way. But people were organized. The troops have scheduled days off. They had nothing to do but socialize, craft and eat. People in general had the ability to request for amenities in the border camps. Most of the time they would be granted. Initially people had smuggled in various things. They had assumed, from experiences they had from their real homes, that many things would not be allowed. Surprisingly, Din¡¯s troops didn¡¯t require this level of discipline. As long as they fought, spent time crafting or labouring. Their freetime wasn¡¯t of any concern. This lead to some gambling. Simple games invented. These games varied from border camp to border camp. Most popular was a type of dice game. It was the easiest to create. Instead of coming down on this gambling operations, they provided better tools. People were asked to create a variety of games. The materials then carved, forged or tailored. Things proceeded in this way, because Din knew the value of an occupied mind. He himself spent most of his time trying to pass time. Din was taught this. Because the way that the Laq Docte did things, was in the grand scheme of things. It required long periods of waiting. This was a type of macro management. Perhaps not applicable to a small populations like Din¡¯s tier three node. But once the people numbered in the millions it would be important. With the recent boost to experience. It was common for people to see increases in level. Din continued to divide his attributes evenly. The ever increasing Instinct attributes caused him some worry but it was minor enough to be considered a fleeting thought. People like First have already reached level fifty two. It was still increasing steadily. This was a happy occasion for anyone fighting. While the increments of strength the body received with each level is marginal, it bolsters people¡¯s self esteem. This self esteem gives them more capability than the marginal strength. The fighting competitions were already considered tradition at this point. The prices were worthwhile for most. And a good performance allowed people to gain short term fame. This could be considered a budding culture. One Din and his people wanted to nurture. With the larger population, more instances of deviant behaviour could be found. Without prison or real ways to deal with offenders, each instance was judged separately. Only a few people were directly killed for their offences. The people that had caused considerable bodily harm or humiliation people beyond reasonable measure. Humiliation varied but a person forced into sex was considered humiliated beyond reasonable measure. Strict punishment was applied in this instance. And the offender directly killed. There were instances of a person beaten so severely that one of his legs became crippled. The offender was directly killed. This was not only because Din wanted to maintain some order. But he had to instill the consequences of breaking the status quo. Any major infractions that caused the camp to slow down or stop production was considered worthy of torture and then death. This was because the purpose of the camp was continued prosperity. Without a modicum of order, it would easily fall apart. As to who saw to that rules were adhered to. It was easy to do. Din already had a military. The higher ups in the military had the discipline to deal with these situations. Most crimes went unpunished. This was because they went unreported. Especially in cases where the only witness was the offender and victim. Nothing could be done in these situations. People were not all kind. People obeyed laws because doing otherwise was deterred. Simple things like selling unworked materials wasn¡¯t harshly punished. For the largest part they would be directly sent to the frontlines in the border camps. It was also an option to directly gather materials and then some. They would pay up their theft. This was considered enough of a deterrent. But not for everyone. As many enjoyed gathering materials. These people might repeatedly break rules. They were sent to fight on the front lines. The front lines were not as bad as they used to be. But most didn¡¯t want to adhere to the stricter schedules they had there. Border commanders had final say on all matters. Din was loose on most things. But other people were not like this. People that possessed commanding positions treasured obedience. Ome was a commander of a border camp. She enjoyed the feeling at first. But was quick to boredom. She was so bored that she created an arena. Everyday people would fight in small skirmishes in Ome¡¯s arena. The rewards were small due to their frequency. With accumulated winnings one could request to return to town. Not everyone that were strong enjoyed the military life. Returning to town meant they had to take up a different job. Every position aside from managerial was lacking. After serving in the border camps, the soldiers were put into training. This time the training focused on all aspects of crafting. It would begin as general studies before moving towards specialization. People would eventually be moved to a research group. There they would work under talented crafters. At first everyone could seek this time of training. It wasn¡¯t until later that people had to pay in some way to enter. This was because the town still required laborers. After months of crafting focus, it saw no results. This was over seven months of continuous crafting. Majority of the population was now at least educated and somewhat skillful. Of course a whole slew of recipes were discovered. None of this attributed directly to the flag building requirements. Din didn¡¯t worry about this in the least. He knew to be appreciative of even a chance to return home. As this was the ultimate goal. His worries were elsewhere. On one hand he had absolute faith in the Laq Docte. And assumed everything was going well. But on the other hand. He had technically failed his father¡¯s request. He was still alive. He didn¡¯t know if this had adverse effects. He had previously come to conclusion that this was all an elaborate plan. That his journey to this place was preordained by the Laq Docte. Din even believed that many of his cousins, nieces, brothers or sister might be here as well. He had no way to check if any of his speculations were true. All he could do was work towards this flag building. In it he saw hope of reconnecting with his family. This flag building discovery had negative effects on a few people. Jao especially. Ever since the discovery, Din didn¡¯t touch Jao. He now had better alternatives. He would return home and listen to his betters guidance. For others, this might be difficult. To abstain from a fundamental activity like procreation. Din had no such issue. Jao took this as him giving up on her. She did not express her disappointment. Only continued to drown herself in various activities. Din and Jao will still stroll about the camp, sit quietly as they work. But all sexual conduct as ceased indefinitely. Perhaps some might think Din has lost interest. The truth however is that he never was interested. He did things he needed to do. If nothing unexpected happens. The town will continue to grow. People will gain proficiency and eventually reach Din¡¯s targeted goal. Chapter twenty one: Miserly. One of the largest downsides to the calmer environment is that people like First that live to fight, had less to do. It went so far that First even picked up a bit of crafting. This happened because he would check in on the forge. To see if they had any new developments. The only way to improve your weapon was to craft it. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that First had some of the finest weapons the forgers had made. The forge is always busy and Din had built two additional forges and upgraded them all. This left some downtime. Amateurs like First were allowed to test things out. After making his first sword, First fell in love. The strenuous fight against the metal was enthralling to him. This was how many forgers felt. It was a man fighting the metal itself. There was a tempo, a rhythm to it. Just like any fight. Sometimes you had to strike hard, sometimes you had to weave about. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that First was one of the most influential people in the entire town. His presence in the forge evoked interest. It was especially in his direct subordinates. First is a leader. And his men would emulate him in everything. If First jumped, they would jump. The popularity of forging exploded within the ranks of military centric people. This occurrence forced Din to create one more forge. Fortunate for Din, his resource income is staggering. His expenditure next to nothing. This was because the camp was for the most part, self sufficient. They created their own food, tools and entertainment. There are still many things people bought from the shop, sweet food for example. Din would only spend his resource points on necessary buildings. The people could consider themselves lucky that he considered plumbing to be important. The accumulating resource points could be considered large. This is when it was compared to people that didn¡¯t have control over a tier three node. There are many things Din could do to increase his income. Some temporary, some long lasting. But they always came at the expense of the people. In simple terms, it was taxing. He could gain more from each sale in the shop. He could make people buy food instead of giving it away. Many things could change. Din didn¡¯t do this because he didn¡¯t need personal wealth. The camp didn¡¯t require extensive structural costs or maintenance. He couldn¡¯t buy quality material. It had to be gathered by hand and processed. It was only then it could be used. And this was why he put strict rules on what was allowed to be sold. Din couldn¡¯t tell what was being bought or sold. But he saw the amount he was gaining for each transaction. This transaction fee could be used to extrapolate what people were selling. This was how most material sellers were caught. It wasn¡¯t only punished. It was also demonized. It was instilled into society at large. That selling unprocessed or processed material was a sin of sorts. People did become disgusted by the idea. After all, selling materials like that was practically stealing from everyone. Some did make the case that the material they sold was gathered in their own time. But even that was rebuffed and ignored. No excuses were allowed. Din could be this tyrannical because everything else was given to people for free. It was free in that they didn¡¯t need to pay for it directly. They did have to work. The work might be easy and short. They also had to pick a hobby to engage in. This was a type of payment. Not everyone understood this. When tier two recipes were discovered, it was made into a spectacle. The inventor and its subordinates were heralded as geniuses. With every tier recipe of a specific profession, a building became upgradable. The newest buildings were no longer made from clunky wood and bricks. The structures have a slick cement coating and smooth tree beams. The sight made Din remember the ruins he had stumbled on. That building had metal inside the cement. He was still working with subpar cement and wood. He couldn¡¯t help but think how advanced those ruins were. Having thought that far, he couldn¡¯t help but think about a tier four node. If he started now. It would probably take him half a year just to take a single tier three beastnode. It might even be longer. Considering how long the tier two nodes took. After a while he shook his head. He felt this wasn¡¯t important now. With the months more discoveries were made. The increase hasn¡¯t been much, but most of it can be contributed towards the tier three support node influence. After upgrading the area, an influx of energy gathers in the environment. The time it takes to increase quality can different between materials. Quick sprouting plants like grasswheat are quick to adjust. This can be seen in that majority of recipes are coming from food related subjects. Old trees take longer to improve and metals in the ground even longer. Longest are gemstones, the rate of their improvements seems contradictory. Gemstones are a source of materials used like electrical lines for energy, most notable for its use in scription.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. One of the buildings made available due to recipe discoveries and reaching a tier three village is a bestiary and a menagerie. A menagerie is used to hold captured beasts and domesticate them. Bestiary instead is a branch of the same tree and is used to weaponize beasts. These two buildings are the newest addition. If it wasn¡¯t for the flag building, Din would have been thrilled to see this development. The domestication effort had never stopped. All captured beasts were moved to cages. The animals handlers learned new methods to train the beasts. As with everything, if there was a job, there was a person who enjoyed doing it. Many people liked working with animals. Before, every beast would be hostile. This was now changing. Everyday they would learn more and become more adept. Unlike other professions, the bestiary didn¡¯t provide any recipes. What they did was provide a technique to manipulate animals. Such a technique required long term exposure to the beasts. Without it, they beast could only be made neutral. Training required persistence. That aside, Din could now purchase trained beasts. They were expensive. Expensive enough to make him consider not buying one. Seeing his quiet days, he finally decided against it. As time went on and the camp progressed as expected. Materials continued to improve in quality and quantity. With the passing of time, the most apparent changes were the children. They sprouted up like weed. Few months into peaceful equilibrium was found. Work lessened, most of originated from the farming and fighting back any foreign beast invasions. With less work, more people were relegated towards education. This was on all things. Din had long bought any information available. He made this information available, and it was being used to teach children and the people alike. Ranging from poisonous herbs to advanced crafting theory. One thing never changed. That is mandatory hobbies, a pseudo work with less direction and a more abstract purpose than the more direct labourers jobs. With a snap of a finger the endless forest twilight turned into a year. That in turned became two years. Three some years passed since the tier three zone was established. The population steadily increased. With new, wandering outsiders still being the largest factor. During these three years no one stepped outside the tier three zone. The roads to and from the invasion camps became actual roads and not just stamped down grass. Hundreds of recipes came into being. A single tier three recipe was discovered a year ago. This caused a massive celebration. The heralded discoverer created a drink. This drink was derived from popular drinks that gave the user a pleasant feeling and some energy. This could be considered a cooking recipe. As its origin is using farmed or harvested plants to create something consumable. Instead of being a genius. This person stumbled on this discovery. The chances astronomical, but his actions aligned and the system pulled them through the last steps. This drink, similar to alcohol, causes an intoxication. The people lower their inhibition and gain considerable energy. The negative effects are next to none. The effect of the drink diminishes by half with each consumption. If a person ceased drinking, within two days the drink will regain its former effectiveness. This was discovered early as the consumption of the drink was considerable. There was an observable rise in progress after the drink was mass produced. It was named after the creator. Daerer, the drink called Erer. Din had expected the next tier three recipe to pop out after it. It was however far harder to reach the next threshold. In general, it takes multiple generations to establish a foundation of any crafting profession. Or a talented genius that is also fortunate enough to posses materials to experiment with. All Din needed was a talented genius, as the entire town was now centered around fueling experiments. It can¡¯t be called unexpected that the town had no authentic geniuses. Such a person is one in a million if not billions. They had many talented people that stood out. But talent just meant they would progress faster than the average person, they still needed to have passion and persistence. Din could do nothing but continue to patiently wait for the day that they discovered a second tier three recipe. It also could not considered based in cooking. In these three years, Din had never stopped carving and engraving. If anything he began spending more time on engraving than anything else. Jao felt Din¡¯s distance. He didn¡¯t touch her for these last three years. She blamed it on herself. She couldn¡¯t give him children. This how she felt. The reality wouldn¡¯t have been much better, but she would at least know it wasn¡¯t her fault. Din just didn¡¯t see the purpose in a long term plan anymore. He wouldn¡¯t throw away his plans for the future, but with the option of going back home to seek the guidance of his family, everything else lost color. Over the years, a more efficient layout formed. The old village was rebuilt into something more reasonable. The houses didn¡¯t look bad. Everyone had running water, inside plumbing. The roads were sturdier and people now had animals to depend on. Easing many of the more menial labour jobs. Trained animals are not cheap. Their training takes great upkeep and time. Buying one outright, is even more expensive. Majority are considered Din¡¯s property. But this also meant that Din could use them as a reward. Only one person had been awarded a steed of their own. And that was Daerer, for his tier three recipe. Daerer, wasn¡¯t actually talented. He was persistence, clumsy and ignorant. But he was passionate. He was still better than majority of his peers. Daerer would often take his steed and walk through town. Even going on exploration for what he called rare herbs. It is now common knowledge that quality of materials is of utmost importance when trying for a higher tier recipes. What Daerer got when he discovered his tier three recipe was additional information about more exotic plants. He would often set out on excursions with his hundred disciples. Daerer can be said to be the most influential crafter for the past two years. His interests now laid in discovering of rare plants and their properties. Din would have extracted this information out of him, but he didn¡¯t know what tier three recipes unlocked for individuals. Only assumed he would receive the same benefits. Which was wrong. As people progress through tiers, the rewards for progression became greater. They are proportional to the difficulty. To a novice, they will be grandiose. But to an expert, only adequate. Out of all the professions, scription was the most unpopular. Even in comparison to the newest profession, bestiary. The patience needed for scription towers above most. Sometimes a scription requires it to be made in a single stroke. Not doing so, dramatically reduced the success rate. There are many scriptions that appear unconnected. Such scriptions are not relying on the scription to function but the base material. These scriptions only work on specific materials. When looking at the chances of each individual crafter, Din is not behind. His persistence and boring view of life allows him to not drown in the monotony. Like Jao, Din has created multiple tier two recipes. But these things mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps if there were many capable scriptionists. With many of them, it might be feasible to boost their entire setup with scriptions. But this wasn¡¯t the case. There were total of five people capable of replicating Din¡¯s tier two recipes. This meant that six people would have to inscribe one to six or more items per person in the military. This was never going to happen. Instead Din used these scriptionist, like he did other crafters. As rewards for people. Quite a few military men and women have personally engraved weapons or defensive armour. These items are substantially better. They require less maintenance, less chance to break in combat. The perks are obvious to the soldiers using them. These things are still only foundational items. They have no special power to them and are only a more durable version of itself. This is in part because tier two is too low. Tier three is still too low, but there are some exceptions in that tier. Another addition to Din¡¯s passing of time was to inspect gems, how they are extracted and how they are processed. Right now, in these low tiers, these things are all simple. They just require certain finesses. A steady hand that knows what¡¯s valuable. He began to make trips to the gemstone mines. There he¡¯d slowly unearth minerals. Going so far as to build a cabin. This cabin was later expanded into a larger housing, a temporary lodgings for workers and especially, a place for the refiners to work. Din spent a lot of his time there. Sometimes weeks at a time. This was almost neglect. But Din never oversaw any real work. He decided who decided what to do. A figured head almost. When Din began using his own materials, once he took the time to gather and refine, his scription work saw a remarkable improvement. Multiple reasons were for this. One was that he learned more about the how and why of gems. In general it was also because he used only what he thought were quality gems. The refining had its part, but not in these low tier materials, the methods were crude and simple. There is a charm in seeing something done from beginning to end. The feeling esoteric to say the least. And Din got to experience this feeling thoroughly. If anything could dent his near impervious dedication to the great Laq Docte. It was losing himself in these affairs. It is a subtle pleasure. The feeling of a passing year. Something slow and easy. You never know its there until its gone, its almost melancholic. This is not finishing a job. It''s pure creation. Who would say Din didn¡¯t finish anything? He had finished thousands of sculptures. Scripted thousands of items. He created a village, turned into a sprawling town. Town prospering. Who would say he never finished something? Did he not creating something? But that feeling was different. The satisfaction of a job done couldn¡¯t compare. It isn¡¯t pride. It wasn¡¯t hunting and cooking the pray. Only by experience could it be understood. Chapter Twenty two: An era gone. In the perpetual twilight, Din was walking alone. His eyes glazed over. His thoughts on his family. He was stuck in reverie. His hand held a wooden sword. A flowery sword. Any warrior would tell you it was more an ornament than a weapon. This was something Din had carved out from a branch of a tree that he had carved hundreds of items from. This was one of his tier two items. They weren¡¯t difficult to make at this point. But Din almost never created the same thing. Only when passing out rewards would he reproduce something. This sword can be said to be unique. It one of his latest creations. On it are symbols of the Laq Docte family. These symbols have their own meaning. But Din knows them as sacred. Most items Din creates have these symbols engraved on them in some manner. It is Din¡¯s tribute. As all things he does are. Din has been walking for the better part of an hour. His thoughts completely out of his reach. Only when a small bird nearly flaps his wings into his face does he snap out of it. His eyes on the small bird. It¡¯s wings flap so fast they blur. Yet somehow it stays remarkably stable, as if it were sitting down. Din can¡¯t help but think he¡¯s seen this somewhere before. The bird itself begins to move about. It inspects Din¡¯s ornament sword. Something about this item makes it feel good. Not until it sits down on the weapon does it feel content. It¡¯s entire being telling it, this is a good thing. ¡°You like this?¡± The bird¡¯s eyes are closed. If its chest wasn¡¯t heaving up and down gently, it might be mistaken as a part of the sword. ¡°You got a good eye. This a Laq Docte sword. Not that there is such a thing. But there is now I guess.¡± It¡¯s be months since Din spoke so many words. Usually matters are dealt with through their devices. The Town is self sufficient enough to not incur extra work for him. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what these symbols mean. But Great grandfather always wore clothes with them on.¡± Din moved the sword about slowly. He sat down, a great tree resting against his back. The bird shifted about to maintain balance. ¡°But you know. It¡¯s still missing something. Today I¡¯m going to add a symbol to it¡± The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Din¡¯s knife began carving into the wood. The bird shivered with every curve made, as if it felt the pain of the sword. ¡°I like this scriptions because they remind me of grandpa.¡± Not only did the Laq Docte ancestor like these kind of designs, everything he wore had at least one unique marking on them. ¡°I never asked him about them. But these days.¡± Din never stopped moving his hand. He wasn¡¯t looking at his work but instead watched the bird. ¡°These days I¡¯m thinking maybe they were scriptions patterns. And grandpa wore them for that reason.¡± When his hands finally stopped moving the energy in the area oscillated. Din couldn¡¯t feel it, but the bird did, and it swung in rhythm with it. It appeared to take a short time. But Din had spoken very slowly. Every phrase with minutes apart. This kind of sense of time was hard to understand. He could do this because time didn¡¯t seem to move in the Twilight. Only through sleeping and waking up could people feel it. This blissful moment was whisked away by the flickering notification Din was very familiar with. Yet another recipe was discovered. This was what he thought. He had no reaction to it. Only after staring at the bird for a few moments did he focus his mind on the blinking in his peripheral vision.
You have discovered a tier three Scription recipe. You have discovered a tier three Carving recipe.
The carving finalizing the inscription was both a product of his scription and his carving. As engraving was just a different technique to carving. Along with these there was a whole slew of rewards. His map was instantly update. Multiple locations of exotic materials sprung up. He could buy many undiscovered tier two recipes. This included a more indepth extracting method and refining techniques. But the greatest addition was that the flag building was no longer grayed out. This didn¡¯t make sense to Din. He knew there were more things to unlock after the tier three recipes. Yet here he was. Staring at the option to upgrade the building. He didn¡¯t even have to physically move there. With a thought he could finalize it. What Din didn¡¯t know, was that the clauses to upgrade the building were safeguards against chance encounters. Just like Daerer had discovered a tier three recipe. In the off chance that this occurs two times. The safeguards were that an adequate amount of work had to be put into it. The requirements were over a thousand tier two recipes. This requirement finished half a year ago. Something Din wasn¡¯t counting. It could be said a staggering amount of recipes. Most of them were food related. But this was still thanks to the entire town focusing on crafting. Din felt this was unreal. He willed it and the building was upgraded. He read on. His eyes shone. ¡°This is all easily doable.¡± The cost of returning home was breathtakingly large. Majority of his resources points had to be spent and a tier three item had to be sacrificed. The tier three item wouldn¡¯t be Din¡¯s sword. Instead he¡¯d sacrifice the simpler Erer drink. Nothing said he couldn¡¯t do just that. And indeed, he could use an Erer drink. But the quantity was far higher than he expected. It would require at least a few days to manufacture this much. Din arranged for everything to be created. People had no idea what Din was planning. But Din was still considered a leader. A week passed in a blink. Today Din would return home. The highest leaders in the camp were present when Din vanished. They understood the price paid. But the resource points alone was something they didn¡¯t understand. Even if they sold the camp''s resources three times over, they wouldn¡¯t have enough. ¡°He¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°He just left? He didn¡¯t even say goodbye.¡± This was who Din was. None of them mattered. Not even Jao got more than a glance. He had hamstered his resource points and was finally rewarded for his miserly ways. Din would wake up somewhere on Earth. What he did from there, that¡¯s for him to know. Presumably he would return his family. The people he left behind were left without a leader, but in its place was a working government. Whether it could stand the test of losing its founder, is hard to predict. Unlike Din, Jao was a person of emotion. But her stance towards people was like a wide net. Din was gone, but she still had her people. She cared for them as much as she cared for Din. Whether this was the end of Din¡¯s journey is difficult to say. One thing is sure, he is no longer the person who he used to be. Whether it is enough to test his resolve, is still unknown. And that is all there is to this chapter. To this introduction to the person who isn¡¯t his own person. One, Din Laq Docte. Loose ends and all.