The teenager led Leo Moon through < Dragons > base.

While walking around, Leo felt excitement in the air.

They walked to the reception near the entrance, where they found a young black woman with deep purple eyes and long purple hair waiting for them.

"Good afternoon, Sir Moon. I'm Engineer Dinna Mortez. While our people prepare to meet you, would you like a tour around?" She asked.

"Who would've thought?" he whispered.

"Excuse me?" She replied, confused.

"Hello, survivor. How are you?" He asked as he slightly bowed.

Dinna looked at him, with slightly surprised eyes, before bowing back and answering: "We've been great, thank you for asking."

"Great to hear. And I'll surely accept the tour."

"Then, please follow me, Sir."

As they walked, Dinna took the initiative to explain their history.

"Our faction was named < Dragons > by our leader Ginn. He began to work on its conception in his early teens. When you see people around, consider that some of us joined him as kids. And because of that, we're quite united. Currently, our main focus is high-end research and trade. But we also have an assortment of hidden businesses and units, bringing variety to the table."

She slowly went through the introduction they had prepared.

They went around the base, showing Leo how the group split into departments or small units.

While showing Leo around, she talked about their achievements and their work. Although Dinna never went into too much detail, she quickly painted a general idea of the faction's compass.

Unsurprisingly, most of her talk entered one of Leo's ears and exited in the other since most of it was some general statistical talk or mundane details.

However, she achieved one lasting impact. Leo saw how big the net cast by this group was. From developing militant power to medicinal personnel. They researched many artifacts and continuously worked in the trade business. They also dipped their toe in the science of alchemy, blacksmithing, and arrays. And above all, they did this while maintaining their feet on the ground.

'They're a true Sect, more than many Sects around this freaky world. The problem is: can they grow and expand? Working well in a small group of friends is much easier when compared to the work involved in building a Sect, Empire, or whatever.'

"I'll show you one last thing before I can let you go."

"For a small growing faction, I see no shyness," Leo commented.

"We cultivate the idea of trying, as the faction doesn't need everyone reaching for the maximum profit. So, there is always an incentive to experiment and develop new ideas. Since some of us are remarkably good at making money, our expenses are okay if the money-burning is within an acceptable range. And anyway, Ginn is the one pushing this the most."

"It's not a bad system. The only issue is if it fails, it's even more miserable. Because once one tastes such freedom, it's rather difficult to adapt again to something else. The sweet freedom and friendship one day might become your worst nightmare." Leo remarked.

"You talk like we might fail?" She asked while smiling.

"Failure? Sure, that wouldn't be surprising. You would surprise no one by failing. I wouldn't be surprised, you wouldn't, and probably, very few would. Instead, you seek to be surprising. Aren't you all walking on a fine line?"

As Leo talked, they entered their last stop on this tour, a laboratory-looking room.

Inside this room, one fancy table occupied each corner, each table storing some Array's research.

"Oh, arrays?" He asked.

"Yes, this is one of my labs. Here, I work with the experimental part of my research. You can glance at the level of technology we're trying to reach."

"Is this why you were up for doing such a menial job as leading a tour? Compared to your usual work, preparing and doing a tour must be boring."

"Indeed, my passion for artifacts and arrays fills my days with excitement. But, introducing my work and family to someone like you did too. It's my privilege to meet a Master in the field I love. So how could this be boring?"

"How about if they chose you as the face of the faction? What if you must meet every single guest from now on?" Leo asked as he looked around the room curiously.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"If they're all incredible people, I wouldn't mind. Wouldn't that all be amazing opportunities to learn from great teachers?"

"Not everyone is a teacher, as some are only great students. But, yeah, meeting great people is always fascinating." A sincerely happy smile appeared on Leo's face.

"But I don't think you would give up your research for it," he added.

"I wouldn't, but I wouldn't mind cutting some other work."

"Sir, can I ask why you were so surprised about the arrays? Why did it sound like those are the first ones you saw today."

"They are. The others weren't arrays. No, alright, they were too, but they weren't ARRAYS. Those were more like products, one-piece solutions, or whatever you call them. While useful, they aren't quite interesting."

Leo walked to one of the tables.

"But look at this. A miniature array and tree connection, exploring some new grounds on mutation."

Leo inserted his hand in the array and touched the little tree trunk with a smile.

"Shouldn't Arrays be a pathway to a means? Isn't that beautiful? Making it real and useful to you and other people?"

"Sure, beauty is found in the over-optimized circuits, where it does the most with the least. Beauty is also in symmetry and perfect spatial arrangement, etc. There is indeed some beauty. However, I don't find it interesting to look into it."

"This isn't that complicated or groundbreaking yet." She pointed at the small-sized tree.

"But it aims for something..." He whispered.

"Think about it. Why were you satisfied with following me around? I'm sure you've much else to do."

"I feel it's a privilege to meet someone with your level of expertise."

"What you identify as mastery... mastery... mastery..." Leo stopped his sentence and looked down. Dinna couldn't read his mood, but she understood he got lost in his thought.

"Mastery... What is the difference between mastery and this room?" He asked, his eyes focusing again.

Dinna looked around. Putting her hand on her chin, she thought hard.

She thought about the report about Eloise's treatment. Next, she pondered about the four little projects in this room. But she couldn't pinpoint it. Those were just things she hoped to do once her skill increased enough.

"Those are like your toys," Leo said and then paused.

"You toy with things out of your expertise, and for mastery, you would need to toy with things out of everyone's fields."

"And this is why mastery is relative..." he whispered.

"Look at this again. Don't you want to make the tree into an Array? Rather than only use it as support? Even this is reaching for interesting questions."

'I didn't even try it yet... Did he figure it out from the arrangement?'

Leo walked to another table and pointed at a marble slab.

"Then, look at this other one, a standard complex transmutation Array. Your expertise shouldn't be there to modify this since it's quite advanced and annoying. And here, why would they think spirit energy is superior while transmuting one form of energy into another?" Leo said as he pointed to one area in this complex array.

"You should go bother Ginn about energy. You may get inspired," he added.

"Isn't spirit the only energy capable of altering the laws of nature?" She asked, crossing both arms in front of her chest.

"And is that a positive?"

"Is it negative?" Dinna raised her hand and scratched the back of her head, confused.

"Such form is the odd one out. It might be fantastic, but I see no signs of it being superior."

'Superior... superior... superiority... control... balance... inferior... The laws of nature always fight back. Excluded.' After taking the hint, Dinna readily arrived at the little idea Leo intended to pass.

"I see," she whispered.

"It is what it's and not what people built a make-believe out of it," he added.

"Sir, the tree..."

"Aren't the answers a bit more interlaced than you thought?" Leo asked.

He then continued: "When talking about knowledge, sure, there are things we can't do. But you should wonder how many of those could you add a yet to the end?"

Leo walked towards the other experiment table. He saw a shield and some notes by its side on it, which caused him to think carefully.

'Genesis? No. Gee? What was it called? Oh, what was the reference to that game? OH! Aegis. That's probably Ginn's fault.'

"Some are outlandish." He said out loud.

"AH...OH. Wait, Sir, sorry. AH... What did you say?" She asked as she got out of deep thought.

However, Leo chose not to repeat it.

"I may not get to teach you much, but I want to give you some insight. Hopefully, you can return and share such insight with your family."

"Sir, did you meet my kind before?"

"Maybe? I find your clan a bit too pitiful. The whole hunting scheme was too much bullshit. And I like purple."

Dinna belonged to a group of nomad Clans with origins on an island. They lived like everyone else until the main church from the north, the one the Earthling belonged to, decided to hunt them.

No one knows why, but they orchestrated a whole scheme.

At first, everyone thought it was some regular conflict, but things kept blowing out of proportion, event after event.

After some time, people eventually caught up on how the disputes were so abnormal. And how the Slet Church always overreacted. However, when others focused on them, it was already too late. They had killed all big clans by that time.

Dinna's ethnicity almost went extinct because of that. But even if they didn't, now, they were only a shadow of the past. Their numbers couldn't compare, and much of their knowledge was lost.

In the past? They were a major tradition-rich middle-sized ethnic group. Today? Most wouldn't even consider them a relevant minor ethnic group. They lost too much.

"How is liking purple relevant?" She asked in a sad tone, remembering their history.

"Unfortunately, it is. I may sound rude, but that's the truth. I wasn't there, and I'm no savior. While I may help one, or another, I couldn't change the flow of history. And you know what history has a lot? It's filled with things dying: People, Gangs, Companies, Organizations, Factions, Clans, Sects, Churches, Ethnic Groups, Kingdoms, Republics, Empires, and whole Islands. Things die every single day." 'Who knows when this world might expire too.'

"Didn't we survive?" She asked, her eyes watery.

"You? Yes. They?" Leo shook his head. "You can, however, build some new cultural baggage. Related to that, I would ask you: What are YOU good at?"

'You? Us?' She pondered.

"But, maybe, I'm being too preachy. I'm sure YOU will try your best to survive anyway."

Leo walked towards the last table. And animal remains rich in energy came into sight. His eyes wandered around until they stopped on a particular skull, a wolf skull.

However, the skull didn't seem out of place or unusual. Indeed, it was only an average skull of its kind.

Nevertheless, Leo's eyes focused on it, and eventually, some memories surfaced in his mind as he began to daydream.

---

In a cold forest, the snow kept falling on this winter night as Ben sought something using an artifact interlaced in his left hand.