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.

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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.