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.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

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.