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.

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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.