‘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´ll 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.

“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.