A lot of Rak’s plans need time now. He could try and micro manage Url or look over Arlina’s son Sevon, his new alchemist, but that isn’t who Rak is.

“The only thing that doesn’t seem to have a limit right now is my level. I’ve already reached level nine from practicing and travelling alone.”

Discovering new areas or practicing abilities can all return experience. Namely when an increment of progress occurs, the person will gain experience equivalent to the achievement.

In chaos theory a person’s level is bound to their job. Initially they start with a clean slate and can only reach level ten. After level ten experience required to level becomes absurd, not theoretically impossible, but worthless. This creates a lot of unranked level ten people in the world over time.

Rak’s current threshold should be beyond level ten but the harsh reality is that to level Rak will have to break through into tier two. There are also other limitations within each job respectively.

Experience, proficiency, tiers and job advancements.

Experience can be seen as a type of wisdom while proficiency as trained muscle memory. To be proficient in something you need to practice relentlessly. Knowing how to ride a bike is wisdom. To ride a bike expertly is proficiency.

“Once, no. If I find some prospects from the library endeavour, I can begin commissioning more buildings. The cost in the beginning was cheap but it increases with every building I commission. At this point I should try to find someone to build the buildings for me instead.”

Rak’s first house and brewery was something he built after scraping together quest rewards over a period of approximately a month. Now his farmhouse and second house cost multiple times more to build.

“The problem is most people seem to have no discernible skills and if they do its centered around fighting. Either people like Url are rare or they are hiding themselves.”

The more he thought about it the more he felt it was unlikely that people would do nothing all day. Somehow people made a living. Of course, making a living is as simple as completing small tasks and be awarded a few copper coins. Those copper coins would easily buy them a weeks ration of cheap Government dispersed foodstuffs.

Rak should know this much, at one point he had completed a quest to help an elderly man harvest his crops. In general it is possible to mass reap crops but that’s costly investment to make. Mostly Government official set up such operations to meet Chaos theory’s demand for cheap crops. This a part of logistic management of a government worker.

Normal people can easily put down their own unranked vegetables, wheat and fruits. They will have to manage the farming themselves, which is relatively easy, and then harvest. These are trivial things but labour is still labour.

“It's too bad Town hall doesn’t require people to register their abilities. Perhaps I can pay people to register with me?”

Rhythmic tapping of a finger sounds out in Rak’s house.

“Contests, recruitment. What will make people divulge personal information? Will they be suspicious if I offer to pay for it? There are few tens of thousands people residents in Alp town. And Inte village probably has just as many.”

There is a taboo in asking people what their abilities are. But there are also organizations that require it upon joining them. The problem is Rak doesn’t have such an organization.

“Should I set up a school? For every person of every age. No, I’d still need to find teachers.”

Alp’s school is only a few weeks duration twice a year and is held by Town hall. They teach people to read, write, basic arithmetic and finally a short explanation about town life. After that they are on their own.

As reading and writing are hidden skills, learning them once is enough to last a lifetime. Basic reading is an extension of the hidden skill reading for example. This helps not only the town's folk but also people from the real world that previously could not do these things. Those situations might be rare but they do exist.

“At this point, am I even creating a business? I feel like I need to create an entire industry.”

In the real world Rak has no fingers in generating base materials. There are always production facilities in place already selling materials wholesale with low margins. But in Chaos theory there seems to be a lack, perhaps only in cities can you find a reliable supplier of quality materials.

One example is the paper Rak owns and the notebooks he’s bought. They are all low grade materials and are really not valued. Higher grades of paper are used by alchemists, architects, formationists and others.

If Rak wanted a steady supply of quality paper he’d have either create his own workshop or go buy it from a supplier in the city. There is no doubt that the upfront cost of the paper and then the delivery cost would sting.

“That might not be a bad idea. With Chaos theory’s growth rate it shouldn’t be too far fetched. If a horse can reach early adulthood within six months of conception. Any other material should be farmable.”

Rak is not incorrect in his assumption. If unranked materials are the thing he’s after. Tier one and above might require certain environments to thrive. Difficulty does not mean its an impossible task.

“If it's just simple farming there should be people in town that know how.”

Rak never intended to create products he couldn’t sell in bulk. His animal training endeavour is for the sake of utility, not profit. In a sense Rak is setting up his own network of transport. The other animal companions or animals of war are a side project.

“For now I can spend my days relaxing. If in two months I see poor recruitment results, I’ll have to convince people from cities to join me, or collaborate with unranked workshops.”

Over the next week Rak really did relax. Url came and went, barely speaking to Rak, only mentioning some beasts he could grab on a trip. Rak of course didn’t reject the idea and only reminded him to try and bring a male and female.

Rak would often lounge around town, spending time in the library or drinking ‘expensive alcohol’. It can only be considered expensive to normal people. And there is little other Rak can spend his tens of gold on. Only in cities is it possible.

The alchemy refinery got built after Rak failed to find people capable of building a better building than what can be commissioned from Alp town. Granted he didn’t look far, only put in some words with Town planner Ung, who despite being an architect surprisingly has no connection to house builders.

This doesn’t come as a surprise as there has been very small demand for house building abilities within Chaos theory. Beyond from the super wealthy, and they’d most likely nurture their own or have sufficient connections to find one.

Sevon had visited the refinery twice since it was built. Rak asked him to try and refine superior food for his two horses. Not exactly a glamorous job for an alchemist but the boy was very excited about it nonetheless.

“It’s almost noon. I should go meet Ung.”

Aside from Town planner Ung, Url and Arlina, Rak barely interacted with other people. Of course he spoke to servers in restaurants and taverns but that was the extent of it. Ung and Rak have been meeting for lunch for the past five days, making it a daily affair.

“You’re already here? They let you out early?”

By the time Rak and his two horses strolled by the Laughter’s medicine Ung was already leaning against the back of a wall with a drink in his hand.

“Who is going to stop me?”

Rak leapt down from his horse and they immediately began walking away, a small pouch around their necks with ten silver coins each. Surprisingly they have been ‘tricking’ people to give them food or even deviously stealing it.

The first few times he just scolded them and eventually tried a new method. As it turned out the pair of horses enjoyed spending coins as much as they enjoyed messing with people. Rak still got complaints but there were far less of them now.

“Look at them. What a pair of devils.”

“Those horses of yours are too smart for their own good. At least they haven’t harmed anyone.”

“I talked to Url about it and he didn’t see it as a problem.”

“Isn’t he working for you now?”

“If anything I feel like I’m just enabling his hobby. He’s finally going to capture a new animal. Something east of Jurne town. I didn’t even know there was anything there but apparently there is a new settlement near there.”

“Jurne? Really? I haven’t heard anything about this. How would Url know?”

“Don’t ask me. If it isn’t about animals he won’t respond.”

“A new settlement huh. That’s interesting.”

“Interesting? Why?”

“Let’s find a place to sit first.”

Inside the Laughter’s medicine are a few regulars Savan is diligently preparing for the incoming noon traffic. Arlina in back in the kitchen preparing as well.

“So, why is a new settlement so interesting?”

“Because of how they are created. Either someone cleared a high grade Strange zone and got lucky, a city completed a long term quest or Chaos theory created it.”

“I see.”

“Considering the location it would be Hampter who created it. But I have heard some strange things have been happening recently. You know Inte’s population has surpassed Alp town.”

“Right. It is my best client to date. Each week we have to send tons of beer to them.”

“Kante’s population has been increasing as well.”

“I haven’t gone to Kante yet. I should find time to expand my network. The travelling cost is cutting into how cheap I can offer my beers but as long as I don’t have to travel to or beyond a city it should be fine.”

“My guess is that Chaos theory set up this new settlement to spread the population. Hampter is too young of a city to be expanding on its own.”

“What if someone cleared a Strange zone?”

“Not impossible but it is the most unlikely event. Of course I’m just guessing.”

Rak nodded and sipped his drink, their food still on the way.

“So still no person showed up from the library recruitment?”

“Not yet, but there are still hundreds of visitors a day in the library.”

“Yes I’ve noticed.”

Every time someone enters the library and invokes Rak’s contract a single copper is removed from Rak’s inventory.

“I’ll have to ask you to set up additional fliers to advertise my recruitment. I need to offer people more incentives.”

“Alright, send me a draft of the flyer and I’ll see it done.”

The pair finally calmed down and just relaxed without talking much. They chatted when they wanted to do and relaxed in silence when they felt like it. In the silence Rak began letting his mind wander.

“I can’t offer people a place to live but I can offer to provide meals, coins, freedom to experiment and items to work with. Later on I can properly utilize them.”

From copper to gold there is quite a bit of difference but to Rak these things were almost meaningless. If Rak has to spend ten gold a week then that’s what he’ll do.

“I’ve never had to deal with these issues before so I can only take it one step at a time.”

Rak’s reputation among the town’s people has been increasing, this sort of reputation is very similar to real life. It can slowly fade away or rise to a level of ‘celebrity’. Rak’s reputation with Alp town government has similarly continuously grown, this reputation is permanent and can be considered an ‘town level’ the same way Rak has Manipulator levels. These things will not decay over time.

“I’ve got confirmation from Inte. They aren’t against being absorbed. The recent influx of people has caused a bureaucratic nightmare. They have lines to their village centre, and it's not even half the size of our Town hall.”

Ung was still staring out a window when he spoke.

“You seem very tired these days, Ung.”

“It’s finally happening. I might be the first town in over a hundred years to make this sort of progress.”

“Congratulations are in order then.”

“Wait til its all be finalized. I actually need your help with a few things.”

“Oh?”

“Inte has a need for many things, food included. I can deal with the food but they also need armors and weapons.”

“Armors and weapons?”

“It’s not rare for people to sustain damage when they travel into the Endless mountain range so they can need a new set of armor every week or even every few days.”

“You want me to set up workshops?”

“That or set up a caravan to Trove, Hampter and Long. Whatever way we can get more armors and weapons.”

“I’ll commission a forge then. What kind of armor are we talking about?”

“Any kind. Mostly leather.”

“I’ll add some incentives to my recruitment then.”

“You know I’d offer to help with those if I could.”

“I know, I know.”

Even though Ung has the authority to spend the town’s ample treasury he can’t use it for himself.

“Has your brewery leveled yet?”

“It should sometime next week.”

“That’s great news.”

Rak nodded.

“My profit margins will increase I suspect. Of course the happiest is Olric. He’s been spending more and more time in the brewery. He has three kinds of beer and two spirits.”

“He’s become a popular man recently.”

Olric has accumulated wealth from his work with Rak over the past few months and his reputation in the nearby towns and villages have skyrocketed. And especially within Alp town where he can’t walk down the street without being greeted several times.

“Do they have any other conditions?”

“This a bit embarrassing.”

“Don’t worry about, aren't we friends?”

Ung gave Rak a side eyed glance and then resumed staring out the window.

“They want cheaper beer.”

“Don’t tell me.”

Ung turned towards Rak waved his hands in the air dramatically.

“What could I do? They are all surprisingly drunks! They wouldn’t budge on this.”

Hearing Ung, Rak remembered his visit to the village Inte and how developed their drinking culture was. To the point of having a few permanent regulars.

“It’s fine. With the brewery leveling up I can afford the discount. How much?”

“They wanted fifty percent discount.”

“On top of my forty five?”

“I negotiated it down to thirty.”

“That’s fine. If that what it takes then that’s what it takes.”

“Good. then I'll officially put up a public town quests when I get back later. Come see me sometime today or tomorrow to receive them.”

Aside from managing Alp town, Town planner Ung can also issue quests on the town’s behalf. The town will also generate quests on its own periodically. For example it can request additional food stuffs or extermination of pests.

“A tannery is something that specializes in working with leather but I can also get as more generic building that also works with cloth and have Sevon refine leather for me.”

Aside from metal and leather armour, it is possible to wear lightweight armour similar to cloth. This type of armour has lesser innate physical defensive attributes but for people who excel in energy related abilities will synergise with it to a point it becomes just as defensive as metal armors.

The defect of armours that aren’t metal based is their low durability. A dramatic fight might ruin a piece of cloth armour while metal armour could still endure a few similar situations. Same of course applies to leather armours, which are considered ‘living’ and as such it easier to amplify them to the same level of defence as metal armours. This is why leather armour is usually the most sought after.

“I don’t have enough information to go on. If I assume that a refinery won’t last me in the long term I still think it’s worth it for now. Especially considering that I already have a refinery up and running. Originally it was to support my animal food requirements but this is good as well.”

After speaking to Sevon a few times and reading up on some of his alchemist books Rak’s understanding of Alchemy has improved. In particular it seems that alchemy is a middle point, a sort of jack of all trades and it is hard to say what they really do.

Alley, the advanced hunter, is also an alchemist at her core. She later went on to become potion centric. In simple terms she uses misclenious materials and refines them into a digestible form. She could easily have gone down the route of pure refining as well.

This sort variety within a job is common amongst the different jobs. It is to the point where a ranger can begin focusing on melee combat. They divorce their ranger roots and transition into a warrior variant job.

“If I want to really prepare for the future I should spread my roots further. I can set up similar situations as I have with Sevon. If I only look for people once I need them it’ll take weeks or months to prepare.”

It is not odd that Rak’s thoughts have lead him to this point as the future is unpredictable. Or better yet, Chaos theory is unpredictable.

“I need to buy more land If I can.”

“Ung. Will the land rise in cost if we absorge Inte into Alp?”

“Hmm. Yes. With population doubling Chaos theory will probably adjust it’s over all costs.”

“I’ll need to buy as much land as I can before we merge then.”

“Before we merge, you’ll know.”

“Great. When do you expect the merger to start?”

Ung gave Rak another of his looks.

“That depends when we can promise them those armors and weapons.”

“So you're putting this all on me?”

“Who else is so ambitious? You know I was almost content in just managing Alp before you came around.”

Rak downed his drink and laughed with Ung. They had talked about expanding and later making Alp into a fully fledged city. Of course a city required more than just ample space to occupy but absorbing Inte is the first big step.

“Will I be able to buy more land after the merger?”

“Most definitely, but like I said, it becomes expensive. I can’t say by how much but i’m certain it’ll increase in cost.”

“That’s good. My farmhouse already takes up majority of the land I recently bought. I need more land to set up some high quality farms. Without proper materials my new animals won't reach peak tier two according to Url.”

“It’ll depend on your Alp government reputation but you should be able to do it.”

Having Ung giving him information that only someone intimate with the Chaos theory governments system gave Rak a real advantage over other people. And yet Chaos theory didn’t prevent this sort of situation.

Chaos theory might allow people to directly occupy a town by force. If people gather enough strong people they might do exactly that and Chaos theory would look on without a shred of emotion.

“I’ll be fine. If my armory, refinery and weapon crafting facilities take off, I’m sure I'll get enough reputation with those alone.”

Everytime Rak pays tax to Alp town he gains reputation. Also when people who work for Rak pay tax, so does he gain a bit of reputation. There is also the case where people use his goods to better the town or garner it more wealth, Rak will also gain more reputation. Rak ́s brewery has done more for him reputation wise than his ‘free’ public library exactly because of tax.

“If I want to sell armors and weapons I need to know who sells them.”

“Ung, I’m thinking of taking another trip to Inte.”

“A trip? You can leave now and come back by nightfall if you want.”

“That’s still a trip.”

After Rak’s horses reached peak of unranked and his horse riding skill reached tier his speed increased considerably. Even going to all surrounding towns in a day might be possible.

“I hadn’t given it that much thought but I have a lot more freedom to travel with how fast my boys are.”

As Rak let these thoughts wander a bit he realised he should make time to reach all towns and villages that don’t require him to enter or pass a city.

“Who sells weapons and armors down in Inte?”

“I didn’t check on it but the village centre sells majority of them as they come through Alp’s supplies. There is also some level of production going on down there.”

“Is that why they sell their surplus materials rather than crafting them there? It's a wasted opportunity if you ask me.”

“I don't actually deal in the selling of those materials but they are indeed sold in bulk and sold in one of the three nearby cities. This is also where we get our weapons and armour to sell to them.”

“So its a government thing?”

“That’s right. There are very few trade routes that go through here so we have to commission our own supplies through government contracts. These are unpublic public quests.”

“Unpublic public quests? What do you mean?”

“Anyone can complete them but usually we just talk to people like Url who are willing to drive a carriage with supplies back and forth.”

“He really does enjoy is solitude.”

“If this were a proper business we wouldn't be wasting these trips. We rarely manage to fill half the carriage inventory slots.”

“That’s a lot of wasted potential. But this is good for me.”

“Indeed. Indeed it is Abs.”

“Sometimes the key to a successful business is efficiency above everything else. Quality can wait.”

“Wise words, I’ll have them printed in the Town hall.”

“What?”

Seeing Rak’s surprised expression Ung laughed heartily.

“Joking, I’m just joking.”

Over the next few days there was little to no changes so Rak decided to bite the bullet and travel to the nearest connected towns and villages. There are specifically six places Rak has to travel to.

From Kante village to the north and west of Torp town. From there to the villages connected to Tyr and lastly the village vest of Jurne town. Even with Rak’s horses he spent a couple of days travelling. And only returned on the third day.

The profit margins lowered considering the transportation distance to these places and added onto that Rak can’t be too efficiency in his deliveries, having to travel to one village and return to a neighbouring one after a few days.

Later on Rak will have to adjust his contracts to only deliver on specific days once a week so he doesn’t waste his driver’s time. With that he’ll be able to lower the price again, which will most likely go well over with everyone involved.

On the second day of the third week since Rak and Ung set up the new public library three people responded to Rak’s recruitment. One young man with shifty eyes and and forty something woman and an elderly man.

“I had been expecting someone young like Sevon. But this is fine as well.”

The young man is called Perlid and developed an interest in food. Surprisingly he did not want to become a cook but a farmer. Or to be specific, he wanted to collect higher quality materials so as to create better food with.

According to Perlid his mother is a great cook and she always told him the most important part of cooking is good materials. This is why they have their own garden where they grow various vegetables.

The woman, Nurin, has a keen interest in creating clothing, perhaps not unusual for women in general. Rak welcomed her. He had a plan to move her from using just cloth to leather as well. As to how, he still doesn’t have a scheme hatched.

The last one is an elderly man, who like Url, enjoys working with animals. He has picked up generic taming abilities from reading Rak’s donated books and practicing by himself. He goes by the name Old Wit, a nickname of some sort.

Each of them were given a loose contract for now, similar to Sevon they are all asked to hone their abilities. For now Rak doesn’t have the steady supply of materials or customers to have them mass produce something for the public market.

One and a half month in, Three horses are pregnant and two different species of four legged animals have been set up within the farmhouse perimeter. Similarly Url and the new hire, Old Wit are attempting to breed them as well.

While many things happen, Rak has little to do other than reiligate work. Most of Rak’s time goes into training and reading. And loitering around with Ung. The two have become somewhat notorious for day drinking.

Rak’s brewery brings in a sizeable sum every week, enough that Rak cannot spend his coin quick enough. Reaching over one hundred and sixty gold coins.

The biggest issue Rak is facing is the four siblings that have recently arrived and are staying within his guest mansion. Rak delayed meeting with them for two days already and today he’s finally resigned to march on in accordance to Devion family etiquette.

“There is no honor in hiding. I reported my progress because I am confident.”

Although there are things Rak tried to downplay, the other family members have been playing this internal family game for longer and with far more attentiveness than Rak. They immediately saw through Rak attempts to downplay his progress.

Even though a few family members have managed to set up a successful business within Chaos theory they still land in the same issues Rak does, lacking human resources. Some have taken desperate actions and personally taken up production job to facilitate their business growth.

All in all, no job is bad but there are certainly jobs more suited with a person’s personality than others. Not only that, some later higher tier jobs depend on other jobs to reach their potential. Wanting to become a ranged archer with heavy emphasis on energy manipulation like a Manipulator will be difficult without proper job alignments.

Of course some people will just go with the flow. Without researching in depth it is difficult to measure the pros and cons of individual jobs.

“Alright send them in.”

Even though Rak is obligated to meet with his siblings since they came in person Rak does not need to be happy about it.

“Eyr, Vor, Sumr and Kiul. three of my sisters and Kiul.”

“Brother!”

With an emotionless nod Rak indicates Kiul to sit. Following behind Kiul are three absurdly beautiful women. Of course from Rak’s perspective they are all wretched and scheming hags.

“Sisters, sit.”

Unlike Kiul who has attempted to seem nonchalant, the three sisters give Rak a glaring look.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of the company of my dear beloved siblings?”

“Don’t play coy, brother.”

“What do you mean Sumr? I take father as my role model and only speak straightforwardly without deceptions.”

“How has this become about father, little brother? Are you implying that mother deceptive?”

Rak already felt a wave of ache course through him. Indeed they twisted his words as he expected. If Rak talked down to people in public events, his siblings were his fiercest rivals with venomous tongues.

“Don’t project your ideas of mother onto me, Eyr. Get to the point, why are you four here.”

“Aren't we here to support our little brother?”

By this point Rak realised this wouldn’t be over without at least a half hour of veiled nonsense.

“Is that so? Then I welcome you. Bring in the dishes and drinks. I can’t have my dear siblings starve and die of thirst in my own home.”

An hour passed before Vor got impatient enough.

“I’ve heard you and father have some great conspiracy. Are the news true little brother?”

“What conspiracy?”

With a nonchalant look Rak gave Vor a glance before reaching for his winecup.

“The whole family know that you and father have been colluding these past few weeks. Don’t deny it. You think our intelligence methods are a joke?”

“Ho oh. Vor is right. Little brother why not speak frankly with your older siblings? THere are even rumors that father values your Chaos theory exploits as if they were the real world!”

“It’s absurd! Father and you know something about Chaos theory. How else can a game cause such a ruckus. Kiul, you agree with us, right?”

“How would I agree with you three? I’m here to celebrate my little brothers success. If he deigns to speak of his experiences with me, then so be it.”

“Hypocrite.”

Once again the room went into an uproar and all sorts of veiled insults, some less veiled than others, got used wantonly.

“Alright Enough!”

The four finally sat back in their chairs. Their servants jolted slightly at Raks boisterous shout. Even Rak’s own servants couldn’t help but stiff up for a moment.

“I have entertained you long enough. I have followed family etiquette. Agreed? “

Reluctantly his siblings nodded.

“I’m willing to share with you anything you want to know. You can read it in the family updates. Outside of that? Why don’t you go talk to father?”

From their expression it is clear that none of them intended to take this up with their father. The reason they were in the first place is because Rak had been in contact with their father a lot as of late.

It is unclear what the final objective these four had but Rak couldn’t figure it out exactly. Perhaps they came just to test his resolve. As Rak spends the least amount with the families social circles and events.

Knowing your enemy is crucial. Of course Rak didn’t think he was in competition with them but he certainly understood now that they thought so. And if they thought so then that means he is.

“If they want to fight, they’ll have their fight.”

Rak felt a bit exhausted and a small degree of helplessness. The competitive nature of his siblings bordered on unhealthy and often went beyond healthy. This is why almost no two siblings can be considered on good or neutral terms.

After his siblings finally went away Rak went on to reading recent Devion family updates and other intelligence he had been trying to gather, almost exclusively about Chaos theory.

From his servants extensive research they found that quite a few things were censored by the overarching shadow of Chaos theory. A terrifying reality, a dystopian reality dawned on them then.