The teenager leads Ben through < Dragons > base.

After leaving the isolated basement, they begin to see people around. So, it doesn’t take long for Ben to notice the sense of slight excitement in the air.

After he is led, all the way, to the reception near the entrance, Ben sees a young black woman with deep purple eyes and long purple hair waiting for him.

“Good afternoon, Sir Moon. I am Engineer Dinna Mortez. While our people prepare to meet you, would you like a tour around?” she asks.

“Who would have thought?” he whispers.

“Excuse me?” she asks, confused.

“Hello survivors, how are you?” he asks and slightly bows.

Dinna look at him with slightly surprised eyes, before bowing back and answering: “We have been great, thank you for asking.”

“Great to hear. And I will surely accept the tour.” ‘anything to entertain my mind…’

“Then, please follow me, Sir.”

As they walk, Dinna takes the initiative to explain their history.

“Our faction was named < Dragons > by our leader Ginn. He began to work in its conception in his early teens. When you see people around, consider that some of us joined him basically as kids, and because of that, we are quite united. Currently, our main focus is high-end research and trade, but we do have an assortment of hidden business and units, bringing variety to the table.”

Taking her time, she slowly goes through the introduction they prepared after she volunteered to lead the tour.

She goes around the base, showing Ben how the group is divided into departments or small units.

While showing around, she keeps talking about the achievements and some things they are working on right now. Although Dinna never enters into too much detail, she quickly paints a general idea of the direction the faction is going.

Unsurprisingly, most of her talk enters one of Ben’s ears and exits in the other, since most of it was some general statistical talk or mundane details.

However, she achieved one lasting impact. Ben could clearly see how big the net cast by this group is. From developing militant power to medicinal personnel. They research a broad level of artifacts and have done continuous work on the trade business. They also deep their toe on the science of alchemy, blacksmithing, and arrays. And above all, they do this maintaining their feet on the ground while supporting each other.

‘They are a true Sect more than many Sects around this freak world. The problem is: can they grow and expand? Working well in a small group of friends is much easier when comparing the work involved in building a Sect, Empire, or whatever.’

“I will show you one last thing before I can let you go,” Dinna says as they get to the end of the tour.

“For a small growing faction, a see no shyness.” Ben comments.

“We cultivate the idea of trying, as the faction doesn’t need everyone reaching for the maximum profit. So, there is always an incentive to experiment and develop new ideas. Since some of us are remarkably good at making money, usually, our expanses are okay if the money-burning is within an acceptable range. In a way, Ginn, himself, is the one pushing this the most.”

“It is not a bad system. The only issue is that, if it fails, it is even more miserable. Because once one tastes such freedom, it is rather difficult to adapt again to something else. The sweet freedom and friendship one day might become your worst nightmare.” Ben remarks.

“You talk like we might fail?” she asks while smiling.

“Failure? Sure, that wouldn’t be surprising. You would surprise no one by failing. I wouldn’t be surprised, you wouldn’t, and probably, very few would. Instead, you seek to be surprisingly. Aren’t you all walking on a fine line?”

As Ben talks, they enter their last stop in the tour, a laboratory looking room.

Inside this room, one table matches each one of the four corners, each table storing some Array research.

“Oh, arrays?” he asks.

“Yes, this is one of my personal labs. Here, I work with the experimental part of my research. You can take a look around and see the level of technology we are trying to reach.”

“Is this why you were up for doing such a menial job as leading a tour? Compared to your usual work, preparing and doing a tour must be so boring.”

“Indeed, my passion for artifacts and arrays fills my days with excitement. But so did, introducing my work and family to you. It is my privilege to meet a Master of the field I love. So how could this be boring?”

“How about if they chose you as the face of the faction? What if you must meet every single guest from now on?” Ben asks as he looks around in the room curiously.

“If they are all incredible people, I wouldn’t mind. Wouldn’t that all be amazing opportunities to learn from great teachers?”

“Not everyone is a teacher tho, as some are only great students. But, yeah, meeting great people is always, always fascinating.” a sincerely happy smile appears on Ben’s face, as some things come to his mind.

“But I don’t think you would give up your research for it,” he adds.

“I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t mind cutting some other work.”

“Sir, can I ask why you were so surprised about the arrays? Why did it sounded like those are the first ones you saw today.”

“They are. The others weren’t arrays. No, alright, they were too, but they weren’t Arrays. Those were more like products, or one-piece solutions, or whatever you may feel like calling it. While useful, they aren’t quite interesting.”

Ben walks to one of the tables.

“But look at this. A miniature array and tree connection, exploring some new grounds on mutation.”

Ben inserts his hand in the array and touches the little tree trunk, a smile in his face.

“Shouldn’t Arrays be a form to a means? Isn’t there some beauty in optimizing it, making it real and useful to you and other people?”

“Sure, beauty is found in the over-optimized circuits, where it does the most with the least. Beauty is found in the symmetry and perfect spatial arrangement. Etc, etc. There is indeed some beauty. However, I don’t find it interesting to look into it.”

“This isn’t that complicated or groundbreaking yet.” She points at the small-sized tree.

“But it aims for something…” he whispers.

“Think about it, why were you satisfied with following me around? I am sure you have much else to do.”

“I feel it is a privilege to meet someone with your level of expertise.”

“What you identify as mastery… mastery… mastery…” Ben stops his sentence and looks down. Dinna can’t read his mood, but she understands he is lost in his thought.

“Mastery… What is the difference between mastery and this room?” He asks, his eyes focusing again.

Dinna looks around. Putting her hand in her chin, she thinks hard.

She thinks about the report about Eloise’s treatment. Next, she thinks about the four little projects in this room. But she can’t pinpoint it. Those are only things she hopes to do once her expertise increases enough.

“Those are like your toys,” Ben says and then pauses for a moment.

“You toy with things out of your field of expertise, and for mastery, you would need to toy with things out of everyone’s fields.”

“And this is why mastery is relative…” he whispers.

“Look at this again. Don’t you want to make the tree into an Array? Rather than only use it as support? Even this is reaching for interesting questions.”

‘I did not even try it yet… Did he figure it out from the arrangement? Or what it isn’t, but should be?’

Ben walks to another table and points at a marble slab.

“Then, look at this other one. A standard complex transmutation Array. Your expertise shouldn’t be there yet to modify this since it is quite advanced and annoying… here… Why would they think spirit energy is superior while transmuting one form of energy into another?” Ben says as he points to one area in the complex Array.

“You should go bother Ginn about energy. You may get inspired,” he adds.

“Isn’t spirit the only energy capable of altering the laws of nature?” she asks, crossing both arms in front of her chest.

“And is that a positive?”

“Is it negative?” Dinna asks, raising her hard and scratching the back of her head, confused.

“Such form is literally the odd one out. It might be amazing, but I see no signs of it being superior.”

‘Superior… superior… superiority… control… balance… inferior… The laws of nature always fight back. Excluded.’ After taking the hint, Dinna readily arrives at the little idea Ben intended to pass.

“I see,” she says.

“It is what it is, and not what people make-believe of it,” he adds.

“Sir, the tree…”

“Aren’t the answers a bit more interlaced than you thought?” Ben asks.

He then continues: “When talking about knowledge, sure, there are things that can’t be done. But do wonder how many of those could you add a yet to the end?”

Ben walks towards the next experiment table. There he sees a shield, as well as notes by its side, which causes him to think carefully.

‘Genesis? No. gee? What was it called? Oh, what was the reference on that game? OH! Aegis. This is probably Ginn’s fault.’

[sigh]

“Some are outlandish.” He says out loud.

“AH…OH. Wait, Sir, sorry. AH… What did you say?” she asks as she gets out of deep thought.

However, Ben chooses not to repeat it.

“I may not get to teach you much, but I would want to give you some insight. Hopefully, you can go back and share such insight with your family.”

“Sir, did you meet my kind before?”

“No. I only find your clan a bit too pitiful. The whole hunting scheme was too much bullshit. And I like purple.” Ben says.

Dinna belongs to a group of nomad Clans, with origins on a smaller continent. They lived like everyone else until the main church from the north, the one the Earthling belonged to, decided to hunt them.

No one knows why but a scheme was put up.

At first, everyone thought it was some regular conflict, but things kept blowing out of proportions, event after event.

After some time, people may have eventually caught up on how the disputes were so abnormal, and how the Slet Church always overreacted. However, by the time others focused on them, it was already too late. By that time, all the sizable clans were killed off.

Dinna’s ethnicity almost went extinct because of that, but even when they didn’t, today, they are only a shadow of the past. Their numbers can’t compare, and much of their knowledge was lost.

In the past? They were a major tradition-rich middle-sized ethnic group. Today? Most wouldn’t even consider them a relevant minor ethnic group. They lost too much.

“And is, you liking purple, that relevant?” she asks in a sad tone, remembering their history.

“Unfortunately, it is. I may sound rude, but that is the truth. I wasn’t there, I don’t know your clan, and I am no savior. While I may help one or another, but I can’t change the flow of history. And you know what history is filled with? It is filled with things dying: People, Gangs, Companies, Organizations, Factions, Clans, Sects, Churches, Ethnic Groups, Kingdoms, Republics, Empires, whole Islands… Things die a little every single day.” ‘Who knows when this world might expire too.’

“Did we even survived?” she asks, her eyes watery.

“You? Yes. They?” Ben shakes his head. “You can, however, built new cultural baggage. Related to that, I would ask you: What are you good at?”

‘You? Us?’ she ponders.

“But, maybe, I am being too preachy. I am sure you will try your best to survive anyway,” he says.

Ben walks towards the last table and, within sight, animal remains rich in energy appear. His eyes wander around until it stops in a particular skull, a wolf skull.

However, the skull doesn’t seem out of place or unusual. Indeed, it is only an average skull of its kind.

Nevertheless, Ben’s eyes focus on it so much, that eventually, some memories surface in his mind as he begins to daydream.

In a cold forest somewhere… Snow keeps falling in this winter night as Ben seeks something using an artifact interlaced in his left hand.