"So these are the things in exchange for the points?" Kaelen muttered, his fingers tightening around the edge of the parchment as his eyes moved slowly across the long columns of demands sent to his Empire.
The document was divided into two sections. On one side, carefully listed materials, resources, rare ores and artifacts. On the other side, the points assigned to each item, calculated according to quantity and so called quality standards required to reach the designated threshold.
Kaelen exhaled sharply. "But... isn't it far too low, Dad? Even if we empty our vaults and exhaust our mines, at this rate we will never reach the peak. We will be crawling..."
He turned toward Aether, who sat beside him in still silence, staring at the list with a blank, unreadable expression.
"Dad?"
