In the mere thirty years that had passed while Alex was taking a walk outside, the elven tribe had spread across the entire shoreline of the lake, which was so vast that, from the beach, one could see only the distant island in the middle of it, while the opposite shore remained completely out of sight.
Because of this, communication within the tribe became difficult, and the distribution of supplies suffered as well, to the point that even the invention of rafts couldn't improve the situation.
Originally, the elves relied on a single cellar on the island, first established in the time of the first Na, which had slowly grown and expanded over the years.
After they began settling along the shores, however, new cellars started to appear, accompanied by small communities that gradually grew independent of the original settlement. In time, they even started choosing their own Na to resolve various issues.
Some of this could be attributed to population growth. After discovering new lands to settle and new sources of food, the elves began to multiply at an unprecedented rate.
Most of the new settlements were founded by families led by the current Na's brothers. As their children grew up and had children of their own, these families came to acknowledge only their own Na as the authority they were willing to follow. They stopped communicating with other tribes and, in time, even began to look at them warily and treat them as outsiders.
Alex watched with trepidation as the dots on the map—representing the distribution of the elven people—multiplied faster and faster. Eventually, however, the dots began to diminish rapidly, particularly in one specific area. Alarmed, Alex immediately paused time and tried to determine what was happening.
The moment he fixed his gaze on the area of interest, a terrifying scene unfolded before him. A massacre was raging in the heart of the forest. Several hundred elves were locked in brutal combat—striking one another with stones, seizing throats, and clawing with savage fury. Fallen bodies lay scattered in the mud, their hollow eyes staring at their brethren who continued to kill each other.
Alex was stunned by that sight. Never before had he seen elves fighting one another in what appeared to be an actual war. What could have caused this conflict?
It was already evening, and Alex was preparing to go to bed, but he couldn't rest until he uncovered what had caused such devastation.
It took him nearly an hour of searching to uncover the root of this war. When he finally did, Alex slumped back in his chair, rubbed his eyes, and let out a long sigh.
It turned out that, several days earlier, one of the elven tribes had lost its supplies in a forest fire. With winter fast approaching, something had to be done. After hesitating for some time, the tribe's Na finally sent a small group to steal provisions from a neighboring tribe. They were caught, a fight broke out, others joined in, and the situation quickly escalated into a full‑blown war.
The conflict ended as suddenly as it had begun. At some point, the two sides simply stopped fighting. Why? Because the very cause of the slaughter, the lack of food, had resolved itself once the forest became littered with dozens of fresh corpses.
Some time later, while tossing on his creaky bed, Alex remembered how the elves would slip onto the battlefield to drag away the dead, both enemies and even their own relatives. They would then butcher the bodies and store the meat in their cellars.
When, exactly, had he made the mistake that turned the elven people into such zealous cannibals? And could he change that now, or was it already too late for them?
Oh well. At least it was a rather unusual tradition that made their culture more colorful. One of the reasons why Alex had chosen to be a World Maker was to witness different cultures gradually and naturally develop within the world he had created. So he couldn't complain about such things. If anything, it made the elves even more interesting.
Thinking along those lines, Alex yawned and slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping he wouldn't see any nightmares tonight.
Nothing of note happened over the next few days. Alex sped up time again, watching the elven population grow as he waited for it to reach 30,000. Sometimes the number fell because of wars; other times, during particularly warm seasons, it rose even faster than usual. In the end, it took many years for the population to finally reach the required number—and many days of Alex's time.
It happened on a Thursday. Maybe. Alex had long since stopped keeping track of the days of the week. The only thing he paid attention to was the rising number: 29,952… 29,985… When the cry of the long‑eared child numbered 30,000 at last rang through the forest, the silver plate flashed with brilliant light:
[You have reached Rank 3: Novice.
You have unlocked the following World Creation Protocol functions:
[Organism Creator (III) — Available]
[Time Acceleration (II) — Available]
[Available Area: 300,000 km²]
New tools have been unlocked:
[Creature Editor (I) — Allows limited adjustments to an individual creature's attributes]
[Extractor (I) — Allows the Manager to retrieve any object from a created world
Requirements:
The object must be inorganic.
The object's weight must not exceed 100 kg]
[Avatar (I) — Allows the Manager to transfer his consciousness into the body of any inhabitant of a created world
Requirements:
None]
…
To reach Manager Rank 4, you must complete the current mission.
Current Mission:
Reach a population of 100,000 sentient beings in your world.
Create a writing system, and ensure that at least some of the sentient beings in your world learn it and actively use it.
Develop agriculture — at least one‑third of the population must rely on farmed food.
Spread the use of bronze tools — at least twenty‑five percent of the population must own bronze utensils.]