The next day started normally enough: Luke stretched, did some practice with his staff and ate a light breakfast. He checked where Dahani was, discovering she had woke up before he did and left the treehouse. She hadn’t left the awakened forest, so he guessed she was either hunting or patrolling. Maybe both. He quickly decided the things he had to do this day. He wanted to train the Air Manipulation skill as he hadn’t had the time the previous day with the whole forest elves and ants business. He also wanted to check on the former. He didn’t trust them enough to leave them alone for more than a few hours. Maybe half a day if they were behaving themselves. The last thing on his to do list was improving the wards so that they cover the whole forest and not only his house’s clearing. The wards wouldn’t be the same if they applied to the entire forest, they would go more along the lines of blocking scrying or farsight and debuffing or affecting with various ailments and status effects the intruders. The key problem was how to make the forest differentiate between potential enemies and allies.

Luke decided to work in his Air Manipulation in the morning and after lunch and a patrol begin with the new wards. He postponed indefinitely any attempt at getting new affinities. He could try them after he got used to the ones he already had. After all, he still needed to train his Plant Manipulation. For now, as long as he remained in these woods, he would be in control of the plant life, but he desired to acquire the same level of control when he was outside.

He came to the conclusion that he should follow what he did with Earth Manipulation: practise three pseudo spells until they are imprinted in his mind and he could use them without thinking, as if there was some kind of muscle memory. He wanted to create a defensive spell, an offensive one and finally a crowd control ability. Just like with Earth. Two things came to his mind when he thought about skills related to Air, a shield and a wind blade. Basic and effective. The shield would give him a new type of defense different of what an earth wall would provide (earth wall may be stronger, but it also was static. If he was on the move, earth wall was a one time use spell. On the other side, a shield made from air would be weaker, though it would move with him. It would also help with gaseous poisons and maybe other types of subtle attacks. While earth wall was an ‘I block anything that comes this way’ kind of ability, an air shield was more of a ‘redirect and parry’ spell).

The wind blade had similar advantages over its earthen counterpart. It had less penetrative power, but depending the enemy could be more effective. It was more flexible too because it was more accurate than earth lance. Although the earth lance would do ridiculous amount of damage if it caught the opponent, an agility based rival would be able to dodge. On the contrary, wind blade would have more chances to land as it was faster and harder to notice, but the damage dealt won’t be as severe. This also went a long way into showing Luke that there weren’t stronger skills, just more adequate for the situation (that isn’t entirely true, there are abilities that are intrinsically stronger than others, but between similarly ranked skills, it depended on the circumstances. For example, no Manipulation ability was better than another, but if you are fighting in an island in the middle of the ocean while it is raining, yes, Water Manipulation would be stronger than Fire Manipulation).

He started by visualizing the air shield. He considered defense more important than offense at this point. He had enough vitality to endure some beating, but there was no such thing as ‘enough defense’ (or enough offense, or enough anything in this changed world. Usually the better any aspect of fighting was, the longer you would remain alive). Besides, his single target damage was extremely overpowered due to Mana Bolt scaling with his Intelligence and Plant Manipulation covered his previous lack of crowd control abilities. It could be used for attack and defense, however Plant Manipulation excelled in restraining and annoying enemies.

So, he imagined air being pushed from him in every direction forming a wind curtain. He felt this was the way to go until he realized a tiny issue with this method. ‘Fuck, if I push away the air around me, What will I breath?’ Shortly after this thought, he started feeling the lack of oxygen. Quickly, he cancelled the skill and took several gulps of air afterwards. He was certain that he would pass out before killing himself, but he was in no hurry to prove his theory right. The result of his first test stumped Luke. He wanted this ability for several reason, one of them being to defend against attacks like poisonous gas or fungus spores, but the only way he could think to make it work would be to leave some sort of passage to breathe, but this would allow any substance to pass. He could also try to expel any gas except oxygen, but even if he could do it, he didn’t know if such a high concentration of it could be detrimental to his health. He pondered the subject a little more and decided to leave the development of the air shield on hold until he got a higher Air Affinity. He was convinced that the pseudo spell should be possible, but he couldn’t come with any idea to overcome the present difficulties.

Moving on, he concentrated in how to make the wind blade ability work. He already had some experience in pushing air thanks to his previous attempt, so he found it quite easy to form a blade and send them in the direction he wanted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. His control wasn’t good enough to give the ‘blade’ much of an edge, so it was closer to being hit by the flat side of a sword than by the edged side. It took him half an hour and more than a dozen essays for it to acquire a barely acceptable cutting edge. It wouldn’t work against medium and heavy armored enemies (like the ants), though it could be useful to sever limbs if he applied enough force to it. It was basically the equivalent to a poorly made sabre. It was in the not so fine line between blunt damage and cutting damage. ‘Wonderful’ thought Luke sarcastically.

He had little to no idea what an air based crowd control could be. He considered continuing with his previous attempts and going full blunt strike. It could be adapted as a knock up or back ability. Nonetheless, he believed it too crude. After failing with the first and having very little success with the spells he wanted to develop with this affinity as a base, he desired to be successful in the last one. While he was thinking, he still trained the basic ability of moving air. Even if he wanted something more complicated than simple pushing and shoving, he recognized the utility this simple ability could have in a pinch. He practised not to generate a powerful strike, but to create just enough force to destabilize the opponent with a well placed shot. Like kicking the foot in the air of someone taking a step: no damage would be done normally, but the person would probably fall or at least take a few seconds to correct his stance. As idiotic as useful. It was the kind of trick most enemies don’t expect. Especially so in close combat. You could strike with your weapon while at the same time using this underhanded method to guarantee a solid hit. This wasn’t exactly high in Luke’s list of abilities to train, but after a few tries it became mechanical enough to be able to ponder about other things at the same time.

He was seriously considering to stop playing with air and change to Plant Manipulation when an idea occurred to him. He quickly tried to form ropes with wind currents. He wasn’t pushing or pulling air, just redirecting it. It was more effective than spending most of his concentration in giving it a defined form. He also realized that some of his earlier failure came from a mistake in his approach. He had been thinking like he was dealing with the static earth affinity while he was actually working with the constantly on the move air. Restrain free, moody wind. The ropes weren’t perfect but were solid enough to grab anything. Their ability to restrain remained to be seen, but it should be enough to make an advancing foe trip. It wasn’t the best, but he would take it. Besides, he guessed that improving his control would enhance and diversify what he could do with these windy ropes (wind shackles?). He spent the next hour developing his familiarity with this pseudo spell until he could perform it as well as the earth skills. It was still crude, but it was an improvement from just pulling and pushing enemies. Now that he had more knowledge about what air was about, he was restless to remedy his previous failures.

However, destiny wasn’t going to allow him to, at least for the time being. He had just ended his last performance when he felt a forest elfess entering his forest. He was curious about why, but not overly concerned. He had been expecting some kind of move from them, just that he didn’t know enough about their mindset to know what they would try to pull off. As long as it wasn’t detrimental to his health or the well being of the forest, he probably wouldn’t bother with them. The elfess was moving quickly toward the center of the forest, probably looking for him.

Luke took a second to make sure that nothing strange was happening in the forest and checked what Dahani was doing. She was going in the direction of the valley, probably to see if anything else had sprouted there or if the Dark Elves returned. Then, he left the clearing in her direction as a precaution. He didn’t want to show the defenses around the house for now. It may prove useful to keep them in the dark about it. The distance wasn’t that big and the forest elfess moved fast in this terrain so Luke could see her not long after he sensed her. Surprisingly, it was Natlat. A very different Natlat. He smirked, he had expected several plots, but not this one. In his previous meeting with her, he hadn’t paid close attention to her looks. Beyond the fact that she was a beauty, he hadn’t noticed anything else. A logical result, as her leather armor hided or reduced most of her charming physical attributes. The short dress (tunic?) that barely reached mid thigh and the skin tight green pants had the opposite effect. They enhanced and showcased her hourglass figure that complimented nicely with her symmetrical face. If with her armor on she was the equivalent to a neighborhood diva, with this outfit she was at the top model level and even above. The dress was also green with brown lines that formed an elegant design and a deep cleavage. A silver belt held the pants in place and pulled the dress tight leaving little to the imagination. This time her mid-back length hair was arranged in a peculiar way that left her neck as well as her face completely uncovered. She wasn’t wearing any earrings, though she was sporting a pendant with a blue jewel. Despite the pendant being a work of art, it purpose was to clearly to lead a man gaze to her abundant chest. A simple and effective way to distract and captivate at the same time.

Natlat appeared uncomfortable, probably due to the fact that her father was either selling her to cement an alliance or putting er at risk to gather information. Most likely both.

“Why are you here? I remember telling your people not to enter the forest.” Luke said without pulling his punches. He was certain that Natlat didn’t come of her own free will, but she was a spy. It would be silly of him to give her an easy time. However, he wasn’t a jerk (or at least he tried not to be) so he wasn’t going to make her life impossible after the first few lines. It was more of a test to see what she was willing to do and tolerate. Yes, his personality was a little twisted, but he didn’t really care. Besides, it wasn’t like they were friends. He had no obligation to be nice to her, even if he pitied her circumstances.

“My father send me to report that a group of a hundred and twenty three goblins were taken care of this morning. Compared to the amount seen yesterday, they had appeared in much bigger numbers. He suspect than in a few days, too many of them will spawn to be taken caren by the Boron alone.” She flinched a little when he heard his cold words, but she calmed herself down while giving her message. The slight blush that had been on her face since she saw Luke returned when she finished speaking. There were no doubt that the report was the easy part of her mission. She breathed deeply and continued.

“My father believes that our people should have a representative, an ambassador if you want, near you to shorten the distance between allies. It could also prove useful if any of the parties wish to send a message. I was elected as our representative if you would have me, and also carry means to communicate with the tribe from here. What do you say?” She started slowly, gaining momentum the longer she went. By the way she intoned the words ambassador and representative, it seemed as if she was saying exile or banishment. Luke guessed that this responsibility given to her was no honour in her people eyes.

He scratched his growing beard. Before The Beginning he used to shave every day, but afterwards he stopped. He had always wanted to grow one, and now no one would care if he did. He was quite sure that hairstyle wouldn’t be high on people's minds. He pondered about his option. There weren’t many, basically two: either he accepted or he didn’t. In the first case, he would add a spy and a beautiful woman. In the other case, he wouldn’t lose anything, though his relationship with the Forest Elves would certainly worsen. He also suspected that Natlat might or might not be allowed back to her tribe. Just a hunch derived by their arrogance and the attitude toward woman ancient society used to have. He believed those concept applied simply because the king was ‘selling’ her daughter for a few tidbits of information and some improvement in their connection.

“Your father’s idea? Tell me, what would happen to you if I said no?” He was curious about it and the faster way to satiate this curiosity was asking.

“Nothing, because I wouldn’t go back. I have read some of our records. Women are always considered as inferior. The only thing worse for a Boron than being a women is being a women and failing in a given task. If you say no, I would ran away. No idea in which direction but as far away as I can. Besides, it would be a chance to my father to ask for a compensation. Wars had been declared for less.” There wasn’t an ounce of helpless damsel in her body. Her voice was pure steel as she told the undisguised truth. If Luke didn’t know what to do before, now he realized that no matter what he did, she would move on and survive. He liked that. He realized that elven society was peculiar indeed. Every male he had met was an arrogant prick that didn’t know how to behave or be humble. On the opposite, the two women he had a chance to interact with, proved to have more neurons that their counterparts. He guessed that it may be a developed trait due to being treated as an object and in constant danger. Curious indeed.

He tilted his head and stared deeply into her eyes to make sure she wasn’t faking it. Despite her facade, her knees were trembling. She must have made her choice, but it still scared her. It was impressive that she had enough control that the only telling sign was that. Other people may have collapsed due to the tension and the magnitude of the decision.

“Hmmm, I will accept you. But you do realize that even if I do, you are practically dead in his eyes? I mean, if he considered you irreplaceable, he wouldn’t have sent you, would he?” As soon as the words were out, she relaxed. When she heard the last part, she seemed to deflate. He understood that yes, she knew that, but what could she do? She had been banished and her own family hadn’t deigned to tell her the truth.

“Yes, I know. Thanks.” she mumbled the last word so lowly that no one could have heard it.

“No problem. After all you are cute and I figured that there was no reason to make your life harder if you are no longer part of the tribe.” Luke said while smirking. She blushed furiously to the point that her neck started turning red. She opened her mouth to say something, but her words were interrupted by a rustling in the nearby bushes.

Luke had felt Dahani arriving to the valley and taking off at a run. He guessed that she should have discovered something, probably some Nuaga stragglers. He was wrong.

“Luke! There are elves on the valley! I think they are High Elves...” She shouted before reaching his position. When she did, she was surprised to find Natlat. She stared suspiciously at her. “What’s she doing here?” Dahani asked Luke.

He sighed, a cat fight might be interesting though now wasn’t the time. “Her father kind of kicked her out. So something occupies that valley? Again? I should have filled it when I could” He said while sighing. He was starting to really hate that spot.