Sam followed Annabelle into the barn full of curiosity.

After taking a while to fall asleep with the migraine, Sam had slept late into the morning. After multiple attempts to wake him up, Annabelle had left him to sleep in.

Sam had felt guilty about oversleeping but had explained his success with gaining [Mana Sense] to Annabelle who had been pleased with his achievement.

The reason Annabelle had been trying to wake him, other than the responsibilities to the farm, was that the man who the Elder had sent, had arrived. He had ended up spending the morning familiarizing himself with the farm.

Sam walked up to the tall man with light brown skin and offered his hand. The man took it and their eyes met.

Sam could feel the intense focus of the man's eyes on him. They look unnatural because surrounding his iris was a ring of orange. Sam wondered what type of magic could change how a person's eyes looked.

The hairs on his arms and neck, which had been acting weird all morning, stood up like a chill had entered the room.

The man smiled a small smile and broke the eye contact briefly to speak.

"Sorry, some of my abilities and skills are channelled through my eyes so it can make them feel... intense. I am Richard, nice to meet you Sam."

Sam visibly relaxed at the man's comforting voice which was smooth and deep. The voice that suited a charmer of the ladies.

He noticed that the man's face was relaxed and calm which seemed to contradict his eyes. He replied to Richard to distract himself from staring.

"Nice to meet you too Richard. Thank you for coming to help us."

Richard nodded curtly and then minutes painfully passed with no words, only the odd moo from a cow.

Annabelle broke the awkward silence.

"Alright, Sam, I am going to check on Felix. Ask Richard whatever questions you have. I'm sure it must be nice to meet someone who isn't part of family."

With those words, Annabelle left Sam alone with Richard. Sam swallowed nervously and spoke after Annabelle had left.

"Aunty Annabelle mentioned that you had already checked on the perimeter of the whole farm. How did you do that so fast?"

Annabelle hadn't said anything about Richard's abilities and running the perimeter in the few hours of the morning was possible but not a simple feat.

"I checked the perimeter several times on foot and flying as well. You were asleep for a while so I had lots of time."

Sam blushed with embarrassment and Richard chuckled.

Then it dawned on him.

"You can fly?"

His enthusiasm was a little too much because Richard grinned eagerly in response. Without a word, his body began to hover off the ground.

In response, the hair on Sam's arms stood on end and his skin felt uncomfortably sunburnt and scratchy.

He took a step back and the sensation lessened.

"You ok Sam?"

Sam nodded.

"Yes, your flying looks great! I wish I would do that. My skin had just been sensitive since this morning. It is from a new ability I got."

Richard's eyes were on him like an eagle on a rabbit. He scanned Sam's body like his clothes were transparent.

"Do you have a mana sensing ability?"

Sam nodded as he quickly inspected [Mana Sense] again. It showed that nothing has changed since he had checked when he woke up.

[Mana Sense] [1]: Permanently increases the users sensitivity to mana fluctuations in the area around them.

- [Active]: Allows the user to sense the mana around them in a 1 meter area. Only usable in [Mediation].

"Annabelle mentioned that you had some interesting Masteries. Mana sensing is an extremely powerful ability that comes in many shapes and forms, each with their own limitations. My mana sensing ability is combined with my vision. I can see different types of mana which is quite useful but it makes my eyes a good target for enemies. If I am blinded then I lose more than one sense."

He smiled sadly at the mention of his own weakness and then he perked up with a small smile.

"When I gained the ability, it took a long time for me to get used to it. The extra information can be quite overwhelming at times. I am sure you are going through something similar."

Sam looked at the hairs on his arm which had calmed down a little and nodded.

"Thank you Richard. I will try to get used to it. It feels strange for my body to change so suddenly."

"It is the magic and wonder of the Masteries. They have the power to change everything."

Time paused and before the awkward silence could settle in again, Sam spoke.

"Richard, I want to be able to fly. How do you fly and how can I learn?"

Richard hovered a bit higher off the ground in response. He even did a little swirl before landing back on his feet.

"It is not easy at all. You can learn an ability on Tier 4 of the Movement Mastery that lets you fly but getting to Tier 4 on the Movement Mastery is very difficult to achieve. I unlocked the ability because of my focus on Wind Masteries. The ability is very mana intensive and is difficult to master. I have been practicing with it for a while and it is still difficult. I can only use it for a few minutes at a time."

Sam sighed. Was all the cool stuff always out of reach?

"Don't worry. There are many abilities that resemble true flight and why do you care about flight if you can breathe underwater?"

Richard cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

Sam blushed.

"I am assuming Aunty Annabelle told you? It is only has a limited duration."

Richard blinked his eyes in surprise.

"You already have water breathing?"

Sam frowned.

"Didn't Aunty tell you?"

Richard shook his head and began speaking.

"I joined our Elder on one of his journeys to meet one of the Water Elders. I only got to meet a Water Master and we chatted. I assumed half of what he was saying was lies because he was a merman but over the years, I have realised that he might have been telling the truth. Since you have Water Mastery, I wondered if you had some of skills that he told me about so I guessed. Can you talk with water? What about conjuring balls of water to follow you?"

Sam paused momentarily as he gathered his thoughts.

"The water gives me information but it isn't the same as talking and no I can't make balls of water. What is a Water Elder?"

Richard scratched his head which ruffled his straight black hair. It was cut in a messy manner that covered his ears and neck. He combed it with his hair before responding.

"Annabelle mentioned that your knowledge is a bit lacking. Answer my question first and I will answer yours, what is an Elder?"

Sam was surprised to be put on the spot but was grateful to Annabelle for warning Richard that he didn't know much. He didn't want to be laughed at.

"An Elder is someone who has lived for many years and is someone who is respected... and they are also really powerful?"

He tried but knew that there was more to it. The way Annabelle had spoken of their Elder has been with great reverence.

Richard nodded and spoke.

"You are correct but that is a very simple description that does not mention many important parts of what makes up an Elder. An Elder is an Elemental Leader. They represent the will of an Element in a region. My Elder who I serve under, who is also Annabelle's father, is the Nature Elder who protects the Thistlevale region. It is a large area from the coast to the mountain ranges north of Haventown."

Richard smiled at Sam's surprise.

"In order to be a Nature Elder you must have at least completed Tier 5 of a Nature mana Mastery. I am only on Tier 3 of the Beast Mastery because I have also focused on the Wind Mastery. Annabelle has focused on theNature Masteries because her goal is to succeed her father as the Elder."

Sam blinked. Annabelle wanted to become an Elder? An Elder sounded much more powerful than he had originally thought. Was Annabelle really that powerful?

"But isn't Aunty Annabelle a farmer. Why would she want to become the Elder?"

Even as he said the words, he realised that the whole Underwood family seemed knowledgable on many topics. Was that unusual for a farmer?

"I am not sure how many farmers you have met but the Underwood family is no ordinary family of farmers. There was no way anyone related to a Sultan-"

Sam had been looking at a rat scuttle nearby when Richard had abruptly stopped speaking. He heard a sloshing sound which was followed by a splatter of liquid.

Sam looked at Richard to see him looking down. A black blade was sticking out of his chest and it was covered in blood which was hissing and bubbling on the blade.

The blade slid back and out of Richard and he collapsed onto the straw covered floor as blood began pouring out of the wound.

Sam threw up in his mouth and then onto the barn floor. His mind was struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

They had just been talking? He hadn't seen anyone enter the barn… Where had the blade come from?

Sam's skin felt raw with sensitivity. Was there mana in the area? Who?

He felt overwhelming fear grip him as he looked around and saw no one. It threatened to overwhelm him but he fought against it. He forced himself to keep looking for someone or something.

There was no one except Richard who was lying motionless on the floor. Sam couldn't see where the black blade was either.

He rushed towards Richard to check on him but before he could arrive a punch hit his stomach. Several ribs cracked as he flew a few meters.

He landed painfully against a wooden pen and slumped down. His chest burned painfully at every breathe and his vision was blurry.

A black shape moved in front of him and in his direction.

Was he going to die?

He refused to let himself be a victim again. He gritted his teeth and pushed against the barn floor with his feet. His attempts at moving away were quite ineffective and painful but he kept trying.

He heard a chuckle from the black shadow as it got closer. He wiped his eyes, hoping to see more clearly.

His eyes focused and he still saw no one. The black shape was gone. He looked towards Richard's body and noticed something strange. It had begun glowing intensely with green light.

Suddenly his vision of Richard was blocked by a man who appeared from nowhere. He wore black clothes that covered his whole body, even his face was covered. He had two identical black blades attached to his hands with the left blade dripping with Richard's blood.

"Boy, you are coming with me." The man's voice was surprisingly youthful which seemed to contradict the imposing figure.

The right blade retracted as he reached to grabbed Sam's neck.

Sam tensed. He needed to do something. He needed to escape. He tried to reach out to any nearby water but found none. Maybe he could try punch and kick the man and try get away? His throbbing ribs disagreed with that idea.

Before he could put a plan into action, the man was suddenly pulled backwards. He flew across the barn like he was being yanked by an invisible cord.

Sam watched in disbelief as Richard was standing in a pool of his own blood. One hand was on the wound in his chest, glowing green and his other arm was directed towards the man in black.

It appeared that Richard was controlling the air around the attacker. Sam watched as the man in black was whipped back and forth in midair before being slammed forcefully headfirst into the barn floor.

"Sam! Come here quickly!”