“So, what do you know about ants?” They had returned to sitting in the shade of the Mana Tree. They were less tense after taking care of the forest elves, especially because there was no need to fight. The alliance wasn’t something to trust unconditionally, but it was enough for now. On the way back Luke had explained how he became the forest at a very interested Dahani. She didn’t believe him at first, but she agreed that his control over plants went beyond what the Plant Manipulation skill could usually do. She also showed him the basics of her skill, Poison Manipulation, but told him he should wait until he knew more about herb lore and poisons and antidotes in general. That would help avoid some dangerous situations. She told him that the secret behind the skill wasn’t only knowledge or power, but preparations. The better you prepared to a failure and its consequence the longer you would live to try again. It wasn’t as important in the earlier levels as the substances weren’t very lethal or if they were, they were easily treated. He decided to check if there was anything about the subject in his father's library before attempting anything.

“Giants ants go from the size of a small dog (Workers) to the size of a wolf (soldiers) to the dimensions of a bear (queen) and anything in between. One of the most important abilities of the queen is that she can consciously decide the size of her minions according to the environment. She usually goes with the standard size until they found something that requires especial attention. At this point, she may make the worker and soldiers bigger or smaller depending on what she considers best. She is also always protected by a guard of elite soldiers ants that number at least six and sometimes up to twenty. These ants are stronger and faster that ordinary ants. Nonetheless, their most fearsome qualities are the ability to think for themselves and the fact that they are extremely loyal. It is a common occurrence for groups trying to deal with them to reach the queen chambers and be unable to kill her before she escapes due to the elites sacrificing themselves. Their exoskeleton could be almost be considered heavy armour, but much lighter. That’s one of the reasons why they are hunted: it is a great material to make high defense light armour. It can become stronger depending on the minerals on the ground. It is a well known fact that colonies in places with iron rich ground have stronger defenses than other colonies. The last important fact is that they don’t depend on their sight as much as other creatures. All of them had some affinity with earth that allow them to sense their enemies and prey through ground vibrations. Don’t be mistaken, they can see, but their sight is just a bit better than that of a mole. They aren’t that aggressive if you compare them with other giants insects that establish colonies like bees or spiders, but they are fiercely territorial. A growing colony would search for any potential dangers for several miles outside their land and use ant waves tactics until the menace is exterminated. The workers and soldiers have no intelligence, however higher ranking ones are quite cunning, especially the queen. Well, you already know that by what the forest elves told you. The only other thing is that they have a mental link between them. It hasn’t be found how far it extends, but most people that fought and/or researched them agree that only the queen has a range above a hundred meters. That means that if you attack their homes, the queen will know immediately. Make it quite hard to mount a sneak attack if you have to avoid being found and attacking them until you take care of the boss in their home turf. If you add that they make labyrinth like compounds that may have miles and miles of tunnels, they become an enemy you can’t leave alone, but extremely hard to attack. The problem is that they also have an explosive growth, the longer you delay taking care of them, the more and stronger they will be. There had been some cases were sentient discovering a colony would decide to leave the area instead of fighting them” Dahani said seriously. Luke now realized how severe the situation was. If everything she told him was true, he would have to strike in the next day as the latest. He couldn’t allow them to get a firm hold on the area. Fortunately, he would have the chance to improve his understanding of them and test what worked best on them later if they still were following the elves.

“Shit. That will make things difficult. I hope a few of them are tracking those elves. It would be best to gain some experience in battling them before I have to move against their base. Is there anything in particular they are weak against? Like an affinity or maybe to poison?” Luke

“As they are of the earth affinity, they have enhanced resistance against anything coming from this element. Poison is an element derived from earth, so it isn’t very effective. Fire works as well as with any other being, but if they gather in groups their small earth magic allows them to defend against it to some degree. Air doesn’t have the strength to go through their chitin armour except when highly concentrated. Even if you are an expert air controller, the toll that such a spell would require make it so you would only be able to fire a few shots. Water have a problem similar to air with the added difficulty that it becomes too taxing in their tunnels due to the low presence of the element. Light and dark may be useful, but I know too little about them to tell you how or why. Normally, a group of strong melee fighter takes turns as vanguards to deal with them, accompanied by a support mage to heal them and improve the speed of their stamina regeneration. This takes advantage of their lacking individual combat abilities and allows to always have a well rested fighter in case of necessity. It doesn’t work always, but is the most used strategy that I know of.” Dahani recounting of the ants abilities and prowess was depressing. It meant that an Ants colony was one of the worst match up against him. He could burst them easily one on one, however a big group of them may outlast his Mana and Stamina to kill him when he got tired.

“What about Plant Manipulation? You didn’t mention it, and it is my favored ability. Have there been any case of an agreement been established between them and a sentient?” Luke wasn’t considering setting an alliance with the creatures (they could bide their time and betray him when they were too strong for him to contend. Kind of like the forest elves with the difference that the elves didn’t have the numbers to overpower him yet, and wouldn’t have for some time. Especially so if he didn’t stop becoming stronger), he was only curious if the possibility existed.

“Yes, but they didn’t work out. Most of the times because the people nearby became afraid of the ants and decided to ignore the agreement and attack. It never ended well. Even if they could annihilate the colony, the cost was crippling to the community, clan or whatever that paid it. After a few failures it became the norm to attack them while weak and if it didn’t work just leave the area. It’s sad, whole cities were abandoned for this reason, sending hundred or thousand of people into a life of poverty…” Dahani seemed quite sensitive to this issue. “Plant Manipulation is quite rare and most beings that get the skill can’t get past the first and stages making the spell useful, but limited in its functions. It relies on nature affinity so it may be able to suppress the ants, but there is no way to be sure without testing. It would also be important to see how hard it would be for the user to go through their defenses. I believe that the root and branch spears you were using would be enough while they are in a forest, but I don’t know if you could use the ability constantly in the tunnels. It would be considerably more taxing on your Mana. Besides, for Plant Manipulation to work there has to be, well… plants. I believe no plant life could survive in the darkness of their caves. Maybe fungus, but not plants.”

“It’s worth testing at least. Maybe if I take seeds with me I would be able to. I would have to see how fast and how much I can make a tree or vines grow in a few seconds…” Luke was already thinking about ways to use his ability to the maximum. He also remembered that he should set a safeguard in case the forest elves went back on their word. He believed them too proud for that, but if they saw him as an inferior being (and they probably did) they wouldn’t hesitate to break their vows. So, he had to be ready. However, Ants first, elves later.

Suddenly, he felt a dozen critters entering his forest. He stood up signaling Dahani to do the same.

“They are here” Luke