We embarked on some kind of canoe and traveled on a fairly large river all the way to the elven kingdom.

The kingdom was built within the forest. The elves lived in houses sculpted from trees with basically no furniture or decoration.

**They're supposedly living in harmony with nature, but I'm pretty sure these trees didn't enjoy being carved inside out.**

They lived simplistic lifestyles, eating what the forest could provide them and using the natural environment as shelter.

“So, miss, where are you taking me?” I asked Lilliana politely.

“There is a unique location deep in the forest, perfect for feeling the flow of mana. But first, I have an audience with the Bark Monarch. You can come as well. This should be instructive.”

“Bark Monarch, what kind of stupid name is that? It sounds kind of catchy, though.”

“We’re here. Behave, young man.”

We were standing in front of the Elven Royal Palace. Two tall trees towered toward the sky, and both were linked together by a cluster of branches intermingled with each other. These branches personified the palace's walls, while the trunks personified the pillars supporting the natural structure. What stood out even more in the scenery were the bright blue leaves hanging from the branches. The color of the blue leaves was constantly fluctuating from bright shades of blue to darker ones, indicating that it was indeed alive.

As if answering my unspoken question, Lilliana explained, “These two trees are young mana trees. The mana circulating through the branches’ tissues is responsible for the blue coloration. Touch them, and you’ll see what I mean.”

I stretched my arm and touched one leaf with the tip of my index.

Bzzt!

“What the fuck?! I just got electrocuted! You deceived me!”

“Oh, I see, a mana surge. A classic symptom of high mana deficiency. Instructing you might be worthwhile.”

“Would you mind explaining to my uneducated self what the hell you’re talking about?!” I was starting to get pissed at all these mysteries.

“Very well, young man. Listen well. The total amount of mana that can be stored in one’s body is called the mana pool. When the mana pool is unfulfilled, mana will naturally flow from the environment to the mana pool. In this case, by touching the highly concentrated mana stored in the mana tree’s leaf, the mana left the tree and entered your body through your finger. When such a transfer happens radically, it is called a mana surge. This also means your mana pool is far from satiety. To continue this line of thought, you’re suffering from a strong headache, am I right? This is also a symptom of high mana deficiency. Now, we’ve wasted enough time as it is. The Bark Monarch is expecting us.”

**Where do I even start? Do I ask her to help with the migraine? Do I question her about this mana pool business? Or do I… Oh, she already left.**

I followed behind her and entered the audience room.

“YOU’RE HERE, AT LAST, LILLIANA THE WITCH! WE HAVE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO DISCUSS!”

**Why the fuck is he so damn loud?! He’s literally screaming!**

“Indeed, Bark Monarch, I am here to humbly request you to hold back your troops for a while longer.”

The Bark Monarch looked surprised. He was sitting on a large throne carved from a tree stump. He had long blond hair, intense eyes that seemed to stare into the abyss of your soul, and possibly the strongest lungs in the entire three kingdoms. His voice was very high-pitched for a man. Combined with his very loud voice, the whole scene amplified my headache by a hundredfold.

“OH? HOW SO? IS IT RELATED TO THE YOUNG MAN STANDING NEXT TO YOU?”

“Indeed, Bark Monarch, this young man demonstrated extraordinary potential in the magical arts. After his training, I will use him to kill King Arkosh.”

“WHAAAAT??!!”

Now it was my turn to be loud. I almost fell on my butt at this unexpected revelation.

“Lilliana, you’re plotting against King Arkosh? You seemed closed, though, and it also seemed like he trusted you!”

“Young man, you don’t know anything about Arkosh. He is a tyrant who committed the sin of genocide. Why do you think there are only three races in this world?”

I was speechless. Genocide? I didn’t know this world had such a dark history!

“Only three races? What are you talking about?”

“Orcs, fairies, dragons, witches… The king ordered their extermination and the humans complied. In a single generation, centuries of history were turned to dust by that vile man. It’s only when he commanded them to eradicate the elves and the dwarves that the humans revolted, leading to the current Insurrection.”

“NOW, SHALL WE RETURN TO THE INTENDED TOPIC OF THIS DISCUSSION? THIS IS NO TIME FOR A HISTORY LESSON. ÉLI-DEARIE, WOULD YOU PLEASE BRING TEA TO OUR GUESTS?”

A blond hair beauty stood up from her seat in the corner. She had feral amber eyes showing some disinterest with a pinch of rebelliousness.

“Very well, Bark Father.”

**This Bark Monarch thing is definitely a joke. Poor guy, even his own daughter is ridiculing him.**

“AND HEY, GUARANTEES, GO FETCH THE HORS D’OEUVRES!”

A young boy and a young girl rushed outside the room. Were they slaves?

Lilliana resumed, “As I stated earlier, I will train this young man and then send him off to kill Arkosh. In this way, the situation will be resolved without unnecessary bloodshed. In exchange, I ask you to suspend the deployment of the elven army.”

“THIS WILL NOT DO. IF ASSASSINATING KING ARKOSH WAS SUCH A SIMPLE FEAT, SOMEONE WOULD HAVE DONE IT ALREADY. IN ONE WEEK, MY TROOPS WILL DEPART THE FOREST AND MARCH TOWARD THE HUMAN CAPITAL BRINDLE. WE WILL AVOID OTHER HUMAN SETTLEMENTS AND ABSTAIN FROM PILLAGING THE REGION. THIS SHOULD GIVE YOU ENOUGH TIME TO PUT YOUR PLAN INTO ACTION BEFORE BLOOD FLOWS. IF IT FAILS, THE ELVES WILL SIEGE BRINDLE.”

**My head hurts so much… I can’t believe he can scream for so long without stopping. He doesn’t even seem out of breath…**

“Ugh, it’s no use,” sighed Lilliana, exasperated. “These elves are almost as thick-headed as the dwarves. We’re leaving.”

She turned around without a word of goodbye and left the palace. I followed after her.

In the end, we never received the tea or the food. And I was hungry too…

“Hey, Lil, there’s no use worrying over this. It’s inefficient, so let’s get to work already! I can’t wait to become a wizard and finally get rid of this migraine!”

“How did you call me, young Lynch? I will have you use my proper name, or else I shall smite you!”

“Sir, yes sir! Err, I mean – yes, miss Lilliana!”

“But you’re right. Let’s get to it,” she continued.

We left the glorified bird nest that called itself a city and entered the wild forest. And when I say wild, I mean it. Elves had no use for roads so, while I walked, I had to push aside the tree branches and avoid tripping on roots. The forest was also denser than I imagined. Between the tall trees, some small bushes were impeding my advance. I had to pass through them. Otherwise, I would be close to the trees where the branches were too thick to bend. There were also areas with thinner vegetation, but it turned out they were swamps. Lilliana decided to cross them instead of taking a detour, so I ended up wetting my shoes. The worst about this was that the wet moss was sucking up my feet trying to devour them whole. In no time at all, my thighs began to burn from exhaustion. Every step was a nightmare.

Then it started raining.

I was at my wits' end when I noticed a faint glowing aura surrounding Lilliana.

“Hey, Lilliana, what’s this yellow thing surrounding you?”

“Oh, this is a protective barrier. It protects me from the elements.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?! I’m out here utterly soaked, and you’re…!”

“If you want to complain, you should start by using complete sentences, young Lynch. If you meant to ask why I did not put such a barrier on you, the answer is that it would be a pain. Installing a barrier around myself is a simple task but installing one on a moving target would require constant concentration.”

“Fuck… my life… When are we getting there?”

“It’s only been four hours. Get your act together. Think of this as part of your training!”

She tried to motivate me, and it worked, to some extent. Maybe being wet was not so bad, after all. I wasn’t cold. Rather, it was keeping me fresh. The sloshing sound coming from the water inside my shoes was annoying, but it couldn’t be helped. It was not as uncomfortable as it first seemed.

Yes, it could be worse. There was no use worrying about something I couldn’t control. Besides, we were about to leave the swamp.

Then, I stepped on a layer of moss near a dying tree. Upon stepping on it, the soil succumbed under my weight, and I fell down the rabbit hole. The bottom was filled with wet mud and reached up to my knees.

I heard a melodic voice above me.

“Be careful. There are holes here.”

“No shit! Warn me before it happens next time!”

It took every ounce of my self-control not to insult her right there.

As I took a deep breath, I saw Lilliana’s figure drop abruptly.

“Kyaaa!” she cried.

It was the first time I ever saw her drop her cool act and act flustered.

“Hahaha, you fell too! That’s karma for you!”

I grabbed a root and tried to pull myself up, but the root was rotten, and it tore as I put some weight on it. I fell back in the water hole. This time, I was in the mud from head to toe.

“GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! JUST---! RAAAARG!!!”

As I screamed from rage, a blinding light forced me to wince. The dead tree above me had caught fire. I climbed up arduously and looked around me.

The forest had turned into a blazing inferno. Hundreds of trees had turned into fierce torches.

**It’s just like last time.**

I had done it again. I lost control and burned everything.

“WHAT THE FUCK?! LYNCH?!” screamed Lilliana.

“Lilliana? You’re alive?! Thank goodness!”

I was sincerely relieved. I really thought she was done for. The accident last time didn’t spare many.

“Of course! I have a protective barrier effective against the elements, remember? That works for fire too, obviously.”

I cried a tear of joy. I hadn’t cried like that in a very long time. Even after the accident, I hadn’t shed a single tear. I guess I wasn’t the kind of person that cried during a tragic event, but instead, I would get emotional when I was deeply moved or relieved.

“Lynch, listen to me carefully. If we do not stop this fire, the entire forest will burn. The rain will not be able to stop it from spreading. I cannot stop it either. Only you can.”

“How? I’ve never done anything like this before! How am I supposed to stop this? I don’t understand!”

“Never done anything like this before? Get a grip already, it’s your second time using magic. Remember how you felt.”

“How I felt?”

“Indeed, magic is closely related to emotions. Now hurry up and figure it out, or the fire will become out of your control!”

**Just now, what did I feel when I fell in the mud? Anger? Irritation? Powerlessness? No, this isn’t right. It’s not about what I felt, but what I should be feeling right now.**

“Pain? No, not quite. Relief, calm, peace of mind… On a rainy day, when you realize you won’t have to force yourself to leave the house that day.”

I closed my eyes and isolated my mind from my blazing surroundings. I visualized the serene scene of a rainy day.

And from above, a torrent of rainwater poured down, drenching the forest in its humid embrace.

“This… is incredible… This unparalleled talent…” Lilliana was speechless and could barely find the words. “This is a genuine weather-altering spell, cast without an incantation… with such mana density and covering such a large area…”

“Fucking hell, I’m freezing now! Why is this water so cold? Magic can surely do something about this… Let’s see... Should I visualize a fireplace?”

“Please, Lynch, no more fire…”

“Oh, right. First, I have to stop this rain before the forest drowns.”

I didn’t do anything particular to stop it. The spell either ran out of mana or perhaps it stopped with my sudden emotional change. The normal rain that was active before my spell had also ceased, but it was hard to tell if I had anything to do with that.

In the end, I didn’t find a way to warm myself. I had to wait for my clothes to dry while we walked. The sloshing sound from my shoes was as annoying as ever.