“I am in awe.” Elfrafim’s smooth yet strong voice rang through the cavern the moment she descended the flight of stairs toward our base.

I looked at the same space which I had lived in for the past few years, a wide cave that we’d widened even further and made our own. It was one continuous space with only restrooms and beds given the courtesy of separate rooms for privacy.

“Yeah. This is the life.” I heaved a satisfied sigh and stepped into the washing area by the entrance. I closed the curtain behind myself and spoke. “Wash up too before you tarnish this sacred place.”

“Will do!”

I washed myself, my armor, and everything else, before drying up with fire magic, then getting a comfortable change of clothes. I was finished within a few meager minutes, because Moonwash had made the best of soaps from the different acids and materials that we’d gathered.

“I’m done. You can use the washroom next…” When I opened the curtain up again, I found Elfrafim waiting for me, clean and pristine. “What? How?”

“Hmm? How what?”

“How are you clean?”

“I used magic!”

“You can do that?” I mulled it over. “I guess if you have a high enough fire resistance, which I might actually get…”

“I didn’t use fire. That’d burn me, silly!”

“Eh, you’re level 80. You can take it, I’m sure. Just regulate the power.”

“Well, maybe. But people don’t normally just set themselves on fire like that! It’s like… your instincts would just scream at you not to be stupid!”

“I think mine’s gone hoarse,” I joked. “How’d you do it then?”

She took out a wand from her dress. It was a different one from those she used earlier. The design and colors told me of its element.

“Water magic?”

“Yes!”

I thought it over for a few seconds.

“I could see how that works, I’m sure people use it back at home too. I’m just not talented with the element. But then how are you dry?”

“By using the water magic again, of course. How else would I do it?”

I touched her arm and the hem of her short-sleeved dress.

“But you’re not even damp.”

“That’s what being dry is!”

I worked my jaw a little, before speaking haltingly. “You can control water magic, to such a fine degree, that you can dry yourself entirely without leaving behind any droplets?” That was a level of control unheard of. How powerful was this elf woman?

“Wow. That’s kind of very profound, Haell! The abilities that we take for granted are actually pretty fucking amazing. Magic is wonderful. I love it.”

“And now I’m a philosopher,” I chuckled. “That is, of course, not what I meant. I have never heard of anyone being able to control magic to this degree before! It’s so fucking fine!”

A realization just struck my new friend, it was visible in her face.

“Oh, I get it! You guys suck!”

I both laughed and choked at that response. “Fucking rub it in, why don’t ya?”

“No, no. I mean, I’m sure you guys all have your fine points…”

I grasped at my heart and gasped in deep emotional pain. “Gah! Gurk! And now she’s twisting the knife!”

“Haell, come on! And everyone aside, I’m sure I’ll be no match for you once you reach my level. Though I was never that low.”

I fidgeted and blushed at all the truths she was saying. “Absolutely! But what was that about never being that low?”

“Oh, our levels. Elves are born at level 20.”

“What!?”

“Elves are born at level 20.”

“No! I heard you the first time!”

“Then why’d you ask again!?”

“Because…! Because I did not know that!”

“But I already told you!”

“It hasn’t sunk in!”

“Okay! Why are we shouting!”

…

“I don’t know… why are you shouting?” I asked her.

“Because you did it first?”

“Hmm… fair. Okay, hang on, I just gotta gather my thoughts a little.”

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“Sure. I can wait here all day!”

“Hm. Nah. Let’s just go inside. We can talk a bit more later.”

“You sure?”

“Oh yes. I got people to introduce you to. Baston’s a family friend and he’s great. Moonwash is like, my best friend basically, and I love her. You’ll love her too, I’m sure! Although you might think her weird, she’s… you’ll see. I’m also sure she’d want to pick at your brain…”

“What!?” She covered her head. “My brain is mine! No touching!”

I looked blandly at her, until she doubled down.

“Oh no! I have been captured by a cult of brain diddlers!”

“Even if we wanted to do that, you can just kick all our asses to kingdom come! At once!”

“But it’s the thought that counts!”

Another beat of silence.

“I know what you mean, of course,” Elfrafim admitted. “And of course I’ll answer any and all questions. You’ve already shared your knowledge about your brand new species with me, the knowledge I have to offer is paltry in comparison.”

“No…” I was going to be all humble about it, but I changed my mind. “Nevermind. You’re right, actually. It is a brand new species. Your knowledge probably won’t put your safety in jeopardy either.”

“Oh yeah, it won’t. Now that I’ve heard your circumstances, I’m surprised you even told me. Which, I’m very flattered of course! But in elven lands, we have this thing taught to us as children called ‘stranger danger’...”

I raved and cackled as she began to explain, unable to form the proper words to respond to that. Coming from her.

Fuck. Fuck today is a good day.

~~~

I introduced Elfrafim and Astan to Baston and Moonwash. Elfrafim and Moonwash immediately hit it off as I thought they would, and the two had already gone off to the forge, feeding into each other’s excitement. Moonwash had surprisingly a fair bit to offer herself, in terms of knowledge and information. She knew of the common techniques in Angelore, the materials and parts that could be harvested locally which weren’t present in the Grandest Forest, and most of all, her work with menace magic and curses was very interesting to Elfrafim. It was a rare element to be attuned towards to begin with, but Elfrafim also added how the select few who could use curse magic and its varieties, were kind of just the type of people that you would have to put down. And they typically didn’t even have the cursed mana inside of themselves!

Why couldn’t they just be well-adjusted individuals like myself? Such a waste.

“An elf…” Baston sighed, sipping on some wine. He looked at me, and I knew the ishkawtan man was more than sober. “You really are going to go far. Go places.”

“I am.” I thought about grabbing some wine. It was only a few more months until my eighteenth birthday, it wasn’t even illegal here, I was doing worse to myself and my mind daily, it didn’t matter. But, contrary to what people may think, I did believe that alcohol should be saved for adults, so I was holding off on it. As much as I hated my previous parents and their controlling nature, maybe they did have a bit of a point about me having gotten into a terrible crowd when I was younger, at least in some respects. They were great otherwise though, just like me.

“Is this the part where you give me advice?” I asked him, after a bit of silence.

“Nah. You have your path, and you’re walking it. Hell, you’re now kind of in the same boat as me, where you might not actually be allowed to walk your path, but you’re doing it anyway! Your plan is to just murder anyone who tries to stop you, for fuck’s sake.”

I shrugged. “I’m not hurting anyone…” I remembered the adventurers we killed. “Well, okay maybe I have. But when I’m not doing that, then well, it’s really on them if they wanna take me on. I best be ready.”

He took another swig. “Oh, I know. It’s just wild. You’re born a human, which isn’t the highest, but it’s up there. And yet you chose to become this… demon. And you like it.”

“I love it.”

“Exactly that. And you truly believe you can survive and thrive.”

“I will.”

“I’m starting to believe it too. If you can survive, then taking on the entire empire doesn’t seem… impossible.”

He drank more wine.

“I… I did what I could, with the hand I was dealt, as best I could. I climbed as high as my species was allowed. Hell, I even skirted past that line thanks to your parents. But you make me wonder if I should’ve tried to go further. To defy the heavens, and fight for what I wished.”

“Well, maybe you could have. Still could. But I don’t expect everyone to be like me. I’m not asking anyone to take the same dangerous and insane risks. I am a demon, not you.”

“And I’d also probably just fucking die?”

“Maybe you’ll surprise me.” I shrugged lightly and grinned.

“Heh. I don’t think I have any surprises left.”

“Oh fuck off. You’re like, at less than half your lifespan. You can give up or be content if you wish, but there’s definitely time left for you.”

“More than half. I have a sparse few Mutations at 40, and not the ones that matter most for aging.”

“But you’re already at 40 in some! I don’t think more is out of your reach.”

“...Maybe. I do think so. I hope I do reach those levels, even if just for the anti-aging. Fiya has the proper ones to survive longer… I don't want to just leave her behind.”

“Then don’t. Maybe go even further than that.”

“You’re a bloody prodigy, you don’t understand. Everyone hits a wall at some point with their leveling. It’s not that simple.”

“I do understand. I understand that many people would shit themselves hearing you speak right now. You’re a goddamn prodigy in your own right.”

“If your mother were here, she’d be sad to hear your language.”

“Ah, fuck off. It’s fine. She’ll understand.”

Baston chuckled. “Yeah. It’s not like she’s a saint herself.”

“She’s great.”

“I never said she wasn’t! Mahka is great.”

There was another pause. I looked at Baston and smirked. “What happened to not giving out advice?”

“Bah! You’re the one giving me advice at this point, if anything.”

“I am pretty wise.”

“I actually think you’re stupid.” My jaw dropped. He continued, “Yet somehow things just work out. When they logically should not!”

I calmed myself from the insult that I heard, suppressing the influence of my mana. It helped that I loved what he had to say after calling me stupid.

“Maybe I’m just that wise. I can see success where others cannot.”

“Perhaps so.” He faced me seriously. “But you’re not invincible. Always remember that.”

I met his gaze. My goat eyes stared back into his very large ones. “Aha! That’s an advice!”

He barked out a laugh. “Fucking Haell.”

I face foes stronger than me everyday. All of the power I’d clawed for myself was trivialized today.

Of course I know I’m not invincible.