"Again," I said through labored panting, quickly casting a rejuvenation spell before the next bout to restore a portion of my stamina.

  I grabbed my sword from where it had fallen in the dirt and adjusted my grip before hoisting my shield up to its proper height and changing my stance.

  Without any fanfare or countdown, three projectiles whizzed towards my head. One I blocked with my shield, the other I parried with my sword, and the last I dodged by turning my head. Four shadowy figures entered my range of view, but my senses told me only three of them were real while the last was a fake made of magic. In a perfectly coordinated assault, the three beings rushed me at the same time, cutting off any escape routes and limiting my movements.

  That didn't mean I was powerless, though.

  I jumped to the left, and thanks to a slight boost from blood magic, landed further than I normally would, putting me within reach of the final attacker. A quick slash of the sword and they were 'out', revealing the three figures behind me, only now they had lost the protection of the illusion mage. Still, it didn't seem like that would be a hindrance to them as they all thrust their weapons at different parts of my body, causing me to backstep in response, only for an unexpected projectile to crack on my forehead.

  "Ow!" The split-second of unexpected pain was enough for me to be surrounded, as three elves had their weapons at my neck, bringing an end to this practice session. I couldn't help but sigh as I lowered my arms and thanked the staff for assisting in my training.

  As it turned out, all of the staff in the Aschel estate were talented combatants, even when removing their natural magical prowess as a factor. This, of course, led to me asking them to act as sparring partners whenever they had the time, which was quite often. Naturally, I wasn't so foolish as to believe that I could take on multiple foes at once, especially when magic was taken out of the picture, but I needed to get used to dealing with multiple foes, as I doubted the voranders on the battlefield would be polite enough to line up one at a time for me to take on.

  It had been nearly two weeks since I had arrived, and in that time, I had done very little besides sparring and accumulating essence. I had run into a few of the other members of the Aschel family during my stay and found out to my surprise that the lord did in fact have a harem, each of whom had produced children, some of which were unfortunate enough to bump into me. Literally.

  I apologized multiple times to both the kid and his mother, but I felt my words lost some of their sincerity when spoken by a translator.

  After that incident, I decided to limit the amount of time spent outside my room...and to walk more slowly when approaching corners.

  Thankfully, it seemed my stay here would be coming to an end soon, as I was told that the elders and the head of house would be meeting today, and my acceptance into whatever recruitment program they were creating would be decided upon. I was glad that things finally seemed to be moving forward, as I was growing increasingly impatient to unlock my spatial affinity.

  However, I never imagined that the lord himself would show up in person right as I was putting away my training weapons. Given that every elf present showed some sort of deference to him as he walked towards me, it wasn't that difficult to guess his identity. Well, that and his outfit, which matched the extravagance of his house. For some reason, he had a thin goatee and mustache framing his mouth, and I couldn't help but note how odd it was that I hadn't seen elves with facial hair before.

  My musings on elven genetics were cut short as he stood before me, almost six feet tall yet possessing a presence that belied his height. For a moment, he did nothing but size me up, until he spoke with a deep voice.

  "You're selfish."

  He spoke the beastfolk tongue, which hinted at his awareness of my fluency. He was also needlessly rude. Then again, that was one of the privileges of power. Even if he wasn't anywhere near Elder Dusk levels of danger, he still seemed like someone I wouldn't want to fight.

  "Isn't everyone?" I replied, both genuine and smug.

  He smirked in return. "We'll talk more in the evening. For now, though, I'm curious to see how much you've learned getting smacked around by my staff these past few days. Take your stance."

  I stopped myself from swallowing as I retrieved the wooden sword and shield I had just set down, and walked back to the center of the training field. Lord Quillith, thank god some of the servants said his name just now or I would have forgotten it, stood with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of the estate.

  "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked.

  "Even if I said no, that wouldn't change your mind," I answered.

  He turned around to face me. "Good. You have nerve. But, you'll need more than that if you want my approval."

  "On your mark?" I asked, ceding the countdown to begin to him.

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  "On your mark. But before that," he held up a hand for me to wait and I soon realized why. Within moments, the terrain changed, the evenly cut grass field transforming into a muddy bog, puddles of water dotting the area, with withered tree stumps and mist scattered throughout the land. Finally, the lighting in the surroundings changed from the brightness of late morning to the dull glow of evening, reducing the visibility even more.

  "Now we can start." He said, though I couldn't even see him with all the obstacles in the way. As far as I could tell, Lord Quillith had terraformed a radius of about two hundred meters into this bog of blindness, and for what?

  "Start," I called out, just wishing to end this already and go take a shower. I had discovered how to adjust the pressure and temperature of water long ago, as it was very similar to what I did with blood, and while it required me to manually control the water rather than leaving it to the formations, it was always good for relieving me of mental strain and -

  A nick across my waist drew a drop of blood.

  "Careful, boy. Distractions are death in battle." No sooner had he spoken than another nick appeared, this time just above my ankle.

  I held my weapons at the ready, turning in place to try and catch a glimpse of him, but I couldn't make out anything. Even my magical senses told me nothing. I couldn't stand in place and just let him whittle me down, nor could I hastily move in any direction when there could be a trap waiting for me.

  Even if there was an unspoken agreement not to use magic during the duel, I'd rather lose having done what I could rather than regret my inaction. Besides, I refused to believe that guy wasn't using magic when he sliced me.

  I vibrated the earth around me, causing small tremors but not doing much more than that. I had hoped that my earth sense could detect any unnatural weight anywhere in my range of detection but sadly I had no such luck.

  "Freeze." With a shortened chant, the temperature dropped precipitously in a wave radiating out from my position, eliminating the fog and turning the top layer of the nearby puddles into ice.

  It also had the added effect of revealing a person's exhalations, which I saw the lord wasn't expecting, as he froze in place, no pun intended, when I sent a swarm of ice needles towards him. Sadly, they were all deflected and repurposed as they changed into a puddle of water midair that acted as a mobile shield for Quillith.

  "Hmm, not bad." He deigned to compliment me before changing the terrain once more, only this time the effect was far smaller, as the ground beneath my feet sucked me in like quicksand only faster, leaving me with only my arms and head above the surface before the pulling sensation died down.

  "Really! That's how you want to win against me?" I asked in exasperation.

  He raised an eyebrow as he began walking towards me, the terrain already returning to its original pristine state. "You saw me change the ground. Why would you think I wouldn't make use of such a tool?"

  "Fine, fine, you win already. I admit my defeat. Elves are better than humans, I'm a lowly peasant mongrel that doesn't know my place, and I would be lucky to someday attain even a fraction of your strength. I should be honored to even be breathing the same air as you. Now, if I could beg for a bit of your benevolence and ask that you let me up so I can take a bath?"

  My 'submissive' rant only made him stare at me with an almost dispassionately scrutinizing look that left me more uncomfortable than I already was. Wordlessly, I was jettisoned out of the ground and landed on my stomach facedown in the soft dirt. By the time I could looked up, he was already walking away, an entourage of servants trailing after him.

  Sighing to myself, I got to my feet and magicked away as much dirt from my clothes as I could before traipsing back into the house to take a proper shower. I lay in the gilded bathtub for a long time, letting the droplets of water patter down on my tired body as I wondered if I had just thrown away my only chance at unlocking my spatial affinity.

  He can't be that petty, can he? Did I even do anything to offend him?

  Well, even if he kicked me out today, I would manage somehow. I could always find somewhere near the human continent and settle down there. I had stumbled upon an illusion technique in the Trove that basically created a mask over my face, or my whole body if necessary, and it would prevent anyone from recognising me. Granted, it required one to have the light affinity, but gaining it didn't seem like it would be a challenge for me...unless light was in the same situation as space in that it needed some kind of trigger or condition to be unlocked.

  You know what, even if it causes me to lose some opportunities or sends me to an early grave, I don't think I'll ever be willing to give up on my autonomy. I can pretend to submit to someone stronger for a while, but eventually, I'll snap. Or I'll say something sarcastically and blow my cover. But regardless of the cost, I have to stay true to myself. If I ever change the parts of myself that I value, eventually I'll turn into someone I can't recognise, and I've seen enough movies to know that usually doesn't end well.

  I stopped the water flow and got out of the tub, drying myself off with a gentle stream of warm air before I threw on some clean clothes that also received the warm air treatment, and meditated. Doing some repetitive actions where I wouldn't have to think too much sounded exactly like what I needed.

  Sadly, it seemed that the slight sensations I got from the essence moving through my body and entering my core were enough to prevent me from achieving that blissful yet rare state of detachment that bordered euphoria. Still, I kept at it so that I could count the day as being at least a little productive.

  I had already tried to split my focus while meditating in an effort to have my consciousness relax in my space rewatching old films and tv shows while my body mechanically performed my breathing technique, but sadly it didn't work out as I wished. Doing it that way cause the essence to disperse meaninglessly without even approaching my core, so I either needed a greater level of focus, improved awareness or my body, or a better breathing technique like the vortex one that Elovere had.

  Shortly after my session, I was called to dinner and escorted to the dining room. As soon as I entered, I could see that it was packed full of people unfamiliar to me, but it was easy enough to make an educated guess who they were considering who sat at the head of the table, looking just as pristine as when he'd 'sparred' with me that morning.

  Lord Quillith was seated at the head of the table, while six elven women were seated to his right. A mixture of men and women sat on his left, but given that there were fifteen people, the same number of his children as I'd learned earlier, their identities quickly became obvious.

  "Are there any other guests that we're waiting on, or may we begin now?" The lady to Lord Quillith's immediate right haughtily said.

  "The dishes will be out soon, my lady." One of the servants bowed before entering the kitchen, returning only moments later at the head of a small army of staff laden with cutlery, tableware, and enough food to feed everyone in this room ten times over.

  I ate well as the tides of conversation washed over me, the only spectator in a room full of participants. Whether it was intentional or not, though, everyone spoke in elvish, and I only managed to make out a few words here and there, certainly not enough to guess what was being talked about. A few of the younger children were pointing at me and saying something loudly that caused the older ones to suppress a laugh or a twitch of their lips, and I got the sense that it wasn't the most charitable statement ever made, but it wasn't something I cared enough about to inquire. The lord seemed to converse with every one of his family members at least once, and I got the impression that mels like this were a special occasion given how eager they were to have his attention, even for a short while.

  As the meal begin winding down with the last of the desserts taken away, the women and children began to file out of the room, all of whom paid respects to the head of the house before leaving. Elovere did look at me strangely as I waited for everyone to exit first, but I read it as her being confused at my politeness, which I would have done by was forced to do so unwillingly

  When I tried to leave, I found out that my attempts to leave my chair were in vain, as something prevented me from standing up...or speaking, when I tried to politely ask why he did so.

  After everyone was gone, Lord Quillith looked at me before pouring another drink for himself, all done magically, of course. He alternated between looking at me and taking sips of his drink, until the cycle was finally broken when he pulled a piece of parchment from out of thin air and slid it all the way across the table to me, where I could read it.

  "Sign that, and then we can talk about getting you that space affinity you seem to be so desperate for."