The Fahlhala Tribe

"Hmmm. it's hard to think of any that you could use at your level. He had a few cool party tricks that I think could be useful. He used to create a long path of ice ahead, create ice sleds, and fly across them using propulsion from water. They were so smooth it was nearly frictionless and he could shoot across an entire city in minutes given enough build-up. I don't know if you can use ice magic that well though. That amount of ice magic would require a skill for most people, but that was just his natural ice abilities."

"I don't think I could do that, maybe I could try with water?"

"Maybe. I don't think it was very useful without a sled though, your slime would just be rubbing against a wet floor. It wouldn't be that much help."

"Also, could you explain magic a bit more? What do you mean by that amount of ice magic would require a skill? Why could I use it without a skill?"

"Ah, yes. So, as you know people have affinities. That means that everyone has particular elements that they find especially easy to control. But it's not just zero or a hundred, there are different levels of affinity. You in my future got so strong with the ice affinity that it reached into the 500's, a number hardly ever seen with affinities. This was because of your slimes, but it spread to you as well and you could create powerful ice magic just using mana without the aid of skills. Those with lower ice affinity would require some ice skills to help them in creating the ice magic that you used naturally. So skills and their strengths are more dependant on the person and their affinities."

"What kind of affinity would a tamer skill be related to?"

"Animals. Your affinity with animals is also an aspect. Affinities reach far and beyond, almost as varied as talents."

"What is your affinity?"

"My three highest are humans, dirt, and electricity. Although the electricity is the weakest of the three, it's up there."

"There can be multiple affinities?"

"Yes, of course. In fact, in an average person, they have anywhere from 8 to 15. But some are so low that it's basically useless. Affinities are something you are born with, but it is also something you can make and nurture throughout your lifetime. A person could be born with no affinity for animals, but if they spend enough time with them then they can create an affinity with them and increase it. I was born with people as my highest, possibly from my father.

Being a merchant and all. Dirt was something I manifested by playing so much in the dirt and being fascinated with what it could do. I learned all by myself how to mold dirt into humans using mana." Page looked really proud of that fact, but all Zeeth could imagine was a young Page sitting in a pile of dirt with a small hump of dirt, and his dad clapping at him as he tried to hide his professional sculptures to spare his feelings.

Page saw the look on his face and knew Zeeth was doubtful, "you don't believe me do you? Here, I can show you. I learned some sculpting from my dad as well so maybe it runs in the family. I plan on passing sculpting to my kids, and grandkids, and great-grandkids. Here." Page stuck his hand over the slime and a small heap of dirt was magically pulled up into his hand.

He then put both his hands onto it, channeled a bunch of water out of the mana around him, and began molding it. He put his entire focus on creating a sculpture of a beautiful woman, with long, black hair going straight down and a pair of big, brown eyes. Every now and then a bit of water seeped in the make it stronger and his finished result actually surprised Zeeth, he didn't expect it to come out so good. He knew Page wouldn't be bad, but this was something he would be willing to sell.

"Wow, that's really cool."

"Thanks. The only issue is that since it's made of dirt it will dry up and break in a few days. If I want it to stay I gotta use clay or something."

It took a couple of days, but eventually, they made it to the village. As they traveled the floor became more sand-like and slowly turned to a red color. By the time they arrived at the village, the floor was as red as a tomato and every bounce of a slime kicked up large dust of red sand that settles quickly back down. The heat had also been getting incrementally hotter, but it was such a small increase that they hardly realized it. Although, by the time they were in front of the village, Zeeth was sweating just a little bit around his forehead.

"This is the village of the Fahlhala tribe. They aren't as, erm, let's say developed as the rest of the world. They tend to stick to older traditions."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you'll see. Also, make sure to hide your slimes, I have a place where we can let them loose and get them used to the heat."

They got off the slimes while they were far enough away for them not to be seen and Zeeth had them recondensed. The walls were one of the strangest he had ever seen. The front had two massive doors that seemed to be made of wood, but upon closer inspection, one of them was metal and the other was wood. The walls also had similar looks, many of them had been broken down but out of what was left, half of it was just scratched and burned wood, and the other half had the exact same patterns put the material was a dark metal that had a bunch of other broken swords and random scrap parts stuck to them.

The metal door also seemed to be bent near the top and looked as if it was about to fall over any second.

Chunks of broken and burnt off vines hung around the wall, some of it even seemed to have turned into black metal.

When they got to the doors, a few men wearing nothing but masks and long skirts pointed swords and spears at them, directing them to the left where they walked through a scanner like an airport.

A beep went off as each of them walked through, but a red light shone when Page walked through.

A woman on the side pointed a spear at him and said, "Empty your spatial pockets, do you have any magnetic items on you?"

Page pulled out his single spatial pocket and showed her it's contents, just a few tools and a platter of refrigerated boar meat that Zeeth had cooked with Tarud. It seemed his father had given it to him as a parting gift. "No, I don't think so."

They looked through his items one by one, but when he pulled out his last item, the platter of meat, they stopped and stared. He moved the platter to the left and all of their eyes followed it. A bit of drool started to form from some of their mouths. "Would... you like some?"

"Reall- ouch!" the woman began to speak, but a man on the side bonk her head with his fist and she hurriedly said, "No, no we don't."

"I mean, I don't mind sharing some. We can always make more."

The man gruffly replied, "She said we don't want. It's yours, we can't take it. Why are you here?"

"For heat resistance training."

"Alright, follow the path that curves to the right, that is where heat resistance trainers go."

Zeeth and Page packed his things back into the bag and left to enter the village.

"Leia, they were strangers. We don't take their food. What if it was poisoned?"

"I'm sorry, brother. My hunger got to me. You know we don't have meats like that, the heat scares away all the good animals."

"I know, that's why I go hunting on the plains every Friday. Do not take any tourist's food."

"Okay." she knew not to take their food, but the moment she saw the food that she only got to eat once or twice a week, her hunger got to her. She wasn't even able to think about denying it, all she wanted was to bite the crunchy looking exterior. As their backs disappeared, she tried to imagine what it would be like to live in heaven where it was filled to the brim with tasty steak and pork.