Luke began to experiment with water magic without wasting time since trying an earth spear would probably take quite a while to learn. The only problem with that was that Luke would take a lot more time to make the Water Arrow since it was trying to mix the water particles in the air... to do that faster, he would need a body of water nearby, and he couldn’t see any. Before he could find a solution to that problem, he saw some dark elves returning. A couple of hours had passed, so they probably had obtained some results. In any case, they looked a bit beaten down, and it wasn’t because Luke defeated them a few days ago.

"We have found one of the crystals inside a grove, it is being protected by hundreds of starving wolves."

"Good job, choose nine other parties to go there and finish the wolves and destroy the crystal," Luke said. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Luke wouldn’t get the gold coins that they would earn by completing the mission. Still, he was already getting plenty by making those hundred followers of his fighting the monsters in the area. Without lifting a single finger, he will have enough coins to buy the red crystal on the next day. Still, instead of lazing around, he was using that chance to learn new skills and train them.

"We are supposed to be good at magic, but it has been a few hundred years since the last time we learned something new by ourselves," Rina said.

"Same here, we can control the elements, but not to use something so powerful and instantly at that," Shalia added. "We tried, but we never accomplished anything like learning new spells or improving old ones."

"Well, you probably didn’t try all approaches," Luke said.

"I have met some that managed to learn new skills and spells, he was truly a master in learning things like that, but he wasn’t interested in fighting," Nambra said. "Many people wanted to learn from him, but he refused them all and in the end, several of those who wanted to be his apprentice attacked and he was killed."

That certainly wasn’t a story that Luke needed to hear. Still, he could learn a thing from that. If you aren’t willing to share it, there is no need to tell others what you have. Such an individualistic way of living sure fits Luke...

"... Is there any settlement of considerable size in this world?" Luke suddenly asked.

"... Do you think such a place might be attacked by the same creature that created that crater?" Rina asked.

"The possibility certainly is there," Luke replied, and then he thought of something else.

Why did the attacker attack? Was it attacked because the settlement was a threat? Did they attack because of their leader? Or was it because they wanted to experience gold coins? If that was the case, the place where Rina’s parents were when they died... was that similar? Luke began to think on large scales... Instead of just targeting important people, those beings were targeting the large numbers of people they found there...

Luke wondered if he should think that hunting sapient beings was despicable if it was for the sake of experience and gold coins. They were doing the same things with monsters, after all. Why were they supposed to be different? Better? While Luke was thinking about that, another dark elves group showed and said they had found another crystal. He still could see many monsters in the distance, so maybe they should stay there and camp for a while. The only problem was that they didn’t have camping gear, so Luke would have to use his magic...

"Oh well, I suppose it will serve as a training," Luke shrugged.

"If you are thinking about making some barracks, then perhaps you should put them together and use them when you buy the next red crystal," Rina said.

"I suppose that works fine as well," Luke nodded. "Do you want to sleep at home, Danielle? We have been here for a few days, maybe you should return and give mom and dad my report."

"What report? We just found a hole and you beat into submission some dark elves," Danielle said.

She wasn’t wrong, but his parents will get the wrong idea if they hear that. It will be better if Luke writes his report. In the end, they spent the night there, and the dark elves found other three crystals. The population of monsters decreased quite a bit, but there is still some moving around. Unfortunately, Luke didn’t have any more time to waste... Actually, he had since he would spend some time making the next red crystal obtain mana. Still, he decided to call back all the dark elves as soon as he had enough coins to buy it. However, he was forced to stop when his friends noticed something weird on the horizon...

"What now..." Luke asked and then frowned.

In the distance, Luke and the others could see an army of dark elves running toward them. They sure looked pissed since their eyes were wide open, and they were shouting enraged...

"Care to explain what is going on with them?" Rina asked. "Do your people lose their reason often like that?"

"No... If I have to guess, they probably saw the direction we came from and they also saw the crater there..." Shalia said. "Those morons probably think that we were the ones that destroyed that settlement and everyone in it."

Luke sighed. His life was already busy enough as it is. He didn’t have to waste any more time with misunderstandings... To make matters worse, the number of enemies was too high. He won’t have time to beat so many of them down and hope that they will obediently join his side... They won’t listen to him.

"Step back, I will deal with this on my own," Luke declared.

The last thing that Luke needed now was to lose his underlings and make them kill their own people...