“Little hero, where are you from?” A Sunfire elven woman asked, incredibly curious as she smothered Marcel in the chair that they sat in. She looked very eager to grab his attention by her flirtatious tone and mannerisms, but unfortunately, Marcel’s pure and naïve side had taken over, making him unable to notice her true intentions, albeit, just for a moment.  

Right after the woman, spoke a man,   

“Are you in a relationship, Dave? Do you perhaps want to spend the night with me~?” The Sunfire elven man sitting on the opposite side of the woman asked Marcel with flirtatious eyes. He looked very adamant about not letting Marcel go either, even though Marcel had just answered the same question a few moments ago. He’d clearly answered no, but they don’t seem to be listening to him at all.  

Well, you might be asking yourself, ‘Just what the hell is happening to Marcel?’ I’ll explain. It all started with Marcel being dropped off at the Sunfire King’s by Ilphos, Elven king of Winds and Storms just a few hours ago.  

[Flashback]  

A while ago, around the afternoon, Ilphos Tempest, the last elven king that Marcel visited, dropped him off back at his starting point in the Fiery Plains, the Sunfire elven palace. The Winds and Storms told the Sunfire what had transpired and how well Marcel’s body accepted their various natures. Sure, the Sunfire elven king had heard from Hedos about the ritual’s success but he’d never imagined that every single one of his race’s natures would be successfully absorbed by the little hero. This great news called for a celebration and as soon as he heard it, the ecstatic king ordered a grand feast to be thrown as a welcome gift to the hero whom he might soon welcome into his family. He invited all 18 of his kids and basically everyone in the Sunfire royal family currently available.  

Night came with the sun setting and somehow, the feast was already prepared. The king had a few servants take care of the little hero and then, by his order, they dragged him to the feast where he’d finally introduce him to everyone.  

“This is Dave, a hero and maybe the newest addition to our family. Treat him well!” He introduced Marcel to the other guests. After the introduction, something happened. Everyone’s attention immediately turned to him, especially the Sunfire king’s progeny. They looked at him with sparkly eyes like he was the treasure of the century and immediately after the king was done introducing him to his four brothers and two out of five sisters currently available, he left him alone, which brings us to the current situation.  

[End of Flashback]  

‘What’s going through these elves’ minds?’ is what you might be asking yourself. Well, it’s simple. They are partner-hunting. As has been probably established, heroes are powerful people who can grow very strong depending on where they find themselves. The heroes have made a reputation for themselves as powerful and passionate people who’ll chase the people that they love to the ends of the earth and beyond. This special characteristic of theirs as well as their strength, appearance, and immense luck which sometimes overflows to their partners, thus benefitting them, has earned them the image of perfect partners.   

Basically, if you marry a hero, then you won’t be lacking in love, protection, and luck, but only if you get them to be interested in a relationship with you, thus why the Sunfire’s children are surrounding him, especially the ones who are either unmarried or have less than two partners already. They’re trying to gain his interest but sadly, they're not paying attention to any of the things he cares about and are more concerned with how to climb into his bed and his overall hero title than the person with the title.  

When Marcel finally noticed the looks of extreme desire and flirtatious eyes that reminded him of wolves chasing their prey all locked on him, he felt uncomfortable as it reminded him of past events, including a certain time he forcibly got down and dirty with the Demon Lord against his wishes. Here he was, trying to hold a conversation in the middle of a circle of people he didn’t know was only interested in the perks that came with being a hero’s partner, and fortunately, he wouldn’t be left feeling uncomfortable for very long. Luckily, the Sunfire King had brought someone who was about to solve his current problem.  

The Sunfire king appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a beautiful girl in tow.  

“Oh... now that I think about it, I never introduced myself, did I. I am Revalor Al Ulvaris, king of the Sunfire elves. I’ve noticed that my children are a bit bothersome, so I humbly apologize, you- Dave...” he spoke, almost revealing Marcel’s secret but remembering just in time to stop himself from spilling it. He continued, directing his attention towards the girl he’d brought with him,  

“This is my youngest daughter.” He introduced her, “...Shalia, go on and introduce yourself!”   

“Oh, where are my manners? I’m Shalia Lahelja Ulvaris, youngest daughter of my father and princess of the Fiery Plains of the Sunfire elves. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She said with a soft smile. Her brothers immediately drew their attention away from Marcel and unto her, and she rightfully deserved every bit of attention they bestowed upon her.  

The youngest princess had beautiful bright golden hair that shone in the light like a mirror. She had lightly tanned skin unlike most of her siblings with bright orange eyes. She wore a light blue and white dress with frills and ribbons that enhanced her seemingly childish but somewhat mature beauty and wore light diamond earrings on her pointy ears. She exuded her presence of an innocent angel who could do no sin to the masses but to Marcel who could see more than meets the eyes, she was more than that. She was one with the spirits like the other elven kings; covered in them as if showering her with all their grace. He could tell that she was one they loved very dearly, both formless and not. And what’s this? Three different spirits of earth, fire, and wind with almost a complete humanoid form flew around her, albeit, without any physical features yet. What is she? A spirit summoner?  

As Marcel was engrossed in what might be the powers of the young lady who stood in front of him with spirits who loved her dearly, the young lady watched the dazed Marcel as she laughed oh so slightly, wondering what he was contemplating, then she finally remembered why she’d come to Marcel. It was to help him get rid of the pesky annoyance that was her siblings who couldn’t leave him alone.   

Marcel snapped out of his daze to the sight of the princess staring at her siblings with a warning in the form of a smile that sent shivers down their spines. They left with smiles as if nothing was wrong and Marcel heaved a sigh of relief. Honestly, any residence of the Sunfire Palace knew how dangerous her smiles but Marcel, who knew nothing about them, was happy to have the wolves away for a while. The siblings postponed their plans to pursue and conquer the young hero for now in respect to their father and the smiles of their wonderful sister which could melt their hearts.  

She heaved a sigh after they left before talking to Marcel,  

“I’m sorry if my siblings bothered you!” She apologized to Marcel on behalf of her scheming siblings with an apologetic expression with signs of exhaustion, then a slight smile.   

Marcel shook his head, “It’s fine, though, I wonder why they all seemed so interested in me. Is there something going on that I don’t know about?” He asked, ignorant as always.  

Shalia’s eyes flickered with excitement and she smiled as she stared at Marcel who seemed clueless about his current situation. She smiled at him and pulled him to the chair he’d just gotten up from and they began talking.  

“Of course! You are the only hero who met all thirteen elven kings and absorbed every single one of our natures! You’re currently the most interesting being around here, not talking about the fact that you’re a hero, of course,” She squealed with sparkly eyes that made Marcel mildly uncomfortable.  

“I really didn’t do anything amazing, did I? I’m sure that there are heroes out there who’ve absorbed more than one nature. Speaking of which, what even is this ‘nature’ thing that I absorbed? I never got an explanation.” He asked, deep in thought and very curious. He’s the type who believed that you should always know about what you come across, the curious and adventurous type of guy.  

“Hmm! It’s going to take a long time to explain everything. Are you sure you want to listen to me rather than enjoy this feast of ours?” The princess asked politely. 

“Yeah! I don’t know anyone here anyway. I feel at ease talking to you than I do the others. For some reason, their eyes give me this very bad feeling.” He asked, remembering the greedy and lustful eyes that he had seen on Shalia’s other siblings. For some reason, Shalia wasn’t pouncing on him like they were, and he is very happy with it.  

“Then prepare to be occupied...” The princess answered back, and they began a long conversation that continued into the night. All the others at the feast except a select few were all asleep and now, thanks to Shalia, he understood not only what natures were but also the difference between natures and elements. He also understood why the others seemed scary earlier. They sought a privilege that the Demon Lord had, alas, already robbed them of.  

Anyway, according to Shalia, natures are certain characteristics that determine what abilities you can utilize as well as what race one comes from and sometimes, the affinities you'll possess. They’re the magical equivalent of genes as they determine one’s magical traits. They unite with the soul to become a part of one’s being. There are two types of natures that most races possess; the first being their fundamental nature which comes from their race, like for example, the elves’ ever-growing passion as they get older, and the second being the nature of the energy which chose them before they were born, most of the time, at least.  

From what the demon race has observed so far from peeking into the human realms and the heroes, humans don’t seem to have a second nature that results from a specific source of nature’s energy choosing them before birth like residents of the demon realms, but this in itself is another advantage of humans. This unusual trait is a unique ability that allows them to adapt the space of the missing second nature inside of them depending on where they find themselves and the energies available to them, albeit at very different rates, especially for the heroes, thus making them beings capable of absorbing natures that they don’t possess.  

Demons and other races of the demon realms, however, are still far better than humans not only in terms of strength and magic, which happens to be a gift to humans by said demons. Let’s take the elves for example.  

The elven race is a semi-divine race linked to the gods through their progenitor known as the Elven Originator. Their fundamental nature is that of adventurousness, passions, longevity, and their inability to forgive those who hurt the various creatures of the Earth Mother, albeit their magnanimity. Their second natures are heavily linked to the natural elements of Tharrelan, the world in which the Elven Originator, their mother, rested for a short while before continuing her endless thrill-seeking journey. These natural elements, also known as the Sources, are the thirteen different energy vessels that fell unto Tharrelan during its creation. These sources’ powers were absorbed by her and through this union came the birth of her children, the Elven Ancestors, mostly known as the Elven Kings. These elven beings born from the union of the Elven Originator and the sources would later give birth to the current world of diverse elves who have spread far and wide beyond their homeworld of Tharrelan.  

Now, what’s all this information got to do with Marcel? Well, there’s this fact that different primary and secondary natures rarely like to mix. This is because a primary nature’s energy is usually powerful and domineering in nature and if it mixes with another such powerful primary nature, they tend to battle until one triumphs over the other. When this doesn’t happen as a result of something like an equilibrium being established by an outside force, like someone’s will or meddling, then a hybrid creature is born. The chances of this happening are slim; however, this happens very regularly as far as secondary natures are concerned. Let’s take Princess Shalia, Revalor’s daughter as an example.   

Shalia, the youngest daughter of Revalor, is what we’d call a perfect unity between three secondary natures. Possessing her father's, son of Shanos Ulvaris, Sunfire Ancestor who accompanies his mother on her long journey and original Sunfire King’s secondary nature, which comprises of the energy of the sun and flames, which brings out the power to create life as well as incinerate it to ashes. This secondary nature was united with the gentle but tenacious energy of Thorngalt, Elven King of Luscious Forests through his daughter, Florestia, great grandmother of Shalia’s, an elven Guardian, and lastly, the energy of the spirit world which intersects the physical and dream worlds. This union which happened before birth inside the princess makes her an elf with three secondary natures capable of wielding the elemental powers of the Sunstone, Trees of Life, and the Spirit world, which is why she’s so heavily surrounded by spirits. The girl is a hybrid among elves and one full of potential too.  

‘Now what’s that got to do with Marcel?’ You might ask again. Well, basically everything. The little guy has done something that has never been done before. He absorbed not only two sets of primary energies which will soon start battling inside of him because of the petty rivalry of Dragon Empress Alverona and the Elven Kings as well as all thirteen secondary energies of the elven race. These two seeds are very dangerous to combine but his body did so perfectly without rejecting any of them, meaning... um, I don’t know.   

Now the two races are vying against each other with the little hero's next race as the price. Whichever race’s energy takes hold of Marcel’s soul and fully melds with it or dominates the other wins? Will it be the elves, or the dragons, or maybe a tie with a side of hybrid? Well, only the future will tell. For now, let’s watch these two seeds grow and the benefits of the two shine brightly for the eyes of many to see. Spoiler alert, someone, in the future, is about to be used as a fire shield.  

Oh yeah, now back to the elven princess. After talking with Marcel all night, she’s currently heading back to her room and how is she feeling? Um, utterly humiliated. Why does she feel like that? Well, it seems like Marcel didn't meet her expectations or rather, failed to act like she thought he would. She felt so terrible that she left deep in the night, right after she was done explaining elven knowledge to Marcel. Oh well, her plans will soon come to light anyway, so never mind.