The entire tribe was abuzz with activity soon after the news of her change in appearance spread.

All of the elves were shocked by the transformation. Ava’s previous short blonde locks were now a light blue. 

Many were quick to make wild theories. One of the most vocal about it was one of the tribes elders, an elf named Hoatan. 

He was the one who always seemed to be by her Fathers side, he claimed this was a message from the great spirits that it was time for her Father to ‘spread his roots elsewhere’ and to find a concubine to bear him more children. 

It turned out Hoatan was actually really old. Even older than her Father despite looking barely into his thirties. He was loyal to the previous tribes chief who past down his title to her Father upon his death.

He believed that her Father who was the most talented elf originating from the tribe in a long time should have more than one women, since her mother had a weak body and would be putting herself at risk if she continued to bear more children. 

It turned out his motives weren’t as vicious as she originally thought, however she still disliked him greatly as his whole vendetta about her was that she was born female and not the son he wanted as an heir. 

Turned out that even Elves viewed a son as the ideal heir. Especially in the outskirts of elven territory where weaker tribes like this one are located, Mages were rare even in Elven society, therefore Warriors were the norm and men in general were viewed to make better Warriors. 

Luckily these outlandish theories about her was soon put to bed.

The old herbalist from before actually came to her rescue on this one. He examined her and said nothing about her was out of the norm, instead she was remarkably healthy and brimming with vitality. Instead he predicted her hair change was likely due to a positive thing such as having a strong affinity for a particular Qi type. 

Therefore instead of a curse, it was a grand blessing to the tribe as the spirits seemed to have decided to grant the tribe chiefs daughter their power over the elements. 

Upon hearing the old herbalist words the gloomy atmosphere of the tribe turned into a long night of celebrations as the elves gathered together in happiness. 

The harmonious nature of the tribe was soon demonstrated. As every elf in the tribe danced and shared food, drink with each other with everyone in the tribe treating other members as their equal during the celebrations.

The only one troubled about it was Hoatan who feared that Xandas reckless nature may cost the tribe in the future, he was concerned since the line of succession had been past down to Xandas from his father and their father before. He did not want the line to end with him without a suitable male heir. The tribe made decisions as a selective community but it was tradition the tribal chief originates from Xandas’s bloodline. 

‘I cannot fail my ancestors!’ Hoaton thought resolutely. 

On the other hand for Ava everything turned normal after that night. Her Father spent a period often by her Mother and hers side in concern for a while, but soon returned back to his regular duties after nothing unusual happened to her.

The old man’s conjecture was soon viewed as a good omen. Since Ava’s behaviour did not change at all, she was still the obedient, beautiful well behaved infant from before. 

And after a few months of no disasters or bad things to the tribe happening, the remaining suspicions of it being a curse quickly died out. 

Meanwhile Ava wondered if her affinities could have been tested. And did not understand why they weren’t if the old man theorised she was particularly talented, yet Cense quickly answered these doubts.

‘They likely do not have the means to test you here, this is only a fairly strong small tribe. They are bottom rung among the elven coalition. And your also way too young to cultivate, most will begin at around six years old since a child won’t be able to grasp the basic concepts until they are at least six. You’ll likely be taken to be tested in the future when your a bit older at a larger tribe who has the means to do so.‘ Cense explained.

‘Hmm alright.’ Ava accepted readily, after all she had no reason to doubt the old spirit. 

She also had further doubts, ‘Anyways what about other Qi attributes? You said you’d tell me at a suitable time, this should be good one as any since the old man has put already put incredibly high expectations on me’

She was already cursing the old fogey for running his mouth saying she was some super talent despite being described as trash by the spirit before. 

He had made the elves view her as the pride and hope of the tribe, if she now failed to meet these expectations she can already foresee the stares of disappointment.

‘Haha. You’re lucky that you happen to have an ancient spirit at your disposal who has been the artefact of many powerful masters with higher cultivation beyond anyone of this world! The other Elemental Qi types are Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, Thunder, Wood, Ice and the rarer types Light, Darkness, Space and finally Astral. No testing stone will be capable of discovering your Astral elemental affinity in this world, therefore you’ll need to mask it with another Qi attribute to show promising talent, as that’ll be the way to get you access to proper cultivation resources.’ Cense described. 

‘Wait didn’t you say I was trash with the only thing special about me being my affinity for Astral Qi? How will I be able to show suitable talent if you said I’m previously untalented.’ Ava argued repeating the spirits words to him. 

‘You were trash. Astral Qi has transformed your body more than your realising and I meant in terms of warrior, spiritual energy cultivation you had poor potential, your affinities on the other hand are promising, not just for Astral. You have a particular strong one for Water which can explain your appearance change perfectly. Yet we have much work to do, since you got to get selected to be trained as a Mage, you’ll need to greatly improve your spiritual energy to a suitable standard. Since to people from a world like this, Spiritual Force is very important and even with yours increasing quite a bit, for a potential Mage seedling it is too low. So now it’s time to step up your training and begin meditating to increase your spiritual energy.’ Cense said. 

‘Guess that does solve things, and how would I even fake being a Water mage in the future if I focus on Astral? Wouldn’t I look suspicious if my great talent fails to manifest anything?’ Ava pointed out.

‘For a Mage training in multiple elements does not matter, in fact a double, or triple attributed mage are more valued, versatile and stronger. However the strength of their affinities need to be closely matched otherwise they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the training of a stronger affinity, however for you training as a Water mage would be great on top of a destructive element like Astral. Water attributed Mages are more talented in the use of healing spells, allowing you to possess an arsenal of recovery magic making you not only more valuable for training but others will instinctively underestimate the threat you pose.’ Cense said.

Ava couldn’t deny Cense’s reasoning.

‘Now let’s begin meditation…’ Cense voice interrupted her thoughts making her realise she will now have even more training to do.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard…’ she thought trying to fool herself because as it turned out the meditation for mages wasn’t easy as she would have liked to believe.