43.Swamp

Huu turned out to be a man of the world, of course, if you don't listen too much to his teachings. Maybe that's why Driya doesn't like him, it's unusual when it she who doesn't talk a lot. More than him, I was interested in his energy, which was constantly in motion. Looking closer, I realized the reason – Huu is to some extent a weaker version of the Avatar, with only one element.

Turning to Banyan, I learned more detailed information, that he did not make a secret of it. For generations of benders born in this tribe, Huu turned out to be the very first gifted, that his magic was much more suitable for the minimum requirements of at least a semblance of plant bendering. Therefore, the spirit decided to go on an experiment, giving its small part of the energy to Huu. It turned out to be a similar connection that we have with Yue, that is why Huu understands Bunyan. His magic in the future will be more like the magic of the spirit, when his reserve is depleted, he can replenish the reserve at the expense of the spirit. Most likely, during his lifetime, Huu will not even have time to touch real plant magic, but his children will already have more chances, his great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren will most likely be able to be full-fledged plant benders. Time will pass and the whole Swamp Tribe will command two elements, of course – this is just my guess, but it have the right to live.

Huu's philosophy of life began to manifest itself with the beginning of strengthening the connection with the tree. Unconsciously, he adopted the attitude of the spirit itself, the way the spirit itself perceives the world. The spirit also did not turn out to be at a disadvantage, the energy of human magicians is more mobile, it does not allow its source to stagnate. As we know, spirits are all magic, stagnation in energy means a loss of taste of life, which gradually happens with very old spirits. Because of this, by the way, there are more dark spirits, they usually die only a violent death, as they constantly load their energy by absorbing their own kind.

I was interested in the very way of separating a piece of the gift of the spirit. If I didn't really give a small part of my gift at the birth of Yue, then he managed to give only a small piece. And then he started to feed this piece a little bit, while maintaining the same efficiency.

Wang Shi Tong, why aren't you the same as the rest of the light spirits: Wong, Driya, Banyan, they all help out of the kindness of their hearts, asking for nothing in return. The spirit of the tree taught me his way of separating the essence – I just want to say that his method is not perfect, he himself lost most of his powers for a while, but he recovered much faster, although ... maybe it was influenced by the fact that he is a higher spirit.

It doesn't matter, I can try to make it by his method, and only then compare both methods. Anyway, I wanted to do it with Shizuka and Suki anyway. I don't want to fly to the ashes one day instead of the Kyoshi settlement, but since there will already be two full–fledged benders in the village and one on the way, this will greatly increase the chances of fending off an attack.

Driya asked me to wait for her for another week. By this time, her training will be over, and only then she will be able to go anywhere with me – the latter was said in a very seductive tone.

- Where does this behavior come from? I can't believe you've come to this on your own, – it's better to ask Driya straight out, she's too pure for this world. She still does not know how to cheat or conceal, so it's worth using it while there is such an opportunity.

- I read it in books, of course! It was boring to read those letters, but there were pictures too! You love me, don't you? – she asked suddenly. The question was asked quite seriously, only whether Driya herself understands the meaning of this word. I don't really believe that after reading the books, she understood the full meaning of such a concept. Moreover, only recently she was still a lower spirit.

 – I love you, – I replied, and I didn't lie a word. You can love in different ways. Of course, there is a desire to put such a cutie to bed, but will Driya understand the whole background, that's the question. I'll wait until she figures it out on her own.

 – And so do I, – she replied happily. – Why do I want to see you so much? What makes mewant to be with you? I often wondered these questions until I wandered into an obscure building, I think it's called a Library. There I met a kind spirit who showed me books about relationships, and I read everything in them! To seal our love, we need to make love – this is the most reliable way! – wait a minute, there is only one Library in the Spirit Realm…

- Tell me, please, wasn't there one big owl?

 – Were you there too?! Yes, there was a smart owl, and also a fox, – Driya confirmed my thoughts.

 – What exactly did you tell him? – maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 – Hm-m, I told them about my feelings. I said that really wanted to meet Yuki, described your appearance, that's all, – she spread her hands, not understanding my concern.

 – "Wang Shi Tong! I recognize the tricks of the bastard! You will definitely pay the bills in the future!" – this thought was beating in my head. The Spirit of knowledge understood exactly who she was talking about, but still gave Driya books of a dubious nature. I do not believe that there were no normal romantic books there!

- Yes, I saw this spirit once, but don't tell him anything else, I don't trust him much, okay? - does Wang Shi Tong really like to mock poor me?

- Can you tell me the titles of the books you've read? – I asked, ostensibly casually.

- This is "The way to a man's heart is a woman's reliability", "A clever tongue is the main weapon of any woman", "How to skillfully use your body". It seems there were some more, but these are definitely the most useful! – ыhe announced with a twinkle in her eyes. It was obvious how much they had sunk into her soul…

I also read these books, it would be all right — good reading, only they were written by a former elite courtesan. Auntie Lan wanted to eat very much, but her beauty had already faded, so she took up a pen and decided to give advice to all those who want to win a man. The advices, of course, were appropriate only to her previous profession. Sometimes I was ashamed to read her books myself – and I think that's the degree of her professionalism. At least now it's clear why Driya is acting so strangely.…

It's good that she believed my words more. After a while, it was possible to explain what love really is. Without question, high–quality sex is one of the important factors of a healthy and strong relationship. But as for me, the unity of souls plays a big role or even the main role – this is when there is respect, support, acceptance of a partner for who he or she is... Words alone cannot explain all this. It is true love that comes over the years, at first it is just a well-disguised infatuation. I say right away, I haven't reached this point myself in my previous life, but I hope to achieve it in this one!

Most likely, these are just my excuses, but in my mind she is still a little girl who has yet to explore this world. There's no need to rush – that's what I tried to convey to her, and it seems that I got something right. She did not stop trying to seduce me, but as she admitted, she just likes to make such signs of attention to me. It's a kind of game for her...

The days of my stay in the Foggy Swamp will be remembered for the constant feeling of hunger, and the search for more pleasant food. The people of the local water tribe eat swamp fish and insects – all this don't look even edible. Therefore, many thanks to my huge supply of vital energy and magic of Driya. Thanks to her magic, Driya could grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables in a couple of minutes. And even if some of them turned out to be poisonous at first, but how beautiful they look! So, it's not for nothing that I opened the second chakra!

Because of their proximity to such a powerful "generator" of energy, most of the tribe is benders, but even it cannot always cope with all the dangers that walk here. That's why their population has never exceeded a certain number. I have never seen such a variety in my healing practice. Every second resident was far from normal. The most unpleasant thing is that the energy flowing in their bodies itself "stops" diseases. Because of this, it makes itself felt in all its might only when approaching a respectable age, when energy can no longer cope. Therefore, few people here live to their fifties.

Having cured them now, I cannot guarantee their full survival. In theory, no one should have survived in such conditions, most likely, Banyan understands this himself, it clearly could not have done without his help. All this led me to the idea of creating special antibodies that will be activated in cases of threat to the body. I'm not much of a virologist, or rather, none at all. But for someone who knows how to manipulate vital energy and does not need to be an expert.

At first, the case progressed neither shakily nor smoothly. One of the inhabitants of the tribe came, I examined him, found harmful organisms, studied them, tried to understand them, and then with the help of vital energy I created a counterweight to them. In the end, I took some blood, so that in such cases there would be a ready-made protection template. The first patients had a whole bunch of incomprehensible pathologies, each of them had to be fixed. It was only after the first half of the entire tribe that identical cases began to come across. The experience was interesting, I had to work on a point-by-point basis.

I'm unlikely to come here often, so I decided to share my knowledge. I decided that I would teach Huu healing magic, and he would teach me plant bendering instead. It was he who almost immediately managed to recreate the healing technique from the entire tribe. The magic of controlling liquids in plants is as "useful" as sand magic – both are suitable only under very specific conditions. The main advantage in studying both is the increased control of the basic elements.

After I managed to conquer the sand in the Spirit Realm, the mastery of earth magic increased significantly. And the creation of lava became less and less dependent on the magic of fire, more percent was already from the energies of the earth. I want to bring its application to pure earth benders someday. Not only that, after interacting with such small particles, I began to feel the earth in metals at the edge of my senses, and this is more like the first step in mastering such useful magic.

I don't know exactly what the magic of plant bendering will give me in the end, but I'm sure there will undoubtedly be some advantages. I really hope for something significant, otherwise the masters of the northern tribe got used to my techniques too much, of course, I can bang something more serious, but my techniques are one hundred percent lethal - this is not good. It's already hard for me to restrain myself from using my other elements, at some moments I just want to launch a jet of flame.

Blood magic has proven itself beyond praise, but do not forget that every ability has its weaknesses. At my level, it will be possible to take full control of an entire decent-sized village of ordinary people, but only fifteen weak magicians. The average strength of magicians is even less, ten magicians, and there are scanty chances of dropping my control – it's not even a one percent chance, but there is a chance. It all depends on the energy saturation of their blood, the stronger the bender, the more difficult it is to control him.

In my sparring sessions with the masters, the most I can do is take control of an opponent's limb for a second. Let's say you take his hand a little to the side, and the attack will not fly as it should, but this is at least something. I don't want to use it often either. It's too noticeable, and I don't want to share such techniques, not because I'm greedy, but because I think about the world. Now I will give it to trusted masters, then someone, even despite the ban, will teach this to their relative or close friend. Someone can write it down on paper and then this techniquewill be in hands of not a good person. There are many ways to leak information. I remember what kind of problems the blood bender created in the series about Avatar Korra... It's better to let this magic work only for me, and... for the Hama. The old woman is already old, she doesn't let anyone get close to her, especially since she lives on an island with people of fire, there is nowhere for a student with water magic to take up. I strongly hope that there will not be a second Katara next to her…

- Bye, everyone, see you again! – Driya waved to the people who saw us off.

The Banyan Tree and the Swamp Tribe of Water remain behind as Driya and I continue our journey.