章 13: The Hyon Clan

Luis' get up for today is all thanks to his faithful group of servants.

At first, he just want to spend his idle time doing something productive. So he thought of making some set of clothes. During the apocalypse, a lot of daily necessities are in a very low supply. Food, water and clothes all of these are valuable resources.

In a world where there is basically no security, who would dare to go out and work to manufacture these goods?

Luis even came to a point where he has no choice but to make his own clothes. With the guidance of some skilled aunties that he met before the establishment of the base, Luis at least has the know-how to make shirts and pants.

And so he made an impulsive decision and asked for garments and thread to make a shirt. He then made some wooden needles to use. However, he seems to overestimate his abilities too much, it could only knit the stretchable cloth for his planned crew neck by noon.

At this point, he truly missed the wonderful technology of the Earth.

How miserable.

Luis is on the verge of scrapping his dress-making materials when Olyn entered with his fellow servants and took initiative to make clothes. Yulien, Forl, Dia and Olyn. Luis sigh. He would remember these guys. They are fast workers and would follow instructions well. It was thanks to them that he could finally wear comfortable t-shirts and pants

Seeing the reactions of these moon elves, their combined efforts absolutely were worth it.

Luis gracefully skipped to the ground and smiled at the awe-struck elderly moon elf. "Hi! You must be the clan leader. I am the newly born moon elf lord. It was nice to meet you!" Luis shamelessly reached for Hylolas' calloused hands and shook it as greeting. This brown haired elf may look older with some facial fine lines and all but he must be quite handsome when he was young.

Hylolas, on the other hand, were led out of the daze because of the handshake. He then panicked and kneeled on the ground. "My lord, the moon elf lord! I-I am Hylolas the leader of the Hyon Clan! This humble subordinate greets you!" He is terrifyingly nervous right now! He didn't expect that the moon elf would be this powerful. Their hands just touched for a moment and he can feel the enormous energy coming from that juvenile body!

His legs are shaking so terribly that he might fall down if he did not kneel. Under the influence of their leader the entire clan people kneeled on the dirt.

Luis's perfectly arched lips cannot help but twitch. Is this how it should be whenever he meet up with these moon elves? Most people of the temple are still giving him thay devoted stares but at best they are no longer kneeling whenever he would see him. Or is it a new type of bullying. Worshipping others to exclude them from the group?

Should he just explain that he is a bottom and he wanted to be the one kneeling?

Forget it.

He doesn't know if such behaviour is helpful for his goal to become closer to them. Luis is confident that they will improve if given the time.

"Please do not kneel, everyone. You're making the moon elf lord feel awkward by doing that." said Nicol who just dismounted from the monstrous silver oriole, the contracted beast of Rion. This bird with silver and vibrant dark green plumage with some white wing lines was so big that Rion, Nicol and Legland was able to use it as a mount without even cramming on its back. It's feathers are shining but it somehow makes a good camouflage when it was flying in between the trees.

Luis already thought that the Oriole Squad was named after a type of bird. And he even imagine this bird as somehow a look a like of the Earth's oriole from the blackbird family. However, this is too contrasting. So the orioles of this world are silverbird? How curious.

Luis almost made a thumbs up for the timely save from Nicol. As expected of him. He gave the guy with a grateful look and nodded at him.

"Rise, everyone." Luis said gently. He didn't bother to look at the trembling legs of the Hyon Clan. "Anyway, we are visiting so that we can know how you guys are doing. Help you if you have any concerns. Like if you have some persistent difficulties then you can tell them to me and we can work that out together."

The clan members seems to be disoriented and they are just looking at him. Luis smiled and said, "Well, let's start with a tour around shall we."

If the Amber Forest were to be compared to a body of water, then it would be an ocean. It has a occupies a large land mass with various kinds of wood lands and forestry. There are also some patches of bodies of water like springs, pond and lakes in it. This made a wide range of biodiversity thriving.

The Hyon Clan is blessed with to be in a land with healthy loam soil. In the settlement, there is a huge number of floras can be found. The slenda trees -which was locally named by the Hyon Clans-are abundant, each erect in every five meters. The ten to dozens of these smooth trunked trees serves as the pillar of each of these houses.

In land, there are few shrubs with different shades of green leaves. The grasses that can be seen sparsely in the area are only knee high.

"This my lord is what we call as tinder grass. Once it was dried, it was highly flammable and can make a very hot fire that will burn for a short time so we used this as a kind of fire starter when we are making fire. The woods in this land are mostly hard to set fire. Their trunks are rich with moisture so it is only useable once it is dried." Olyn is from Hyon Clan so he is serving as the tour guide.

Together with Hylolas and some of the elders of the clan, Luis and his escorts made his way around the settlement of the Hyon Clan. The more than three thousand clans men who welcomed the moon elf lord were dispersed to go on with their regular life.

The puncturing feeling of being stared at is saying other wise though. Luis restrained from looking up. He doesn't want to see someone falling even though these Hyon Clan would not suffer because of their natural ability of controlling earth.

"I like these hanging wooden pots here. Where did you get those wild flowers?" The bright colours of these potted plants makes a nice contrast with the rich greenery of the surroundings. This also tells that these plants aren't from here.

Olyn paused and answered after a moment of hesitation. "These should be from the Shane Greenwoods located in the north. The Portun Clan, Adriha Clan, Yultin Clan and us shares that huge forest as a hunting place. That place has a rich natural energy and most of the medicinal materials used to treat problems in powers and abilities came from there."

"That is where your plantation is located?"

"No, my Lord. Shane Greenwoods is still an unclaimed land. It is home to many wild mystical beasts so it is still unsafe to build a farm there."

"I see," Luis nodded thoughtfully. "Then is it alright to visit your plantation later."

"Of co-" Olyn stopped abruptly and looked at Hylolas. The clan leader was following them silently like a meek sheep surrounded by a pack of wolves. The elders are not any better though. This is the first time that he seen the respected elders of the clan to be in such a state.

'Well, that is to be expected since the lord is amazing in every aspect.' the purest thought of the fan boy.

"Clan leader?" Olyn called the guy to encourage him to answer. After all he is not in authority and he doesn't have a say to clan decisions.

"W-what are you hesitating for? This child!" Hylolas said, horrified. That is the moon elf lord will he dare to act stingy in front of such existence?

Olyn wanted to face palm. But then again, he can understand.

"Would you like to go now, my Lord?" He just asked.

Luis still wants to see more of the Hyon Clan's treehouses so he refused and said to go later after they ate their meal. This made Hylolas to exclaimed once again and apologize for his inattentiveness. He then asked dozens of his warriors ranging from two to three stars to hunt for the feast later. Luis asked five of the Oriole Squad to accompany them for safety. Under the leadership of Rion, they set off to hunt in the Shane Greenwoods.

"There is something bugging me though. These Slenda trees have a very smooth and slim trunk. Will these trees break if in case there are storms or strong winds?" Luis curiously asked. As a wood ability user, he is of course interested to plants. Specially now that he is in a different world with different ecosystems. He wants to know the things that is useful to him and the moon elves in the future.

Besides he is interested to find trees that are ideal for construction work since he has a plan to make a few useful infrastructures for various purposes but of course the most important is for defense.

Slenda tree has a very complex root system so it is difficult to be uprooted in most cases. The trunk on the other hand has a very tough core and is also extremely flexible so it is not that easy to be broken by just ordinary storm wind." Luis looked at the treehouses once again. The woods used to built the house has a nice shiny sheen. However, from this distance, he thinks that aside from the solid roof that is made of compacted dried leaves and branches, nothing looks sturdy at all.

"Then it should be rocky once inside the house when the storm comes?"

"Sometimes, my Lord but the multiple tree pillars help the stability so the movement is not that strong."

Luis doesn't know if he should laugh or cry. Turns out that the vestibular system of the moon elves are this well-developed.

"Would you like to take a look my lord?" Nicol took initiative to ask upon seeing the interest of the moon elf lord.

Luis nodded as agreement. With the presence of the Hylolas, the group made their way to one of the residence nearby. Luis then politely asked to the family who are scared stiff on the side for permission.

Luis was of course, told to enter freely. He then discreetly said to Olyn to take note of the family and he will send a thank you gift later.

Contrary from its impression once you look from a far, the wooden walls of the house are tough.

Then the inside of the treehouse was surprisingly wide. It was divided into five rooms. There is a receiving area with low tables and cushions around it. Like a traditional Japanese table. Then there are rows of hanging planks forming like a shelves where various stuffs are displayed. The rope that is used is red and stiff so even though it is hanging from the wooden ceiling, the shelf is not moving at all.

"That is a normal grass rope coated with Redmud Tree's sap. That is a natural material that is commonly used to make wood wares durable."

A new knowledge once again for Luis.

Sunlight can easily pass through the wide and opened windows of the treehouse so the interior is brightly lit.

It was pleasurable to look at. The interiors and furnitures are all simple but the varying shades of brown looks so pretty to him. Besides, they looks so sturdy and shiny. This could mean that normal woods in this world should be of high quality!

Luis felt excited. The better the quality and abundance of resources means that the development plan that he thought of could be realized. These high quality woods can be used to build infrastructures and can slowly propel the advancement of modernization.

Luis is thankful that he's got wood ability. With this cheat of a power, sustainability is not a problem to him!

Luis is not in a hurry. He needs to grasp the entire situation of the moon elves.

Starting with the clans in Amber Forest.

That morning Luis spent talking with the leaders and elders of the clans as an attempt to win their heart. The stiffness and fear is still there but it thawed a little bit.

Luis is sitting in the clan's communal hall while laughing with the others when the group that went out to hunt came back with a not so pleasant news.