The next few days were spent in preparation, in his previous life Ethan worked mostly in office spaces, computers were something he was more accustomed to than manual labor, especially not in suspended cities in some jungle. But in preparation for the upcoming fight everybody had to chip and do their part, so was the law of the elves. Now he was packing rations for the people that would fight, he learned how to attach arrow heads to shafts and watched the elders prepare the fletching that would make these arrows fly guided by the wind, they wove magic into the arrow while working on it. It was interesting to see all those people performing tasks with such a calm demeanour like it was a normal day for them, considering that almost all warriors would soon move out. These people survived all their life and even a threat to their deity was something they could deal with if that was needed from them.

During these few days Ethan didn't see the matriarch once, it seems she spent all her time discussing with the other village leaders where to do what and when. While Ethan would have offered his input Lorena told him in a rather urgent tone to not disturb them and keep his mouth shut. "The elders don't want or need our input in that matter. They served our people for hundreds of years and none of them would listen to you even if you were one hundred percent right and could even prove it. Tradition prevents outsiders from interfering in clan decisions."

Ethan sighed but nodded, he wouldn't fight about this matter with Lorena and instead asked for work that wasn't as mundane as packing rations and assembling ammunition like a factory worker.

That reaction from her was a furrowed eyebrow, for her there was no good or bad work, just work that needed to be done but in the end she rolled her eyes and nodded. "You can go with the others to gather fresh water from the river. Shouldn't take more than a few hours if you put your back into it."

Now Ethan furrowed his brow as he thought about something, he laughed and shook his head. "I don't think that necessary, just show me where you store your water." Lorena didn't know what he planned but she was still a bit intimidated by his abilities so she decided to follow his request.

The walked through the village which earned Ethan more curious looks from the people, the tall pale elf was still an enigma to most of them especially since he was so different from the wildwood elves that hadn't seen an outsider in a long time. After walking from the plaza next to the elevator all the way to the other side of the village they reached a boring looking woodbuilding with a guard in front of it.

Guards were usually positioned on the palisade walls but Ethan noticed some in important locations like the food storage, the home of the matriarch and here in front of the water storage, but with Lorena here he didn't even acknowledge them and kept staring forward, being with the captain of the scouts had it perks it seems.

Once inside Ethan saw one massive pool formed from roots, they were flat and firmly pressed against each other, their surface polished to a mirror shine. Inside this root basin was a bit of water, it would still last a few days but Lorena was right, this needed to be refilled before the warriors left the village.

"This is our water storage, as you can see we can store a lot of water here. Usually we need a few days to fill it up to the top but you seem to have a better idea, right? Please go ahead."

Ethan twisted his staff in his hand and nodded. "With the heat it should be quite easy, yes I only need some magic." He tapped his staff on the wood floor and conjured a ball of snow over the basin, snow started to float into the water. Slowly at first but the pace quickly increased until a torrent of snow started to fill the basin. Once it reached the top Etan stopped his magic. He kept the magic consistent so the mana expenditure was roughly the same as his mana regeneration but it still was a strain on his channels to use so much mana over a long time.

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"Once this melts you should have enough water, right?" he smiled and realized that he could use his magic for more than just fighting and rituals, maybe he could forge weapons from it but only he could use them for now. He looked at Lorena who seemed a bit shocked.

"T...That was impressive, you wield magic so easily, most of our people have to study for years to master it. How long have you been studying magic?" Lorena exclaimed, her eyes wide. She was looking from the pile of snow to Ethan in utter disbelief.

"Not that long actually, a few months, I can't tell you exactly how long though." He was curious, she didn't mention any skills or the system. Nobody he met here did, which made Ethan believe they didn't even know about it.

Lorena shook her head and sighed. "A few months...I wish I had such a talent, I…itt doesn't matter. Come there is more to do, soon the ten days you mentioned are up and the warriors are training soon. Maybe you want to join us in a sparring match?"

Ethan smiled. "Oh I would love to, I'm lacking in terms of close quarter combat so this time you can crush my spirit utterly."

She laughed while leaving the building, their feet carrying them to another corner of the village. Ethan noticed how similar everything looked and if the village was any bigger he surely would get lost.

There was a pit in the ground, covered in reddish sand. It seems these elves didn't mind injuries while sparring as was evident by the two soldiers going against each other, they were already bleeding from multiple wounds.

One of them carried two shortwords, the other favored a spear. While the bystanders looked at Lorena and Ethan for a moment the fighters didn't even notice anything outside the ring, they were so focused that they blended out anything and everyone.

Lorena sat down on a bench and Ethan took the place next to her. "We fight with normal weapons but the blades are dull. Still you can inflict a lot of damage as it's still metal. After the fight our healers attend to their wounds and they're combat ready again in just half a day."

Ethan crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyebrow raised. "But why risk serious injuries just for sparring?" In that moment the elf with the spear pierced the other man's thigh and seemingly pierced an artery, even the dull blade managed to harm to such a degree with enough applied force.

"You might think it's unnecessary but we prefer to get wounded here and learn then getting injured outside on patrol, far away from our healers. While we carry some medicine, an infection kills us if we aren't careful." Lorena explained and watched the healers attend to the injured fighters.

"I think I can understand your reasoning to a degree. Maybe it's because I grew up differently than your people. I encountered a different kind of struggle in my daily life. So I won't say it's wrong...just uncommon for me." Ethan explained, his eyes focused on the healers working their magic. Flesh rippling like water and moving together like wet clay until it fused back into unblemished skin.

Once the critical injuries were healed the elves got escorted away from the pit to have their other wounds healed. Lorena stood up and gestured to Ethan to follow him. Together they walked over to a rack with different weapons. She picked up a sword of medium length, the blade was polished but still dull.

"Pick whatever you like, we won't go too hard for the first time so you can get comfortable with your weapon of choice." She encouraged him and smiled.

Ethan knew which weapon he would pick, it looked similar to a halberd but was shorter, more like a pole axe, missing the iconic hammer on the backside. He took the weapon and let his hand glide over the oiled and polished wood, the shaft almost perfect for his hand. The diameter allowed him to mostly wrap his hand around it, if it was a bit thinner and it would be formidable.

Ethan swung it around a few times and smiled, nodding more to himself. He looked at Lorena. "This should work well, shall we see who is better?" He knew she would win but a bit of banter beforehand was a good way to relax each other a bit.

They stepped into the ring and an officer of the guards stepped forward and raised his hand. "Are you ready?" Both nodded, their eyes locked and their bodies ready to pounce on each other."

"Alright! Get set....fight!" He jumped back to leave the ring and both Lorena and Ethan pushed themselves forward, their weapons clashing. Both of them smiled. "I won't lose." she said.

"Me neither." Ethan grinned and soon only the clashing of weapons was heard in the dueling ring.

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