I sighed again while looking at the mess below me.

''Hey, you gotta admit it worked.'' I smiled as I tried to cut through the silk with the small hooks at the ends of my legs.

It went surprisingly well, maybe they were meant for that all along. I was an idiot for not thinking of this before.

While I was admiring what my legs could do, another thought rose up in my mind. I took a bit of inspiration from my encounter with the troll, I decided I was going to check if I could replicate that in another way.

''Well, you're not wrong there.'' Velariah replied. ''This stuff is pretty strong, wouldn't know what to do if I got caught in it without you nearby.''

''Not a whole lot, probably.'' I smiled as I cut loose the last threads.

That was an understatement. If the threads held for long enough, she'd actually end up dead. I should note down to clean up after myself whenever I was finished with sticky threads in an area. Come to think of it, how long would they stay sticky for anyway?

I helped her back up on her feet and I gathered the remaining silk together in a ball.

''By the way Elania, you can still block a sword with the pole of your spear.''

''Huh, won't you just cut through it?'' I asked.

Velariah chuckled.

''Not through that one, no. You can say about Coldanus what you want, but his weapons are good. Here, let me show you.''

She took the spear and stabbed the dirt. Then she took a swing with her sword and impacted it, hard.

I took a close look but couldn't find any damage in the wood. Was this some kind of special lumber or something?

Velariah chuckled again.

''You see, Coldanus uses a special protective coating for his work. He won't tell anyone what it is, but as you see can it works. Also, even if the wood wasn't protected by that, there's no way somebody will get through it in one swing. Well, unless they're my father of course.''

Interesting, yet one more thing I'd never heard about. As much as I liked medieval fighting, I had always thought wood was easily cut through. It had to be all those TV shows painting a completely unrealistic standard!

To be fair, they didn't have sassy blacksmiths using a secret protective coating, though.

''Here.'' She handed me the spear. ''Let's try that again.''

She walked a few meters again before charging once more. I managed to unbalance her sword again. Her sword moved its way under the tip so I had to improvise if I wanted to block the blade with the spear. I turned the spear around as Velariah approached with the sword at her side in a swift motion and lifted her sword above her head with the butt end of the pole. I then grabbed the spear with two hands and held it out in front of me horizontally to block her now overhead swing. I managed to block it.

''Nice one.'' Velariah complimented me. ''You see, knowing Is half the fight. Don’t be afraid to use the pole to block. Also, I mentioned a sword earlier as a side weapon, why not a shield? Might be even easier. Besides, you used one before.''

''That shield was far too large though. I only used it because I didn't have any armor, though, I guess I could use a smaller shield now.''

It wasn't a terrible suggestion.

''You could try that and practice some with it. If nothing else, I could even have Coldanus make you a side sword of dragon-blessed steel.''

The mention of the weaponsmith's name brought a few questions to my mind.

''Speaking about mister icy ass, why does he work so late anyway? Is it just to annoy the neighbors trying to sleep?''

I could see him do that with that reason in mind. He didn't seem like the best guy to live next to, after all.

Velariah laughed.

''Hah, no, there's a reason behind it. He makes his best work in the night. He probably worked on my sword at night as well.''

''Why is that?''

That seemed like an odd thing, wouldn't that make it harder to see what you were doing?

''Because it allows him to gauge the temperature of the metal better from its color when it's dark. This allows him to create far higher quality weapons.''

That... actually sounded perfectly logical. I had never thought of that before.

''What about the iron? You said he could make more weapons with what we gave him? I thought you would only use that for your sword.''

Velariah laughed again.

''You really have no idea about these things, do you? Don't worry, though, I'll teach you.'' She smiled before she continued.

''That crate contained enough iron ore to make steel for about fifteen of those swords.''

''What? That many?'' I exclaimed, surprised at the exchange rate for ore to actual steel.

Velariah nodded. ''I'd actually like to look into making those axe shield thingies you mentioned before for Draco and maybe some arrowheads for Seralyn, but don't tell them, I want it to be a surprise.''

''My lips are sealed.'' I stated.

''Aw, bummer.'' She giggled in response.

''Vel!'' I exclaimed in embarrassment before realizing my mistake.

''Wait, is it okay for me to call you by that name now?'' I asked softly.

I believe she said something about this before.

She sheathed her weapon. It appeared she was done with this training session. It hadn't been long, but I learnt a lot.

''Yeah, it's alright, though, I'd prefer you not to use it in front of the others.''

I nodded. ''I can live with that.'' I thought for a second before adding to it. ''Is it because of Seralyn?''

''Haha, no.'' Velariah chuckled. ''I'm pretty sure she already knows. No, it's because of... other reasons.''

Her visage became one of sadness. I wondered if it had something to do with another person. Maybe her mother? I didn't dare to pry further; she'd probably tell me when the time was right. I felt guilty for never considering the reason behind it...

''Aww, alright. I'll keep that in mind.''

I turned myself a quarter to the right so she wasn't directly in front of me.

''I suggest you stand beside me, there's something I want to try.''

''Oh, color me intrigued.'' Velariah said as she stepped next to me.

I pulled up my fangs as high as I could, took aim and prepared to fire.

Here goes nothing.

I pumped the venom through the fangs as quickly and hard as I could. The result was a highly-pressurized stream of venom that reached about three meters far. It continued on for about five seconds before I found my venom reserves run dry.

Yeap, as I thought. These fangs were basically snake like and could mimic a king cobra. The accuracy wasn't great but I could possibly fix that if I held them with my hands. I could potentially improve that with practice too.

If only it didn't take hours to regenerate venom...

''That...'' Velariah's voice came from my side. ''Was impressive... I wouldn't want that to get in my eyes.''

''I know right.'' I answered. ''It's like you said before. The past is the past. If I'm going to live like this, I need to find out what this body can do. I figured I should try this out as a part of that way of thinking.''

''Next thing you tell me is that you jump from trees onto people below them.'' Velariah laughed.

Her laugh quickly turned into a neutral expression as she looked at me.

''Uh, I kind of already did that.'' I spoke.

''No way!'' She said excitedly.

''Well, it was from the top of the cave onto a goblin, but yeah...''

''If I did that, I'd probably break a leg, possibly two with all this armor.'' She grinned.

''Long live spider legs, I guess.'' I joked. ''Anyways, I believe you sheathing your sword indicated we are done with training for today?''

''Hm, yeah, I believe Coldanus should be awake by now. I'd like to check if he is done with my sword and then if he could get to work on what you suggested for Draco.''

''Fair enough.'' I answered.

And so, after our relatively short but quite enlightening training session, we made our way back to the village, to the blacksmith, more specifically. The village seemed as peaceful as ever, though, it seemed the number of humans among the elves had increased compared to earlier. It made me wonder if there was something going on. Come to think of it, the new round of trials was going to be tomorrow, I think? Maybe they were here to observe, perhaps even participate. Though, it would strike me as odd for humans to complete a trial in an elven village instead of something closer to home.

Judging from the sounds of a hammer coming from behind the shop, it was safe to assume Coldanus was at work. I wriggled myself through the alley leading up to the more open space where he was working. It seemed he was working on the axe blade of a halberd.

Next to one of the walls of the shop was a sword that I immediately identified as Velariah's. Its blade still glowed with a soft red glow that the iron had before. I could see a slot for an enchanting gem on the round pommel and one more in the middle of the guard. I guessed the last slot would be on the other side of either of them.

I wondered what kind of gems Velariah would use. I still had two slots of my own to fill as well.

We were going to go broke real fast...

We'd better find that healer soon. If we could get information from the neighboring dungeon then maybe I wouldn't need the inherity ritual to find out more. At the very least it should provide me with some info that I could use to gather more money more quickly. Perhaps there would be good materials in the dungeon too.

We should check with the Lore keeper after our stop here.

Velariah walked up to the sword and took it firmly in her hand. She then made a few practice swings while noting that its quality was excellent. After that, Coldanus remarked that she'd have to pay for it first.

Typical...

''Yeah, yeah, you'll get your money.''

She dove into her pack and fished out four gold coins and laid them on the anvil that the smith was currently using.

''There. Also, I was wondering if you could make an axe that is also a shield, preferably two.''

Wow, that was awfully straightforward.

''Are you crazy or what?'' Coldanus replied.

That was also awfully straightforward.

''If you make two axes that also function as shields and some arrowheads you can keep the rest of the ore for yourself.'' Velariah held up a metaphorical carrot.

''Deal.'' Coldanus said as he grabbed the blade with tongs and held it in the forge again.

He seemed quick to agree at that. It made me wonder what kind of contraption he would come up with. It probably wouldn’t result in that but still.

I wondered if there was some kind of God watching that would determine whether a weapon was actually considered an ''axe''. For all I knew, there was someone out there that would just press a huge button that said ''nope'' causing my plan to fall apart. It would still be worth giving a shot, nonetheless.

With the deal made, we quietly walked out of Coldanus's working area and started to make our way to the guild hall.

Draco wasn't there but we found one hell of a drunk elf instead, leaning on the bar as she took a shot.

Oh, lord. Seralyn was already impossible to deal with sober. I was not keen on finding out how she would act when drunk.

Velariah seemed to think the same thing as she simply ignored the brunette and walked over to the Lore keeper.

''Alenia! ...hic!'' the drunk elf called out, completely screwing over my new name.

''Howzzz you doin?''

''I'm doing fine, thank you very much.''

''Another!'' She yelled at the female bartender as she put her small cup down.

The bartender in question looked at me and I shook my head. It was probably not a good idea; she was drunk enough as she was. Besides, if she was going to get the kind of hangover I thought she was going to get, it was going to affect me the next day as well. I wasn't looking forward to a Seralyn that was even more annoying than was usual.

''Elena, you're such a booooreeee.'' She walked up to me and started hugging me.''

Yeap, she was completely gone.

In the meantime, I saw the Lore keeper shaking her head at Velariah and I sighed. There was probably no healer who would willingly join us. They were rare as it was and we had a complete freak squad. Though, I guess I could pass as a freak squad all on my own with all these limbs.

I didn't feel sad at the thought anymore. Rather, it seemed I was able to laugh about it now.

''It'zzz okayy cuzz you so hawwwttt.''

Wait, what?

I looked down to see Seralyn pressed together her lips in a kissing manner and attempted to drag my head down with her arms. I was completely caught off guard and she would have succeeded if it wasn't for Velariah dragging her back by her armor around the neck.

''What the fuck do you think you're doing there?'' Velariah asked as she took the other elf and pushed her against the bar.

Holy shit Velariah, that was just in time. Thank you for that.

''Nothingzz I was ju-...''

Velariah slapped her.

Ouch.

''Now wawasda guf for.'' Seralyn let out.

Velariah slapped her again.

''I don't care if you're drunk, nobody does that to Elania.''

The white-haired elf took the other by the armor around her neck again and threw her onto the leather bench on the other side.

She then turned to me. Her face still showed anger and was quite honestly scary.

''Come Elania, we're done here.''

I almost asked if there wasn't an application but I had already figured there were none yet.

I didn't dare to speak as she led us into the central plaza. She sat down on one of the benches looking at the tree and sighed.

''Thank you, Vel.'' I let out softly as I sat down on the ground next to her.

Velariah sighed again.

''You okay?'' I asked.

''Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... I don't know.''

''Jealous?'' I suggested.

''I guess.'' She replied.

''Aww, it's going to be fine Vel. Unless I find out you've been using me for selfish reasons I'll save my first kiss for you.''

Maybe I should have been more careful with what I said. Her face when she looked at me was one of shock.

''Elania, you don't think I've been...?''

I shook my head.

''No, I don't think you would do that.''

''I wouldn’t.'' She affirmed before taking me in for a hug. ''I like you for who you are, not for any other reasons, Elania.''

I hugged her back before breaking away after a few moments.

''Is there anything else to do today?'' I asked.

Velariah shook her head.

''I don't think there's much else to do. I believe Draco will be taking care of food and drink again. At most, we could get some more food into you, I guess.''

I shook my head.

''I don't think that's necessary. I think I stocked up for the entire week at the guild the other day.''

''Then is there anything you want to do?''

The question was an odd one. Was she talking about entertainment?

''I have no idea, actually.'' I admitted. ''Is there anything you would like to do?''

''Well, there's not much to do in Dawnleaf anyway. Whenever people have nothing to do, they usually gamble away their money at the guild hall.''

''We could check the coffee fields.'' I spoke.

''Doesn't sound like a bad idea, actually. I'm curious myself what my father made of it.''

She stood up from the bench and we walked in the direction of the village's southern exit, the one leading up to the goat farmer's farm. It didn't take long to reach the field and when we did, we noticed it had been completely transformed into ploughed dirt.

A few people were still ploughing the very edge of the field with a couple of horse drawn ploughs. These elven horses looked quite majestic, they were fully white and HOLY SHIT DID THAT HORSE HAVE TWO HEADS?

I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

I repeated the process once more.

Yeap, these horses had two heads.

''Oh yeah, you've never seen our horses before. They're quite fabulous, aren't they?''

I looked at the elf and then back at the horse in the distance.

''Fabulous is an understatement. Why the hell does it have two heads?''

''Dunno, they've been like that for centuries. Apparently, it has its advantages in combat. When one head is injured or even pierced by an arrow, the horse will still continue on.''

Freaky two-headed horses, another thing to cross off my fantasy world list.

''Looks like they made some insane progress though, I reckon the entire field will be ploughed by the end of the day.''

''Looks like it.'' Velariah said. ''Then they can make seedbeds and start planting. Those poor treemenders are going to have quite a bit of work with all those plants.''

''Can't say I will feel sorry if the first treemender I met is among them.''

''Master Lorin, you mean? Heh, he can be quite mean. I like to think of him as Coldanus's long lost brother.''

''Fits the description alright.'' I laughed.

''Though Coldanus is quite a bit older at six hundred and sixteen. I wonder if he could still pass as brother'' Velariah stated.

What? Coldanus was that old? No wonder he was so pissed all the time. To live to that age and then spend it here in a backwater village.

Yikes.

''Didn't know he was that old.''

Velariah chucked at my statement.

''Yeah, it's hard to see, isn't it?''

I nodded.

''Doubt I'll ever get used to ages like that in the first place...'' I sighed.

''Yeah, I don't know what to say, Elania. If things work out between us, I just hope whoever put you here gave you a long lifespan to share with me.''

''Would be kinda sucky if I didn't have that, right?'' I giggled.

I looked over to the village, then to the elf.

''Say, you want a ride back?'' I smiled at her.

''I'd love that!''