A splash of water woke me up from an exciting dream involving Elorael to an early morning in the forest. The sound of croaking frogs in the early morning echoed throughout the tribe like an alarm clock. Elves moved about their business; some young ones were escorted by older elves, while some left their homes alone. Falcons flew between buildings snatching up food scraps as they were tossed out. A few elves sang songs about getting up or working in their own musical choruses while doing their early morning chores. Young children ran out of their homes like bats out of hell, with older siblings following behind them at a careful pace.

"Here," Zosimael said and tossed me a loaf of smoked fish, nuts, dried fruit, and some honeycomb. "It will give you some energy, but what you really need is sleep. Try not to push yourself too hard today; you have all week."

If I only wanted to complete one objective, then she might be right. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and I didn't have time. I needed to get constant under control.

"You said you would teach me how can I hasten this process along?" I asked.

I wanted to be a mage build, but I didn't have the skills or power to make that a reality. Right now, the best thing I could do was take care of my power discrepancy between myself and Samael. Then I needed to master Island Obliterating Fist. Last on my list was developing a mage-like attack similar to the beam the forest god used to bisect the sea god.

So far I drank a tall glass of forest god stillbirth to raise my potential.

"Back in my day, we used to attach boulders to our apprentice's limbs and force them to go through spear practice. If that didn't work, we had them fight an experienced warrior for as long as it took. But, unfortunately, you look like a tall breeze could kill you. So, we need someone gentle. I think I know just the girl. Follow me she should be practicing right now." Zosimael said.

I ate my breakfast and followed her down the tree to a large clearing near a lake. There a teenage elf worked hard through a series of complicated spear formations. Her movements were so fast there were almost after images. Yet, there was also something disconcerting about her. When I looked at her face, I saw Samael's nose and chin.

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"Who is she? I asked.

"Mekael is a uniquely talented warrior. She might look young but believe me, she is just as deadly as any warrior twice her age. And best of all, she's an orphan with no family and Samael's most bitter rival. So if anyone could train you to beat Samael in a duel, it's her." Zosimael said.

"Now I just have to convince her to help me even though I'm a deformed round ear," I said.

"Not quite," Zosimael said.

When Mekael spotted the older elf, she shot forward and hugged the bandage-wrapped elf. Her braid of black hair whipped out as she ran. When she hugged the Zosimael for a moment, I could confuse them for mother and daughter.

"Mekael, this is Red; he's living with me and training to become a warrior. I want you to train him in the ways of the spear, like how you were trained." Zosimael said.

The young elf looked between us. "Who doesn't know how to use a spear at his age? Did his people have no competition?" Mekael said. "He does look a little fat."

To be fair, she wasn't entirely wrong. There really wasn't any real competition in my country, and most of the time, people didn't feel the need to carry guns. As for her last comment, I looked better than I had in years. My all-raw meat diet had trimmed my waist enough to go down a few pants sizes. As for muscle, I wasn't as toned as I could be.

"Exactly my point; he has no experience with a spear, you can tell in the way he walks. He doesn't even consider spears dangerous." Zosimael shook her head. "It would really help me out and piss Samael off if you trained him."

"You should have led with that. I will make a warrior out of him; how long do I have?" Mekael asked.

"A week," Zosimael said.

"You're joking," Mekael said.

"I'm afraid not, and he hasn't mastered constant yet either and stubbornly refuses to drop his breathing. So, our only option is to push forward." Zosimael said and found a branch to sit on, exposing her cock and balls to anyone passing under.

I rubbed my face and absentmindedly caught the extra spear she tossed me. The end, fortunately, was just the end of a stick; it was a 9ft haft of a spear without its head. Mekael carefully untied the head of her spear and took a stance.

"Have you learned the five stances yet?" Mekael asked.

"No," I said.

"So, we are doing the very beginning; alright, do what I do," Mekael said.

She showed me a series of stances, and I did my best to copy them. It wasn't easy; our centers of balance were different, and the stances she showed me weren't made for someone of my build. Really fighting with spears wasn't what I had in mind when I decided to specialize as a mage. I had no intentions to use these stances outside the upcoming duel.

"Take this seriously, or I'll punish you when we spar. At its most basic principle the idea of foundation of spear combat is to line up a single perfect strike that has little chance of being countered. Once you thrust your spear, you're open to an attack. Some tribes, like the skulls, use a short spear with a wooden shield. Their idea of spear combat is to take a hit and counter while we hit once." Mekael said. "We'll take a break then spar," Mekael said and smiled, and I could see an edge of excitement in her eyes.

I climbed up to the same branch Zosimael sat on. "You know I haven't had a lapse once today. It's days like these that scare me the most. They give me hope that I can get better and continue living." Zosimael said.

"That's some heavy shit, and it doesn't make any sense. What did you do different this morning than any other morning?" I asked.

"I gave you my breakfast," Zosimael said.