When they reached the village it was in instant upheaval because of their sudden appearance. Ethan jumped from Pale and scratched the wolf's neck while he waited for Lorena to handle the exchange with the guards. He was at best an ally to them and at worst a prisoner to lock up, he hoped for the former but after his fight with that druid woman he didn't know how the others would react to his presence. Even his working relationship with Lorena was seemingly formed from necessity and not because they liked each other.

While they waited Ethan inspected his staff, he clicked his tongue, the runes he had woven into the staff were slowly corroding and damaging the staff at an increased rate. While this staff served him well it was no artifact of high quality. After a closer inspection he was sure the staff would work for the rest of the tutorial but after that he would need a replacement, where he could find one that matched this staff or any equipment was still a mystery. The only way he could acquire one would be with system assistance as a reward for an event for example, so far he never even thought about crafting classes. Ethan hadn't been offered one but there must be people out there whose focus wasn't on combat. The old world had all kinds of jobs after all, not only military.

Before his thoughts could wander too far off a horn was blown and a lift slowly descended from the village. Only once it was closer to the ground did Ethan notice that the lift was made from living plants, the veins glowing with green light as they moved. He walked to Lorena and waited next to her for the lift to arrive. The other elves stood behind them, even with the tense situation involving the guardian they were still relieved to be back home. This was a safe haven for them and they could meet friends and family again.

Ethan and Lorena stepped on to the platform and the others followed a few seconds later, silently the lift moved up again once the last of them stood safely. The speed wasn't very impressive, as they leisurely moved to the top. But it brought them to the village so there was nothing to complain about, Ethan was fascinated how the lift system worked but decided to not ask questions about the magic of his host. The platform stopped shortly after and before Ethan could take one step off the platform he was surrounded by spears and his staff got smacked from his hand, that old hag from before whipped it from his hand with a flexible vine. His hand bled profusely, pale blue dripping from the back of it, it trembled from the pain but he didn't even flinch, his eyes fixed on the…druid.

Lorena stepped forward and wanted to say something but one look was enough to make her close her mouth wordlessly. The woman, the so-called matriarch, descended a small flight of stairs. The spears that were targeted at Ethan got pulled back and the small elf woman stopped in front of Ethan, she had to look up to him but it didn't diminish the authority she radiated like it was an aura ability. In contrast to all the other elves he saw she looked truly old. Wrinkles were prominent on her face, especially now with her face twisted in anger. Her eyes burning with hate as she looked at Ethan.

He looked back into hers, the cold seemed to seep out of them as they squared off against each other. She activated her aura first, the feeling of a warm spring day and fresh flowers. Ethan's on the other hand felt like cold winters and fresh snow but hidden inside of it was the stench for rotting meat and the promise of infectious frostbite. They kept going for a while longer before the matriarch snorted contemptuously and pulled her aura back. Ethan shortly followed and their bodies and facial expressions stopped radiating bloody murder. Some of the weaker elves laid on the ground, having fainted during their little standoff.

"Come with me." she exclaimed and turned around on the spot. Ethan followed her but when Lorena tried to go after them the matriarch snapped at her. "Not you! Go and take care of your team!"

Lorena flinched and quickly turned to the other elves and ordered them around. Ethan followed the matriarch through the village, while it wasn't big or technologically advanced it had a certain charm to it and would hold anything off that was landbound, even animals that could climb would have a hard time with the guarded walls around it. He spotted a lot of plants growing in front of homes or even up the walls or roofs. While there were some flowers it was mostly vegetables, limited space meant becoming creative and based on his short observation the people managed it quite well, magic would of course help with that too. Every time they walked past someone he ignored the stares he got and focused his eyes on the matriarch.

She walked with absolute confidence, her back straight as in arrow, her body overall was in good shape. He wondered how old she was but one look at his bloody hand stopped him from asking. He could do without further injuries if he was honest with himself.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

They reached a larger building at the end of the street, it seems the matriarch even had the luxury to build something bigger, the house took up the space for multiple of the smaller homes he saw. It looked like it was used for social gatherings rather than being just a home. He followed the matriarch inside and she gestured to some pillows on the ground. Ethan sat down and crossed his legs while she sat down in a style he would expect from a person with Japanese heritage, her legs neatly folded under her.

"You have guts boy, I must say. Invading our sacred forest, kidnapping one of our own, fighting against me and coming out alive and now you return here with my best scout team and enter one of our cities." She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "The question is what made you think you could just come here and go again, you should know that I certainly won't let you leave this place alive after the havoc you caused. But I'm reasonable, most of the time, so tell me what brings you here, I'm very curious."

In the past, at the beginning of the tutorial and even back in his old life this old hag would have made him shrink in his seat until a mouse would look bigger, but that was the old Ethan. How he was now, the struggle, the weird system, the death he saw and he himself inflicted. He sat proudly there and listened to her rambling only when she stopped did he take a deep breath and tell her what she wanted to know.

"When I came to this land there were more of us, rather quickly I was left behind and fought for myself. During that time all the others died except one of them, his name is James and he is a necromancer or something else at this point. I'm not sure about the specifics. We had some fights, one only recently and he's also in this jungle and is testing the guardian's limits." He watched her reaction, the moment he mentioned the guardian her gaze darkened.

"We tried to find him but so far we only managed to locate his work and after inspecting it we destroyed each site without leaving a trace behind. Well two days ago while sitting in the rain out I asked about the story behind the guardian and after hearing it I'm sure of his goals."

"Oh? What might his goal be? Kill the guardian?" she laughed, like it was the best joke she ever heard. This god-like being was after all indestructible in their eyes.

"No but close, he wants to kill and raise the child of the guardian as an undead while it's still in its egg. At least that is what I believe." he proclaimed. You could hear a pin drop as the matriarch stopped laughing instantly.

"Boy…listen to me very closely, the guardian and its offspring are holy to us and there can't be any harm coming to them. Before you tell me anything more I want you to think about what you said and tell me if you're one hundred percent certain." she whispered, her voice colder than Ethan's ice.

He nodded after a while, certain that this was the plan James followed. "I'm sure about it, thinking about it this is the only thing that would make sense. As far as I know there isn't anything else in this forest that would be valuable to him, but when he managed to enrage the guardian he could destroy everything here. His goal is not chaos but annihilation." Also I'm not even sure this is still the James I met at the start of the tutorial, he thought to himself.

The matriarch sighed and rubbed her temples, her eyes closed and seemingly in deep thought. When she opened her eyes again some of the anger on her face was gone. "You can stay here, for now, I will call the elders and we will discuss our course of action. The next step is to scout the jungle, as thoroughly as possible." She rang a little bell that sat on a small pillow. A young elf came through a concealed side door.

Ethan was surprised but she was gone just as quickly after the matriarch whispered something into her ear. She looked at Ethan. "How long do you think we have until he goes through with his plan?"

Time remaining in the tutorial: 15:04:12:00

"My best guess would be in the next ten days, everything else seems unrealistic to me." He wasn't sure but that is what he would do, attack with five days remaining and hopefully spend the last few days recovering and preparing for the end of the tutorial.

"Ten days…that's not a lot of time but we have to make it work somehow. Alright you can go now but I might need your help with some magic tomorrow." he nodded and stood up, leaving the building. He had to blink a few times when he stepped back into the sunny outside, his gaze turned to the sky. "Only fifteen days remaining…"

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