The wood elves were generally terrible at regular magic, but Terra was different.
Since she was more human than elf, it made sense that she could have some propensity for magic.
But even then, Eliron had not expected to stumble upon such a great find.
Especially since she had never learned the magic, but had a natural attunement to it.
There were three forms, or rather stages of magic in this world.
The first stage of magic was spell casting. Based on the mage's affinity, they could choose to learn a spell, and after consistent practice, they would be able to summon it at will.
But spell casting required you to say a string of text, to fashion your imagination into magic. At a point, mages could even use spells with as little as a name.
The second were skills.
Apart from sword skills and other related physical skills, a good amount of skills were actually spells. But an advanced form…
When a mage has perfected their spell to the point where they no longer need to utter a single word, it becomes a skill.
A weapon that can be called upon in an instant, and completely at the will of the user.
And then finally, the last form of magic was ingrained magic. Basically, magic you were born with.
This type of magic had the highest ceiling because it is rooted in your very core.
Terra had such magic, and with magic like this, she could grow to be an incredible swordsman or even mage, depending on what part she took.
"So you are saying I have magic?" Terra asked, still trying to process what she had heard.
Eliron smiled. "Yes, and amazing magic at that."
"So all this time…" she stared at her hands with astonishment. "I've actually been using magic?"
A bright smile appeared on her face. Even amongst humans, magic was not something that anyone could just freely use.
The fact that she could use such magic had already elevated her position in the world.
And Eliron had such a genius under him.
"Terra." Eliron spoke, his voice a little more serious. "Do you want to be a mage, or a swordsman?"
Although those were not the only viable options she had, it was the most practical considering their situation.
Terra's face fell. "I don't know how to fight, and my magic is just a feeling… I don't think I can fill any of those roles at the moment my lord."
Ash raised a brow. "Don't tell me you thought you weren't going to be trained? Of course you aren't just jumping in like that."
When his words reached her ears, Terra smiled. "In that case my lord, if you will allow it, I will like to learn to wield a blade."
Eliron nodded. "Consider it done."
'I'll assign her to ash, in a month, she should already be better than half our elves.'
Eliron smirked and turned to leave the cave. "Shall we?"
•••
It was day six, meaning it was one day away from the day of the grand hunt. Since the night Eliron arrived from slaughtering the Jaguars, he had not seen Artie even once.
And when he went to find her, Terra told him that she was busy, so he decided to focus on his other tasks.
Unlike other days, Eliron did not venture into the forest to hunt sticks today, instead, accompanied by ash and Yennefer, he went to a wide clearing in the village, his saber by his side.
Also gathered in this clearing were fifteen of the best hunters in the small elven village.
The very men seated on the lush grass, were those who had taken up arms to defend the village when the mercenaries struck.
Although Artie was one of the leaders of the hunters, Ash was generally seen as the head of security in the village, so some of these men were his subordinates as well.
"My lord, I have gathered all of them as you requested. Is this about the hunt?" Ash asked from beside him.
By his side were a number of wooden practice swords he had crafted, but he could not guess what Eliron was planning to do with them.
Eliron shook his head. "Not just the hunt, this is about something else as well."
He took a step forward and in one fluid motion, tossed his shirt to the side, revealing his chiseled body.
He didn't have the type of hulking muscles gym heads often had. Instead, his frame was nimble, every single muscle perfectly defined.
It was the type of body meant for more agile fighters, and yet, those muscles were filled with so much strength that their size could not justify.
Ash's mouth hung open when he saw him. "How is this possible, he was only working out for a week…" he said his thoughts out loud in a muffled tone.
Meanwhile, Yennefer smiled then clicked her tongue. "No need to make a show out of it, what are you? A stripper?"
Eliron sighed and glanced at her. "You just had to ruin the mood didn't you?"
"It was my pleasure, hehe."
Shooting her one last nasty glare, Eliron turned to the hunters and cleared his throat.
"Today, I am going to be testing the extent of your skill!"
He yelled, his voice booming over them.
"In a day time we will enter these bloody forests to feed our village, and in the future we will be faced with foes we can't possibly comprehend."
"The only way we can prepare ourselves is by honing our skill, and so today, I will be conducting a test to see just how powerful you all are."
He pulled out the wooden sword that had been hanging on his belt and walked into the center of the clearing.
"Come at me with no mercy, strike to kill, or else, you can consider yourself already dead!"
Ash glanced at Eliron, and when he met his gaze he nodded, showing his approval for his plan.
As one of the strongest people in the village, that is apart from the elders, he knew just how weak the others were.
This was the perfect opportunity to test their skill. But the elves saw it in a diffent light.
When Eliron finished his speech, the men began to murmur amongst themselves.
— is he really challenging us? That kid thinks he can beat us now because he's gained a little muscle?
— Strike to kill? How dare he insult our skill!
— He's proud and pompous, summoning elves several decades older than him in this manner…
"He may be our lord, but it seems he's still young and inexperienced." A muscular elf said as he rose to his feet.
Ash tossed him a wooden sword and he caught it mid air, resting the blade on his shoulder as he began walking forward.
"Don't worry, I'll show our lord just how skilled we wood elves truly are…"
Whoosh!
Before Eliron even took his stance, the man sprinted at him, his eyes glinting with animosity as he closed the distance within them, his sword raised high.
And then using all the strength he could muster, he drove the sword down, the blade whistling through the air.
"I've got you now!!!"
Swoosh!
To his astonishment, his sword brushed past Eliron's face as he took one step back, and then in one simple motion, Eliron disarmed the foolish elf.
And then he stepped forward and brought his sword down with bone shattering force.
Bang!
The wooden sword crashed into his body, shattering into splinters as the man's arm caved under the force of the blow, his body slamming forcefully against the floor and scattering dust.
Eliron glanced at the unconscious man then sighed, tossing the broken sword to the side.
"Next."