<h4>Chapter 167: Great benefits</h4>


    Not rushing Vivian, Eldrian waited for her to recollect herself. It took some time, but he did not mind.


    Finally, she finished eating and collected most of her thoughts. Looking around she found herself in a forest. Greatly relieved she believed she was back inside a kingdom, believing no area in the barrennds would have any trees.


    As her eyes wandered she found Eldrian standing and waiting patiently nearby. "Haru... Where are we?" She asked, ignoring the others around her.


    "The forest of Avgi. It is safe." Eldrian replied as he wondered what to do. Should he fill her in, or should he let her rest some more?


    "Avgi? I don''t recall such a -" Her words failed her as she saw Cephaphyr standing next to Eldrian. "What are you?" She asked with curiosity. It looked like a Unicorn to her, a rare, but known magical creature. Yet instead of being white, Cephaphyr was pitch ck, and he had wings!


    "Oh, this is Cephaphyr. He is an Alicorn." Eldrian replied, and when seeing Vivian''s confusion he exined some more. "This forest is their home, it is actually surrounded by mountains. You were inside the caves in these mountains."


    "Really? I didn''t see a forest when I was running." Vivian felt quite unhappy that she had not, it would have saved her a great deal of pain. Quite upset she looked around again, hoping to lift her mind from the what-if, finding Margit standing a bit behind Eldrian.


    "Margit! You''re alive!" Vivian wanted to stand, but she had no energy.


    Hearing the call Margit stopped what she was doing and also came closer. She looked at Vivian with guilt, believing it was wrong of her to make it out so easily.


    "I am so d that I am not alone!" Vivian shouted again, failing to keep her sitting posture and falling back onto her back. Eldrian, shocked by the turn of the conversation, failed in catching her.


    Aren''t I supposed to be praised as the hero?He asked himself dumbly. He knew this was silly, but not receiving any thanks felt weird to him. It caused him to not know what to do.


    He did not let this bother him much longer after the slight thought. Making sure to leave these thoughts out of mind, he instead focused on making sure Vivian was really alright.


    She did not stay awake for much longer. Falling asleep again in only a minute. During which she had mostly asked Margit who else had survived and what had happened. Margit was unable to answer the former, but thetter she tried to exin.


    This was enough for Eldrian to be assured that she was alright. While still finding the conversation weird.


    After spending a few more minutes looking at her sleeping figure, Eldrian stood up and continued his studies. Knowing that it was the only way he could actually make any difference.


    A few more days passed, during which all the women that had been saved were continuing to heal. Not just physically, but also mentally. Vivian would wake for a few minutes every few hours, after eating something and a short talk she would fall asleep again.


    After the first few time, Eldrian stopped interrupting his studies and trusted those, with little to do, would help her recover and get up to date.


    Tes had taken to asking Cephaphyr for more arrows during the wait, having needed Eldrian''s help in talking.


    Margit was simply helping Floyd in taking care of everyone, and Sabrea would float between everyone. Either helping or training herself. Often inspired by Eldrian when she saw him always working on something. Never taking a break.


    Quickly a week passed, everyone, having mostly healed. Vivian had also recovered at this point and managed to stay awake for a full day. She had first started helping the other woman, and after that, she had started slowly training to get back into shape. Having over-exhausted her body and soul while trying to survive.


    "Are we going today?" Tes asked as another day passed, having long since be bored of having nothing to do. After Cephaphyr had made eight quivers for him, he realized he could not even carry everything. As such he had stopped asking for more. Yet that took the only thing which had been keeping him busy. Now his eyes often wandered to the woman, who all looked good by now.


    Their floral bikini''s certainly made them even more enticing. The only thing sobering Tes was what they had gone through, yet without anything to do his mind kept wandering.


    "I don''t know," Eldrian replied, not willing to go yet. Zamia was now exining the ins and outs of Tier 3 magic to him. Her exnation was mostly on static Tier 3 magic, since the dynamic magic she knew was not something Eldrian could copy. Even so, Eldrian felt it was still of great import and did not wish to leave before he took in everything he could.


    "Everyone is ready and can travel," Floyd added as he too started feeling that they needed to leave. If they did not, then they might be unable of rejoining the army.


    Eldrian also knew that the longer they stayed, therger the distance they had to cover alone. Yet he could not bring himself to leave. Wishing each time for just a little more time.


    He knew this was greedy, and upon seeing Sabrea and Vivian training together he realized that they really were ready to move out.


    Sighing he looked at Zamia and thought about what he was going to miss out on.Remember, training means not helping.Eldrian told himself to steel his resolve.So he headed over and told Zamia that they would set out today.


    ''I had been wondering when you would. Before you go, take this.'' Zamia said, bringing out a spear from nowhere.


    ''It is much better than what Cephaphyr can make, but it is still only a wooden spear. Consider it a gift to help you in bing stronger. I expect to see you soon, once you managed to reach Tier 3.''


    ''Thank you!'' Eldrian was extremely grateful as he took the spear. Simply grasping it he could feel it was a really good weapon.


    Zamia had clearly modeled it after Grace. It was also a double-headed spear, slightly longer than him. The front de almost as long as his arm and the back as long as his forearm. Its total length was such that when he ced it next to him, the front de would start from his shoulder.


    "Good luck," Zamia said through wind magic, allowing everyone to hear her.


    As Eldrian walked back to the group he inspected the de. He was greatly surprised when seeing that it was a Tier 3 spear.


    [Magical Polearm, Aoidos]


    [Tier 3]


    [Damage: 36 [41.8]]


    [Attack speed: 1.25 [1.9]]


    [Durability: 20k/20k]


    [Attribute requirements:]


    [Strength: 120; Agility: 135; Intelligence: 125]


    [???]


    Seeing that he did not meet all the requirements Eldrian quickly fixed it. He still had 14 points from when he increased his strength for equipping Gray, now with his recent level up he had 19 free. More than enough to bring everything up to the requirement.


    As such he quickly added four more to strength, bringing it to 120, adding ten to intelligence to bring it up to 125. Leaving 5 points still free, again Eldrian felt no rush to spend them.


    [Haru''s Statistics:]


    [Level: 13 | 15,700/240,000 XP]


    {User has gained knowledge of different branches of magic. Updated ss status to reflect this.}


    [Magic ss False Tier 1; true Tier is 0]


    [Sub-ss: Melee]


    [Avatar Affinity: 97.21%]


    Eldrian was surprised seeing the added text. Reading through this he realized that the system seemed to not be absolute and what it showed seemed to depend on his knowledge.


    What does this mean?Eldrian wondered, wondering what else was also incorrect. What information he was being given was only partly true, or maybe even entirely false.


    [Attributes:]


    [Constitution: 110]


    [Strength: 120]


    [Agility: 150]


    [Spirit: 110]


    [Intelligence: 125]


    {5 free attribute points}


    It does not matter for now.Eldrian realized as he made sure his attributes were enough, taking note that he should ask Joren what else worked like that, and why.


    Having the needed attributes, Eldrian went on to equip and soulbond the spear to him. Very happy to see the impressive bonuses it had hidden.


    [Passive bonus:]


    [The healing of song;When using this spear, the user will regain 1HP every ten seconds and 1SP every five seconds. {If race is Wood Elf, then the spear will also help in recovering mana}]


    [Ability:]


    [Sing and bring life; Express goodwill and you will receive in kind]


    [Instantly regain 25 points of any stat of user''s choosing.]


    [Cooldown: 60 seconds]


    [A special spear brought to life from a Tree of Song]


    [[Cannot be repaired]]


    Eldrian was shocked by these bonuses. He knew that they were really, really strong. Far stronger than the bonuses gray offered.


    A 10% damage bonus might sound strong, and it certainly was. Butpared to the regen, it fell behind extremely far. Especially since HP was also included in the regen, something Eldrian knew was really rare.