Vee's effortless victory was causing quite a stir among the crowd, and a few noticed that her strange purple threads were unaffected by Llewel's reversal of time. In fact, if the corner they were collapsed in wasn't different from Galan's starting position, he would have ended up directly in them again!

"Vee, get rid of the thread," I informed her telepathically.

"Oh, yeah, better not leave it around before questions start getting asked," Vee chuckled.

She skittered over to the collapsed mass of webs and poked it, causing the entire thread structure to start whirring as it collated into a cocoon of thread. I imagined it like a spool of thread and wondered if this was another one of the skills Vee had gotten from her Weaver profession.

I had expected Galan to cause a stir during this process, but he remained relatively still in his corner of the arena. The only action he took since the reversal was to check that his own companion was safe.

When Vee was done, she poofed the entire roll of extradimensional string into her [Pocket Space] before using a quick [Warp] and shrink combo to return to my shoulder. Her sudden appearance caused a few gasps from those around me.

"Congratulations on your victory, Lady Sylthaeryn. It was an awe-inspiring performance, Lady Vee," Llewel praised.

As if Llewel's words had broken the floodgates, the audience began to give brief applause towards Vee. The deadly but silly spider was loving it, absolutely basking in the attention.

"I promise I'll do everything in my power to convince my mother!" Aimon said abruptly, a determined fire in his eyes.

"Ha! See, that's how you do it," Vee said smugly.

"Thank you, Vee, and I would greatly appreciate that," I replied softly.

At this point, Galan had left the arena and was approaching us. My guard was up, and I almost expected him to cause a commotion; his type always seemed relentless. But, to my surprise, he took a knee right before me.

"I apologize profusely, Lady Sylthaeryn. In my ignorance of you and your companion's accomplishments, I've realized how narrow my judgment was and how I'd failed to see the larger picture. I humbly request forgiveness for insulting the Feirelle branch and my childish remarks against your companion Vee."

I was dumbfounded, and so was Aimon. The only ones who seemed to think this was perfectly ordinary were Llewel and the rest of the audience.

"So humble."

"This will be a growing opportunity for him."

"It's clear the Elarinwe Matriarch has raised a good son."

Personally, I wanted to tell him to get lost, but [Roleplay] gave me a grim reminder.

"The situation is already dead and buried. Please stand, Lord Galan. I, too, wish to foster a good relationship between Feirelle and Elarinwe."

He stood up with joy in his eyes. "Thank you, Lady Sylthaeryn. When you succeed in your trial, I hope you permit me to perform at your ceremony!"

My eye nearly twitched, "Gladly. I would cherish hearing Dewdrop's voice at such an integral moment for me."

At this point, I realized Dewdrop was his stage name or something similar. While I was cringing on the inside, my outer appearance kept up its serenity.

"I swear if I couldn't feel your true emotions leaking through the [Companion Bond], I'd swear the little twerp had bewitched you," Vee whispered.

"I hate this… I can't wait to head for the dungeon," I grumbled to Vee.

Galan stayed around to sing a few praises for Vee and myself. His tone and attitude were so complete a turnaround that I could scarcely believe it. Thankfully, I knew I wasn't going crazy, as even Aimon looked distraught by his former childhood friend becoming a sycophant.

Either he's scheming something, or the whole 'might make right' opinion is greater than I could imagine.

Eventually, he left, much to my personal relief, although once again, I didn't show it. Aimon stayed around for a bit longer, mostly trying to ask some questions about Vee, but I remained steadfast in my belief that she was only willing to expose herself if they could help her.

"You already got two elf boys fighting over you; you're really quite the vixen!" Vee teased.

"Please don't… I'm struggling enough already, even with [Roleplay]."

"Okay, okay. Why don't we get some food since we were so rudely interrupted? I'm starving after creating so much thread!"

I agreed and began walking once again to one of the buffet tables. Although I merely delicately snacked on a few bits, with most of it going straight down the bottomless gullet of the spider.

The entire time, I was still being followed by Llewel, although he was still assuming the role of my protector, so I wasn't really allowed to converse with him. Sadly, that left me open to talking to quite a few other elves, as they would come to me one by one to talk.

Topics ranged from my journey to my expectations for the test. There was also a lot of emphasis on the other elf families trying to suss out some information about Vee. It became such a blur that I felt like I was going on autopilot and letting [Roleplay] take the reins.

My social energy is rapidly diminishing!

Thankfully, my inner crisis was resolved by a few more duels taking place. I was thrilled for the break, and I got to witness some of the elven might.

Although none of them were to the extreme levels that Vee took it, they were almost like friendly sparring matches or attempts to allow both parties to show off adequately.

The most impressive was a duel between two martially focused elves, one who wielded a shortsword and dagger combo while the other held a glaive. I would have assumed the elf with the glaive would have held the advantage due to reach and range, but to my surprise, the agility displayed by the dual wielder almost left me speechless as he quite literally danced around his opponent.

Later on, there was a magic duel, which I was especially grateful to witness. On one end was Galather Vaelorith, and on the other was Ashryn Thalandor. Both were future heads of their respective branches, so it instantly garnered an impressive crowd.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

I was looking forward to measuring my own capabilities against the two, but I was also hopeful of witnessing some of the "elemental magic" that Paeris had mentioned to me. Galather was supposedly a master of both wind and ice, so I was curious to see how he handled the two elements.

Ashryn was a druidic nature mage, and I was eager to compare her capabilities to Trixie. I knew Trixie actually specialized in illusions, but it was still the most impressive display of [Nature Magic] I'd seen yet.

"Best of three?" Galather asked.

"I'm surprised you wish for so few," Ashyrn chuckled. "But very well. I hope you're being level-headed."

"I'm sure," he replied with a cheeky grin. "I wouldn't want to reveal too many of my cards."

The spectators were already gossiping.

"Galather must be confident."

"Only three chances to overcome Ashryn."

"Perhaps he's found a new spell?"

Llewel wasn't officiating this duel, so I cautiously reached out to him with telepathy.

"How may I assist?" he asked politely.

"Best of three?" I questioned.

"Magical duels can cause quite a lot of collateral damage, as you can imagine," he explained. "So in formal settings, we usually only cast a certain number of spells each, and each round's winner is determined by who overcomes the most spells."

"Wait… how does that work?" Vee asked. "What if you cast a [Fireball], and then I cast [Pocket Space] and eat your spell. Do I win?"

"Yes. That would be considered your win," Llewel answered.

"And if instead I teleported?"

"Then that would likely be your loss. You retreated rather than overcoming the spell."

"I feel like that should still be my win, but okay…" Vee grumbled.

At this point, Ashyrn had pulled out a seed and casually tossed it into the air. The seed then sprouted and instantly grew into a large monster formed entirely of a writhing mass of vines.

"So, does Galather need to beat the summoned creature to win?" I asked.

"Yes, although he doesn't need to kill it. Reducing its health by fifty percent or permanently immobilizing it will also count as a point in his favor," Llewel explained.

"Trying to trick me with a creature made out of frost vines?" Galather chuckled.

"Oh? I thought plant research was beneath you?" Ashyrn asked, tilting her head to the side.

Galather clicked his tongue in annoyance, "They literally grow on our doorstep. Do you honestly take me for a fool?"

"Consider it a free win for this round, then," she smiled coyly.

I thought he might fall for the taunt, but he remained composed. Instead, he waved his hand, and immediately, I saw the air gathering around him. Multiple vortexes of wind were swerving around his person, yet his clothes didn't even let off a ripple. I couldn't help but be impressed at his level of control and partially understood what Paeris had meant by "commanding the elements."

He swirled his hands around a few times, forming multiple projectiles that appeared to be akin to the [Wind Cutter] spell. However, no spell construct was needed as if it was somehow entirely formed naturally, yet was far more powerful from my approximation.

I wasted no time activating [Soul Sight], which revealed a partial truth, and I could see that the air itself seemed to have become one with his Mana aura.

Very interesting…

With the snap of his finger, three large blades of wind shot out, striking the vine monster once each before rebounding like a boomerang and cutting into it for a second time! The mass of vines fell to the floor, utterly devoid of life, and Galather smiled.

"Hey, isn't that cheating? He used three spells!" Vee questioned.

"No. It counts as a single attack, regardless of the amount of projectiles," Llewel answered.

"Even though he made it boomerang and hit it twice?" Vee argued.

"Yes, as that just further demonstrates his control over spells. Theoretically, one could repeatedly attack with the same spell until it ran out of Mana and dispersed."

"Oh! I like the sound of that," I replied. "I can throw a mountain of Mana into a spell to keep its momentum going endlessly."

Llewel sighed, "Yes… that would work. Although, personally, I'd be quite disappointed in seeing a victory in throwing a disproportionate amount of resources to win. The greatest victories are using the smallest amount of resources to overcome the greatest of odds."

"A win is a win in my book," Vee snorted.

I could understand her opinion as she had used [Rift Thread] to secure a victory against Galan, and it was most definitely an "inappropriate amount of force."

Although considering she could reclaim almost all the [Rift Thread] after the fact, would that be considered as cost savings?

Meanwhile, the magical duel continued, and Ashyrn seemed undisturbed by her creature being killed so easily—incontestably, she appeared delighted about that outcome!

This time, she pulled out an acorn but rolled it along the floor rather than tossing it. It tumbled and bounced, sprouts forming as it traveled until it reached the mass of dead vines, where its growth started to increase rapidly!

In a matter of moments, a fully grown tree was in the arena, but the dead vines of the previous monster were twisted around its trunk and branches.

"Symbiosis!" one spectator exclaimed as the tree uprooted itself from the arena and took its first steps forward.

"Your move," Ashyrn replied, brimming with confidence.

"Even with frost vines, do you really think that would be enough to stop a treant's natural weakness?" Galather retorted.

The wind around his body had continued to stir throughout the duel. Then, all at once, the wind began to let out a howl as if a creature had awakened! Frosty tundra began to permeate around him, and snowflakes and hail swirled around his person.

He raised his hand to the sky. Immediately, the air around the tree began to shimmer, and everything around it froze! The entire tree was literally encased in a block of ice, but Galather wasn't done yet. He gave a confident grin as he snapped his fingers, causing the ice to shatter!

"Holy shit, points for presentation!" Vee cried out.

The audience was also ablaze as the frosty shards continued to shatter and spread like a cluster of exploding bombs in the ice.

Ashyrn remained stoic, and when the countless shards of frost and ice finally settled, everyone saw the result—the tree still stood.

"What?" Galather asked in confusion.

"Looks like you took about a quarter of its life, sorry Galather," she fake apologized.

"Judge?" he asked hesitantly.

"Confirmed. It has more than half its health remaining," the elf-man officiating replied.

"You should have used more wind but took the bait of going for the obvious weakness. Now my victory is assured," Ashyrn giggled.

She strutted towards her tree and pulled out a flower. It looked almost like a dandelion, and she gently placed it in the tree's leaves. Then she snapped her fingers, causing the flower to pop and spread its seeds all over the tree. Soon, its entire canopy was littered with flowers.

"Seriously, what's with all the finger-snapping?" Vee asked.

I struggled not to laugh at her unexpected comment and began cycling through my various senses to understand why she was so confident about the flowers she'd decorated her tray with.

It didn't take me long, and I couldn't help but telepathically shout out my findings.

"Those flowers are wind-aligned!"

"Then I think this duel is over," Llewel replied. "To think one so young as her has mastered grafting and symbiosis. Truly a gift to the grove!"

"Really? She's won just like that?" Vee asked doubtfully.

"If they do something similar to the frost vines, I can't see any other outcome," Llewel explained.

Galather seemed undisturbed as he prepared to unleash his ultimate spell. He even called out its name—[Blizzard]—as he summoned it, and this time, I even caught a glimpse of the spell construct he used to form it.

It was a perfect marriage of air and ice that left me staring in awe. I tried to burn as much of it to memory as possible, but sadly, much of it was obscured because it was within his aura, and he unleashed it as quickly as possible.

Wind and ice erupted around the flowery tree, whirling around like a vortex of icy death. The winds were cutting apart the ground, and the frigid cold was so intense that it was permeating towards the audience, and a protective barrier needed to be formed.

"If the spell keeps going, he might still have a chance!"

"Keep going, Lord Galather!"

"Hang in there, Lady Ashyrn!"

Then, to everyone's surprise, the spell unexpectedly collapsed, the frosty winds of endless tundra ceased entirely, and a triumphant-looking tree stood there. If anything, it looked healthier than before the spell was cast.

"How?" Galather hissed.

"These flowers feed on Air Mana," she replied. "And you provided such a delicious bounty that you even cured my child here. Thank you for the consideration, Lord Galather."

Galather sighed, "Congratulations on your victory, Lady Ashyrn."

The crowd erupted into applause.

"Wow. Do you think you could beat that tree?" Vee asked.

I paused for a mere moment before giving my honest answer, "I could probably just eat it."

"Cheating slime…"