After settling inside the City of Zentris, the Allied Tribes spent the next few days preparing for the war that was about to come.
The warriors would leave the city during the day in order to chop down trees, which they would use to make spears and arrows.
The blacksmiths were also hard at work, forging weapons and other works of metal for everyone.
The women were assigned to harvest and process the fish that were caught by the magical net during the day. They used various methods to preserve them—like drying and smoking—to increase their food reserves.
The children who were old enough to help were tasked with delivering the food to the warriors when it was time for them to eat.
Everyone was busy, including Ethan and Lily, who were under Sebastian’s strict tutelage.
Although the Tide Bringer’s Legacy could only be used by Ethan, that didn’t mean that Sebastian would only teach the latter. He had lived long and naturally, he also had knowledge about other ancient Magic that Lily could use.
In fact, Lily was pleasantly surprised when Sebastian had given her several scrolls. Some of them taught her how to increase the effectiveness of her ice magic without increasing the magical drain on her body.
He also introduced to her a method she could use to prevent her from going berserk and losing her senses after transforming into her Demi-Wolf form.
Of course, that was not the only thing that the nosy trident had shown them. He also gave Ethan and Lily a scroll on how to refine, replenish, and enhance each other’s magical powers through “skinship”.
Simply put, it was a form of dual cultivation that was very effective when done by magical couples.
When Ethan saw this, he almost choked on his saliva, while Lily only gave him a mischievous smile.
The handsome young man had almost recovered from his trauma, which caused him to no longer be distracted from the young lady’s naked body.
“Do you want to try it?” Lily asked in a teasing tone. “But, if you do, take note that there is a high chance that my father will skin you alive. If you are willing to take that risk then I don’t mind practicing this technique with you.”
“Sorry, but I’ll pass,” Ethan replied. “… For now.”
His face reddened after adding the latter part of his sentence, which made Lily playfully punch his shoulder.
The two of them had grown so close to each other that it was safe to say that they had reached the stage where they were more than friends but less than lovers.
Even so, Lily still thought that, even though they couldn’t go all the way with the technique that was written in the ancient scroll, doing the rest was fine with her.
Right now, Ethan was very limited by the amount of Magic Power that he could use.
His power could only be replenished by doing two things. The first was kissing.
With this, he would be able to absorb Lily’s powers and use magic for a day, unless he used all of it by activating his Partial Resonance.
The second option was to use the Magical Bracelet that served as Ethan’s Magical Battery.
It worked the same way as kissing, but once it was depleted, it would take Lily three to four days to fully charge it.
If the siege were to happen once a week then there wouldn’t be a problem. However, if it happened every day, Ethan would only be able to use magic for two days before he had to resort to traditional combat.
“I don’t mind it, really,” Lily said with a straight face. “We have less than two months remaining before Sebastian sends us back home. The hard part is to survive until then. Also, the Necromancer’s target is you. If you don’t have the magical means to defend yourself then his chances of possessing your body are very high.”
Ethan understood the logic, but he still felt that doing it would be taking advantage of Lily.
There was a technique in the ancient tome that involved kissing. Ethan didn’t know if that would still trigger the effect of the technique, and he didn’t want to try at this point in time.
It had been nearly a week since he had last kissed Lily, and if he kissed her now, he would then absorb her magical power, which should only be used for emergencies.
As for the rest of the technique, although they wouldn’t be going all the way, it was very similar to foreplay. Either way, he would disadvantage the young beauty who was kind enough to care for him for the past few days. 𝓞𝒱𝐥xt.𝗇𝓔t
He respected and cared for her so much that he wouldn’t allow himself to take advantage of her kindness.
Seeing Ethan’s hesitation, Lily decided to not push the matter too much.
Although she said she didn’t mind it, how could that be possible?
She was still a chaste maiden, and she was only doing her best to help the two of them survive in the era they found themselves in.
Lily was happy that Ethan cared enough about her to not take things lightly. If she were with someone else, she wouldn’t even consider doing this with other people.
The only reason why she was fine with Ethan was due to the fact that she only acknowledged strong people. It was a concept that was ingrained into her by her tribe.
Lily wouldn’t lower herself to someone weaker than her and would not hesitate to kill anyone who tried to take advantage of her just to satisfy the needs of their body.
“Such an innocent child!” Sebastian placed his palm over his forehead. “I even gave him the perfect excuse and opportunity to do it with Lily, but what does he do? He doesn’t have the balls to go through with it. Is he even a man?”
“Shut up, Sebastian,” Ethan glared at the trident who had taken the image of the extremely handsome Tide Bringer. “I can hear you.”
“Of course, you can hear me. I am making sure that you do,” Sebastian rolled his eyes at the weakling, who clearly didn’t know how much effort he put into trying to find a way for him to use magic during emergencies.
Lily could only giggle at the antics of the Trident, who acted as both a wise elder and a nosy big brother.
These happy days didn’t last long because two weeks later, dark clouds started to roll in from the direction of the White Forest.
Sebastian also stopped acting carefree, which made Ethan and Lily understand that their enemy was near.
Hovering in the distance, the Necromancer eyed the city of Zentris.
A crimson glint could be seen inside his eyes, and the corner of his lips curled up into a smile.
His army was already gathered at the entrance of the White Forest and was currently marching to his location.
He was very tempted to cross the Lagoon and enter the city, but he could sense the magical barrier that enveloped its walls.
The Necromancer would need to find the perfect opportunity to infiltrate its defenses and find the person that he was looking for.
“Patience…,” the Old Necromancer said softly. “Just a few days more, and everything will fall in place.”
The Old Necromancer grinned as he glanced behind him, where his mighty army that numbered in the tens of thousands was at.
He could already taste his victory in the air.
He could almost feel the strong body of the perfect vessel that he would inhabit.
“In a few days, the Lands of Alastor will belong to me,” the Old Necromancer stated. “A month after that, the Magdar Kingdom and those foolish sorcerers who exiled me will fall. Then by the end of the year, this continent will be mine. And after that… the entire world will be ripe for the taking.”
The Old Necromancer laughed like a madman, with thunder and lightning crackled above his head.
While this was happening, the legions of the Undead began their march across the plains, which would become their foothold as they laid siege against the Ancient City of Zentris.