Just helping Natalie with her training wouldn't do him any good, so Billy decided to alternate his firing elements. That way, if a situation required him to fire a certain element, he would be able to respond as fast as possible. Natalie complained at first, but once she heard the explanation, she decided to ignore it. She wasn't the only one who could benefit from the training…
"Why do your earth bullets make that weird sound?" Natalie asked.
"I make them rotate to gain some extra piercing power and speed," Billy replied. "It requires some concentration, so I am not sure you can pull that off in the middle of a fight. Perhaps if you manage to do something about your short temper, you will be able to do it."
"Putting that aside, can you fire your strongest earth bullet?" Natalie asked. "I want to see if I can repel them with my swift strike."
"Again with those unreasonable requests… Do you have a death wish?" Billy asked after a long sigh. "A single mistake and you will be killed."
Swift strike was the name of the two quick strikes that Natalie managed to develop as her own special technique. Natalie probably could repel Billy's strongest Earth Bullet, but only if he takes his rings out. He didn't even have the chance to test how high his current magic power is.
"I suppose it can't be helped," Natalie shrugged.
On the next day, Billy's routine returned to the usual. He experimented with Water Manipulation and actually managed to fish the magic monsters by making a stream of water coming from below to take them out of water. However, even when the beast was on the ground, it could move and even use a Water Ball. In the end, Leo put an arrow on its head, he told Billy not to do that again. A black point shot of Water Ball might kill someone if it hits the wrong spot…
Regardless, thanks to the bonus of the rings, Billy didn't spend even half of his mana while helping the redhead archers. He could help the elementalists by creating the Earth blocks for the bridge. Still, he didn't want to stand out even more with his illusory massive mana pool.
In any case, once again, his two weeks of working passed rather anticlimactically. The stone pillars had already reached the last fourth part of the river. Soon enough, they will begin to craft the bridge's real body. Still, just when Billy was about to go home and enjoy his week off, the groups that went to explore had returned with some troublesome news.
"We found large numbers of people on the other side of the river moving in groups and toward this direction," Nikola said. "It seems that they don't want to let us complete the village."
"What are their weapons and numbers?" Drew asked.
"They use round shields and long spears, all of them," Nikola said. "They also wear helmets and some weird shirts of iron… we saw around three hundred of them."
The other group was made by hammersmiths, and they said the same thing. They saw a small army mobilizing toward direction… It seemed that they trained as a group instead of individually. Thus their individual power shouldn't be high, but as a group, Billy knew that they could pose a threat. Even if they fought as a group, the people in that world could become strangely strong, and adding the factor or tactics and organization, they could wipe out the tribes that didn't have much experience in fighting alongside each other.
"We already received orders about how we should react in this type of situation," Drew said. "We should try to open dialog no matter what, but if the other side refuses to hear us… then we will fight."
It couldn't be helped, but Billy thought that fighting if things went wrong in the beginning was a bad move since it would be the start of another battle that might last for many years. They didn't know the numbers of the people on the other side, but considering that they were going to use six hundred, then it was clear that they had the advantage.
"War for resources truly is a pain…" Billy thought.
The tribes finally had the peace that they wished for decades, but now they wanted more… Hopefully, things would end up well. Billy didn't want to see his siblings growing up amidst a war.
"You saw them, Alexander," Lily said. "What do you think?"
"It is hard to get a good feeling about them from so far away…" Alexander frowned. "However, we didn't find any magic beasts on the other side, so they either exterminated them, or their numbers are extremely low. That shows that they have some high battle prowess. Adding to the fact that all of their gear is made of iron and apparently, high quality, they must need it to fight some sort of enemy."
"But if they want to stop us with those numbers, then they must have some free time in their hands or their lands are completely at peace," Natalie said.
It was hard to say, but they probably never had or didn't have to deal with magic attacks in a long time. After all, the armor wasn't particularly good against fire magic. So, despite the difference in numbers, the tribes probably would have a chance to win if it comes to a battle, as long as they use the elementalists wisely.
"We will have to stay here for a while, so we might as well train as much as possible in preparation for what might happens next," Lily said. "I didn't think of that, but if we lose, this same bridge could become an asset in the hands of those guys and they might use it to reach our town."
That wasn't good… before something like that could happen, Billy would wipe them out, even if he had to scare even his allies with his power.
