After my public speech—my first speech ever—the villagers were divided in half. Not everyone was suited for war. There were kids and old people, and the young ones weren't very skilled at earthbending. In the end, half of the villagers left. The other half consisted of the earthbenders who stayed. They numbered about 100 at best. We also had a few dozen young men who decided to join. Despite the high risk, every earthbender was willing to join the war. I didn't have the right to complain. If I were a weakling, I would have escaped too.
On the other hand, I asked them to be escorted to the ships and to hold on. I didn't want them to leave the village until the day before the clash. There was one simple reason for that: to maintain the element of surprise. I wanted to set a large trap for the firebenders and put them in a position where using their power would mean death.
I started thinking that I had no choice but to create dust bombs. But before that, I needed to train the earthbenders. With the water healing method, I could remove the toxins from their brains, allowing them to rewire faster and preventing internal inflammation from obstructing their progress. I wanted them to sleep as little as possible and learn as quickly as they could.
"So, do you think we can learn it before the war?" asked a 30-year-old earthbender.
I was currently in a training yard. Haru was standing there, as if he were a military instructor.
"I believe so," I said. "Haru here will teach you the method. In case you want to understand the principle behind it, it's very simple. You bend the earth—the smallest amount you can while feeling it. Then, you make that amount smaller and smaller until you can feel the earth particles in a coin. Once you get that, you'll move on to metalbending. Anyone who wants to give up will have to help me search for stuff in a river or cave. So, do your best now."
"As you say," they responded.
"Alright, enough talking," said Haru. "We've got a battle to prepare for."
The earthbenders followed Haru's lead. They did as instructed. And I noticed something: some of them were more talented than I had anticipated. Or, should I say, they had more experience with earthbending despite being out of practice for 17 years.
But they were still out of shape. About two hours later, I could see the earthbenders were getting groggy. If you spoke to them, they could barely structure a proper sentence. They noticed this themselves, too. Some even said the words they spoke didn't match the ones they thought of.
They grumbled and complained.
I walked around them, with six tentacles wrapped around my shoulder. I placed water on their heads and used the healing skill. They closed their eyes, as if they were experiencing the most beautiful sensation in the world. You could hear grown men—and some women—moaning.
I was the only one cringing.
But if I wanted to face the Fire Nation's incoming army, I had to endure.
'Is this my punishment for killing all those men?' I thought. 'This feels like hell, but not the worst hell one could possibly go through. I'd rather go full John Wick on the Fire Army. But I can't do that in the morning.'
One by one, I managed to restore them to their peak condition.
"Okay, guys. Stop your training. Get some sleep. When you wake up, do it again," I instructed.
Since I had been training my extra sense with this method, I knew they wouldn't sleep much, but they would improve once they woke up. This was the best time-saving strategy.
I also noticed that healing their bodies with waterbending was putting a heavy burden on me. Not mentally, but spiritually. How could I explain it? It's the chi energy.
I checked the system:
[Waterbending -11 (60,000/120,000)]
I was gaining a lot of experience in waterbending these days. It seems that fighting the firebenders, healing the earthbenders, and training my water sense were all paying off. At this rate, I might not need to use much of my accumulated experience. And even if I did, there was a nearby forest full of monsters. I also had a fast-riding pet, a large tiger, and the Fire Nation soldiers had left strange, lizard-like animals that walked on two legs and had high endurance.
Not to mention, I had 230,000 experience points, ready to be used to upgrade any of my skills.
But I decided to think carefully about it and not rush the decision.
Moreover, I was quite tired. So, I took a nap alongside the earthbenders.
After the nap, the earthbenders woke up refreshed. As for me, I found it hard to get out of bed in the leather tent. I was half-awake, and I could hear them talking.
"It was quite a quick nap."
"Yeah, I feel very refreshed. This water healing method is better than getting a massage."
"Want a lady to massage you? I don't know if they're still open, but I know a town…"
"Anyway, Ryuk seems to still be asleep."
"Young people today are so lazy. No matter how energetic he is, this generation can't keep up with the old ones."
'Bastards,' I thought, but I couldn't even stand up yet. The warmth of the bed kept pulling me in. 'You're lucky I need you for the war.'
I turned my head and found a water pouch. I hydrated myself and then found the energy to stand up. I left the camp and saw the earthbenders working hard on their training.
I decided to change my strategy. Healing them like this would wear me out before it wore out the enemy.
I clapped my hands to get their attention and gave them new instructions.
Only half of them would train at a time. The other half would gather materials, and then they would switch.
To my surprise, there were no complaints.
I took around 50 earthbenders to a nearby forest with a river. We gathered wood and sulfur. Thanks to their earthbending, we were able to dig for materials and find plenty. We also ground them more easily.
After finishing the material gathering, I returned to the training camp and healed the minds of those who were training. This time, I didn't feel as tired or groggy as when I worked with 100 earthbenders at once.
-x-X-x-
For three days, I continued working hard for the war, barely getting any satisfying sleep. But we made good progress in material gathering and earthbender training. About five of them could bend a metal coin, and a few dozen could now control dust.
But that still wasn't enough. I needed them to become more proficient.
By now, the Fire Nation envoy would have informed his superiors of my response, and they would be planning an attack.
-x-X-x-
By the fifth day, most of the earthbenders had shown great progress and could bend dust more easily. Around 60 of them could bend metal now. Even though the other 40 could only bend dust, they were still useful.
Haru, on the other hand, had advanced quite well. His dustbending had improved, and he could create storm-like dust and even generate wind with it, similar to the sandbenders in the show.
While giving the 40 earthbenders a quick healing, I received a notification:
[Waterbending up to level 12 (0/200,000)]
[+ Unlocking sub-skills:
Steam Bending.
Dehydration Hand.
Bending with a Mind]
[Congratulations. You've entered the Grandmaster realm as a starter.]