"Hold on. There's no way you entered a prison rig with only a water barrel and defeated everyone!" Sokka remarked in astonishment.
"If there's a will, there's a way," I said.
To be fair, if not for the system, there's no way I would have attempted that. I would have trained for years and years. Not everyone is like Katara, who, in canon, trained for a month and defeated a waterbending grandmaster who had trained for generations. Well, to be fair, if not for the system, I wouldn't have gotten my waterbending power.
"I have to agree with Sokka," Katara said. "I know you're talented at waterbending, but there's no way you could learn that much in such a short time. Even with a month of training, I barely developed your moves."
"You developed them?" I asked. If I recall correctly, the waterbending I had shown her was around level 8 or 9 according to the system. If she could master all the moves and even improve them slightly in a month, then she's good.
"Can you show me?" I pointed at a water barrel nearby.
"Sure," she said.
She stood up, took a bending stance, and bent backward. The water flew from the barrel toward her. She rolled and spread her arms. The water took shape around her hands and expanded, the ends turning into ice masses.
"I've improved the shape-shifting," she said. "Also, this." As she moved her hands, the shape of the water split into two, creating two tentacles from her hands, which she could control and use as whips.
I clapped for her.
That's a very good improvement. She was just half a step away from being a master.
I could spend time teaching her to help her achieve that faster.
But the only problem was that I didn't have the time to do that, nor was the current situation convenient.
"That's very good, actually. You're not far from being a master," I praised.
"How would you know how a master bends?" she asked.
"I've been in this land for a month," I replied. "It's easy to hear rumors about waterbenders."
"Really?"
"Yes," I replied. "I've also heard that there may be waterbending scrolls in the black market."
"Anyway, forget about that," she said. "I want to see how you managed to beat those guys."
"Well, I'm a bit tired since I've been hunting," I replied. "But in any case, this should be enough."
I waved my hand. The water left her hands and stuck to mine. I placed my hand on my back, creating three tentacles on my right side.
"This is just it," I said. The tentacles moved and wrapped around Sokka. One of them entered his mouth. I know it's a dirty move, but it's quite amusing for me.
Sokka gagged a bit.
"How in the…" Katara's lips trembled. "You didn't even make a bending stance or move."
"It's just that you have to do so until it becomes easy," I replied.
"But it hasn't even been a month," she said, astonished.
The water tentacles fell to the ground.
Seeing her looking down at her feet, I ignored Sokka's coughs and patted Katara on the back.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"I'm really happy that you've advanced," she said. "It's just… I feel like my talent in waterbending isn't something special. I feel like trash."
Hold on a second. Did I just make the most talented waterbender in the original show think of herself as untalented? I mean, she learned what I learned with the system and managed to improve it on her own, without having to go through crazy battles or hunt like a madman like I did.
"And why is that?" I asked.
"I've been a bender since I was little," she sighed deeply. "But I've never managed to reach the level you've reached, despite trying to discover tricks for years. Yet, here you are, and in just a few months, you're like this. What does that make me? But honestly, I'm happy for you and for myself. There's a man I can rely on."
"Sure," I replied, not knowing if she was flirting or venting her feelings. Let's try flirting back while encouraging her at the same time. "But I also need a woman to rely on."
She looked at me, her eyes sparkling.
"But I'm not that good," she replied.
"Nah, I just had a trick to help me," I said, grabbing her hand. "There's something that can help you with your bending. If you learn it, you can not only help yourself but also your brother and everyone in this village."
Sokka looked at me with wide eyes.
I mean, I would have the same reaction if someone flirted with my sister in front of me.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's called healing with waterbending," I said, taking my hand from hers. I used one of the tentacles to create a small cut on my palm. Blood flowed out.
"Ryuk, are you crazy? You could cut a vein and die!" Katara scolded.
The water from the tentacle swept over my hand, and the wound vanished.
"What did you do?" Sokka asked, taking my hand and examining it.
"It's called healing," I said. "I've heard rumors that women in the North Pole are used as healers. So, I tried channeling my Chi through water, and ta-da!"
"Wow," Katara replied excitedly. "But how does that help you learn bending?"
"I'll explain later," I said. "For now, focus on learning it." I then grabbed Sokka and smacked him on the back. "What would a little sister do without her good old brother?"
It was another way of saying that he had just become a test object, a grinding stone for her to hone her skills.
"Hey! I never sa—" Sokka was about to object but paused when he saw Katara's eyes lighting up as she looked at him.
"I understand," I replied. "You couldn't help her in the South Pole because you couldn't. But even now, you wouldn't. It's not like you didn't want to from the beginning, right?"
Sokka sighed heavily. "Fine. But be gentle."
"I'm sure she'll learn it in no time," I said, patting him on the back. "For now, guys, it's about to be nighttime."
Katara held Sokka's arm and dragged him away.
I dispelled the water from my back and returned it to the nearby barrel. I felt sorry if anyone attempted to drink that water, as someone had already gagged on it. In fact, it felt like a hideous thing to do. So, I lifted the barrel and went to hide it in storage so I could use it in a fight later.
-x-X-x-
By the next day, most everyone had learned how to dustbend and metalbend. When it came to dustbending, their movements didn't seem amateurish. Some could create a joint tornado with dust alone and generate winds. Others could shapeshift with metalbending. Haru was the most advanced in that aspect.
I had a good army.
On the other side, Sokka was quite lucky. His sister mastered healing the first time she tried it. When she learned that the new metal and dustbenders used water to heal their brains to learn faster, her morale shot up, thinking I had used this trick to get better.
Well, she wasn't entirely wrong. I had used this trick in the recent past to train my aqua sense, which I had postponed to train the metalbenders and search for explosive materials in nature.
But thanks to Katara sharing the burden of healing the earthbenders with me, we could do the job faster and with less exhaustion.
In these harsh times, there was one person who could be called happy.
Sokka, who had lived most of his life in the South Pole, saw a girl around his age among the villagers. He couldn't help but flirt with her.
I couldn't blame him, though. He had started to see women who weren't his sister, mother, aunt, or either too old to be taken to war or too young.
Man, I'm glad he left the South Pole. Otherwise, he might have developed a taste for either too young or too old people.
On the other hand, I was spared from such a miserable fate.
For a couple of days, things continued peacefully.
I spent more time with Katara, who started applying my trick on herself.
At night, we would meet and talk about home, sometimes about the continent here, and I would tell her about the forest and my adventures training against large beasts. She didn't believe me at first until she saw Lucy, the large, growing tiger.
Lucy had shown hostility toward Katara at first and tried to bite her hand when she placed it on mine. But I managed to control Lucy and told her not to attack her "mommy." Seeing that, Katara didn't seem traumatized, but she blushed slightly.
Now, it was morning, and I was watching over the camp.
"So, Ryuk," Katara, who was talking to me, suddenly spoke. "What are we?"
"What?" I turned to her, my heart skipping a beat. 'We are humans, not dinosaurs,' I thought. 'That's what a typical shonen anime character would say. She's asking me if we're just friends, dating, or not. But Katara, you know, there's a war going on.'
One doesn't know if they'll live to see tomorrow, and here she is, thinking romantically.
But on the other hand, I couldn't blame her.
Back in my home world, in many countries suffering from bombardment, famine, war, and rising pollution, the human breeding instinct was stronger than anything.
"I mean, us," she said, looking firmly into my eyes.
"You know," I said, "if you're thinking about dating and all that, we can leave it for after the war or when this passes."
"Great," she said, smiling nervously. "So, once this is over, we're in."
"Everyone!"
Suddenly, a man riding a lizard-like creature screamed.
When I turned to him, I saw him dismounting while panting loudly.
A few earthbenders went to help him.
It seemed he had run all the way here from his post without taking a break. Well, his ride had run, but for him to pant like that, it seemed there was something else besides exhaustion.
"I've… I've spotted the Fire Nation forces. They… they're in the thousands. Tanks, drums, rides—everything!"