Felix awoke shortly before dawn. He didn't particularly get up or do anything. After a few minutes, a courier and an escort showed up. The courier did some last second checks to make sure everything was in order, while the escort hopped in to the wagon with Felix. After a couple of minutes, the courier was satisfied with the wagon, so he retrieved a horse from the nearby stable, hooked him up to the wagon, and they left the fort, just as the first rays of sunlight crested over the horizon. Felix grabbed a piece of jerky from the rations and began to eat it, and got some of the water. The escort didn't take the initiative to speak to Felix, so Felix decided to try talking to him.
"So, you make this journey often?" Felix asked him.
"Look. I'll be frank with you. I don't personally have anything against you, but, you annoyed the Queen, supposedly. I'm sure this whole incident will be forgotten by everyone, even me, a month or two from now, but, for the time being, I got no interest in making friends with you. Again, it's nothing personal, it's just that I heard what happened to that guy from Intel, and I don't really want to join him. So, please don't talk to me or Balis, the courier, unless it's necessary or pertains to our trip. We'll do our jobs and get you to Gurnkey safe and sound in one piece, but, please just leave us be." the escort said, shutting down Felix quickly.
"...I understand. Can I at least know your name?" Felix asked.
"Jackson." the escort said.
"Got it." Felix said. "Do you happen to have a spell manual I can peruse on the trip?" he asked.
"Eh, sure. Honestly you can just have mine, I've long since constructed the spells that I plan to construct from it." Jackson said, as he handed Felix a somewhat worn copy of the standard military low level spell manual that he had in his coat.
"Thank you." Felix said. Jackson nodded, and shut his eyes, and began to draw in the wind element around him, presumably to construct spells during the journey.
Felix cracked open the manual, and looked in the earth spells section, to see if something caught his eye. He noticed one that looked useful, called Harden, which increased the resistances of the skin, but stiffened the user somewhat, lowering their speed and dexterity. However, he saw that it was a dual wood/earth spell. He turned his attention to Arboro.
"Hey Arboro, you said I would be able to gain the wood affinity, right?" Felix asked.
"Yes. I've been suppressing it until you find a good source of wood element though, so as not to hurt your long term prospects." she responded.
"Do you think you can hold it in until we reach my orchard in Gurnkey? I plan to just sell it once we get there, but staying there for a night and gaining the wood element there should be fine, right?" he asked.
"Yeah that shouldn't be an issue, it will only take us a week or so from what you've told me about your journey to the fort in the first place. An orchard will do just fine." she said.
"I still need to grow stronger. What spells do you recommend I construct on the way there?" Felix asked.
"Well, let's see... So far, all of the spells you've constructed are either utility, like Mold Earth and Night Eye, or distraction and interruption spells like Blind and Sand Attack. And, well, let's be honest, you probably aren't going to kill anyone with Fling Rock, so I'm not going to count that as an actual attack, that's more of a distraction as well. So, I think you need more directly combat focused spells so you can protect yourself at least a little bit. What I recommend you do is construct a defensive earth type spell during the day, and an offensive dark type spell during the night." Arboro said thoughtfully.
"That makes sense. What do you recommend, specifically?" Felix asked.
"Well, I'm no expert in earth spells, but I would recommend that spell that demon mage used on you during your fight with him, Earth Wall. You can use it defensively by quickly raising a wall, or offensively, like he did, to prevent an opponent from running. It's extremely versatile. As for an offensive dark spell... I recommend Soul Siphon. It's a long-range spell. Once you land it, unless they get far enough away from you, it slowly drains the energy from their soul. It won't do any actual damage to their soul or their body, but, eventually they will lose all power to move and will collapse. If you keep going after that point, eventually they will lose the ability to breathe, so you could kill them that way, or, they will just recover their ability to move after a few hours." Arboro said.
Felix nodded. These were good suggestions. He cracked open the manual, and Earth Wall was luckily present in it. "Arboro, can you show me the framework for Soul Siphon?" he asked.
"Of course." Arboro said. She carved the empty framework into the void of the spell space. It took her a couple of minutes. The framework was in the shape of a soul with ghastly energy being sucked away.
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"Thank you." Felix said. Arboro nodded.
Felix began his work on Earth Wall. The framework, unsurprisingly, was of an earthen wall, halfway through rising from the earth.
The journey was uneventful. It took them a week to return to Gurnkey, and during that time, Felix shared nightwatch with Jackson, and constructed Soul Siphon, Earth Wall, and he constructed the earth element portions of Harden.
They arrived in Gurnkey in the late afternoon, so the wagon would be staying the night there before continuing on to Fort Cumin. After a brief chat with the guardsmen, they were let inside the town, and they pulled over to the stables. Felix gathered his belongings, and hopped out of the wagon.
"Thanks." he said to Jackson and Balis, who nodded to him. "Hold it." Jackson said. Felix stopped. "Yes?" he asked.
"Sign this document confirming we got you here safely. My boss will be expecting this report." he said, as he handed him a report, and a quill and inkpot. Felix found a nearby table and signed it.
"Thanks. Know where the inn is here?" he asked, as he took the report.
"Just down that street and to the right." Felix told him.
"Thanks. Good luck." Jackson said. Jackson and Balis thus left, leaving Felix to himself.
Felix exited through the south gate of Gurnkey. A couple of the guardsmen recognized him and had surprised looks, but didn't say anything. He returned on the same old path he was familiar with, walked through his orchard, and got to his home. It was exactly as he left it.
Felix grabbed a spare bottle of cider he had stored a while back, and got some cups, and walked to his mother's grave and his father's memorial. He poured three cups of cider. He drank his, and left the other two next to them. He then walked to the front of his house, which was in the center of the orchard.
"Arboro, this should be fine, right?" he asked.
"It's not as thick as a forest or jungle would be, but it will do just fine. Do you want me to allow it to happen now?" she asked.
"Yes, please." Felix said.
Arboro nodded, and after a moment, Felix felt like a dam burst within him, or perhaps like a band-aid was ripped off of his soul. Suddenly, a torrent of wood element from the orchard around him began to pour in to his body. Felix sat down, and did not resist the flow of element. It began to circle around his core, and underneath it, a lotus flower bloomed. It grew rapidly, and after about an hour, Felix's diamond core, cloaked in shadow, sat in the center of a beautiful lotus flower, which was the symbol of his wood element. Surprisingly, Felix found it to be only the most minute sliver weaker than his dark element, which was only a minute sliver weaker than his earth element.
"Arboro, why is the wood element so strong? Isn't it supposed to be a sub-element?" he asked her.
"You didn't know? In my life, darkness was only my sub-element. My primary element was wood. Also, my name literally means "of trees"." she remarked.
"They made a spirit whose primary element was a Yang element into the grand spirit of darkness?" Felix asked exasperatedly.
"Well, admittedly, there weren't a lot of choices at the time. Still aren't, ten thousand years later." Arboro said, shrugging.
Felix couldn't think of a rebuttal, and so he simply had to accept things. It's not like having a strong wood affinity was a bad thing, anyway.
Felix went inside the house. There wasn't much inside, just some basic furniture like the bed and table, a couple of chairs, a barrel, some cupboards. Felix picked up the spare backpack used for apple harvesting and filled it with a bunch of dried fruits he had stored in the cupboards. At this point, he was rather tired, so he went to sleep.
Felix woke up at the crack of dawn. He took some time to make himself a bath, cleaned himself, and grabbed his last bottle of spare cider he had lying around. He double checked he didn't leave anything in the house, walked over to his parents graves, and gave one last bow, locked the house, and walked to Gurnkey. By this point, the sun was well up, and everyone was beginning their morning tasks. Felix saw Trent was in charge of the southern gate.
"Hello Trent." Felix said.
"Felix! What on earth happened? I heard you were back in Gurnkey last night, but I could scarce believe it, we just sent you to Fort Basil what, a month ago?" Trent asked.
"About right." Felix said. "Unfortunately they had to return me to Gurnkey. I was too good-looking, so the soldiers there were feeling inferior, and it brought down morale." Felix Joked.
Trent laughed. "I see, I see. Well, you don't have to tell me, I'm sure something unusual must have happened. So? Just going to be running the orchard like usual, then?" Trent asked.
"Actually, no. I'm on my way to speak to Lord Wiseman to inquire about selling the orchard and taking my leave of Gurnkey." Felix said.
Trent was surprised. "Really? Selling? And where will you go?" Trent asked.
"I don't want to be here on my lonesome, Trent. There's another branch of my family up north who I'll go connect with. I'll ask Lord Wiseman to do a scry connection to them first to make sure it's all right, of course, but I can't imagine they would turn me away." Felix said.
"I see. Well, good luck, Felix." Trent said.
"Thanks, Trent." Felix said, and he walked to Baron Wiseman's manor. Felix stood in front of the gate to his manor, and knocked on a knocker on the front of the gate. After a moment, a maid walked out to greet him.
"Yes?" she asked.
"I seek an audience with Lord Wiseman. I have need to sell property within the town, I look to seek his permission to leave the town, and I have need of his scrying services." Felix responded.
The maid looked him up and down. "You're aware all of this will cost money, yes? It would be 10 silver for the scrying, and 50 silver for the permission to leave, at the least, and that's if Lord Wiseman agrees in the first place." she remarked.
"Don't worry about that. I can afford it." Felix said. He cracked open his coin pouch so the maid could see, inside of which were multiple gold coins visible. The maid looked surprised, but nodded.
"One moment, I'll go see if the Lord is available." the maid said with a curtsy. She went back in to the manor for a few minutes, and then returned to the gate.
"The Lord will see you now." she said, nodding. She opened the gate, and led Felix inside of the manor.