Felix didn't have to wait long. After about an hour of him sitting idly, Leo showed up and escorted him out of the treasury.

"So, how did it go? You finish that spell you were working on?" Leo asked him, as he shut the treasury door.

"I did. I need to ask you, Leo... do we keep any slaves who are about to be of age?" Felix asked hesitantly.

"Under royal law, in order to be enslaved, you have to either be 18, or have committed a particularly heinous offense. We do have a few slaves like that, but probably not more than a dozen, and as far as I'm aware, all of them are 17." Leo said, a bit grimly. "Since this involves minors, well, I know you didn't want to tell me what this spell does before, but since this involves Scarlet's safety, I feel compelled to ask in this case." he said sternly.

Felix hesitated. "Absolutely not." Arboro said inside of him. "If word of the power of Yin spreads, you will become a target, a huge target." she said, offering no rebuke.

"I think I have to, Arboro. If I want to actually use the power of Yin to gain advantage for myself, word will spread eventually as I use it. Better to let the knowledge out on my own terms and use unveiling the secret to garner trust with the Belrose family for showing them one of my secrets, rather than let it out later and out of my control." he said.

"I still think it's too risky. I don't think he trusts you, and there's still the whole bloodline matter." Arboro said.

"Sorry Arboro, but I'm pulling rank as the primary soul here." Felix said, before finally lifting his head to face Leo. He heard Arboro sigh in his soul.

"All right Leo, I can tell you, but only because we're family. Do you have a secure room where this information won't get out?" Felix asked him.

Leo looked at him curiously. "No need. Watch." he said, and he waved his arms. A water bubble appeared around them, and Felix could no longer sense the outside world, through any of his senses, including his magical ones. "Now tell me what this grand secret is, even I'm burning with curiosity at this point." he said with his arms crossed.

"Well, it's kind of two secrets. The first is that I'm capable of figuring out what someone's elemental affinities will be before they come of age." Felix told him.

Leo looked surprised. "I've heard of this before, actually. I've seen a spell that does this mentioned in some ancient records before. Did you find the spell hidden somewhere, like lost in a cave or something?" Leo asked him.

"Hmm.... I did indeed gain this ability in a cave. And using it, I determined that Scarlet will be a fire and metal mage upon her maturation." Felix declared.

"Fire and metal... I see." Leo said, looking disappointed.

"However... that's why I was working to construct this experimental spell. I've constructed a spell that just might, maybe, possibly, allow me to convert her metal affinity into a darkness affinity. But I need to test it on someone who isn't Scarlet first. So I need a slave with an unawakened metal affinity, whose 18th birthday is before hers." Felix said.

Leo's eyes about popped out of his skull, as he looked Felix up and down. "Truly? Do you know how useful this spell is if it works? Noble houses will go crazy for this power." he told Felix.

"If it works. I hope you see why I didn't want to tell you about this spell before. To not give you false hope about it." Felix said. Leo nodded.

"I think we have one or two slaves whose 18th birthday happens to be coming up. I happen to keep track of this, because they have to be reported to the Crown. Do you know how long it will take you to convert someone?" he asked Felix.

"I don't. So it's better if we get started sooner, rather than later." Felix said.

Leo nodded, dispersing the water bubble which surrounded them. "Luckily I happen to not be particularly busy today. Let's go." Leo said, walking off swiftly. Felix followed him.

After a short time, they made their way out of the more secure areas of the manor and into the areas with more slaves. Leo found a supervisor, and asked him about the couple of underaged slaves he had in mind. The supervisor nodded and ran off, and a few minutes later, two slaves were brought before Felix and Leo, one male, one female.

"How is it, Felix? Do either of them fit your criteria?" he asked.

Felix examined the two slaves, who had their heads bowed deferentially. He turned to his spell space and asked Arboro "Well Arboro, do either of them work?"

Arboro was silent for a moment, before she responded. "The female is fire and wood, and is therefore useless. The male however, is water and metal. You can use him." she said.

Felix nodded. "We got lucky." he said to Leo. "I can use the male." he said, pointing at the male slave. He was a short guy, with unruly black hair, pale skin, and eyes which looked somewhat dead and faded. Leo nodded, swiftly dismissing the supervisor and the female slave.

"What's your name?" Leo asked the slave.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The slave was silent for a moment, before sighing and responding as if with much effort. "Reporting to the Young Masters, my name is Caldwell." he said, with a slight bow.

"I see. And when is your birthday, Caldwell?" Leo asked him.

"In two days, Young Master." Caldwell responded, still sounding as if he had no energy. Leo frowned a bit.

"And remind me what crime it is you have committed to be under our care, Caldwell?" Leo asked him.

Caldwell's expression darkened and his countenance lowered, but he still responded after a moment. "Matricide, Young Master." he said heavily.

Felix looked at him with a surprised expression, while Leo's face turned into one of disgust. "Ugh, having the likes of you here really besmirches my household." Leo said, with clear contempt.

"Yes, Young Mas-" Caldwell began.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear another word from you, unless it's absolutely necessary." Leo said, interrupting him. Caldwell could only bow.

"Now Felix, do you need anything else for this matter? I'd quite like to observe the process, if you don't mind, since it involves Scarlet's safety." Leo asked, turning to Felix.

"Only an environment very rich in darkness, and a couple of hours to prepare the energy for it. So basically, we need to head back down to the bottom of the crypts. I don't know how long we'll be there, if you really insist on coming with me." Felix said.

"It won't be an issue. I can issue orders to my personally bound slaves within a fair bit of distance, and they can cover for me and run things smoothly, even if we ended up staying down there for another month. Let's go." Leo said, walking off quickly again. Felix and Caldwell followed after him.

By the time they reached the mausoleum on the west end of the property, there was already a maid waiting with fresh food and water for them. It seemed Leo acted quickly with his soul orders. Leo waved her along too, to follow them. Her expression went pale at the clear implication that she would have to go down into the crypts, but she still followed them. They got on the lift, and Leo and Felix both took the opportunity to construct spells for an hour, with Felix finally finishing the Enslavement spell just before they reached the bottom floor.

Stepping off the lift, the maid looked depressed, Caldwell looked grim, and Leo had a neutral expression. Felix, however, felt like a weary adventurer who returned home after a long journey, or a fish that was returned to water. His countenance lightened immeasurably, and he was smiling unconsciously, and he appeared to have a pep in his step. The maid happened to notice, and looked greatly confused as she looked around at their environment, but ultimately said nothing.

"I assume you'll want to use the training room for this?" Leo asked him, looking to Felix.

"Yep." Felix responded, walking to the training room at the center of the crypts. The other three followed him.

They all arrived at the imposing door of the training room in short order. Leo ordered the maid to wait outside, and himself, Caldwell, and Felix all entered. Caldwell's expression became much more grim after he stepped into the chamber, however, he still couldn't say anything, as he was given a soul order not to.

Felix didn't stand on further ceremony, and sat in the middle of the small room, as Caldwell and Leo stood off to the side. "I'll begin preparing now, then." he said. Leo nodded.

Felix began to absorb the darkness element around him, converting it into the Yin energy he needed to power the spell. Leo looked baffled at the amount of darkness Felix was absorbing, but he watched in silence, continuing to get more and more confused as Felix absorbed so much darkness that he had no idea how he could possibly contain even a tiny fraction of it, let alone what he was going to use it for. But still, he just watched passively. After a couple of hours, by which point Leo was wondering how Felix hadn't popped like a balloon more than an hour prior, he finally stopped and looked at Leo and Caldwell. "It's time. Caldwell, lay on the ground in front of me." Felix said, pointing in front of him. Caldwell looked to Leo, who nodded.

Caldwell's expression and countenance were positively dismal in this room full of darkness, kilometers below the surface. If he looked pale on the surface, here he looked like a corpse himself. He laid down in front of Felix on his back.

"Take off your shirt." Felix ordered him.

Caldwell removed his shirt and tossed it in a corner, before laying down again.

"All right. Don't move until I'm done, or there might be unpredictable consequences. You may even lose your life. Do you understand?" Felix said to Caldwell. Caldwell nodded grimly.

Felix placed his hand on Caldwell's chest, and began to use the affinity conversion spell, which he hadn't bothered to actually name yet, because he still didn't know if it would work or not. He channeled it slowly, feeding it with his mana and the Yin energy he prepared, which caused a dark glow to appear on his hand which seeped into Caldwell's chest.

Caldwell's expression changed. He looked uncomfortable, but he didn't show any outward signs of pain. It looked more like he felt like a thousand spiders were crawling under his skin. Still, he grit his teeth and remained as still as possible.

An hour went by. Two hours. Four hours... finally, at six hours, right when Felix was beginning to get worried he might run out of Yin energy, he felt like a sensation he could only describe as if he was missing something, like a flame without fuel. He removed his hand from Caldwell's chest, and examined him. Outwardly he didn't appear any different.

"How is it Arboro?" Felix asked her within his soul.

Arboro was silent for a moment. "He has a very pure darkness within him now. I think you may have succeeded. My advice is to wait here in this crypt until his mana and affinities coalesce, however. He may need the darkness in this place to help him condense it." she said.

"All right." Felix said aloud. "It is done. Now we should wait for his awakening here, in this place. The dense darkness here will be of benefit to him if it worked."

"Loathe as I am to keep this scum in this place reserved for members of my family, I suppose it's necessary. We'll just camp down here for tonight and tomorrow night then, and train. No point in making that ridiculously long lift ride another couple of times for no reason." Leo said with a nod.

Leo walked outside and informed the maid they would be staying down in the crypts for two nights, and Felix swore up and down in his mind he saw the poor maid's soul leave her body, but she could only meekly obey. After a bit over an hour, some sleeping bags and things were brought down for the four of them. Felix and Leo sat down in the training chamber, and simply began working on spells. This confirmed to Felix that Leo's other element besides water was darkness.

Felix began work on another hex spell, since they were in the rich darkness. It was called Hex: Distortion. It wasn't actively harmful, but a powerful utility hex - it messed with the opponent's thoughts in such a way that they might accidentally fling a spell slightly to the side early on, or later on, they might fail to control their thoughts and mana effectively, potentially leading to even a spell backfire, which would be horrendously disastrous in a battle. Because it didn't have any direct effects, it didn't require many nodes, so Felix finished the hex at the end of the second night, just before he went to sleep.

And then, finally, it was the day of Caldwell's awakening.