Rayen followed the followers inside the big building. The first thing that caught his attention were the magic formations on the floor. He concentrated on them and did his best to memorize them. 'If they are at least a little bit helpful, I need to remember them.'

"What are those servants doing here?" A captain walked forward and stood in front of the newly-arrived.

"I saw them when I was coming here," Kris said, "so I said: Yay, come with me. And they came with me."

"You can't just tell them to come."

"I already did."

"You..."

"It's not really a problem," a commander said. "Just let her do it."

"Fine." He walked away.

"Everyone go to a magic formation," the same commander said.

Rayen finished memorizing one of the formations. When he looked at the others, he noticed they were the same with very minor differences. At first, he didn't notice, since he didn't know them, but now it was clear. Since they didn't matter much, Rayen paid attention to what was happening in front of him.

All the followers sat in one of the formations. A captain walked behind each of them and placed their hands on their backs, except for Kris. Behind Kris stood a commander.

"Let's begin." The commander's voice resounded across the room.

Mana flowed from the captain's hands into body of the followers. The mana fell into the magic formations. This made the formations shine and move in distinct patterns. Their lights illuminated the whole room.

A black mass appeared on the foreheads of the followers. It was constantly changing, constantly transforming. Sweat drops fell to the ground. They struggled; their faces went red. That was true for most of them, Kris was relaxed as if nothing happened. A small black mass formed, but it wasn't big enough.

'What does it mean to form a foundation?' Rayen pondered about the foundation technique in silence. 'It's the first and most important step when becoming a mage. If your foundation is weak, you will always be weak. That's why they struggle so much to improve their foundations. That must be why the Elder was so weak, even after decades of training. What technique could he possibly have? He was weak and without guidance, the foundation he got must be like that as well.'

One by one, the followers fell to the ground, unconscious; they couldn't continue any longer. The captains dragged them to a corner to rest. The black symbol on their foreheads stopped moving. It was similar to the one the other followers had.

'A foundation is something permanent; it's something that stays with you forever. You can destroy it and start from scratch again. But this becomes harder and harder the more you progress.

'Should I use the palace technique? Is this palace technique strong enough? It isn't, it was in the common library. How could a powerful technique exist there? If I get that one, I will be stuck forever as someone powerless. I need to get a stronger one, and not rely on the first one that happens to fall in my hands. But where will I get one? It's impossible for me to get a stronger one. If I can't get a stronger one, then I must create it myself. I need to create my own foundation, one tailored specially to me. But how can I do that? And only in one week...'

After half an hour, only Kris remained in place. Her expression changed. She closed her eyes and focused. It was rare to see her so concentrated. At least, it was the first time Rayen saw her like that. An aura appeared around her body. This didn't happen with the other followers.

The commander stepped back. He had used a lot of his mana. Even if it was far from all his mana, there was no need for him to use it all. Another commander put his hand behind Kris and continued. The exhausted commander sat down to meditate.

After another half an hour, the second commander also stepped back and was replaced by three captains. Kris' sweat accumulated on the floor, but she was calm. The followers already recovered and were watching her. Their faces full of astonishment. "How long does she plan to go?" they said.

"Not only does she have a great magic capability, but also a powerful body."

Twenty minutes went by until she finally collapsed. "Good." A commander took her to the corner. "This is excellent. The Red Demon won a great member. Not even Eolf or Xuxie could sustain it for that long. I have great hopes for you." He looked at Rayen and the others. "Leave now." He wasn't angry, but this wasn't a place for servants to be. They only barely allowed it because of Kris, but now that she was unconscious, they had to leave.

"That was impressive," Saya said.

"Yes," Rayen said, "it makes you think about foundations."

"Solely you will reflect regarding that." Vesh shook his head.

"Normally, something like that is too dangerous," Saya said. "I don't know how they could stabilize it."

"It's just a head start," Vesh said. "They're granted an immense amount of power for a brief amount of time. If they wish to retain that power, they need to exert themselves in training."

"We should work hard," Rayen said. "It doesn't matter if they are strong. What matters is becoming strong by ourselves."

"You're right, little Ray." Yune put her hand on Rayen's shoulder.

"That's right." Saya took Yune's arm. "We should train, so we will leave."

"I will wait for Kris," Rayen said. "I'm worried about her, and I really need her help."

"I will..." Yune said.

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"We need to train. We cannot waste time here." Saya dragged Yune away. "Let's go, Yune."

"Too." Stone nodded and left.

Vesh looked at Rayen, then sat on the floor looking at the building.

Rayen sat away from him. It looked strange to be close to him. 'Takuya...' He missed Takuya, he was his only true friend. 'Now I have more friends, yet I feel more lonely than ever before...' All the symbols he just saw appeared on his mind.

An hour passed. Kris walked out of the building with a serious expression. The two commanders were talking to her. She glanced at Vesh and Rayen, made a hand signal telling them to wait and walked away.

"I expected Kris to come jumping around," Rayen said.

"Indeed."

They waited there for five minutes more.

"Yay. You waited for me." Kris appeared out of nowhere and hugged them from behind. "Where are Yune, Saya and Stone?"

"They went to train," Rayen said.

"Nehehe. So you guys skipped training to play with me? You rascals."

"We need your help."

"Sure. What do you want? I can't help you steal Yune's panties. Or..." She stepped back and with her hands on her chest. "Do you want mine?" She flushed.

"Well," Vesh said. "I do desire Yune's underwear, but that wasn't the purpose of my plea for assistance."

"We need books from the library, but we cannot go there. It will be better if it's the advanced library."

"Eh? Books are boring."

"I prefer recording crystals," Vesh said.

"Those are fun. They come in nice colors and you can play with them."

"We need them to become strong. Please, help me get some books."

"Sure, sure. I can do that. But not the ones from the other library. We can't take them outside."

They walked to the library. Kris smiled and jumped around. She turned around to them. "Let's play. Let's make animal figures with mana." She raised her hand and a tiger appeared. "Look, a little kitty. Your turn."

"We can't use mana, that's what we want the books for."

"Oh. I see. Then... tag!" She disappeared and appeared in front of Vesh.

"Wait, wait, wait." Vesh jumped back while shaking both hands. "If you attack me, you will kill me. Your body is full of mana from early on."

'On a moment of life and dead, he didn't use any weird words,' Rayen thought.

"True. If you die, you can't play anymore. Imagine a life without playing." She trembled.

"If you are dead, you don't have much of a life to begin with..." Rayen said.

"A game without mana that doesn't use our bodies. Hmm... This is hard. What about word chain?"

"Ehh... sure." Rayen looked at the ground. He was sad that he couldn't reciprocate Kris' happiness. But... he just couldn't.

"I will start. Kitty."

"Yune," Vesh said, always thinking about Yune.

"Eyes," Rayen said.

"Stupid Vesh." Kris shook her head. "Yune will never like you."

"Hey!"

"You lost." Kris struck a victory pose. "Hey doesn't start with u."

Rayen smiled. "Thanks."

"Eh? I haven't got your books yet."

"Not for that, for... everything."

"You dummy." She pushed Rayen. "Friends help each other."

Vesh looked at them, confused.

Kris sang a catchy sweet song while skipping along the way.

They reached the library, some followers were inside reading or looking at crystals.

"Wait here." She went inside. Ten minutes later, she came back. "I forgot to ask. Which books do you want?"

"I need books about foundation techniques and alchemy. Any will be fine. Especially if they have recipes."

"My desires are the following; I will keep them simple for you: a foundation technique crystal and a recording crystal with the barrier skill."

"Yeah, I need books about barrier as well."

"Why books? Crystals far excel books," Vesh said.

"Hmm..." Rayen doubted. "Okay, take a few foundation technique crystals."

"They got angry last time I took many crystals. I will take those two and you share it. Okay? Sharing is caring." She went back inside.

Vesh and Rayen stood there, waiting. The servants came back from working and stared at them. It was uncomfortable, but they stood there, they couldn't do anything about it.

Kris came back with many books and two crystals. "Here." She gave the items to them. "Can we play now?"

"No, we need to read and train."

"Okay. When you have time, come play with me. It gets boring. Those guys are boring, but they say they will bring me my kitty soon."

"That's great," Rayen said. "I can't wait to see him."

"I will pet him and hug him lots and lots. Hehehehe. I can't wait either. I'm thinking on his or her name. It has to start with K, like my name."

"That's good. Thanks a lot, Kris." Rayen left with his books.

"You have my utter appreciation." Vesh took the two crystals and left.

Rayen left the books on the floor and fell on the bed. "Sigh... What a long day. And it just started." He sat down. "Let's see how it looks."

He inhaled and exhaled. Mana flowed through his body. He controlled it to see what was inside. What he saw was... terrible. His whole body was destroyed; he couldn't form a foundation like this. "Ugh... I can't do anything like this. Yune was right. I need to heal myself before even thinking about creating my foundation technique."

"My little ones," Suei said, "in ten minutes you have to go to the great hall to eat lunch."

Rayen stood up. "I can't leave the books on the open." He looked around, but the room only had a bed. "Hmmm..." He broke the bed with his hands and hid the books inside. "That will do for now."

He went to the great hall with the other servants. The servants were covered in dirt and were so tired that they couldn't keep their eyes opened. Rayen and his group weren't like that at all; which caused them to get many stares. The followers were sitting there, waiting for their food. Once again, it was the servants' job to serve them food. Suei waved his hand and all the dirt disappeared from the servants. It was unfit for them to serve food like that.

When it was the servants' turn, there was more food than yesterday.

"All of you worked hard, so you deserve this." Yuhal looked in Rayen's direction. "Well... Almost all."

The servants again stared at Rayen and his group. The rakuyas were safe, since they stayed working and weren't as close to the group.

After lunch, Rayen went back to his room, while the others went to train. In the pile of books, there was only one big alchemy book. He took it out and read it. The first half of the book described many different processes alchemists used. The second half had many different recipes. He looked for recipes that could help him heal his injuries. There were two different pills that fit that description. He read them twice, took the book and left.

At the corridor, servants were walking around. There were some followers as well. They looked at the servants with contempt, but they had no time to waste with them, so they just kept walking. Rayen didn't know what the servants or followers were doing. Not did he care. All he wanted was to go to the greenhouse he saw.

'I don't have to worry about being seen on the corridor, but going outside will be hard. I don't want them to follow me around, especially the followers. Just by their name you can tell that if they see me, they will follow me.'

The inner ward was empty. None of the servants wanted to come back there after all that hard work, and none of the followers had anything to do there. Rayen waited a few minutes until no one saw him, and rushed there. He recalled the castle's image. Which was easy, since the image was burned in his mind. He moved with ease around the inner ward, until he stopped in front of a wall.

"This wall shouldn't be here." He frowned. The wall didn't appear on his vision. He closed his eyes and visualized it once again. "Yup, there definitely was no wall here..." He touched it. It was solid. "This is... just like in the Rakuya Forest, right?" He looked at the sides, making sure no one was looking at him. He ran to it and jumped... He passed as if there was nothing there. "I knew it!"

He kept walking. The towers, empty buildings and rubble made a sort of labyrinth. Yet, this didn't impede Rayen in the slightest. He had a mental map of the place, so he knew which paths lead nowhere and which ones lead to the greenhouse. After walking for a quarter of an hour, he stood in front of his objective. He opened the main door and went inside.

"Good thing it was opened, or I would had to break it, and that would be a shame." He felt strange inside the greenhouse, but continued nonetheless. He took out the book and looked for the plants depicted.

"What are you doing here?" Ren's voice sounded across the room. "You should be working."