Cayden glared at Cronix, "Why're you laughing?"

"I'm sorry... It's just... That same thing... Happened to me." Cronix could barely speak.

Once he caught his breath after all his laughter, he reassured Cayden, "He'll be fine, that explosion isn't too bad."

Cronix looked back at the teleportation array, "By the way, I might actually be able to finish this within the week."

"So we have a chance to live?" Cayden asked with a smile.

Cronix nodded.

"Thank goodness."

...

"Lapsa..." Lapsa heard his name being repeated over and over again before he opened his eyes. In front of him were three other cloud jumping squirrel demi-humans.

He groaned as he woke up, his back still hurt from his fall.

His mother glared at his father "Why did you have to go push him so hard? He's only seven, and he's barely a one star Caster."

His father frowned, "So? When Myra was in that stage she was able..."

"He's not Myra!" Lapsa's mother immediately interrupted.

Lapsa was about to speak, when he felt a tap on his shoulder and a whisper in his ear, "Follow me."

Lapsa looked at his sister, before nodding. He slowly stood up, and left with her, the two arguing parents didn't even notice.

He followed his sister out of their tree, the tree they lived in was a Chaotic Air Tree.

The chaotic air trees were one of the largest types of trees in the world, and were the usual homes to the cloud jumping squirrel, thanks to the tree's unusual capabilities with air.

"Mrya, where are we going?" Lapsa asked, the wind pouring down on them like water, thankfully the wind wasn't strong enough for them to not be able to hear each other.

They stood on a branch, it was easily large enough to hold the two of them, "We're going to continue what you started earlier." Myra said, gesturing at another large tree branch.

Lapsa shook his head, "I can't do it. Father says I'm too weak."

"Who cares what father said, watch I'll show you how to do it."

Myra gathered the wind elements at her feet, and jumped, she quickly latched onto part of the tree.

She gathered more wind elements and propelled her next jump, but when it looked like gravity was going to get the better of her, she was suddenly boosted upwards.

After several times of doing this she made it to the next branch.

Lapsa looked up in amazement, his back began hurting even more just thinking about the jump.

She's only using a one star Caster strength, so I should be able to do this, but I know I can't.

"Did you understand what I did?!" Myra yelled out.

"No!" Lapsa yelled back.

"I'll show you, just wait!" She said, before dropping down.

When she landed, she asked, "Did you notice how I was boosting myself when I was falling, do you know how to do that?"

Lapsa shook his head.

"Okay, then I'll teach you, first gather all the wind elements that you can, then you push it all together into a single ball." Myra then demonstrated her words, creating a ball of her own.

"After you're formed the ball, you manipulate it so the ball stays together and at your feet." Mrya said, before she placed the ball at her feet, but Lapsa noticed she wasn't restricting herself to the strength of a one star Caster any more, but using her strength as a three star Caster.

"When you're about to fall or you need to boost yourself up, you release the energy to explode and propel yourself upwards." After saying that, Mrya jumped up using the air elements to help her reach greater heights, before exploding the ball of concentrated air, immediately lifting herself to the next branch.

Lapsa began following her example, gathering the air elements together into a ball, however when he was done, it almost took all his energy to keep it together, and when he tried to move it around, it immediately exploded, almost knocking him off the branch.

But Lapsa didn't give up, instead he tried again, it took him awhile, but he was eventually able to complete the two movements.

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Then using the little amount of his attention he could manage, he gathered more wind elements and jumped.

He immediately exploded the wind ball, which propelled him forward, fighting against gravity and the wind coming down on him. When he reached the limit the ball could take him, he latched himself onto the tree.

"Come on Lapsa you could do it!" Mrya cheered her brother on.

Lapsa again gathered as much of the air elements as he could and formed another wind ball. He didn't have the energy to focus on other things like gathering more air elements to boost his jump, so he dropped.

And instead used the concentrated air ball to boost himself up. He quickly snatched onto another part of the tree as fast as he could, but even with him latched on, it was starting to get harder to remain where he was.

The wind pouring down on him from the tree was getting stronger the higher he went. It took all his abilities using the air element, and being part squirrel to remain on the tree.

Mrya sat down watching her brother, she didn't know whether to step in or not.

Lapsa took a deep breath, and a determined glint appeared in his eyes. As he gathered more of the air elements, he positioned himself to jump, and using everything he had, he jumped.

If it was before he hurt his back, he might've had the chance to make it, but now all he could do was get halfway the distance needed before the wind and gravity made quick work of all the momentum he had.

Mrya panicked as she watched her brother fall, if he hurt his back again, who knows what would happen.

...

Cayden patted Lapsa's passed out body, "Cronix how long is he going to stay like this?"

Cronix shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, he was already tired, and with this, maybe another day."

"Wait, a day as in a few hours, or a day day?"

Cronix shrugged again, "Again, I have no idea."

Cayden sighed, "We don't have all day, help me wake him up."

Cronix nodded, and gathered the water elements into a ball, and as he threw it at Lapsa, Lapsa's eyes already began opening.

The water hit him right in the face, soaking him and getting his eyes wet, "What the heck Cronix!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that, we just needed you to be awake." Cronix quickly drew the water off of him.

"Why would you need me awake so bad that you would splash me with water!?"

Cayden sighed and said, "Do you know how long you were asleep?"

Lapsa shrugged, "An hour?"

"You've been asleep long enough for it to be time for roll call, and we'll be late if you don't get up."

Lapsa panicked as he scrambled to get ready, and after he did, the trio instantly left for the manor.

Roll call didn't take long, but this time, Ortan looked more on edge, as he scanned every demi-human more thoroughly, not just Cayden and the other two.

When the roll call was done, three went around to do their tasks.

When Lapsa went to the kitchen, and continued working on the energy sensing array creating that last line needed.

When he was done, there was a confused look on his face,

Did my mental energy get stronger?

When Lapsa finished that last line, while he did feel tired, it wasn't as bad as it usually was, he felt like the breaks he needed between lines had shrunk.

After a few hours, at the end of his work day Lapsa managed to create eight lines of his new energy sensing array, so including the last line from the previous array, that was nine lines in one day.

Even the crow looked impressed by his progress, she personally watched Cronix grow using mental energy, and he was way slower compared to Lapsa, however he also had less resources than Lapsa at the time.

"Ortan was on edge, that's going to prove troublesome." Cayden muttered.

Cronix nodded, "I think it's because of my mental energy, he's probably the one who destroyed it. So in case our distraction isn't enough, how are we going to beat him?"

Cayden frowned before muttering, "I don't know."

"Maybe I could help the crow break into the Core Creation stage." Cronix offered.

Cayden shook his head, "Ortan is in the intermediate Core Creation stage, she'll only be in the initial stage, the odds are against her, and that's already not including the slave seal if there's an Ayuna around."

"Well, we just need to get the two isolated, and in a one on one fight between the two, I wouldn't say the odds are totally against her, she does have a secret weapon." Cronix said, remembering something she ate before they were captured.

Cayden frowned, "Whatever, it's going to be a lot harder than you realize, and you better be right about her chances, or we're doomed."

Cronix nodded, while drawing another array.

"How much more form... I'm getting tired of this." Cayden looked at a specific location in the hallway they were in.

It didn't take long for Cronix to realize what he was talking about, he bumped Cayden in the arm, "It'll take longer if we're constantly being watched."

Cayden nodded, and said, "I'm on it."

He then suddenly began running in the opposite direction that they were walking in.

In the location Cayden was looking at, stood a guard using a technique to make himself unseeable, but if he was visible than they would've saw a frown on his face.

He was looking between the direction Cronix was moving, and where Cayden went, eventually he sighed and went after Cayden.

But before he left, he once again felt that weird feeling coming over him, but he didn't think much of it, and continued moving after Cayden.

Cronix sighed, he felt the guard leave, "Let's get this over with."

After a few hours of unwatched movements, Cronix created numerous formations throughout the residence including the servant quarters, the bathrooms, the beer cellar, and the countless hallways.

The only places he didn't add formations to were the inside of the rooms and the kitchen, which he was leaving to Lapsa.

Cronix leaned against a wall when he was done, his breathing was heavy, and a headache was assaulting him.

What he didn't realize was that he stopped right near the kitchen, and he only found that out when Lapsa walked out.

"Cronix, what are you doing here?" Lapsa asked when he saw him leaning against the wall.

The crow flew up and landed on Cronix's head pecking at his horns.

Cronix didn't respond to Lapsa's question, he only gave him a troubled look.

"Oh my goodness, you look like crap! Let me help you." Lapsa put an arm around Cronix's body, and helped him walk.

Even the crow was trying to help Cronix, infusing magic inside Cronix's body, but that wasn't going to help much.

The three of them slowly made their way back to their room, where Cayden was already waiting for them.

When they got inside, Cayden helped Cronix get onto his bed.

"I feel horrible." Cronix softly said before his mind drifted off.

Cayden turned away from Cronix and looked at Lapsa, who was wearing a frown on his face, "What's wrong with you?"

Lapsa shrugged, and said, "I don't know, it's just Cronix's mental energy is exhausted because he's been creating formations non-stop, but I'm being trained to help, yet I'm not really doing anything."

Cayden sighed, while looking at the roof, he said, "It's fine if you feel this way, I also sometimes feel like this, we're not really doing anything, but I think it's fine as long as we support him."

Lapsa nodded, but Cayden could tell he wasn't fully convinced, yet there was nothing else he could say at the moment.