The landscape changed over the next three days they were on the road. There were barren hills they had to trek over and crazy weather like pouring rain with lightning at times. It was difficult but they did not run into any issues. James could only assume Angelina and the apprentices handled most of the monster or enemies that may have attacked them.

Arthur seemed to have gotten the hint and kept to his little group however James did notice Luna paying him a lot more attention by consistently staring at him, but it did not matter.

James worked with Susy on building on her access to the nature element. Having gained Wood Manipulation helped him gain a lot of insight on how to better access it. The plan was to work on helping her gain the same spell so every night they would train until they were worn out and fell asleep. Still though without the ability to meditate and access to visualize inside the core or the incantation for the spell it seemed to be impossible. It wasn’t until James got the idea of hypnosis that he realized it might be possible.

It was late the third night and Susy was still trying to get into her meditative mindset that James tried something different. He repeated her to maintain a calm mindset with her eyes closed thinking of nature, calm rain, and leaves falling. Eventually he stopped getting a response from her and noticed she was completely still.

“I will slowly count down from ten and when I get to one you will focus in to visualize your core. It will be a green circle that represents and holds all the nature element you have access too. Remember you are in charge of this safe place and everything you see, so when you see the core I want you to make your way inside of it like it is welcoming you home. You will have full control of the nature element which is abundant in this space. You are but a leaf that finds your way into the vibrant green space which is your core. After you will listen to my instructions,” James said keeping a calming tone to his voice.

He gave her time relax as he watched over and kept his mana sense active so he could see where any changes happened then started.

“Ten, you feel like a leaf swaying in this wind attached to a tree by way of a branch,” with a second pause to brought between each count, James proceeded.

“Nine, the wind picks up and the branches speed start to pick up…...

Eight, the leaf struggles to stay attached to that branch of the tree……

Seven, now the leaf starts to break away and start its fall to the ground……

Six, the leaf starts gliding around while the wind takes it in different directions….

Five, the wind starts the die down with the breeze having passed through……

Four, the leaf gently makes it’s way into the lush grass covering the ground…..

Three, the ground is in sight and is within reach of the green leaf….

Two, just a moment away from ground it can almost feel the freedom from the life on the branch….

And one, with the landing onto the grass the world around disappears while you as the leaf are no longer in the forest but an empty green space,” James guided her on the way.

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Eventually James noticed the nature element make way into her core and asked her, "Are you in an empty green space now?"

Susy responded, "Yes."

"Good now let us proceed....," James continued with the rest.

The next steps were guiding her on creating the spell construct and repeating the outlining of it using her nature element. It was difficult and at times James would send his own processed nature element to her as to help. It seemed to calm her down, while making the process smoother. After the fifty fifth outline and James having to tap into almost all his mana on top of Susy’s, did she finally complete it. The nature element was no longer under her or James’s control and finished the spell construct.

It was an eye opening experience for James and after some rest they called it a night.

Susy was with a branch in each hand as she had the biggest smile and would be practicing as they were walking the next day.

Over the course of the rest of the trip James would also practice his spells Wood Manipulation and Lightning Augment. He learned with Wood Manipulation that he could create from a piece of wood more wood which was essentially nature element. It would disappear when no longer fed or controlled and this opened a bunch of possibilities.

During the day he went to a set of a trees away from the camp and took a huge thick branch changing its shape to that of a shield. Practicing with the shield James could create extra spikes, change the shape, or even create branches that took different shapes from it. With the wooden shield in hand James extended a branch created through nature element to move like a whip and even extend to a wooden sword that he wielded a distance away from him. He imagined this is the true purpose of the spell which is like the name implies manipulation.

Susy was not at the same level as James considering she just learned the spell but was able to change the shape of the branch which showed she was a natural with nature element. Eventually she will gain the same level control as James, but it may take way longer that it did for him.

His skill Manaweaving is class based and allows for easier control of mana or elements so he looked at the spell as his gift to make sure she could protect herself, but this was her journey to take so he would take a role of guidance from then on.

It was the fourth day that the atmosphere became heavy amongst the group. Angelina disappeared just like the apprentices had been since day two but never came back.

When they got to lunch time, James noticed something was wrong as she always came by during mealtimes to check on the group and make sure everyone was there.

The students and families were nervous but tried to keep strong faces. Instead of being talkative like everyone had become over the days, it was dead silent.

“I am going to go check up things and make sure everyone is ok,” James announced to his family finally standing up.

“What? No, you are not even officially a student yet. You should stay with us, Angelina should be back soon with good news,” Emily responded in an authoritative tone.

Roy just kept quiet but noticed the determined look in James. He finally spoke up, “Go and be safe. I know if you can take of yourself against those three boys you should be fine. I will stay to make everyone here is safe.”

Emily was ready to argue but James just took off. Susy also looked upset but knew her brother could protect himself with his spell. She couldn’t mention it to her parents but also realized she was not at the same level as James.

The group was camped at the center of a U-shaped Lake. With only one entrance there were no worries about being attacked from multiple sides. Everyone in their little groups stared at James as he headed away from the camp with his wooden shield in hand. If there were enemies and spells needed to be cast, he had to be away from prying eyes.

Once away from the group he noticed the road they were originally walking on. He went to the center of it to look around in hopes of noticing Angelina. As he reached the center, he noticed from the opposite side of the camp there were tall bushes that went along the road.

It was a couple of branches being broken and the sound of bushes being moved that really got James alert.

“Oog Na Ergg Ugga,” He heard as a deep scrambled noise came from the bushes.

Holding his shield in front and spacing himself away from whatever was coming, James prepared. He was the only thing preventing whatever it was to getting to the camp.