Danny's cell, as he liked to call it, in the boy’s dorm was about two meters by three meters. Enough for a bed and a trunk. Besides bedrooms, bathrooms, and afternoon training, everything else was done with your team. The whole cavern was humid and it always seemed like there was water dripping somewhere. The constant dripping was about to drive him crazy. The dorm, like the rest of the complex, was carved out of the stone around the cavern. Apparently if they needed a room they just picked another spot on an open wall and carved out a door. There was just one entrance into the boy’s dorm, a fire code violation if Danny ever saw one. The dining hall was in between the two dorms. Danny woke to the bell in the hallway of the boy’s dorm. Without any windows the sound just kept jumping around for what seemed like forever. No trouble sleeping through that. Food was already laid out on the table in plates, and Danny was pleased to see a steaming teapot between every four place settings. Brooke waived at Danny when he entered with some older boys, and he headed over to them. Danny had been given black trousers and a dark red shirt to wear. His shoes were replaced for some boots that actually felt pretty comfortable.

Sitting down, he greeted everyone and poured himself some tea, taking a sip.

Ivy watched him happily drinking, and asked, "So how did you like your room?"

"Oh, it was a little on the big side, but after I get my desk and bookshelves down here it will right cozy."

Ivy smirked but didn't reply.

Brooke thought it was pretty funny and said, "I kept falling off the bed, not being used to one so small, I finally gave up and just slept down there."

Danny looked around and said, "So how often do we get to go outside, or do we stay down here the whole time."

"No, we do a lot of training outside the city."

"That's a relief." Danny picked up his fork and started digging into his food.

The day started with everyone practicing unarmed moves. It reminded Danny a lot of the karate classes he attended, except they were not learning karate.

They did this for about an hour, then they started running. About this point Danny was ready to call it a day, but instructor Meadow had other ideas.

Hours later, at lunch, Danny decided that he hated Meadow's ideas. He also determined that her ideas hated him right back. Danny could feel everything. Everything was throbbing and yelling at him to stop. They had practiced unarmed moves, run, climbed, lifted, and then practiced with a weapon of their choice. Danny of course grabbed a staff. He wasn't about to pick up one of the dull metal training swords that looked like they weighed half as much as he did.

Danny did his best to only complain internally, but he noticed the sympathetic looks he got from his teammates. They did their best to encourage him.

After lunch it was specialty training. The girls went their separate ways and instructor Meadow introduced Danny to the scariest looking little wizard Danny had ever seen. He wore a black duster with red trim. Meadow said his name was instructor Pebble. Danny just called him Wizard to be safe. The man's sleeves were so stretched out, Danny didn't know why they didn't just get him a duster that fit him. Danny was directed to a training room that looked similar to the ones at the academy. Except this one had, in either corner of the wall with the door, a small pool of water and plot of earth. Also, this training room was set farther from the others.

Opening the door, instructor Pebble, said, "This is your training room, you keep it clean. You will practice every day and use your magic as much as possible to increase your mana reserves. I was told about your gifts and cannot help teach you. So instead I will challenge you. You will create a novel defense and offense using each of the elements you control. You will have to show you can use these quickly and under pressure."

"How long do I have to complete this?"

"You have until I start to wonder if you’re actually trying."

Danny did his best to hide his confused look. "Besides cleaning up before I leave, is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes, if you are going to kill yourself in some stupid way, try not to make too big of a mess as I will be the one to clean it up."

"Sure...'

The door slammed as the wizard abruptly left.

Danny looked around and saw a crate next to the stairs. Inside was a few smaller baskets with apples, grapes, and strawberries. Confused, he didn't know if these were for training or lunch. Shrugging his shoulders he got to work.

By the end of the first week, Danny was ready to try and see if reincarnation would work again. His aches had aches, and the only thing that he felt like he was improving on was magic.

For fire affinity he made a wall of fire, and then for an attack, he made a sweeping whip of flame. It was almost too easy to make new things now. The only question is if he can do it under pressure. So he practiced them until they were second nature. He learned to split the flame whips and give them multiple tails. The wall of flames was pretty straight forward and could be shaped different ways. He also wanted to make a better fireball. So he would create a free floating ball of mana, then send a stream of mana in front of it, then when he cast the fire rune to create the fire ball, it would attach to the mana stream allowing him to control it. Well he could correct it slightly. His ability to correct its trajectory was limited by how far he could stretch his mana. This was a two-step process compared to the firewall and flame whips.

Danny was excited, and then annoyed when he discovered his efforts got him to Journeyman in flame affinity. He usually ended his week by checking his mental sanctuary. He walked into the mana room to find two additional walls. One wall looked like a volcano barfed on it and the other was covered in ice. Between the fire and air walls was now, "Cold Affinity". He figured fire and air would make steam, but he was apparently wrong the other wall was between earth and fire, called "Lava Affinity." While he was excited by the development, this meant he had to come up with even more attacks and defenses. Stupid advancement. Once again he had three levels in each already. Danny thought, Thanks public education, these Diadems... Diademians... Diademites... they were missing out.

The next day the teams were given packs and lead down, yet another, long corridor to the north. Of course they jogged it. Only this time it took as long as the corridor he had come down to reach the headquarters. When they emerged from the tunnel they were in a cave. Leaving the cave brought them out onto an overlook of a forest, with mountains in the distance to the west. It was beautiful and Danny realized he had never left the city before. It took him a moment to realize that the trees here were enormous. They stretched high into the air. There were some smaller varieties interspersed amongst the larger. This must be the Great Forest.

Danny also realized that the only animals he saw were either the domestic kind or the random horse they let draw something exceptionally heavy through the city. For some reason they rarely let any large animals into the city.

Instructor Meadow walked around and handed each team a map of a location to visit. Each map was different and included collection points for picking up items to be delivered as proof of successfully navigating the forest. Teams started leaving and Ivy turned to Danny.

"Have you been out into a forest yet?"

"No I haven't even been out of the city."

"Ok, don't worry, we have done this plenty of times. We should probably head out now because this could take a couple of days."

He nodded thinking, what is there to worry about?

So Danny was pretty worried. There were regular animals in this world and then there were beasts. These creatures were like animals from earth but on steroids and then they were run through a nuclear blast. Some of these beasts, called variants, have learned to unlock their mana and take on elements around them. Danny figured he would be able to use his mana sight to locate these creatures, but since every creature is born with a connection to the source, his vision lit up like a bonfire. Every bird, squirrel, lizard, and ant caused it to be all but useless for anything other than the closest of inspections.

The "normal" beast boar in front of them could be best compared to a bull. They could have all jumped on his back and headed to the county fair for our first place prize. The best part was when Danny found it by stepping on its tail. Apparently when they are asleep they look just like a big hairy algae covered hill.

Danny forgot all about what magic was, or how it existed, and just ran his little legs as fast as they could go. When he turned around, it was to see a nine year old Brooke shrugging her pack off onto the ground, pulling the car door she calls a shield off her back, and a mace from her waist. She was taking hits from the thing and deflecting them to avoid most of the force. Jade was strafing the thing shooting every vulnerable spot she could locate. Danny looked over to see Ivy land a stab on the things nose before jumping back just in time to pull a crossbow off her back and shoot it in the eye.

Danny was ashamed of his inactivity. Raising his hand he began to cast a spell when the beast fell to the ground, dead. Running over, Danny went to each girls searching for injuries.

"I am so sorry, did anyone get hurt. I didn't even see it there. I didn't know they could get so big! Oh, Brooke you got hurt! Here I will heal you!"

Ivy grabbed Danny by the shoulders, "Danny calm down, we deal with this every time we come out here, it's how we train. We should have seen the boar. Next time, don't run away unless I give the command. Plus, this was just a baby. It must have gotten separated from the rest its herd. "

"Yes, Ivy, sorry. Can I heal Brooke now?"

Ivy nodded and Danny ran over to heal a gash Brooke got on her head when the boar knocked her shield into it.

Brooke smiled and patted Danny on the head, "Thanks Danny, you sure are handy. A lot better than bandaging it up and waiting for it to heal naturally."

"Sure, anytime."

Ivy called out, "Let's keep moving, hopefully we will reach our objective and won't run into the boars."

They had been trudging along at a fast pace. Danny was struggling to keep up, but no one was saying anything about it. He had taken to using his staff he brought as a hiking pole. His other hand held a quarter of his mana ready to become a fire whip at a moment’s notice. Ivy, looking down at their map, signaled for a stop. The other girls crouched down beside her. Danny, on the other hand, sort of fell, face first, on the ground near them. Brooke snorted at this but Ivy just started talking, ignoring him.

"We are not far from the first drop off point. It's down in that valley. Danny be ready to fight another beast or more. Meadow never puts these points somewhere easy."

Danny raised an arm in recognition. Then he slowly pushed himself up. They started down into the valley. The forest became extremely thick and difficult to move through. Jade was able to find a path for them through it, somehow. The girl was always running ahead and then returning to report what she found. Danny wondered how much higher her agility was than his?

After Jade retuned from scouting ahead, Ivy signaled for a stop and absolute silence. Danny made as little noise as possible sitting on the ground next to the others.

Whispering, Jade said two words, "Beast Snake."

Taking up their positions. Brooke was in front, her shield and mace out. Behind her was Ivy, with her sword and crossbow. Then Danny, who had decided a staff was no use against giant snakes, held out both hands. Jade brought up the rear with her large bow.

Jade stepped forward to point out what she had seen before. A large snakeskin lay wrapped around a tree where it had been shed. It was as wide as Danny was tall. Danny looked over at Ivy. She looked confused and looked around with concern. She noticed his stare and smiled at him reassuringly. Danny was not reassured.

They came up on a large cave near the bottom of the small valley. Ivy, of course, pointed at the cave while looking at her map. Brooke took position near the side of the cave and waited. Jade found a vantage point in a nearby tree. Ivy, standing a ways back from Brooke, signaled for Danny, standing a ways behind her, to send in a light. Danny cast magic light into the cave and gave it enough power to last a while. As it flew through the entrance the high ceilings inside were revealed. Along with a bed of branches and the bones of many animals. Danny was grossed out but relieved there wasn't any snakes.

Jade cried out, "Danny!"

Danny heard the twang of her bow shortly after. Turning he saw two pairs of vertically slit like eyes feet away from his face. The snake reared back a bit and opened his mouth to strike. The creature was enormous, and its mouth could easily swallow more than a few Danny's in one bite. Danny didn't think but stuck the mana stream he was holding in one hand out in a straight line and activated fire rune. As just mana, it easily traveled right into the snake’s mouth and out the back of its body. Danny had come to believe that part of the mana flooded the affected area with oxygen, lowering the requirements needed to combust. The other part of the mana substituted for fuel when there was none.

The inside of the snakes mouth, throat, and back caught fire. The snake began to writhe uncontrollably. The snake’s body coiled and flopped around hitting Danny and flinging him through the air. He fortunately landed between some trees and slid to a stop. That didn't prevent his chest from throbbing extremely painfully where he had been struck. Looking up at the canopy Danny knew he had to get up and help finish the snake. He then heard Jade, still up in the tree."

"Snake!"

A few seconds later he heard Brooke yell, "Snake!"

"Danny get up and help Jade!" Ivy's commanded while breathing heavily.

Danny struggled to his feet to see Brooke and Ivy battling another snake. Brooke took strikes as best she could on her shield, while bashing it with her shield. Ivy would strike out at the stunned snake.

Looking over to Jade, he saw a third snake slowly making its way up to her. Jade was sending arrows into the snake from above, but the angle and foliage in the way made it difficult. Both of the two new snakes were nowhere near as big as the first one he burned. That didn't stop them from being large compared to them. Ivy's snake was smart, keeping its eyes and mouth closed. The arrows bounce easily off its scales.

Danny didn't want to burn the snake and possibly the tree with Jade in it. Using the vines to grip an animal without real shoulders or hips could potentially be pointless. He also used up more than half of his mana on that first snake that now lay unmoving where he was thrown.

Earth would take too much mana and too long. Even with earth spike which sacrifices strength and density for speed. He hadn't had much practice with cold or lava, so that left air. He had a crazy idea and not enough time to come up with something better. Casting two balls of mana with the remainder of his mana he ran closer while sending them on tethers. One above the snake’s position and one near the ground below Jade. Fortunately the snake was too distracted by Jade to notice his actions. Adding his remaining mana to the ball, near where the snake was about to pass, he caused it to spin. Then he activated air rune. The sawblade of air came into existence next to the tree, then once it had enough spin he moved it. The tree blew apart and the snake was cut in half. Jade went flying and Danny was ready. Ignoring shrapnel and snake bites flying all over him, Danny moved his second mana ball to intercept Jade. As she was just above it Danny used air rune, commanding the air to stop. Jade didn't stop with it but slowed like she was moving through molasses. Seeing her safely settled on the ground he turned to the last snake.

Ivy was on its head thrusting her blade through its head, while the snake had Brooke's shield half way in its mouth. They both quickly moved away from the thrashing body of the dying snake.

Danny turned back to Jade, to see her sitting up from the ground. She smiled gratefully at him, then the smile was slowly replaced by one of horror.

Not again..., Danny thought tiredly.

He turned to see the burned snake from before lunging for him. If it wasn't for the scorch marks on the beast’s mouth and head he wouldn't have recognized it. It looked like the snake had been soaked in lighter fluid and set on fire. Flames whipped around it as it moved quickly towards Danny.

Danny was out of mana and had no time to pull out his staff. Without mana he couldn't casts flame armor, which wouldn't help against the physical attach of the snakes fangs and body. Being able to think so fast was a burden.

With the sun shining behind the snake's head, Danny didn't have to squint as much when the shadow of the snakes head and fangs crossed Danny's face. Then the snakes head slammed into the ground and slid forward, just inches from him. A massive blade pierced through its head. It had happened so quickly Danny hadn't seen it happen. Instructor Meadow stood with one foot on the snakes head. Looking at her standing there, Danny realized the snakes were abnormally large but his perception was skewed with his diminished height. Instructor Meadow beat at her boot to extinguish the flames that had caught hold there.

"Good work you four. I almost stepped in when the first snake got close to eating Danny here. I was surprised when you roasted it from the inside. Only place a variant like that could be hurt by its own element."

They all made their way over to their teacher, breathing heavily. Meadow turned to each of them, giving her evaluation.

"Jade, you should focus on your team’s flanks and rear for threats when they are focused on entering a possible enemy location. You are supposed to be their eyes in the back of their heads."

Jade looked utterly ashamed, "Yes instructor Meadow."

"Danny, you need to be ready to use your spells at a moment’s notice. Was that spell what you planned to use, burning the snake from the inside out?"

Danny looked abashed, "No, instructor Meadow."

Looking over at the remains of Jade's tree and the decapitated snake, Meadow smiled, "Danny, good work saving Jade, I was impressed with that."

Danny nodded before Meadow continued, "Brooke, good work."

"Ivy, your team is raw still but has much potential. Make sure they train their weaknesses to make them their strengths. I had planned on using this location with the idea there was just one of the smaller snakes, not three." Patting the dead snake below her she said, "This one was not supposed to be this close to our training area. You four have gone above my expectations. Now get your mission item and get back. I will see you there."

With that, instructor Meadow grabbed her blade, pulled it out of the ground and snake like it was nothing. Danny could see the large muscles flexing in her arms. Danny suddenly wanted to increase his strength attribute. She turned and ran with amazing speed towards the way they had come from.

Danny was suddenly tackled from behind as he heard Jades voice, "I am so sorry Danny, you almost died. I am so sorry!"

The girl began to cry quietly. Danny managed to turn around and give her a reassuring pat on the back. "It's alright Jade, just help me keep an eye out while I am casting magic. I have to focus and can miss things going on around me."

Jade let go of him and quickly wiped the tears from her face, nodding rapidly.

Danny looked at the three and said, "Alright, who needs healing?"

"Danny, take care of yourself first and heal Brooke, Jade, then me," Ivy said.

Since he hadn't figure out how to only use part of the mana in his body to heal, he sent free floating balls of what mana he had regenerated towards everyone. Divvying up his mana equally he used up the remaining mana in his body before casting life rune on the girls in the order Ivy ordered.

"That was all of my mana. Does anyone have anything that needs additional healing?

Ivy and Jade responded in the negative but Brooke had a fracture in her shield arm from taking hits from the snake. Ivy and Jade went to retrieve the mission item from the empty cave. Brooke and Danny sat down to wait till he had recovered enough mana to heal her. While they waited, they scanned the area behind each other for threats.

"I'm glad you’re safe Danny," Brooke said.

"Me? You’re the one with the broken arm," Danny teased.

"Danny, you almost died... twice."

"Yeah... How did Meadow know we were going to need help?"

"They always send a trainer or other member out with anyone going out here for the first time," Brooke explained. "We were kind of lucky, since we would have had a difficult time just the three of us."

"You would have gotten this mission if I hadn't shown up?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulders, "Probably. They usually prepare things so we are challenged, but accidents happen. Kids don't come back."

Danny was shocked. He didn't realize how serious this was till he stepped on that boar this morning. Feeling he had enough mana, Danny took her arm and repaired the fracture. Danny determined that healing bones and flesh converted mana into energy the body could use and guided it to repair itself at an amazing rate. Unfortunately the materials from the repairs came from the person, so they would be hungry later.

"There you are, good as n... oof!"

Brooke hugged Danny to her tightly. Danny thought, Wow, this girl is strong! He patted her back like he had Jades. Brooke didn't cry, that wasn't her thing. She did have tears in her eyes, but they didn't fall. Danny looked away to hide his own. These poor children, he thought. He wondered if this really needed to save their people? Were these sacrifices truly required?

"Well, I am suddenly feeling left out...," Ivy said standing above them. Jade was looking around, determined. Danny could tell she was already doing her best to not let any threats reach them.

As Brooke and Danny got up, jokingly he said, "I am sure Brooke will be happy to give you a hug too."

Ivy looked at Danny for a second before reaching out and pulling him into a hug. This shocked him more than the other two girls. She was strong, not as strong as Brooke. She said, "I apologize that you were almost eaten multiple times while under my charge. We will do better next time we come out here."

Danny looked at the other two girls confused. They were not paying them any attention. He figured Ivy would not be the touchy feely type. Was she doing it for him? Unsure of how to handle this, he said, "Uh, sure, no problem. We got this, so don't worry."

Ivy pouted, "Jade and Brooke got back patting, where is mine?"

Realizing he had his hands hovering in the air above them he lowered them around her and patted her back. After a few seconds of this Ivy pulled away. "Alright everyone let's move out. We are not getting back before nightfall but we will try and get as far as we can."

They continued back in silence, but like Ivy predicted, it got dark quickly and they were not anywhere close to getting back where they started earlier that day. She called for the group to start looking for a suitable spot to break camp.

"What are we exactly looking for," Danny asked her.

"We need a defensible location that is high enough to keep us dry if it rains. I don't want to wake up to find we slept in a low spot as it fills with water."

They kept searching for a few minutes when Danny thought about how he had heard some survivalists would sleep in trees in the wild. It was supposedly safer.

"What about I make us a spot up in a tree?"

Ivy looked away from her search of the surroundings to look at him. "What do you mean?"

Looking up at the massive trees Danny had another idea, "I should be able to make a tree grow out a hollow space for us to sleep in. We couldn't use a fire but it will be dry and high up."

"You mean like the elves build their homes? You can do that, Danny?"

"I have never seen the elven homes before, but I should be able to make something crude."

"How about we find a good camping spot, and then you can go make us an elven cottage in the sky."

"Ha, sure."

It didn't take them long to find a small hill with a flat enough top for them all to fit on. Danny was exhausted and just wanted to crash on his pallet, but he would sleep better up higher. Sure the snakes could get up there, but he could probably make it difficult for them to reach his group.

He thought about all the things he would do if he had enough time, or mana. He made hand and footholds sticking out up one side of the tree. Climbing was harder than making the handholds. Then high up he found a group of branches he liked. He had learned that his nature affinity allowed him to modify existing plants. The closer to the natural structure of the plant Danny kept it, the lower the cost of mana. Looking around he got on one of the limbs and tested its support ability. He might as well have been jumping on the ground. He crawled to nearby branch with the same results. Now the fun part. He stretched the two limbs towards each other a quarter of the way down them from the trunk. He merged them together so they shared bark and internal fibers. The tree seemed to fight his modifications less if he did that. Then raised limbs up in a bowl before spreading them out so he could merge them.

"Wow, you are doing it."

"Ahhhh! Ivy, don't sneak up on me while I am focused on magic... ON A GIANT TREE!"

She giggled cutely.

Danny sighed, "Well it's good your here. I am going to have enough mana to make us a space here to sleep in. I was going to make one large room, then add a partition for me to sleep in."

"Why?" Ivy smiled at him curiously.

"So that..." Danny thought about that for a moment. He looked down and remembered he was only seven. "I forget why. Can you think of anything else we might need? I can make this room and maybe something else. At least for now."

Ivy hesitated for a second and then asked, "Could we have somewhere up here so we don't have to climb down the tree in the middle of the night."

Danny was confused for a second before his mouth made an "O". Looking down he realized he would need to build their outhouse on a branch away from where they would come down the next day. Danny finished the tumorous looking room, giving it a doorway that curled back on the room like a snail shell. Then he made a small pathway to a nearby branch and formed a smaller platform. He created a raised seat with a hole all the way through. Then he made a curved half wall hiding the seat from the new hut.

Going back to the tree house, Danny found all three girls waiting outside. There was barely enough light to see by.

Brooke smiled while looking up at the large ball now on the tree, "Danny, you did all this!"

"Yes, you all ready to go in?"

As the four team members walked into the tree house, Danny cast a light spell on the ceiling. He gave it enough mana to last a while

"This is great, Danny," Ivy said. "Brooke brought your pack up here, so let's all unpack, get some dinner, and go to sleep."

The room was big enough for them all to have space for their pallets and their backpacks. The center of the room was used for food preparation. They couldn't start a fire, but with the four of them in the small space, it became warm enough to not be uncomfortable. Danny was the first to finish and crash on his bed.

In the morning Danny woke up and was a bit disoriented until he remembered where he was. He sat up, and through the small amount of light entering from outside, could see everyone else and their things were gone. Getting up quickly he changed and packed his backpack. As he left the little tree house, he found them sitting on the edge of the platform talking.

Brooke turned hearing him and said teasingly, "Good morning your highness, did you sleep well?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Danny complained.

"Oh, we tried but you slept like the dead."

"Don't worry, we were warned about this when working with wizards. Any serious strain on mana usage and they sleep heavily that night," Ivy said. "We will give you a moment to eat some breakfast, and do whatever else you need to do, then we need to get going."

Nodding, Danny quickly finished his morning routine and they all climbed down from the tree. There were numerous animals and beasts in this forest, but Jade was good at leading them around any hazards. The arrived back at the cave entrance they started at the day before. Instructor Meadows greeted them and told them to head back on their own. They were given free time for the rest of the day.