Danny's training with the order continued over the five long years. He was now thirteen and had gained much in those years. At first he wondered when he would get to work with Wizard Basalt, but his growth in other areas soon quieted any complaints. By training as a team in the mornings, Danny learned how to move more in sync with the others. The three girls had already developed a style to their teamwork and Danny just found ways to integrate himself. After the snake incident, Ivy dedicated herself to creating strategies for different possible engagements and how she wanted them to initially respond to a variety of threats. This way they wouldn't be waiting on her commands if they were caught in a bind.

Like the first half of his year at the academy, no one had much time for socializing outside their groups. The exception was at meal times and free time. The other boys were older than him and seemed to be always in some sort of completion with one another over who was the most powerful wizard. Danny never cared to take their bait and join them, he had more important things to worry about.

With every year that passed the other female trainees seemed to warm up to him. At first they all seemed upset at him and his group. When he had been speaking with another girl for more than a few minutes, one of his teammates would always suddenly appear to join in the conversation.

Free time was only given as an incentive for completing the weekly missions to the forest as quickly as possible. The other teams ranged in age but always contained the four same builds his team had, Guard (strength), Reach (speed), Strike (adaptability), and, if a Trio showed promise, a Wizard (magic). No one had time for petty squabbles, especially since they would be punished if meadows found out about them. The only competition fostered in the program was one against the never ending hill known as weakness. The stronger a Trio, the quicker a wizard would be assigned to them.

Over the years, Danny got to really know the three girls he had been teamed with. Danny discovered that one can truly learn the character of a person when mutual survival is on the line. Ivy was stern and used to getting her way, but she was fair and grew to be a great team leader. Ivy rarely cracked under pressure, except he noticed, when he was personally in serious danger. She focused on perfecting her blade and crossbow skills, rarely deviating to other weapons. He learned that she received training in foreign languages and customs, tactics, and leadership in her individual time. Ivy became even more beautiful as they got older and her height almost matched his. She was not as athletic looking as her other Trio members, but she would not be considered weak in appearance.

Brooke was always quick to laugh and looked for any reason to have fun. She especially like finding where Danny had chosen to hide during free time, and dragged him away to join them. Brooke had developed high skills in an array of weapons, mostly large one and two handed weapons. Though she tended to prefer a large oversized mace and shield when they were out in the field. When he had first teamed up with Brooke she had been a rather large girl, but now she looked like a bodybuilder. She was slightly taller than him and, as she gained muscle tone and definition, was turning into a very handsome young women.

Jade was always shy and reserved. Danny liked that he could always count on her to be there whenever he was in a bind. She moved through the forest like a ghost and sometimes only through his air scan could he find her. She preferred her bow and short swords, though she also practiced most lighter weapons and throwing knives. Jade was slowly transforming from a gangly youth into the embodiment of a professional athlete. All her movements looked unnaturally effortless and graceful. Her tall body could move through a room like a ballet dancer would across a stage.

As Danny's physical skills increased, he learned there was no "grinding" in this world for levels. His lack of athletic aptitude from his previous life seemed to follow him to this one. Most gains wear made with hard work, lots and lots of hard work. The first few levels took weeks or a month, after that it was anyone’s guess. As his unarmed and staff skills grew he was able to get Meadow to let him learn to fight with a few other weapons. His plan was to gain the first few level in as many proficiencies as possible. He trained daggers, short sword, and crossbow to level three. Unfortunately, Meadow required him to reach higher levels before he moved on to anything else. It was nice for him to notice how these little attribute increases added up to increase his speed and strength. Compared to his attempts at karate in his old life, he could tell that these physical increases were not normal and augmented. Though, just being able hit harder or move faster didn't make you technically more skilled with a weapon. He suspected that this was the reason they didn't try and train as many skills as possible.

Danny's run skill increased to level five, jump skill reached level four, and climb skill reached level three. Sneak rose to level four, as it was a crucial skill to avoiding most dangers in the forest. He gained two new athletics skills through fighting and moving through the Great Forest. Since, Danny learned quickly that it is better to avoid a hit than take it, he acquired the "Dodge" skill. Thanks to his slower speed than the others, it increased quickly to level four. He also gained the first two levels in the "Swim" skill from having to travel through a few rivers and some ponds.

The girls were already to the journeyman level and higher in most of these skills. Danny had a lot of catching up to do. The benefits for journeyman level skills were double that of apprentice level skills. Journeyman skills were not gained by repetitive actions but through insights and learning advanced techniques.

His sanctuary gained a new bookshelf called "Labor," and it held the first four levels in "Hauling". He assumed this was from carrying his backpack around the forest and during training at the headquarters. Another bookshelf, titled "Domestic," held the first two levels of "Cook" and "Clean." Growing up, he always had someone else to feed him and clean his laundry. The "Survival" bookshelf was created and he now had two levels in "Hunting" and "Foraging," and three levels in "Woodcraft." The girls had taught him many tricks to traveling and surviving in the forest. Foraging probably came from gathering herbs and minerals while in the forest.

Danny finally found time to use his alchemy skills. The alchemy kit contained a few simple ingredients and equipment to prepare compounds and potions. Everything in this world contained magic to some degree. Plants, animals, insects, and even minerals containment magic. Combining different ingredients would result in different affects. Danny didn't get to practice much but was able to raise his alchemy skill to journeyman level. This provided him with a wealth of knowledge into harvesting and preparing ingredients for use. He was happy to take advantage of the order's craftsman and commission a few new pieces of equipment he would use in his laboratory back on earth. With this he was able to purify potions to levels not listed in his book. He would need to visit an actual alchemist to determine the level of his potions.

In his sanctuary, his skill library had grown with every bookshelf added. His attribute triangle was looking a little more impressive. Intelligence was almost half way between the copper and iron triangles. Strength was an eighth of the way to the copper. Not impressive but better than the next to nothing it was before. Besides his normal growth, he felt heavier and stronger than when he started, so that is what was important. His agility was over a quarter of the way to copper. He could feel his movements become more fluid and faster. He also was taller than when he started, so he must have hit a growth spurt. Looking at Jade, she was a head taller than him. He wondered if there wasn't a height connection with high agility.

Danny discovered his greatest ability with mana manipulation was activating mana directly inside another creature’s body, especially with the fire, water, and cold affinities. Water was the surprise offensive affinity for him. It was easier to manipulate the water within a creature’s body than using the other affinities. He could remove the water from a creature’s body or add more. Adding water usually had less than pleasant results when examining the remains of the creature's bodies. Fire would easily scald their cells and cold slowed down their movements. Outright boiling tissue or completely freezing a creature’s body was very mana consumptive, as evident with his experience with the snake. Since even using water affinity was very mana consumptive, he learned to debilitate his enemies and let the others finish them off. This left him with mana to spare in case emergencies occurred. With his efforts, cold affinity raised to level four.

He finally tested lava affinity out once in a wide clearing in the forest. While the girls watched his back he used most his mana before he got a result. The grass in a small spot began to dry up the turn black. Then the ground began to move and undulate like boiling water. Lava appeared in a small circle where he had focused. He could feel the heat pouring off of the lava from where he sat. The circle was depressingly no bigger than his foot. Unfortunately this lava affinity required tremendous amounts of mana like the storm affinity. It was currently not practical for him to use with his level of mana.

He got better at making his tree houses. They rarely were sent the same direction in the Great Forest so he had plenty of opportunities to practice. He took to carrying seeds in a pouch on his waist and would graft fruit trees he grew into the platform of the tree house. He also took to building a cage like walls of branches around the platform after something large tried to get in their room one night. That night he had reacted instinctively and scared it off with fire. Once he used water to put out the little fires he left everywhere, the girls took turns yelling at him about using fire magic in trees. Well not all of them, Jade just gave him very dirty looks till they went back to their beds. Danny didn't sleep much more that night.

His efforts in learning how to create tree houses, with the tree instead of against it, netted him a level to his nature affinity. He was now a Journeyman in nature and was not rewarded with a new affinity, but an idea. While the earth and water are used as the building blocks for plants, he had forgotten what else relied on these two elements. Mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, etc., they all relied on the earth and water for life. Of course energy was required as well, but that was were mana came in. Mana was like the universal multi-tool.

Meadows seemed pleased with his progress. That being said, she always seemed to push him further the second he showed any aptitude in any skill that he previously struggled with. Jade was always happy to help him train his weapon skill. Even though she preferred her bow and short swords, she was still better than he was. Her increased agility from all her other skills made her speed impossible for Danny to match, let alone beat. Danny was a little embarrassed when he first realized she purposely slowed her movements down when they started practicing. Of course Meadows put an end to that, and he would leave every day for lunch with new bruises all over his body. Jade would pout until he healed them.

Instructor Pebble seemed nonplussed with the mana manipulated offensive and defensive casting abilities Danny had come up with. Thinking he was not working hard enough, Danny suggested ideas for what he could do next. Instructor Pebble just interrupted waived his hand and left, saying, "Sounds good kid... just don't stop using as much mana as you can every day." As Danny looked at the closing door, he figured he would be told when he was lagging behind.

Danny was practicing staves with Jade after their morning workout. While nearby Ivy attempted to find gaps in Brooke's shield defense. Instructor Meadow interrupted them and asked them to follow her to her office. Instructor Meadow sat down behind her desk and the four of them took a seat in the only other chairs in the room.

Crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, instructor Meadow looked at each of them saying, "You have done well this past year and I am having trouble finding you new challenges in this side of the forest. It's time for you to receive your trial mission from the order. Your trial mission has been chosen based on your capabilities. Since I expect more from you than the other teams, this will not be an easy first assignment.

Hunters and trappers have reported goblins in the area far to the north. They are stealing from their traps and overhunting the area. Goblins tend to move in large groups and are known to trespass into our part of the forest from time to time. Expect to find a camp set up somewhere in the area. You are to kill or at least drive them off by any means. Anything you find after they have been successfully driven off is yours, unless it is personally marked. Personally marked items will be returned to their owners. I have a map with a circled area showing the where they have been spotted. Be warned, the beasts in these areas are larger and you could be up against variants."

She extended a map to Ivy, who looked over it briefly before nodding.

Instructor Meadow continued, "Do you have any questions?"

Ivy asked, "What is the timeframe for completing the mission?"

"I will give you a month, by that time if you have not completed your mission, return. If you do not return within a week after that I will send another team to search for you."

"What is the expected enemy numbers?"

"Unknown, though goblins tend to operate in large groups. Expect at least twenty or more."

"That's everything I can think of at the moment, does anyone else have a question," Ivy asked the rest of us.

Not having any more questions, instructor Meadow dismissed us. Ivy suggested we all break to prepare for the trip and meet back there in the morning for breakfast.

Danny went back to his room and prepared his things. His family had been told the cover story for his whereabouts and had sent his new backpack along with some supplies to help him on his journeys. It was not overly large pack a few slots on the inside for clothing to be easily separated inside. The outside was littered with different sized pockets. A secondary backpack was made to attach to the back with straps. He easily figured out how to put it on and take it off. The secondary pack had a built in multilayered chest, made from pieces of wood wrapped in leather. The chest was designed for his alchemy equipment and supplies. He sent a letter thanking his family profusely and told them he was doing well and still expected to be traveling with Wizard Basalt for a while.