Edwin and his fellow apprentices looked to the sky. The hunt had officially started and excitement permeated the air. The boy placed his palm to the ground and initiated a spell.

"Come forth, Sitka!"

The earth cracked and shifted giving rise to a craggy beast born of stone. The beast was no more than a metre in height, with a stocky figure, one resembling that of a bear. The beasts back was was overrun by a rich emerald green moss, this same moss coated the creatures neckline in the shape of a crescent moon. This was Edwins newest addition to his repertoire of spells. He had made a contract with the earth elemental only recently. It was a gift from his father, the duke. Sitka was specialised in tracking, utilising it's keen sense of smell and connection with the earth. This was a boon to Edwin and was sure to help him put and end to the two slaves.

"I bet they're all jealous of me. That's right admire me!" Edwin thought after noticing the stares of the others. "Everyone follow me!" He exclaimed.

The others broke their gazes that were previously fixed on the elemental and set out trailing behind Edwin atop their mounts.

-------------------------

Kalon and Terrance were pushing themselves more than they had prior, it was not the time to conserve energy. The two were thankful for the healing pills they had received, even despite the pain that Paul had inflicted on them just for getting the 'privilege' of using one. If they had been in the same state they were in the day before, starving and exhausted, there's no doubt they wouldn't be fairing so well.

As the boys were darting through the trees Kalon noticed a tall tree that broke through the canopy in the distance.

"YESSS, FINALLY!" Kalon thought to himself in glee.

"Terrance you see that really tall tree ahead? Thats the one, it's the crescent oak!"

"Hahahaha, we're actually gonna make it Kalon. We're gonna make it!" Terrance responded with a triumphant smile.

The tree was about two-hundred metres from their current position and they needed to hurry. They were already lagging from the strain they had put on their bodies and seeing as the apprentices were horseback they were bound to be gaining on the two.

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Kalon was right to think the way he did, in just the ten minutes the apprentices had set out they had already reached the ravine that had blocked the two slaves path.

Edwin looked unto the ravine with annoyance, he wasn't fond of putting more strain on his body than he needed to. In response Edwin decided to delegate the task to Jeremy. A tall brown haired boy who was also the son of a wealthy merchant in business with his father.

"Jeremy you're proficient in earth magic right?"

"Y-yes Edwin, I have mastered it to the D-rank." Jeremy responded in surprise, he didn't expect to be called upon.

"Make us a bridge then, get to it and make it snappy."

Jeremy hastily put his hands to the earth and made a chant.

"audite uocem meam domine terrae..."

In seconds earth began to move and a bridge was born into existence, it was crude and was only wide enough for one horse to cross at a time, but it would do. It was the limit of Jeremy's magic after all.

"Let's go, Sitka can feel them and they're close." Edwin said with a mischievous smile.

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In just a minute Kalon and Terrance had arrived at the base of the crescent oak. The trunk was a deep burgundy and was surrounded by crescent shaped leaves that had fallen from the tree. The problem they now faced was extracting the sap. They hadn't any weapons or tools, but Terrance made a suggestion.

"We could grab those rocks over there and start chipping away, I think it might be our only option."

"You're right it's the best we have, let's get to it buddy." Kalon responded.

The two picked up the most jagged rocks they could find. Kalon took off his shirt, if it could even be called one, it was more or less just a potato sack with holes for his head and arms. He then held the rock with the sack in an effort to prevent his hands from getting injured. Terrance then followed suit and they then started to hack away. After five minutes the trees started to leak its sap, a pungent aroma similar to that of onion started to permeate the air.

After another couple minutes the oak was bleeding enough for the two to make use of the sap.

"Take as much as you can and coat every inch of your body Terrance, we need to be thorough." Kalon told his friend.

"Ok got it!"

The two scooped the oozing sap with their bare hands and started to lather themselves, the smell started to burn their nostrils after a while to their dismay. The sap had also started to make their skin tingle.

"Kalon, ummm. Is it supposed to make your skin tingle, am I maybe allergic?"

"No, no. You're fine, that's normal. It's because the sap possesses small amounts of mana and our bodies aren't able to absorb it." Kalon replied.

"Oh ok good. Dying by tree sap is not how I want to go. Hehe." Terrance said with a chuckle.

After the two had finished covering themselves they, took off again deeper into the forest.

------------------------

Just as Edwin, Jeremy and the other apprentices were only a couple minutes off from the boys, suddenly Sitka couldn't sense them. Unbeknownst to Kalon the sap had worked better than he had wanted. The sap had also muddied Sitkas connection to the mana disruptions within the forest. The two boys now had a similar aura to that of the forest itself.

The group of apprentices came to a halt at Edwins call after the trail went cold.

"What's happening Edwin, what's wrong?" a young blonde girl questioned.

"Sitka has lost the trail??? He can't sense them anymore, why? Could they be dead?" Edwin thought to himself oblivious to the girls question. It made sense to him, they were mana-less and the further they went into the forest the higher chance they had of being attacked by a wild animal or mana-beast. "If that were the case their scents should still be trackable, but even that has vanished. They can't be dead, they must know something about the forest we don't and are making use of that." Edwin concluded.

"Edwin..?" the girl asked again.

"WHAT?" Edwin snapped.

"I-I was just wondering what's wrong?"

"Sitka has lost the trail, but they're not dead. They're doing something to mask themselves." Edwin stated.

"But I thought they were mana-less, how could they mask their presences?" Jeremy interjected.

"I don't know but why don't we ask when we find them?" Edwin replied with an evil grin. "Jeremy you know how to track by eye right? You and your father go hunting all the time."

"Y-yes but I'm not very good and we'd have to dismount for me to be able to see anything. On top of that it'll take a lot longer to find them. Why don't we just call it quits, they're probably dead.." Jeremy replied in a sheepish manner.

"You fool did you not just hear what I said? They aren't dead and I'm not leaving until I've had my fun. Nor are any of you, or would you like me to tell my father about your cowardice?" Edwin admonished the group. "Now are you gonna track them for me or not?"

"Y-yes."

"Well get to it, chop chop."