Returning home, it was already afternoon, Theo was still a bit frustrated from everything that happened with him in the "Will test" where he saw another disgusting experience he preferred not to see.

Though he made a breakthrough, became a 3rd rank adept, increased his mana reserve, and improved his body for magic use, Theo didn't feel like that it was worth seeing those things again in the new life.

So, the moment he returned to the Freinos family castle territory, Theo rushed to his manor and slammed the door, activating the closing formation to let others know that he wants to stay alone.

A moment later, a magic shield appeared, covering the manor and its territory.

Theo felt himself a bit tired, both emotionally and mentally. Though he had enough rest the day before, now he was laying on his bed while his thought drifted back to the time when he was in the "Will test" platform.

Of course, he long ago passed through all the pain and sufferings, he had in his previous life, and it wasn't the 1st time he saw similar scenes in his nightmares, but it was terrible anyway.

Sighing and taking a big breath, Theo stood up and moved to his study room to use all the free time he had in an effective way. Taking one of the alchemy books, Theo continued to read about herbs, plants, and their properties needed for the concocting of the basic alchemic pills.

The time continued to pass, it was already the middle of the night, while Theo totally immersed into the alchemy world that distracted him from the things he didn't want to think about. Theo continued to read about the herbs, thanks to the advance in adept rank, his mind could easily adapt to such challenge, but the body that needed to rest after the recent advancement couldn't. As a result, several hours later, Theo didn't notice how he fell asleep above the book.

***

Waking up, it was already the beginning of the afternoon. Theo quickly realized that he fell asleep above the book and now had a book's imprint on one-off his cheeks. Sighing, Theo started cleaning himself and preparing for the new day. After finishing his usual wake-up routine, it didn't take long for his stomach to remind Theo that he didn't eat anything from yesterday's morning.

Leaving the manor, it didn't take long for the youth to find Arthur that has long ago finished placing Theo's lunch on the table in the small garden pavilion.

Theo smiled when he saw several meals made of monster meat and fresh potatoes, a red soup that could easily restore strengths and provide energy, and a rare juice made of elvish fruits.

Theo couldn't hold from asking.

"Is it celebration today?" asked Theo, looking at his personal aide.

In fact, Freinos family had several unique celebrations during which cooks prepared and cooked many unique, tasty, and rare dishes. As a direct member of the Freinos family, Theo and his sisters always got those meals beforehand than family retainers.

"No, young master. It's just a small gift from Madame for your recent advancement in rank," explained Arthur with a smile on his lips, "In fact, she wanted to congratulate you yesterday yourself, but decided not to interrupt you when saw an activated magic formation above your manor."

Theo smiled before starting to eat his lunch.

At first, Arthur continued to watch after his young master, but couldn't hold himself from asking when Theo finished dealing with meat dishes and moved to the soup.

"Young master, I wanted to ask permission to join the group of young servants that would join the expedition army during their expedition," asked Arthur.

Theo halted the spoon with soup before looking at his personal aide.

"What would the group of young servants do there in the army camp?"

"Young master, some of us would go there to be water porters, others would go as prentices for the blacksmiths, alchemists, and enchanters so that they had someone who could do all the routine work. I want to go there because there would be almost all the famous scouts of Freinos city. They would take 5-10 people as their prentices with who they would share their knowledge and experience." explained Arthur, looking at Theo, "In fact, I have a recommendation, and already among those people, but if young master needs me, I would cancel my candidacy to give others a chance."

Theo pondered for several moments, looking at his yellow-haired aide, remembering vaguely a similar scene that happened with him in the previous life.

In fact, Theo forgot that Arthur was a 5th rank squire, had a big talent to battle energy, and was a promising scout. He could have become a huge help in his previous life if he didn't die together with many other loyal retainers of his family at the start of the war with Grifon kingdom when his father sent a small army of elites to escort him back home.

Pondering about his own plans and the facts he knew, Theo realized that there is no actual need for Arthur to stick to him when he can learn new useful things.

"Okay, Arthur, you may go. In fact, I will also go to the expedition army, if I become a 3rd rank squire. We will meet each other there." said Theo, watching at his reaction, "Don't worry, my guard will be with me, and I am sure that father would send another group to protect me from secret. I wouldn't get any harm if my personal aide would be in a different place in the process."

"But, young master, what about your needs, who will take care of your comfort?' asked Arthur with a clear worry in his glance.

"Arthur, I would go there not to have a sight walk across the camp and the battlefield, I would become one of the water porters and would follow the rules at the camp. So, I don't think that someone would let me have unique conditions than other water porters would have," explained Theo, seeing that his words didn't convince Arthur.

"But, young master, you really want to go there to be a water porter just as many of young servants?" asked Arthur with a shocked expression on his face.

"The position of the water porter is the only position I can reach with my own strength in the near future, I am too weak for other positions. So, if I want to participate in the expedition, this is the only way I have."

Arthur pondered a bit after he heard Theo's words before nodded, agreeing with him.

"By the way, Arthur, when would you leave to the expedition camp?"

"I would leave in 3-4 days with other young servants."

Theo furrowed his brows when he heard Arthur's words.

"I thought that support camp would begin to gather only after a week, no?"

"Yes, it's true, but we and other people will have to arrive earlier because the people to who we would serve will arrive earlier,"

"I see," said Theo, and continued to eat his lunch.

Finishing his lunch, Theo sent Arthur away before returning to his manor. A half an hour later, Theo finished choosing his new spells and moved in the direction of the "Adept trials".

***

Standing in the same position as was before when Theo entered into the Forest trial, Theo immediately chanted an "Earth shield", gaining some distance between himself and the surface.

Several moments later a group of 5-6 wolves appeared from the bushes and rushed at Theo.

Anticipating their appearance, a small circular ice object appeared before Theo and flew at one of the wolves at a swift rate much faster than most of Theo's spells.

Unprepared, the advancing wolf couldn't react at the time, and the "Ice bullet" pierced through his heart, killing the 1st one.

Another moment later, a half-meter water snake appeared, starting its attack at one of the wolves. Though the wolf easily dodged it, the "Water elemental" was different from other basic spells and could change and move in those directions Theo wanted. So, the moment, its target evaded it, the snake started flying after the wolf, distracting it from the tower on which Theo was standing.

As a result, only 4 of the initial wolves' numbers reached the tower and started climbing up.

Unfortunately for them, when they climbed half of the tower, Theo released his new and the strongest fire-orientated spell called the "Firestorm" at the 3 wolves in the middle of his tower.

A moment later a long fire snake flew at the wolves, a moment later it hit one of the wolves, biting him in the process, and a moment later it exploded, engulfing 3 wolves and 3-meter distance into the flames.

Even the tower was affected by Theo's spell and started shaking, but Theo quickly restored it, using another "Earth shield" to broaden and strengthen it in the process.

As a result, only one wolf was left out of the initial number. That wolf quickly realized that they chose the wrong opponent, and turned around, starting to flee.

Unfortunately for him, Theo long ago finished chanting his last new battle-orientated spell and was just waiting for the right moment. When the wolf started approaching the bushes, the ground forward started shaking, and a moment later a long 2 meter and 1-meter ice icicle, appeared in from of the wolf.

The wolf has already gained speed, and just couldn't stop or evade Theo's attack, of course, he tried to evade it and jumped to the right at the last moment, but when he jumped, the long icicle moved in the same direction, and a moment later the wolf felt something piercing his stomach.

He felt cold and started shivering before the life disappeared from his eyes.

Theo who has just used a significant portion of his mana just for his final spell sighed and started gathering mana. The fact that he created his spell a distance away from him and made it move at the right time consumed quite a portion of his mana.

Finishing restoring his mana, it was already the beginning of the night, Theo looked in the north direction before moving his glance at the ground below. Several moments later, Theo chanted several fireballs and sent them at the nearby trees and bushes, creating a small forest fire in the process. Theo returned to his tower and just continued to watch after it, adding another fire spell from time to time. As a result, more than 20 meters around his initial position were burnt until most of the things that could burn didn't disappear.

It was already the middle of the night when Theo smiled and once again stepped to the surface, starting his next plan. Using "Moisture" to reflect temperature change, he started creating one 1 meter earth wall after another. Soon, more than 20 meters around his initial position were divided by walls. A satisfied Theo smiled and returned to his tower to sleep and rest before the quite difficult day tomorrow.

***

The next day, Theo woke up, he saw a forest fire at the north that was quickly approaching in his direction. Unlike before, he was already prepared for this change and just jumped down, touching the surface. Due to the quiet cold and chill night, the earth felt only a bit warmer than usual.

Smiling, Theo started creating one long icicle after another before placing them in the different locations inside his small shelter.

Several hours later, Theo returned to his tower and started gathering mana while the forest fire was already 100 meters away from him.

Due to his actions beforehand, the forest fire wasn't so effective as it was in his previous attempt because it had almost nothing to burn, and as a result, only a small portion of the forest fire reached Theo's position.

Theo had only a temperature increase problem to solve, and thanks to many icicles and "Moisture" he used as much as he could, Theo successfully passed through the peak of the forest fire.

Remembering what would happen after the forest fire, Theo chanted "Moisture" at himself and left to the north.

Of course, it was difficult to pass through the area where the fire wasn't extinguished yet, but thanks to his increased arsenal of water spells and bigger mana reserve, he could bear the temperature and continued to move forward.

Several hours later, Theo saw a grey hill covered with ashes in the middle of the burned forest.

Understanding that it was a good position to meet the water wave, Theo started climbing the hill. When he reached the apex of the hill, Theo realized that he was 5-6 meters above the ground and that it was the highest place he could hope to find in this forest.

Sighing, he started to chant one earth spell after another.

Unlike before, this time Theo concentrated all his spell in the small 10 meters square, creating as many earth layers as possible.

It was already the beginning of the night when Theo finished his building of the tower. As a result, he added another 5 meters to the hill, and his tower was much sturdier than before.

Finishing his preparation, Theo chanted "Fire dust" at himself to stay warm during the night and started his rest.

***

At the same time as he finished his last preparation, Great mage thousands of meters away exchanged glances with one of his people.

"My lord, the enemy mages created a forest fire to burn our camp," said a man in the knight's armor, "Looks like they got to know about the army supplies we saved after the last battle,"

"It looks so, they sent quite a big number of mages to lure and eradicate us out. Looks like we became quite a big boon in their supply lines," said the Great mage, watching after the reaction of his captain, "By the way, captain prepare all the forces we have, we will start at the dawn."

The knight nodded before leaving the robbed man alone to look at the distant forest fire that was slowly approaching their camp.