Rain cascaded down my hair as I rose into the heart of the storm. Above me the tree the clouds moved in unison to form a perfect eye that gazed down at upon the forest of flames. The closer we got to the clouds the more rain tried to force us down, but I ignored the storm and focused on ejecting us from the arena our opponents had created.

Gold flew beside me as the box ascended into the clouds and I felt the magic suppressing my earth attunement begin to falter. A moment later a fiery red sky appeared once in my vision as we crashed through the clouds and entered the wider holy land. We were free.

[Mana Sense (IV) has reached level 3.]

“Ow.” I said.

I turned off my [Mana Sense] as fire mana once again took over the skies. Thanks to my level up I could see it clearer than ever but that also meant my headache was worse. The mana was too dense to look at directly and even though the spell had driven it away temporarily, a painful amount of it was gathering above the clouds and waiting to return back to the forest.

Gold chirped as he landed on my shoulder, his chest puffing out proudly.

Shield. Fight. Good.

“Yeah, you did great, Buddy.” I said.

I fed him a treat and he gobbled it down happily. His shield had saved me from Kyle, but the second-year students hadn't tried to attack us at all.

Instead, they had already stolen more of my magic than I wanted to give.

Looking down below I could see the giant tree clearly through the hole in the clouds. It was glowing brightly even without looking at it with my [Mana Sense]. My attunement was no longer being blocked, and I could sense the earth below me cheering at my return. Flames gathered from across the sky as Amanda’s magic returned to her as well, and I saw her breathe a sigh of relief.

“I could burn it from up here.” She said. “At least that way we know our magic hasn't benefitted a thief.”

She wasn't serious, but I saw her fingers twitch and transform into flames at the thought. Gold tittered in encouragement, and she shot the puffer a small smile.

“Maybe we'll call that our Plan B.” I said. “Is there any way for us to take that tree away from them when it attunes?”

As my earth attunement once again pulsed with power, I put the Box back into my inventory. In its place I created a series of thin platforms that let me hover in the air without issues.

I couldn't see the second-year students, but I knew they would be waiting for us down there. If they weren't fighting off other intruders, then they would easily be able to deflect our attacks. Flying off with a giant tree wasn't an easy feat even if I wasn't being attacked.

With enough stone I could encase the tree and move it, but that wouldn't solve any of the other glaring issues.

“We can't cut it too much, because we don't know if that’ll destroy it.” Amanda frowned. “But running away with a tree the size of a building doesn't really work either. It wouldn't fit inside the hotel room. Maybe we really would benefit more from burning it down. At least then the Batri family won't grow too strong.”

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but if Amanda said she wanted to stop that household from growing stronger then I was happy to help out. It didn't feel good to have my magic stolen to feed their ambitions.

“It sounds like you guys are stuck between a tree and a hard place.” A voice called out.

Our eyes shot toward the source of the voice. It was a familiar figure.

“Kyle.” I said.

A set of long teal robes billowed in the wind of the sky as the third-year student laid down on a bed of water, his arms holding up his head as he gazed at the empty sky. I hadn't seen when Kyle had approached us, but I couldn't feel any ill intent from him.

"You changed clothes.” I said.

“Lady Mitra burned my uniform.” Kyle frowned. “Do you know what it's like walking around naked in a forest? It's the same as walking naked everywhere else. Embarrassing.”

“I hardly grazed your clothes!” Amanda protested.

"Well, they smelt like smoke.” He waved his hand dismissively. “And I'm not walking around with smoke-filled robes. I have more class than that.”

I found it hard to believe him after he'd told us he'd gone naked rather than walk around in smoke-filled clothes.

“But that's beside the point. Listen, I think we all know what's happening down there. The moment I touched that rain I figured it out, and I'm assuming it didn't take long for you either.” Kyle said.

Amanda and I shot each other a look, privately agreed never to tell him that it had taken us an entire battle and then some to figure it out. Kyle raised an eyebrow at our expressions and chuckled.

“From the looks of things, they're turning any and all mana and attunement energy into a water attunement for that tree. Tell me, do either of you need a water attuned plant?” He asked. “Or can we team up and sell it for a tidy profit.”

“I've already attuned to water.” I said.

“And I've got no water affinity.” Amanda added.

Gold chirped into my ear, and I nodded. The puffer wasn't sure if we could trust the third-year student, but I couldn't deny that Amanda and I didn't have many options available. We couldn't steal the tree and carry it to the hotel without being pursued by every person in the holy land.

“We’ll hear you out.” I said.

“Great! Then we’ll have no problems carrying our bundles of coins back to our organisations.” Kyle said. “So, what's our first plan of action?”

I could see that he already had an answer in mind, but it wasn't hard to guess what that was.

“We need to speed up the attunement process.” I said. “The sooner the tree attunes the better, since more and more people will come to investigate it.”

“I can do that.” Kyle grinned. “If I’m given some time to work alone.”

My eyes scanned the forest below for any signs of movement. Only two of the second-year students had tried to tie Amanda and me down in the storm. I wasn't sure where the third one had gone but considering the size of the tree and the allure of riches it wasn't a stretch to guess that others had tried to investigate.

Within the next hour it wouldn't be a surprise to see the place swarming with competition. Even the threat of magic suppression wouldn't stop the students from trying to steal the tree.

“But there's no reason we have to be inside their battlefield to do so.” Kyle said. “We can help it attune right here if we want to.”

He sat up, the water underneath him swirling into the form of a carpet. There was a wide grin on his face, and he clapped his hands together. The moment he did so a ball of water appeared beside him, and I could see it growing bigger by the second. With every passing second the clouds underneath us grew dimmer, though only the top layer was affected.

He was absorbing the storm water.

I felt my water symbol reacting to the magic within the droplets. Even though they weren't touching me they were still providing power to me.

“Ahh, that's a nice feeling. Like eating ice cream after being burnt alive.” He grinned. “If Master Batri could control who his magic buffed, then he'd be a superstar for any organisation he joined. As it is now, it's worthless since it's empowering his enemies as well.”

“I don't think you need me for that.” Amanda said. “And even if you did, I'd rather not touch the stuff.”

"Relax, I'm not planning to help the tree attune until we figure out a game plan.” Kyle said. “But the moment you two cause a distraction I can pump it full of magic and watch the fireworks fly. That is, if you can handle the fighting portion?”

He dropped his control of the water and I watched it fall back into the clouds. Out of curiosity I focused my attention onto a section of the water and froze it in place.

[Water Manipulation has reached level 3]

“Yeah, that bloodline spell is definitely helping me.” I said. “I can give them a pretty good bombardment from up here, and my abilities aren’t going to be too weak down there if it comes to that.”

The body of water that I was manipulating was the size of my body, which was far larger than the fistful I could normally manipulate. This storm held prime conditions for me to practice in.

“Do bloodlines usually work like this? Its more beneficial than I’m used to.” I said.

The most Amanda’s bloodline had ever done for me was give me a tan. And that was because her brother had cooked everyone around him by accident when he’d unlocked it.

“This is the power of an elemental bloodline.” Amanda said. “The Batri household is going to grow in power just by his existence. And if he brings a water-attuned tree back to them then I'd say his status as the next head of his household is guaranteed.”

The ramifications of her statement were likely dire for multiple families in Koshima city, or even the wider world. Unfortunately, I had no idea what those ramifications would be. For all I knew this bloodline family was in direct opposition with Roxxy, or Amanda.

It didn't matter to me. In the end, whether or not Oalice Batri got stronger was a non-issue. I just wanted to see if I could take his tree.

“Wait, you have an elemental bloodline. Are you just saying this to tell me you're amazing?” I asked.

“Absolutely.” Amanda said.

She didn't even try to hide her smile.

"Bloodlines and confidence, I can't name a more common pair.” Kyle said. “You’d think the Marked ones didn’t exist with you lot around.”

The water magician was standing now, and his voice resonated with the clouds. I could sense his will spreading over the water below us, trying to seize control of it. Whether or not the students in the forest could feel his actions was something we'd find out soon. For now, I could tell that he was trying to keep his actions subtle.

Amanda watched Kyle with interest, but in her hand I could see her tapping away at her texting regent. She'd brought it out when I wasn't looking.

She fidgeted from side to side as her wings kept her afloat. We'd been up here awhile, and I knew that her mana wasn't infinite. The only reason she hadn't transformed Agni back into her bird form was that she didn't trust Kyle.

If he attacked us and broke my stone platform, then she'd be a sitting duck.

A moment later my texting regent shone inside my inventory, and I took it out to find a series of messages from Amanda.

[How much do you trust Kyle? It's not like he can't backstab us. We also don't have much of a plan.]

[Also, Roxxy and William still haven't replied to my texts.]

I took a second to think about my reply. The truth is that I didn't know Kyle that well. In fact, I hardly knew him at all. But during our talks at the arena, he'd come off as a confident and trustworthy person.

Amanda shot me a look and I nodded.

“So, we keep them distracted while you help it attune.” I said. “But if we get to the tree before they put it in an inventory, we need to carry it out. That's going to be tough to do in broad daylight.”

Kyle turned toward me, and I caught him smiling as he glanced at Amanda’s texting regent.

“It's simple. I have a skill called [Mirage]. It lets me transform water into a copy of a single object, while also hiding that object from sight if I choose to.” He said. “If you two can protect me while I prepare my spell, then I can have the tree whisked away before anybody notices.”

Silence reigned at his words, until the only thing that I could hear was the rain pouring down from underneath me.

Telling people about skills in this world was a matter of trust, and deep connection. Even family members didn't have the right to ask you what your skills were, and nobody could force you to tell them. For Kyle to tell us meant that he was giving us access to a part of his repertoire that could be used against him. Whether by us or by anybody we told.

“Okay, I can see from your expressions that you weren't expecting that.” Kyle raised his hands flippantly. “Oops, looks like the cat is out of the bag. So, what do you guys think?”

“It's simple.” Amanda said. “I like it.”

The light of her wings grew soft as she spoke, and a moment later the golden flames began to retract as she withdrew her transformation. Ripples of golden fire washed over us as she returned to normal, and I made sure that a stone platform was waiting for her as Agni appeared on her head.

Kyle had trusted us with knowledge of his skill, the least we could do was trust him not to attack us the moment we let down our guard.

"I need to recover some of my mana.” She said. “Do we know how long the tree will take to attune?”

“Master Bitra would have been planning this for a while so the tree was likely specially prepared. In a mana-rich area like the holy land all it would need is a little push to attune.” Kyle hummed. “It’d take a few days normally, but those fellows are likely to speed things up a bit.”

He pointed toward the forest below us, and before I could spot who he was talking about there was a flash of light and an eruption cracked through the air. The resulting blast caused my platforms to wobble, and I focused on stabilising them and making sure Amanda and I didn't plummet into the storm.

Other students had started to enter the fray.

“I think this works better for us.” Kyle said. “If everyone’s distracted then they'll be too busy to notice us.”

Another explosion rocked the forest and part of the storm was blown back, the clouds reforming a moment later.

“But if there are too many people, we won't be able to defend against them.” Kyle added.

"I think we can increase our odds a bit.” I said. “Gold?”

The puffer on my shoulder chirped as I called his name and moved closer to me to hear what I had to say.

"Go and find William and Roxxy.” I said.

Gold looked at me and then down at the storm. I knew that Roxxy’s connection spell was working for him and that he could find our teammates, but he was reluctant to leave us alone to deal with the swarm of students that were converging on the tree.

“Trust me, we’re going to need all the help we can get with this.”

Magic flared into existence below me as the first battles began.

Gold took one final look at the storm and nodded, his beak twitching as he raised his wings and flew off my shoulder. A few seconds later he had disappeared into the horizon, in the general direction of Roxxy’s spell. I watched him go with a calm heart.

The tree hadn't attuned yet, but a quick peek with my [Mana Sense] showed me that it was engorged with mana, and magic was beginning to swirl in patterns within its body. The addition of more students was speeding up the process immensely.

Soon it would be time for us to make our move.