Ah… the cottage was still up, safe and sound. Hyōen could see far into the distant woods of Worth Woodsea from the roof, and he felt so at home, more than ever before. It was neat to finally smell the trees here and feel the dirt beneath. What a wonder… he really missed this place. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t leave it, anyway, or at least not for quite a while now, so now that he had settled and all, it was time to adjust some things. First, Coda was crying with happiness as she flew around the woods of Worth Woodsea. They were surrounded by nature, their home. It was a pleasant feeling, and because that his cottage hadn’t taken any damage during his absence, he didn’t have to repair anything during the time that he would spend here. That meant that he could go straight to relaxation and training like the good old days, but… he had to visit her first. His mind cleared as he approached the place a few dozen meters away from the cottage’s wall, before he stood right in front of a grave. There were white flowers on it along with a few red and purple ones, and there was a ripped piece of bark functioning as a kind of tombstone buried on the surface, reading: Peace to You, Mother. He went silent for quite a while as he looked at the grave and remembered her voice and presence back in the day. He… he felt vulnerable without her. It was a long time ago, he shouldn’t feel like that. He had grown up a long time ago, he shouldn’t grief over a long, gone past that couldn’t be changed. Now, the grave was distracting him from his duties, so he had to take his departure and turn around, heading into the forest…

He suddenly clenched his fist as he was inside the shrubbery. Slowly lifting up his arm, he stood still for a moment, then ejected razor-sharp fire claws off his arm and elbow. The flames dazzled brightly and was surely a sight to behold, but he always speculated… there was more to it than this, weren’t there? Maybe he could… he didn’t even fully know nor was he fully sure, but he felt like improving a little thing about this spell of his. Aiming at the large boulder in front of him, he quickly tried to cut it down using the razor claws, revealing tracks of glowing, hot colors from the long lines that the blades impacted the rock. When looking at them, he felt… confident. However, there was something that he noticed; he just had to stay at least a meter from the rock? What if he could just eject the blades fully, launching them like shurikens… or like throwing daggers… that would have been a cool adaptation to the spell. The idea sounded lit, so he was finally set with it.

513/1000 (wished goal)

He began practicing a little, because the sun was still up in the sky by now and he didn’t want to waste that. It started off softly, having moved a few feet away from the rocks and open trees. Also, he had to make sure that the targets that set on fire wouldn’t suddenly set the entire forest up in a huge flame, despite how easy that would have been for the Fire Mage to do. He didn’t wish for this forest to suffer any of that, and thus he chose secluded, isolated areas in the middle of very open plains. In that way, the fires that would eventually erupt could peacefully die off or meet resistance at the borderlines where grass and bushes would transform into dry rock. There, he trained most of his spells, from the very first flame that he ever ignited in his finger to now. Hopefully, he would choose the very same place to train all his other abilities.
He began suddenly focusing on the voice of the flames. Yes, for him, they had a voice on their own; it was a crispy, living noise that echoed through his mind when it kept burning in the cold wind. He couldn’t’ really fathom it by making the same noise, nor understood he himself fully - being curious about why he was suddenly interested in the fire’s sound - but he didn’t let that stop his mission. It was suddenly turning into evening, and the sun began cloaking itself with the horizon. If he wanted to hurry up and finish the training, then he should do it now. Upping the pace a little was his plan, then, as he suddenly took about 10-15 meters back and began throwing small blades of fire from his very wrists. It looked almost painful to see them rip off from his arms like that. He, on the other hand, was beginning to smile in excitement as his spell was progressing well. The sun began disappearing completely, slowly behind the horizon as the night sky appeared and the stars dotted up, but there was still light… near the area that Hyōen was testing his spells on. About time, he had finally fainted for like the hundredth time or something, while his head landed on the dry grass that used to pack water for his head to cool down at and to wake him up again for later. The heaven looked so beautiful, everything was perfect here. For a brief second… he wished not to leave this place forever. Why should he? Everything that he could ever need, relate to, or feel happy about was here, but… then he remembered his guild. They wouldn’t like it if he was absent like this, or time would simply pass too quick for him to follow, just like the case was back in the early days of his wizardry. For now, he simply enjoyed the wild weather, the skies and Coda’s contour flying across space, with a good feeling in his belly…

506/1000

513 + 506 = 1019