[@Stabby] [@Zeroth]

Femus had learned a lot in a short time.  Chanting was valuable but potentially dangerous with high yield but at a matching cost.  He would need to use it properly.  He had also gained two skills, one was Shield.  Finally, he could try to protect himself from enemy attacks.  He wouldn't have much time before Nira returned so he concentrated on quickly meditating back to full mana.  The next task would be more complicated.  The materials he had gathered wouldn't last forever.  Sap hardens all too quickly and he wouldn't be able to guarantee that it would wait until they reached the biggest tree in the neighborhood.

He would have to try his best as soon as Nira returned.  This would hopefully be the first step toward the kind of power he wanted to master.  The kind of power that would allow him to defeat any foe and protect any person or place whether he was there or not.  With these thoughts, he heard Nira return.  Now that he was more familiar with her, her way of moving announced her presence clearly.  Though, he didn't actually see her return.  She had approached from a blind angle, but she hadn't hid her approach and he caught her wave out of the corner of his eye before she spoke.

[color=a062de] "It's getting a bit late to move so we should probably stay here for the night, preferably on a branch or two with denser leaf coverage. For now though I'm going to try something with meditation while we still have time." [/color]

"Alright.  I'll be working on something as well.  I'd rather avoid moving around too much in the dark until I get better at limiting my glow."  Femus answered simply.  He didn't want to reveal how annoyed he was at losing the safety of his tree hollow.  A wisp alone was at quite the risk at night.  But, there wasn't any time to waste.  If he was threatened, he could use Shock Round to deal with it... probably.

Now, it was time to work.

Femus took his time pulling his gathered materials apart with lesser force, taking great care to avoid damaging the leaves as he needed them to be unhurt for his plan.  Next, he began the prep-work.  He gently twisted one of the strips of inner bark from the Old Kao tree until it resembled a flower bud.  Then, making sure that the bark was still well covered with sticky sap and holding it in shape, he wrapped a fresh and undamaged leaf around it, matching its shape as closely as possible without tearing the leaf.  The result that he wanted was a simulated 'Old Kao Bud'.  This he would hold together, gently but firmly while moving it around to speed the drying of the sap until it could easily hold its shape and integrity.  He would make as many of these as his materials allowed before moving on to the next step.  If he got low on mana at any point then he would simply take a break to meditate.

The theory was simple enough.  The development of Shock Round had proven that elements existed.  It was possible that they were independent of any other carrier but it felt more like they were sub-varieties of mana.  What he wanted was to be able to cultivate medicinal plants and magical herbs like the Blue Yill.  So, the first step would be to gather the type of mana most closely aligned with plants.  For that, the best tool would have to be plant based.  To help the parts interact well, it would help if they were all from the same species.  Finally, after putting them all together, he would need to actually try to create the structures that would produce the desired effect.

Femus knew that he was weak.  He had just received his first chance to evolve after reaching level 5.  If that was normal, then evolution would give greater power than any level.  In short, he was weak... very, very weak.  A full scale formation that gathered mana on its own and created a mana rich environment would be a master work, far beyond what he could create with his current power.  Even if he already knew how and had the materials, he wouldn't be able to start the thing up.  So, this first design would require the user to give it mana in a steady stream but should gather 'Nature' mana from the surroundings... and possibly store it as well.  In any case, the results would provide him with a wealth of information about how all this works.

When the first 'Kao Bud' was firm enough to be handled, Femus set it down on a stable part of the branch where it wouldn't fall.  Then he took a small twig from another branch nearby and used Lesser Force to sharpen one end into a simple stylus.  If it had a decent point, he would begin making tiny holes in the leaf exterior of the 'Kao Bud' that would form the lines of a spiral from the tip to the base while focusing on how he wanted mana to move along those lines and gather in the 'Kao Bud'.  Once the lines were done, he would carefully try to extend his mana into the bud.  He sought to trace those spiral lines and create a current that would draw the mana most native to the trees into the pattern and into the bud.

Again, if he ran out of Mana, he would meditate back up to full before resuming his attempt while using Magic Analysis and seeking to understand the plants and sense the changes in the surrounding mana.  Hopefully, the nature of the leaf which draws in air and the inner bark which guides the flow of nutrients through the plant while protecting it would work with this attempt and guide and protect the gathered elemental mana as well.