Alas, being hyped was one thing and achieving his desired goal was another...Felix ended up spending more than a week battling Selphie.
In that week, they fought over three hundred battles until Felix had literally memorized every single spell, technique, combination, strategy, and tactic utilized by her!
Only then was he able to predict every move she was about to do and plan three five steps ahead to defeat her.
Naturally, it wouldn't have been possible if he hadn't thoroughly adapted to his twenty spells and made the best of them.
Honestly, if Selphie wanted to go all out and give her absolute best, Felix would still take much longer to defeat her.
However, she wasn't interested in the slightest in that as her main goal was always Felix's progress. Now, that she was satisfied with his lesser spells combat mastery, she could finally move on to another lesson.
"Do you want to learn some of the techniques I showed you or continue with greater complexity spells?" Selphie asked as she sat next to Felix in the middle of the arena.
"Techniques without spells to work with are just useless additions." Felix shook his head, "Let me reach first omnipotent sand spells."
"Alright, let's pick up next week." Selphie sighed, "Mom is pressing me mom to train as well."
"You better listen if you don't want me to surpa.s.s you." Felix said with an easy-going smile.
If anyone heard him, they would laugh their a.s.ses off at his delusional confidence...But not Selphie.
She knew more than anyone else how fanatic Felix gets when it was related to his strength.
She could totally imagine a day when Felix's runic mastery would leave her far back if she kept lazing around like this.
"I will make sure that never happens." Selphie promised with a stern tone before teleporting away.
She realized that if Felix had beaten her even in the single thing that she was proud of, then she would have nothing to offer him anymore.
Such a dreadful thought didn't sit well with her obsession.
After she was gone, Felix laid on the arena with a thoughtful expression, 'After I pick up the world tree first root, I will be needing only Nethersteel from the Dwarven empire.'
Naturally, there were more materials required to craft the masterpiece divine weapon, such as; Shadowsatin, Frostlead, and Electric Gold...But Lady Sphinx had already helped him with the rest.
"Is it possible to start the forging process while having a single material missing? I can always bring it later on." Felix wondered.
"It depends on the weapon, material, and lastly the forger himself." J?rmungandr answered.
In other words, it was impossible to know unless he asked Cyclope about it.
Luckily, Felix was given his number and was permitted to call him if he had any inquiry.
Vrrr Vrrr...Cluck.
"What's the matter, boy?" Cyclope asked kindly the moment he picked up the call, seeming like a chill uncle talking to his nephew.
"Elder, I have already obtained a portion of the world tree first root and twenty ancestral dragon scales." Felix got straight to the point, not wanting to waste Cyclope's time.
"Even world tree first root?" Cyclope raised the only eyebrow he had in surprise, "You are quick. I wonder what you did to convince that stingy tree...I doubt even your wish could have worked."
Cyclope always thought that Felix would have gotten stuck on this step since Lady Yggdrasil was pretty protective of her world tree first root.
It meant to her so much, and she refused to give him even a bit when he requested some during the primogenitors Era.
"It was my master's effort as she helped Lady Yggdrasil finish a long-standing experiment of hers related to runes." Felix answered without involving himself in the picture since he knew that the credit didn't belong to him.
If it wasn't for Lady Sphinx coming to the rescue as always, he would have been left stumped.
"Well, if it's something related to runes, I can see that stingy tree letting go of her treasured roots." Cyclope chuckled for a bit before adding, "By the way, you should bring the materials as fast as possible...Don't forget that the forgery process would take a century if not more."
"That's why I called." Felix shared, "I am still missing the Nethersteel. Is it alright to bring them without it for now?"
"No problem, the Nethersteel will be used to coat the blade of the axe...That's at the very end of the forgery process." Cyclope confirmed.
"Great, I will be there as fast as I can!" Felix's eyes brightened up at the news.
"You have my address." Cyclope hung up swiftly after.
Without delay, Felix logged off and called Selphie, telling her to prolong her training for a month or so as he would be leaving the galaxy for an important task.
Selphie could only wish him good luck on his task, knowing that Felix wouldn't miss training unless it was for something significant.
After dealing with her, Felix went straight to the royal garden, hoping to pick up the root.
However, on his way there, he ended up b.u.mping with Baron, Aegnor, and the girls.
It looked they had just returned from the city as they were wearing clothes for disguise to avoid attracting attention.
'Hmm? When was Aegnor this close to the girls?' Felix was left curious by the sight of Aegnor laughing and joking with Moana, Elnora, and Carwen.
"Felix!! You have finally separated from Selphie!" Elnora remarked with a surprised expression after spotting Felix.
"Morning guys, It's been a while." Felix smiled charmingly, not picking up on her suggestive jab.
"Brother Felix, you have really been shunning us on the side lately." Moana pouted, "We rarely got to hang out as we used to."
"Alright, stop bothering him." Baron defended, "He is a busy man with serious games to prepare for."
Upon hearing so, Felix turned to glance at Aegnor instinctively, preparing to hear some insults.
However, he was left baffled when he saw that Aegnor still had a polite smile planted on his face.
'Hmm? Nothing? Not even a small insult?'
"You want to hang out with us?" Elnora asked with a hopeful tone.
"I am sorry, but let's do that later." Felix rejected her offer with a bitter smile, "I have a meeting with mother tree right now."
"I see...I guess you can't miss it." Elnora and the girls sighed in disappointment.
'Why the h.e.l.l is he joining them?' Felix got creeped out a bit when he saw that Aegnor showed the same expression.
When Baron saw Felix's reaction against his brother, he swiftly mentioned, "By the way, my brother has been trying to reach out to you for a while now."
"Is that so?"
Aegnor stepped forth with a remorseful expression and said, "I just wanted to apologize to you about my c.r.a.ppy treatment at the start."
"Umm?"
This really caught Felix off guard...He already proclaimed Aegnor to be a lost cause.
"I have realized that I have been too paranoid of something that didn't exist. I might be proud, but I am not that shortsighted to not see my mistakes and fix them." Aegnor bowed his head deeply and apologized sincerely again, "I am really, really sorry, and I hope we can turn a new page."
When Felix turned to look at Baron and the girls, he saw that all of them had hopeful and eager looks, like they were antic.i.p.ating him to forgive him.
Felix realized that he had shown them a bit too much of his saintly persona.
If he didn't forgive their cousin after he bowed his head and apologized sincerely, he would be seen as someone who holds grudges.
Felix didn't want to lose his good image in their heads after he worked his a.s.s to build it...It made his life comfortable and smooth in the royal family.
Still, this was Felix.
"I am sorry, but I can't accept your apology." The moment Aegnor heard so, he displayed a hint of anger in his eyes before completely extinguis.h.i.+ng it.
Unfortunately, Felix had picked it up as he was a.n.a.lyzing his face when he said so.
"Sigh...I knew that it wou..."
Just as Aegnor was going to resort to his sob story, Felix interrupted him with a brilliant angelic smile, "I can't accept it because there is nothing to apologize for. You had your doubts and worries. They were reasonable as I am still a human. I know that my race doesn't have the best picture out there."
"So, I am just glad that we can finally put this racial difference behind us...My friend." Felix finished his monologue with his arms wide open, offering a hug to Aegnor!
He had the nicest smile ever, making it hard for anyone to reject his hug.
"Hug him you fool before I do it." Elnora pushed Aegnor towards Felix, making him get embraced by him.
Aegnor didn't know why, but he felt a great terror set in his heart for a split second the moment Felix's arms connected around him.
However, when he saw Felix's gentle foolish smile, he regained his senses and sighed in relief, 'I am just tripping...I should contact the war room to update them about this good news.'
"What did I tell you, brother?" Baron laughed as he patted them both in the back, "I knew that Felix will never hold a grudge for something so childish."
"I will be really upset if you guys thought so." Felix acted annoyed while letting go of Aegnor.
Before the cousins could reply, Felix glanced at the time and remarked with a worried tone, "c.r.a.p, I will be late on mother tree! Let's continue this later!"
He disappeared out of sight immediately, not wanting to spend another second with them.
After he got out of their radars, Felix's angelic expression turned demonic almost instantaneously as he requested, 'Candace, stay close to Aegnor and tell me anything peculiar about him.'
Felix had no clue what was Aegnor's agenda, but he knew that he had one...He would be foolish to give him free rein to prepare against him.
'On it.' Without delay, Candace stopped playing catch with Nimo in the void realm and started following Aegnor up close.
Eee Eee!
Nimo caught up to her and started pulling her hair with an upset expression, clearly not too pleased by her ditching his play time.
'We will play later.' Candace placed Nimo near her chest and gave him a head rub to appease him. Meanwhile, her eyes never left Aegnor, scanning every single detail.
When Nimo saw her interest in Aegnor, he tilted his head in confusion and jumped from her embrace...He went near Aegnor's face and started sniffing him through the dimensions.
Eee Eee?
The moment he picked a familiar scent, Nimo's eyes widened up before he started squeaking in excitement and happiness like he had just found a new toy or a friend.
However, Candace did not see it like that one bit as she knew that Nimo would never react like this to any stranger unless he was from the void race!
'Felix, I think we have a problem.' Candace spoke while giving Aegnor a murderous death stare.