In the early morning, Zoeske and Jacob woke up to the smell of delicious, freshly baked bread, which surprised them.

  “That smell!” Zoeske said excitedly.

  “Bread!” Jacob said.

  Alia heard water splashing inside the bathroom. She screamed, “Don’t play in the water.” She laughed afterward, as she noticed their excitement for the bread.

  “OKAY,” they said.

  “Hey, I came first,” Zoeske said.

  “Huh?” Jacob said. “I came first.”

  “HEY!” Alia screamed angrily.

  Jacob quickly washed his face and teeth and ran ahead of Zoeske to the living room, which was a hybrid of kitchen and living room.

  “Goat cheese?” he said. “Mom, what’s the occasion?”

  “We have it, we use it,” Alia said.

  “We have it, we use it,” Jacob repeated.

  Zoeske came quickly after Jacob, but couldn’t see what was on the table because Jacob was blocking his view. He pushed Jacob’s head away to see the breakfast.

  Jacob said, “You have all the way to view the breakfast, and you chose to view it from my place?” He pushed Zoeske away too.

  As they were pushing each other, Alia said, “You both don’t want to have a punch in the early morning, do you?”

  They sat politely at the table, waiting for their portions to be served. Then, Jule came and sat beside his son, Jacob.

  “I heard you made impressive progress in learning magic,” Jule said.

  “Yes, thanks to Alia and Jacob,” Zoeske said.

  Jule smiled when he saw Zoeske showing gratitude to them. He was then shocked when he saw the breakfast. He said, “Bread and cheese?”

  They laughed at Jule’s delayed reaction. Minutes later, Zoeske and Jacob prepared to go to their lessons.

  “Where are the classes going to be?” Zoeske asked.

  “Close to the warehouse,” Jacob answered. “Specifically, under the huge tree.”

  The warehouse was very close to Jule’s house. So, after leaving the house, they saw the other kids waiting there.

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  “It’s the kid we kidnapp-“ Donut said, and was interrupted by Ansar’s gaze.

  Ansar thought, (Moron.)

  Zoeske noticed two new faces there. One of them stood and extended his hand to Zoeske. He said, “My name is Bango.” He was physically the biggest kid among them.

  “Zoeske, nice to meet you, Bango,” Zoeske said. He felt a bit nervous when he noticed the threatening aura emanating from the other kid behind Bango. He had braids like Leon, but his hair was tightly wrapped.

  “I heard you mastered the basics in three days. Is that true?” Bango asked.

  “I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered the basics,” Zoeske said. “But I did my best.”

  “Bullshit,” the other kid said. “You don’t have to act nice in front of us. Your people always thought they were superior to us.”

  “Samuel, stop,” Bango demanded. “Excuse him.”

  “It’s fine,” Zoeske said. He walked towards Samuel and said, “Who are my people?” he asked in a suddenly calm voice.

  “Humph,” Samuel said. “As if it makes any difference.”

  “Jacob,” Zoeske said. “Do I look like the kingdom’s people?”

  Jacob, who knew a bit about Zoeske’s past, was concerned about which answer he should choose. But he decided to be honest and said, “Y… yes.”

  Everyone looked at Zoeske. They felt a weird feeling about him at this moment. Jacob, who was cautious, noticed his aura was unstable. It acted like a storm blowing a candle flame.

  “Ahem,” Alia said. She had come unnoticed by the kids. Her voice shifted the kids’ attention to her. “Shall we start?”

  “Yes!” they all said. Zoeske walked and sat close to Jacob.

  “Don’t worry,” Jacob whispered in Zoeske’s ear. “You can dye your hair black if you want to.”

  Zoeske cheered up a bit. “Really?”

  “Yes,” Jacob said.

  “Jacob and Zoeske, shut up, please. We haven’t even started the lesson yet.”

  “Today we will start talking about the other two categories of Positive magic,” Alia began to explain. “Magic of Things and Magic of Possession are both considered intermediate levels of magic due to their need for highly advanced skills in controlling magical aura. This might be new to all of you except Bango and Samuel. They already know how to use these categories. So, from now on, I will not explain things theoretically.”

  She pointed toward an empty space beside her, the space between the warehouse and the village. She said, “You two are going to have a practice match. Both of you are allowed to use your abilities, but you are not allowed to threaten the other’s life.”

  Samuel and Bango said, “Got it.”

  They faced each other, and immediately their auras intensified. Alia commented, “To prepare for the battle, both of them unconsciously used enhancement on their whole bodies, because an enhanced punch would lead to severe damage if you were vulnerable.”

  Samuel’s posture changed as if he were grabbing a dagger. Suddenly, his aura flowed intensively toward his hand, gradually forming a dagger in his right hand. On the other side, Bango, who stood normally, took his shirt off and threw it on the ground. He knelt down and sent his magic to the shirt. This act confused the other kids, but an aura was evidently seen around the shirt even after Bango stood up again and walked away from it.

  “Samuel has used the Magic of Things,” Alia said. “I wouldn’t say this is the only way you can use this magic, but it’s one way out of many. People can materialize textures, detailed objects, or even liquids.”

  Zoeske whispered to Jacob, “This is how we can implement the approach you told me about a few days ago.”

  “Yes, although my example was to materialize a thing, which is a kinky hair in my example, to get its properties,” Jacob whispered back. “While in reality, some abilities don't even use the Magic of Things.”

  “And the way Bango sent his aura to the shirt was by using the Magic of Possession,” Alia continued her explanation. “It’s a magic that allows you to transfer your aura to anything, including humans.”

  The match between Bango and Samuel was about to start. Bango’s mysterious action kept Samuel skeptical about whether this action was intentionally trying to make him extra cautious, or if it was actually a trap. Meanwhile, Samuel conjured a very dangerous weapon that could be used for assassination purposes.