It’s afternoon, and the sun was brighter than ever. The warm wind blew the grass and made a wave-like motion with it.

  Jacob, who was clutching Jacha’s hair after he was scaled down, was looking around, searching for any trees to take a break under.

  At this point, Pondra felt exhausted, as she had already spent her energy and aura to scale Jacob down. Jacha, who was trying to pace himself with her, noticed her heavy breathing while she was jogging and her steps started to slow down.

  Jacob jumped twice, and Jacha noticed that urgent call.

  “Jacob wants something,” Jacha said.

  He placed his hand in front of his forehead and exposed his palm for Jacob to jump onto it. Jacob slowly moved forward and pushed Jacha’s hairs with his tiny body. He was falling every time he stepped on the tangled hair.

  Finally, he jumped onto Jacha’s hand. Jacha looked at him, waiting for Jacob to communicate using gestures. Jacob looked at Jacha’s huge face in front of him, fascinated for a while, and later he pointed with his hand at a tree that was far away from them.

  “A tree,” Jacha said. “I guess it’s time to take a break.”

  “It would be better,” Pondra said. Each word punctuated with a heavy, labored breath.

  After reaching the tree, Pondra sat and leaned against it. The tree was thin, but it had grown many branches, which provided enough shade for a group of people.

  A strong wind blew through the tree. While Jacob was standing on Jacha’s hand, he fell down because of the wind. Abruptly, he heard a loud sound getting closer; he looked up, and his eyes widened after finding out it was a fruit falling from the tree.

  Jacha chuckled at him and caught the fruit. He placed Jacob on the ground, then he took a small piece of the fruit and placed it in front of him.

  “It’s like feeding an ant,” Jacha laughed.

  “He looks funny,” Pondra said.

  Jacob was annoyed. He started yelling with a high-pitched voice, due to his tiny size.

  “Do you see any bugs around? It will be fun to watch a bug fight,” Pondra sneered.

  (This woman is crazy. Thank God Jacha is here with me,) Jacob thought.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Give him a break,” Jacha laughed.

  “This fruit tastes amazing,” Pondra exclaimed.

  “It’s Coapple,” Jacha said. “Its seeds turn to a thick liquid once they’re exposed to the air, and it’s packed with sweet cocoa butter.”

  “Oh, I remember it now; they plant it while keeping a layer of its flesh around the seed so it doesn’t melt,” Pondra said. “This is my first time trying it, by the way.”

  A few minutes later, they prepared to continue their journey to the kingdom.

  “We’ll move now,” Jacha said.

  “Ok.”

  He placed Jacob on his head again and started to walk.

  “I’m curious about something, if you allow me to ask,” Pondra said while trying to match his speed.

  “Ask me, but you might not get an answer,” Jacha said.

  “Geez,” Pondra complained. “What is your Magical Assessment result?”

  “I can’t answer that,” Jacha said.

  “Why?” Pondra asked, out of frustration.

  Jacha remained silent and kept walking.

  “Humph,” Pondra said. “Anyway, I didn’t really care, to be honest, but I want your opinion on mine. Mine is:”

  Magical Aura Capacity (MAC): 140 Magical Use Fluency (MUF): 60 Power: 20 Speed: 20 Knowledge: 7

  “That’s quite impressive for someone who recently graduated,” Jacha said. “But I guess you want to know your weaknesses to improve them, right?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “You almost have a magician’s score, but you’re trying to match the average power score, which is 30, and this is not necessarily bad but also not good enough for a magician based on their main ability.”

  “I thought about it too, but my ability is kind of unique. So it was hard for me to decide what I should focus on to improve now,” she said.

  “I suggest you focus on speed,” Jacha said.

  “But I got an average score in it,” Pondra said.

  “Forget the scores; your ability is to scale down any object and return it to its original size,” Jacha said. “In combat, it’s hard to use this ability without having higher speed movements than your enemies.”

  “Elaborate, please,” Pondra asked.

  “I’ll provide you with one example where you can use your ability in combats, but you may find more creative ways to do it too,” Jacha explained. “Imagine you have already placed multiple huge rocks on top of tall trees, and you have magical strings connected to each of the rocks. If you’re faster than your opponent, you can easily entice an opponent, who sees you as physically weaker than him, to come under one of the rocks and then return it to its original size to fall on him. However, if you were slower than him, you would be easier to catch, and this approach would need extra effort to perform.”

  “This is a logical way to use my ability against someone physically stronger than me,” Pondra pointed out. “But how can I improve my speed anyway?”

  “This is not tied to your physical performance,” Jacha said. “Some people use tools or even magic to improve their speed.”

  “I guess I have to do some research; it’s better to improve my speed without using much of my aura,” Pondra said.

  “You’re on the right track,” Jacha said. “Your ability is already consuming much of your aura.”

  (What are they talking about? I barely understand some of it. What is even a Magical Assessment? How does it work?) Jacob was confused.