Head filled with hesitation, Jin knocked on the door. A low growling voice came back.

"For the last time, Samlas, no, I can't keep it down. Inventing is noisy. Deal with it!"

"Umm... not Samlas," Jin replied from the other side of the door.

"Jin? Okay, come in, sorry."

Now that he knew he was welcome, he entered with a much lighter heart.

"Cia?" he asked when he saw her standing on the ceiling, looking directly at the floor covered in heaps of papers, some scrunched up, some neatly aligned so that the schematics on them would turn into a single massive blueprint. "Umm... What the hell are you doing?"

"Getting some fresh perspective."

"On the ceiling?"

"I already tried the walls. It didn't work."

Jin looked around the room. There were tear marks on the wallpaper, left there by her claws, showing exactly where she had trodden.

"What exactly are you–"

"Wait, wait, wait!" she quickly silenced him and gave the schematics one final unblinking look. "No, still can't figure it out," she muttered and walked around the room, back onto the floor. "So, did you want anything?" she finally gave Jin her undivided attention.

"Umm... Just to show you something, but that can wait."

"No, no, go ahead. I need something new to think about anyway."

The boy proceeded with a short demonstration of his magic. This time, there was nothing around to break, and he didn't want to risk making a mess in her room, so he simply settled for a showcase of his enchanted golden fist and a story of the broken concrete slab.

"Hah, so you finally did it. Nice! Was it without any injuries, this time?" she smirked, recalling all the past times when Manuel or Samlas had to patch his hand up when his magic didn't quite work as he had intended.

"Yes, it was," He frowned at her. "Now, please tell me you haven't made a great magical breakthrough like everybody else."

"Everybody else?" She raised one eyebrow at the statement.

"Yeah. Kaili's out there making deadly whips out of her vines and Airo learned to fly. Have you also discovered some incredible magic? Some imp superpower?"

"Huh, I really need to check up on the two. Haven't seen them use any magic in a while."

"Well, you haven't left your room in a while."

"True, but for a good reason." A certain spark appeared in her massive amber eyes. "Come have a look at this! And be prepared to have your mind blown!" She scurried over to the blueprint laid out on the floor across several sheets of paper. "So?"

"So... What?"

"Ugh! You can't see it?"

"I guess not?"

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, have you never seen a picture in your life?"

"If this is a picture, I'm the example of modern artistry."

Cia shrugged. "Well, technically humans are the result of bioengineering, so as far as being an art piece goes..."

"Just tell me what I'm looking at."

"Isn't it obvious? These are feet, legs, torso... Are you getting what I'm talking about?"

Jin frowned. "Please tell me you're not reverse-engineering a human."

"Oh sweet ley lines, you're a dumbass. No, it's not a human! It looks nothing like a human though! It's an automaton!"

"A what?"

"Ah, okay, right, simpleton terms, Cia, use simpleton terms. Umm... You know how some places use simple golems to do manual labour?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, this is pretty much an advanced golem. But the thing is, making one is really hard and has to be done by a wizard. What I'm trying to do is to create something much less demanding. See here, in its chest? A core of condensed magic that can work as a battery, and then here, in the head, is an artefact that allows it to not only follow instructions but to understand and interpret them in real-time."

Jin looked at the squiggly lines on the papers. He was still stuck at identifying which part was supposed to be the head, but at the very least, he was able to deduce that the important parts Cia was talking about were the ones marked with blue crayons.

"Okay... But wouldn't a golem suffice?"

"Of course, you'd think that. You can never dream big. Golems are dumb. You tell them to do a task and they do it. This thing could understand what you're telling them. They'd be thinking. Intelligent, but mostly mechanical. Assistants, rather than simple workers. Golems also eat tons of magic. This thing could be much more efficient. From what I've calculated so far, it would only use 15 milicias per hour of work time."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Mili Cias?" Jin asked, spawning a slightly malicious grin on the imp's face. "You named it after yourself?"

"Well, what else was I supposed to do? I asked Manuel if there is a unit of magic, but he said that depends on what form of energy the magic takes. So I simply asked if there is something that would be used when measuring the density of magic based on its total area, time of condensation, and time of natural release."

"And what did he say?"

"He just disappeared. Haven't seen him since. So, if the best wizard in the world doesn't know, I'll just name it after myself."

"So... umm... you can actually create something like this? A piece of thinking magic?"

"Yeah, I already did something like that. It's not difficult. In a simple form, you just create a bunch of conditions for different behaviours of the magic, but I need to find a way to effectively store it for maximum life expectancy. Not to imagine that as far as actual intelligence goes, it will need to store pieces of information and access them based on its own needs. That part will be... complicated. There aren't that many books about it. Well, there is one that Manuel has, and I have no idea in what language it is."

"Right. So... another magical breakthrough."

"If you wanna call it that."

Jin let out a heavy sigh. Nothing she talked about made any sense to him. Everything that Manuel told him about humans being the perfect blank slate suddenly seemed so unimportant. His friend was here designing a revolution in technology. What good was his measly enchantment?

As if the wizard felt the boy's soul slowly descending into the dark depths of sulking, he suddenly appeared in the room, accompanied by the typical shower of bright lights.

"Hello, my dear apprentices! I have–"

"No!" Cia snapped at him. Much to Jin's surprise, she picked up a pair of scissors and tossed them at the wizard, causing his magic to quickly teleport him aside.

"Have you lost your mind?" the boy asked. The grand wizard seemed too flabbergasted by the sudden assassination attempt to say a single word.

"He stood on my blueprint!" she yelled out and lifted a sheet of paper. The schematics on it were now covered with a single dirty print of his shoe.

"And that's a reason to toss sharp objects at me?" he asked, eyes popping out of their sockets.

"Oh, your magic can protect you from bullets, don't act like you were threatened. I just had to quickly get you off before you'd cause more damage."

The wizard and the boy looked at each other, both equally surprised. It seemed that the young imp felt completely okay with tossing more dangerous objects at Manuel, should the need arise.

"So, umm, Manuel, did you need something?" Jin asked to quickly shift the topic elsewhere?"

"Hmm? Oh yes! I did." He paused and clasped his hands. His gleaming smile indicated he was about to give them the grandest of all announcements. "After quite a long time, we finally have another–"

The sound of a cracking whip interrupted the wizard. Or, to be more specific, not the cracking itself, but rather what followed—a painful scream that rolled over the hills like a winter storm. Shivers slid down the children's backs. They recognised Kaili's voice. It took them a mere second to dash to the nearest window, scattering the neatly arranged blueprints all over the room. Their reaction was even faster than Manuel's.

Airo gently pat the young dryad on her back, while Manuel worked his magic. The large open wound on her arm was slowly closing, returning to its previous, healthy state. Now that the pain was finally subsiding, Kaili could once again think clearly, yet her voice couldn't quite express her feelings. Everyone was quiet, except for the occasional questions of the other three friends, if she was okay.

"Is it done?" Jin asked with his back turned to the whole scene.

"Not yet, don't turn around," Samlas replied. When the sight of the bleeding wound made him pass out, she barely managed to catch him, which only added to her current grumpiness.

Manuel sighed as his magic finished the work. "Alright, that should be fixed." His entire demeanour seemed a lot more sombre. "My apologies, I suppose I should've been monitoring the dangers of your magic more closely.

Kaili pulled her arm back. Although the wound was healed, the memories of the pain lingered in her mind. Her vines wrapped around her hand, like sentient bandages seeking to patch up an injury that was no longer there.

"Sorry," she whispered, not being able to say much more.

Manuel stood up and shook his head in an attempt to restart his emotions. "No need for apologies. All's fixed, no? But I do have to insist that you stop using such a spell. From this point on you are all forbidden from using harmful magic. If I catch you using it, I will seal your powers away, understood?" None of the four dared to argue with him on that. "Excellent. I am aware that spells useful for combat give you a direct sense of... security, I guess we could call it. You feel stronger, and less scared of things. It grants the feeling of protection and self-sufficiency. I know that far too well. But you lack the proper training and control. One should always be aware of the fact that magic doesn't belong to you. It can hurt you just like everyone else. So before someone tries to play with the more dangerous elements like fire or electricity, I want you to master your defences. Show me that you can maintain and adjust your auras and in due time, I shall allow you to use other spells again."

"Umm... When you say other spells..." Airo slowly approached the topic.

"Yes, you can fly. Even if you fall, you just glide back down, so there is little danger to it. But please, do be careful. I will not be able to protect you when we're apart."

"Apart? You're going somewhere?" Jin asked.

"Oh! Right! I haven't told you yet! No, I'm not going anywhere, but you are. We have a package to deliver!" He waved his arms around, conjuring a little puff of confetti.

"Great! It's been what? Five days since our last job? It's not really working out, is it, that service of yours?" Airo remarked.

"Merely a weaker month. Nothing to worry about," Manuel swept his comment under the rug.

"Wanna sit this one out?" Cia sat down next to Kaili and asked.

"No, no, I'm fine," she replied and gave the imp a faint but reassuring smile. "Just... a little shocked, that's all. I'll be okay when we set off."

"I'll go brew you some tea," Samlas offered and was on her way to the kitchen. Kaili took a breath to say something, but the fairy was faster. "Sweetened with honey, not sugar, I know, I know."

"Wait, Manuel?" Jin grabbed the wizard's attention.

"Hmm?"

"Even if we'll be away, wouldn't you still be able to watch over us? Why did you say that we'd be apart?"

"Are you sending us to some shut-off creepy old mine again?" Cia asked, her face filled with cold disgust when she remembered the entire adventure with Rudy.

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that. This one should be more pleasant. I got a request from the captain of a trans-lane merchant ship called Glorious Gale. Apparently, they lost some precious supplies in a storm. Stopping by the nearest city to restock would cost them a lot of time, so they opted for our services instead. Unfortunately, that means you'll be transported onto a moving vessel. It'll be hard for me to open a portal to something that's in motion. The captain agreed to slow down at the scheduled time of your arrival, but after that, it's full speed ahead to the final port, so you'll be on your own until then."

The kids looked at each other with mild concern.

"Oh don't worry. It's a safe trip, full of amazing sights, and the whole journey only lasts about seventeen hours."

"Seventeen hours??" they all shouted in unison.