A loud scream filled the small alley in the early morning, scaring all of the birds who were playing and singing peacefully. The villagers had casually glanced at the inn, and then continued about their day. It was just another peaceful day in this quiet village.

"What are you doing? are you crazy?" Zoeske said. "Leave my pant."

"Stop jumping around like a monkey! these beds are made of thin wood and will break easily," the woman said.

"Then stop forcing me to wear your daughter's dress," Zoeske said. "This is embarrassing."

The woman surrendered after a long chase. She said, "Oh God, you are so stubborn. Fine, I won't let you wear this dress." Her eyes darted to the ceiling, looking carefully at the ceiling above Zoeske. He suspected she might be trying to distract him.

A liquid started to drip over Zoeske's shoulder and quickly evaporated after it touched him. He looked up and said, "is it leaking?"

"Tadaaa!" a strange voice came from the outside, catching the attention of both Zoeske and the woman. Zoeske was shocked. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. He noticed the woman covering her smile with her hand, which further confused him.

"What was that?" he asked, his voice fading away slowly. Then, his body fell heavily onto the bed like a chain.

The girl who wore a cone-shape hat entered the inn. Zoeske looked at her with a fear filled in his eyes and a hint of amusement. She bent toward him, getting her face closer to his. She said, "What a weird look in your eyes! My name is Pondra. And yours?"

"What in the world have you done to me?" Zoeske said.

"Don't worry. It will just paralyze you temporarily," she said with a smiling eyes.

"I am Miera, the owner of this inn," Miera said. "Actually, Pondra paid for your stay last night, though I wouldn't have charged you anyway."

Zoeske looked at Pondra, and in her eyes, he saw a genuine care for the place and him. He decided to open up and say, "Zoeske, my name is Zoeske."

"Nice to meet you Zoeske," Pondra said.

"Was that your magic?" He asked.

"Hmmmmmmm, It's a secret. Until you say, Nice to meet you too," she said.

"Nice to meet you too," Zoeske said. "Anyway, teach me magic!"

"What? I barely can have a small conversation with you," she said, with puffy cheeks.

"I don't have time to waste here then," Zoeske said. "Let me go."

Pondra and Miera looked at each other. After a disappointed sigh, they got closer to Zoeske and lifted him from the bed. He said, "W... where are you both taking me?"

A minute later, Zoeske regained control over his body. However, he was forced to wear Miera's daughter's dress. His angry face looked similar to that of an angry cat. Pondra said, "You look cute."

"Shut up!" Zoeske said annoyed.

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She held his hand, pulled him towards her, and then forced him to leave the inn. He didn't show any resistance, because he wanted to leave anyway. When the door of the inn opened, they saw a small alley that was crowded with people. It was tight and people were walking towards the right side, where a small shop was providing fresh breads. At this time of the day, some travelers stopped in this small village to sell goods, which contributed to making the village even more crowded.

"Let's take a turn around the inn," Pondra said excitedly, "The beauty of this village lies there."

She ran while holding Zoeske's hand. He felt a bit comfortable that someone taking care of him after what he saw in the wild. When they went behind the inn, there were a floating island that is triple the size of the village. It contains waterfalls that was raining over a green field that is wide as far as the eye can see, and the rain made multiple rainbows that made the scene even more charming.

Pondra looked at Zoeske with surprised eyes. She said, "You see? It's amazing."

He tried to quickly hide his amusement, saying, "Nothing special. I used to see that."

She laughed, then she said, "You are bad at lying. You came from north, and these floating islands only exist here, in the south."

He closed his eyes while his face was down. Afterward, both sat quietly on a worn-handmade wooden chair, enjoying the view and the warm breeze.

"Why do you want to learn magic?" Pondra said, breaking the silence.

"I want to become an explorer and stronger," Zoeske said.

The north people are known for having a hard life. Pondra stopped asking more about it, just to not bring back bad memories to his mind. She said, "In my opinion, you are too strong. We saw a lot of adults coming here with the same situation as you, who saw the brutality of the wild life. They were all traumatized and couldn't even speak after what they saw." She looked at him and continued, "But you are fine and energetic, but most importantly, motivated."

"My mom," he said. "was in similar situation like the passenger."

"I was trying to avoid making you recall bad memories," Pondra said, slapping her face.

Zoeske said, "it's fine, I am afraid that I forget about what happened to my mother."

"You know," she said, "becoming stronger is important, but power comes in many forms."

"What do you mean?!" He asked.

"Until last year, I was too quiet and self-focused when I went to school. My only focus was to get better at magic and obtain good grades. However, every year, I saw my classmates living happily and finishing S-rank tasks easily, even though they had average grades and barely used advanced magics. I kept questioning myself, 'Why?' But I was blind. My classmates were collaborating, and they used collaborative magic to enhance the basic magics. The power they had was not the one I had sought all this time; it was the power of social skill."

"Were you able to learn this skill?" Zoeske curiously asked.

"It's not a magical power, it's a power you can achieve by understanding human," she said. "Vocal and non-vocal communication all matters. Your view of them also changes how people recieve your massages."

"I don't understand what do you mean," Zoeske confused.

"You are now sitting, with your arms and legs closed," She said. "If someone saw you like that in a festival or even casually, they would think you don't want to talk to anyone, and it's actually reflecting your personality. You would not have been interested in having a conversation with me if I didn't have magic. In a real battle, your mental state, physical state, environment, and all other aspects matter. However, even if everything was perfect for you in these aspects, fighting against a collaborative magician or explorer would still be an SSS-difficulty kind of task."

"Is there anyone who could defeated collaborative magicians or explorers?" Zoeske asked.

"Yes, actually many," she said. "As I said, in battles, there are many aspects, and among them are intelligence, will, and potential. There are explorers and magicians who naturally have a lot of magical energy that sometimes equals collaborative magic, but it all depends on that person, because having a lot of magical energy will be useless if the user is bad at using it."

"Won't you teach me magic?" Zoeske asked, trying to trick her by the flow of the questions.

"No," she answered. "But focus on observing how people communicate, build networks and relationships. You'll find people who will teach you even more than you ask for. Believe me, if people didn't like you, they wouldn't care to do anything for you."

"But you gave me this advice without me being nice with you," he said.

"Maybe because I was kind of similar to you when I was at your aga," she said.

Zoeske and Pondra had a long conversation afterward. He decided to stay longer in this village, trying to adapt to the changes and prepare for his journey to the Malin village.