“So, Lucky,” said Sumara to the kid, looking like she was going to give him an explanation. “There is a single entity known the Force that exists in you, in me, in every living being. The Force can be categorised into three different forces; Energy Force, Weapon Force, and Magic Force.”

“Yes, miss,” replied Lucky, listening to her intently while being observed by his parents in the background.

They were back at their home, and they brought Sumara back with them for her to test and see if their son could learn magic. Earlier, when the Demon girl had questioned them looking shocked, Lakshmi leapt forward with great eagerness and requested her to come home with them later so that they see if her son could learn magic or not.

Indra tried to put up some resistance, but when his wife insisted on trying, he had no choice but to go along with her plan. He was worried that his son might fail like him, however, a small part of him was hoping that he would succeed where the father had failed.

Since they had grocery shopping to do, they agreed to meet each other near the entrance to the town. From there, they parted; Lucky and his parents going to grocery shopping while Sumara finally went searching for another restaurant to have her meal at. It was not until an hour later the Chand family finished shopping and arrived at the town entrance to find Sumara waiting for them.

“Were you waiting for a long time?” Lakshmi asked her, looking worried.

“No. I just arrived moments before.”

Although she had replied with a smile, Lucky’s mother realised the girl was just being humble to them. This made the esteem of the girl increase in Lakshmi’s eyes, who did not care what race someone belonged to as long as they were a nice person to interact with.

After that, Lakshmi had Lucky mount and sit in front of his father while she had Sumara sit behind her. At first, the Demon girl was against that, stating that she was not worthy of riding the same horse as her. However, she had to give in when Lakshmi grew serious and stated that not accepting her help is the same as insulting her.

So, after getting on the horse, both Indra and Lakshmi made their horses move and go into a full canter to reach their home. It did not take them much time to reach their home, and once they dismounted, the older woman requested Sumara to immediately test her son’s capability to use magic.

“While the Force is categorised into three different Forces, it doesn’t mean it’s different. The main reason for the categorisation is to help identify the purpose and usage of the skills of the user,” she explained to the boy, who listened to her explanation intently. “Right now, we’re going to see if you can use the Magic Force. Just watch me.”

She placed the palm of her hand out and chanted, “Oh Spirits of Water, come together and solidify to form a ball.”

In an instant, a magic circle formed on the palm of her hand before water began spilling out of it, but none of it dropped. Instead, it floated into the air and began converging into taking on the shape of a ball. Once that was done, she gestured for him to come over, and once he stood next to her, requested him to poke it with his finger.

“Poke it?” He asked, looking nervously at the water. “Wouldn’t it spill, miss?”

She smiled and said, “It won’t. Come on. No need to be nervous.”

With her encouraging words pushing him on, Lucky raised his finger and gently poked at the water. It was a quick dip in and out of the water before anything could happen. Even so, the water seemed to absorb his hand and let him withdraw without so much as spilling a drop.

“Wow!” He exclaimed, looking amazed. “It didn’t spill.”

“Concentration and focus are the main factors in keeping your spells strong and unbreakable,” she explained. “The stronger your grip over them are, the stronger your magic becomes.”

She tilted her hand and let the water drop, causing it to splash on the grass and turned to face him.

“It’s your turn, Lucky,” she said with a smile.

He nodded and gulped, suddenly feeling nervous when his turn arrived. She noticed that and smiled pleasantly, reaching her hand out and placing it gently on his shoulder.

“Why are you nervous?”

“I… I’m worried that I might, um, fail,” he admitted weakly.

She smiled and shook her head before poking him playfully on the forehead.

“That’s the wrong attitude to have, Lucky,” she said pleasantly. “Each and every person in this world goes to something new every day and tries out new things that they had never seen before or heard about. So, what do they do? Do they just feel nervous and get jittery?”

And she made a mocking impression of her teeth making the sound, which made him laugh. Then she smiled cheerfully at him.

“So, don’t be nervous and keep a positive attitude!”

He nodded, but he still felt worried and asked slowly, “But… What if I fail…?”

“And what if you fail?” She asked, and he looked curiously at her. “Will your parents scold you? Will they hurt you? Or will they throw you out because you’re a disappointment?” Then she shook her head and smiled softly at him and said gently, “They won’t because they’re your parents, Lucky, and you mean a lot more to them than your achievements. So, it’s okay to fail, but it does matter if you just stay down. That’s what losers do. Winners get back up. They fail, but they get back up again and even if the cycle repeats, they will never give up on getting back up.”

As he looked at her in amazement, she leaned back and looked expectantly at him.

“You have the name ‘luck’ in your very name, Lucky. Feel the confidence of your name, and use it to build your confidence in yourself,” she said with a serene smile. “Now, it’s time for you to show your stuff, and remember, failure is okay, but getting back up matters.”

He nodded and said, “Yes,” and suddenly looked very determined.

This was the first time he had been in this kind of position, so he felt nervous about doing it. However, after hearing her inspirational words, he suddenly felt a new energy kindle within him and felt as though he could do anything if he put his mind to it.

He took a deep breath and breathed out slowly to calm his mind before holding his hand out and chanting the spell out loud.

“Oh, Spirits of Water, come together and form into a solid ball,” he said, changing the chant a little bit to suit how he would say it.

There was a moment of silence where nothing happened. He was about to think he had failed when, all of a sudden, a magic circle formed in the palm of his outstretched hand and water began pouring out of it. He was worried that it might spill, but his worries were unnecessary because it floated into the air and began to take the shape of a large ball.

“Indra! Look! Look!” Lakshmi exclaimed, shaking her husband’s shoulder and pointing at her son doing magic. “Do you see it? Lucky is using magic! He’s using magic!”

“Yes…! I see it…!” Indra said, staring at it with a mixture of shock and amazement on his face.

Sumara was pleased with him being able to use magic and remarked, “You’re doing good, Lucky!”

Lucky nodded, smiling with great happiness at succeeding in using magic on his first try. However, his smile slowly faded away when the water ball began to grow bigger and bigger until it was size of a large balloon.

“Oh no!” The Demon girl shouted, shocked at what was happening. Thinking quickly on her feet, she ordered him, “Lucky, throw it into the air! Throw it now!”

Heeding her words, Lucky gritted his teeth tightly and chucked it high into the air. The large water ball looked like was ready to burst, however, Sumara quickly aimed her hand at it and activated her magic by speaking rapidly.

“Oh Spirits of Wind, come forward and carry it high into the air!”

As she finished, a large magic circle appeared beneath the water ball before it flew high into the air. A moment later, it exploded and caused a shower of water to drop down on top of them. As such, both Sumara and Lucky got completely drenched by the water, and once it settled down, they turned to look at each other before letting out a laugher in unison.

“That was unexpected!” She said, smiling gleefully and pushing her hair out of her face.

He laughed too, but his laugher quickly subsided as he felt guilty for causing that to happen.

“I’m sorry, miss,” he said to her, causing her to look and blink at him in surprise.

“It was your first time, Lucky,” she said, moving forward and patting him cheerfully on the shoulder. “No one expected you to be in control right from day one. But it is good to see your capability of using magic is quite high.”

“Really?” He asked her, looking amazed.

She nodded and said, “Yes. You see, if you had continued pumping your power into the spell, the water ball would’ve grown so large that, when it exploded, it could’ve become a tidal wave and would’ve flooded this whole area.”

“No way!” He exclaimed in shock. “That’s dangerous!”

“Yes, and that’s why I told you to throw it into the air so that I could propel it even further with my wind magic,” she explained with a smile. “Although it became a rain, it’s much better than flooding.”

“I agree,” he said with a smile in agreement.

Just then, his parents came over, and Lakshmi asked, “Are the two of you okay?”

While Sumara nodded in reply, Lucky said, “We’re completely soaked, mom.”

“Ah. It’s alright then,” she replied with a smile. “You both can have a bath after this.”

“Me as well?” The Demon girl asked, looking surprised.

“Well, yes,” stated the older woman, looking as if that was obvious. When Sumara was about to decline, Lakshmi forestaller her by saying, “Thanks to your efforts, we found out that our son can use magic. Even my husband got impressed, and he’s the one who said he wouldn’t having Lucky get taught any magic.”

Indra nodded from beside her and said, “Yes. Well, in the past, I had some bad experience with magic, so I put a mental block on it. However, after seeing my son use magic on such a large scale, I re-evaluated my belief and it opened my eyes. For that, I deeply thank you.”

With that, he bowed his head to her and made her look surprised. She waved her hand in a fluster, trying to get him to raise his head.

“So, um, does that mean you want me to teach your son magic?” Sumara asked, sighing and looking towards them.

“If it’s alright with you.”

“Yes. I’m happy to teach him magic.”

When she said that, she beamed at them very happily as if she was thrilled at the thought of teaching someone else magic.

“By the way, how old are you, miss?” Lucky asked her curiously.

Sumara turned to him and smiled before asking, “Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age?”

He blinked in surprise, but she chuckled and said, “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

She rummaged through her cloak and pulled out a card which she handed to Indra. He took it and realised instantly it was her Adventurer Card containing her name, her age, where she was from, and her adventurer rank.”

“What?!” He exclaimed in shock. “You’re 25-years-old and a B-Ranked Adventurer?!”

“Yes!” She replied with a grin on her face much to the shock of everyone there.

The reason Lucky was reacting like that was, not due to the adventurer rank that he understood nothing about, but due to her age. No one would guess that this young adult was actually a 25-year-old Demon woman.

“But… Why are you…?” Asked Lakshmi hesitantly, gestured at the girl’s appearance.

“I was born with a curse,” she said with a sigh with a weary smile on her face. “I found about this from a travelling magician, who uncovered the curse but had no way to break it. So, I left the Manjuvad Demon Clan in the Bazaraka Continent and began travelling around the world with hopes of finding a way to break it. Till now, I’ve found nothing that could break it.”

She sighed deeply, making them feel sorry for her.

“Anyway, if you’re willing to let me teach your son, then could I request that I stay here and teach directly? You see, I don’t have much of finances to afford a room in town and the travel fee to get from there to here.”

“Not at all! In fact, we’ll be delighted if you could stay with us and teach our son,” said Lakshmi with a smile. “Isn’t that fine, Indra?”

“I don’t see any problems with that, and we have a room to spare, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said in agreement.

When they turned to look at the Demon girl, she understood and said, “In that case, please treat me well while I’m in your care. In return, I promise to teach your son all about magic to the best of my knowledge.”

“Yes!” Lakshmi and Indra said in agreement, and they all smiled happily at each other.

That night, once everyone had their dinner and headed into their own rooms, Lucky entered his room and closed the door behind. He was feeling sleepy, but there was a sense of eagerness on his face with the smile that was hovering on his face.

“Man, what a day,” he commented, walking over to his bed and sitting down on it. “I learnt about magic, did my first magic spell without too much problems, and now I have a magic teacher to teach me magic. That’s so cool!”

He was feeling happy, but what bothered him was about that fact that his father had to step in and help him. Thinking back on those events, he realised he had a lot of work ahead of him to be strong and powerful so that he does not have to depend on anyone to save his life, nor be a burden to people.

“That’s it! I’ll become so strong that I will never be defeated!” He thought and raised his right hand before clenching it tightly in a gesture of his determination.

Suddenly, he heard a voice say in his mind, “That is a vague goal.”

“What the?!” Lucky exclaimed, looking around in shock.

At that moment, his body began to get surrounded by a glowing light before it flew out of him. After flying around the room, it came to hover in mid-air and take the form of a man. He was covered in a white glow while he appeared to be wearing white robes from top to bottom. This stranger also had long hair that fell all the way down to his waist. Particles of light slowly emanated from all around the stranger, who glowed in a light that did not belong to this world.

For a moment, this stranger had his eyes shut, but a moment later, he slowly opened them and focused them on him. By that time, Lucky had gotten off the bed and was staring at this glowing figure of a man he did not know anything about.

The glowing man appeared to have a calm and serene expression on his face as he stared down at the kid, who was stunned with his mouth slightly open because of a mixed feeling of shock, disbelief, and awe.

“Hello, friend,” he said pleasantly.