With a wave of a hand, the fallen tree flew up in the air. Following the first, four more trees flew up, leaving behind their glossy stumps, like the one from earlier.

Aria waved her other hand, separating the canopies and the trunk. Her left hand curled into a fist, crushing the canopies together into a single pile of leaves and twigs. The heap floating in mid-air started producing smoke as muffled sounds of wood burning filled the ears of the three humans present.

The boy’s eye focused on the floating ball of flames hovering in mid-air, gradually turning to ashes.

‘If I learn magic, will I also be able to do something like this someday?’ The boy couldn’t help but think as he stared at the scene in front of him in a trance.

With a distinct sound of droplets of water knocking against each other, a little stream of water floated from the lake, reaching out towards the floating ball of flaming leaves and twigs. The stream formed a curve in midair, barely brushing against the rim of the boy’s right ear, snapping him out of a trance he fell into while observing the scene in front of him.

The boy shuddered as he felt his ear turning cooler before noticing the water flowing barely past his head. It startled him for a moment before he looked at the Woman doing it, who returned him a playful smile.

Wiping his ear, the boy looked ahead at the scene unfolding before him, getting lost within it once more.

With a sizzling sound, the water blanketed the ball of flames, causing the ball to dim. Under the glow of sunlight, the floating mass shrunk at a rapid speed, ripples appearing on the water’s surface, as it turned grey by a few shades.

Within a few moments, it was less than a quarter of its former size, forming a ball of a dense grey liquid, not allowing any sunlight through.

With a splash, the ball smashed against the ground a moment later.

Zack covered his front with his hands instinctively to not get drenched by the liquid.

However, to his surprise, the splash never happened. The ball of grey liquid bounced against the ground before spreading over to the nearby trees. With another splashing sound, the grey liquid covered the ground around the trees as a faint scent of burnt wood filled the area.

The woman to his side heaved a breath before her right fist opened like a blooming flower. Zack’s eye moved to look at the floating trunks, only to find them separating into wooden beams and planks of various sizes.

With resounding sounds of wood colliding against wood, the various planks one after another attached themselves to the wooden cabin, fixing the holes within while making it a lot more practical to live in.

Zack blinked while watching, ‘If everyone made their houses like this, wouldn’t construction be easy?’

As if reading the boy’s thoughts, the woman said, “I also used to think if everyone made their houses like this, we could make cities in a day. But the issue with this is it drains a lot of magic and needs an intricate control. If you mess up even the slightest, it can cause major issues. Also, to make large cities, you’d naturally also need a certain level of knowledge about construction, which everyone doesn’t have. Usually, only builder dwarves use this technique. Phew, it’s done.”

Heaving a tired breath, the woman wiped the perspiration off her forehead as she looked at the patched cottage before her.

Scratching her cheek, she said, “Not the best, but it works out. Hey, William, snap out of it and check if anything here can cause a problem.”

The man turned his head over before heaving a long sigh. With lingering melancholy in his voice, he said, “It’s alright. It reminds me of the old days. It’s half decent. You did an alright job.”

“Half decent?” The woman’s brow twitched as she inquired in a questioning tone.

With a plain face, as if stating facts, the man replied, “Yeah, I wouldn’t wanna go in, let alone live there. It’s barely half-decent because it looks nice and is made by you. Otherwise, it isn’t even that.” His voice turned to that of concern as he continued, “I told you many times to not do construction. You’re just not cut out for it. Imagine if a strong wind blows. How will the planks hold on? And what will happen to the one living inside? At least use some nails to fix them in place.”

While speaking the last bit, William shook his head, his helpless expression saying, ‘It can’t be helped.’

Aria rubbed her forehead before waving her hand once more. The ground popped open numerous tiny holes, from which metallic spikes flew towards the planks. With a clanking noise, the metallic spikes embedded themselves within the planks like nails to hold them in place.

William nodded in satisfaction, saying, “Well done. Now, let’s go in.”

With a creak, the door opened as Aria went in.

Aria’s expression immediately dimmed as she walked out of the cottage. With another wave of a hand, green lights flew within the cottage like countless fireflies.

A moment later, through a window, a cloud of dust flew out.

Aira nodded before going back in, looking at the clean living-space within.

Turning to Zack, she said, “It’s ready. You can live here for the time being then. Now, for your meals, we’ll send them over. Don’t pluck any wild plants or fruits from here and eat them, okay?”

Zack nodded before asking hesitantly, “Umm… Can you send Samuel over so I can try sparring with him?”

Aria rubbed her chin while nodding, “Alright. But before sparring, you should get something to eat. We all should, actually. I’ll go back quickly and make something to eat and send Samuel over. You can both have breakfast and then spar later.”

“Okay,” Zack nodded.

Aria turned to William before saying, “William, let’s go then.”

William’s gaze lingered on the boy in front of him for a moment before he nodded. However, a moment later, his expression changed to that of helplessness as he said with a dry chuckle, “Haha… It looks like the effect wore off. I can’t stand up now, let alone walk. You’ll have to carry me.”

Aria sighed before saying, “Fine.”

Carrying William in a princess-carry, she left the cottage.

Seeing the figures of the two dissolve into the horizon, the warm smile on the boy’s face vanished as his gaze turned a few degrees colder.