Jake and Elizabeth had begun their climb.
It wasn't so difficult to copy Wukong's movements. Jake had spent some time fighting monkeys in the forest, so he'd learned beforehand how to be agile in the woods. He understood the strengths of being able to swiftly change locations.
It went without a doubt that Wukong's build was also the easiest to mimic.
'Elizabeth's bear climbing is so amusing. She's hugging the tree with all her fours, but somehow, she climbs up steadily and fast... it's not the first time she's done that,' Jake thought as he looked to the side. He had to look a little up because Elizabeth was better than him in this field.
She wasn't just adorable but also efficient! Her friend, Sio, was also beside her, ensuring her safety.
It wasn't needed because of Jake's safety measures.
In fact, Elizabeth had come to love them.
"Wild!"
She purposely let the tree go to dangle on her safety rope. She swung left and right and even kicked the tree's bark to get a different angle and wind in her long hair.
It was so much fun that she didn't want to climb up the tree as fast as she usually would.
There were limits to her playfulness.
Jake grew irritated with that but couldn't bring himself to scold Elizabeth. It wasn't because he was aiming to receive a subclass from her, but something within him refused to stop her from having so much fun.
'Do I have a weak spot against her like Mrs. Minerva?' Jake thought.
Just like Minerva would, he allowed her a few minutes of fun before pulling the rope up and forcing Elizabeth back onto the track.
She smiled at him brightly.
"You should try this too, Archer!" Elizabeth shouted.
Jake shook his head, "I'll keep tabs on your safety like Mrs. Minerva would."
"You can't favor grandma more than me!" Elizabeth pouted as she replied.
Jake grinned, "This attitude comes with age... but I have doubts if you will be the same as me or Mrs. Minerva once older. There's so much wilderness in you!"
Elizabeth loved to hear that. She sped up and went past Jake in the blink of an eye.
Wukong and Jake smiled and picked up the pace.
At last, Jake and Elizabeth were on the top of the turtle forest. The shell up here was smooth and covered in a wooden floor, making it an unusual sight. Jake didn't know how nature could survive without sunlight.
It was something he'd ask Minerva later, but deep inside, he knew what kind of an answer he'd receive.
Magic.
It was all magic.
On top of the shell was also a small wooden house. It was only one floor and looked simple and minimalistic. It stood out in the vista of the blue sky and wooden floor, but there was a natural charm to it that made it seem like a required piece of the turtle forest's puzzle.
Minerva and Alice were having royal tea inside that mansion, recalling good old times.
Jake and Elizabeth's appearance brought them back from this voyage. The old grandmas waved at them and invited them inside for snacks and drinks.
Jake asked for water only for a drink because he was worried about his bloodline and didn't want to get drunk in Elizabeth's presence. He didn't mind eating as much as the little beast beside him, though.
Eating like a squirrel with a broad smile on her face, Elizabeth was the center of the attention.
Alice, however, denied that image in her exchange with Elizabeth.
Minerva snatched everyone's attention, "That's the place where Alice and I had trained for years... by virtue of her royal philosophy, the turtle forest stores an army of different kinds of soldiers."
As she said that, the forest rumbled.
The trees must have reacted to her mana. Years of inactivity made the spectacle of the rusty trees more dramatic. Suspense filled the forest below Jake and Elizabeth.
These two stared at the changes with widened eyes.
The smallest trees had somehow shaped into humanoid monsters. Each wielded a different weapon, including a staff and an orb! Their skin was as light as the brown trees towering above them, but their armors were as dark as possible, as though painted with dried blood.
The soldiers circled around the clearing like an organized legion and crumbled into rigid forms.
Minerva and Alice recalled their first meeting when they saw the weakest soldiers.
[You must be Asta Bow Alice, right? The old geezer said to take a look at you and see what hard work really is! I don't know how a descendant of the bow branch as young as me even knows him, but I want to see the hard work he mentioned and praised!]
[Ah! You must be Asta Orb Minerva! The prodigy! I'm so happy to meet you! Can we exchange pointers?]
[Exchange pointers? You training magic?]
[I don't! But I'd like to talk about your magic! I'll share my experience of archery with you!]
[I don't need any of that! Magic is the best and most self-sufficient! It's so much better than archery!]
[Please, don't be like that! As an archer, I know a lot about wind! An archer's anchor point, his strength, the mass of an arrow, its build and mana inside it, and the wind and even gravity! A lot of it can impact the force and trajectory behind arrows! If you can apply those principles to your wind magic, don't you think you can make them much stronger and more effective?
The wind is lighter than a feather, but as you conjure wind magic, your mana unconsciously gives your wind magic weight. The more weight, the more damage! It's the simplest method to increase the force behind wind magic! If you were to learn archery and its secrets, wouldn't you be able to use more advanced wind magic? Don't you want to give it a go?]
[No, thanks! That sounds so stupid and useless! It's a rattling of a loser, isn't it? Asta Bow has been on a decline for a few generations, so you just want your house to be significant and get some contribution! You're so weak that you might as well be gone, and no one will notice that! I can't believe I had made my way here only to hear such pointless stuff!
I'm going home! I will punch the old geezer in the stomach for making me come here!]
[You can't! Mr. Weston is the kindest scholar I've met!]
[I don't care about you!]
[Ah, don't be so cruel!]
Alice's philosophy as a royal and an archer was that each house should help each other become stronger by sharing their practices and secrets. The exchange she dreamed of had never happened in her life.
That said, through the consequences of events, Alice and Minerva became best friends. They both studied each weapon and tried to apply what they learned to her magic.
[The Asta Bow has no future as of now... so you have to make the magic the strongest!]
[I will be the strongest! I promise you that, Alice!]
[Thank you, Minerva... I couldn't have been blessed with a better friend...]
[Why are you crying?]
[You're crying, too.]
[I'm not.]
[You are! Haha!]
The old grandmas faintly beamed at each other.