Approaching the three of them were two seven-year-old boys.

“Let’s play!” One of the boys shouted while still quite a distance away.

Clay sighed and then told Cere, “They’re from a nearby village. They’re always so loud… even though I’m already surrounded by someone like that.”

“Clay.” Claire addressed her brother brazenly. “Revenge.”

Clay was baffled that his little sister knew such a big word, and not a very good one at that. By now, the two boys were in close proximity. One of the boys noticed Cere.

“Wait, who’s tha—”

“Rocks! Now!” Claire blustered, interrupting the boy who spoke and challenging them both. At Claire’s dominance, the boy held back his question but continued gawking at Cere. Cere tilted her head and smiled at the boy.

“I hate you two! Give me back my toy!” Claire accosted.

“Only if you win.” The boy grinned as he took out a toy from his pocket and flailed it around. The other boy beside him snickered at the fuming Claire. The toy was a cute little doll made of hay and skinned bark, decorated with flowers.

Clay had whispered their names to Cere before stepping in, “Alright let’s all calm down. Nine meters today?”

The two boys were Glen and Zeke. They both had peachy skin like the siblings and wore slightly shabby clothes. Glen had black hair and Zeke had dark-reddish hair.

“Whatever. What’s the bet today?” Zeke asked.

“My. Toy!” Claire briskly replied with smoke puffing out of her head.

“Yes, yes, whatever.” Zeke replied while slowly stuffing the toy back into his pocket.

“And what do you want?” Clay asked Zeke.

“When we win, she has to play with me! I mean, us!” Zeke was referring to Cere. Glen shrugged his shoulders and nodded in agreement.

Claire, instantly free from all anger in the entire world, abruptly said, “No.”

There was no way that her toy was better than Cere. Clay was silently proud of his little sister. But Cere had other plans.

“Claire, let’s get your toy back.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at Cere’s acceptance to the unfair deal, but her serious expression showed confidence. Cere continued.

“Okay, we’ll be Team C and you two can be Team Whatever.”

Zeke was still thinking about Cere’s acceptance but spat out a reply, “Yeah sure whatever. Wait wha—”

Glen snickered at Zeke and said, “Suits us well.” Then he shrugged again.

Cere then firmly gave a suggestion. “Ten meters.”

Clay was flabbergasted but didn’t show it, Glen’s eyes were widened, and Claire’s and Zeke’s mouths were agape. Ten meters was not a trivial distance. When Clay had suggested his nine meters, he was already sacrificing certain success and relying on probability.

Claire tugged on Cere’s robe, worried. “Umm Cere, ten meters… I can’t…”

Cere lightly hugged Claire’s head. Then Clay said, “Hey, I’m not sure I can win this.”

“It’s okay, we can make it a one-on-one then.” Cere initially assumed that it would be a two verses two, but now that even Clay was worried, she decided to take it all on herself. After all, it was her suggestion.

“I guess you’re looking down on me then.” Zeke stepped forward confidently.

“No, I’m not. It just seems that we can’t play safe against you.”

Cere wasn’t basing her thoughts on theory. The reason why Zeke had Claire’s toy was because the siblings must have previously lost, which meant that at the very least, Zeke was better. When Clay had expressed his worry, that in itself proved Cere was right.

With Claire as the origin, Clay moved the basket so that it was ten meters away from her.

Glen checked the placement and affirmed with a nod. Then he curtly spoke the rules. “First to miss loses.”

“I’ll go first,” Zeke said. Cere assented.

Zeke took a moment to breathe. While doing so, he closed his eyes and faced the sky. After about thirty seconds, his eyes opened, and he started concentrating on the basket before flinging the pebble.

When he had finally thrown it, it went in flawlessly.

Zeke exhaled slowly with pride. Glen chuckled softly at his friend’s heroic-like actions. Clay and Claire were astonished, but quickly switched their attention to Cere.

Without pause, Cere hurled the pebble right into the basket effortlessly—no meditation or gazing at the sky.

Everyone was slack-jawed. The basket was ten whole meters away. And she just threw it in without batting an eye—just who was she? A pro? No wait, this is a children’s game.

Zeke gulped audibly. Even Glen probably leaked a sweat drop on his face. But Clay and Claire were thrilled. Really—because when Cere initially accepted Zeke’s unfair deal, the siblings believed that Cere didn’t want to play with them anymore. After all, Zeke was just too good at this game—but.

They hadn’t expected Cere to be that good. Perhaps… just perhaps… she was better than Zeke?

Closing his mouth, Zeke regained his focus. It was his turn again.

“You’re pretty good. I’m not going to say that that was luck.” But he was thinking it. It had to be luck, right? Since she put no effort in her throw.

Zeke inhaled deeply and stood still, getting a feel of the wind’s direction. He closed his eyes to increase his concentration, imagining the basket in his mind. Several simulations were playing at the same time, considering which type of throw would be the best. And then he opened his eyes and pitched the pebble.

Flawless. Directly into the basket.

Of course, everyone was impressed, but he’s Zeke. He’s the best.

And now, Cere’s turn. Naturally, all the attention was on her. Everyone had the same question—was the first shot because of luck? Then—

Cere took a pebble… and tossed it!

—proving that it wasn’t luck after all. She might really be better than Zeke.

“Hey… I’m not backing down.” Zeke had lost some confidence, but forfeiting was out of the question.

And so, the battle of pebbles continued. But.

It was pointless because…

Before their match had started, Cere issued a command: battle assist.

—Battle assist. Within a specific radius, countless nanomachines survey the surrounding area to collect data on everything: ground, wind, luminosity, etc. For intelligent life, additional data such as breathing, perception, movement, etcetera are collected. Everything is sent to the issuer’s microchip for processing.

Cere set the effective radius at eleven meters, which meant that she knew everything happening within eleven meters of her.

Was she cheating? Yes.

After all, she had no practice in this sort of game. And beating Zeke would only return a toy to its original owner. With these reasons, Cere concluded that there shouldn’t have been anything to worry about besides hurting Zeke’s pride a little.  

So then, there was no way Zeke could beat something like that (Cere).

And at Zeke’s fourth turn, he missed.

All Cere had to do was land one more throw.

If she did, then she would beat the master Ze—

Oh, she already won.

After Zeke had returned the toy to Claire, he asked Cere if she wanted to play with him. At Cere’s refusal, he ran off. Glen closely followed his pitiful friend. Clay and Claire were elated—even the stoic Clay was visibly moved.

By now, Cere had already turned off battle assist.

A little while later, Canna called the three of them for dinner.

And Cere happily accepted the invite.