With an allowance of one cheese experiment a day—which wasn’t much—he could finally start making cheese again.

  Before he could design a Core Construct to speed up the aging process, he had to get a feel for making aged cheese within his Core first.

  It was just like the beginning of his cheesemaking journey, before he started using Core Constructs to make cheese. He had first learnt how to make cheese in the real world, using conventional methods. With that foundation in mind, he was able to create his current set of Core Constructs, though with a slight twist to them—mainly their personalities.

  He did have experience making aged cheese. With the help of his parents, he had successfully made aged Gouda, but that was a year or two ago. This time, he was going to be making it within his Core.

  Making aged Gouda was similar to making mozzarella, though there were some extra steps near the end. For that, he required a new tool.

  A cheese press.

  With more Core Capacity, he could finally afford more Core Constructs. It also meant a brand new Stove replacement without putting a halt to his cheesemaking. But did he really want to replace Stove?

  Honestly, it wasn’t important right now. That was another problem for future him.

  Got to love procrastination.

  Inside his Core, the Core Constructs—the mobile ones—were gathered in front of the new and improved Smart Waiter. Cheese Bowl and Cheese-lander were engaged in a duel of the century against him, while Curd-Cutter, Pottingham and Temp-tation spectated. It was an intense game of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

  Cheese Bowl and Cheese-lander threw out their noodle-like hands while Smart Waiter opened his hatch and threw out his sign.

  Two rocks to one paper.

  Smart Waiter had won!

  But he would always win since he could only throw out paper while everyone else could only throw out rock.

  Still, they continued to challenge Smart Waiter, hoping to best the upgraded Construct.

  Colby cleared his throat, garnering their attention. His Core Constructs turned around, facing him as he spoke.

  “So, how are you guys liking the new aging room?”

  They shot their noodle-like limbs into the air, clearing ecstatic that they had more space to roam about. Smart Waiter threw up a sign that read, “For the next upgrade, I would prefer if I had the ability to visit other parts of the Core, master.”

  Right, Smart Waiter was stuck in that one spot. It was good when his Core was just a single room, but now that he had a weird cave-cellar mix that required going up and down a ladder, sending cheese to Smart Waiter was going to be a hassle.

  Once again, problem for future him.

  “I’ll consider it,” he said.

  “Thank you,” Smart Waiter signed.

  “Okay, guys, are you ready to meet a new sibling?”

  They raised their noodle limbs once more, waving them in the air, even more excited than before. A flurry of questions via gestures was signalled into his eyeballs.

  “Is it a boy or a girl?”

  “What are they going to look like?”

  “How good will they be at Rock Paper Scissors?”

  “Settle down. Settle down. The only thing set in stone is that the new Core Construct will be a Cheese Press. I’m not sure what gender or how good at Rock-Paper-Scissors they’ll be.”

  Cheese Bowl and Cheese-lander ignored most of his statement as they waved their arms in the air. “You hear that? Stone! The new guy’s only going to be able to throw out stone! We’re going to win all of the duels.”

  Colby sighed. Did they forget that they could only throw out rock, too? Honestly, as long as their intelligence didn’t get in the way of their jobs, there wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Everyone, be quiet. I need to focus.”

  Colby took in a deep breath, ready to start making a new Core Construct. Placing a hand against the side of his Core, he channeled the intent to make a brand new Core Construct—one specifically meant for pressing cheese.

  Mana rushed in, condensing beneath his palm. The area around his palm shimmered, melting into a blob of pulsating, pearlescent goo. Pulling his hand back, that pearlescent goo stretched out like a piece of taffy before snapping into his hand.

  The piece of his Core in his hand shifted, attempting to assume the form that best matched his intent. Though he appreciated it, there were multiple types of cheese presses. And the one the piece of his Core would assume, may not be the best one for him—as ironic as it was.

  The main difference between different cheese presses was the mechanism by which the cheese was pressed, but that could be decided later. First, he would work on the one constant that all cheese presses shared—other than that they pressed cheese—the mold.

  There were two types of shapes available: round or square. Colby opted for a round mold. Squares were nice and all, but there was a saying, ‘Be there or be square.’ And since he wanted to be around, he opted for the round mold.

  More Mana was pulled in as he squeezed the pearlescent goo. The bottom part of it became exactly as he imagined—a round pan for his cheese to go to. Right under it was a little square sheet for excess whey to be drained.

  He was a third of the way done. Now, he needed to choose the mechanism for cheese to be pressed.

  There were three main ways for a cheese press to operate. First, the screw type, where you turned a rod to tighten and increase pressure. Second, the classic lever press. And third, the super simple add a bunch of weights on top.

  Which was the best option?

  If designed properly, the screw mechanism would allow for precise pressure control—keyword being designed properly. You could get away with a lot of things when designing Core Constructs—a lot of the unknowns of what made something worked were filled in with vague placeholders.

  It was just like how he had made The Cheesetastic Fridge. The construct was based on his understanding of a standard fridge—which was to say not much, other than the fact it magically kept things cold and fresh.

  While useful, it came with one small caveat. There was very little leeway if you wanted to modify the Core Construct beyond its intended use case—something he found much joy in. Like how Curd-Cutter could not only cut curds, but also cut other stuff like ‘weight’ and ‘fluff’.

  Logically, it made no sense. But this was the Core, where intent reigned supreme.

  And to bolster that intent, the Core Construct required a form that matched it.

  That was a very roundabout way of saying that if something looked like a knife, it’ll probably cut like a knife.

  That was also a very long and lengthy way of saying, ‘keep it simple unless you know what you’re doing.’

  Screws were off the table. That left lever and weights.

  But the thing about weights, despite how simple they were, was that he was definitely going to end up imbuing the wrong kind of intent into the Core Construct. Instead of weight, as in ‘how heavy something is’, there was a high likelihood he’d end up imbuing wait, as in ‘why’s this taking so long? It’s been three hours and I’m still waiting for it to finish.’

  The only option left was lever. No doubt that he’d find a way to leverage his unique way of seeing things to his advantage.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Colby began the molding process once more, shaping the area above the mold into a lever system. As he worked on it, he channeled the Core Construct’s purpose—its intent—into its very foundations.

  First, a little circular pad that would squish the cheese in the mold, which was connected to a long upright wooden post, with evenly spaced notches in the middle. Connected to that arm, pivoting around one of the notches, was another angled wooden arm—the ‘lever’ of the system. Along its length were small little grooves in the arm, so that he could adjust the position of the counterweight needed. That counterweight was in the form of a metal bucket connected to the little grooves via hook.

  With that, the structural form of the Core Construct was completed. The only thing left was to give it a personality.

  Most people didn’t do this. Something about how temperamental they could be, and even disobeying orders depending on their mood.

  But Colby wasn’t most people; he knew how to treat his Core Constructs well, so that they’d listen to him. Just ignore those few times where they didn’t. Like when he had brought in a sandy [Cheese Pillow] and they kicked him and the dirty spell out. Or even how defiant Stove could be, unless Temp-tation wrangled him in.

  You know, maybe those people were on to something.

  Whatever the case, it would be weird if he started making Core Constructs without personalities. He was in too deep, and his other Core Constructs would be pretty disappointed if the brand new addition to their family was just a lifeless tool. So, Colby started channeling whatever emotions had been lingering within his mind for the past few days—that was how he normally gave them their personalities.

  Finally, everything was set.

  Colby took his hands off the pearlescent goo in the shape of a cheese press and held his breath. Hopefully, he had gotten it right on his first try; if not, he’d have to disassemble it and try again.

  Unfortunately, it’d mean that aging cheese would be a task for tomorrow’s him. Creating Core Constructs involved removing a piece of his Core and molding it into a specific shape. The whole ripping out part wasn’t something he could repeat on a whim. His Core was currently unstable, and it’d need at least a day before he could attempt creating a Core Construct again—unless he wanted to only make defective Core Constructs.

  Mana rushed into the goo. Slowly, it lost its pearlescent shine, peeling off to reveal the brand new Core Construct in all of its wooden glory—minus the plastic mold and metal bucket of weights.

  Eyes opened up on the circular mold. The Core Construct looked around the room. It was nervous and confused. That was normal.

  Colby looked at the other Core Constructs and said, “Could you guys help break in…Cheese Press?”

  Names were not his strong suit.

  Cheese Press:

  Level 1

  A Core Construct whose primary objective is to apply pressure to curds so that they can be consolidated into cheese.

  (Each level slightly reduces the amount of time required for curds to be consolidated into cheese.)

  So, this was his new Core Construct. The description seemed to match his intent, and that was good enough for him.

  As his other Core Constructs spoke to the new addition to the family, he got to work preparing the Gouda. Whenever required, he’d pull away certain Core Constructs from the little introduction as he worked on the curds.

  It was similar to making mozzarella, except he needed to add additional culture powder to the milk. After which, it was the same process of heating the curds and cutting them.

  Normally, it would end with the fused Cheese-lander beating the curds into submission as they kneaded it into mozzarella, but this was where the process differed.

  It was time for Cheese Press to shine.

  Colby moved away from Stove and Pottingham. The other Core Constructs cleared a path for him as he approached Cheese Press.

  “Hey, fella.”

  Cheese Press continued to shudder and shake, the bucket of weights rattling as his eyes darted frantically, flicking from one corner of the Core to the next.

  Cheese Bowl walked up to Colby, talking through gestures. “The new guy’s scared. He won’t say anything.”

  It was normal to be nervous immediately after being constructed, but it should quickly dissipate as they adjusted to their surroundings.

  “Do you think he can start pressing the curds?”

  Cheese Bowl shrugged.

  Colby sighed.

  If he couldn’t get the Core Construct to work, then he’d just have to disassemble it, even if it pained him both physically and emotionally.

  Cheese-lander started gesturing wildly in front of him as if he were having a seizure. The other Core Constructs caught on, too. They waved their noodle-like hands about, speaking to him.

  “Wait! Don’t! You can’t just get rid of him!”

  “I mean, I don’t want to, but I can’t just waste a Core Construct slot, you know?”

  Cheese Press shook even harder. Noodle-like limbs sprouted out from the circular mold at its base as he shakily signed, “P-p-please don’t destroy me. I-I-I p-p-promise to d-d-o my b-best.”

  That was good enough for him.

  Colby lifted Cheese Press onto Stove’s top, who disagreed with a puff of flames from his burner. Good thing Temp-tation was there to pacify him as Colby wrestled the curds and whey out of Pottingham.

  He poured the contents of the pot into the white mold before nodding to Cheese Press to begin. The Core Construct still quaked in fear, causing the semi-solid curds and liquid whey to nearly spill out of the mold.

  Cheese Press, using his noodle-like arms, reached for the bucket of weights, adjusting it so that it was on the furthest notch possible. Slowly, but surely, the lever hand began to move, pressing down the little piston circular pad into the cheese mold. Liquid whey was pushed out of the mold, spilling onto the collecting pan below.

  Once the piston pad no longer moved and whey no longer seeped out, Colby grabbed the pan and poured all of the excess whey back into Pottingham as a little reward.

  Now, they wait.

  With all eyes on Cheese Press, he started to shake even harder.

  No idea what that was going to do to the cheese, but only time would tell. And if time could speed up, that would be great.

  In the real world, this process would normally take a couple of hours. But Core Constructs helped to speed things—though he had no idea how long this would take.

  Every once in a while, he’d pop into his Core to check on the progress. And each time he did so, Cheese Press went from shaking like a leaf in the wind to shaking like it was caught in an earthquake.

  Overall, it took five hours before the curds were fully consolidated.

  Normal for real-time standards. Way too long for Core standards.

  A part of him wanted to disassemble Cheese Press and start over. Another part of him did not want to kill off one of his creations. He was just a Level 1 Core Construct. Of course, he was going to be a bit slow.

  There was also the fact that his other Core Constructs vehemently disagreed. Something told him they would go on an indefinite strike if he got rid of Cheese Press without a valid reason.

  After the solid wheel of cheese was removed from the mold, he had to soak it in brine—super salty water. A dedicated Core Construct for brining would be ideal, but his Core was still sore from creating Cheese Press.

  So, much to the chagrin of Pottingham, a liquid other than milk or whey was poured into him. Colby allowed the Cheese Wheel to soak overnight before he removed it from Pottingham.

  However, that wasn’t the end of it yet. He still had to let it dry.

  That was another potential Core Construct added to his bucket list of needs. It was only a few days later that he could finally begin the aging process.

  And since he had been technically making cheese the entire time, it helped to curb his desires, allowing him to stockpile the one-cheese-experiment-per-day for one glorious day of nonstop cheesemaking.

  Pushing those amazing thoughts aside, he brought the now dried wheel of Gouda down into the cave-cellar, while the mobile Core Constructs followed behind him. He stopped before a shelf in the very center of the room—right next to a jagged stalagmite—and set the wheel down.

  And…that was it.

  Assuming everything had been set up correctly, all he had to do now was wait.

  This was going to be a young cheese, meaning aged for a few weeks—because he was impatient. Once he’d observed the process, he could begin designing a Core Construct to accelerate the aging. Or maybe even reduce the aging process?

  No wonder his parents had insisted he do this first. He was already coming up with different angles to tackle the problem.

  All he had to do was wait.

  And wait.

  And wait a bit more.

  Then…even longer.

  Curds! This was boring. It was a miracle that he had gone this long without going ballistic.

  And what could he even do in the meantime? One cheese experiment a day? That was nothing. The only reason he had survived the drying process was because he had deluded himself into thinking that waiting for the curds to dry counted as making cheese.

  Technically, it was. But it wasn’t the same.

  There wasn’t the thrill of iterating through the ingredients, no satisfaction in making small adjustments as he perfected his cheese.

  Why?

  Why did it have to be this way?

  Why did his one and only joy have to be taken away from him?

  How could he even fix this? Could he even fix this?

  Steal ingredients from his parents? Steal ingredients from the General Store? None of those sounded like good options.

  He had to get to the root of the problem. To get rid of the one thing, stopping him from doing what he loved.

  That problem was war.

  If he could end the war as soon as possible, then everything could go back to normal. Could he even do that?

  He was just a humble cheesemaker. Maybe he could lace his cheese with poison and offer it to the enemy commander.

  No, that would be a foolish plan. How could he even consider adding such a horrible ingredient to one of his creations? Just think about how awful that cheese would taste.

  No, he needed another way.

  He needed Elaine. She would know the fastest way to end this war.

  “Mom! Dad!” Colby shouted. “I’m heading out!”