Colby dashed out of the door, ignoring his parents' calls for him.

  Elaine, here he comes.

  Where would she be? Unless his sense of time was screwed up beyond saving, she hadn’t officially begun Knight-in-training training yet. That meant she was training—the regular kind. And he knew exactly where she’d be. Hopefully.

  Colby ran down the streets of Brinebrook. It was quiet. Too quiet.

  Then again, maybe it wasn’t that odd. There was a war going on. Thankfully, none of them had to face any of the bloodshed. Thank you, knights of Paralos—and maybe the Arcanists. Though if they didn’t die from bloodletting, moneyletting would do them in.

  Now, he didn’t know how much the kingdom was taxing people—but it was high enough to mess with his cheesemaking. Neither did he know who Paralos was up against. What he did know was that enough was enough. No one would interfere with his cheese and get away with it.

  The town’s wall loomed ahead. Like many things in Brinebrook, it was made out of cobblestone. He slipped past the gate, the stone path beneath him transforming into a rough dirt trail that led deeper into the woods bordering Brinebrook.

  Veering off to the left, he ran through the trees, towards the clearing that Elaine had shown him and Porter months ago—her secret training spot, as she put it.

  Leaves rustled in the wind as his feet crunched the grass underneath. It felt like something else was with him, and he wasn’t talking about the buzzing insects. Elaine did mention something about monsters lurking about in the forest. Then again, monsters lurked about pretty much everywhere in the world.

  As long as nothing jumped out and attacked him, he’d ignore that ever-present stalkerish feeling.

  Finally, he arrived at the clearing.

  Just as expected, Elaine was here.

  She stood at the center of the clearing, sword slicing the air as she repeated the same motion over and over again. Sweat clung to her red hair, dripping down her arms with every swing.

  “Hey, Elaine!” Colby half panted, half shouted.

  Boy, he really needed to work on his cardio—and maybe actually mean it this time.

  “Colby?” she said, lowering her sword and turning to face him. “What are you doing here? What about the shop?”

  “Who cares about the shop, Laine. There are more important things than that right now.”

  “Like what?”

  “Who are we warring against and how do we put a stop to it?”

  “Paralos is in a war against Endruma. How do you not know this? And what do you mean by ‘we’?”

  “Because I'm going to fight! The sooner the war is over, the sooner the taxes are lowered, and the sooner I can go back to making my cheese.”

  “You haven’t been making cheese?”

  “Only when a customer requests for some fresh cheese, which is pretty much just Ms. M and her chevre. I do have a Gouda aging in my Core right now, but it barely even counts. ”

  “And you’re feeling okay?”

  “Not in the slightest. That’s why we’re going to bring an end to this war, so that things can go back to normal.”

  “And how do you intend to accomplish that?”

  “No idea. That’s why I came here to ask for your help. What if I became a Knight?”

  “Right…” Elaine said, staring at him. “You do realize being a Knight isn’t exactly easy, right? I’ve literally just become a Knight-in-training, not even a full-fledged Knight yet. Tomorrow’s literally my first day of training.”

  “Knight. Knight-in-training. Same difference. What’s important is that we get on the front lines and put a stop to this war.”

  “Uh-huh. You do realize that I might not even get to go on the frontlines, right? At least not yet. Which part of Knight-in-training do you not understand?”

  “The in-training part, I guess. Aren’t Knights always training? It’s not like they stop training the moment they become a Knight, right? Therefore, same difference.”

  “I’m not even going to bother with that. Tell you what, how about you prove to me that you’ve got what it takes to be a Knight-in-training. Then we’ll talk about putting an end to this war.”

  “Sure thing, Laine. What do you need me to do?”

  “Just try to keep up with my training.”

  “Should be easy enough. So, what? I just swing that sword around like you?”

  “Not quite. I was thinking something a bit more basic. Jogging.”

  “Jogging?”

  “Yes, jogging. Problem?”

  “I mean, it sounds like you’re training to be a Supply Runner, not a Knight.”

  “Just try and keep up, alright, Colbs.”

  Elaine sheathed her sword and started jogging, swinging her arms as she ran along the perimeter of the clearing.

  It was just jogging. How hard could it be?

  He chased after her, feeling his feet pound against the grass. There was still a feeling of something watching him, but again, he ignored it.

  One lap. Two laps. Then three. His lungs were burning, yet Elaine continued to jog. No, it was more like sprinting.

  After the fourth, Colby couldn’t take it anymore. It was like someone had poured liquid magma down his throat. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted beyond comprehension. Staring up at the sky, he watched the clouds drift by, only for a familiar-looking red-haired girl to block his view.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No, I’m Colby.”

  “Look, Colbs. You couldn’t even handle a simple warm-up. I don’t think you can handle the battlefield.”

  “Warmup? You call that a warmup?”

  “Yes, Colby. It was just running laps. And we didn’t even finish it.”

  “That’s because…” he wheezed. “That’s because you cheated. You’re using some kind of spell like [Dash] or something.”

  “No, Colby. That defeats the purpose of the warmup."

  “Really? You did all that without any magic?”

  “Yes, Colby. Again, it’s not even that impressive. It was only like what? Four laps?”

  “That’s crazy impressive.”

  “Look, Colbs. Just go home and wait it out, okay. I’m sure the Knights of Paralos will end the war soon, then everything will go back to normal.”

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Yeah, but if I join, then the war could end even sooner."

  “You do realize that you’re exhausted after running like four laps around a clearing, right?”

  “Maybe. But what if I help by using magic? Isn’t there some mage group thingy? I could be a part of that and help put an end to the war.”

  “The Arcanum? You want to be an Arcanist?”

  “Yeah, those guys. I doubt they need to do a lot of running. I could just join them and launch a bunch of spells at the enemy, then boom. War over.”

  “Colbs…” Elaine sighed. “No offense, but you do realize that you struggle with casting even the most basic of spells, right?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Elaine pulled him up using those absurdly strong arms of hers.

  He wobbled, nearly falling down as most, if not all, of the strength had left his legs.

  “Then show me. Cast something that even a kid can do.”

  “Sure, I’ll prove it to you.”

  Colby closed his eyes, honing in on his Core.

  Curds!

  Cheese was what he was good at—the only thing he was good at.

  Technically, Brie had been able to create cheese using magic—and last he checked, she was still a kid. But was he really going to waste his precious cheese on a joke?

  It was tempting.

  No. C’mon, Colby. This was the time to really prove that you can help bring an end to the war.

  What was a simple spell that he could make using his current Core Constructs?

  Cheese-lander and Cheese-Bowl? They drained the whey and kneaded the curds into cheese. Not much he could do with them unless he could somehow serve up a bowl of air.

  What about Curd-Cutter? A knife could be useful. Maybe he could come up with some sort of slicing spell. All of the Knights had one, though normally it was channeled into whatever weapon they wielded. But he had no idea how to do that.

  Stove? He could make fire. And with fire he could cast [Burn], the most basic fire spell that existed.

  Surely, he could do that.

  Moving closer to Stove, he twisted his dial. Immediately, Mana was sucked into the Core Construct, becoming fuel for the fire.

  Colby stared at the flames erupting out of one of Stove’s burners.

  Great. He had the most basic component—and only one—for [Burn]. Now, he just had to transfer it to Smart Waiter. No idea how he was going to accomplish that without burning himself. Though he wouldn’t physically get hurt inside his Core, but pain was pain, and he didn’t like it one bit.

  As if sensing his predicament, Cheese Bowl tapped his glass noodle-like arms against his leg, grabbing his attention.

  Right, what if he scooped up the flames into Cheese Bowl, then deposited it into Smart Waiter. It might work. It might also not work. Only one way to find out.

  Grabbing Cheese Bowl, he moved closer to the flames shooting out of Stove’s burner.

  “Say, Stove. Do you mind keeping the flames steady? I want to transfer some into Cheese Bowl.” Colby said, pointing at the Core Construct in his hand. Cheese Bowl waved its glass noodle-like hand, beckoning for Stove to listen to their master.

  He did listen all right. Just the wrong definition of listen. Stove heard Colby’s request and, in an act of defiance, he twisted his knob. The flames went out, along with the steady burn of Mana from his Core.

  Well, that went about as expected. Good thing he had a Core Construct fit for the situation.

  “Oh, Temp!” Colby hollered.

  Temp-tation, the glass thermometer strutted into view.

  Picking her up, he whispered, "I need some fire from Stove. Could you, you know?”

  She nodded using her whole body.

  Colby placed her on top of Stove and he watched her work her magic. Temp-tation sashayed over to one of Stove’s knobs, gently stroking it, while whispering sweet pleasantries to him via hand gestures. Almost instantly, the knob twitched, turning to the side. Flames gushed out from his burner, heating up the entire Core.

  Temp-tation turned toward Colby, beckoning him to come closer. He understood the message.

  Moving closer, he stuck Cheese Bowl out in front of him. With those glass noodle-like hands of his, he scooped up some flames and dumped them into his bowl.

  Once removed from Stove, the flames flickered. It was slowly losing power. Though fueled by the Mana floating about in his Core, only Stove had the capabilities to transform that raw Mana into Fire Mana, keeping it alive.

  Colby rushed over to Smart Waiter and opened his hatch. Inside, Smart Waiter held up a sign that said, “Please, don’t. This isn’t going to work out well, master.”

  “I’m sorry, Smart Waiter. I need to do this. We have to at least try, right? Who knows? Maybe I can finally cast something other than cheese.”

  “Sigh.”

  Cheese Bowl grabbed the slowly weakening flames from within him, placing them within Smart Waiter.

  Immediately after, Colby slammed the hatch shut, whispered an apology to Smart Waiter for being so violent, then set the destination to his hands.

  Surely, this should work.

  [Burn] was the simplest fire spell out there. It was literally just manifesting fire, nothing fancy like cheese.

  Smart Waiter trembled and shook, frame rattling violently as he fought to deliver the flames out of the Core.

  Then Smart Waiter exploded.

  Back in the real world, Colby fell to his knees, clutching his chest.

  Backlash. Haven’t had that in a while.

  “Colby!” Elaine yelled. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be fine,” he wheezed. “Nothing like a spell failing to really wake you up, right?”

  Elaine clicked her tongue. She dropped to her knees, grabbed his arm, and placed a hand on his chest, eyes narrowing in concentration.

  “What are you doing, Laine?”

  “I’m trying to see how badly you’re hurt. But honestly, I’m pretty bad at it. So far, it just feels like your Mana’s been drained. I can’t really feel anything else. Sorry.”

  “You are forgiven.”

  “What spell were you going for anyway? I thought I told you to do something that even a kid could do.”

  “I was going for [Burn],” he coughed, his mouth tasted like smoke.

  “[Burn]?”

  “Yeah, [Burn].”

  Elaine sighed. She shifted from her knees to sit beside him on the grass. “Look, Colbs. This is what I mean. Do you really think The Arcanum would accept someone who can’t even cast [Burn]?”

  “Yes. There are like specialists or something, right? And I specialize in cheese. Who cares about whether I can cast [Burn] or not?”

  “Colbs. I love your cheese. That piece of cloud the other day was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. And I’m really looking forward to that reward you mentioned. But at the end of the day, it’s just cheese.”

  “Are you dissing my cheese?”

  “When it comes to taste, it’s second to none. But in combat…”

  “C’mon. I’ll prove it to you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.”

  Elaine sighed again before standing up to her full towering height. “Wait here.”

  Colby watched as she walked over to the other edge of the clearing. She reached behind a bush that immediately started to rustle. When she stood back up again, he saw something green thrashing about in her hand.

  It was small, like a puppy. But instead of fur, it was covered in leaves.

  “This is a Thornwolf,” she said. “They tend to be low-leveled. This one is the smallest one I’ve seen, though. It’s probably Level 3 or something. It’s been stalking us ever since you got here. I’m guessing it followed you here through the forest.”

  So that was what that funny feeling of something watching him was.

  Elaine placed the monster on the ground. The little Thornwolf just slightly reached below her knees. It hopped around attempting to maul her leather boots with its thorny teeth. However, a simple low growl from her was all it took to dissuade it.

  She pointed toward Colby. The Thornwolf barked once before charging straight at him.

  “You wanted to prove it,” she said. “So prove it.”