That not-so-little rebellious Core Construct was the source of all fire in Colby’s Core. Instead of traditional fuel, Stove relied on the Mana that permeated throughout his Core—just like all of the other Core Constructs.

  And Stove’s design was based on the one in his kitchen. A glossy black stove mounted atop wooden cabinets. Beneath it, a hose connected the burners to the fuel source hidden within the cabinet’s depths.

  It was different from the one in Elaine’s house. Hers had an oven integrated right below it. That was truly mindblowing the first time he saw it. In his defense, he was still a wee lad and hadn’t been banned from the lighthouse yet.

  Colby gripped Stove’s handle, swinging open the door that led to his insides. The door immediately slammed shut.

  Okay, in Stove’s defense, Colby basically did the equivalent of ripping off the Core Construct’s clothes. It was understandable why Stove reacted that way. At the same time, he really couldn’t be bothered to ask Stove nicely.

  “Temp?” Colby said, calling out to the thermometer Core Construct.

  She had been lounging on top of Stove, watching Cheese Bowl and Cheese-lander duel themselves into yet another draw for the umpteenth time—they really needed a better form of entertainment around here.

  The glass thermometer hopped off Stove's top, dropping to the floor beside him.

  Looking at Stove, Colby asked, “Now are you willing to let me in?”

  The Core Construct let out a puff of flames from his burners. Slowly, the cabinet doors swung open.

  It was almost empty, apart from the three sky-blue crystals that jutted from the top, each one connected to Stove’s burners. Again, the whole arrangement mirrored the setup back back, only without the need to swap out crystals whenever it was out of fuel—which coincidentally was also Mana.

  Colby had no idea how the Mana inside those crystals combusted into flames at the push of a button. But that was the beauty of Core Constructs, as long as you grasped the core functionality of how the object worked, the Core would fill in the rest.

  A powered fridge would keep things cool. Or in Stove’s case, upon a press and a turn of his dial, flames would shoot out of his burners.

  The good thing was that it allowed people to create Core Constructs without having to learn all of the itty, bitty, nitty, gritty knowledge associated with what made the object tick. Downside was that the more complex the object, the simpler the resulting Core Construct, which meant fewer opportunities to modify it beyond its most basic design.

  In a nutshell, Colby had no idea what he was doing when he poked around Stove’s insides. It’s not like he could just remove the crystals and place them on top of the halloumi. Well, he could. It’s just that the Core Construct would remain within the Core and wouldn’t be cast out.

  There had to be a way to do this. Something he hadn’t considered yet.

  Colby stood there thinking, holding the piece of halloumi in his hand that was growing colder by the minute.

  His head was empty. Any second now, an idea would leap at him. Any second…

  Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There wasn’t a peep. Not even the tiniest of squeaks. Had he bitten off more than he could chew?

  Nonsense. When it came to cheese, he could chew for an eternity—provided it wasn’t some disgusting and nasty piece of cheese.

  He dug his free hand into his hair, rustling it back and forth until it stood up in wild, frustrated spikes.

  Why was this so hard?

  Okay, think.

  What makes a flaming saganaki, flaming?

  Alcohol, something which he didn’t have. Nor did he have anything that could act as a substitute. Could he make an alcohol substitute?

  Doubtful. That was why he went poking around Stove’s insides.

  Okay, so how did Stove make fire?

  He pulled Mana from his Core into those little crystals, which, by some unknown reaction, turned it into Fire.

  That led him to another question.

  How did people’s Fire elemental spells not die off the moment they left their Core? How did they sustain those flames?

  He never had to ask such a simple question before, because he had never required such information. The only element he had ever worked with—if you could even call it that—was cheese. Nothing else had been able to leave his Core without causing some sort of backlash.

  Like when he attempted [Burn] only for it to blow up inside of Smart Waiter, blasted him with pain, and drained an embarrassing amount of Mana.

  Yeah, the answer was obvious, wasn’t it?

  Mana would have to be his alcohol.

  Based on what he knew about Mana—which was what little fragments of memory he could recall when Elaine explained it to him—it was everywhere. Mana permeated through all living beings. Everyone pretty much had access to it. Though how much one could hold was determined by the Core’s Tier. Higher Tiers meant a larger Core, which meant more space for Mana.

  Man, he really needed to be remembering the relevant information, not just random little nuggets about how Mana and the Core interacted.

  Okay, so what else could he remember back when he desperately wanted to use spells that wasn’t cheese.

  Long story short, Mana could be transformed, allowing it to take on different properties. It was how [Burn] and [Spray], the two basic spells, could be cast by even kids. It’s not like they carried around actual fire or water in their Core; they simply transformed the Mana in their Core into something similar to Fire or Water.

  And they achieved that with Core Constructs.

  That was a really roundabout way of saying he had to rely on Stove—again, he still had no idea how.

  So, if Stove gathered Mana into those crystals and transformed that Mana into fire, all he had to do was extract that transformed Mana from the crystals and place it on the halloumi, and he would be good to go.

  Easier said than done.

  Again, no idea how he was going to accomplish that. That would be a problem for Stove to figure out. Assuming Stove even listened to him. He would have to rely on Temp-tation to do the persuasion.

  If only he could cut out the middleman and deal with Stove directly, but alas—Wait, cut out the middleman?

  The process was: Mana goes into crystal, crystal does funky stuff to the Mana, and then Mana turns into Fire.

  Look what was right in the middle?

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Oh, Curd!” Colby yelled.

  The knife turned to face him, annoyed that he was being called away from yet another exhilarating round of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

  “Come here, I want to talk to you about something,” Colby said, moving away from Stove.

  Curd-Cutter hopped off Stove’s top. He stomped his way over to Colby on those thin noodle-like legs of his—it came off as cute, rather than intimidating.

  Colby bent down and leaned in close, whispering, “Want to cut something?”

  That annoyance quickly faded. Curd-Cutter nodded enthusiastically, his blade cutting through the air. His noodle-limbs flailed in the air as he asked, “What am I cutting? Do I finally get to cut the curds inside Cheese Press?”

  Colby glanced back. Stove was otherwise preoccupied by Temp-tation, who performed a sultry dance that involved wiggling her noodle limbs in a slow, seductive manner.

  He looked back at Curd-Cutter and leaned in even closer. “Want to cut Stove?”

  The knife was baffled. He rubbed the sides of his blade—apparently where his ears were—checking for any lingering curds that might’ve been messing with his hearing.

  “Nope, you heard me right.”

  Curd-Cutter leaned to the side, past Colby, and looked at Stove. Flames intermittently puffed out of his burners as he attempted to flirt with Temp-tation. The glass thermometer barely paid him any heed. She merely danced to her own rhythm, brushing a nub along Stove’s door every now and then to keep him open.

  “So? Wanna cut Stove?”

  Curd-Cutter turned back to face him, lifting his noodle-like limbs into the air like a toddler. Colby picked him up by the blade, flipping him upside down, before bringing him behind his back.

  It was better not to arouse any suspicion.

  Walking back towards Stove and making sure he was thoroughly distracted by Temp-tation, Colby dipped his head back into the Core Construct’s insides. He looked up at the trio of sky-blue crystals, each one pulsing in sync with every puff of flame Stove released. Colby brought Curd-Cutter’s close to the edge of the center crystal. He was beginning to have some doubts.

  Cutting out the middleman was the only solution he had been able to come up with. It was automatically his best idea—and also the worst. What if it caused irreparable damage to Stove?

  As annoying as the Core Construct was, and no matter how many times he thought of replacing the fella, Colby didn’t want to hurt him.

  After all, Stove was his very first Core Construct.

  Colby bit his lip and looked at Curd-Cutter. “Do you think this will hurt Stove?”

  The knife performed an upside-down shrug.

  Colby bit his lip even harder.

  Please don’t let this hurt Stove.

  Colby rested Curd-Cutter’s handle against the crystal, channeling the intent to ‘cut out the middleman’. Mana flowed into the Core Construct as he dug the wooden handle into the crystal by the tiniest margin, leaving a thin, hairline mark.

  Stove jolted. Colby froze.

  Curds! Was he hurting him?

  Temp-tation poked her head into Stove’s insides, gesturing, “What’s going on?”

  “Is Stove hurt? Is he okay?” he frantically asked.

  She popped back out and asked Stove if he was alright. He responded with a string of puffs that caused the crystals to light up.

  Temp-tation popped back in. She shook her head and waved her arms, explaining that Stove wasn’t hurt. He was just surprised and startled that someone was touching him down there.

  “So, he’s okay? Nothing wrong? Nothing out of the ordinary?” Colby asked.

  Temp-tation nodded once more.

  “Good. The moment Stove feels off, even by just the tiniest bit, let me know.”

  “Got it.”

  Temp-tation exited Stove’s insides and went back to keeping the Core Construct otherwise preoccupied with that sultry dance of hers.

  Meanwhile, Colby continued his operation, glad that Stove was alright. Once again, he channeled the intent to ‘cut out the middleman’. Mana flowed into Curd-Cutter as he dug his handle deeper into the crystal. Slowly, Colby carved a ‘U’ shaped curve through the crystal. It was either that or lob the crystal in two—something that he didn’t want to do.

  Colby’s eyes flicked back and forth between Temp-tation and Curd-Cutter. The crystal continued to pulse in sync with his burners, even as the groove deepened. As far as he could tell, it didn’t seem to be hurting Stove.

  Finally, Curd-Cutter had made it all the way in and out of the crystal, emerging on the same side, just slightly below the entry point.

  Instead of a small piece popping free, the incision shimmered before knitting itself back. The thin line he had carved disappeared. And the crystal was once again back in one piece, as if nothing had happened.

  Out of all the things Colby expected, this wasn’t one of them.

  Congratulations! Stove has reached Level 5!

  Congratulations! Curd-Cutter has reached Level 10!

  Core Construct can now be upgraded.

  Neither had he expected this.

  Colby felt something poke his arm.

  It was Curd-Cutter. A light blue slurry coated his handle.

  Was that the middleman? Was that the Mana equivalent of fuel that he needed? Only one way to find out.

  Colby got up from underneath Stove, making sure that he didn’t see Curd-Cutter. Once the coast was clear, he lathered that light blue slurry all over the piece of halloumi he had made.

  Moving back to Stove, who looked as fit as a…well, Stove. Colby held the halloumi atop his burner. Not just any burner. It was the burner directly above the crystal he had just carved into.

  A puff of flame shot out of it, igniting the piece of cheese in his hand.

  It worked!

  No idea how, but it did!

  Colby rushed over to Smart Waiter, flipping open his hatch. Wait, was Smart Waiter okay with fire? Especially after that explosive incident with [Burn]?

  He closed the hatch and showed the flaming piece of halloumi, which still hadn’t gone out yet, to Smart Waiter, asking if he was okay with it.

  Smart Waiter opened up his hatch, producing a sign with one single word: Yes.

  “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

  Colby placed the flaming halloumi into Smart Waiter, before closing his hatch and setting the cheese materialize from his hand.

  A rush of Mana surged into Smart Waiter as the precarious payload was delivered to its destination.

  Opening his eyes, Colby found the piece of flaming cheese appear in his grasp, illuminating the cave in front of him. The best part? The fire still hadn’t gone out, yet.

  Congratulations! [Flaming Saganaki] has been learned!

  Flaming Saganaki:

  Level 1

  A cheese-based dish typically served in a small frying pan, where the cheese is flambed at a table before being extinguished with a squeeze of lemon juice.

  It also happens to be a spell with partial affinity to the Fire element.

  (Each level minutely increases the strength of the flame.)

  (Each level minutely increases how long the flame will last.)

  Yes! He had done it! It was an achievement so monumental that he wanted to cry. Finally, he could wield Fire—even if it was still technically cheese.

  Colby sniffed, sucking back in those tears of joy. He could cry after he got the rennet and made it home.

  He delved into the cave, still giddy from the fact that the [Flaming Saganaki] spell was actually working. The flickering fire in his hand lit up the cave, shadows bouncing up and down in sync with the dancing flames.

  It almost distracted him from noticing the multiple shrivelled up remains of various monsters lined up against the wall, wrapped tightly in dark green vines.

  Those weren’t there the last time he was here.

  Colby sighed again.

  Something was definitely waiting for him deeper inside the cave, wasn’t there? It was so obvious, it rivalled the sun.

  Whatever. When there’s a will, there’s a whey. And the whey called for burning everything down with his [Flaming Saganaki]!