As he sprinted after the Skate Goat, Colby closed one eye, honing in on his Core.

  Inside, a soft, melodious tune filled the air, performed by none other than the recently upgraded Curd-Cutter.

  The mobile Core Constructs swayed to the rhythm of the calming music.

  Cheese Press no longer shuddered in fear. His eyes curved slightly as if smiling. Noodle-like arms extended out from the plastic mold as he waved them to the flow of the song.

  Smart Waiter had opened his hatch and stuck out a pair of empty signs, waving them as well.

  Meanwhile, Stove flipped his dials, and The Cheesetastic Fridge opened and closed his doors to the beat of the song.

  While touching, this was no time for a concert—something he never thought would happen in his Core.

  He was a Cheesemancer for Gouda’s sake!

  Colby cleared his throat, interrupting the performance.

  Curd-Cutter stopped rubbing his string-like arms together and looked up at him. The other mobile Core Constructs, including Cheese Press. The softness drained from his eye like whey. They grew wide, pupils shrinking as fear took hold once again.

  Colby had to make this quick so that the Core Constructs could go back to comforting Cheese Press. Although…Cheese Press wasn’t shaking, merely wide-eyed and staring at him.

  That seemed like a good sign. Maybe Cheese Press was finally warming up to him.

  “Sorry for interrupting, guys,” Colby said. “There’s an emergency. The Skate Goat ran away after I repaired its skateboard and without giving me any of its milk. I have an idea on how to catch up with it, but we’ll need all hands on deck. What do you say?”

  The mobile Core Constructs glanced at each other, then turned back to face him. They lifted their arms in excitement, waving them in the air as they rushed to their battle stations—Stove’s top. All except for Cheese Press, who remained firmly rooted in place. Also, because Cheese Press wasn’t mobile like the others.

  Colby approached the tiny Core Construct and picked him up.

  Bringing Cheese Press close to his face, he said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything that I said earlier. It was just a horrible trick I pulled on you to make you smaller. You don’t have to forgive me, but just know that I would never willingly hurt you or deconstruct you. I mean, just look at Stove. He’s still here.”

  A puff of flames erupted from Stove’s burners upon mention of his name. That earned him a slap from Temp-tation.

  “Please help me out,” Colby said. “I need your help.”

  Noodle-like arms sprouted from the tiny circular mold as Cheese Press signed, “I-I’ll try my best.”

  “Thank you. That’s all I’m asking for.”

  Colby walked over to Stove and placed the tiny construct down. Then, he turned to address the rest of his Core Constructs.

  “Ready?”

  They raised their hands in the air and waved them around. Even Cheese Press did the same, though his movements were smaller and more hesitant, limbs raised partially and flopping around like noodles.

  “Okay. Let’s do this quick, because running and trying out something experimental is not my forte,” Colby said, looking at Curd-Cutter.

  The newly upgraded Core Construct simply slapped his blade at the comment.

  “Well, I thought it was great. Anyway, let’s go.”

  The beginning of this plan was simple, something they had done numerous times: making mozzarella. After collecting the first two balls of kneaded cheese from the fused Bowl-lander, Colby approached Smart Waiter.

  “Two legs please,” he said.

  Smart Waiter opened up his hatch, revealing two models of his feet—shoes and all. Colby grabbed them and molded the balls of mozzarella over them, forming a pair of [Cheese Boots]. They were technically ready to be cast, but that wasn’t all to his plan. It was just the foundation.

  Colby walked back, placing [Cheese Boots] on Stove’s top. Another puff of annoyed flames shot out from his burners. That earned the rebellious Core Construct a slap from Temp-tation as she disciplined him.

  Coincidentally, she was the key to the next part of his plan.

  Colby brought over more recently kneaded mozzarella from the fused Bowl-lander and placed it right in front of the glass thermometer.

  “Temp, I need your help for this next part.”

  “Anything for you,” she signed.

  “I need you to roll this into a rod. Five rods to be exact. Each one the same size, and they need to fit on the bottom of those [Cheese Boots] over there,” he said, pointing to the cheese-covered model on Stove’s top.

  Temp-tation nodded.

  The glass thermometer placed her hands on the cheese, slowly rolling, stroking, and caressing it. The ball of mozzarella lengthened under her touch, transforming into a nice, long rod, perfect for what he was planning.

  While she repeated that for the other three balls of mozzarella, Colby grabbed Curd-Cutter and another ball of mozzarella before approaching Cheese Press.

  The Core Construct looked up at him with fright in his eyes. Curd-Cutter spotted it and, using his string-like arms, played a melody that helped to soothe him. The terror in his pupils slowly softened, but never disappeared.

  “Thanks, Curd-Cutter,” Colby said.

  The knife continued to perform the calming sonata, each movement filling the space with a sense of tranquility. It was perfect for Cheese Press, but did not fit the urgency of the situation.

  Colby looked down at the tiny wooden press. “I hope you can help me. I need to use your mold to make wheels again. Are you willing to help me?”

  Plastic noodle-like limbs sprouted from the circular mold as they shakily signed, “Y-yes.”

  Colby smiled, softly looking down at Cheese Press. “Thank you.”

  “W-welcome.”

  “Silly question. Does it hurt when I remove the mold from your body?”

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  “N-no.”

  “Good. Because if it does hurt, I’ll find another way to make a perfect set of wheels.”

  “O-kay,” Cheese Press signed before sinking his arms back inside.

  Colby removed the mold from the press and placed it on Stove’s top. This time, the Core Construct didn’t shoot off a jet of flames from his burners.

  Next, Colby separated a ball of mozzarella into four equal-sized pieces before he placed it underneath Cheese Press’s mold. Angling Curd-Cutter’s downwards, Colby channeled the intent to ‘cut the fluff’ as he traced around the mold. As the handle slid through the cheese, the knife sang—a light, shimmering tone that hung in the air like a glass harp.

  Once Colby had all four wheels, he returned Cheese Press’s mold back into his wooden frame and gave him a gentle pat.

  “Thank you.”

  “W-welcome.”

  Things were almost complete.

  Congratulations! Temp-tation has reached Level 7!

  That notification sounded like good news. Moving back to Temp-tation, Colby found five identical rods of mozzarella, just long enough to fit under the sole of the [Cheese Boots]. It was perfect.

  Now, he was going to ruin it.

  Using Curd-Cutter, Colby once again channeled the intent to ‘cut the fluff’ as he sliced each rod in half—all except for one.

  For that rod, he split it into four while channeling the intent to ‘cut the fluff’.

  Temp-tation glared at him and threw her limbs up in anger.

  “Sorry, Temp. It’s part of the process.”

  Grabbing all of the soft and fluffy bits of mozzarella—that were extra fluffy thanks to the upgraded Curd-Cutter—Colby spread them evenly across the insoles of his [Cheese Boots], pressing them into place. If he was going to try something weird, he might as well make the ride comfortable.

  He also just didn’t know what to do with the excess cheese.

  Now came the slightly tricky part.

  Colby grabbed those four little nubs and held each end over Stove’s flames, lightly roasting them until they started to melt, turning gooey and sticky. Then, he attached them to the bottom of the [Cheese Boots]—two on each, one in the front and one in the back—ensuring that they were perfectly aligned and stuck in place before letting go.

  It was time for the rods—axles to be more specific. Colby stuck the center of each rod to the sticky nub, holding them in place until he was confident that they were glued together tightly.

  Lastly, it was the wheels. He already had practice with this from all the attempts to repair the Skate Goat’s skateboard, so he wasn’t worried about it. After sticking the wheels into the axle and ensuring they were secured in place, he rolled his palm under it and watched the wheels spin until they came to a stop.

  All of that effort, just to make a pair of roller skates that may or may not work.

  But he still wasn’t done yet.

  Colby intercepted the fused Bowl-lander just before they started kneading the curds into another ball of mozzarella.

  “Not the usual method,” he said, picking up the mass of curds. “Like this.”

  Colby poked a hole in the middle, making a big donut of curds. He inserted his fingers into the hole, stretching it out into a long loop before folding it in half. Then he stretched it and folded the curds on itself again, repeating the process multiple times.

  “Understand?” Colby asked.

  Bowl-lander nodded as they lifted their four limbs into the air, ready to continue the process. Colby watched as they stretched and folded the curds, then stretched and folded them again and again, creating a long, thin mass of cheese.

  String cheese.

  Congratulations! Cheese Bowl has reached Level 9!

  Congratulations! Cheese-lander has reached Level 9!

  Again, this still wasn't the end of his super-experimental-and-hopefully-would n’t-blow-up-in-his-face plan.

  Having a bunch of string was great; the goal was for Thornelius to pull him. But he still had to figure out how to get the string onto the Thornwolf as they ran—because there was no way in Halloumi he was letting that Skate Goat gain an extra inch of distance between.

  He had an idea. It was a stupid idea, but an idea nonetheless.

  Colby approached Smart Waiter, pulling out a model of his hands from the Core Construct.

  Molding some mozzarella over it, he made multiple pairs of [Cheese Gloves].

  Like the [Cheese Boots], that wasn’t the end of the story yet.

  Grabbing the long mass of string cheese that Bowl-lander had made, Colby separated them into multiple strands and roasted one end over Stove’s flames, turning them into gooey and, most importantly, sticky. He then stuck those sticky ends to the wrists of the [Cheese Gloves], and now, finally, they could be casted—assuming none of it blows up in his face, because these were a lot of spells layered onto the cheese.

  Colby approached Smart Waiter, showing off his creation, and asked, “Do you think you can handle it?”

  The Core Construct opened his hatch and pulled out a sign to adjust his glasses as he scrutinized the layers upon layers of cheese that Colby had produced.

  Smart Waiter then pulled out another sign that read, “I will try my best, master. These cheeses have multiple different spells, all constructed in a precise manner. I will do my utmost to deliver them without damaging the product.”

  “Thanks, Smart Waiter. And good luck.”

  First, Colby loaded up the roller skates made out of cheese and closed the hatch.

  How many different spells was that? [Cheese Boots] [Hard as Cheese] [Cheese Pillow] [Stickious Cheesious], [Wheels of Cheese], and [Cheesemaking].

  Not the most number of spells layered together in one single cast, but definitely the most complicated—mainly because of the precise arrangement of the [Hard as Cheese] axles and [Wheels of Cheese].

  He shut the hatch and heard Smart Waiter begin to deliver the spell. Mana poured into the Core Construct as the metal box churned.

  The cheesy rollerskates materialized under his foot, and he went from running to skating over the bumpy ground. He wobbled his arms and bent low, trying to find his balance—which wasn’t the easiest thing when there were so many things to focus on.

  Congratulations! [Stickious Cheesious] has reached Level 5!

  Congratulations! [Cheese Pillow] has reached Level 9!

  Congratulations! [Cheese Boots] has reached Level 5!

  Congratulations! [Cheesemaking] has reached Level 17!

  Back inside his Core, he approached Smart Waiter and held up the multiple [Cheese Gloves] with strands of thick sticky cheese attached to the wrist.

  “This is a bit unusual, but when you deliver this spell, do you think it's possible to only shoot out the glove portion and have the strings materialize in my palm?”

  “A bit more complicated, but certainly possible.”

  “Thanks. I’m so glad I upgraded you.”

  “As am I.”

  Colby loaded up the multiple [Cheese Gloves] into Smart Waiter and closed the hatch. Once again, the Core Construct rumbled as Mana was sucked into it.

  Thank Gouda, that Smart Waiter had been upgraded to be smarter; if not, this plan would never have worked.

  Congratulations! Smart Waiter has reached Level 11!

  Double thank Gouda! Now Smart Waiter was even better at his job.

  Colby aimed his palm at Thornelius, praying that he wouldn’t miss.

  Multiple [Cheese Gloves] materialized and shot forward, strands of cheese attached to the wrist, whipping through the wind.

  Congratulations! [Cheese Glove] has reached Level 3!

  Congratulations! You have learned a new spell, [String Cheese].

  String Cheese:

  Level 1

  String cheese! A delicious snack for people of all ages. It’s typically made with mozzarella that’s been repeatedly stretched until it becomes that iconic stringy treat.

  (Each level slightly increases the strength of the string.)

  Colby closed his fist, gripping the multiple strands of [String Cheese] before they flew out of his hand.

  Finally able to open both eyes, his attention was on the [Cheese Gloves] flying towards Thornelius. Some were way off target. It was annoying, but what choice did he have?

  Sensing that something was approaching him from behind, Thornelius turned around. He saw the [Cheese Gloves] flying towards him—and some flying in his general direction.

  Unprompted, Thornelius barked as he moved right in front of the gloves. After each one was stuck to his fur, he veered to the side, aligning himself with gloves that would’ve otherwise missed him completely.

  “I love you, Thornelius!” Colby yelled.

  Once all of the [Cheese Gloves] were stuck to the Thornwolf’s leafy fur, he picked up speed. The [String Cheese] became taut as Thornelius pulled him forward.

  “Go, boy! Go!” Colby shouted.

  Thornelius barked. He sped up.

  The world smeared into a blend of brown and green, wind whipping Colby’s hair back and forth as his teeth clattered after every small little bump on the soil.

  There’s no running away, Skate Goat! Your milk is mine!

  Then he heard it.

  The unmistakable sound of bleating goats and wheels grinding.

  The Skate Goat had led them back to their home.

  They'd better hand over the milk.

  Or else things were going to get cheesy.