Vanessa tilted her head. “That’s it? A website about runes? I don’t get why that’s a big deal.”

  Luke scrolled through the website to show it off. “It’s fairly simple. The only reason we were even considering selling our company was that our profit margins were slipping. We have too much supply, not enough demand. This will change that. With the secrets of runes out there, demand is going to go back up. All kinds of people are going to design and build their own enchanted tools, vehicles, and toys. Way more people will need a mana core to power their designs.”

  “What he isn’t telling you is that it’s also a petty attack on Atticus Adelson,” Allen said.

  “Hey now. It isn’t petty. This is all business,” Luke said. “And this isn’t all me. You created the website, you hit publish. If you didn’t want to do it, WikiRunes wouldn’t exist.”

  Allen swiveled his chair to face Vanessa. “There are literally dozens of copyrights we are threatening here. Almost every company that deals with Kalibutan has one or two of their own, and Atticus owns half of that number. We just put their intellectual property on the internet for free. Regardless of what Luke says, our billionaire buddy is going to see this as an attack.”

  “First off, it isn’t their property. It came from Kalibutan, not Earth. They didn’t discover these runes or lease them from the people that did. They just came across some runes and decided not to share. We simply decided to share instead. If Atticus’ bottom line tanks, then that’s just icing on the cake.”

  Vanessa grimaced. “Aren’t you worried about getting sued?”

  Luke shrugged. “Not really. Our website is anonymous. That’s why it’s registered in Sweden, it’s one of the few places that let you do that. People can add to the website anonymously too, so if it gets really popular, more people will add their runes and then it’s a cultural movement for greater transparency. It will invalidate the copyright claims currently going through the court system now.”

  Allen shook his head. “He’s not worried, but I am. I’ve already researched lawyers and we have a separate savings account for our legal defense. At least we don’t have to deal with it right now. It will be years before the other challenges to their rune copyrights are settled. They wouldn’t sue us until that’s resolved by the Supreme Court.”

  “See, we are covered,” Luke said happily. “This is going to be great, it’s going to change everything. And the first change we are going to see is more money in the bank. We should celebrate.”

  Allen nodded. “Yeah. Stress makes me hungry. Let’s head out.”

  Vanessa said, “Good idea. While we are at dinner, I can tell you more about what happened with my negotiations.”

  “Great idea. I want to hear all about it,” Luke said and threw his arm around her shoulders.

  ???

  “That really doesn’t make sense to me,” Allen said as he waved a half eaten rib around. “Luke said people with magic classes are automatically a step above the commoners. Why would hunters have a bad rep? Shouldn’t they be more respected, not less?”

  Vanessa winced as rib meat fell off the bone and onto the tray. “Big game hunters are respected, it’s the cullers that aren’t. Monster culling is a job a lot like garbageman is here. Everyone realizes it’s important, but no one wants to be caught dead doing it. Kalibutan culture is big on having power and not using it. Cullers have to use their power every day. It’s embarrassing to them.

  “It’s why humans were allowed to do the job in the first place. There are other people in the estate villages that could easily kill monsters, but they didn’t want the shame. So, we get to swoop in and collect all the orbs. Okiri, he’s the Seneschal for the mining estate, said we could cull monsters in their territory after the current culling contract is over.”

  Luke nodded. “Nice. Just what we need to expand operations.”

  “We’ll be raking in the dough, assuming your WikiRunes website pans out.”

  “It’s going to be great, trust me,” Luke said, with more confidence than he felt. Then to change the subject he said, “You said you learned something new about the Malamon?”

  Vanessa accepted the change of subject and said, “Ok, so. There is this big kahuna that will come to oversee the final fight. They call him the Indomitable and they're all scared of him. He’ll give this speech and ask if there are any other grievances that can be solved at the same time. Anything is up for debate, young, old, rich, poor, whatever. The only thing is that both sides have to agree to settle it with a fight. Since the loser gets sacrificed to the gods, that makes sense. Both lords I talked to said they were going to challenge Lord Edobar. I don’t know if they are serious, because they seem way too soft and the consequence of failure is death.”

  “Would they even have a chance against him? I’ve never seen Edobar fight, but he seems powerful.”

  “All three lords are on an even playing field. They have to have platinum classes to be a lord. They are all probably level 48 because it’s almost impossible to get ahold of the right sacrifices to pass that threshold. So it would be an even fight. But I doubt they would risk it. I think they just like to talk big.”

  “Yeah, from what I’ve seen of the royalty around here, they are self-centered pricks. They wouldn’t risk ritual sacrifice.”

  Allen leaned forward. “Ritual sacrifice? Like Indiana Jones? So cool.”

  “This is real people’s lives here, Allen. It isn’t a movie,” Luke admonished.

  “I know that, and I’m sorry. It’s just hard to personalize when I’ve never met anyone in person. I’ve been to Kalibutan once. It still feels so unreal to me.”

  “Maybe Vanessa can take you with her the next time she visits one of the villages.”

  “You can’t take me?”

  “Too busy. I’ve got repairs to do, monsters to kill, and as soon as it gets approved, I’ll visit Fort Carson.”

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  “Wait, what? Why are you visiting a military base? We already have enough recruits.”

  “Not for that. It’s my new skill. I need templates for my skill to copy and I have an appointment to visit and sit in a variety of vehicles.”

  Allen leaned forward, “A new skill? Tell me all about it.”

  Luke happily explained the skill to Allen and Vanessa, along with his hopes for how it would work. He had gotten it to level two already, making copies of his mech, but he suspected the real progress would come after his appointment at Fort Carson. As soon as Agent Brown got the visit approved, Luke was going to have a productive day.

  ???

  “Whatever you do, don’t take off your visitor pass. People are serious about security here, and you are going to be around weapons with live ammo,” the military escort said seriously.

  That was the sticking point and the reason it took so long for his visit to be approved. He had to sit in military vehicles with live ammunition. His new skill, Summon Vehicle, wouldn’t accept anything else. It made sense that several layers of bureaucracy would have to approve this trip, but he still wished it had happened sooner. The final phase of the Malamon was in two Earth days and he was only now getting his arsenal finalized.

  “No worries from me, man. I’m just going to sit in them for a bit and then move on to the next vehicle. I appreciate the Iron Brigade’s hospitality. I’ll be out of your hair soon.” Luke replied.

  He shrugged. “No need to rush on my account. I’ll be busy with scut work either way.”

  The Iron Brigade at Fort Carson had several different vehicles he could try out. He decided to start with the biggest of the bunch, an Abrams Tank. His escort drove him to the far side of the base where they were just gassing up the tank for practice later that day.

  Luke had to keep himself from laughing maniacally as he sat in the driver’s seat. The Abrams was a symbol of military excellence and the ultimate technological expression of armored warfare. It would be so fitting to kill monsters with a magically recreated version of the tank. He activated and deactivated Machine Bond. He planned on doing that with everything he tried out today, training the skill too.

  He closed his eyes and pushed the mental button for Summon Vehicle. The skill stretched out, reaching for the far edges of the tank and seeping into every panel and bolt. It slowed and stopped before the skill completed.

  Sweat beaded up on his forehead as Luke tried to force the skill to complete the scan. It was no use. The tank was just too big for him right now. The process had wasted a quarter of his mana and gave him a headache.

  “That’s it for this one. On to the next one,” Luke said sadly.

  The escort raised his eyebrows at how short that was, but didn’t comment. They drove over to the next item on his wishlist, a JLTV. The Joint Light Terrain Vehicle was a multipurpose armored vehicle on a truck body. It had a modular loadout and this one had a 30 mm cannon attached to the gunner’s weapon station. A Northrop Grumman M230LF chain gun to be precise. It was a beast, roughly four times heavier than a civilian truck.

  Luke sat in the driver's seat and marveled at the array of computers, touchscreens and communications equipment. Surprisingly high tech for something so rugged. He shook his head to clear it and focused internally. He activated Summon Vehicle one more time, crossing his fingers as he did. The skill stretched out, worming its way into every nook and cranny of the JLTV. It stretched and stretched until it clicked in place. He felt a second template load itself into his skill.

  A sense of joy and relief washed over him. He had done it. The vehicle and its deadly weapons were his now. He could summon it whenever he wanted, assuming he had the mana for it. That would be the sticking point for how useful this skill would be, how much mana it cost.

  Hopefully it would cost less than twelve mana, because that’s all he had left after the first two uses of his skill. Mana was almost nonexistent out here, so far from the portal. It would be a while before he naturally recharged his internal mana pool. Luke hopped out of the JLTV and took a few steps off to the side. There was enough room here in the motor pool for another one, so he would plop one right there. Hopefully.

  Showing off his platinum level skill in front of everyone would be against his oath to SPEAR. Happily, he was no longer bound by the draconian measure. Luke dramatically pointed at the empty space on the concrete floor and intoned, ‘Shazam!’

  Internally, he activated Summon Vehicle. Mana flowed out of him in a rush, swirling around in a tumultuous gray cloud. The military escort swore in amazement, drawing the attention of the mechanics working across the motor pool. They looked over in time to watch the mana solidify into a perfect replica of the JLTV nearby. The only difference was the color. The intimidating vehicle was mostly gray, but with violet highlights on all the edges. The violet color slowly shifted, as if it was sparkling in the sun.

  Luke walked around his creation, admiring it from every angle. He was joined by the excited chatter of the mechanics that rushed over to admire it. He checked his mana. Two points left. Make that one. The skill used a point of mana every minute it was active.

  Luke loved to see the notice, but he hurriedly pushed it aside. He had just over a minute left to experiment with his mana creation. He walked over to the driver’s side door. The mechanics shouted questions at him, which he ignored with a smile. He could answer their questions later, after the summons ran out.

  As soon as he touched the door, he was distracted by another pop-up. This one was completely unexpected.

  Luke’s mind stuttered. Was this saying that his summoned JLTV was a valid target for his Machine Soul resource? Could he put a Machine Soul into his mana creation and have it go attack independently?

  That would be a game changer. To be able to swap out his support from drone overwatch to an armored vehicle that could fire on its own, it was mind blowing. He could be a one man team, for as long as his mana lasted at least. He needed to get his mana pool larger, so he could summon more vehicles at once. Or maybe he should focus on acuity instead and get his mana regeneration above one point a minute. Then he could have his vehicles summoned indefinitely. The possibilities were intoxicating.

  While he was processing the revelation, his mana ran out and the gray and violet JLTV unsummoned itself. The mechanics groaned as their entertainment disappeared. As the motes of mana drifted away, Luke felt a pounding headache come on. He cursed himself for letting his mana bottom out, particularly in an area where it wouldn’t quickly recover.

  Past Luke had been smart though, he had brought along a solution. He had a cracked core along with a diffuser in his backpack. He walked back to the escort’s vehicle and pulled out the diffuser. He opened up the vents and sighed in relief.

  “Sir, Could you do that again?” the military escort asked tentatively. “I’ve never seen magic in person before. I’ve seen the videos before, of course, but seeing it with your own eyes is something else.”

  “Sure, I can show off a bit. But don’t call me Shirley.” Luke grinned, uncaring if the private didn’t understand the joke. “Let’s go to the next stop. I have a feeling that the next vehicle will be more exciting than this one to try out.”

  Today’s chapter title comes from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) I was so tempted to title it ”Nice”, but this quote worked better.

  Also, now would be a great time to rate, follow, and review. It would be so nice of you.