[Greyson – 10 years] → begins during Sig's PoV in Chapter 101.

  If I alter this line here and adjust this one, then modify this rune, I should be able to swap out the part in the server for this one. A trail of the solution I mixed up should improve the speed as well.

  I make the adjustments and swap out the piece, then test the server with my laptop. Its speed really is much higher than the server originally was. I am so glad Grandfather Adrian gave me a few of the same servers and storage drives the academy uses for my to experiment with and test.

  This will be a massive improvement for my mega-computer. The upgraded storage size is even better. My free time after school yesterday and today has been spent working on improving the tech and they will definitely be going for a test with my mega-computer when the one-month period ends.

  Sneaking out sounds like a terrible idea, which is not something I should be saying. I'm fairly certain my great-grandfather would know and punish me for it, though. The anti-teleport ward registers teleports from those who are keyed into it and I haven't figured out how to bypass that part.

  It might not even be possible for me without taking a look at the ward setup, and that's a lot more protected than I originally thought. Grandfather Adrian even added in anti-Greyson wards and barriers on it.

  They actually have a message for me if they detect my magic anywhere near them… and it's a loud voice in my head in addition to flashing words in my HUD. I didn't know anyone else could interact with it but if anyone could, it makes sense for my great-grandfather to be able to.

  Also Xander, so I'll see if he can at some point.

  To avoid getting punished by the only being more powerful than a god, I need to survive this month of not being allowed to leave the area. That means one month without working on my mega-computer directly.

  One month before I can install my new servers and storage drives for the mega-computer. They're where the actual magivirtual world will be hosted and where all of the player information will be stored. This one server contains one petabyte of storage on it, if talking in digital storage terms.

  The actual functionality is a little bit different from scientech, but the storage capacity is comparative. Before getting a hold of these servers, I thought it would take me at least ten more years to make this much storage on a single drive or server.

  The amount of tech that's been hidden from my awareness… the things I could do with it… this will definitely benefit things in the long run. These new servers will allow the mega-computer to host even more magivirtual worlds at once and allow for more players to be in them at any given point in time. Backup servers will take up less space as well as I won't need as many.

  I unplug the server from my laptop, then grab a piece of paper write up a quick note.

  Xander,

  I made some changes to a storage drive and a server as an experiment. They each have some errors in their magitech and I wanted to see if you know what to do to fix them and clean them up.

  Greyson

  Hehehe. Xander hasn't figured out yet that this is me getting him to fix the issues. As long as I play it like this, he just thinks it's me testing him. He used to be unwilling to touch anything until I started presenting them as tests for him. Then it became him unwilling to test anything he knew was an actual project of mine.

  But I have to be careful and not say it to him directly or he realizes I'm lying. That's why the letter is important, because he can't tell a lie from a letter.

  The reason I do this is because while I'm amazing at making magitech computers and stuff, Xander is even better at making sure the enchantments are as smooth as possible and everything works as best as they can. We're the best magitech duo in the world and he doesn't even know it!

  "What's funny?" Cody asks as he enters the room.

  Cody's got his camera hanging around his neck and he smells like flowers, so I'm guessing he was hanging out with some of his photography buddies. The way he feels happy matches how he felt when he came back from hanging out with them yesterday, too. They were taking pictures of flowers in the academy's gardens yesterday.

  "I'm gonna get a god to finish this!" I tell him as I pick up the server, then the storage drive sitting on my desk. "Gotta go to the mail office. I'll be back in a little while."

  I make sure I have both devices and the letter, then I head to the mail room. The three items are set on a counter and I grab a box and some tape, and pack them up inside of it.

  "There we go!" I put the tape back.

  "Alright," the employee at the counter says when I move the box over. "You know you're supposed to let us inspect what's in the box before we mail it, right? That means we'll need to open it."

  "I just need to pay for the box and tape," I tell him. "I can deliver it myself."

  "It's to another student?"

  "No," I tell him as I hold up my student card. "But I'd like to pay now."

  "You're not allowed to leave the property right now," he says.

  "I'm not going to," I say. "Please charge me. The other option is I hack into your system and charge me myself, and we both know that would get both of us into trouble."

  "It would only get you into trouble," he rolls his eyes. "Alright. One box and the tape to close it up. It looked like electronics-"

  "As I said," I say. "You aren't shipping it. So only the box and tape."

  He sighs and rings me up for just the box and tape, and I let him scan my student card.

  "Okay," I accept my receipt and tuck it into my wallet, then pull the box off of the shelf. "Thank you."

  "And how are you going to ship that?" He asks as the box vanishes.

  "By teleporting it to its destination," I answer. "Grandfather Adrian only told me that I'm not allowed to teleport out. He never said I wasn't allowed to teleport objects. The god that's for will find it the next time he visits my secret base. Bye!"

  I make my way back to my room and as I near it, I can feel Cody's nervousness. His mind is practically vibrating from it despite him being calm and happy when I left for the mail room.

  What's upsetting my roommate? Did he get a call from his parents and they decided he's too smart for them and they don't want him anymore?

  I enter our room and…

  Oh.

  "Hi, Grandfather Adrian," I say upon seeing him sitting on my bed. "That was fast. I expected it to take at least an hour for you to receive the notification that I'd done that."

  "I was already planning on visiting you now," Grandfather Adrian says. "You teleporting a box to your workshop didn't change that, though I hadn't expected young Cody to be in the room. What was in the box, and why did you teleport it?"

  "A storage drive and a server," I answer. "I managed to finish working on my own versions of them based on the ones this academy use, which you provided to me. Sadly, they were fresh servers and drives, not used ones, but oh, well."

  If they were used ones that had merely been wiped, I could have tried to restore their data and learn a little bit more about how the academy's servers work.

  "You are aware you said that out loud, aren't you?" Grandfather Adrian asks.

  Now I am.

  "Oops."

  He snorts.

  "Why did you send them to your workshop?" He asks. "To keep them until you're able to return there?"

  "No," I answer. "They're for Xander. If I present it to him as a test, with that bit written down, then he'll do his best to clean up the 'errors' that I claim they have. Everything always comes out functioning better after he works on them. That's the touch of a god for you."

  "We've been over this," Grandfather Adrian says. "Xander is not a god."

  "He's just good at fooling people into thinking he's a mortal."

  "And I've told you before that gods cannot inhabit bodies," Grandfather Adrian says. "Nor be born or reborn as people. They can only possess inanimate objects."

  "Next you're going to try to convince me that Trenton is a stuffed animal possessed by a god rather than a stuffed animal that Xander likes to talk to," I say. "Trust me, I've double-checked and Trenton is just a stuffed animal. Xander just likes playing pretend, but only with that bear."

  Speaking of bears, should I mention the honey-throwing bear to him? I tried taking it on again on Saturday when he popped up once more but failed. None of my plans or experimental spells worked to take him down, not even my self-anchored anti-dimensional magic ward. It should have blocked all dimensional magics other than my own from working in the area but it didn't.

  Or at least, the bear was able to push through it.

  No, I'll wait until a few more encounters. Taking on the bear is a fun challenge, even if a little bit frustrating. Only if it becomes a more serious problem will I inform him of the situation.

  "Greyson," Grandfather Adrian says. "As you know, several of Xander's products have been released for sale to the public. His puzzle spheres, hoverboard, augmented reality set, streamer orbs, and magic training orbs, to name the important ones."

  "Yes," I say. "He is doing quite well for himself. I haven't checked his bank account, but-"

  "You will not be checking his bank account or you're going into the anti-tech suit," Grandfather Adrian's voice is stern, and it makes me shrink back a little. "What is in there is none of your business, and you would need to hack to do so. That is illegal, and you are forbidden from performing illegal actions."

  Aw… I want to see how rich Xander's become. It would be really funny if he's richer than his dad.

  "The reason I am here," he says. "Is because I would like to know if there is anything you are willing to allow to be produced for sale. Something you've created. I know your big project will not be ready for some time-"

  "Nor something I will be selling," I tell him. "I will be the one running it. Others will rent use of it."

  "Yes," Grandfather Adrian says. "But I understand that you've created phones and computers as well."

  "I have," I nod. "Also robots. A lot of robots and remote-controlled things. Did you see my radio?"

  "I did," he says. "Of the things you've made, is there anything you would like me to have included in Xanson Technologies' products?"

  "Anything from the Finished Products sections," I tell him.

  "I've looked through your things," Grandfather Adrian says. "There's nothing labeled that there."

  "Please stop looking through my stuff."

  "I removed seventeen bombs you did not disclose to me."

  "Bombs?" Cody exclaims.

  "Not all of them were bombs," I say. "Some were just explosive things. There's a difference. As for the Finished Products sections, Xander knows what each of those are. Oh, but he also helped me out on a lot of them, including anything produced this year. As long as he thinks it's just a test, he'll adjust the setups so that they work better without worrying about breaking something. So if you release any of the newest stuff, he gets thirty percent of the creator share. Oh, right."

  I teleport the box back to me and summon a black permanent marker from my bag, then write "XANDER" on it before teleporting the box back to the base.

  "There we go," I say. "Now he'll know the box is for him. If I don't do that, he'll not realize it's meant for him and probably just put it in my station."

  The box was teleported to outside of his station. That is Xander's zone and I will neither enter nor place items within nor take items out of it without his explicit permission. I have given him permission to enter my areas and mess with my things, but he has not done the same to me.

  Probably to keep me from accidentally blowing myself up, but that would be an awesome way to go out. Not many people can make an honest claim to dying from triggering a god's experimental magitech.

  "So I'll need to ask Xander?" Grandfather Adrian asks. "And make sure he receives proper pay for his contributions?"

  "Yeah," I answer. "Alright. What's next on the agenda?"

  "How about you go eat dinner?" Grandfather Adrian asks. "It's almost that time."

  "That's it?" I ask. "You came all this way here to ask me just that?"

  There is no way that's all there is to it. Grandfather Adrian doesn't show up for something so simple.

  "You're in your one-month lockdown period," he says. "I would have waited for you to return to the workshop, but I have a feeling something might be happening soon. Something where your computers – or an updated version of them – could be quite useful."

  That's mysterious, ominous, and a little bit exciting.

  "I might be back," Grandfather Adrian says. "If I need an update to them from you."

  Before I can respond, he vanishes.

  Well, darn. He could've at least given me more information. What does he think will be happening soon?

  Investigating can wait until later.

  "Grandfather Adrian was right," I look at Cody. "It's just about time for me to get dinner. Want to join me? We never finished that discussion about light magic we were having this morning. Are you sure it's really better to make the light images completely out of light rather than exclude the internal areas, which don't show up?"

  That's a really odd take, since it mean using more mana to create and maintain them than if those areas are excluded. I want to try and understand why he thinks it's better.

  [Sig – 13 years]

  "You don't have to help me with dinner," Aunt Rachel tells me. "I'll bring it down when I'm done."

  "You sure?" I ask.

  "Of course," she reaches over and ruffles my hair. "I've got this, Sig. If you want to stream while you're waiting for time to head to the bowling alley, you can. I know you like doing your Tuesday stream, too."

  The bowling alley trips still start at eight-thirty even though we're back to school now, though we don't do the sleepovers on school nights. Those would normally happen Friday night but since I'm going hunting, we'll most likely do it Saturday night instead if I'm back by then. If not, well, the others will do a sleepover, just one without me.

  Though that's still a few days away and I don't have much to do until it's time to leave for the bowling alley. If Aunt Rachel is really sure about me not helping her with dinner, then I'll just play games instead like she suggested.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "It's too late to be playing Duty of Loyalty," I shrug. "Most of its players are Europeans and the fun ones are all off for the night. I might play World of Myst, though."

  "I'll be watching from my phone," she tells me.

  "Alright," I say. "Oh, also, I wanted to ask you something."

  "What's that?"

  This is something I tried to dismiss from my thoughts after my teacher said it during class today. But then Xander's cake happened and now it's on my mind again.

  "Mr. Ericson," I say. "He's my math teacher, he said that I've always been a top performer and was wondering if I'd considered testing to higher grades. As in, moving up to high school. He said my social life isn't a problem since I hang out with my friends and go to the park all the time and stuff. And I mean, I'd like to be in school with my friends, but at the same time… the coursework is too easy. I may or may not have already studied everything leading up to the end of high school. It wasn't even that hard to do. And I mean, that doesn't mean I actually retained all of the information, but I'm smart enough I could probably move up a grade or two."

  Aunt Rachel stares at me in silence for a few moments. This can't be good. The reason I didn't want to think about it originally is because it would mean not being in school with my friends.

  Since I see them all the time already anyway, though, that doesn't really matter. There's an actual good reason for me to try to move up a grade or two, though.

  "This is about trying to get your parents' attention, isn't it?"

  "No."

  "Sebastian…"

  "If I skip a grade or two, it'll definitely get their attention!" I tell her. "And then-"

  "Sig," Aunt Rachel interrupts me. "When was the last time they recognized any of your achievements?"

  "They just haven't been big enough achievements."

  "That's not how it works," she says. "And you shouldn't be pushing yourself to earn the approval of others. Push yourself to improve yourself. Because you want to. And if someone only cares about you because of your achievements, then they don't really care about you. They would only care about achievements. Glory. Prestige."

  "But-"

  "What I want to know," Aunt Rachel asks. "Is if you find the classes too easy."

  "Yeah," I answer. "I retained everything pretty well so I already know the material for this year. All of today's classes other than Culinary Arts were basically review for me. So I do kind of get bored in class. I know my teachers suggested it to my parents before, but I think they forgot about doing… whatever it is that needs to be done."

  "Think about that for a second."

  "About what?"

  "Your parents were told that you should test into a higher grade," she says. "And didn't care enough to set it up. If they didn't care enough to set it up, doesn't that mean they won't care if you skip grades?"

  As much as I hate to admit it, she has a good point.

  "I guess not…"

  "Come here," she opens up her arms, and I move in closer for a hug. "I care about you, Bas. So do the dads. Remember that, okay?"

  "I do…"

  "I know you do," she says. "But it seems sometimes you forget that we do. I know you don't like hearing it, and you strive to earn your parents' approval. Just be yourself, Bas. You're perfect the way you are, okay?"

  That doesn't change the feeling of wanting my parents to love me, though. There's really got to be something I can do to make it happen.

  "If this obsession continues," Aunt Rachel tells me. "It might be best for you to go into therapy."

  "I don't want to see a therapist."

  "Then try to stop, okay?" She asks. "It's not healthy to constantly seek approval. It can affect your own image of yourself. Don't think I don't see when you're feeling down about yourself. You suffer from a little bit of depression over it. If needed, I can get Sam's dad to talk with you for a few minutes. He can't be your therapist since he's your friend's dad, but he can give you advice as a surrogate father. And since he knows this stuff, you know it's right."

  I don't want Mr. Richardson to tell me that.

  "Bas?" Aunt Rachel says after a few moments when I don't respond.

  Please don't ask me again.

  "What would Xander say about trying to earn their approval?"

  What sort of question is that? Xander's the kind of kid who does his best at everything so that people don't hate him. All it does is stress him out instead of letting him… oh.

  That's her point, isn't it? I do feel really stressed over this.

  "I'm gonna go stream," I mumble.

  "I'll bring dinner down when it's ready," she says. "And Bas? If you can promise that you'll stop trying to earn their approval instead of just doing stuff you enjoy, I'll look into what's required for you to test up, okay?"

  "I'll try."

  "Thanks," she gives me a squeeze. "Now go have fun with your stream. And remember, Bas, that I'll always love you."

  "I love you, too," I wrap my arms around her. "Thanks."

  "You're welcome," she smiles.

  I go downstairs and get ready for my stream, and set the intro card to run. While chat's coming in, I return upstairs to get a glass of water, then come back down.

  "Hello, everyone!" I say five minutes after starting stream, turning off the intro card and switching it to camera. "So it's a bit late for me to play Duty of Loyalty since all the fun players are off for the night, which means I'm not gonna play that. Instead, I'm gonna take a page out of the book of my good friend Xander and play World of Myst instead! On the server with my aunt, though she's not playing at the moment. She's making dinner for us. No clue what it is. I offered to help, but she told me to come down here and do something else. So I'm streaming instead!

  "Before we get to playing the game," I chuckle. "You've probably seen that package on the ground against the wall for a few weeks, right? Yeaaaaah… I actually got sent that by the World of Myst devs – I can't remember their name – after my first stream of it. Which is why it's been here since after that.

  "I just keep forgetting to open it," I grin. "So I'm gonna do that before getting to the game. I really want to know what it is. I'm also really curious about why there's a second box from them there, as I don't remember it being there when I left for school… which means it must have been delivered while I was at school and Aunt Rachel dropped it off. So, uh, I'm gonna open both of them."

  I chuckle again, then get up and grab the boxes. Back at my desk, I open up the original one and pull out the plush that's inside.

  "It's a plush Lord of the Phantasm Chasm!" I exclaim. "Haha! They must've sent this because of that fight! That was some fast shipping! It's so cute, too!"

  I put the plush on my desk, then move its box to the side and grab the other one to open up. This one has a plush of my character with the addition of a bronze badge on his vest, a letter accompanying it.

  "'Congratulations on your extraordinary feat'," I read the letter to chat. "'Of slaying the Lord of the Phantasm Chasm in what can only be described as an ultimate challenge. For completing this difficult feat, we'd like to present you with the Bronze Badge of the Warrior.' Oh! Thank you! I've actually thought about trying it without anything, just to see how hard it is and how many tries it takes. Not today, though, I just wanna relax before my evening stuff!"

  I move the boxes to the side and the plushes to the ground where the boxes had originally been. Just for fun, I put the plush of the mob lying on his back, with the plush of me sitting on his chest.

  "There we go!" I say. "Now it resembles what happened to him! Okay! Game time, everyone!"

  [Xander – 12 years]

  "-but then a turtle showed up and started nomming on the bison," I continue telling my dad about my post-hangout nap dreams. "And the bison just looked at it like 'you know that doesn't do anything to me, right?' Except it was just a look, since the bison couldn't speak."

  We're currently in the living room, with me sitting on the couch and Dad sitting on a recliner. Dad wanted to talk with me but all he's done is ask about my dreams from my nap. Also if I had any blank spots in my memories since the last time he asked.

  I'm not sure why he keeps asking me about that, it's weird. At least he moved on to asking about my naptime dreams, those make more sense to talk about. They're things which actually happened today.

  "That's… interesting," Dad says. "What happened next?"

  "The dream ended and a different one started," I answer. "The next one was Sig sitting in a watermelon field, picking a watermelon. He had a wheelbarrow next to him and it had some more watermelons in it. I don't… I don't know what that was about. I guess because he just really likes eating watermelon?"

  But he needs to keep his hands away from me after he does until he washes them. I do not want sticky watermelon juice on me.

  "Do you dream about him often?" Dad asks.

  "I don't know how to define 'often' for this," I say. "But sometimes. He's not the only one, though. I had a dream Saturday night where Sig, Connor, Isaac, Sam, and I were hunting pizzas. That was a weird dream."

  "Hunting pizzas?"

  "I'm trying to forget about that dream."

  "Okay!" Dad laughs.

  "Oh," I add. "But I had a dream last night about Carter helping a horse give birth, and the baby flaremane had pure-white flames. I guess because he'd told me that they're expecting one of their mares to give birth in the next couple of weeks. I texted him earlier and he said that he's never seen one with pure white flames before, even in their higher breeds. He texted again a little bit ago and said that his dad said that it's been about a hundred years since the last flaremane with a pure-white flame passed away. So there ain't any alive right now, and he said his dad ain't sure what causes one to be born."

  "Is there something special about them?"

  "Uh…" I pull out my phone and check the texts. "They're the smartest flaremanes of all and have a much wider range of power. Their flames have healing magics, too. They also live longer. Like, a lot longer, but they grow up faster and can be ridden by an adult within a year. But it's really difficult to find someone they'll allow to ride them."

  "That's a shame," Dad says. "They sound interesting. What about the one that's supposed to be born soon?"

  "He's from the higher breed line," I say. "Carter said that his own horse is nearing retirement, which I think means going to the glue factor just like the ones in the British nursery rhyme Lexi told me about yesterday."

  "What nursery rhyme?"

  "It doesn't rhyme in Zrebzialan," I tell him. "Just in English. But it says that all of the kings horses and all of the king's men were unable to put him back together. And while it doesn't say he's an egg, the drawings from the original book apparently show him as an egg. And how would horses help try to put an egg together after he fell from a wall? Glue. They get made into glue."

  "And you think Carter's current horse is getting turned into glue?"

  "He didn't say what it means to retire a horse," I say. "But if it's that old, ain't it gonna die soon? They probably use it to make glue. I meant to look up how horses become glue."

  I'll do that later.

  "Oh," I add. "But that's a few years away, he's not that close to retirement. Close enough that a foal – a baby horse – will grow up and be big enough and strong enough for someone to ride before then, unless something happens."

  "Okay," he chuckles. "Do you dream about the boys you like often?"

  Oh. It looks like we're back to talking about my dreams.

  "Like I said," I say. "It depends on how often you define 'often'. Definitely some of my dreams have my friends in them. But if I have a hundred dreams, my friends might only be in five to ten of them. Would that be often? Or just sometimes?"

  "I'd say that's just sometimes," Dad says.

  "Okay."

  My phone starts ringing.

  "You can get that," Dad tells me.

  I pull out my phone and find that it's Grandpa Adrian calling me. I must have done something wrong but forgotten about it. Or I did something wrong without knowing it was wrong.

  "H-hello?" I answer the call.

  "Good evening, Xander," Grandpa Adrian says. "Are you able to visit the workshop for about twenty minutes?"

  "Um…" I think. "I need to ask my dad real quick."

  "Go ahead."

  "Dad?" I look at him. "Grandpa Adrian wants to know if I can go to the workshop, he said 'for about twenty minutes'."

  "You may," he answers. "But come back right after, okay?"

  "Yes, sir," I say. "He said I can go, so I just need to get ready and leave and I'll be there."

  "See you in a few," Grandpa Adrian says.

  "Bye."

  The call ends and I pocket my phone, then grab my backpack and Trenton, give Dad a hug, and locate my shoes so I can leave. Once I've left, I teleport to the workshop and find Grandpa Adrian inside, near Greyson's shelves.

  There's also a box by my work zone, and I can see my name written on top of it in marker in Greyson's handwriting. He must have teleported it here since he's not allowed to leave his new school for awhile.

  Please don't have chocolate. I'll incinerate it if it does and leave nothing but ash behind.

  "H-hello," I approach Grandpa Adrian.

  "Good evening," he says. "I'd like to check some of Greyson's PCs, monitors, laptops, tablets, and phones and prepare them for production for sale through the company. He said they'll be in the Finished Products section, but they aren't labeled. He said you'd know."

  Oh. That's nothing bad at all, it's just him making it so that it's not only my products being sold through the company. I wanted to say something about that but was too scared to since I knew he must have had a reason for not starting Greyson's stuff yet.

  "Yeah," I nod. "He said I'm allowed to use any of the finished things that have at least two copies of them. The PCs are the boxes, right? The finished ones are here."

  I show Grandpa Adrian each of the finished products Greyson's made, and he collects a copy of some of them. Only the ones Greyson made this year are taken as they're the newest versions of the devices. Some variation exists between them depending on what Greyson intended their purpose for as well, so Grandpa Adrian still takes two or three different ones of each product type.

  The different items vanish through what I think is him teleporting them somewhere, so he's probably moving them to wherever it is he'll examine them more closely and alter them to be the final versions which will be sold.

  "By the way," Grandpa Adrian says once we finish. "Greyson sent you a package, he said it contains a storage drive and a server."

  "Oh," I sigh. "It's another test. He usually only does those on weekends or during breaks, at least for devices."

  "Has he ever given you a test by telling you?"

  "Not with magitech," I say. "The spoken ones are usually things like 'hey, Xander, which rune would be better to create an explosion'."

  "Those aren't tests," Grandpa Adrian says. "That's just him wanting to know what your understanding of magic says. And with the tech… he's not testing you. Him writing it down is his way of getting around your lie detection ability."

  "Getting… around it?"

  "Yes," Grandpa Adrian says. "He's not testing you with the tech, he's wanting you to clean up his enchantments and magitech. Your natural ability to perceive magic, mana, and the way they flow and interact makes you able to fix errors which he can't even tell, improving the quality of things several times over."

  Grandpa Adrian indicates the shelves of stuff Greyson's built.

  "According to him," he says. "You're involved enough to earn thirty percent of the creator share of income from the things being sold."

  While my great-grandfather could be lying about this, I can definitely see Greyson doing that. Especially with the me from before my brain got fixed. When I wasn't as sure of myself and my tech as I am now. He wanted my help but couldn't find a way to get it without lying to me. To convince me to help him finish his creations, he made me think he was testing my knowledge.

  That's really mean and I need to find a way to get back at him for lying to me and using me in that way which won't get me into trouble. I'm still trying to come up with one for testing out magic food recipes on me so I've got a lot of work ahead of me in that regard.

  "Okay," I say. "I'll have to let him know he doesn't have to do that."

  "Alright," Grandpa Adrian chuckles. "Have a good rest of your evening, Xander."

  "I'll try," I tell him. "You as well, Grandpa Adrian."

  Grandpa Adrian vanishes, and I collect the box and start to leave. As I exit the building, my phone rings again.

  "Hello, Carter," I answer the phone upon seeing who it is, though I still teleport home and start walking up to the house.

  Dad said he wanted me home right after and that's what I'm doing.

  "Hey, Xander!" He says. "So that thing you asked me about, with the boots? There's a guy who makes custom boots for people who makes hunting and work boots. Local to me. He's visiting us right now and I asked him about what you wanted, and he said he can do it. He can make a pair in a day if you don't mind him using magic and the quality being a little bit lower, so if you drop them off Friday morning, they can be ready by the time we leave. With the use of magic but more time spent so the quality's higher, he can do it in a few days. In both cases, you won't need to break them in – some of the magic he uses ensures that."

  I'd asked about having hunting boots made using leather from the bison I hunted after the wyvern. The magically-boosted tanning process completed and the hide is extremely durable while also quieter. From what I could find online, the properties of the hide will mute the sounds of steps even with the sole not being made from it. The magic apparently affects even that material, even more so when connected using the right method.

  The expectation wasn't for me to get the boots before the hunting trip this weekend, but I wanted to have some of my own. Being invited to two hunting trips means I'll probably be invited to even more. Even if that doesn't happen, I'll probably still go hunting anyway, just on my own.

  "Um… I'll have to ask Dad," I tell him. "He wants me to come back home so I'm heading inside now."

  "Alright," he says. "By the way, the Coxes grow a special wheat, corn, and grass with mind magic aspects to them. One branch of our family grows the wheat, another does hay for bales, and Tate's does some grass and some corn for silage.

  "It's not normally too much work with that part of the family doing it," he continues. "Though they sometimes borrow others. Their family's decently-large, there's Tate's which is the main and then, like, four branches. Basically, Tate's dad's siblings and then his dad's uncle. That's just the ones who stuck to the larger property, the ones who stuck to the ranches and farms.

  "Anyway," he says. "If they need help, they can usually get a cousin to come over and help. 'Cept we're supposed to get rain here nearly all week next week. And the magic varieties they grow for the wheat, corn, and hay are all going to be ready for harvest before then. This is the normal time for those strains. So the entire family's going to be working their butts off on Friday to get it done.

  "Since they're all gonna be working Friday," he says. "Tate suggested inviting you to help, for some added experience. You'll be paid for it like you were with us, and you'll get to try bread made from their special wheat. If you like it, you'll be allowed to take some of the flour home with you."

  "Them all working is reason to invite me for added experience?"

  That doesn't make any sense.

  "To help them get it done faster," he clarifies. "They ain't able to call on a cousin to help since everyone is. It is something they can get done without extra help, but he figured he could see 'bout asking you, in case you were interested."

  If I help them, then Tate would probably get more rest time before we have to leave for the hunting cabin. We're going to true wilderness, which is a pretty far distance away. Since that particular area is a longer drive away than where we went last time, Carter's family has a hunting cabin there. They go there often enough to warrant having one.

  "Okay," I say. "I'll ask Dad. And I don't want to be a rancher or a farmer… but I'll help him if permission is given."

  "Cool!" He says. "Do you know how much longer it'll be before you can ask your dad? I wanna let the guy know if we can expect you to show up."

  The guy he's referring to is probably the one for making boots.

  "I just got home," I tell him. "Dad's right here, so I can ask. Dad, is it okay if I teleport over to Carter's to drop off some leather from my hunting trip last week to be made into boots? The shoemaker can use magic to get it done with high quality before the hunting trip on Friday if I drop the leather off tonight. His magic will even make it so I don't need to break them in."

  Which means I can use them immediately and not worry about them messing up my feet or hurting me.

  "As long as you come straight back, it's fine," Dad tells me. "But nowhere else until bowling, okay?"

  "Yes, sir," I answer. "Also, he said that Tate wants to know if I want to come help his family harvest… uh… something? I don't know if it's corn or hay or wheat or grass or something. I'd be paid for it, again, and I might even get to bring some flour back."

  "How soon does he need an answer by?" Dad asks.

  "Um… I don't know," I say. "Carter, how soon do you need an answer by? Or Tate?"

  "Breakfast on Friday!" Tate says in the background.

  "Oh, you can hear me?"

  "I'm like, right next to him," Tate says. "And his volume's up on his phone, so I can hear a little."

  "Wait, it's up?" Carter asks. "Argh! It's doing that again! I'll have to see if I can get it to stop again. Also, get back to your homework, you did Number Eighteen wrong."

  "They said Friday by breakfast," I tell my dad.

  "Alright," he says. "I'll need to think on that one, and talk with Tiffany as well. It's too late today for that."

  "Okay," I say. "Carter, Dad says he'll have to think on it, and also talk with my case worker. So it can't be tonight."

  "That's fine!" Tate says. "Just let us know when you know!"

  "I'll try," I say. "Let me leave and I'll teleport over with the hide."

  "Just come straight to the house!" Carter tells me. "There's no need to go to the entrance and walk up, and we're in the living room. Just come on in!"

  I'll still knock.

  "Okay," I say. "I'll try to be there shortly. Bye."

  "Bye!"

  I hope they don't want to talk too much, I don't want to need another nap before bowling.