Drew was so focused on the wasted tier 2 core, that he was taken completely by surprise when flames licked up the outside wall of the house.

Damnit, that stupid dilo must’ve caught the carpet on fire when we fought. Now I’ve got to put it out before it destroys the solar panels.

He was not concerned about the state of the house. After all, its owners were dead. However, if it burned down the electrical equipment inside, he would be forced to fly around and find another house.

Drew lightened his weight and raced over to the burning building. In an effort to conserve chi, he came within a foot of the flames before he summoned massive amounts of water. All along the wooden exterior, he extinguished the flames until the fire was quenched.

He stepped inside the house through the hole the dilo created when he kicked it. The inside carpet and sofa was alight, so Drew quickly doused the blaze.

That was close. A few more minutes, and the whole thing would’ve been lit up.

When Drew glanced down at the charred carpet, he noticed the burns that still adorned his feet. His pain receptors were disabled, and he had forgotten about the wounds he accumulated during his fight. He bent down and began to send his chi to the wounded tissue.

What happens if I can’t upgrade my core anymore? Will the monsters continue to get stronger while I stay the same? What happens when they evolve in a way that counters my powers?

That dilo was the third evolved beast Drew had discovered and killed. He realized that he had gotten very lucky when they killed the tier 2 raptor. The two tier 2 dilos were incredibly strong, and it would have been impossible to defeat them with his strength a week ago. Drew was just glad that he and Matt killed the raptor quickly, before it had a chance to showcase its evolution.

Once his burns were healed, he searched the rest of the house for electrical equipment. The solar panels were key, but any other equipment he could procure would be extremely welcome.

When he discovered the rotted remains of the previous owners in the bedroom, he quickly fled that part of the house and moved on to the garage.

There it is.

Much to Drew’s disappointment, the equipment was destroyed. The expensive hardware, which had originally been bolted to the wall, was either smashed or scattered. The only thing left was a dangling cable that exited the ceiling, out of reach from the dilo.

He knelt down to observe the destruction. The battery pack was not only wrecked, but burned to a crisp. Next to that ruin was the remains of the inverter.

Damnit! That’s what I needed.

If Drew wanted to feed power to the breaker box of the house, an inverter was necessary. Solar panels captured energy from the sun and produced direct current electricity. That energy was then fed through a solar charge controller which adjusted the voltage to charge the battery bank.

Houses in America, unfortunately, did not use direct current. They used alternating current. The power in a breaker box was also much higher than the 12 to 14 volts stored in a battery pack.

The inverter’s job was to not only increase the voltage from 12 to 240 volts, but to also switch it to alternating current. Once you had the correct voltage and wave form of electricity, you could feed it directly to the breaker box.

Ironically, almost every single electronic device uses DC power. That means that after you went through the effort to make sure the electricity was AC, each individual device was forced to convert it back to DC and lower the voltage back down. The efficiency was horrendous as you lost a good percent of your power converting from DC to AC, and then back to DC.

Finally, some good news.

When Drew bent over the solar charge controller, he discovered that it seemed to be in one piece. He could not be sure it worked until he hooked it up once again, but with that device, he would be able to create his own battery bank and recharge it.

I’ll come back for this after I get the solar panels.

He lifted the garage door and slipped outside. With a quick jump, he was on the roof to inspect the undamaged panels. Unlike on the roof, the snow on top of the glass encased equipment had already melted. He inspected each of the large panels, and found no cracks in the glass or burned cells beneath the protection.

Good, they should all be usable.

Each of the panels were two and a half feet by five feet. Drew bent down and formed a laser to cut through the brackets which held the closest sheet to the roof. Once it was free, he traced the cable away from it until he found the connector and unplugged it.

Ok, now how do I get it back to the lodge.

The streets were still covered in snow, so the Amazon truck was not an option. The panel was awkward to handle and if he tried to carry more than one, he would most likely shatter the glass and damage it.

Let’s see if I can fly holding on to it.

Drew jumped high into the air and made himself and the sheet of glass weightless. Unfortunately, as he pushed off the roof, he heard the wooden beams and supports below crack.

Ok, no more using the roof to launch myself up.

He conjured shields around his body and shaped them as he did before. This time, he was careful to encapsulate the solar panel he held flat to his chest. Once the shields were in the correct shape, he formed a gust of wind which he used to accelerate toward the lodge. He shot forward at incredible speed and reached their new home in less than a minute.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Yeah, this is way faster than using the truck and way more fun.

He was careful to slow his speed when he neared the building so he could land gently beside it. After he lightly touched down upon the snow, he heard clapping a few feet away.

“Oh my God fam, that was sooo badass!” Matt gushed. “I can’t wait until I can fly.” When he noticed the state of Drew’s pants, he asked, “What happened to your clothes, AGAIN?”

Drew carefully leaned the panel against the building and answered. “I found another evolved beast. Unlike the last super-dilo, this one could create heat and was immune to the cold. My sword wouldn’t penetrate its scales either.

“Did you kill it?”

Drew snorted. “Of course I did.”

“How?”

“With my fists. I crushed its skull until its brain was destroyed.”

“So, where’s my tier 2 core?” Matt demanded. “You got the last one.”

Drew winced. “Uh… about that…” he stammered. “I already used it.

“Of course you did.” Matt muttered. “Well, how much stronger are you now?”

“Uh… the same.”

“What do you mean, ‘the same’?”

“It didn’t work.”

Matt cursed.

“Yeah, considering how rare the evolved beasts are, I was pretty pissed that it failed too.”

“How the hell are we supposed to level up if the cores don’t work anymore?!” Matt exclaimed.

“I don’t know. I’m hoping a tier 3 core will work.”

“That’s just one more reason to get the beast farm up and going.”

Drew nodded. “I agree. Just as soon as the wall is completed, it’s next on the list.”

“Well, we’re over halfway done already. Another few hours and it’ll be finished.”

“I’ll let you get back to work then. I’m going to get the other panels and the charge controller.”

“Hold up, fam. Did you see a bag of chips in the back of the truck?”

“No, I don’t remember any.”

Matt narrowed his eyes, but refrained from calling Drew out as he left.

Over the next hour, Drew ferried equipment over from the half burned house. After all of the hardware was transported, he went back one last time for the cable. To his annoyance, it was attached to the beams inside the attic, and he was forced to destroy half the roof before he was able to extract it.

Now I need to find some batteries.

The vehicles near the lodge already had their batteries removed, so he was forced to roam further afield before he found any intact. However, no matter how many times he was forced to travel back and forth, flying never got old.

After he retrieved his eighth battery, he decided to recharge himself as his core was around eighty percent full. Over the last few hours, he had fought a super-dilo and flown quite a bit. Rather than use a battery as he had before, he wanted to test out the new panels.

All sixteen solar panels leaned against the south side of the lodge. A few were shaded, which would vastly reduce the amount of electricity they would produce. However, their current placement was temporary. As soon as Adam finished the wall and the first beast cage, he planned on asking his son to fasten the large panels to the roof on the south side of the house.

For now, he approached one of the panels in full sun and bent down to examine the connector plugs on the back. Luckily, the plastic housing had a label which listed the output of the panel.

Hmm, 19 volts. Just a little higher than a car battery.

Drew put a finger in each of the plugs and began to feed electricity to his core. Unfortunately, the solar panel was limited to 400 watts which limited the speed of his recharge.

I guess I need to hook them together.

Drew used all eight Y connectors he found to combine four of the panels together in parallel. This method of connection increased the amperage, yet left the voltage the same.

He placed his fingers inside the connectors and began to charge at four times the speed as before. Despite the increased throughput, this method would still take twice as long to refill his core. However, as long as the sun shined, he would never run out of electricity.

A few minutes in, Matt walked over. “Sweet, I could use a recharge as well.”

“Sure, I’m almost done.”

“Why’s it taking so long?” Matt complained.

“Well, I only have four of the panels connected, and each of them only has so much throughput.”

“Why not connect them all together?”

“Well, there’s two ways you can connect the panels together, in series or parallel. You can also use a combination of both, which is what I’ll do when they’re installed on the roof. Right now, they’re connected in parallel. This keeps the voltage low, just a bit above a car battery.”

Matt’s eyes began to glaze over, yet Drew continued on, excited to pass on knowledge.

“They didn’t have any more Y connectors, so I could only connect four of them that way. The rest of the panels will have to be connected in series, which will increase the voltage. Higher voltage means that the electricity will pass through your skin's resistance easier. That’ll make the flow harder to control and potentially damage something if you aren’t careful.”

Matt raised his hands. “Woah, woah…. way too much info fam.”

“Well, you asked.”

“And I regret it already.”

When Drew’s core was full, he handed Matt the connectors.

“So, are we gonna be able to use the fridge and microwave now?” Matt asked while he charged.”

“Not yet, I need an inverter in order to change from DC to…”

“No, no, no. Just use simple english. I didn’t sign up for science class.”

Drew thought about the simplest way to explain the problem. After a moment, he smiled and began to speak slowly, as if to a small child. “The monster destroyed the electric box that makes it work. I need to go out and find another electric box so we can use it.”

“See? Was that so difficult?”

He rolled his eyes.

“When are you gonna get the box thingy?”

“I guess right now.” Drew shrugged. “I’m not busy with anything else, I might as well go look for another.”

“Need some help? I could totally use a break.”

“No, the wall is way more important than electricity.” Drew reminded the young man.

“Then why don’t you cut bricks while I go find your box?”

“First, you don’t know what you’re looking for. And second, I can fly, you can’t.”

“That’s so lame.”

“The perks of leadership.” Drew smirked, jumped high into the air, and began to fly away. A quick glance below showed not only Matt looking upward in awe, but also Carol, Dave, and Lucas.

I love flying.