"Thank you, that was delicious." Lan says, patting his belly.

"You're welcome. Now, are you ready to get your butt kicked by Amelia's mom?" We played another match before he got here, and she wiped us all out.

"I got lucky in that last round." She says with false modesty. "I went first and a bunch of you were all grouped together near the water." Turner actually went first, but accidentally jumped his worm off of a cliff.

I give Lan a console and controller, and the first thing he does is laugh at the title of the Game. "Worms? Really?"

"You fight a kilometer long worm and it kinda sticks with you." I let a few laughs of my own slip out.

I show him how it works, how to connect to the match, and we soon start playing. The girls and I all team up against Kaitlyn forcing her to use up all her blowtorches and girders trying to protect her worms. Meanwhile Lan and Turner are taking turns killing off their own teams. I won in the end, but only because Apricot sacrificed one of her worms to kill off the last of Kaitlyn’s team.

"Oh, that was fun." Lan laughs after my victory. "I'm absolutely terrible at it, but that was fun. I know you're set for gold, so is there anything else I can offer as payment?"

"Oh, I don't suppose you have any [neodymium]?" I ask only for him to shake his head. "Hmm, how about some [chromium]?" I know it's used for stainless steel, but haven't found enough to even start working out the alloy percentages.

"Not on its own, but I'm guessing this is what you want it for." He takes out a good sized cube of stainless.

"That it is, and it saves me from having to figure out the recipe." I Identify the alloy and am still amazed every time I use it at the level of detail I get now. "If you're willing to part with all of it, I can give you a copy of all the games. And hells, I'll even throw in a dirt bike and let you use the racetrack I set up just outside the city." I'm being generous, but who knows when I'll find another source. And, I kinda feel bad for taking advantage of him before.

"Is it really that valuable?" Turner asks with wide eyes.

"Only because I don't have a source for it." I say honestly. "Adding chromium to steel makes it harder and very nearly rust proof. It's not a big issue now, but if I want to do something on the ocean later..." I trail off as I see that he understands.

"You've got a deal." Lan says with a smile at the deal he just got and floats the metal over to me.

"Too bad we don't have a wider market for these games." Turner sighs at the thought of lost revenue.

"Who says we don't?" I scoff. He wouldn't be saying that if only he knew about the coin shortage caused by Space Invaders. "I can change the game so that it costs a copper per game, then we lease them out to taverns for a cut. That, or we can start a game parlor of our own where people can come to play."

"Heheheh." Apricot starts giggling at the expressions that show on all three of the merchant's faces. "I thought she was supposed to be the coin-monger in this relationship."

"Hey." Amelia shoots her wife a dirty look. "We've been busy with the chocolate and working up a plan for the phones." She tries to defend herself, but I can tell that she feels ashamed for not even thinking about this possibility.

"Don't worry, baby." I pat her on the shoulder. "You can figure out how to get even more rich on whatever my next invention turns out to be. Why don't you all play another round while I build this stuff for Lan. Do you want separate Runes, or an all-in-one box?"

"All in one, if it's not too much hassle." He says politely. "Will it still be able to connect to others like this one?"

"Yes..." I trail off as I think about multiplayer modes on the other games. "Hmm? Tetris will be easy enough... The network should handle Pong and Warlords, but I'll have to test the latency."

"Uh-oh." Apricot says. "That's his thinking voice. We might as well start playing he's going to be at it for a while."

I was, it took me a good hour to finish everything up. But, only because took the time to add a matchmaking and high score service to the router. The latency was more than low enough, but everything is connected to the same phone tower right now. So, I added some basic netcode to future-proof it.

I wait until they finish their latest game before speaking up. "All done." I announce after Lan finally wins a game. Turner though, he somehow seems to have gotten worse.

"Me first this time." Amelia declares.

"Not much change to Worms." I say and update all the games, starting with hers. "But, if you go into multiplayer, there's now a lobby where you can pick a game to join instead of having to know what number to call."

"Can I play with someone on the same device like the Warlords game?" Lan asks.

"Yeah, just pick the 'host local game' option and give them a controller." I show him the carrying case for the Rune, where I included four controllers. "You can have more than four players too, but they'll have to swap controllers."

"And the other games you were muttering about?" This question comes from Apricot.

"I added the same lobby function to them too, along with a high-score leader board for all the single player games." I reply. "And, yes I'll update your watches later." I add before she can even open her mouth.

"You need to make a trip to the guild and update all those games there, maybe also leave a copy or two of Worms." I can tell that she just wants to do that so she can crush all their high scores.

"Yeah, I'll do the ones at the castle too." I answer before turning to the Rialtas. "And, once I finish up the charging stations you three can work out how to sell more along with the phones. Are you going to sell through an existing store, or hire someone to start our own?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Good question." Amelia nods. "The chocolate made more sense to sell through other people, but with all the enchanted stuff you're making it would probably be worth it to have our own storefront."

"I'll leave it up to you to decide." I smile at my merchant. "I'll probably have the charging stations done by the time we get back from Riverton, you two still good with leaving the day after tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we should get it done as soon as possible." She turns serious. "If that wind from the other day is any indication, then the weather will be turning with the season soon. And, even with Magic, I don't want to be caught out in a storm."

"Good point, especially since we won't just be rushing there and back this time." Just laying the conduit will slow us down, and then I want to take a day or two to build the new village.

"Are you going to be putting down that conduit that Oliver was talking about?" Lan asks. "Mind if I take a look at it?"

"Not at all." I hand him a small loop. "You're probably the only other person in this part of the world that can even make it, though yours would be tied to just Fire and Earth like your Mana Stones and Gems."

"Ooh, that is neat work." He says after focusing his magical senses onto the cable. "And, you're right, I don't see anyone short of a Master being able to reproduce it." He materializes a block of graphite and starts trying to make his own.

"It helps if you do the core first, that gives you something to wrap the rest around." I offer up a bit of advice.

"Oh? Yes, that's much easier. Thank you." He quickly gets the hang of it. "I may have to steal this idea for Freraskir once I go back. We just had collection Runes at the Mana Wells feeding giant Mana Gems which apprentices would be responsible for transporting to and from the cities' designated charging areas. This would make that whole process so much easier."

"That's the idea." I nod. "Now, who's up for another game?"

"Oh, just one more for me."  Lan begs off.  "Oliver got me an appointment with a housing agent early tomorrow.  I'm going to be here for a while anyways, and I'm tired of living out of an inn."

"Don't blame you, there. Never feels right sleeping in someone else's bed."

"Yeah, I mostly just want some room to stretch out and throw some magic around if I want to. May copy your race track idea too. These Rune games are fun, but sometimes you just have to move your body about."

"Yeah, you do." Apricot grins devilishly, causing Lan to blush. "Hahahah." Her laughs and Temmie's *Dings* ring out at his embarrassed look, which only makes him blush harder.

***

The next day has me building and enchanting vehicle after vehicle while working on a better concealment rune. I've been meaning to upgrade the ones at the palace anyways, and this gives me a good chance to work on it.

Those ones just use Dark Mana to hide everything, and eat up any detection spells that pass their boundary. But, they're also somewhat rigid, like most Runes, and can be bypassed with enough skill. There is no such thing as perfect security, but I think I can do a step better than just hiding everything.

I'm going for a three-pronged approach. The outer-most layer shows a false image to detection spells. The one inside that shunts Mana around itself, making it seem as though nothing is actually there. And, the innermost section is a destabilization field designed to degrade any mana that does make it inside.

"Hey, Apricot." I call out to the pixie who's laying in a hammock playing Worms. "Mind taking a look at this for me?" I materialize a plate of chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the new Rune's area of effect.

"What is it? And why do I smell cookies." She looks up from her game and immediately starts blinking. "What? Why can I not see?" Her eyes filter through the magical spectrum trying to get a better grasp on what's in front of her. "Ahh, there we go. Wow, nice job!" She compliments my work. "If I didn't already know you were building a concealment Rune, I would have glanced right past it."

"Nice." I let a smug smile slip onto my face for a second. "Too bad it's a hog Mana-wise. I'm going to have to go with a pared down version of the false image for the engines, but if this can fool a pixie, even for a few seconds, then it should be good enough for the reactor, let alone the royal apartments."

"That's great, now gimme those cookies." She grabs the plate from me and goes back to her game.

I just shake my head with a rueful smile on my face before going back to work. I want to get ten percent of the castle's order done today, and now that I've got the concealment Rune done, it's time to start working on some electric motors and dynamos.

After setting up some collectors for both Magnet and Electric Mana, I tested out motor designs based on each. Fortunately, electric motors are quite a bit simpler than internal combustion engines. So, it only takes me an hour to get them working, I was then able to hook a dynamo up to an engine and collect more of both types of Mana.

The pure Magnet Mana motor was more efficient, but also a much more complex enchantment than the Electric based motor. I made a handful of each, and decided to let Oliver and the guild play around with them.

These are all using simple iron-nickel magnets, as I've given up on finding neodymium for now. I should be able to make do without it by adjusting the molecular structure of the iron, nickel, and cobalt that I do have access to. But, that will have to be added to my list of projects for the future, right next to playing around with superconductors.

After getting those done so quickly, I decided that since I'm building motors, I might as well try a pure Motion Mana based device. I tried a couple of small fly-wheels when I was first designing the Rocket, but I was afraid that it would break free and tear the car apart.

I've got a better handle on the materials, and feel more sure about my enchanting now. So, I try again at a few different scales to get an idea for how to use it best to use it. The efficiency seems to scale with size, which makes me think that this would be best used in place of large mills, or possibly in the trains I want to build once I have enough steel for the tracks.

Happy with my progress for the day; I finish off the last couple dirt bikes, and look at the sky to see that there's still an hour before dark.

"Oliver." I greet the Court Wizard after he answers my call. "I've got the first shipment of vehicles ready. Do you want me to bring them up to the castle?"

"How many were you able to make?"

"Just a tenth of what the General asked for, but since we're going to be gone for at least a week, I thought he'd want what he could get his hands on. I also have a couple surprises, a much improved concealment Rune being the one I think you'll enjoy the most."

"How much improved?" He asks somewhat skeptically.

"Good enough to fool Apricot for a few seconds, even when she knew what to look for." The pride shines through in my voice. "I'm using a very pared down version on the vehicles because it draws a lot of Mana, but I can set you up with some big Mana Gems that will last until we get back and I can build some collectors to power everything."

"Uh..." He draws out the word. "About that."

"I wasn't exactly hiding that I had Mastery. -Hells, all you had to do was identify that giant Gem in the basement.- But, I got enough stares when everyone learned that I had Control already. I just didn't want to see how they'd treat me after learning I ranked it up again so quickly."

"No, I understood that." He says quickly before continuing in a slightly sheepish voice. "I was hoping you could tell me how you managed it, I've been trying for years, decades actually."

"Fear mostly." I give him the unvarnished truth. "I was so afraid after learning about the upcoming war that I started obsessively pushing myself to do more and be better. I was leveling up Control on a daily basis, usually several times in a day. Until finally, the business with the tree pushed me over the edge."

"Lan gave a similar answer. Not the fear, but obsession. He said that most people going for Mastery tend to seclude themselves and focus on nothing but magic until they get it." He lets out a deep sigh. "I suppose I've just been taking it too easy, happy to live the easy life while still knowing that I was one of the most skilled Mages in this part of the world."

I don't know what to say to that, but thankfully he starts up again, keeping me from having to think of something.

"But, never mind all that. Vivian asks if you could stay and join us for dinner after delivering the vehicles."

"Sure, just let me tell the girls, and we can head up in a little bit."

"See you then." He disconnects.

***