{Alex}

I watched Gorloth run into the shop and up to me. Given the flush on his cheeks and the huge smile he had plastered on his face it was clear what he was up to. I laughed and shook my head at my green friend. “Good morning, friend Runt.” He said with a wave.

“Morning Gorloth. Did you sleep well?” I said wagging my eyebrows at him. He nodded and beamed at me; it made his tusks stand out, but it was the smile of a man who didn’t kiss and tell. I laughed and he joined me. “You are just in time. I need some help with this.” I said pointing at my new micro multi-core engine. He looked down at a weird triangle with three trays that had clamps to hold cores. It looked like three Silversteel and gold frisbees welded together and lined in runes. If I was right and was mimicking the runes set right it should work and maybe not blow up.

“What it do?” He asked, looking at it with interest. I stood proudly as I put my hands on my hips.

“This is a new engine prototype. It should hold three medium size cores and turn them into mana. It does the same thing as a normal engine for a knight but should be smaller and more powerful or that is my hope at least.” Gorloth stepped back a little at my words. He didn’t trust me, that hurt a little. No, he didn't trust my untested device. That was a little more understandable. I was going to make sure I was clear of it if it blew up.

“Wiser to use small core first.” He said as he took a large step back. I looked at him blankly. If my back of the napkin math was wrong, I might have just died here. Fucking hell why was he the voice of reason?

“Good call.” I slapped him on the back and altered it so it would hold and use smaller cores. As I was doing this, I noticed my bracelet with its goblin cores. I wondered if I could link the cores there to improve the mana output. I almost reached for it and then had to stop. It wouldn’t be a good thing if I blew off my own arm. I wasn’t sure if a healer could repace an arm or how much it would cost, but best not to test that until I understand things a little more. Safely test first then I can wear my new toys. Once the smaller prototype was ready, I pulled out my bag of smaller cores I had been saving. When not in use I put them in a small thin ball of gold-plated iron. The gold was a pain to get and I would love a larger lock box for them, but beggars can’t be picky. Placing three Roll Rat cores in the device, I powered the runes and took a step back with a Mana wire switch in my hand so I could turn it off at a distance. It started to hum and spark lightly. Something was wrong with the cores, and I killed it quickly. Trying the test with two cores, I was a little dismayed that the same thing happened. “What is going wrong with this?” I asked in the open not really expecting an answer. Gorloth looked down at it, his puzzled expression matching my own.

“Looks like little cores fighting.” He said, scratching his large head. I stood looking at him closely. He was a genius. This man who stood next to me had to have an IQ that matched my own.

“You are right. They are fighting. Fucking amazing man. Boss, I’m heading out.” I called out as I ran, Gorloth at my heels. My friend had a huge smile on his tusked face as he shook his head. He had quickly become Watson to my Sherlock. God, I hoped I got the order right, and I wasn’t Watson. I ran to the inn at top speed praying that I could find someone who had the information I needed. A group gathered around the table cheering as two people were fighting with Dolls. Innkeeper was watching them passing out drinks for coins. Innkeeper waved at us, and his smile told me that he was happy to see me and not minding Gorloth.

“Alex, what can I do for you?” Innkeeper asked me as he handed out a pitcher of beer.

“Is there someone who knows about cores and the monsters they come from?” I asked, my excitement forcing my words out in a rush.

“We have a summoner in this town. They can appraise the cores and tell you all about the monsters. Past that you may want to talk to Fodgoty. He likes to study monster books for fun.”

“Where is Summoner?” I asked, looking around like the man would magically pop into being where I stood. Innkeeper pointed to a man standing by the group wearing a green cloak. Summoner looked at me worried, but I was on the path of something, something big. I ran up to him and he backed off slowly. “When you look at a core, can you tell if the core is male or female and even subspecies?” I asked in a rush. He blinked at me, not sure, but given how everyone else was looking at him, he would try to help me.

“Yeah, if they have a gender. Some monsters don't have the parts we do. What do you need to know for?” He asked putting his hands in his pockets. I was making him uncomfortable but that didn't matter to me.

“I’m working on something big, and it matters a lot to me.” I said as his eyes moved up to Gorloth who towered behind me. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a table.

“If it is big to you, it will mean the world to this town. Let me see if I can help.” Summoner said rubbing his arm. I had him appraise all my cores. It quickly became an assembly line. Gorloth would pull out a gem, label it, Summoner would tell me everything about it and I would write everything down. After a while one of the townsfolk came up to us and looked at the pile of cores.

“Got any gnole cores?” He asked, interrupting my work. I looked at the faceless fool getting slightly mad. He had the nerve to interrupt us.

“Why?” I asked coldly. He rubbed the back of his neck as though feeling sheepish.

“Well, it just seems easier to control if you use a humanoid core and I know you have a thing for goblin cores.” He said, trying to apologize. My eyes went wide. Something in the core interacted with the Knights and Dolls. I reached out to one of six gnole cores and handed it to him. “Thank you so much. How much do I owe you?” He asked and I turned to a new page to write everything down. “Alex? How much do I owe you for a core?” He asked again.

“Nothing” I quickly wrote down the information about everything I had learned and about ideas that might help me in the future. If this was right, this was amazing. Everything seemed to be clicking today. My mind was racing faster than my hand could keep up. Gorloth and Summoner had to pull me off my task to get back to sorting. Looking over my catalog I was happy to see I had a near even mixture of male and female cores. Once done I paid a very happy Summoner a silver and turned looking around for my next target. “Who is Fodgoty?” I asked the room. One of the watchers made his way over and looked at us with a question in his eyes.

“I’m Fodgoty. What do you need, Alex?” The young man asked a slightly worried look on his face.

“Sit. I need to know everything about Roll Rats.” Tuning to Innkeeper I waved at him. “I need a pitcher over here.” Innkeeper nodded and I got to work. Fodgoty beamed at me happy to share his knowledge with someone. I didn’t blame him. It was no different than someone asking me about Knights, Dolls or runes. I wrote down every word and soon had an idea why the three cores had started fighting. All three were males and male Roll Rats fight for dominance. I didn’t know if that would blow up but didn’t want to find out. My mind was racing as he went through every creature I had. Goblins seemed to delight in working together so long as there was a pecking order. If I chained my cores together, I would have to do it from strongest to weakest. I could test it now but wait for it Alex. Wait for a better Lego kit. Gorloth seemed to delight in the tornado that my day had become. 

Running back to the shop, I quickly selected three small slime cores. If I was right, they should eat each other growing larger. Powering on my device, this time I watched them hum and move to the middle. There was a small spark and when I looked back one larger core was rolling in the tray. I could use this idea to merge cores to make larger ones. I jumped up and down clapping and dancing. Taking a deep breath, I tried my next test. This time with one male Roll Rat and two female Roll Rats. They should work together. I powered it on and took a step back and noticed that Gorloth was a few steps behind me, his eyes large with interest and fear. It hummed and sparked only slightly at first then calmed down. I looked closer to see the cores dancing together like a heartbeat. It worked. It fucking worked like a god damn dream. I looked over at the output and saw the rune slowly lighting up. I quickly powered it off and sat on the floor screaming with joy. Boss came over to look at me grinning like a mad man with Gorloth laughing but slightly clueless at my side.

“What is this all about?” Boss asked. His face showed he was not amused by my outburst. I was on the edge of losing my mind with joy.

“It fucking works. I had expected it to be additive. It’s not. They multiply, this is three times as strong.” I said hoping he understood what I was talking about. He looked puzzled and worried as he took a step back.

“What do you mean?” Boss asked looking around for something to beat me with. I jumped up and pointed at my engine.

“This isn’t just as powerful as three Roll Rats. It’s nine Roll Rats strong. A factor of three. Do you know what this means?” I laughed. He started laughing with me as he rubbed his long wild hair.

“No fucking clue.” he said grinning at me. “My office now.” He growled. I strutted beaming into Bosses’ office. He had Gorloth bring my small prototype and put it on the desk between us.

 “Runt, explain and use small words. What is this thing on my desk?” I was far too happy to even be phased by anything right now.

“Do you have something that uses mana?” I asked looking around for a mana powered drill or toothbrush. Where those even things? He reached under his desk and pulled out a large mana battery that was empty. I quickly hooked them up together and turned it on. The three cores started dancing and singing their wonderful heartbeat song. It was beautiful. He watched the runes fill in slowly, a growing smile lighting his face. “The cores work together." I crowed. Boss left it charging as we talked, but I was too excited to sit still and paced around his office.

“They should be long dead by now. Why are they still going?” Boss growled as he looked at the battery that was now reading one eighth full. I laughed and slapped his desk.

“They are working together.” I said happily. He just blinked at me. “Think of it like three rivers coming together. The sums are far more than just their parts. Do you understand?” I said looking into his eyes, willing him to understand. Boss shook his head.

“Monsters run same. They don’t fight. Stronger pack.” I looked at Gorloth beaming.

“Exactly. He gets it.” I cried out, slapping my friend on his shoulder. Boss looked between us.

“What the hell is going on? Next, you’ll tell me Meathead is working with Battery.” He said, rubbing his face. There was a slight shake and boom in the shop, and I quickly turned off my device.

“Wasn’t me. I did not blow up your shop.” I said with a huge smile on my face.  We all ran out to see Meathead Running with Battery in his arms. Battery was holding a clearly damaged right hand.

“Boss, we were working together and and Battery just touched the wrong part. He needs a healer for his hand. Someone help.” Meathead cried to the open room. Battery was screaming in Meathead’s arms, anger on my padawon’s face. Meathead was acting like a small child and was clearly overwhelmed by the injured man in his hands. Today could not get any better if I tried. I might have still been a little upset about him nearly killing me because he didn’t want to get wet.

“This fucking fool burned me. I told you not to start it. It wasn’t ready.” Battery cried holding his hand. I just kept laughing. Today was amazing beyond words.

“Get his ass to the healer now you fucking idiot.” Boss growled at Meathead. “You, Runt, quit laughing.” He was trying not to laugh himself.

“Like this often?”  My friend asked with a smile.

“God, I hope so, today was a blast,” I replied as I sat down. My face hurt from smiling and laughing so hard.

We kept working and soon I had the full-size unit ready and was sifting through cores. We needed Summoner to come over and catalog the ones at the shop. I put them aside and started working on the mini tri-core engine. It would need to be incased to prevent mana bleed. That and adding an export cable. What could I use it for? Maybe powering the table in the inn for far less. It would be a proof of concept, but the odds of something going wrong or someone being an idiot with it was uncomfortable. Last thing I needed was someone hurting my new toy. This would have to be used in something else. Maybe a home power system. I could use mana wire to turn it into a generator for the home. Maybe it could power several mana devices. I pulled out my notebook and started sketching an RV pulled by one of my wolves. When was the metal getting here? I needed to start work on it soon. 

{Yavlten Gon Hervot, Boss}

He was in the inn having a drink after a stressful day. His cousin who liked to be called Innkeeper was smiling at his frowning expression. “What bothers you cousin?” Innkeeper asked.

“Runt.” Boss said with a sigh.

“What is that little mad man up to now?” Innkeeper said with a laugh.

“He keeps inventing wild things that defy all reason. Do you know what he made today?” Boss said, looking up at his cousin.

“No, but I think it has something to do with him storming in here this afternoon.” Innkeeper said with a smile. Boss laughed and nodded.

“That fool just made a mana engine from scratch.” Boss said, taking another long sip of his beer.

“That is going to piss the elves off. You may want to keep that one safe.” Innkeeper said, looking mildly worried. They both knew the elves guarded their tech and might start a war if the secret got out.

“I plan to. Say, are you watering this stuff down?” Boss asked with a disapproving scowl.

“Have to. With as much business as I get these days, I have to make the swill last. Mind if I ask Runt to build me a mana still? Might help me make the beer last?” Innkeeper said with a wink.

“I’ll see, but that is part of the issue. The lad won’t slow down. It seems like the more he learns the quicker he gets and the more mana he uses. He has taken to draining most of my workers just to work on his projects. Can’t complain about the results though.” He said taking another large drink.

“So, what’s the issue? From what I hear he lit a strong fire under Jordean’s ass.” Innkeeper started laughing. “And his hand too.” Boss winced at his words before shaking his mug at his cousin.

“Yeah, my brother is a real Meathead. That is the issue though. Runt is doing the work of seven people and draining twelve and only getting quicker. That is why I bought Gorloth. That and Gorloth should make for a good bodyguard.” Boss said with a half-smile as Innkeeper refilled his glass. “The real issue is most of my guys are getting tired. I almost fear a mutiny if this keeps up. Runt just refuses to take a day off; refuses to take a break and the only time he rests is when he taps out of mana.” He drained half the glass and frowned into the amber liquid.

“Why not try to set him up with someone?” Innkeeper asked.

“Won't work. Alex only cares about Knights, Dolls and runes. Today was the closest thing my boys got to a day off. I just wish the lad would learn to relax before he and everyone else burns out.” He drained the rest and passed his glass back for a refill.

“I have a plan that might work.” Innkeeper said with a shrug. “That and I kind of owe Alex something.” He finished with a wince.

“What has he been doing?” Boss asked eyes narrowing his at Innkeeper.

“I might have been asking him to fix some things around here like the table every few days.” He said, focusing on an invisible stain on the counter.

“He didn’t charge you, did he?” Boss asked, already knowing the answer.

"Just send that big orc to my place in the morning. I’ll set up something nice that will keep Alex away for a day and let your boys relax and in exchange you forget about me asking him to fix the Dolls and table.” Innkeeper said, holding out his hand.

“You pay his ass moving forward or I’ll make it a contract magic issue. You get me.” Boss said with a growl. Innkeeper blanched and nodded.

“You have my word cousin.” Innkeeper said reaching under the counter to pull out a bottle of whiskey. How much work was Runt giving away for free? Boss thought as he rubbed the back of his head.

{ZeroGiven40}

Do you ever have days when everything seems to click, and you get more done in a day than you ever thought possible. I've had that a few times and love days like that. Have you ever worked with someone like Alex who seems to be a walking tornado?