The race began.

  Before Elaine or Porter could even take a single step, Colby acted. He loaded up the bocconcini—small balls—mozzarella into Smart Waiter, ensuring it was set to come out of his hands.

  With his palms facing the ground, tiny balls of mozzarella materialized out of his palms, scattering to the ground right by Elaine and Porter’s feet.

  It was [Marvelous Mozzarella Marbles].

  Marvelous Mozzarella Marbles:

  Level 2.

  Create several small, marble-sized spheres of fresh mozzarella. These balls of cheese can be used for a variety of marble-based games. Or you could use them for what they were made to do: make people slip.

  (Each level slightly increases the structural integrity of a marble.)

  That’ll teach them to underestimate him.

  Colby ran off, laughing as he secured the lead. He turned back to watch Porter and Elaine struggle with his balls.

  One second. One second was all they needed to overcome his obstacle.

  Porter jumped. At the apex, his body was thrust forward in a burst of speed, pushing him over where the marbles were scattered. That was the unknown spell that Porter had used to evade the dull duo’s dull blades. The moment Porter’s feet hit the non-marbled ground, he shot forward with [Dash].

  Darn it, Port. You can’t just do something like that. The least you could do was pretend to struggle.

  Elaine, on the other hand—or feet for that matter—stepped onto his balls. As expected, she slipped. What he didn’t expect was how she fell. She curled her body mid-fall, allowing her broad back to glide against the mozzarella marbles. In one perfect backward roll, she passed right through the hazardous field, landing on her feet before sprinting forward in a burst of speed.

  Oh, for the love of all that was curds and whey, how did she do that!

  Porter caught up with him—which wasn’t that hard. “Are you sure you don’t want me to slow down? It really is no biggie for me.”

  “No, Porter. If anything, I want you to speed up. That way, when Elaine inevitably loses, it will be that much more embarrassing.”

  “Okay!” he said. “See you at the beach.”

  Porter zoomed off, leaving him in the dust. But that was okay. Elaine was his real goal.

  Unfortunately, she had already caught up to him.

  Smirking, she said, “Fun little trick, Colby.”

  “I’m not little!” he screamed.

  “What? I wasn’t even teasing you that time. Never mind.” She shook her head. “Have fun being the shortest.”

  Elaine sped up, increasing the distance between them. Darn her and her long legs, and vastly better cardiovascular system.

  He wasn’t going to give up that easily.

  Colby closed one eye, focusing on both his Core and the real world. Using some cream cheese—extra creamy—that had been stored inside of The Cheestastic Fridge, and with the help of Curd-Cutter, who’d much rather prefer to cut stuff into pieces, he lathered cream cheese all over the model of his foot that had been provided by Smart Waiter. Closing the hatch, [Cheese Boots] fashioned out of cream cheese materialized beneath the soles of his shoes.

  He slid across the cobblestone ground like he was ice skating. With one eye closed, he repeatedly cast [Cheese Boots] just before the spell fell apart—it was made out of cheese, what did you expect?

  Swinging his arms, Colby managed to catch up with Elaine.

  “Well, that’s a surprise,” she said, looking at him. “Didn’t expect you to keep pace.”

  “I’m full of surprises, Laine.”

  “Same here.” She winked. “I’m still quite horrible at crafting this spell on the fly. I’m going to have to ask Porter for tips. See you not-so-soon.”

  Elaine sped up. Each step carried her farther, the distance between them increasing no matter how much he tried to slip and slide his way faster.

  Darn it. She was using [Dash] now.

  He was not going to let her get away with that.

  Inside his Core, he grabbed a freshly made ball of mozzarella—regular-sized—and brought it over Stove. Turning the dial the smallest of margins, a thin tongue of flames flickered to life. It licked at the ball of mozzarella as he slowly rotated it. The surface bubbled, melting into a sticky, gooey mass of cheese.

  Colby loaded the sticky ball of mozzarella into Smart Waiter. Mashing buttons on the hatch, he made sure the cheese would come out in a strong burst, at the cost of extra mana.

  Smart Waiter started to stutter and spurt.

  Curds! Layering three spells at once was pushing the Core Construct beyond his limit.

  See, every time cheese was sent out of his Core, it counted as casting [Cheesemaking]. If he wanted it to be fired out, [Cheese Shot] had to be applied on top of it. Now, he was layering a third spell, [Stickious Cheesious], modifying the cheese even further.

  “C’mon, Smart Waiter. C’mon, you can do it.”

  The Core Construct shook even further, struggling to accept the multi-layered load. Then, with a puff of smoke and a sputtering hiss, the cheese was delivered out of his Core.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Congratulations! [Stickious Cheesious] has reached Level 2!

  Stickious Cheesious:

  Level 2.

  Makes a piece of cheese extra sticky. How sticky the cheese is depends on the type of cheese and the process through which the stickiness is imparted.

  (Each level slightly increases the stickiness of the cheese.)

  Back in the real world, Colby brought his right arm up, aiming right at Elaine’s foot—more specifically, where her foot was going to be. He launched his cheese. The sticky, goopy ball of slightly molten mozzarella shot through the air, small strings of cheese curling as it spun.

  Just as it was about to collide with her foot, Elaine unsheathed her sword. In one swift, almost too fast for a guy who made cheese for a living to make out motion, she sliced the ball clean in half—mostly clean. Small bits of sticky white cheese clung to her blade.

  “Really, Colby? Really?” She turned around, gesturing to her sword.

  Colby shrugged. No one told her she had to cut his cheese in half. Neither did he expect her to do that. What sort of hellish training did she go through to get that good with a sword?

  “Fine. Be that way.”

  She angled the flat of her blade toward him. It glowed before a glint of light blitzed into his corneas, blinding him momentarily.

  Colby lost control. He brought his arms in front of him, flailing them as if that could help him see where he was going.

  His eyesight returned just in time for him to see something big, brown, and very hard rapidly approaching.

  A tree.

  Colby crashed into it, arms wrapping around the trunk.

  Dazed, confused, and very much in pain, he turned around. He saw the trail of cream cheese shift from roughly in a straight line to veering all over the place, before finally stopping here.

  Elaine was lucky that no one had been on the street they were racing down.

  How could she be so reckless?

  Just disregard the fact that he was littering cheese everywhere.

  Not only that. Dammit, Elaine. She [Flashed] him. And since when could she channel that spell through her sword?

  Flash:

  Create a burst of light that momentarily blinds people.

  (Each level slightly increases the intensity of the light.)

  Colby got up and took one big step away from the tree. He reapplied his creamy [Cheese Boots], swinging his arms and legs as hard as he could muster, sliding across the ground in hopes of catching up with her.

  It was impossible. She was long gone.

  Curds! Curds! Curds!

  He might very well reach their gathering spot last. And Elaine would take every opportunity she could to gloat. Not like the conditions even made sense in the first place, but it was the thought that counted. There was no way he would be the shortest.

  Think! Think! Think!

  What could he do to reach the beach faster than Elaine?

  Colby looked around the area, hoping for a flash of inspiration that didn’t involve blinding him. Cobblestone buildings, good cheese left to rot on the ground, the sun hanging high above his head, and some trees sparsely laid out along the road.

  Wait. No one said that he had to be on the ground for the race.

  Colby approached the closest tree, craning his head up as he deliberated on this ridiculous plan of his. Would it work? Well, it better. If not, he'd better start coming up with excuses about how the race didn’t count or that Elaine cheated and was therefore automatically placed last.

  He wrapped his hands against the trunk of the tree—this time out of his own volition. Bracing his feet against the tree, he started to climb it. Except instead of moving up, he was sliding down.

  The savior that was cream cheese was now his downfall.

  That could be easily remedied.

  He closed his eyes, focusing on his Core. Like most of his spells, the key ingredient was mozzarella. That piece of cheese was the most versatile one he could make.

  He grabbed the ball of mozzarella that had just been kneaded to perfection by the fusion, Bowl-lander. Then he grabbed another, and another, until he finally had four balls of freshly made mozzarella.

  Walking over to Stove, he melted the cheese, turning it extra sticky and goopy. Colby juggled the hot cheese in his hands, trying his best not to drop them on the floor as he made his way to Smart Waiter.

  Instead of dumping them into the construct, he pressed a button on the side of the hatch. Opening it revealed a model of his feet that he promptly removed from Smart Waiter. After closing the hatch and another round of button presses, he now had a model of his hands.

  Colby started pasting the melted mozzarella onto the models of his hands and feet, ensuring that it was evenly spread, which was a difficult feat since they kept sticking to his manifestation.

  Finally, he was done. Most of the cheese was on the models and ready to be sent out of his Core. Colby first placed the feet back within Smart Waiter and closed the hatch.

  Smart Waiter sputtered and spurt once more before another puff of smoke sneaked out of the hatch, and a hiss made him question whether what he was doing was truly worth it.

  Oh, who was he kidding? Of course it was.

  The [Stickious Cheesious] [Cheese Boots] materialized on his feet.

  Next were the hands.

  He stuffed the model into Smart Waiter, closed the hatch, and prayed to the big gouda in the sky. Puffs, sputters, and hisses later, the [Stickious Cheesious] [Cheese Gloves] had materialized.

  Cheese Gloves:

  Level 1.

  It's a glove made out of cheese. What did you expect?

  (Each level up enhances the properties of the cheese used to construct it.)

  He lifted his feet up again, pressing them against the trunk of the tree once more. This time, they didn’t slip, stuck firmly against the wood. Now, it was his hands. He pressed them against the tree, and just like feet, they were sticky enough that he wouldn’t fall, but not so sticky that he would be stuck against the tree until the mozzarella fell apart.

  Slowly, he inched his way up, leaving behind remnants of sticky, stringy mozzarella each time he forcefully pulled his limbs away from the trunk. Branches and leaves were pushed away with his face because he lacked a third hand. A caterpillar dropped in between his eyebrows, giving him a temporary bushy unibrow that he quickly shook off.

  Finally, at the top of the tree, he hopped off to a neighboring roof. Winded, he stopped for a second to catch his breath.

  The race might just still be winnable.

  While Elaine and Porter had to deal with the twisting and windy roads, not to mention the throng of foot traffic, forcing them to slow down. He’d be able to cut straight through Brinebrook by hopping through the rooftops.

  Colby took a single step, feeling the sticky mozzarella [Cheese Boots] pulling him back. He closed his eyes again. Slippery cream cheese [Cheese Boots] replaced the sticky mozzarella one as he started to slide down the tiled rooftop.

  The rooftop was steep, shaped like an inverted ‘V’. Going down was easy, going up was like literally trying to ice skate uphill. But for every up, there was a down—not the best motivational quote, but in this context it absolutely was. Just before he ran out of roof to slide down, he pushed off, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, making a beeline towards the beach.

  Closer to the shore, where the houses grew more dilapidated and rooftops turned from tile to thatch, he was forced to slow down. Cream cheese from his boots dripped through the straw roof. He was still able to slip and slide his way across the rooftops, though not as fast as across solid tiles.

  Finally, he reached the last of the rooftops.

  In the distance he could see a towering red and white lighthouse perched on the edge of a cliff.

  Down below, near the steps that led to the sandy beach, he spotted a short Knight-in-training with flowing red hair. Yes, he had caught up with Elaine. Well, almost.

  Colby still had about a three-story drop before he really caught up with her. And something told him that no amount of soft sand was enough to cushion his fall.

  Something also told him that he had the perfect spell for it. Unfortunately, this was his first time attempting to cast it.

  There was no better time to test out a spell than by leaping off a building.

  His height honor was on the line.

  Posting dailies for the next month!