As Colby ran down the narrow alleyway, he wanted to make sure he really was being chased. The last thing he wanted was to waste cheese on a couple of strangers who just so happened to be going down the exact same path as him.

  Turning, he saw the same three adventurers barreling down the alleyway after him. A girl dressed in all black with a pair of rusted daggers and two large bald men in brown leather armor carrying a dull sword. For brevity's sake—and because he didn’t know their names—the trio were now called double dagger girl and the dull duo.

  Double dagger girl was ahead of the pack and closing in on him fast.

  He clicked his tongue.

  Yup, they were definitely after him.

  She was probably using [Dash]. A common spell that was a staple if one wanted to work as a Supply Runner. Though in this instance, she was delivering more than goods—it was death.

  Dash:

  Channel Mana into one’s legs to run faster.

  (Each level slightly increases maximum speed.)

  Okay, Colby may have been exaggerating again. They most likely just wanted the gold he had in his Inventory.

  He knew their type. These chumps were low-ranked adventurers, bad ones at that. Any decent one would earn more completing quests than robbing a guy who made cheese for a living. They were hoping to make a quick buck. And those dull, rusted, and barely usable weapons were meant to intimidate.

  Colby closed one of his eyes. He didn’t have much practice focusing on his Core without closing his eyes, so he relied on this method in times of need. A partial focus on the real world and his Core.

  The Colby inside of his Core rushed towards The Cheesetastic Fridge. His eyes glossed over the section where ingredients were stored, instead focusing on the already prepared cheese he had at his disposal.

  He reached for some cream cheese, extra creamy, that he had made a few days ago, specifically for this scenario—and also on the occasion where he had to rush home to use the toilet, because the city ones were just downright nasty.

  As he made his way to Smart Waiter, cream cheese in hand, Colby grabbed Curd-Cutter as well, fingers clasping the dark handle of the knife Core Construct.

  A sudden quake caused the internal Colby to almost fall. Good thing for him, Cheese-lander and Cheese Bowl were there to save him. Thin, plastic and glass noodle-like limbs sprouted from their sides, supporting him as he flailed his arms until he found his balance.

  The Colby in the real world had slipped on a banana peel, but luckily, he managed to recover and continue running. It wasn’t his fault, seeing—or not seeing—that he lacked half of his vision.

  Inside his Mana Core, Colby finally reached the Smart Waiter.

  Smart Waiter:

  Level 9

  A delivery system that sends completed spells out of Colby’s Core, allowing it to manifest in the real world. By default, the spells will come out of his hands. Additional mana can be used to direct the spells to manifest in different places. Even more Mana can be used to adjust how the spell is manifested.

  (Each level slightly reduces the amount of mana required to manifest completed spells.)

  On the hatch was an image of a pair of hands. Colby rapidly mashed one of the buttons on the metallic hatch. The image rolled past several different areas like head, shoulders, knees, and finally stopped on his feet.

  His finger moved over to another set of buttons, though this time only a single press was required. That didn’t stop him from pushing down on it with as much force as his adrenaline-filled manifestation could muster.

  The hatch opened up; instead of an empty plate, there was now a model of his feet and shoes in its place. He dug Curd-Cutter’s blade into the tub of cream cheese, spreading the delicious creaminess around the sole of his shoes. Placing the models back into the Smart Waiter, he closed the hatch and pressed yet another button. The construct churned as the spell made its way out of his Core, manifesting in the real world.

  Cream cheese materialized around the soles of his shoes.

  Congratulations! [Cheese Boots] has reached Level 3!

  [Cheese Boots]:

  It’s boots made out of cheese. What else were you expecting?

  Different types of cheeses will change the properties of the boots.

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

  Double dagger girl was right at his tail. She reached out her hand, nearly grasping the back of his shirt.

  When Colby said he had a way to slide out of this pickle, he meant it quite literally. He started slipping and sliding on the ground, thanks to the [Cheese Boots] made out of cream cheese—he made sure to make it extra creamy.

  Instead of pushing off the ground with his feet, he embraced the cream. He slid all over the weathered cobblestone ground, as if he were skating on ice.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He zoomed further ahead of double dagger girl, even while she used [Dash]. The distance between them quickly increased as he slid on the ground, leaving behind a trail of delicious cream cheese.

  Though his heart did ache. All of that deliciousness, gone.

  Colby stumbled.

  Right.

  A downside of using cheese magic was that it was literally cheese, especially fresh cheese; they didn’t really maintain their shape quite well or for very long.

  His [Cheese Boots] had already run out, and he was back to running. Double dagger girl was gaining on him again.

  Good thing for him, he could just cast [Cheese Boots] again.

  Once more, Colby was slipping and sliding his way down the comically long alleyway. Every time the cream cheese holding together his [Cheese Boots] was about to run out, he’d just recast it again, the Colby within his Mana Core lathering up a new set every few seconds.

  As he slid his way to safety, Colby turned around. He brought his hands to the side of his face and wiggled his fingers while sticking out his tongue.

  Double dagger girl grunted in frustration.

  In a move that he didn’t expect, she hurled the pair of rusted daggers at him. Guess he didn’t know their type after all. They were willing to hurt him just for a couple of gold pieces.

  He especially didn’t want to find out whether she applied a spell on the daggers—at least not the hard, painful, and potentially tetanus-causing way.

  The Colby inside of his Mana Core dropped the cream cheese and Curd-Cutter, both items clattering to the ground. Curd-Cutter sprouted thin noodle-like limbs out of his handle, picking himself up while swinging his fist around. Outraged, it threatened to cut ties with Colby for the mistreatment.

  He knew that Curd-Cutter could cut more than curds, but now wasn’t the time.

  The only cheese he had prepared inside of The Cheestastic Fridge was the cream cheese—well, almost all. Colby dashed toward the door that led to his Inventory. He flung it open, sticking his hands into the screen.

  No time to analyze where he went wrong in the mozzarella-making process.

  Mashing Smart Waiter’s buttons, he set the Core Construct to dispense from his hands. Rapidly mashing even more buttons, he adjusted how the spell would manifest, making sure that the failed mozzarella balls came flying out as fast as possible.

  One by one, he loaded up Smart Waiter with mozzarella balls—and some squares—slammed the hatch shut, then immediately popped it open again to stuff in the next batch.

  In the real world, Colby brought his hands down from his face, sticking them out in front of him.

  The balls of failed mozzarella, some hard, some soft, some both hard yet soft at the same time, shot out of his palms as he cast the aptly named [Cheese Shot].

  [Cheese Shot]

  Level 3:

  Fires a chunk of cheese. Again, what else were you expecting?

  (Each level slightly increases the maximum speed at which the cheese can be fired.)

  They were fired with accuracy befitting a guy who handled cheese for a living, which is to say close to zero.

  That was okay, because he compensated with volume.

  Most of his projectiles found their new home on the dirty cobblestone ground, accompanying the smeared trail of cream cheese he had left behind. Some struck double dagger girl—or maybe she should just be called girl now. As expected from the soft balls of mozzarella, even if some of them were harder than he would’ve liked, girl managed to shrug them off as they bounced harmlessly off her black robed body.

  Two shots—some may call it luck, Colby called it skillfully hitting everything at the same time so that he would never miss—struck the rusted over double daggers. The impact sent them spinning, their blades slamming into the alley’s cobbled walls with a dull thud before crashing onto the ground.

  Colby resumed casting [Cheese Boots], sliding down the alleyway until he finally hit a main street after what felt like hours—it had just been slightly more than a minute.

  There were slightly more people than on the peaceful street with all of the shophouses, but not as crowded as the road where the Adventurer’s Guild was located.

  That rogue adventurer wouldn't do something so brazen with so many people around. Then again, he’d been wrong about her attempting to harm him just quite recently.

  Finally able to open both of his eyes, Colby stopped running and wiped the remnants of cream shoes against the cobbled floor, ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to track him from the literal trail that he’d be leaving behind.

  He slipped once more into the meagre crowd, finding a spot beside a married couple with their young son between them. They gave him an odd glance, but thankfully said nothing.

  The adventurer emerged from the alleyway. Her head flipped left and right, attempting to locate him. She failed, running down the wrong side of the street.

  Colby snickered. Mission success.

  Correction. Mission partial success.

  He still had to go to the store, grab some Skate Goat milk, then rush back to the shop before his parents changed their minds and decided to tack on even more punishments other than taking the cost of the milk out of his allowance.

  Turning back, he made sure the dull duo weren’t just about to emerge from the alleyway. He knew they were bulky and slow, but he didn’t realize that they were that bulky and slow.

  Satisfied, he took off toward the General Store.

  He shuffled past the wave of people—thankfully, none of them were keen on mugging him—until he finally arrived at the entrance of the General Store.

  Colby paused, finally able to catch his breath. Boy, he really needed to work on his cardio. But in his defense, there wasn’t typically this much running when you made cheese for a living.

  The General Store, much like almost all of the buildings in Brinebrook, was made out of cobblestone. Owned by Mr. Goodsell, the General Store sold a wide range of items. Shelves lined the walls, crowded with snacks like magically cured meats and dried fruits and nuts, to everyday items like light crystals to illuminate homes.

  Most importantly, he sold Skate Goat milk.

  The sad part was that he’d have to pay a premium. Normally, his parents cheeseshop would get a shipment of essentials via Supply Runner requests, and when buying in bulk, you tend to get a sweet little discount. But this was an emergency. One that Colby may or may not learn from—depending on how engrossed he got into improving his [Cheesemaking].

  He groaned. If only he could afford more time to catch his breath and have an internal monologue. But Ms. M was waiting for her cheese. Also, his parents might quadruple-kill him if he took too long.

  Would he be able to make it back to the shop in time? What if Ms. M got fed up with waiting and left? Even worse, what if she decided to use her mouth for more than eating cheese? What if she spread bad reviews? Word of mouth was the most powerful spell.

  Colby gripped the handle of the General Store, ready to head inside, when a voice called out behind him.

  “Colby?”