As Bru-haha walked up a set of stairs, the immaculate carving of living wood stood out to him. Though he lived in a world much more ingrained with magic than Alexander’s own, Bru-haha’s experience with it was peripheral at best. He had heard the amazing tales passed through legends and seen the fighting prowess of their Chieftain Caloom. Magic had been more for the elites of his world. He assumed it was that way for most worlds, though he did not foresee Alexander being handed secrets of power by his parents. He had a rather boring impression of his ascension based on Alexander’s scarce discussions on the topic.

  Reaching the top of the stairs, he felt the atmosphere shift as his view was that of the perspective from a mountain’s peak, though they had not yet climbed the height of a tall tree. The room around this view felt alive, as if in his periphery the wood of the ceilings was growing. About the room was a small workshop: items catalogued on tables, a bookshelf with boxes and labels. Near one side of the room was a breakfast table with two chairs, salt, pepper, and napkins sitting in the center.

  Most prominent, however, was a pedestal sitting dead center of the room. Alexander walked up to the pedestal and placed his hand on it casually.

  “If you would, Bru-haha, I’d like to conduct an experiment,” he smiled.

  Bru-haha moved up to Alexander and reached out his hand to touch the pedestal. A red screen immediately popped up.

  ^

  Request permissions to use Pedestal of Dominion?

  Bru-haha had to suppress his creepy smile and put on one more attuned to human sensibilities. After collecting himself, he quickly assented to the request.

  “Oh? This is a surprise,” Alexander exclaimed. “I can grant you access to the Pedestal!”

  “What function does this pedestal serve, boss? I have only heard of their existence in major strongholds on my world.”

  “Well, it functions in a handful of ways. I am not even sure of its full capabilities. Let’s see what you have access to and find out where to start our discussion, shall we?” Alexander seemed to concentrate on an unseen screen. “Red again? Odd.”

  ^

  You have been granted access to the Pedestal of Dominion.

  Imported abilities: Alchemy

  Search: Magical Objects

  Manage: Tower Defense

  “Search magical objects and Tower Defense?” Bru-haha asked, looking at Alexander with barely controlled excitement.

  Alexander whistled and nodded. “Now this is going to be convenient. Would you be able to set some time aside from work at Congo to do some research for me?”

  Bru-haha smiled wide. “I would be honored.”

  Alexander shared some of his extracurricular goals that he had not yet had time to pursue. Bru-haha was taking notes and heeding the warnings Alexander shared about his previous encounters with the searches. Every one of the warnings sent a thrill down Bru-haha’s spine. Mentally picking a few possible allies to charge into danger with. Maybe the Red Fury would join him if he proposed a loot share.

  “Maybe I should find a magical item from some of my experiments to give you,” Alexander mused aloud, causing Bru to snap his head up in attention.

  Alexander walked to a small box that had the word “identification” laminated on the front. He pulled out a monocle with a chain around it.

  “Why don’t you try this one on and let me know if you are able to use it.”

  Bru-haha reached out his hands reverently as Alexander handed it to him.

  Placing it on his head, his red screen appeared.

  ^

  Monocle of Identification

  Subjects you view with magical properties may gain you additional insights on their nature and properties.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “This one isn’t a failure at all; it just doesn’t show mana flow like the one I use. Use it to categorize items you find for experimentation.”

  “Yes, boss. A good fit with your goals in mind.”

  “Excellent! Feel free to peruse the items not labeled for others or for sale that I am working on. Most are single-use defensive items, but a few could be used to combat a minor threat.”

  “Items for the other chosen?” Bru-haha said, looking at the boxes on the bookshelf, one of which had Ridley’s name on it.

  “They are for if things start to escalate around here. Otherwise I meant to trade them for any resources they may find.”

  A knock sounded from downstairs and Alexander looked at his watch.

  “That’s probably Ben! Let’s go say hello. He has wanted to meet you.”

  Alexander scooped up a box labeled “Benjamin” and swiftly walked down the steps.

  Bru-haha took a second to look around him before he followed and chuckled silently, absorbing the glorious room he would be caretaking for the Wizard.

  -Alexander the Technomancer-

  Alexander made a mental note to write down a magical resource budget and contact information for all of the ability users he was aware of to give to Bru-haha before he left for the day. He jogged to the door with his box and pulled the door open to see Ben at the door.

  “Ben, good to see you. You will never guess what I have in this box!”

  “Magical drone parts?” Ben guessed as he walked in.

  “Well, yes. Good guess,” Alexander huffed. It was an easy enough guess as he and Ben had discussed the topic at length.

  “Oh goody! Let’s have a look!”

  “Also, you will never guess who you get to meet today!” Alexander said, attempting another surprise.

  “An orc!?”

  “Blast it, Ben, stop guessing! This is Bru-haha.” Alexander gestured to his bedroom door as Bru walked into the living room.

  “Wow! Bru-haha, a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ben, Alexander’s old friend.”

  “Ben, a genuine pleasure,” Bru said, shaking hands. “I am curious as to what powerful artifact Boss has crafted for you.”

  Alexander took the box to the table.

  “Ben and I have discussed various means of using his drones in potential combat situations. Using my enchanting skills brought up some limitations with electronics. I have not figured out how to bypass those yet, if it is even possible. Placing runes on individual components, however, has made things interesting.”

  Alexander handed an item sheet to Ben.

  “Shield plate for the Parrot ANAFI?” Ben read from the top.

  “Check. When anything traveling at sufficient speed comes within proximity of the drone, it will activate the shield spell. This one was the most difficult to make, so you only have one with a single use.”

  “Which is why it will go on the surveillance model,” Ben added for Bru-haha’s sake. “Darwin Baby Ape wind rune arms?”

  “I have four of them,” Alexander said, placing them on the table. “My hope is that triggering the spell still keeps an unaffected radius around the drone, but as you have to ram the target to activate it, repairs will be required no matter how it triggers.”

  “Not to worry. I will have a fleet of these ready within the week…” Ben shared, giddy with anticipation.

  Bru-haha interjected after listening to the two’s coded speech.

  “May I ask what this Parrot and Baby Ape have to do with magic arms?”

  Ben responded, glad to explain, “The Parrot is a model of drone that has many customization options while being a powerful surveillance drone. The Baby Ape, on the other hand, is a cheaper racing model that I can easily repair with salvaged parts. So our strategy is to ram the cheap fast ones into threats and keep the Parrot safe as an eye in the sky.”

  “Remarkable! Please forgive the intrusion and continue.” Bru bowed slightly.

  “My pleasure,” Ben bowed back, amused. “Two illusion arms?”

  “I set one illusion as a pterodactyl as you requested and one as a raven. Just scratch the rune before takeoff,” Alexander said, pointing at the rune.

  “Awesome! Thank you, Alexander… No success on invisibility?”

  “Unfortunately I couldn’t make the individual part integrate magically to the whole of the drone, so only the item with the rune on it went invisible. So functionally useless.” He shrugged.

  Bru-haha’s scribbling pencil drew Alexander’s attention. Bru, noticing Alexander’s questioning look, showed him the note.

  “I am writing down two columns, successes and failures, so I can muse on new experiments and prep them for you on return.” Bru smiled charmingly.

  “Thank you, Bru-haha. I find my mind divided by possibilities and responsibilities recently. If you can make this side of things more organized as well, I would be grateful.”

  “No problem, boss.”

  “Two arms for the Parrot with three web runes on each?”

  “These are activated on breaking the rune as well. In an emergency you could crash it into the target, but if you manage to mechanically break them with your modification, you will have maneuvering crowd control.”

  “I have a few ideas to test. You made sure the angles will shoot far enough away from the propellers?”

  “That is why I went ahead with three on each; they should shoot downward at a 105-degree angle. Also I put two in there for the Baby Ape in case you are on a capture mission for something more speedy.”

  “Nice!” Ben turned to Bru-haha. “The Parrot has more power to potentially mount a small electronic arm. I’m hoping I can program a simple sharp drag across the rune with a switch on my controller.” After the explanation he turned back to Alexander. “Did you manage to make any headway on the other item?” Ben asked hopefully.

  Alexander hesitated. “I did, but it is… unstable. I would prefer more testing before handing you a potential live bomb.”

  “Understandable. I will test these and get you feedback before we decide how to refine or change strategies.”

  Alexander knocked his hand on the table.

  “Then I look forward to this inconvenient trip being over so we can get back to it,” Alexander said with some mild annoyance.

  “So where are you going? I never heard your plans for this grand expedition.”

  “The non-disclosure agreement is in play,” Alexander told Ben and Bru-haha. “Only Susan knows the details. You will be happy to know I did manage to negotiate additional payment for services rendered outside of consulting.” He smiled.

  “And that would be?” Ben asked.

  “Not telling.”

  “What! Come on! You can’t leave us hanging like that.”

  “You guessed my last two surprises, so yes I can.” Alexander pointed at Ben accusingly.

  Bru-haha chuckled as he put his notepad away.

  “I’d best be going. I have the first bout of boxing to oversee tonight as an opening to our movie,” he said with a menacing grin.

  Alexander thanked Bru-haha and saw him out the door with promises to text him more instructions as he thought of them.

  Ben asked Alexander after he had left,

  “He seems to be integrating well. Are you absolutely sure you can trust him with this much responsibility?”

  Alexander turned and shared, “He has far exceeded every expectation I set for him so far. Why would I expect he would fail now?”