By the time we finished with my house, I had already merged eighty-four cores. The math continued to break my brain. With the smallest being approximately four centimeters in diameter and the largest just above nine, those eighty-four cores should have produced a core larger than twenty-five centimeters. They didn't. The resulting core was only sixteen. I already understood that magic doesn't follow the known laws of physics—or more precisely, math in this case—but it still drove me crazy, no matter how many times I told myself, "it is what it is."

It didn't break Mahya's brain, or at least it didn't look like it did. What it did do was disappoint her. Every time she looked at the merged core, she let out a deep sigh and looked so sad that I wanted to pat her head and say, "There, there, everything will be alright."

Al didn't look too enthused about his merged core either. He had merged ten cores ranging from five to eight centimeters and ended up with one just above nine. Did I say already that it didn't make any sense?

Looking at those two morose expressions, I had a strong suspicion that I had a lot of dungeons in Zindor in my future. It's not that I was against the idea in general; I just wanted something else. This world had been a lot of fun before the war started, and I enjoyed meeting people, seeing new kinds of magic, and tasting new flavors. Farming dungeons like it was my job didn't appeal to me and occasionally made me regret discovering the Gate that led to Zindor. Then again, Zindor had a lot of Gates, and some of them led to cool places.

Yeah, I was somewhat undecided about the whole thing and kept confusing myself.

Rue zoomed over on his Skyrush, flying so low I had to duck. The wind from his passage ruffled my hair as he shot past, barking his head off like it was the funniest thing in the world.

I straightened up and shook my fist at him. "Yeah, yeah, keep laughing, you furry menace. One more zoom like that and you're not getting smoked crab for a month!"

He leapt off his Skyrush mid-air, landed with a heavy thud, and bounded straight toward me. His paws slammed into my shoulders, nearly knocking me over, and his tongue went to work, drenching my face in slobber.

"Rue sorry. Rue very sorry," he said, tail wagging like crazy as he kept licking.

I forgave him with a sigh and scratched his ear. He leaned into it, eyes half-closing in bliss. Satisfied, he gave a happy grunt, spun around, and bolted back to his beloved Skyrush. A moment later, he was back in the air, zooming off like a rocket.

He continued shrinking. His head now reached just below my shoulder, about the size of a Tibetan Mastiff, which was the breed he used to pretend to be way back when on Earth. We were all ecstatic. He took up less space, and his furry butt blocked the view less when he walked in front. It also boosted his mana. Last time I checked, just a couple of days ago, his orbs had almost doubled in size, and he could fly the whole day without needing to land.

He was in two minds about it. On one hand, he liked the extra mana. On the other hand, he thought he looked less dangerous and mourned the loss, especially when the gazelle-ish animals on the lake shore didn't bolt in terror anymore. No matter how many times I told him they had simply gotten used to him and learned he wasn't dangerous, he still got upset whenever one of them kept drinking like nothing happened.

After we finished the house project, we took a few days off. Rue told Mahya about some interesting places he had discovered in the mountains, and the two of them flew off together to explore. I didn't feel like poking around ruins or caves, so I stayed behind. Instead, Al and I went fishing in peace and quiet.

From all the work I had done with the cores and the constant need to regenerate, my mana channels had widened. That part was good, since I could cast and regenerate faster. The downside was the itching. It never stopped and drove me up the wall. Over the past few days, it got so bad that Al had to make me a sleeping potion so that I could get some rest. At least I didn't get a headache this time. As a result, we fished the old-fashioned way, sitting in a rowboat instead of standing on a hardened water surface. I had no intention of using mana until the itching stopped.

Al sat with his line in the water. Then, without looking at me, he asked, "Will it be possible for us to begin construction on my house once your channels have recovered?"

I leaned back and adjusted my grip on the rod. "I thought that was the plan."

"I am merely confirming."

I gave a slight nod, and we fell back into silence, the boat rocking gently beneath us. Minutes passed. A bug skimmed across the surface of the lake. Then, a thought clicked into place.

"We might have a problem with your house," I said.

Al turned to me, eyebrows lifting almost to his hairline.

"The electric appliances I have are converted from Earth," I explained. "I have no idea where to get you a fridge or a stove. With the Clean spell, you can get by without a washer and dryer, but a fridge and a stove are a must."

He hummed thoughtfully. "I could fly to Saa and investigate what options are available. Considering the level of Magitech present in this world, I do not believe it will pose much difficulty."

I glanced at him over the edge of my sunglasses. "It might be dangerous. The assholes on that ship dropped bombs on us for no reason."

"I will be invisible," he said, adjusting the fishing rod.

"In that case, you should go tomorrow," I said, flicking a bug off my arm. "I have no idea what they've got here, and it might affect some formations in the house."

He gave a decisive nod. "I shall do so."

In the evening, Mahya and Rue came back. Rue was pristine white, tail wagging like crazy, and tongue lolling out in a big doggy grin. Mahya, on the other hand, was a different story. She was covered from head to toe in a sticky, green, foul-smelling substance. Her face was a thundercloud, her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, and she stomped as she walked.

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"What happened?" I asked, taking a cautious step back as the stench hit me.

"Ugly, disgusting, green worms," she barked, throwing her arms up in frustration before stomping toward the house, leaving gooey footprints on the path.

I turned to Rue. "Where did you find worms?"

"In big ruined place. Mahya think we can find something interesting inside. We find only smelly worms."

I had to work really hard not to laugh. My shoulders twitched with the effort, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep it together. She was still close enough to hear, and judging by the way she slammed the door behind her, it was a bad idea.

"Why didn't you cast Clean on her?" I asked Rue. "You have the spell."

"Mahya not aske Rue to cast spell. Rue not volunteer." The second sentence he said with such an evil grin in his tone that I burst out laughing.

"It's not funny," Mahya shouted through the door.

Rue and I exchanged a glance and went outside to be on the safe side. My dog was learning to be an evil joker.

In the morning, Al left for Saa, and Mahya and I returned to studying blueprints. There were some systems in the house we didn't touch during the upgrade, but we now had to get familiar with them for Al's house. Mahya mainly focused on the water purification system. I had studied it in detail while working on the pool, but she had only skimmed it. Now she needed to get to know it better. I, on the other hand, took on the climate control system. I had never even examined it before, and now I had to learn it.

Over lunch, Mahya poked at her food for a moment, then looked up. "I've been thinking."

"That's dangerous," I said, reaching for my cup.

She stuck her tongue out at me and made a face.

I snorted and shook my head. "Go on, O Great Thinker."

"So, as I said, I've been thinking," she repeated, thumping her fork on the table. "We rebuilt the house exactly like the original, just to avoid breaking anything and having to redo the whole thing instead of only half."

I nodded slowly, chewing on a piece of bread, not quite sure where she was going with this.

"But we have all the building spells from Lumis now," she continued, leaning forward a little. "We can use them on Al's house. Since we're starting from scratch, we can design it with the spells in mind. That way, it'll be easier and faster."

I put down my fork and wiped my hands on a napkin. That was actually a solid point. "We'd need to experiment with them first to see what changes they make," I said. "I doubt we'd be able to engrave the runes from the nails directly on the connection points."

"I don't think we'll need to," she said, waving her fork for emphasis. "I examined the setup. The runes on the nails only exist to maintain a continuous link between the enchantments on two planks. If we join the planks first, then engrave the runes afterward, we won't need anything extra to bridge the connection."

"Good idea," I said, nodding. "Still, we should test it before we go all in. We've got enough nails to do it the Lis way if we have to."

She smirked and took a sip of her drink. "That's for sure."

That felt like a good opportunity to bring up something that had been bothering me.

"Why did you decide to handle the cores now?" I asked. "Are you planning to split from us?"

She jerked at the question, clearly caught off guard, and fell silent. Her gaze drifted to the window, and she stared out for a few long moments without saying anything.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," I said, keeping my voice low.

She took a deep breath, shook her head, and looked down at her plate. "I was afraid you two were getting ready to ditch me."

My head snapped up. "What? Why would you think that?"

"You two keep complaining about my outbursts and moods," she said, not looking at me. "Yes, I know I've been more explosive, as you call it, since I got the fire stone, but I don't know how to control it. I try, I really do, but it doesn't always work out." She let out a long sigh and slumped forward, elbows on the table. "I was sure you were getting ready to give up on me, so I figured I should at least handle the cores."

I stood up, walked around the table, pulled her up by the arm, and wrapped her in a hug. "First of all, I have no intention of ditching you. Yes, sometimes you act like a bitch, and I don't mean just the mood swings. But no—"

She pulled back just enough to look up at me. "What else?" she asked, cutting me off.

"For example, how you acted in Liliatas with all the hookers. That wasn't fiery behavior. That was just you being mean. And the way you keep needling Al about chasing guys. Yes, he's a lot more interested in sex than the two of us, but you make him feel uncomfortable a lot of the time." I stepped back and looked her in the eye. "The mood swings and explosive temper don't help either. But no, I personally have no intention of ditching you. I can't speak for Al. But now I have a question for you."

She gave a slight nod and motioned for me to go on.

"Why won't you buy a water stone? It should balance you out. I mean, it helped me, it should help you."

She sighed and rubbed her face. "I did look for a stone. They're rare and expensive. I saw one on the auction board in the capital. The auction isn't even closed yet, and the price already climbed to twenty cores and ten thousand mithril. I don't have a million gold lying around."

"Couldn't you have raised the bid with cores?"

"I need those cores," she said, crossing her arms.

"Yes, but we have Zindor. Even if you spend fifty cores, you'll be able to recoup the price."

She stared at me, silent.

"What?" I asked.

"I had to trick you into agreeing to collect more cores with me," she said finally. "I knew exactly how you'd react if I told you I wanted even more. You hate dungeons, and don't you dare deny it. So it was a choice between chasing my dream and staying with you two longer. I love traveling with you both. As far as I'm concerned, I'd love to do it for years. But giving up my dream felt like too steep a price."

She looked down, twisting her fingers in her lap. "Yes, I know I could keep clearing dungeons alone, but I'm afraid to. We've gotten hurt a few times. Without your healing and Al's potions, I wouldn't make it. And besides, I'm good at some things, but not everything. With my mana level, I'm limited in what magic I can use, and a lot of dungeons require mana. So..." She trailed off, voice barely above a whisper.

This time, I slapped her on the head. "Idiot."

She blinked at me, eyes wide with surprise.

"Don't look at me like that. You're a total moron. Why didn't you just talk to us—or at least to me? I thought we were closer than that."

She mumbled something into her chest.

"I didn't get that," I said, leaning in.

"I was afraid," she muttered.

"Like I said, you're a total moron. Being a bitch with mood swings is totally fine, but talking to me about something that scares you? Oh no, we can't have that. Are you sure you don't have wizarding talent? Because from where I'm standing, this isn't just weird—it's what you like to call total lunacy."

She stared at me for a moment, like she was processing every word. Then a giggle slipped out.

"What's so funny?" I asked, annoyed.

She burst into full-on laughter, clutching her stomach and doubling over.

I tapped my foot on the floor, arms crossed, waiting for her to calm down. "Well? I'm still here. Enlighten me."

Still chuckling, she lunged at me and wrapped me in a hug so tight I felt my ribs shift. "You are the best, and don't you ever forget it."

I pried her off and pushed her back a step. "Yeah, yeah, but I still don't get what was so hilarious."

She wiped her eyes and grinned. "The role reversal. I saw myself in you for a second. Same tone, expression, and everything. And then I remembered my mom saying couples start to act like each other over time."

I gave her a look.

She held up a finger. "Wait, wait. We're not a couple. But somehow, we still managed to infect each other with our own special brand of weirdness. You're catching my crazy, and I'm catching yours."

"Great. So now we're contagious?"

"Oh yeah. Full-blown case."

I chuckled and shook my head. I wanted to strangle her sometimes, but I still loved her, and she was my second-best friend.

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