Damian sighed, “I’ll go get the Colonel so he can tell High Command.”

  Feeling a tap on his shoulder he looked up to his sister, who was pointing off down the road. Damian glanced over and, sure enough, Colonel Johnson was heading their way. Damain waved the man over and when he got close said, “Good timing old man, we were just about to go get you.”

  Colonel Johnson grimaced, “What trouble are you about to heap on me now, son?”

  “Ve vere going to have the system explain next phase after integration. If you are here to hear it, you can tell High Command.” Viktor said as he passed the Colonel a beer.

  Johnson drained the beer in one go, and motioned for another, “Damn it, just one relaxing night is all I wanted. Why do I have to be the one to deal with this shit?”

  Catherine laughed, “It’s because you are here and capable, sir.”

  The old soldier took a seat, “Alright system, go ahead and give the info while I’m still willing to deal with this.”

  “Well, there goes waiting for the market to see if other new planets would be lumped in with us. Thanks system, as always, you’re a big help.” Catherine said with a roll of her eyes

  The group couldn’t help but chuckle in agreement.

  “Why would we go along with this? I mean, I get why we participate for integration, survival of the planet and ourselves. But, why would we care about this phase?” Big Lu asked.

  The Colonel drained his latest beer, “Fan-fuckin-tastic. This is going to be fun explaining to high command. Anything else we should know?”

  Nope! Any other specifics can wait for the competition to start. I’m looking forward to seeing how you all fair!

  “Lovely,” Damian deadpanned, “that’s just what I wanted to hear. Why couldn’t we have gotten a break instead.”

  “My day just got longer. Thanks for the beer and for keeping me informed. I have a call I need to make now.” Colonel Johnson said as he stood up.

  The group gave their farewells before falling into silence. They had assumed something like this would happen but, it would be a lie to say they didn’t expect a longer time frame. The silence stretched as they each formed their own plans on how to move forward. Damian was the one to finally break the silence.

  “Alright, no use over thinking this. We have more pressing matters to deal with, leave tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow. Viktor lets get working on that arm design, I want to be fully functional before we have to go to the integration market.” Damian declared as he stood up to throw away his beer.

  “Da, sounds good. I have blueprints right here, just need you to help me adjust it to accept magic power source.” Viktor joined him as they made their way into the house.

  Joined by Catherine, who would be making a good number of the parts, they spent the next couple hours poring over the blueprints, tweaking the designs as they went. To accommodate the magical energy source, Damian recommended a 50/50 copper silver alloy. Not only was it a good conductor for electricity, the pure nature of silver would smooth the energy transmission from the mystical side as well. When they crunched the numbers, it came out as a 35% increase in the reaction speed of the artificial limb, making using it faster than Damian’s actual arm.

  Catherine set her forge up in the back yard and got to work, making the parts. Damian took a quick break to check on Big Lu and Arushi, only to find the big man sparring with Patrick, and his niece peppering an amused Arushi with questions.

  “Sorry about Rachel, she gets overly excited about topics that catch her interest. If she gets to be too much, feel free to get her mother.” Damian joked. “Lu! Hit him harder he can take it!”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Patrick yelped and ducked under Big Lu’s exaggerated swing, the big man laughing maniacally the whole time.

  “Uncle Damian! Arushi was just teaching me about herbology! She even offered to set up a small garden here for me to practice with!” Rachel excitedly explained, completely ignoring his attempt at humor.

  Damian raised a brow at Arushi, “Oh? That’s very generous of you, thank you for helping her. If there is anything I can do to pay you back let me know.”

  Arushi planted her fists on her hips as she leaned into his personal space. “None of that, Damian Campbell. There will be no paying me back or counting favors between us. Got that?”

  Damian gulped, “Yes ma’am.”

  “Good. Now be a dear and help me find a good place to plant the garden tree. Preferably somewhere you can keep an eye on it.” Arushi nodded.

  Damian led her around back, to the sound of his niece making a whip cracking noise. He gave her a look that promised embarrassing vengeance if she didn’t knock it off. Going by the devious grin on her face it didn’t seem to work as she skipped after them. The back yard had that strange dual reality look, as Catherine had set up her forge. She had just finished inputting the commands on the smelter when Rachel called out to her.

  “Aunty Catherine, Arushi is trying to steal your man.” Rachel had a cheshire grin on her face.

  Catherine looked over and tilted her head, “What? Why would she need to do that?”

  Arushi spoke up, a red hue to her cheeks, “Rachel is just trying to embarrass her uncle, Catherine.”

  “Oh! Okay. What brings you back here?” Catherine moved on.

  Damian furrowed his brows, sure he was missing something, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what. “We are going to plant one of the garden trees Arushi got from the last dungeon here.”

  “I heard about those, they sound cool. Well don’t stop on my account go ahead I need to start working on your new arm.” Catherine said as she moved to the forge.

  Arushi walked around the backyard, looking for the best spot to plant the tree. She eventually decided the middle point between Damian’s backyard and his family’s. She waved Damian over, “Dig a small pit here please.”

  Damian squinted at her for a second, before shrugging and going to get a shovel from the garage. He made a small foot deep pit and looked at Arushi. “Will this do, or should it be deeper?”

  “This is fine. Thank you, Damian.” Arushi said as she dropped the seed into the pit. When Damian went to fill it, she stopped him and called over her shoulder, “Catherine, would you be a dear and fill the pit please?”

  “What?” Catherine looked up confused for a second, then a lightbulb seemed to go off in her head. “Oh! Right, just a second, I’ll be right there!”

  Catherine set down the part she was working on and rushed over to the duo. She accepted the shovel from a confused Damian with a grin. Once the pit was filled in, Arushi pulled out a watering can, filled with a liquid that glowed with vitality. She gestured for her friends to hold part of the can. When they all had their hands on it she proceeded with watering the newly planted seed.

  Damian put voice to his confusion, “What was all that about?”

  “It was……. a……...ritual? Yes, a ritual! To help the tree grow quickly.” Arushi said with scarlet cheeks.

  Catherine was giggling at her friend, “Yup! A druidic ritual to improve plant growth. Nothing weird here, no sir!”

  Arushi started lightly slapping at Catherine. Catherine just broke down into a more intense giggle fit. While still confused, Damian couldn’t help the grin that broke out on his face at their antics. He wrapped them both up into a quick hug, and chuckled at their surprised squeaks.

  “You two are adorable. I’m going to go carve the gem needed to power my new arm. If you need me I’ll be in the garage. Pretty sure I saw an old work bench with clamps in there. Catherine don’t bully Arushi too much, alright?” Damian joked.

  “Aye, Aye sir! I’ll only bully her an appropriate amount!” Catherine gave him a joking salute, before taking off.

  “Catherine! I’ll get you back for this!” Arushi yelled as she chased after her escaping friend.

  “Try and I’ll inform your baba about this!” Catherine teased.

  “You wouldn’t dare! Also, maa already knows and promised to ease him into it.” Arushi rebutted.

  Damian laughed at their antics and made his way to the garage. He found the work bench in the back, covered in random knickknacks and junk. He spent a few minutes cleaning off work space before placing down his carving tools and a single rubellite tourmaline gem that was amongst the ones he claimed from the dragon’s hoard. He took out his copies of ‘Artificer’s Guide to Creating Gem Batteries’, and ‘Franklin Blackhammer’s Primer on Runic Gem Craft’. Flipping open the primer he leafed through the pages until he found the section that held detailed descriptions of gems. He compared the gem he had with the descriptions in the book, once satisfied he turned to the other book. He flipped open to the passage on sowilo pattern batteries and read through it again.

  ‘Sowilo, while the most commonly used rune for energy generation, is surprisingly complex in its crafting process. Most beginners believe they must merely carve the gem into the appropriate shape and allow its symbolism to do the rest. That will only result in a high-energy output that will fry all but the most heavily insulated devices. When carving the gem into shape, the rune crafter, or artificer, must add the thurisaz rune along the sides of the gem in an upright position. Thurisaz, with an upright interpretation, signifies a time to take action, and protection, among other things that aren’t as relevant for our current topic. This rune will ensure that the energy generated from the sowilo rune will only be used when it was needed, while adding a subtle reinforcement to the device it is placed in to protect it from overloading.’

  Damian took a moment to remember what direction the gem would be facing when inserted into the arm. He had to ensure he got the orientation right, because the reversed interpretation of thurisaz indicates a lack of will or vulnerability. When he was certain he had it right in his head, he put the gem into the workbench’s clamp, and started to carefully carve it into shape. He engaged all partitions of his mind to ensure the accuracy of his carvings. Some were dedicated to keep the overall design in mind to keep him on track. A few kept track of the pressure and angle he used with the tools, adjusting as necessary to ensure perfection. Or as close as he could get. The final few mulled over the information in his books, cataloguing what was currently relevant and feeding it to the other partitions as needed.

  Damian stayed immersed in his craft for hours, only finishing in the evening of the following day. He barely registered Catherine, Arushi, and his sister stopping by to check on him and ensuring he ate, even if they had to feed him themselves. When he released the gem from the clamps and into his hand, he marveled at its beauty. The pyroelectric gem was a deep reddish purple that seemed to flash in the light. The base of the gem was slightly wider at the bottom, almost like a trapezoid when looked at from the top, coming to a sharp point at the top. It was composed of eight jagged lines in the shape of a lightning bolt or two stretched, sideways w’s connected together.

  Damian looked on his work with pride, and clenched it tightly in his fist. Step one was complete, next he needed a nap and a large meal. Then, he would check on Catherine and Viktor’s progress with the other parts of his new arm. He barely made it to his bed, before he passed out.