In the morning, Vishnal put on his old work clothes in preparation for today's mystery outing. For today only, he made his way to his workplace in a taxi rather than his own car, only to meet his boss in the parking lot. He was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts with many pockets, and smelled of sunscreen. With a look of mischievous delight, he waved Vishnal over to the company car.

"Great, you remembered." The boss said as Vishnal drew near. "Get in, we're in for a pretty long day. I packed us both a lunch and brought ample amounts of water."

Vishnal did what he was told, getting in on the passenger's side. "Where are we going sir?"

"You'll see when we get there. It's not far."

Around the outskirts of town, Lest parked the car on a small vacant dirt patch. As they exited the car, Vishnal looked over the vast fields before him.

"Impressive right? I planted most of this, and I tamed all of the monsters in those barns over there. Today we're going to farm, all day, until sunset."

"Literal farming sir?"

"Yes."

"I'll do it!" Vishnal said with ambitious fire in his eyes. "What would you have me do sir?"

"I'll have you water fields one through five. If you get that done you can add some fertilizer to fields one and two. And if you get that done, you can try tilling field eight. Leave any harvesting to me though." As he explained, he gestured to his tool box. Vishnal took some tools and nodded.

"Yes sir!"

Hours passed, the sun beat down. Both remained hard at work, with Vishnal only pausing a few times to stand in awe of how fast and efficient his boss was at farming. Though, he'd quickly refocus his attention and get back to work.

Not long after Lest began harvesting, he found exactly what he was looking for. More importantly, he wanted to see how his current company would react.

"Vishnal, come here."

The secretary immediately came running, looking mindful. Lest gestured to a glowing sphere, where a tomato used to be. Now would be as good a time as any to explain the power he somehow had.

"Do you see this? This is my alternative energy source. I call it rune energy. It appears sometimes when I harvest. I don't have it down to a science yet, but lately I've been finding more and more of it."

Vishnal's wide eyes and gaping jaw conveyed his childlike wonder. He wasn't even attempting to hide it. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah, I Know." The boss chuckled. "We can harvest this energy just like we harvest the crops. If you consume it without processing it, you can feel a surge of energy inside you like you wouldn't believe. Give it a try if you're feeling tired. Don't push yourself too far though, it won't help you if you've already passed out from exhaustion. Learned that from personal experience. Anyway, touch it."

"Are you sure sir? Won't that affect your bottom line?"

"This little bit won't matter much. The rush is great. Besides, I can tell you're tired."

Vishnal observed the excitement in his boss's face, and could not possibly deny him that request. His hand shook slightly as he reached out for the glowing mysterious thing where the tomatoes used to be. Upon contact, the light vanished and Vishnal felt like the core of his soul had been somehow revitalized.

"Pretty good, right?"

Despite feeling exhausted mere seconds ago, he almost shook with overflowing energy. "It's absolutely amazing!"

"Not too many people know that this is how I produce and harvest this energy. Before you it was just Leon."

The gravity of the words slowly crept into Vishnal's subconscious. Such an honour made his heart flutter and he smiled brilliantly without being able to form a response.

"Just so you know, not everyone can produce this energy either. Whenever I had someone else harvest the crops, the runes would never appear. I can have others till the soil, or occasionally water them, but it seems like the more I'm involved the more runes appear."

Vishnal stood completely motionless and silent, dumbfounded by this new information. It felt like he was now in the presence of a wizard, and a very rich wizard at that. Lest could only chuckle at his adorable reverence.

"Leon took it way differently. He pretty much just shrugged and said 'cool.'"

"Ah, right sir. It is indeed very cool, as it were."

"Hahaha, I wasn't fishing for compliments. Just saying I hope this doesn't change anything."

"If you request it sir."

Lest folded his arms, with a slight pout forming on his face. "Vishnal."

"Yes sir?"

"This isn't something I had to work on, I didn't learn how to do this, I haven't found some sort of ancient magic or learned from a master. For some reason I can just, I don't know, find this energy when I farm." He paused then, paying careful attention to the other's expression. Naturally he was hanging on every work, mystified by what he was hearing. Lest sighed. "So I don't think I deserve any kind of special adoration. I didn't work for it, you know?"

"But sir! You did work for it! Maybe you don't know exactly how it works, but you still have to till the earth and grow the crops!" His expression turned intense, his passion ignited. "That's certainly hard work! And you have a tremendous gift that rewards your hard work! You're amazing sir."

"Well, when you put it that way…" Lest concealed a blush, feeling a little silly. "Er, anyway, now that you've been introduced to the rune energy, I expect to see a lot of work out of you."

"Ah, right away sir!" With his tools ready, he set out for the fields again.

There was no denying the surge of energy running through him now, he took to the fields with more vigour than he was used to. It seemed like he was ploughing through Lest's tasks with expedient ease. With hoe in hand, he moved on to the tilling. He made it almost half way through the field before he felt his strength leave him. Suddenly his vision blurred and his legs felt weak. The world around him seemed to spin, and soon he was on the ground.

'Oh no, I hope my boss didn't see that. I have to get up before he notices!' Try as he might, he couldn't get his body to move. It seemed like every muscle in his body had been rendered unresponsive. More than anything he felt panic, not because he was close to passing out, but because he didn't want to disappoint his boss.

A few minutes passed, or was it hours? and he could hear his named being called. His arms shook as he tried to respond, but his mouth felt dry and he couldn't get the words out. If he could speak, he'd try to explain why he was currently lying on the ground and not working.

Seconds later he heard footsteps quickly approaching. He tensed up, trying to look as if he were doing something, but his attempt fell flat. His energy had left him completely and he could do nothing about it.

"Vishnal? VISHNAL?!" The secretary felt himself get propped up, and soon he was leaning against what he assumed was his boss. "Hey, are you alright?"

While his vision blurred and it felt like his very soul was leaving his body, Vishnal focussed on that voice keeping him grounded. "I'm fine… sir."

"You most certainly are not fine." He poured some water on a handkerchief and placed it on his secretary's forehead. "You didn't have to work yourself so hard. It's not shameful to take a break." At that, he handed his bottle to Vishnal, who took it and sloppily sipped it.

"I have to always, push myself, sir…" He said as his eyes focussed on the shoulder he was leaning on. Realistically, he knew that Lest was right and that working himself to exhaustion wasn't necessary or conducive to his cause, but it was in his nature to always go at any task with as much tenacity as he could muster.

"Oh Vishnal."

Vishnal closed his eyes, but tired hard not to fall asleep. Somehow he managed to stay conscious, and slowly his strength was returning. "I'm sorry sir, I was feeling great from that energy earlier, and I guess I over did it. I hope I'm not slowing you down." His tone was despondent.

"My work is done, I've placed it all in the shipment box already." He smiled, feeling nostalgic. "I remember my first run in with rune energy. It can get overwhelming. You'll learn how to handle the rush the more you experience it."

Vishnal was silent, processing his boss's words. It clicked in his mind then, what Lest was implying. "Wait, does this mean I'll be coming here again? And I'm not fired?"

Lest chuckled. "I don't know, maybe I will fire you. Collapsing on the job is definitely the mark of a lazy worker."

"Sir! I'm so sorry! I promise this won't happen again, please…"

"Relax, I'm joking." Lest said lamely, trying to quell the now out of control panic in his secretary's voice. "It wouldn't make sense to fire such a valuable member of the team. Also, like I tell Leon on nearly a daily basis, think of the lawsuits."

"I wouldn't sue you sir." Vishnal said instinctively.

"Hahaha, yeah, I know." He rubbed his unit's back then, in an attempt to motivate him. "You know, not only am I not going to fire you, I'll take you out for lunch as a thank you. Anything, anywhere you want."

"Really sir?" He didn't have to think about, he knew right away. "Down the street, Porcolene's kitchen. You have to try his curry rice, it's amazing."

"You got it." Lest replied with a somewhat sympathetic expression. "When you feel your strength come back, we can go. Or I can take you out some other time, when you're feeling better."

"I'm fine sir." He repeated, sitting up. "Actually, a good meal sounds great after a day of hard work."

Lest chuckled. "Alright. Let's get you that curry rice. Can you stand?"

Vishnal attempted to stand and Lest stood with him. He seemed a little wobbly and disoriented so Lest acted as a walking stick for him, supporting him as well as he could. Lest carried most of their weight as they made their way back to the car. Lest even opened the door and helped a totally spent Vishnal get seated.

They started driving, but it was clear that Vishnal wasn't going to last much longer. "We're going to have to take an I.O.U on that dinner. I'll take you home instead."

"But sir-"

"No 'buts.' You need rest. Also, if you need to take tomorrow off, just give me a call early tomorrow. I'll understand. What's your address?"

Vishnal wanted to protest, but found he didn't have the energy. Instead he just sighed and gave some directions to his house. The drive was quiet, mostly because Vishnal didn't have the energy to keep a conversation going. Lest parked, and ended up helping his secretary into his house. He didn't enter the house, instead he just made sure the other was safely inside before driving off. Despite his fatigue, Vishnal had no intention of skipping work.