"Archmage Pixel!" Nailihuaile opened her door. The Earther stood there in his marvelous armor that currently covered everything but his head.

"Archmage Nailihuaile." He replied back to her.

"Oh please." She smiled at him. "You can call me Naili."

"Then you should call me just Pixel."

Nailihuaile giggled to herself as she motioned him inside. Their little exchange hadn't gotten old yet, despite this being the fifth time he'd visited her quarters. "How are things going? Any interesting events, or wandering experiments bothering you?"

Pixel rolled his eyes. "If you want to know how the magicore refinement is going, you can just ask."

Nailihuaile slithered over to her stool with spokes. "And miss out on the intrigue? That's the entire point of Wistram! Secrets are to be ferreted out, stockpiled, and spent. Giving them away ruins the fun!"

"Who says I'm giving away my most valuable secrets?" Pixel sat down in one of the chairs she kept for guests. "Purer magicore is a valuable commodity. So I see it more as advertising. You have to spend secrets to make secrets."

"Oh!" Her eyes lit up as she began to circle her stool. "Is that another saying from Earth? It sounds like a saying! Or that you're quoting someone!"

Pixel exhaled. "Yes, it's a more common saying there, just with 'money' instead of 'secrets'."

"Yes, I understand." Nailihuaile weaved her body through the spokes before settling in the center of the stool. There were times when she missed having legs and a separate tail. As fun as having a serpentine body was, there were a decided lack of lamia or naga specific furniture. To be fair, it was also far easier for her to do without after her evolution. 'Standing' was far more relaxing for her now than it had ever been as a Lizardfolk. "It's a shame your world doesn't have serpentine residents. Just think what marvels you could have invented for the non-legged if you had a need to."

"That would be interesting, I admit. There would be no shortage of ideas."

"Exactly!" Nailihuaile exclaimed. "Your world may be strange, but it's amazing how much you've accomplished without magic!" Assuming that Pixel and the rest of the Earthers were telling the truth. She couldn't sense any magic in their 'electronics', but she also couldn't sense any in Pixel's armor - which the other Earthers seemed to regard as magical. "I was unable to enchant the rod you gave me." She pulled it out of her bag of holding and examined it.

It was just so... beautiful. The surface was without blemish. Each individual cube was of perfectly uniform size and shape. The colors were so vibrant! The rod itself was light as a feather, yet stronger than iron! She SHOULD have been able to apply enchantments to it easily.

Instead, it was as if there was nothing there when she cast her [Spells]. She couldn't carve runes in it, and tracing them with various combinations of crushed gems and magicore also hadn't had an effect. Nailihuaile was the greatest [Enchanter] in the world, so she wouldn't give up until she succeeded, but it was starting to annoy her. She had been wondering if it was an impossible task.

"I'm honestly not surprised." Pixel shook his head. "Integrating magic with my tech might be impossible."

"Isn't Blackmage attempting the same thing?" Nailihuaile asked as she looked up from the rod. "That was the reason he had been visiting Amerys." She'd broken down and bought that secret after the whole... being frozen in time event.

"Yes." Pixel leaned back and got a faraway look in his eyes. "Blackmage wants to go over each component one at a time and incorporate magic that way. It's... probably the correct way to do it."

"Each component?" Nailihuaile tilted her head. "Do you mean each cube?"

"No." Pixel paused. "And yes. That's the main hurdle with my tech. Each cube is self-contained. But, they also aren't. It's hard to explain. For simpler tech, each step is..." He frowned. "Here. A diagram might help." Pixel waved his hand and a rectangle appeared in the air next to him. A small image was shown of a short, flat wand. "This is a flashlight. As its name suggests, it produces light. It accomplishes that by running electricity through a bulb."

"Electricity?"

"What you would call lightning."

Nailihuaile furrowed her brow. "Isn't that dangerous?" It did explain Amerys' involvement.

Pixel blinked. "Oh. No, not at all. It uses a fraction of the power contained in a lightning bolt. There are... no, let's not get distracted."

"Okay."

"Now, most of its components are designed to safely transport the lightning to here." The front section of the wand lit up. "That's where the bulb is, which is what actually produces light."

"Ah! I see!" Nailihuaile nodded. "The runes for the [Light] spell are stored in the tip of the wand!"

"What?" Pixel raised an eyebrow. "No. No runes. The bulb contains something like a tungsten filament that-"

"What's tungsten?"

"A metal with a high melting point." A new image appeared inside the rectangle, and a section of it lit up. "It's called the filament, and before you ask: No, I don't know why. When the lightning flows through it, it heats up." A different part of the image glowed. "This all happens in a vacuum, so there's no fire. The heated filament produces light that is then-"

"Why does it produce light?"

"Because the energy tries to escape, but can only do so as light or lightning due to the vacuum."

"Oh! I see!" Nailihuaile nodded her head. "It's using a combination of fire runes along with fire resistance runes to make a flame! And that flame produces the light!" She frowned. "Isn't that an involved way of going about it? I mean, I guess if you didn't know about the [Light] spell, it might make sense. There are lots of places that use torches instead of [Light] spells, so I guess there's a reason. Especially since you can make fire without magic! Of course! Earth has no magic, so they use fire [Spells] instead of [Light]!"

No. Wait. That didn't make sense.

Nailihuaile was used to letting her thoughts flow freely. It had served her well in the past and [Rapid Thinking] was one of her better [Skills]. It didn't help when she went down the wrong track. People from Earth had no magic. They had little of Pixel's version of magic either from what she understood. That meant that they couldn't use runes at all. That meant that the light in the wand was because of 'tungsten'. A metal that glowed so much that...

"Ah! It's like a [Blacksmith]'s forge!"

There was a knock at his door.

Aaron looked up towards it, then back at his 'battery', then back at the door. He wasn't sure what time it was, as he'd been working on his magitech device since after dinner. It was... mostly working now. He didn't understand the specific runes and other modifications that Nailihuaile had made, but the end result was that it drew mana from the magicore center and converted it into 'lightning'.

The problem with that, was that 'lightning' wasn't either AC or DC. Aaron needed DC to make anything more than... a particularly large tazer. He knew how to turn AC into DC, but not how to make use of something that was both.

It would be nice if he could speak with Amerys some more. She would understand what he was aiming for.

He supposed it was better to be frozen in time instead of chained and imprisoned at least.

He let out a sigh, put down the rudimentary tools he'd made, and stood up. There was another knock as he walked towards his door. Yeah. Yeah. He was coming.

He opened his door, and blinked in surprise. Pixel in his armor, Jiahao, Michail, Archmage Feor, and Cognita all stood on the other side. "Uh... Hi? Is everything... okay?" What could all of them want with him? Especially, this late?

"Come, Blackmage." Cognita spoke. "There is a ship coming in that we all are going to meet."

"Uh..." He looked from one face to another. "Okay?" He joined the group as they walked through the hallways. "So." He leaned closer to Jiahao. "What's going on? Everything cool?" Part of him, a large part, was worried. If it wasn't for Cognita and Pixel's presences, and all the golems they'd passed, he'd be worried that this was some sort of kidnapping attempt.

It was feasible that someone could coerce, copy, or somehow disguise themselves as someone else and lure him away. Magic could do basically anything, after all. Pixel and Cognita should be immune to everything except, perhaps, someone pretending to be them.

Even that would be difficult given how... unique they were. Plus, the various golems they'd walked past would probably have done something, right?

Or... Could it be a reverse kidnapping? Which, he guessed, was still a kidnapping. Could Pixel be taking him and the others away from Wistram? He didn't know how he felt about that. Also, where was Vincent?

"Is boat." Jiahao whispered back. "We meeting Earther passengers."

"Oh?" Aaron leaned back. That... that was good. "Why the secrecy though?"

Jiahao smiled. "Last time secret too, right?" He shook his head. "This time even more so. So, no talk."

"Oh, uhm, alright." So he was there to make sure that the new arrivals weren't imposters? He supposed that made sense. Maybe. With Pixel around, it also made sense that the Superhero would've been the one who'd been told about the boat beforehand. That stung a little, but he'd get over it.

It was still suspicious. Michail being silent wasn't something new. Nor was Archmage Feor or Cognita. Or Pixel for that matter. Walking ten minutes with Jiahao not speaking? That was strange. Was it just him, or were Michail and Jiahao moving stiffer than normal too?

The docks were cold and wet. Wistram was largely immune to the Winter cold that was targeting other parts of the world thanks to its magical weather bubble. Even then, the outside was distinctly cooler than the castle itself - especially at night.

The group gathered at one of the docks, but Aaron kept to the edge closest to the castle. He might not have a chance at running away, but if this was something bad, he'd have to try...

Glowing lights broke through the fog that surrounded the outside of Wistram's weather bubble. They bobbed up and down while growing larger and larger. Soon, the dim shape of a ship appeared on the water and the lights illuminated a group of [Sailors] on its decks. The ship pulled smoothly up to the dock and slowed to a halt.

A solid gangplank made of wood was heaved over its side, and made a loud thunk as it connected the ship and the dock. Figures bustled about on its deck, but one strolled down the temporary bridge. He wore a large hat, with a larger feather.

"Ah! Archmage Feor!" The [Captain] of the ship wore a wide smile as he walked up. "It's an honor to see you again so soon!" He swept his hat off and bowed. "This trip was uneventful, and we have more of your 'special' cargo!" The man let out a deep belly laugh as he put his impressive hat back on top of his head. "The saltwater must be gettin' to these old bones, since I'm sure I've done this all before!"

Aaron began to edge away from the group, but paused as he focused on the two people who were exiting the ship by its gangplank.

The first was a short Asian kid who was wearing a... rough-spun tunic. There was nothing that obviously said he was from Earth, but he looked familiar. He stumbled onto the dock, fell to his knees, and then puked.

The [Captain] glanced over his shoulder and let out a short laugh. "Aye, that one never did get his sea-legs." He shook his head. "Its surprising that the two passengers I've had from Drath both were unaccustomed to the sea."

The Asian kid wiped his mouth and started to stand up, only to pause as he got a good look at Wistram.

Aaron, on the other hand, could only stare blankly. All thoughts of running for help were gone. He recognized the other teenager. It was Jiahao!

There was movement from the corner of his eye, but when he turned to look, it was only Pixel with his arm extended and grasping a necklace. The jewelry swung back and forth, like the [Superhero] had just caught it as it fell.

Wait. That was where Jiahao and Michail had been standing! Where were...?

The second person patiently waited on the gangplank while Jiahao gawked. He was definitely Michail, and he only glanced up at Wistram briefly before lowering his gaze back to the ground.

Once again, he was a bit too big to fit comfortably on the plank, but he still waited for Jiahao to move. However, he was different from last time. He was only around six feet tall, instead of seven! What was going on?

The pair collected themselves and walked down the docks towards them. Pixel moved past the [Captain] to meet the pair. He held out the necklace to shorter-Michail. "Носите это. Это поможет вам понять."

Aaron blinked. That sounded like Russian... probably. Still, that was the least confusing thing that had just happened.

Pixel stepped back, and Cognita took his place. "I am Cognita. I am a Carved Golem, or rather, a Truestone Construct designed to oversee Wistram and its mages. I and my kindred maintain and preserve this building and will assist you for the duration of your stay. In a few moments you will be led to your rooms, but before that I must tell you of the rules of Wistram."

As she delivered her memorized speech about the rules of Wistram, Aaron sidled up to Pixel. "Uh... What's going on? Who are those two people? What happened to Jiahao and Michail? Where is Vincent?"

Pixel turned his armored head, and Aaron could feel his stare through the helmet. "Vincent has left Wistram." He motioned towards the two other Earthers. "Those are the real Jiahao and Michail. They will be staying here from now on. I was impersonating them to make sure that Wistram was safe."

"But... But..." Aaron was at a loss for words. "How?"

"Something my sister helped me make." Pixel sounded like he was smiling. "They're almost indistinguishable from the real things."

Aaron closed his mouth. Then opened it. Then closed it again. There was something on the edge of his memories. He'd never been a huge comic book nerd. He'd really only knew about the MCU, but... there was something he faintly remembered. Some theory about Sam Jackson and Nick Fury...

"They were Life-Model Decoys!" He shouted before quickly lowering his voice as everyone turned to look at him. "They were Life-Model Decoys!" He whispered. "Tony Stark mentioned them in Avengers! They were fakes this whole time!" He paused, and then asked. "Was Vincent one too?"

Pixel nodded. "He was."

"I knew it!" Aaron said through clenched teeth. "I knew..." Wait. "If Vincent wasn't Vincent, that means that you were." Aaron remembered confronting him in his room. The [Boxer] had denied everything and laughed at him. Aaron pointed at Pixel. "You gaslit me! You catfished me, and then you gaslit me about it!"

I left Jiahao and Michail with Feor and Cognita. I didn't trust the Archmage, but I doubted he'd try and cast any untoward spells on the two Earthers. Plus, Cognita was there, and she'd probably stop if him if he tried.

Aaron and I walked past a line of golems that were marching down to the dock to grab the supplies from the ship and bring them back into Wistram.

**Aaron is upset.
**Aaron is angry.
**Aaron is suspicious.

We walked in silence, but the notifications I was getting told me plenty about what he was thinking. He was taking it harder than I'd expected, and it would be best to talk to him alone. At least he wasn't yelling. That was a good sign.

We got to his room, and he flung the door open and stormed inside. He didn't invite me in, but he also hadn't slammed the door in my face. I took that as enough of an invitation, and followed him.

Aaron slumped on top of his bed and glared at me. "So."

"So." I closed the door.

"All of them were fakes this whole time. It was all you."

I nodded. "Yes, but-"

"No." Aaron cut me off. "No 'buts'."

"Very well." I remained standing and let him brood for a couple of minutes.

"Okay." He finally said. "I get it. I really do. You told me why you were here in the first place, and NOT bringing other Earthers here until you were sure Wistram was safe makes sense. It also makes sense for you to pretend to be some of them to experience things for yourself." He shook his head, and his dreadlocks flew from side to side. "No. That actually DOESN'T make sense. Putting aside the 'why', HOW is it possible? I've spoken with you and them at the same time. I've listened to conversations you had with yourself! I watched you fight yourself! Is this like a 'Jarvis' thing? Did you make an AI to impersonate them? You had to have, right? Jiahao threw up each time. How could you have predicted that? How could you not break character?"

I waited to make sure he was done before I replied. "One of my powers that I didn't tell you about was the ability to make a perfect copy of myself."

"So... they were copies of you?"

"No." I shook my head. "And it was more like a copy of my body that my consciousness controlled. Two bodies. One mind."

"How?"

"Superpowers tend to ignore laws of physics and other such things. I have my theories on how it worked, but ultimately they are just that." I smiled. "They also aren't relevant to this discussion. What is relevant, is that my other self isn't here, and the power to try and create him isn't working." I shrugged. "It may be that he was left behind, or that the power is working, but the link isn't, or any other number of possible reasons. Magic is involved, after all."

**Aaron is comforted.

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, magic is... well... magic."

I continued. "So, while I can't as easily be in two places at one time, I'm still pretty good at multi-tasking." Within reason. "I also got a [Skill] that's been helping me. Especially with the 'staying in character' part."

**Aaron is surprised.
**Aaron is thoughtful.
**Aaron is resigned.

"That... yeah. That tracks." He shook his head slightly. "That's how [Skills] work, right? They can let you do things you couldn't before, but they also can make you better at doing things you already can do."

"I've mentioned my sister before." I waited for him to nod before continuing. "She's the best surgeon in the world. That's her power. And, while I'm not close to being as skilled as her, I cam make use of her designs."

"The Life Model Decoys."

"Yes."

Aaron palmed his face and then fell back on his bed. "I get it. I really do. It wasn't something you did to hurt me specifically. You were infiltrating Wistram. You needed to fool everyone. But..."

"But?"

"It's hard not to take personally." He glanced up at me. "I mean, I wouldn't call Michail anything more than a passing acquaintance. Vincent and Jiahao?" He shook his head and then lay back down. "I like them, or liked them, in their own ways. It hurts to know that was all an act."

I walked over and sat down next to him. "It wasn't all an act. I'm confident that Jiahao will respond almost exactly as I did when I was pretending to be him. You can still play games with him. I'm sure he'll love that. Think of it more like... he's an old friend that doesn't remember things as well as you do."

"Hm." Aaron grunted.

"Besides." I nudged him. "We can play three player games now!"

He opened an eye. "So I can get crushed by two people instead of one?"

I shrugged. "Probably."

Aaron started to laugh. He fell silent and we sat there for a few minutes until he spoke again. "Why is Michail shorter than his Life Model Decoy?"

I blinked. "Oh. That." He nodded. "Well..." I rubbed the back of my head. "I didn't know what magical precautions Wistram had. If there was a key or something, some kind of trace that let people past barriers or was used to identify intruders."

"And?"

I sighed. "And I needed him to be large enough so I could hide inside. That seemed like the most fool-proof way to bypass any such thing."

"Wait." He smirked. "So you were crammed inside of his chest all that time?"

"Not all the time." I frowned. "It was able to move around without me. I only got inside when I needed to."

"Man." Aaron shook his head. "You crammed yourself inside of a fake Russian to infiltrate a magic school." He started laughing.

Current mirth aside, Aaron was still rightfully pissed at me. I needed to apologize, but words wouldn't cut it. It was time to break out my secret weapon.

...

**Aaron is happy.

"Oh, man..." He groaned with pleasure while I stood off to the side. "I'm still upset, but these really help make up for everything." He reached down and picked up another Oreo.

Well, not an 'Oreo' exactly. I'd Crafted it, so it looked strange. The taste was spot-on, or so I'd been told. The things I made to eat always tasted fine to me. It was when I started lowering parameters like saltiness, sweetness, firmness, or one of the other ones that other people objected. I needed to free up points to provide powers, so reducing some values was necessary for making power-granting food.

Most other people didn't care for the results, but not all of them. Sibby preferred her food like that. That made sense, as I think she's the one ultimately to blame. Gamer's Body is... kinda based off of her power. Not completely, since it doesn't work in the exact same way. Plus, its not one hundred percent effective. Plus, I can't use it offensively like the Siberian can. Still, at its core, it's the ability to negate forces that would affect me.

It's the best defensive power I could get - which isn't surprising considering its source.

The side effect, or at least the currently relevant side effect, is that my sense of taste is... different. It wasn't something I'd noticed until I started Crafting food that I found perfectly fine, but Riley despised. In hindsight, it made sense. I didn't know WHY Sibby was the way she was, but if I had to share a trait with her...

Having an 'off' sense of taste was a small price to pay, and was far better than being turned monochromatic or finding clothing unbearable.

Regardless, I'd grinded my Cooking Skill, and not just in the 'Crafting' sense. I'd liked baking before... everything. Using a recipe. Measuring out the ingredients. Combining them in just the right way...

It was fun.

After Scion I'd stepped back from a number of my powers: mainly Multiplayer and Instant Dungeon. I'd also decided to pick up a hobby that wasn't power-related. And that wasn't video games - at Riley's insistence. Personally, I think she was motivated by a desire not to eat Crafted food more than anything else.

In any event, I'd gotten up to level one-hundred over the years. The added benefit was that I had more points to spend while Crafting food. Unfortunately, I still seemed incapable of removing them in such a way to both add a power, and to keep the result palatable.

At least according to Riley. Sibby enjoyed my experiments.

On the other hand, if I only adjusted the Cooking sliders slightly - or not at all - the result was acceptable. More than acceptable, really. While manually changing the thousands of parameters was an effort in futility, Optimize lived up to its name.

I might not be able to perfectly balance texture, saltiness, sweetness, water content, roughage, and countless variations of those same aspects, but my Shard could. All it needed was a base food, and it turned it into some sort of platonic ideal of it.

Most of the time.

Riley still called it 'playing Russian Roulette with food'.

It seems that Optimize had gotten 'Oreos' down well. At least, if Aaron's moans of pleasure were any indication.

*Awkwardness negated by Gamer's Mind.

Yeah... I'm just going to leave him with his junk food apology.

Cognita and Pixel had fallen into a routine. They'd walk around Wistram and ensure that her school was doing well. She was the one that identified issues, and she was the one that took care of most of them. The [Superhero] handled some, and she was happy to let him do so.

The nominal reason behind it, and behind her allowing him to accompany her, was to observe him. She needed to know what Pixel was capable of if it ever came down to a fight between them. There were only three other people in the world she could truly trust.

...Two, now after Rhir and the loss of one of her sisters.

...One, possibly if Zelkyr...

Or, in the worst case scenario, zero, but she couldn't think about. She wouldn't.

Thus, she had started to look forward to her newly shared nightly patrols. It was comforting to have companionship and help. Additionally, she learned a great many things about Pixel and Earth.

Admittedly, most of them would most likely be of no help what-so-ever if they came into conflict, but it was still a novel experience. Generally speaking, Cognita didn't like new things. However, having a new thing become part of her old habits wasn't so bad.

A part of her questioned Pixel's motives. He clearly had some interest in her. It might be true that she, indeed, did remind him of an old friend. It also might be the case that he was simply acting within the bounds of his [Class].

He'd told Cognita that 'patrolling' was a common pastime for [Superheros] on Earth. That they would wander their domains and ensure the peace in the same way that city guards might - in the same way that Cognita did. It was an attempt at being proactive instead of reactive that also appealed to her.

Then there was the ulterior motive of his that she knew of: Amerys.

There might be others, but the Archmage of Lightning was one that she was certain of. Pixel had even confirmed that he wished to be the sole person in control of when Amerys was released. One by one, night after night, he drained one shackle on her after another.

It was a slow and methodical approach. One that she, once again, approved of. It spoke of order and patience that he was content to do such a thing over many nights. She was sure he had his reasons. His [Skill] in draining mana had a single usage per day - as far as she could tell. At the very least, he'd only demonstrated it to her once per night. On more than one occasion he'd used it to solve a minor issue they encountered. After that, they still visited Amerys, but Pixel didn't weaken her bindings.

Of course, it could be a bluff on his part. He knew she could see what he was doing, so he might be purposely misleading her. Cognita couldn't be sure without more observation.

"You seem to be in a good mood tonight." Pixel commented to her as they exited the room in which Amerys was frozen.

"No more than usual." Cognita kept her face and voice perfectly composed. It was easy of her to do so. They walked a short ways before she prepared to say her habitual farewell.

Pixel would say: 'I shall take my leave now, Cognita.' It was a pity he was still inconsistent with his actual wording, but the timing and the intention remained the same. She would reply: 'Very well, Pixel. Have a pleasant night.' Followed by a pause and: 'Will I see you tomorrow?'

Pixel would then reply: 'Of course.' before teleporting away. Once again, his precise wording varied.

It was a nice ritual they'd fallen into over the past week. One that reminded her of Zelkyr.

"Cognita, I have a question for you."

She stopped and looked at him. "What is it?" It was a deviation, and she almost frowned.

"Do you eat?" He hesitated, and while she couldn't see his face under the helmet, she thought he was furrowing his brow. "Or, rather, CAN you eat? It's my understanding that golems do not, but you are not like other golems. Do you have a sense of taste?"

She brought a hand to her chin and thought. If he had just left it at 'do you eat?', it would be easy to answer him. The other questions required more than a 'No', but she didn't want to go into Zelkyr's personal affairs.

"I do not eat." She replied, while not going into too much detail. "However, I have in the past." One of Zelkyr's experiments had been to grant her every 'natural' sense - including taste. He'd then wanted to see if she could swallow - and not have it interrupt the 'breathing' that she needed to speak. "I usually gain no benefit from it, but I can digest nearly anything." By altering her inner composition, she could liquefy and absorb food. The only possible use in doing so would be to increase her mass, but there were easier and more effective ways to do that. "I can taste, but I don't attach the same... significance that others do to it."

"Interesting." Pixel looked at the ground. "Would you say that food tastes 'bland' to you?"

She shrugged. "Yes." For the most part. There were only a few things that she'd enjoyed the taste of.

"What about mana potions?"

"What about them?"

Pixel raised his head to look at her. "How do they taste to you? I know that most find them unpalatable. Does drinking them provide any benefit to you?"

"The ones I've drunk in the past tasted fine. They are a useful way to replenish my mana if I need to go into environments where it is scarce." And if she was using more than her heart could produce.

"Interesting." Pixel mumbled to himself again.

"What brought this on?" She was used to answering his rather mundane questions, but there was usually a point.

"Blackmage requested I make him some food from Earth." Pixel answered. "It got me thinking about the types of food I can make, the powers they can grant, the way they taste, and another person who enjoys them." He let out a soft chuckle. "I thought you might be like her."

Like her? Cognita thought she detected some emotion in those last two words. "Is this the same golem from Earth you compared me to before?"

"No." He shook his head. "She's, well, it's hard to describe her. She's... well, she's herself. In most ways, the two of you are profoundly dissimilar." He paused. "In others... I think you're more alike than I'd first thought." Pixel let out a sigh. "Food was always important to her, but she also didn't gain sustenance from it. Most was bland to her, except for... specific things. My special food? The kind that gave you powers, but tasted vile to most people?" She could tell he was smiling. "She enjoys it."

"Ah." Cognita understood. "And you thought that I might as well?"

Pixel nodded. "Yes. Would you like to try some?"

Cognita tilted her head and considered the risks. She could not be poisoned. The 'food' Pixel gave her might be explosive, or have some other detrimental effect, but she deemed that as being extremely unlikely. She was no more vulnerable on the inside than the out.

Besides, if he wished to ambush her, he could do so without resorting to subterfuge.

"I am intrigued, and will taste your creations." She answered him. "Shall we head to the kitchens?"

Pixel held up a palm. "No need. I shall fetch them and return momentarily." He then vanished as he teleported away.

So he'd made some food already, but did not keep it within his spacial [Skill]? That implied two things. The first was that he'd been making use of the facilities within his room. That was mostly meaningless. The second, however, implied a limitation in what he could store on his person. That might be important later.

Pixel appeared a few moments later. He held a plate. On top of the plate were five perfectly rectangular bars.

No. Cognita looked closer. They weren't perfectly rectangular. While they were made up of cubes, they were composed of finer ones than most of what she'd seen of Pixel's creations. That allowed them to have tiny lumps - like they were a liquid that had set as it cooled.

"What are they?" Cognita inhaled, but could not detect any smell.

"I call them [Strength Snickers]."

She shifted her gaze to him. "And they help with laughter? You said that your food granted powers, but I am no [Jester]."

"What?" Pixel sounded puzzled. "Oh, right. 'Snickers'." He shook his head. "No, that's just the name of the food back on Earth... I don't really know why they're named that." He shrugged. "It's a dessert. Nougat, caramel, and nuts surrounded by a chocolate shell."

Cognita picked one up and frowned. "Chocolate?"

"You don't know what chocolate is?" Pixel sounded surprised. "Actually, I haven't seen any since coming here. Wow, uh, its hard to describe. It's sweet, but that's because of the sugar. Uhm... Rich? Creamy?"

Cognita held up her empty hand to quiet him. "You need not try to describe it. I am well aware that flavors are not something so easily translated into words." She then placed the confection inside of her mouth. While it would take a regular person multiple bites, she was larger and-

It was a trap!

Cognita chewed.

She'd fallen into Pixel's devious scheme!

How foolish she'd been!

She chewed some more.

The 'chocolate' was...

The sweetness was...

The Snickers was...

Delicious!

It truly was unlike any flavor she'd sampled before. It went beyond the mere interactions with the materials she'd transformed her mouth into. It was deeper. More real. She could 'taste' it inside of her heart.

In fact...

She felt a change sweep over her. There were only a few [Spells] that could affect her, but she was the creation of the [Archmage of Golems]. Zelkyr had granted her boosts to her innate powers before. This, this felt the same, but different.

What had Pixel called it?

[Strength Snickers]?

She'd focused too much on the second word, and hadn't considered the first. It was clear in hindsight: Pixel's food increased its eater's strength!

And tasted great as well.

**Cognita loves Zelkyr.
**Cognita trusts Zelkyr.
**Cognita is happy.
**Cognita is excited.

I smiled as my Homunculus successfully distracted Cognita, and allowed me the time to remove one of her compulsions. Only two more to go, but I should space them out and make it as gradual as possible.

...

[Hero Level 5!]

[Skill – Instinct obtained!]

Bios:

Jiahao Mu - OC. Probably who he appears to be. Newly arrived at Wistram.

Vincent Mavuto - OC. Probably who he appears to be. Not at Wistram.

Michail Miroslavov - OC. Probably who he appears to be. Newly arrived at Wistram.