“Well, thanks for at least doing that for Ryan. He’s been working really hard to make Big Duck Energy a thing. It will mean the world to him that you’re willing to bring it on like that.” Pepper said and quickly shifted the conversation.

  Jay smiled. “You know…” Jay paused and let out a long sigh. He extended his arms out to showcase the store around him. “We have hundreds of different items, across dozens of different brands. You know what I love though?”

  Pepper grinned and shook his head slightly. “What’s that?”

  “The little guy.” Jay replied with a big smile. “None of these owners know me, know my customers, know my friends or family. It takes a lot to try and make a small splash in a giant pound already filled with big rocks. You know what I mean?”

  Pepper smiled and started to nod. “Yeah… I get it.”

  “So, when someone walks into my store saying they worked for my brother. Who is a little guy himself trying to make it in this big world. But… was also sponsored by another little guy trying to make it in this big world. You know what that tells me?”

  “No…”

  “It tells me, that though they may be a little guy, they have a big heart. And that should count for something. So, screw these big corpo’s trying to take advantage of the customer. Let’s put the little guy front and center every once and a while.” Jay winked and nudged Peppers arm.

  “You’ll hear no complaints from me Mr. Beraz.”

  Jay quickly pointed his finger upwards and wagged it back and forth. “Nope! No, no, no. You call me Jay. Understood?”

  Pepper swallowed and nodded. “Sure thing… Jay.”

  “Okay. Where were we. Right… upgrading your golem. So, you want to still go clay based for now?” Pepper nodded and Jay continued. “I’m assuming you ordered your clay from my brother. If my memory serves me correctly… he stocked Beast Works Clay Systems.”

  Jay then started to shift around and finally found the shelf of materials he was looking for. His hand grabbed hold of a small canister of clay and he quickly peeled the lid back. There in the center of the canister was a matte black colored clay. Jay scooped a little out and handed it to Pepper. “You said you wanted to enhance your golems resistance. Well, I think you should consider doing a whole new rebuild of your golem using this clay mixture from Abomination.”

  Pepper was about to inquire more, but stopped when he saw Jay was about to go further into detail. “This abomination clay is found deep in the forests of Mongolia. The clay is practically pre-historic and has an extremely high density. Far greater than that of the Beast Works Clay that comes out of Tennessee. It’s got better heat resistance and has a natural resistance to electricity.”

  Pepper took a deep breath and felt his heart start to beat heavily as he thought about the price tag. He did his best to factor in the cost that was now needed to build a golem three times the size of what Mala currently was. His fingers started to tap together and Jay picked up on the activity.

  “Look, don’t worry about the cost. I can actually give you a major discount on this. The company is recalling their clay. Not that the clay is bad, they are just shifting their sales to the Drakonic Lands conference. They have been getting such demand for the clay that they are shifting operations. It just hasn’t taken off in the states because not many people have taken the time to learn how great it actually can be for a build.”

  Jay reached over and placed his hand over the price tag that was plastered on the shelf in front of the product. “Don’t even worry about this price. Okay?”

  Pepper didn’t know what else to do. He certainly didn’t feel like saying no to Jay was the right thing to do. Especially after he was so open and willing to help out Ryan with placing an order for the energy drinks. Granted, he had previously heard about the brand of clay, but was just like many of the people Jay had mentioned. He hadn’t done any real research on the brand or quality of the material.

  “Okay. Let’s do it.” Pepper agreed and finished with a grin.

  “Awesome.” Jay then leaned off to the side and yelled down the aisle. “Hamiliton! Go get the forklift. Take this pallet to the loading docks so we can get this order prepped for delivery.”

  “Yes Mr. Beraz.” The worker replied and then turned and walked off.

  “Okay… so that is taken care of, let’s go get you those runes you were talking about.” Jay turned and then immediately stopped. “Wait… what metal were you thinking of using?” Pepper’s face must have told Jay the answer, as he didn’t know what to say. “Okay… come with me.”

  The owner led Pepper and Amprage to the back loading dock area. Off to the side was a small room which looked more like a small storage area of scrap items. Jay began to sift through multiple drawers and small components until he found exactly what he was looking for.

  “Titanium alloy number 5. Otherwise known as the workhorse.” Jay then turned to show pepper a small scrap piece of metal held between his two fingers. “Commonly used in jet engines and airframes… but… it’s going to be the best I can offer you.”

  Pepper narrowed his gaze while he reached up and took hold of the small square. “How did you acquire this?”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Ehhh… I know a guy, who knows a guy.” Jay hesitantly said while avoiding a real answer.

  “How much you want for it?”

  Jay waved him off. “Don’t worry about that kid. Look…” Jay lifted his hands up and motioned them around the small structure. “It’s not like I was really using it. You know what I mean?”

  “Are you sure? I mean, Mr….” Pepper caught himself and quickly changed his statement. “I mean Jay. This is still more than what you need to do for me.”

  “Seriously kid. Don’t mention it, But… that does bring up the next thing. How good are you at modifying rune cards?”

  Pepper couldn’t help but smile and Jay matched his expression. “Let’s just say, I am good enough to get into trouble.”

  “Ha! That’s the kind of answer I like to give also. Okay… so here is the thing. I have an Centaur elemental expansion rune card, but it was already modified to be used as a water element. I have a clearance on it, so it would save you a lot of money. But… with that being said, it means you’d have to open up the rune itself.”

  Pepper then jumped in. “The rune core chamber.”

  Jay pointed to him immediately in response. “Exactly. If you open up the rune core chamber, let it dry out so there is no moisture in there at all. Then, place the metal inside and reseal it. It should technically work.”

  Pepper’s mind flashed back with his knowledge of the multiple runes that the different companies used in their products. “Centaur doesn’t use a specific water rune, but a general elemental so it could technically work with anything.” His eyes looked up to see a large smile plastered across Jay’s face.

  “Exactly.”

  “That’s brilliant Jay.”

  They both walked up to the area of the store where the rune cards were located. Jay retrieved the Centaur rune card and then guided them over to a completely different aisle. The entire time there were multiple customers who tried to stop Jay and ask him questions.

  To Pepper’s surprise, Jay politely informed the guests he wasn’t able to help them due to already being with an important client. Jay would nod towards Pepper and then move along as if nothing happened. “Jay, I don’t mind waiting if you need to help other customers.”

  Jay formed a sarcastic expression. “Pepper, I deal with enough customers who have no idea with what they want that they can wait an extra couple of minutes. Trust me, my store will not see a difference should they chose to go somewhere else.”

  They continued for a few more steps until Jay came to an abrupt stop. His head shifted from side to side and his faced spoke of being frustrated and disappointed at the same time. Jay reached down and activated his holodex “Kellie?”

  “Yes Mr. Beraz?”

  “Didn’t I assigned Mr. Hamilton the task of moving the Celestial Enchantment rune cards down to aisle 7 where they were to be placed next to the Dark Elf rune cards?”

  “Yes Mr. Beraz, he stated he did that yesterday.”

  Jay huffed and rolled his head. “Well… guess what didn’t get done yesterday. Tell his ass to get it done by the end of the day or he’s fired.”

  “Will do Mr. Beraz.”

  Peppers eyes widened and felt a little on edge as the frustration had clearly come over Jay. To his surprise, however, Jay seemed to let it go in a few seconds and returned to his usual jolly self. “Alright… Celestial Enchantment doesn’t necessarily have the best psionic defense runes on the market. But… it’s what I would recommend for you going into the invitational. It would be the best option within your budget and is what I would go with if I was in your shoes. The rune processing unit is insane for the price. It is measured at 8,500 Quantum FLOPS with a 10 HEX power dispersion rating. So, once you power this thing on, it will keep pumping that defensive shielding you need if you get hit with a psionic attack.”

  Pepper’s doubts regarding Jay’s advice were not completely erased. Seeing Jay recall the technical specifications such as the HEX measurements, along with the Quantum FLOPS, told Pepper all he needed to know. “This is perfect. Let’s go with it.”

  Jay smiled and then nodded with his head for them to head towards the cash register. As soon as they arrived, Jay began to punch away on the point-of-sale system. “I’ll go ahead and through in the metal extension rods you’ll need to rebuild and re-form your golem with the new clay system.”

  Pepper blinked and realized he had not even thought about that small aspect. His mind being filled with all the other details within his shopping spree. “Thanks, I had completely forgot about that.”

  “No worries. I’ve seen it happen with tons of customers. You may be building your golem every couple of months. But here.” Jay lifted his hand up and waved it towards the store. “This is every five minutes that some customer is trying to build the next Panda Cakes.”

  They both chuckled but then Pepper followed up. “It’s crazy to see how much… more, things are here in the big city. You really get to take in how vast the Golem League is here in the city.”

  Jay chuckled. “Well sure, you and Rhino up there in Michigan are out in the boonies. You have to get out to places like New York, Texas, Florida… the big cities are nothing but big money.” He paused and then looked at Pepper and let out a long sigh. “Look kid. You’re different. I can tell that from the get go. A lot of my customers, they just think they can throw money at something and expect a return. Many of our customers who come from out of state, or smaller communities like Idaho, Iowa, Kansas… they seem to have an edge.”

  Jay went back to punching the items into the machine and then entered his address for the delivery of the heavier materials. Pepper was smiling until he saw the grand total flash onto the screen. Okay, metal rod extensions, our Abomination clay, with deliver, then the two rune cards. Your total comes to 18,974 FLEX.”

  Pepper’s eyes exploded out and he struggled to breath for a second. I can’t afford that! He mentally screamed. His hand instinctually latched onto the edge of the cashier stand. He naturally white knuckled the wood frame as he knew there was no way he could afford everything. “I uhh…”

  Jay then looked at the price. “Oh crap. I forgot to add the discount I told you about. Hold on.” He owners fingers quickly adjusted a few items on the screen and then the new price appeared. 9,487 Flex. “There you, sorry about that.”

  Pepper breathed a sigh of relief, but that only lasted for a moment and his heart still pounded in his chest. His stress quickly began to rise within him as he knew that was almost the same amount he had in his account. He didn’t want to be rude, but also knew this was basically why he had saved every FLEX he had earned from the KBVS victory. That and his last paycheck from Rhino.

  Pepper tried his best to play off total amount and joked with an exaggerated sigh. “Thought I was going to have to rob a bank there for a second.” Jay laughed and chuckled along with him. The payment chime pinged on the machine and Pepper then glanced at his holodex. His new bank account total appeared on the small device. 258 FLEX remaining.

  He swallowed and remembered that wouldn’t even cover another round of grocery shopping. Guess we’re down to bowls of rice, cereal, and peanut butter sandwiches for the next month. Pepper glanced back up and gave a firm handshake to Jay. “Jay, I’m Pepper. Thanks so much for… well, everything. I really appreciate all your generosity.”

  Jay smiled and gave his hand a firm squeeze. “No worries there Pepper. Be sure to say hi to Rhino the next time you talk to him.” Jay let go of his hand and then quickly remembered. “Oh, and tell that Ryan guy that we’ll be in touch about his drinks.”

  “Will do. Thanks Jay.”