The next morning, Kai woke to the scent of something cooking. His body felt lighter—better than the day before. As he stretched, he noticed the small wooden table had already been set.


    A plate of steaming food sat in the center, next to a cup of something that smelled vaguely sweet. Across the table, hunched over a pile of gears, wires, and what looked like a very stubborn piece of crossbow engineering, was Bram Ironhart—face scrunched in deep concentration.


    Kai sat up, stretching. “Morning.”


    Bram barely looked up. “More like late morning. If you slept any longer, I’d have to check if you were still breathing.”


    Kai smirked, picking up his fork. “Oh, so I was saved by the mercy of a dwarf prodigy? I’ll have to write a thank-you letter.”


    Bram waved a hand dismissively. “Nah, just eat before Thara finds out I gave you food first.”


    Kai froze mid-bite. “Wait, where is she?”


    “Training with Grampa.”


    Kai raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t join them?”


    Bram let out an exaggerated sigh. “It would be rude to leave a guest by himself.”


    Kai narrowed his eyes. “Right. That’s totally why.”


    Bram didn’t answer—because at that moment, he was too busy fiddling with a half-built crossbow.


    Kai chewed, watching the dwarf twist a small crank with an impressive level of frustration. He swallowed. “Still working on that, huh?”


    Bram let out a dramatic groan. “It’s so close to working! I just can’t get the reload mechanism to sync properly!”


    Kai leaned forward. “Self-reloading crossbow, right?”


    Bram nodded rapidly. “Imagine it! No more fumbling for bolts! No more losing tension between shots! Just fire, crank, fire again!”


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Kai picked up a piece of fruit and inspected the contraption. “Hmm… What if instead of making it fully automatic, you just make it easier to reload while adding more power?”


    Bram blinked. “Wait. Like what?”


    Kai shrugged. “Like a compound crossbow"


    Bram squinted at Kai. “Alright, explain this ‘compound crossbow’ thing. And make it quick—I have a breakthrough to build.”


    Kai smirked. “Alright, listen up, genius. Right now, your crossbow relies on raw muscle strength to draw the string back, right?”


    Bram nodded. “Obviously.”


    Kai picked up a piece of string from the workbench and held it taut. “But what if I told you that instead of pulling against the full weight of the draw, you could use a system of pulleys and cams to reduce the effort while increasing power?”


    Bram frowned. “Wait, pulleys? You mean, like… leverage?”


    Kai snapped his fingers. “Exactly! Think of it like this—if you just yank on a bowstring, you need a lot of strength. But if you use cams and pulleys, they store and release energy more efficiently. Less effort, more power.”


    Bram’s eyes lit up. “So you’re saying… I could increase bolt velocity while making reloads smoother?!”


    Kai grinned. “Bingo.”


    Bram froze for a full second.


    “That—THAT’S BRILLIANT!” Bram shot up from his seat so fast he nearly knocked over his tools. “Why didn’t I think of that?!”


    Kai grinned. “Because you’re too obsessed with making things do all the work for you.”


    Bram ignored him, already rushing toward a side door. “To the workshop! I need to test this!”


    Kai raised an eyebrow, watching as the kid practically flew across the room.


    “…What age are you again?”


    Bram threw open the door. “Twelve!”


    Kai laughed, shaking his head as he grabbed another bite of his meal before following.


    Kai stepped into Bram’s workshop—and immediately felt like he had walked into a different era.


    The walls were lined with half-finished inventions—strange mechanical tools, small gear-driven contraptions, even a weird one-wheeled device that looked like it was supposed to be a bicycle but was missing the important part where it doesn’t throw the rider off instantly.


    Kai whistled. “You actually live here, don’t you?”


    Bram, already gathering materials, nodded proudly. “I sleep in my room. But this—this is where the real work happens.”


    Kai walked over to a cluttered shelf, picking up what looked like… a tiny catapult.


    “What’s this?”


    Bram barely glanced up. “Automatic rock-thrower.”


    Kai raised an eyebrow. “Why?”


    Bram shrugged. “Why not?”


    Kai turned the tiny catapult in his hands. “…Does it work?”


    “Depends. Define ‘work.’”


    Kai put it back very carefully.


    Then he noticed something else on the shelf—a small, brass-colored device with a trigger. It almost looked like a miniature harpoon gun.


    He picked it up. “Okay, what about this?”


    Bram glanced at it. “Ah! That’s my Grabbing Claw Prototype II!”


    “… II?”


    “Yeah, the first version kinda… exploded.”


    Kai immediately put it back. “Right. Not touching that.”


    Bram huffed. “It wasn’t that bad.”


    Kai gave him a look. “Bram. You lost your eyebrows for a week.”


    “…It was a learning experience.”


    Kai snorted. “Sure, let’s call it that.”


    Bram crossed his arms, looking at Kai thoughtfully. “You know, you’re way more fun to talk to than Grampa. He just tells me what’ll get me killed.”


    Kai smirked. “That’s called being responsible.”


    Bram grinned. “Boring.”


    Kai shook his head, chuckling. Yeah. He definitely felt like a little brother.


    Then Bram clapped his hands together. “Oh yeah! You haven’t even seen the whole house, have you?”


    Kai blinked. “Uh… no?”


    Bram smirked. “Well, come on then! You’re living here, so you gotta know where all the good hiding spots are!”


    Kai raised an eyebrow. “Hiding spots?”


    Bram’s grin widened. “Oh, you’ll see.”


    And with that, he dragged Kai out of the workshop and into the rest of the house.


    Kai had a feeling this was going to be a long—but entertaining—tour.