Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 58

"So, let's drop the people off and be on our way. This is a good world. In a thousand years, I expect to find a prosperous society here. I may even drop others off in the same place," the Goddess in Jade said, still gazing down on the planet that had once been a void monster.

"Shouldn't we scout the place for them? A single powerful C-Grade monster near their colony site could wipe them out completely. Besides, they'll need farms, walls, houses, tools, and more."

The Goddess in Jade waved her hand. "I told them to bring everything they needed to build new homes for themselves. They should have prepared appropriately."

I had seen the boxes of crude iron nails and basic hand tools among her followers' belongings, but that was far from enough in my mind. It would take a year of chopping trees, drying them, and cutting planks to have any sort of reliable, long-term shelter. And if they couldn't break ground on new farms, they'd probably starve long before they got anything resembling a real civilization together.

"We can save them a lot of time with a little help. I have a bunch of colony stuff in my mystic realm for just this sort of thing. Why not lend them a hand? It would probably help your image as their goddess. If not now, then in a few hundred years when they go from colony to proper world."

The Goddess in Jade turned and smiled at me. "How thoughtful of you. I suppose I'll need to get dressed up for the whole goddess role anyway. And I did promise to teach you how to wield the power of the Kindling Dimension. Perhaps this is a good idea."

We went down to the planet. The Goddess in Jade and I split up and made a rapid circle around the world. Eventually, we found a particularly lush scrap of land surrounded by rivers on three sides. It had abundant cropland, nearby copper deposits, and access to a sheltered sea for fishing, future expansion, and trade.

The Goddess in Jade saw the place and reluctantly accepted my suggestion for one of the factions I had in storage. She found somewhere colder, harsher, but more impressive for the other group.

"Tough living makes strong people," Jade explained.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not sure I agree."

"Well... the plants there are a lovely shade of pink," Jade replied, and I sensed a flush in her cheeks.

We flipped a coin to see which group would get the warm paradise, lush and full of food and resources, and who'd get the frigid wasteland with pretty pink plants.

"I would say a prayer for your people over in the wasteland, but I wouldn't know who to send it to. At least carve them a sheltered valley or something." I shook my head, looking into the distance.

"Oh, fine." Jade swung her sword at the ground and carved a massive furrow there. It was quite obviously the strike of an enormous blade, and even thousands of years in the future it would probably be considered a clear sign of divine power.

We had Mimiko and Hyacinth scout out the sites we'd selected more thoroughly. Meanwhile, I brought the mystic realm down and started letting out colonists. At the same time, the Goddess in Jade dressed herself up in something a bit more revealing than usual, though she kept her veil on.

The blinding effects of A-Grade charisma were tough for me to ignore. For these F-Grades, E-Grades, and D-Grades, it was completely impossible. Hell, even my passive Charisma bonuses might be affecting them.

"I have taken you to your new home. Here, you will grow strong and prosperous." She held her hands wide, like a welcoming mother.

The elders of the unlucky bastards about to be condemned to generations of living in a frozen wasteland bowed and groveled before their goddess.

"Oh, great Goddess in Jade! Praise be to you for bringing us to this new land of... er... snow?"

"And beautiful leaves," I added.

"The ambient mana is dense here. I am certain some of your people will become powerful cultivators in a few generations. Make good use of these gifts," the Goddess in Jade said.

The people in the lusher part of the planet seemed a bit more excited about their new home.
"These fields are the most fertile I've ever seen. Thank you, goddess!" another wizened elder said while dropping to his knees and pressing his head to the ground.

"Rise and turn this land into your home. You have much work to do."

"Understood, goddess! And holy saint, will we be able to borrow your miraculous engines of creation again?" the elder asked.

"Of course. I planned on leaving you with a few of them and an ongoing task to build infrastructure. I'll have them build and fill a few grain silos before we leave."

I peeked into Sanctum, where several construction golems were waiting. I'd certainly made enough of them to go around during my time in San Francisco.

I'd hardly paid much attention to it then, but the religious guys had picked up on the idea behind a trailer at some point. Probably from talking with others in Crownhill or San Francisco. I was pretty sure their enchanted tools were a lot higher-end than I remembered, but it was only natural for all the groups of survivors I'd crammed into Sanctum to trade with one another and exchange items and ideas.

"Thank you, Holy Saint Carter! Your protection and favor is a boon our descendants shall remember for all time!" the elder said, bowing to me as deeply as he had to the Goddess in Jade, much to my surprise.

I ended up walking away with the odd feeling that my name was going to show up more than once in the Goddess in Jade's temples and the histories of this world.

When it was just the two of us, I asked the Goddess in Jade if she wanted to search for the fallen A-Grade's monster core, but she shook her head.

"The monster's core has become the planet's core. Given its power, this place should become a powerful cultivation realm someday. The rest of its body has already been transformed into the lands you see before you," the Goddess in Jade explained.

I realized then that she wasn't entirely throwing the new colonists to their fates. Some of them would no doubt gather up the ambient mana around them and put it to work.

It wouldn't be as easy or clean as it was for people who lived in System space, but once they figured out how to do it, I was certain they'd be able to improve their lot in life, even if they lived in a frozen wasteland. And while not particularly hospitable to sapient life, the frozen wasteland the Goddess in Jade had chosen for settlement was particularly rich in ambient mana. The people might not be happy there, but they would be powerful.

Despite our difference of opinion, she was still interested in what I had to say regarding the colonization. After a while, when she had finished everything she thought essential, she let me take the lead.

We ended up staying on the planet for several days, where I helped the locals set up basic shelter and infrastructure, and even helped both settlements write their articles of government. I was rapidly becoming an old hand at setting up civilizations, and apparently it showed.

"You're good at this," the Goddess in Jade said.

"Surely you've settled more worlds than I have," I replied.

"The cultivator way leaves more up to fate. We simply drop a few thousand people off on a world and wish them the best. I'm a little more hands-on, and if I have a spare artifact or two that would make a good holy site, I leave that for them as well. Most people in our position would let these people live or die on their own merits."

"The Omykir look to you for wisdom and advice using that statue. I take it that's not standard practice?" I asked.

"No. Some of the others said I was too soft. But seeing what you've done I suddenly feel like I hadn't done nearly enough as their goddess. Would you be amenable to me purchasing a few thousand of those construction golems of yours?" she asked.

"Sure. As for my price... hmm..." I tapped my chin in thought. "I know. How about you tell me your real name? I can't always be calling you 'Goddess in Jade.'"

The Goddess in Jade's cheeks flushed for a moment, even through her veil.

"Ask for a real reward," she replied.

"I'm serious. What's your real name?" I asked with interest. The construction golems cost me essentially nothing to give away, since Governess had automated the more tedious parts of the process. I only built any myself if I wanted specialty golems or exceptionally powerful ones.

"It's... Jade," the Goddess in Jade said.

"Wait, seriously? Your name is just... Jade?" I side-eyed her, stifling a laugh.

Her shoulders slumped.

"How about a price in spirit stones?" Jade suggested.

"No, I asked for your real name and I got it. So two thousand colony golems, then? I think I got away cheap." I bumped her with an elbow, smiling.

She was silent for a moment. "There are few who remember this, but when I was young, my name was Yuxin."

I sounded out the characters, impressed by a real name for a moment... until I realized her original name also meant jade, just in a more regional dialect of Architect speech.

I thought about making another joke, but I sensed the seriousness of the moment. Maybe I would have missed it if not for Ted's book, but nowadays I could take a hint and held my tongue.

"Four thousand golems, then. And I still think I got away cheap," I chuckled.

She turned to meet my gaze, and she stared at me a long time. I was pretty sure I wore the same look on my face when caught up in the power of my charisma, and I figured I must have done something right.

Jade was quiet and thoughtful for the rest of our time on her followers' new colony, but she stuck close to my side. Eventually, she left to freshen up after the day's activities, and I finally had the chance to peer through her memories of using powers from the Kindling realm.

The experience was rather short, and there were only three separate instances. Once when she used divine power to enhance an existing ability, once to heal herself of some strange soul poison, and a third time to improve her sword so she could continue to wield it in the A-Grade.

The three incidents were the same. There was a rush of higher-dimensional power, then suddenly reality turned malleable, much as it was in the Shadow Realm. Through force of will alone, she took the world as it was and changed it to how she thought it should be. This power seemed to excel at manipulating the intangible things that couldn't be altered by any mundane means.

It was one of those powers that were limited only by imagination and willpower, and it was exactly the sort of tool I needed if I wanted to defy the will of the Chaos Dragon title.

***

I didn't get far into exploring the memories before we were off again. Jade took us to the next system over, where there were several more A-Grade void monsters waiting for us. This region of space was heavily infested with the things, mostly because it was well off the beaten trail.

"There they are. These things are also on the list of targets you gave me," Jade said, pointing straight ahead at what I was pretty sure was a whale.

It had a wide, flat fin behind it, along with two flippers on either side and a dorsal fin on the top. The only thing that made it different from regular whales was the star-speckled pattern on its body and the way it swam through space instead of water.

Void Gravity Whale (Level 434)

It was also a lot bigger than a regular whale, but only a thousandfold bigger or so. Looking at this thing, it was roughly the size of Crownhill.

That would have impressed me more if I hadn't just fought something the size of a planet moments before.

"Stay out of its gravity well," Jade warned us as she exited the ship to get its attention.

"Gravity well? Something that small can't have appreciable gravity," I muttered in confusion, but was proven wrong a moment later.

When the Goddess in Jade engaged the mighty beast, it let out a shockwave, like sonic energy but carried on waves of gravity instead of sound. A nearby asteroid answered the call and began flying toward the whale.

I realized what Jade meant a moment later when we were getting pulled toward the whale as well, and I rapidly changed course to avoid being drawn toward it like the asteroid was.

Jade got the whale's attention by flinging another of those tiny nuclear talismans. The whale twisted in space, and an asteroid swinging by missed its body by a fraction, slingshotted around it thanks to its gravity well, then was thrown at Jade with tremendous speed, given its size.

Jade didn't try to dodge, but drew her sword again and sliced the asteroid in half. Afterward, she flew closer to the space whale and drew a line in blood along its side with her sword.

The rest of the battle went similarly to the fight against the Cutholoid Planet-Eater. Once it was heavily damaged, I exited the ship and dealt the final blow.

Congratulations, you have slain a Void Gravity Whale. You are at the maximum level for B-Grade. Your experience shall be held in abeyance until you reach the A-Grade.

Then, as with the Cutholoid, the whale died in dramatic fashion. It let out one last wail as it released a burst of gravity. Its body swelled as if it were a beached whale instead of a void whale.
Like the Cutholoid, the whale became a life-bearing planet after it died, though this one was far weaker than the one before it, and it only reached decent size after drawing in several nearby asteroids. As before, we left it as it was, though Jade noted its location for another group of her followers.

"So how's everybody else I sent your way doing? Did you get them settled?" I asked curiously.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten them. They're in my sect's mystic realm somewhere. I will get them settled soon. Anyway, come on. Your ship spotted another group of A-Grades nearby."

She soon pointed us to another nearby star. This one carried an identical signature to the Void Gravity Whale, and sure enough, when we wound up there, we found another Void Gravity Whale, this one only a bit weaker than the one we'd just defeated.

"All right, now we just need to do it again," Jade said. We all nodded, and she disembarked from the ship.

As she got the space whale's attention, it struck me that I was pretty damn lucky. How many people received days of personal attention from an A-Grade like Jade? How many people could get one of the disciples of the Eternal Spring Sect to give them this kind of treatment?

From the looks Hyacinth was throwing me now and again, I wagered the answer to that was very few. I was pretty sure the small favor of saving her followers wasn't worth the price Jade was paying.

As handsome as all the points in Charisma had made me, I wasn't vain enough to think that was what won the Goddess in Jade over. She had to be getting something more from this, but the only thing I could think of was that she was cultivating a stronger long-term relationship with me.

This was a lot more than she needed to do if she just had passing thoughts of luring me over to the side of the cultivators. She was serious about winning me over. At some point, I must have really impressed her with something, though I wasn't sure what.

Jade got the attention of the space whale the same way she had before, and we followed up with a few blasts from the ship's guns, then Jade charged in to deal some damage.

But just when we were settling into a familiar pattern, an absolutely terrifying aura descended out of nowhere. At first, I had no idea where it was coming from, but then the star we were orbiting was shrouded by a wall of absolute darkness. It was a bit like my Eldritch Blight spell, but the portal that opened here was a tear in space large enough to swallow entire worlds.

Then we saw it. First, we saw endless rows of teeth, then a crest of wriggling tentacles, almost like a mane. Then, three glowing eyes and a shark-like body.

The enormous shark-like beast lunged out of the rift to the void and ate the Void Gravity Whale in a single bite. Then it turned its beady glowing eyes on us, and I knew what we were up against.

Mature Void Leviathan (Level 812)

It was a much less handsome full-size version of Sharky, and its level was beyond A-Grade.

<Note>
I know, I know. This is a rough cliff hanger. I thought about going longer, but then ended up with an even worse cliff hanger, so I'm cutting it here!