Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 54

I awoke in the morning feeling more refreshed than I had since I left Ladwick, and my lovers were still traveling there. The reasons for that easy-going contentedness lay in my arms.

I blinked away the sleep from my eyes, and the quiet peace turned to anxiousness when I remembered what happened the previous night. I’d slept with Reluna and Mimiko.

Now that the deed was done, I would have to take responsibility for them. The effects of Scepter of the Supreme Patriarch were both strong, intensely alluring, and permanent, as far as I knew. It was the reason I was so reluctant to take new partners.

But Reluna and Mimiko seemed pleased to be in my company. But did they realize they’d signed up for something more permanent? This was no short-term fling.

It was then that I noticed neither of them were actually sleeping. The two rested with heads on my chest and shoulder, but their eyes were open and staring softly at me. Mimiko rested her cheek against my chest, rising and falling with each breath.

Reluna wrapped herself around my shoulder with her face pressed against my neck. One eye was closed against my cheek, but the other stared up into my eyes as I thought.

“Mimiko, Reluna, I think I have some explaining to do. No doubt you felt something strange last night. That was what I was trying to tell you two about. I have something of an affliction. It started with a Death Curse, and my trick to get around it was--“

Reluna’s hand crawled up to my chin, and she pressed a hand over my lips.

“You don’t need to explain it to us, Carter. Sakura told us all about your little problem ages ago,” Reluna said.

“I don’t know if I would call it that. I would think it’s more of a big problem,” Mimiko giggled, glancing down at my crotch.

I chuckled, the tension leaving me. “You already knew then?”

“We did. And we also know you’re a jealous lover. Worry not. The arrangement has been clear for some time,” Mimiko said.

“Indeed. You make a great research assistant. I’m not letting you go.” Reluna stroked my cheek with her fingers.

I chuckled. “Nor I you. Though I don’t agree on which of us is the assistant.”

Reluna’s eyes sparkled, and a smile spread across her face like she eagerly anticipated being put in her place. From the previous night, I was pretty sure I knew what kind of thoughts were running through her mind.

“You and I share a bond as well. You touched on my soul more than once. And last night, I left an imprint on yours.” Mimiko lay a hand on my stomach, around where my core would be if I were a cultivator.

My mind went back to the spirit root I’d taken from her.

“Did I harm you last night?” I asked as I looked at the tiny, withered sliver of a wood spirit root within me.

It was an unnatural protrusion in my soul, and yet it blended in as smoothly as though I’d been born with it. Humans were creations of the System, seeded many generations ago to live under its laws. We had no natural capacity for cultivation, and the spiritual roots required for it didn’t exist for us. And yet, that was no longer true for me.

“A little pain makes pleasure all the sweeter,” Mimiko replied.

“For once, I agree,” Reluna said.

The two shared a giggle. I shook my head, not sure I agreed with that sentiment. But they were happy, and that was what was important.

"I will recover in time. In just a day or so, if I use the cultivation formation you assembled for me," Mimiko explained.

I looked them both over. Mimiko’s cultivation core was a bit frayed at the edges, and Reluna had a large red print in the shape of my hand on her ass. Neither woman seemed bothered by the damage as they cuddled up next to me, but I would make sure to fix them up nonetheless.

I crawled out of bed, much to their protests.

“Calm down, you two. Sleep in if you like. I’m making breakfast. I’ll call you down soon.” I tossed them the sheets, which they divided among themselves while I went to the kitchen.

I started mixing some scrambled monster eggs and toasting some hearty Omikyr bread. Though the stuff was chewy, only half-milled, and full of seeds, I rather liked it for its character. The milk had to come out of the Architect replicator on the counter. It wasn’t cow milk, but it was something similar enough for my cooking abilities.

It was a humble breakfast compared to what I was used to when Bridget was cooking, but it was better than the instant oatmeal packets I lived off when I was on my own.

After a few minutes, Mimiko even came out to help, and she started frying some meat of mysterious origin. It looked like bacon but smelled like beef, so I was happy with it.

Reluna came out a few minutes later, and her contribution was a quick summoning circle that summoned breakfast supplies from the nearby area. I picked a few mushrooms that looked edible and sauteed them, though I threw out the half-eaten burrito she’d probably stolen out of somebody’s hands.

We ate, cleaned up, and dressed, and I inspected the damage from the previous night. Mimiko needed a few adjustments made to her cultivation base, and Reluna needed some ointment on her butt. I handled both while we were in the bath, which posed the risk of repeating things from the previous night. I restrained myself, though restraining both of them was much harder. For once, I was glad Sakura, Bridget, Myrina, and Cyra were away. Otherwise I would be overcome by sheer numbers.

When that was finished, we made plans to return to Crownhill. Mimiko and Reluna were dressed in something a little more normal, now that the two of them were no longer competing for my attention. Mimiko was back to her comfortable cultivator robes of the same style that the Goddess in Jade’s statue wore, and Reluna wore her Dragon Lodge robes. To a casual observer, they probably looked quite similar, though the differences were plain to a familiar eye.

A short time later, we left for Crownhill and called a council meeting. I planned to make a few announcements concerning the end of this stage of the integration.

“--And I swear, I was chowing down on that burrito one second, and the next, this magical blue light appears around it and swipes it right off my plate!” Frank said as he entered the room.

“Yes, Frank. You told the same story yesterday,” Margaret replied, sounding a little tired.

“That was a different burrito. This is the sixth time it’s happened to me. Somebody’s got to do an investigation or something! We need to catch this burrito thief.” Frank shook his fist in the air.

“Attention please!” I waved to the gathering crowd of councilors, along with a few dozen citizens of Crownhill who were fans of politics and were waiting in the sidelines to hear what I had to say. This wasn’t supposed to be any sort of official proclamation, but between the throne room and the gathered crowd, it was feeling that way.

When things quieted down, I began my little speech.

“This stage of the integration is nearly complete. We’ve grown our numbers, our levels, and secured new territory. The time has come to face unfamiliar threats once again. Use these last few days to consolidate your gains. Meanwhile, I will be issuing quests to secure our defensive position. The threats we face this time will be stronger than ever before, but we are also stronger than ever before. Upgrade your gear, wipe out a few monsters, and prepare yourself for whatever comes next. I’ll be doing the same.”

It was a very short message since that was all I really had to say. But the moment I was done, I was bombarded with questions.

“What’s with the mannequins opening up shops and declaring the outer edge of the city the Adventurer District? Is that here to stay?”

“Will the basic living subsidies for new residents continue for humans migrating in from future shards?”

“A new block of the city recently appeared, featuring advanced alien technology. Where did this new infrastructure come from, and should we be worried about them wanting their stuff back?”

I went through the questions one at a time. “Yes, yes, and no. The mannequins are setting up taverns and inns so you don’t have to. We have an increasing number of guests from other worlds. The Adventurer District is meant to avoid confusing people from more medieval cultures who aren’t used to our way of life. And yes, the basic living subsidies for new residents and the jobs program will continue. We ran into lots of low-level survivors in need of assistance. And yes, I’m still paying for that as personal charity, rather than funding the program with city taxes. And no, the people who created the advanced technology many of you have been enjoying are long dead and won’t be looking for their stuff. It’s ours to keep.”

They fielded a hundred more questions, and what I had originally planned on being a quick drop in to chat with my friends and council meeting ended up lasting several hours. Apparently, I was more popular than I thought these days.

Fortunately, Mimiko and Reluna weren’t shy about making sure I had my space. Reluna summoned up her phantom chains again, this time to form a barrier between me and the crowd.

Meanwhile, Mimiko shot them all a fierce glare and did something with the mana in the air. I recognized it as the same trick she’d used against Sir Trellis when we first met him and his knights. Anyone she glared at fell to their knees like gravity had increased tenfold on them.

But as the crowd grew, I soon realized even that wouldn’t be enough. I’d have to find a way to slip away or I’d be here all day.

“Thank you everyone for coming. I’m sure the council would love to answer any additional questions you have. If you’ll excuse me, I have some dragons to mess with.”

I grabbed Reluna and Mimiko, and to all onlookers suddenly seemed to vanish from sight. Naturally, I’d shifted into the Shadow Realm, which I used to flee the city. I hadn’t been looking forward to taking another dip in a volcano, but after dealing with reporters for a few hours, it sounded heavenly.

“Alright. There’s a single Torchdrake around here left to get rid of. Then, that’ll be it for the integration,” I said.

“A question. Why not wait as long as possible? Surely you could delay the integration indefinitely by letting the Torchdrake live. You already have access to resources off-world. Are you truly in dire need of new territory? It doesn't seem to be the case, by my estimates. It seems to me that the integration just opens up more avenues of attack against you,” Mimiko asked.

Reluna tilted her chin in the air and scoffed. “I suppose you wouldn’t know, being a barbaric cultivator and all. The integration provides great rewards to those near the front of the pack. And those who fall behind will eventually be integrated, whether they are ready or not.”

My own research confirmed Reluna’s words. I’d wondered about the narrow lines connecting Crownhill to the various other shards. Based on historical analysis gathered from Themyscira and Crownhill, the areas our shard passed through were stuck in some earlier stage of the integration, so the System didn’t care much for them and gladly cleaved them in two to provide us access to more powerful nearby shards.

Those walls would fall aside completely during this next integration and be greatly expanded. Either this stage or next, we’d engulf several territories that hadn’t finished their integration and had fallen into some sort of stalemate, in addition to being set against other successful factions. If our own integration fell behind too much, we ran the risk of being unexpectedly thrown against a powerful faction. Sandbagging, like Mimiko was suggesting, was an option, but it had to be used sparingly or we’d find ourselves on the back foot.

Rather than hunt the last Torchdrake down, I summoned Sharky. This one was too big to safely transport, and its soul was too firmly established to take its body, so all that was left was to turn it into a snack.

“Alright Sharky, this is your last Torchdragon. The ones that show up here after this will be on our side, and you’re not allowed to eat them, got it?”

Sharky replied in his usual way, but it sounded sadder than usual.

“Nom Nom...”

With those parting words, he set off in search of the last Torchdrake. Meanwhile, Reluna, Mimiko and I set up a spare teleportation array in the outpost my people had already built. Somebody had a good idea with that, and I planned to make use of it. Barren as this place was, the monsters that spawned here would feed levels to my people.

While I went into the volcano, I left Reluna and Mimiko to fortify the little outpost with talismans and formations. I went for a swim back to where I’d originally found the dragon eggs and opened up my fancy beast spheres, in which I’d placed Ben and the other resurrected souls in Torchdragon eggs.

I’d have to find suitable locations for the other dragon eggs, but since this was where the mother Torchdragon had put her clutch before, I figured it was the best place for Ben and his new siblings.

Thanks to the introduction of new souls, the previously dormant eggs had begun rapidly developing. Now that they were in an appropriately hot environment, their development had redoubled. Ben’s egg was the furthest along. I estimated he’d hatch in only a few days, though he wouldn’t be capable of speech until he grew a bit.

I scanned over the lava pool around me. The eggs were on a stone nest floating in an underground cavern filled with noxious fumes. To me, it smelled like rotten eggs, but to a Torchdragon it would smell like home. The molten lava around us sported far more life than it would have before the integration.

I combed through everything present and eliminated anything that was too strong. Torchdragons weren’t the only thing I’d bought from the beast trader, and I emptied a beast sphere out to seed the molten magma with these stone carp things. They were halfway between beasts and elementals, but apparently, they were a popular thing to breed for feeding Torchdragons, and they were low-leveled enough that Ben and the other hatchlings would have no problems catching and eating them.

I wasn’t sure how much of their old memories would be available to the newly hatched Torchdragons, so I left a few more familiar delicacies as well, along with a fishing rod that might come in handy if they could figure out how to operate it with dragon claws. Next to the nest, I left a mini-fridge full of protein bars. I had no idea what was in them, but they sold well in Crownhill, so I assumed they were popular food for going monster hunting.

I’d stop by again and check on the dragons when they were going to hatch, but otherwise, I planned to leave Ben and the others to their own devices until they were old enough to learn to talk again. From our talk, that was what Ben wanted anyway. While he planned to make full use of a dragon body, he wanted his reintroduction to Crownhill to happen in a more familiar form.

I wasn’t sure Margaret would be able to hold off on visiting him for that long, but that was a problem for another day.

Just as I was finishing up, I received the notification I’d been waiting for Sharky had hunted down the last enemy Torchdrake and officially ended this stage of the integration.

Congratulations, Shardking of Crownhill, for leading your chosen people through another stage of the integration.

For your trials against your enemies, you and your people have earned several rewards.

Due to your recent accomplishments and high favoritism from the System, your rewards have been boosted beyond their normal levels.

• You have received a Blessing of Prosperity!

  • All people under your banner will receive increased experience points for their jobs and classes for one month.

• You have received a Blessing of Abundance!

  • All quests completed by people under your banner shall provide double rewards for one month.

• You have received a Blessing of Sanctuary!

  • You have been gifted with several powerful Architect defensive structures. You may place them through Crownhill’s city interface.

• You have received a Divine System Reward Chest. This chest contains several rewards tailored to you.