Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 51

When the System made its presence known, I held my breath for a while. What did it think about me teaming up with a cultivator?

I waited... and waited... and waited.

Either it didn’t care, or it didn’t think much of anything about my current plans. Perhaps I’d only gotten the attention of one of those decentralized processes Lyra mentioned.

Satisfied that the System wasn’t about to strike me dead with a bolt of lightning from the heavens, I let myself calm down a bit and returned to work.

The Goddess in Jade had given me a new mission. But first, I had to tell Ben about possibly becoming a dragon.

***

“What?” Ben asked.

“Do you want to be a dragon?” I asked plainly. There was no sense in beating around the bush. After my meeting with the Goddess in Jade, I went straight back to the other shrine to use the mirror and speak with Ben.

“A... dragon?” Ben asked.

“Yes. A dragon. You can have anything you want as long as it’s a Torchdragon. There are a few drakes left. The integration would have been over if Sharky had eaten them all. I'm not sure if a partially grown drake will be able to accept your soul, but the eggs surely will. From talking with someone more knowledgeable than me on dragons, there should be a few unhatched eggs,” I said.

Ben held up his hands. “Hold on. You want to reincarnate me into a dragon?”

“That’s the plan, if you’re willing.” I shrugged.

“I don’t know about this, Carter. I’m not sure Margaret would be happy with me being a giant-scaled lizard that breathes fire.” Ben started shaking his head, but I interrupted him.

“Don’t be so hasty, Ben. When you’re resurrected, you’ll probably have something called a Death Curse. The System doesn’t like people cheating its rules. You need some way to get around it if you want levels since the System will stop giving you experience points for killing monsters. Becoming a dragon would be a good way around it. As I understand things, dragons gain levels passively just by growing up. Naturally, you could gain a few more levels by killing enemies of the shard, but only if they’re sapient or other humans.”

I quickly ran Ben through the pros and cons of becoming a dragon and soon found myself in the same position the Goddess in Jade had been in a few hours prior.

My own opinion was that the human form was best, but maybe that was because I already had a high level, a powerful bloodline, and a lot of ladies counting on me not doing anything too weird with my body. For someone much earlier in their path like Ben, switching to becoming a dragon was very appealing.

“Alright, I’ll do it. I’ll become a dragon,” Ben said.

“You’re certain?” I asked.

“What’s the worst that can happen? I’m already dead.” Ben chuckled.

I laughed with him.

“Feel out the others. Hopefully, a few of them are interested in becoming dragons as well. The first few years might be a bit lonely until you reach a high enough level to use that Humanoid Transformation Technique.”

I left out that I might have a few ways to speed that up. A beast race that gained levels passively seemed like it could make a lot of use out of a time-dilated mystic realm. I was certain Sanctum could be advanced in that direction when I had my hands on it again, and turning up its time dilation would make Ben and any other dragons useful much sooner.

But that was for later. For now, I had to make sure it was even possible to perform the ritual that would resurrect them.

***

“My ritual will provide you with flawless results, Carter,” Reluna assured me.

“My formation is what you are looking for,” Mimiko said.

“Show me.”

And so Reluna demonstrated her ritual, which consisted of a wide array of talismans arranged in a summoning circle carved into a large piece of plywood. The dragon egg or young drake would be placed in the center of the magical diagram, and then Reluna would activate the talismans one at a time to draw the spirit we were looking for down from the afterlife.

“Not bad, and I think it’ll work. But how do we know we’re calling down the right spirit?” I asked Reluna.

“Huh?” Reluna looked up at me, blinking.

“A lot of people died during the integration, and the afterlife is pretty packed. We have some very specific spirits we’re supposed to call back, and we don’t want to get the wrong one. No part of your ritual defines the spirit we’re calling on.”

“Uh... umm...” Reluna grabbed a book at her side and started hastily flipping through it.

Meanwhile, Mimiko held a hand over her lips and tried her best to suppress a smirk.

“If I may, my lord, I think I have the formation you’re looking for,” Mimiko said.

And so Mimiko led me to another part of my barn, where she’d laid out a dozen strange artifacts. One was a huge feather. Another was a piece of solid amber. They were strewn around the area in accordance to some pattern that matched their elements and nature, and there was a convergence of different mana aspects right at a cushion in the center of the room.

“Either you or I can sit in the center of the formation and direct its power. Through this, we can project our astral selves through the heavens and draw down the spirit we seek. This sort of thing is suitable for resurrecting the most recently deceased cultivator below the Foundation Establishment stage of cultivation.”

Mimiko placed her hands on her hips, looking proud. Meanwhile, Reluna sulked behind us, still flipping through her book as she tried to find an answer to my question.

“Great. Except this sort of setup would only work outside of System space. The System dimension is tightly warded against intrusion. I can’t reach into it without its permission, even with all my abilities. A simple astral projection won’t suffice,” I said.

Mimiko reeled back as though physically struck. She stared at her formation, wide-eyed, smug smile suddenly gone as she clutched either side of her head.

“Impossible.... all cultivator resurrection techniques are designed for working outside of System space... how... what?” she shook her head, suddenly realizing this was a much greater challenge than she thought.

“Looks like we both failed,” Reluna said with a forced smile on her face. She slammed her notebook shut and put her hands on her hips.

“You did. But you both failed in different ways, which means that you can make a working ritual between the two of you. I want the two of you to work together on this project.”

“What? No! How will I prove my superior wit to you then?” Reluna asked.

“She should not benefit from my dedication,” Mimiko glared at Reluna.

I put my hands on both their heads and looked each in the eye in turn.

“Listen, you two. You can compete all you want most of the time, but this is important to me. See this done, and I’ll be a very happy man. Alright?”

“Fine... we’ll work together...” Reluna grumbled.

“If that is what the master of the house desires, then it will be done.” Mimiko bowed.

***

With Mimiko and Reluna on the final stage of their group project, I went to pay the Torchdragon’s shard a visit.

Despite being the only shard left that Crownhill didn’t officially rule, we were no strangers to this place. The shard was pretty much empty since the Torchdragon had eagerly exterminated everything in the area to feed her young drakes, both before and after the integration began.

Now that the Torchdragon was dead, the area was considerably safer. However, that didn’t mean life was all that fast at springing back into this barren earth. All around us, there was a lot of nothing.

Volcanic ash coated most of the nearby terrain, and the rock nearby was extrusive igneous of various sorts, like basalt, pumice, obsidian, and andesite. No doubt many of the stone-age civilizations we were fighting would find such a source of good flint napping rocks worth more than a goldmine, but to everyone back in Crownhill, steel scrap was more useful.

So the volcano had been left alone besides the occasional monster-hunting expedition. Brave adventuring parties from Crownhill had come through here perhaps a dozen times since my climactic battle with the Torchdragon, and some of them had even built something of a crude hut nearby for shelter, and perhaps as a location for an eventual teleportation array if we were going to use this place as a natural monster farm.

I circled the area a few times and cleared out a few C-Grade monsters the others had missed. There was a sandworm the size of a cow that must have been very good at hiding. Elsewhere, there was a big trapdoor spider that would be very tricky to run into.

Neither enjoyed me peeling open their hiding places and yanking them through the shadow realm to the surface, where I made short work of them. Either of those monsters could have been a nightmare for even our best adventuring teams, so I figured it was wisest to take them out while I had the chance.

Besides, it still thrilled me to see the experience points trickle in from monster kills. My Death Curse wasn’t gone exactly, but the title upgrades gave me enough bonus experience points that the debuff from the Death Curse was entirely negated. I hadn’t really been able to level like this from hunting monsters since the earliest days of the integration.

After tracking down those monsters and seeing no dragon nest, I realized the only place they could be was in the volcano itself, which was pretty much what I had expected from the start. I circled the volcano a few times. Even with my current level and immense durability, molten magma was pretty damn hot.

It looked like the volcano in question was supposed to be dormant, but between the Torchdragon taking up residence here and the System moving this chunk of earth from another world, things were all messed up. I couldn’t delve deep enough to see if the molten lava running up from the bottom of the volcano came from deep within the earth or had a more magical source, but there was enough of it that the center of the volcano was a football stadium-sized lake of molten rock and metal.

Naturally, the remaining Torchdragon eggs were right in the middle of it.

I looked around as though somebody might show up at any moment and volunteer to take over things from here. Sadly, I remained alone.

So I rolled up my sleeves and went for a swim.

Sakura, Bridget, and Myrina had a sauna under my farmhouse, and they liked their water hot. This lava felt much like that sauna would have felt to me before the integration. It was flesh-singing, scream-inducing, and all-around painful. Thankfully, thanks to my various spatial manipulation spells, I didn’t have to endure much of it. It was less a lengthy swim and more a series of quick dips.

As soon as I got close enough to the Torchdragon eggs, I snatched them up. There were seven of them, which was less than I was hoping for, but that was because most of the eggs had already hatched. I spotted a few Torchdrakes swimming through the lava-like tadpoles and grabbed a few of them as well. They didn’t store nearly as easily as the eggs, so I ended up flying around with a pair of them squirming in my grip like a pair of tiny crocodiles.

I left the volcano a few minutes later, though I stayed in the general area while working on the Torchdrakes. The ones that had already been born had the start of a soul, but I knew at a glance that it wasn’t something on the level of what a human would have.

From my recent studies into the fundamental idea of consciousness and how it interacted with the immaterial planes, I guessed this was more like a sliver of a soul. Like the sort of thing Dramonar chopped off himself to give to the Chaos Serpent in exchange for power. Or the kind that some enchanters cut off to give to their items to imbue their creations with some semblance of life.

Still, it meant opening up the bodies for possession would require cleaning that little sliver of soul out. It wouldn’t be an easy process either, more like cleaning out a peanut butter jar than pouring out a glass of water. Souls were sticky things that didn’t like leaving their bodies.

To someone inexperienced like myself, the drakes would be tough. The eggs would be far easier. I’d have to see if I could trade the live young drakes for more fresh eggs on Glacia.

I did another quick tour of the area just to make sure there were other drakes in the area. When I spotted a much larger and older one prowling around near the volcano, I knew it was safe to take these two. Wiping out all the drakes and eggs would finish this stage of the integration, and I was holding off on that for a bit longer.

***

After returning home with a pair of squirming drakes in either hand, I spied on Reluna and Mimiko a bit. The two of them were working together, which was a relief. Seeing that, I took a trip to Themyscira.

“Hey, Thulga. I want to stop by Shadefall a bit. I’ve got some stuff to deliver. After that though, I’m interested in a trip to Glacia,” I said.

“Are those... baby dragons in your hands?” Thulga asked, taking a step back.

“Yep. Gotta watch out, they bite.” The two young dragons were trying their best to gnaw my arms off. Unfortunately for them, newborns like the two of them didn’t have much more than gums. Against B-Grade flesh, all they could do was tickle me.

“Okay... well, take care. I’ll teleport you to Glacia in an hour.” Thulga shrugged. Apparently, this wasn’t the strangest thing she’d seen while transporting people around.

When I arrived in Shadefall, I noted that the place looked visibly wealthier than I remembered. The streets were prettier, the shops were fully stocked, and most of the storefronts sported large sheets of glass, which was a rarity on a primitive world like Themyscira. Soon, Shadefall would look more like a city on one of the wealthy worlds like Glacia.

I couldn’t play tourist too long though, mostly because the streets soon cleared at my appearance. At first I thought it was because the sight of a B-Grade was scary and new, but people kept pointing to the things I was holding.

“Sir, there’s a baby dragon trying to eat your hand!” a woman pointed nervously.

“Don’t worry, it won’t succeed,” I replied with a friendly smile. I waved to her, but the gesture was lost since that hand was down a baby dragon’s throat.

Eventually, I arrived at the largest of my workshops, where I ran into the head of crafting there.

“Attention everyone! I’ve written out specific instructions for a series of modular parts I wanted made. Anyone who is available is to transition to manufacturing these parts. I would hand them out, but these dragons are in the way. Somebody come help me with the bag of holding on my left hip.”

My enchanters poked and prodded one another until some reluctant volunteer crept over and took the bag before she rapidly backed away. I could have telekinetically levitated it to her, but I was busy putting the final touches on a set of Mark One power armor on the floor below us while I gave instructions, and that was taking most of my concentration.

“Go on and open it up,” I said, gesturing at her with a dragon.

From there, they distributed the detailed instructions I’d produced. Each of them would produce an almost hypnotic state that would push an ordinary enchanter far beyond their normal abilities. Hopefully, I would get the parts made for what I would soon declare my Mark Two power armor.

From there, I took a trip to Glacia. After wandering around looking for a place to sell them, I was redirected to Mucaria. Apparently, a lot of powerful wizards wanted dragon familiars.

While there, I stopped by Doomblade’s Armory to drop some stuff off and say hello to Gobgob, who looked happy to see me.

“Chief Humie! You’re back!” she said warmly. Then she came to a stop when she saw my two handfuls of baby dragons.

“Uh... chief? You got a pair of dragons...”

“I know. They’re cute. You can pet them if you want.” I held up one dragon-covered hand.

Gobgob flashed me a reluctant smile and remained where she was standing.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could sell or trade these guys, would you?” I’m looking for dragon eggs."

Gobgob pointed down the street and even knew the name of a merchant who specialized in juvenile monsters like the kind I was holding. I thanked her, gave her some of my side projects to replenish my supplies and for her to look at for her own job progression, and then met with the beast merchant.

“You look like a man in dire need of a best sphere,” said the beast merchant behind the counter. He was a large man with tusks like an elephant and gray, leathery skin.

“Beast sphere? Is that some sort of bag of holding for living things? And why a sphere? Why not a beast bag?” I asked.

The beast merchant laughed. “Kids these days with their wild ideas. Spheres are what you capture beasts with. That’s just the way it is. You here to buy some spheres?”

“Trading these things, actually, but I will take a few spheres. What’ll these two get me in egg form?”

The beast merchant looked over my pair of baby dragons and nodded approvingly. We haggled for a while, and eventually, he settled on three unhatched dragon eggs of various elements.

“None are quite as rare as those baby Torchdragons you’ve got, but hey, I need to make some profit. If you’ve got more of these guys, I’ve got a few more dragon eggs of different aspects.”

We shook hands, which was awkward because a dragon still had my hand down its throat. But we struck a deal all the same.


<Note>
Carter: "Why are they called beast spheres?"
Beast Merchant : "Well, we certainly couldn't call them beast balls!"
Carter: "Ah. I see. Bad marketing?"
Beast Merchant: "Sadly, no. I'm told it's not legally distinct enough to protect us from Nintendo."