Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 8

An ordinary human wouldn’t have lasted long in the void of space, but for us in our massively enhanced bodies, it was basically like being underwater. It was cold and felt unnatural, but it was survivable, at least for a while.

I made a show of looking around and mouthed some words to Cyra.

Where do we go now?

Cyra shrugged, cheeks puffed out and hair streaming around her. I grabbed her hand so we wouldn’t drift apart and shared the big stone throne I’d swiped.

The space station we’d come from wasn’t that far away. I might be able to throw the throne in the opposite direction and fling the two of us back the way we’d come. Doing that would take excellent aim and a good sense of where our center of mass was, though. I wasn’t sure I could pull off such a throw. Maybe if I tossed some extra junk out of my satchel, we could course-correct as needed.

But then I had another idea. I thought back to the realm core we’d just received as our dungeon reward. Most mystic realms had air, didn’t they? If I could wake that core up, Cyra and I could take shelter in whatever realm that it created.

I was worried for Cyra, who looked worse than I did. The jump from C-Grade to B-Grade was a big one, and it usually took a while. Hitting C-Grade in the middle of a fight had been rough enough for me, and I had nearly twenty levels of experience on the other side of the experience to help me withstand it. Cyra didn’t have that advantage.

I gestured her to the chair, then took out the realm core. It only took me a few seconds of examining the flow of mana through the thing to figure out how to bind it to myself and awaken it. It also needed a physical anchor, but I’d luckily snagged the one Morania had intended to use. That throne had spent months or years being slowly attuned to the core and was, therefore, ready for immediate awakening.

I triggered the activation sequence, and the sphere in my hands glowed brightly, then vanished. Even though it was gone, I could still sense its presence. I reached out for it, and it responded back to me like a loyal puppy. A System notification flashed to acknowledge my authority over it.

New Mystic Realm Created!

You have been designated Realmlord. Access advanced Mystic Realm controls from your designated seat of power.

Would you like to enter your Mystic Realm?

I accepted the offer, and immediately a portal opened wide before us. Whatever properties separated the mystic realm from our physical reality prevented air from escaping and blowing us away, but when I sunk my fingers into soft dirt and clawed my way throughf while dragging Cyra and the throne behind me. Past the rift in space, I could feel a warm breeze on my hand.

The two of us rolled to safety, and I pulled the throne in behind us. Once it was through, the natural laws of the mystic realm took over and gravity was restored, making the chair a lot more unwieldy. This thing was heavier than any stone ought to be.

“Whew. A moment, please. Holding B-Grade in isn’t comfortable...” Cyra excused herself, and I left her while exploring the area. For such a tiny mystic realm, it was surprisingly large. I had expected a place no larger than a room.

I figured out why it was so large after examining my menus.

[Unnamed Mystic Realm] Possesses unique mana signatures from 15 worlds!

[Unnamed Mystic Realm] is currently a D-Grade Mystic Realm.

These fragments have been randomly integrated. You may reorganize them through your Realmlord menus.

Monsters will spawn automatically based on existing biomes. To create new biomes, obtain mana from external locations matching the affinities you would like to replicate.

No wonder Morania’s teleportation had taken so long. She hadn’t been performing a teleportation at all during her lengthy rituals. They had been all about draining mana from the local areas. All the monsters Cyra and I killed gave her the free power she wanted to make these realms.

In other words, we got played. The way she'd done it reminded me a bit of that Black Beast Sect witch I'd fought on the outskirts of System territory that one time. But I couldn’t complain too much. In the end, we were reaping the benefits. I could see why somebody like the Samhain Clan wanted this mystic realm. Once the place filled with monsters, it would be just as valuable as a dungeon for leveling. A few critters were already spawning, though none were familiar to me. I went to the forest biome that resembled the first zone we landed in. Morania must have spent the bulk of her time gathering mana there, because this was by far the largest.

I grabbed a beetle about the size of my hand. It was only level one and not even worth killing, but I used Share Curse to inflict it with my Death Curse and then let it scurry off. I watched as it was swarmed by other beetles like it. At first, I thought it would die under the deluge of attacking monsters, but this beetle was either very lucky or a cut above the rest. It slew its first foe, then the second, and after that, a third.

Later, a snake spawned already at level three. It nearly caught the beetle by surprise, but by then the beetle was already level three itself. I watched the clash between weak monsters with fascination as the beetle triumphed once again and reached level four. After another fight, the beetle leveled again, growing larger and evolving into something the size of a cat with glowing golden armor along its sides.

I could see how powerful creatures could rise up in wild, untamed lands like this. So long as weak monsters like these beetles kept spawning and leveling up, eventually they’d grow quite strong.

Cyra finished her breakthrough a short while later and joined me as a B-Grade.

“Guess I win our little competition!” Cyra smiled widely.

I chuckled good-naturedly. “Looks like you beat me to B-Grade after all.”

“And I made the Speedrunner’s List!” Cyra said excitedly.

“The what?” I blinked in surprise.

“It’s a list of the people who leveled the fastest in the Arcadia Multiverse. I’m in the top five thousand of current B-Grades. You’ll probably score even higher.”

“Top five thousand? Out of how many?” I asked.

Cyra shrugged. “A lot. Many worlds worth. I would have done better if I hadn't wasted so much time being a baby. Some races reach adulthood in just a few months, and they always dominate the rankings.”

I smiled wider and gave Cyra a big hug. “In that case, congratulations again!”

It was easy to forget I was surrounded by incredibly talented people when they were all I knew. Cyra’s mother was still C-Grade herself, so Cyra’s immense leveling speed was remarkable. Most people took decades to make the kind of progress I’d made in less than a year.

So far, thanks to crisis and opportunity, many of my old friends from Earth had continued to grow as I had. But that wouldn’t always be the case. Eventually I’d leave them behind.

Worse, the same thing might happen to my lovely women. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when that happened. Maybe I’d just have to build a bigger, more complex experience farm like the one Reluna was enjoying back home to ensure that future never came to pass.

Cyra and I were still wandering around and exploring when a figure forced her way into the mystic realm. She jammed an arm through a random spot in space, vibrating and shaking as she phased into existence. I nearly attacked out of instinct, but I identified the arm in question at the last moment.

“Grandma Luthrin!” Cyra said, greeting her maternal great-grandmother as she appeared.

Grandma Luthrin shook herself and straightened her clothes. “Ugh. Hate doing that. Anyway, congratulations to you two! Sorry I missed you leaving the dungeon. The space station has a new gambling hall and... anyway, that doesn’t matter! Let’s go.”

***

We returned with Grandma Luthrin and Kyrina, who had both been distracted by the shiny new gambling hall and thought they had at least another day before we got out of the dungeon. Thanks to the time dilation inside the dungeon, it had only been eight hours since we entered. It was barely enough time for the two of them to gamble away a Samhain Clan fortune roughly equivalent to what the ancestral territories on Themyscira made.

The two of them were both very interested in the shiny new mystic realm we’d won.

“This thing’s a decent level, too! Most drop at F or E-Grade,” Kyrina said as I showed her around inside while we waited for the ship to land.

“Does the Samhain Clan want it?” I asked. I liked this mystic realm, but I didn’t really have a need for it. And the Samhain Clan had gone to considerable lengths to get Cyra and me that dungeon diving slot. If they wanted the big prize, they could have it.

“Easier said than done now that the mystic realm has an owner. But maybe it’s for the best. The nice thing about this type is that the entrance is portable, so take it on campaign with you and fill it with loot! That’ll make me happy.” Kyrina ruffled my hair.

After that, Kyrina and Grandma Luthrin grilled me on how the fighting went, and then went over every mistake Cyra made from the start of the dungeon run to the end of it. I felt a little bad for her, but the feeling faded when we returned to the Samhain family compound and found everyone waiting for us.

“Surprise!” Kyrina spread her arms wide in front of festivities. There were banners hung up all over the family compound. They had Cyra and my face all over them, but ‘Congratulations on getting married!’ was crossed out and replaced with ‘Congratulations on reaching B-Grade!’

“We knew at least one of you would hit B-Grade. I was betting on Carter, to be honest. Lost a castle to your mom,” Grandma Luthrin joked.

“Enough chatter. Time for a feast!” Kyrina declared.

“Didn’t we just have a feast last week?” I asked, suddenly very aware of all the Amazonian ale being passed around.

“That was then. This is now. Come on, let’s celebrate!” Kyrina thrust a drinking horn into my hands, already full of ale. I held it like a live snake.

“Ah, Cyra, my daughter. You’ve already passed up your dear mother in level. I can’t believe it...” Kyrina threw an arm around Cyra’s shoulders. Her cheeks were already flushed red as she drained her drinking horn in one go.

“Sorry?” Cyra said apologetically.

“You know, you’re too big for the playpen these days. When you reach B-Grade, you’re supposed to leave the ancestral lands to your daughters and find yourself somewhere to set up a branch family and declare yourself a new ancestor of the Samhain Clan!”

“Am I... getting kicked out?” Cyra asked worriedly.

“Well, you would be, but you’ve got no kids to inherit the place. I’ll put in a word with the other ancestors to give you some time to crank out an heir or two. You’re so young that I’m sure the others will agree to make an exception. Nobody thought you’d reach B-Grade this fast. Just make sure you don’t use your new B-Grade status to clean the place up too much! You need to leave some enemies for your daughters to hone themselves against. I suppose just leaving the lands unattended for a few years will create enough of a challenge, so good thinking on ditching the place without notice!”

I shook my head at the way the Samhain Clan did things. They intentionally wanted a poorly run medieval fiefdom so their kids could experience holding together a realm teetering on the verge of collapse. Shadefall, at least, was in good hands after I put Misa in charge of stuff and formed a local city government.

I’d have to send some letters and make sure something similar happened to Valkyrie’s Watch. Most of the surviving elders were loyal, but given enough years without oversight, some might decide to go the way of the Shadefall family. I had too many assets there to let the place collapse.

Cyra still seemed nervous about being kicked out of her childhood home sooner or later.

I nudged her comfortingly.

“Don’t worry. When you move out, I’ll have a place set up for you in Crownhill. You’ll love it there. And you’ll even recognize a lot of our Amazonian recruits. You’ve got plenty of friends there, and I built a room with your name on it.”

“That... might be nice.” Cyra brightened a bit, regaining her composure.

“See? Your branch family’s seat of power is already taken care of. Now I just need the grandkids.” Kyrina refilled Cyra’s drinking horn, and Cyra anxiously took a deep gulp.

Meanwhile, I looked around for a way to get rid of mine.

“Here, you can take this,” I said, handing off the drinking horn to one of Cyra’s distant cousins.

“Not suiting your fancy, huh?” Grandma Luthrin asked. She had a twinkle in her eye. “I know you’ve got refined tastes. I hadn’t planned on sharing this one, but... ah, what the hell. Here.”

She snatched the drinking horn I’d given away right back, then poured a thimble’s worth of bright golden liquid into it. The entire drink then took on a shining bright luster.

I sighed, already know I was in for another rough night.

“Alright, I’ll have a little,” I reluctantly agreed.

“Good! And remember what my granddaughter said. Cyra needs some babies shoved in her as soon as you two finish this war!” Grandma Luthrin clapped me on the shoulder, and between her hand and the words, I choked a little on the drink. I’d heard Kyrina tell Cyra she needed heirs, but my extreme fear of Amazonian alcohol had kept me from registering just how involved I was going to be in making those heirs.

First Bridget, now Cyra’s family too? I wasn’t ready!

Then the alcohol hit me.

You have consumed a potion of Insatiable Thoughts!

Your Intelligence has permanently increased by 200!

Your Libido has permanently increased by 10%

As soon as I finished the first drink, Grandma Luthrin handed me another. I immediately became keenly aware of Cyra standing next to me. But if I had anything else after that, I couldn’t remember it.


<Note>
Fortunately, no tatoo this time.
Also, you know Carter had to end up with the mystic realm. It's a cool shiny, I wanted it, you wanted it. It will definitely be helpful for what I have planned during the military campaign arc. We'll see how cool it ends up becoming. It could be just a big bag of holding, or I could turn it into something like Theo's The Wanderer, from Spellheart.