Amazon Apocalypse 4: Chapter 28

The next few days saw me building several additional sets of power armor. I ended up slimming the designs and cutting my ambitions down a bit. I planned to sell these in the Dragon Lodge like any ordinary type of armor, and selling the suits as something that could let an E-Grade fight a D-Grade on an even level might be too tough to pitch without an established name and reputation.

So, I used cheaper materials and aimed a little smaller. The main benefit of that was that Gobgob and my enchanters on Themyscira could assemble more of the components. Pushing most of the components through to a higher spatial dimension still had to be done by me by hand, but that only took a minute per set.

Soon, I had my official Mark One armor, cheaper and weaker than my prototype, but tested in dozens of fights and ready for combat. With them, I’d hopefully be able to get as many contribution points as I needed to afford whatever I wanted in the Dragon Lodge. I kept one for myself since my prototype Doomblade armor still needed the back hinge system reworked.

While I was working on my projects, my people combed over San Antonio for any remaining signs of undead. We found none. Wherever he was hiding, he was deeply tucked away. My mind went to the Naga. The two had joined forces before, so in all likelihood, they had done so again. We’d probably have twice as many enemies to deal with when we assaulted the Naga shard.

I ordered scouting parties to the area and sent Sharky in to harass them. He had quite a collection of voidlings from all the necromancers he ate, and I didn’t want them attacking my people. It would be best to throw them at the enemy now. Every moment they spent defending themselves was one they didn’t spend preparing to take me on.

We would squeeze them until they were ready to break, and then just when they thought they’d endured everything we had, I’d prepare the killing blow. Once the Naga were finished, I’d figure out how to take out the Torchdragon and the golems one piece at a time.

I tested my new Aethersmith abilities a bit more and added some improvements to Doomseeker. My old staff had served me well, but the cores it contained now hardly contained enough energy to see me through a fight. Plus, it lacked the in-built energy shields and focusing tools that staffs from Glacia used.

I worked a bit on implementing both ideas. I didn’t need the help to focus on my spells, but after finding a few characters in the Book of Sacred Knowledge, I found a few that enhanced the number of Mana Bolts I could sustain with little effort. It didn’t raise my upper limit much but made wielding more than three much more comfortable.

It still didn't seem like a big deal to me. What kind of spellcaster couldn't cast spells without a focusing tool? But apparently they were fashionable back on Glacia, and they had generations of history with spell casting. I decided to just go with tradition until I knew better.

I also took some time to make a new sword. My old sword was around the house somewhere, but I ended up having Reginald forge me something nice. After he did, I completely ruined it by trying to enhance its affinity for neutral mana, and he needed to forge two more for me. The third try finally gave me something worth wearing on my belt.

It was a slender piece, only as wide as my finger and not as long as my arm. But it was good steel, and most of its physical material existed in another spatial dimension. Myrina joked it looked like a little baby sword, right up until I sliced a tree in half with a single swing. The weapon synergized perfectly with Arcane Blade, and I could even channel other aspects of mana through it to make it a versatile tool.

It also had a barrier enchantment built into it, similar to the shields the Lich King and his men made. The theorycrafter I met on Glacia had recommended I pick it up as a skill, and there were a few barrier skillbooks I was toying with, but I felt an Aethersmith like myself would be better suited to using an item for this sort of thing. The skill was only common-grade, after all.

I still wasn’t truly happy with it, so I didn’t bother giving it a name like Doomseeker. Maybe if I grew attached to this sword like I was my staff, but I wasn't sure I'd reach that point with this design. Still, it felt like the sort of sword a skilled Aethersmith would carry around, and it looked unimpressive enough that it would draw little attention, even though it was a formidable weapon.

My current system of etching enchantments were so fine they were invisible to ordinary sight. I'd long since switched from using carving tools like enchanters on Themyscira, to using acid baths, and now more recently to more recently a photomask and a carefully calibrated overcharged offensive spell and some creative use of my Lightscupltor's Brush spell.

I wouldn't have quite called it photolithography, but most people wouldn't be able to read the enchantments without a microscope, meaning they'd think I was merely wielding an ordinary sword.

The photomasks I was using to make my Mark One enchanted armor were actually even finer and more complicated, but only because I didn't want anyone copying my designs. Most of the enchantments on the surface were entirely fake, but made to look like they were some sort of encryption that could be broken with time and effort.

It wasn't a perfect solution, and I was certain somebody would crack it eventually. But by the time that day came I would hopefully be long past the Mark One armor.

I rubbed my hands together, looking at my latest batch of handiwork. It all looked sufficient, especially the sword, staff, and set of Mark One I'd intended for my personal use.

I wanted the new weapon and armor looking shiny and new for when I met Cyra again, and we had our little bout. To that end, though, I wanted to make full use of the resources at my disposal. And that included a certain blue pointy-eared scholar. She could interpret the Book of Sacred Knowledge with me and draw a few more secrets out of it.

I went in search of her, rapping on her cabin door.

“Come in!” came a distant, muffled voice.

The door was locked, but since she’d given me the invitation, I picked the tumblers with telekinesis and let myself in. I remembered designing this cabin, but I hadn’t ever actually been inside. It had a natural log cabin-esque feel to it. As some sort of elf, I figured Reluna would like a natural wood finish on everything, but perhaps that was playing too much into Earth stereotypes for a race we’d never even met much.

Off to the side and sitting on the counter, I noticed a dish of leftover salmon and fish prepared the previous night. It wouldn’t have been too strange for Bridget to share dinner with Reluna since Bridget’s cooking provided a huge number of boons and was part of why we could level faster than the others. But I recognized this dish in particular.

The little glass dish was the very leftovers I’d hidden in the back of the refrigerator for myself the next time my companions were out hunting monsters! I'd stolen it from Bridget's box of leftovers she was going to give to Gobgob and the goblins and hidden it in the back of the fridge.

It had vanished the day prior, and I assumed Bridget found it, judged it too old, and threw it out. It turned out someone else had gotten hungry and swiped my ill-gotten loot before I could enjoy it. But how had she snuck into the house? The new castle had some extremely impressive wards made to prevent strange women from sneaking in.

The answer lay just beneath the stolen dish. It was surrounded by a poster-sized piece of paper covered in ritual diagrams. Reluna had been using an extremely elaborate summoning circle to conjure food right out of my refrigerator. It probably wasn’t her fault the spell found the best source of food to be right next door. No doubt, without us here, it would have turned up a pile of wild berries and edible leaves. Still, it didn’t look like Reluna did anything to prevent the spell from conjuring my tupperware right out of my fridge.

I shook my head. Judging by the dust-covered stove, Reluna wasn’t typically one to cook for herself. I’d rather she steal my food than starve. Still, I’d have to extract the value of my dinner out of her in labor. I heard her call out to me again a moment later.

“I’m over here! And could use a hand. I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of a bind.” Her voice sounded muffled, like she was in a closet.

I found Reluna in the cabin’s lounge. This is where the television would have been in most homes, and I’d included one for Reluna. Unfamiliar with televisions, she flipped the television on its side and used it as a very short table.

Reluna herself was only half present. She had her head stuck inside a piece of cloth that I recognized as the tattered remains of my suit from when I’d fought the Lich King. Her head and shoulders poked through the mass of cloth and vanished on the other end.

“My spells picked up on an object of great interest the other day. A non-dungeon made dimensional storage item! Were you aware your civilization was capable of such things? Granted, this dimensional storage item seems poorly designed, since I can see a patch of exposed voidspace in here, but it’s impressive that a craftsman managed it at all.”

I leaned over her back and shoulders and saw how firmly planted she was within my old jacket. The few remaining buttons were latched tight, forming a loop where the jacket’s bottom would have been. Undoing that might have freed her, but both Reluna’s arms and head were inside the shirt.

“Reluna, are you stuck?” I asked.

“I-I was doing important research!” Reluna said, flustered. “If this pocket space had been better designed, I wouldn’t have gotten stuck. But yes. I am stuck.”

She directed me to grab her legs and pull, which merely resulted in me dragging both her and the bag over her head around the living room. It also resulted in more than one wardrobe malfunction. Going pantyless with a skirt seemed a bold choice to me, but perhaps was how her people did things. I wasn’t about to judge her dress, especially not in her own home.

Eventually, I suggested undoing the button I’d spotted earlier, and that loosened the tattered jacket enough for Reluna to free herself.

“Ah, thank you for your timely intervention, Carter. While studying the void was fascinating, I think all my flailing caught the attention of a void dweller.” Reluna straightened her dress.

“I’m glad you’re alright. Perhaps you shouldn’t fool around with poorly made and potentially dangerous artifacts? You liked the vibrating chair, right? Maybe stick with that. Myrina looted the ones you found earlier and installed them in the basement of the new castle we’re living in.” I jerked my thumb back to my new and improved home.

Reluna brightened. “I might just take you up on that. My study of the mysterious chair is not yet complete. But neither is my study of this primitive spatial artifact. I’ll merely have to take additional precautions.”

“Listen, I wanted to pick your brain about the book again. I copied over a few more symbols that are stable enough to form mana pathways on their own...” We left her cabin and went to my workshop, where I showed her my work in progress. She helped me copy over a few more symbols, and with her help, I worked a bit more on my experience farm. She was a capable hand at this sort of thing, and I had to ask what her official job was.

“Are you an enchanter or artificer, by any chance?” I asked Reluna.

“No, I’m a scribe. My specialty is talismans. I’m familiar with the idea of magic pathways, but my work is with pen and paper, rather than carved into metal like you artificers prefer. It’s why I found the symbols you copied from your mysterious book so fascinating,” Reluna explained.

“Ah, fascinating. By the way, did you get the chance to examine the latest one? The squiggle with a line running vertically through it? I can’t make sense of it.”

Reluna brightened at the talk of magic and quickly explained her own theories on mana flow. We jumped from one subject to the next, and while Reluna couldn’t apply magic to practical applications like I could, she was better versed in the theoretical ideas, narrow though her field was.

Three-dimensional patterns were beyond her, as were the four-dimensional mana pathways I was using for my power armor. But anything that could be printed on paper was something she was well-versed in.

Once again, it seemed clear that somebody like Reluna could easily turn her experience inward and examine the mana pathways running through her body and spirit. Someone like her could likely make great discoveries with regard to understanding how levels change the body and soul. Unfortunately, such studies were forbidden in the Dragon Lodge, and so she refrained from even considering them.

It was nice to have someone to talk shop with so close at hand. Myrina, Sakura, and Bridget all worked jobs that had little to do with what I did. I might as well be speaking gibberish if I tried to talk about artificing stuff with them.

As thanks for all the free experience, Reluna agreed to craft a few dozen more talismans for me. My mind went back to Cyra’s duel with Dramonar, and I named all the talismans that had been most effective on Cyra back then. I wouldn’t be changing what worked, but I also had to come up with some sort of binding talisman or device. I’d defeated Myrina through some less-than-noble tricks that I doubted Cyra would fall for, so I needed a more traditional method for subduing a powerful Amazonian warrior.

Reluna and I mulled the idea over a while, brainstorming a few ideas. As we did so, the book I’d found in the underground ruin kept coming up. Given how many new mana pathway designs were in it waiting to be discovered, it was only natural that it was of immense interest to the two of us.

“You know, I hear you’re planning to return to the Dragon Lodge sometime soon. There are a few professors I’m familiar with who might be helpful in studying that book of yours. Would you mind passing a message along to them?” Reluna asked.

“Certainly. What are their names?”

Reluna ended up passing along a lot more than a message. She had a wad of paper as thick as my fist for each of them.

“This is more than a message,” I said as I accepted the hefty piles of paper.

“Wait, I forgot something!” Reluna took the pages back. “I need a few more resources related to my Chaos God research. One moment...”

She took the pages back and returned to her cabin, where I could hear the sound of furious scribbling.

Myrina took over at the experience farm and treated swatting the newly manifested specters as a training exercise, which she did blindfolded and with one arm behind her back. They died in one swing of her enchanted sword, but occasionally I heard a piercing shriek as one slipped past her long enough to scream.

Several more days passed, and I had my power armor ready for mass production pretty soon, with most of the subcomponents already crafted by Gobgob and the goblins. I needed to get these things to the enchanters in Shadefall to finish them off, then I’d have about thirty sets of mark one armor. I’d already finished ten by hand on my own, and those went out to my people for further testing. So far, the power armor was a big hit, albeit not as impressive as my prototype suit. Perhaps someday I’d get back there.

I spent as much time on my own equipment, too, since I had a very important duel coming up. I’d promised it to Cyra, after all. On my chest, I wore a standard set of the Mark One power armor, and at my side, I had my newly enchanted sword. I also had a small arsenal of tricks in the various pockets around my body. My new ability to create dimensional storage items made having as many bags of holding as I wanted easy.

Armed and equipped like I’d never been before, I felt I was ready for any foe. Including a very special duel against a beloved Amazonian warrior. I wasn’t sure how formal a deal this was going to be, but whether we were in for a small crowd or a large one, I was confident in my victory.

Reluna finally finished the shopping list she had for me and turned up with something lengthy enough that if I stacked all the pages up atop one another, they would have been taller than I was. I tucked them away and made arrangements to leave for Themyscira. I found myself eager to go, especially since the trip would mean meeting with Cyra again.

I joined the latest batch of goods being shipped from Earth to Themsycira and arrived with them in Shadefall. Thulga stood off to one side and nodded at my sudden appearance.

The city had been transformed over the past few months. The streets were as crowded and busy as they had been in the dungeon Myrina, Cyra, and I had gone through, and several storefronts that I remembered being nailed shut now had open doors. Every food stall and market vendor had at least a few customers waiting in line to get in. The city was really bustling, all thanks to the newly restored Obelisk in the city’s center.

My workshops were busier than usual, too. What once had been an oversized space now felt crowded as enterprising youths from the countryside bought themselves the enchanter job.

They’d already received my previous shipments, and a few more sets of armor were awaiting final assembly. After some brief quality control testing, I removed all the extra-dimensional portions and put them into storage. I’d remove the parts that were supposed to be extra-dimensional later.

One negative of my current design was that the power armor didn’t store well in pocket spaces, mostly because large parts of the armor were pocket spaces themselves. If I wanted to move them in bulk, I had to assemble them at their destination. That was no problem for me, but it might make logistics tough if I ever scaled to the point where people who weren’t Aethersmiths had to move a lot of these things.

With that done and a few sets of power armor to trade safely in Morgathor’s satchel, I took a trip to Valkyrie’s Watch to have my big day with Cyra. But when I finally got there...

“The Matriarch? She left for Glacia a while back. Maybe you can catch up with her there.” The guardswoman on duty shrugged.

“Wait, really? She returned without me? How long ago?”

The guardswoman shrugged. “Weeks. Since shortly after, you and she returned.”

I frowned. There was no reason why Cyra couldn’t leave on her own. She was a grown woman, after all, and a very capable one at that. But for some reason, I had expected to be at her side when she went to Glacia next. After all, she seemed to enjoy her trip, and we had a whole duel planned. Something seemed off to me.

“I see. Well, maybe I can catch up with her.” I waved thanks to the guard and then teleported to Glacia alone.