Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 45

When I woke, it was to warm hands fussing over me. I hadn't been as exhausted as I'd been the previous night in a long, long time—not since before the arrival of the System and all the extra stats it brought. I hadn’t even been this wiped out when I’d come back from the dead.

I was normally a light sleeper. It was rather startling to think that someone could sneak up on me like this, despite my new skills. When I heard her speak, I realized why this person could sneak up on me. It was Bridget, and her voice was full of concern—even as she grumbled to herself.

"Stupid. All Men are crazy..." she muttered.

Judging by the soft feeling beneath me, and the spring that dug into my hip, I was still lying in the recliner I'd flopped down onto. But now my shirt was off and I was a lot cleaner than I'd been when I'd fallen asleep.

Bridget ran a hot towel across my stomach to clean me up. I also felt something that was probably a bandage wrapped tightly around my right arm.

"We leave you alone for one night and you look like you went to war..." Bridget grumbled, still thinking I was asleep. "Maybe we really do need Myrina’s help to reinforce us. It'll take all three of us to tame a stallion as wild as you..."

I fought to keep from laughing at Bridget's fussing. Her nervous fretting was cute, and it sounded like she and Myrina had at least gotten along well after my departure. That was also good news.

I kept quiet for another minute, pretending to sleep a while longer before letting out a loud, jaw-cracking yawn.

"You're awake! Sakura, Carter's awake!" Bridget jumped off the recliner and yelled to Sakura, who was probably just outside the room.

"Coming!" Sakura came rushing in.

She set her fists on her hips and glared at me. "You, mister, are in big trouble! Just what kind of fight did you get into without us?"

I groaned as I pulled myself out of my chair. I still had quite a few bruises—where I'd taken an ogre club to the stomach or caught a glancing blow to the side of the head from the equivalent of a thrown tree. Under the effects of Blood Frenzy and Iron Will, I'd hardly felt any of them.

I was certainly feeling them now, though. As much as my stomach hurt, it paled in comparison to the pounding headache I had. I'd run my mana pool dry last night. It was a good thing that that last Mana Barrage took out the two ogres that got me to level 45. There'd been nothing left by the time I'd finished.

"Ogres," I replied, my fingers massaging my temples.

Sakura's expression softened when she saw my brow furrowed in pain. "Carter? Carter! What's wrong? Are you hurt? Maybe we should take you to Doctor Roswell."

I waved her off. "Fine…. I'm fine. Just a splitting headache. Severe mana depletion."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at me. She seemed half a step away from carrying me off to see the doctor, anyway.

"I could use some coffee… please?" I asked for coffee more to give her something to do besides glaring at me with her hands on her hips.

"I'll be right back," Sakura promised, disappearing around the corner.

Bridget fussed over me a while longer, taking a few more liberties now that I was awake. I tried to wave her off, as well—telling her I planned to simply hop in the shower. She wouldn't hear of it.

"Got your coffee. And some aspirin, too," Sakura said, handing me a mug.

I took a sip and then swallowed the aspirin. I wasn't sure which one helped the most, but between the two of them, my headache started clearing up.

"You looked pretty bad when we arrived," Bridget said, gently kneading my shoulder. "You were bruised all over and absolutely covered in blood."

"It looked worse than it was,” I insisted. “Most of that blood wasn't mine."

"But... you're okay? You'll be alright?" Sakura asked.

I nodded. "Give me a bit of time to meditate and replenish my mana. Then I'll convert it to health points and regenerate a bit more. I imagine I'll be back at full health before the end of the day."

"Good!" Sakura jabbed a finger in my direction. "Because we're very cross with you right now. You scared the shit out of us."

She leaned in close and planted a kiss on my forehead as her voice softened, "Make sure you get better soon so I can be mad at you properly. No fighting today."

I chuckled. "Sure. I didn’t mean to worry you. I thought I would have time to wake up, to shower, and to change before the two of you joined me. But there's no need to fuss over me all day. I have plenty of crafting to do, so I doubt I'll get around to doing any fighting until tomorrow."

Sakura put her hands back on her hips. "Good! Craft as much as you like. But I've got my eyes on you, mister. You already went and got yourself killed once. I don't plan on letting you do it again."

Between Sakura and Bridget watching me like hawks, I was forced to stay at home. I’d planned on focusing on my crafting, anyways. Not that I minded, of course. My Mana Bombs were still our best-selling product on Myrina's world. Without them, we wouldn't be able to keep the goods flowing between worlds at their current rate.

My latest trip to Crownhill I had purchased plenty of crafting materials, and Gobgob and the goblins had already done the prep work for a bunch of regular mana bombs, as well as the mega variant.

In short, everything was in place ready for me to crank out a bunch of Mana Bombs, pushing my Artificer level to new heights. Who knew what new blueprints might materialize once I was finished?

I didn’t. What I did know was that I was eager to find out.

So, stumbling a bit and groaning all the while, I made my way to my workbench. Before I could get started, I needed to refill my mana pool. I spent the entire first two hours sitting cross-legged on the floor behind my workbench, meditating.

You have gained 2 Meditation Proficiency levels.

Your Meditation proficiency has reached level 12!

Mana pool sufficiently recovered to get some work done, I sat at my workbench. Once seated and in the flow of things, work became easier. It helped that the goblins had already done anything that required nimble fingers.

All I needed to do was to pour in my mana and finalize whatever aspects of the design Gobgob hadn't been able to complete. Which, at this point, was surprisingly little. Her new job made her a surprisingly effective assistant.

Thanks to her hard work and that of the goblins, one job level after another poured in.

You have gained 8 Artificer levels!

You are now a level 22 Artificer.

You have unlocked several new Blueprints!

You have achieved mastery of the Mega Mana Bomb design.

You can now craft them more efficiently, using less mana.

"Not bad at all..." I muttered as I looked through the new blueprints. There was a lot to be impressed with: a self-repairing shield, a gem that would spew fire, and a...

Wait a moment, what was that blueprint at the end, there?

Talisman of Protection from Order and Chaos: This talisman can be added to any item—most commonly a type of jewelry. When worn, the jewelry will grant protection from the deities of Order and Chaos. This talisman will make influencing the wearer harder for any deity of the Order or Chaos aspect.

Note: This does not affect any abilities the god's physical body might possess and will not protect you should they appear in person.

A grin split my face. The System had called the Chaos Wolf a god of Chaos. He was an A-Grade entity from the outskirts of the Arcadia Multiverse, with powers the System considered the equivalent of a deity. If anything would protect me from him, it was this item right here.

I quickly checked the list of ingredients.

Required Ingredients:

A strand of purest silver

A thumb of pure salt, ground fine as dust

Unaspected, neutral mana

The core of an elemental over level 60

The hardest ingredients to acquire for other Artificers would likely be the pure salt and purest silver. Both would be hard to find on worlds of Myrina's technology level. But on Earth, even grocery store salt was pretty pure. I was sure I had some non-iodized salt somewhere in my barn. And Sakura had plundered plenty of jewelry. There had to be some sterling silver that was wire-like in there. If not, I would have to try my hand at melting some of it down.

The only thing that would be hard to get was the core of an elemental over level 60. Perhaps it was finally time to check in on that lava elemental where it had camped out in the road on the way to Crownhill.

Sooner rather than later, I wanted to craft this talisman. I remembered how strong the fourth layer of Mania had felt. My mana costs had dropped to practically nothing and the amount of damage I could dish out had massively increased. I went from merely being able to fight above my level, to being a walking piece of mobile artillery capable of laying low small armies on my own.

I wanted to have free use of that power without worrying about the Chaos Wolf. And it looked like I finally had a path forward to do just that.

I handed off the Mana Bombs and Mega Mana Bombs I'd finished to Sakura and Bridget, who placed them in paper grocery bags they stacked on the teleportation array platform. While none of us could return to Myrina's world for some time, we could send goods back and forth just fine.

The next time I checked on the teleportation array, there was a pile of goods where the Mana Bombs had been. I wasn't sure what system Bridget, Myrina, and Sakura had put together, but apparently it was working.

Sakura was outside working on her latest project. I'd gathered quite a few ogre hides before I ran out of mana to cast disassemble, and Sakura insisted they would be extremely useful for her craft. I trusted her to make the most of them.

It was just Bridget and me in the house. She was cooking again. When she could take a break in the kitchen, she helped me get the new goods organized.

Myrina had sent quite a few swords and sets of armor over this time, along with a couple of skill books.

"Mystic Claw!" Bridget yelped with delight when she saw one of the skill books.

"This is one of the skills that Marol, the Theory Crafter you recommended I visit, said I should take. It should mesh well with my existing abilities, though I'll need to start putting a few more points into strength to make the most of it." She glanced at me shyly, and I grinned.

"You know what?” I told her. “I bet you'll look good as a tough-girl."

"You think so?" she asked.

I nodded, combing my fingers through her blonde hair.

"Alright. Next set of levels I'm putting a few more points into strength."

There were a few other odds and ends, including more wands for me, as well. I was happy with the one I had, but if I ever needed to switch out precision spell strikes for extra mana, I now had options to choose from.

Myrina had also seen fit to include a list of suggestions for what other goods her family might want enchanted.

"A magic sword that shoots dragons that eat all the evil spirits whenever an awesome battle cry is shouted..." I muttered. "Uh... let’s give that a solid maybe."

"The other ideas are good, though, right?" Bridget asked.

"Eh… maybe?"

My mind turned back to what I had stacked on the shelves next to my crafting bench. I might not be able to make magical dragons shoot out of a sword, but I might be able to integrate some of the Mana Bombs’ effects into a blade. Perhaps an enchantment that would let someone using the weapon convert physical damage to magical damage?

Against physical foes, to whom ordinary damage was enough, the enchantment would probably reduce the speed and cutting power of the blade. But the Samhain Clan had physical damage to spare. Raw magical power was what they were lacking.

Maybe a much more modest version of Myrina's idea would be possible, after all.

"Hold that thought, Bridget. I'll be right back!"

I ran to my workshop, pulling out pencil and paper as I sketched out my general plan. I could layer some of the elements of my Mana Bombs into the blade. I might even be able to make the sword able to recharge itself on the bodies of magical beings. They seemed to release a lot of mana when they were destroyed.

That'd be good, because these enchantments would lose mana over time. If stored for too long in an armory without use, they would eventually fail. But they'd never fail in the middle of battle when they were being used, because they'd constantly be topping themselves back up. Doing something like that would be something akin to my Life Steal skill. Good thing I had that to work from as an example...

Before I knew it, I'd fallen into my craft like it was the only thing that existed. The rest of the world fell away as I entered a fugue state—just like when I was fighting the ogres last night. I assembled the sword before me, marking, bending, and twisting it in a thousand ways as I slowly puzzled through how to do what I intended.

I hadn't realized I'd figured it out, but then the system praised me for doing so.

You have created a new Blueprint!

Your Artificer job has gained another level to Level 23!

Name your creation.

"Hmm..." I muttered. "Mana Sword? How about that?"

"Much better than last time!" Sakura called from the other side of my workshop. She had a troll hide stretched out on a rack and was busy furiously rubbing it with what looked like a rib bone.

"Mana Sword, it is," I muttered.

I entered my answer and was soon holding the very first Mana Sword in my hands. It wouldn't shoot dragons after a cool battle cry, but hopefully Myrina would find it useful.

I took it to Gobgob. She'd have to study it and, with my help, hopefully she and the rest of the goblins could do the bulk of the work for me. That would leave me to add the finishing touches. This creation was a bit more complex than the others, but I was confident Gobgob could do it.

I demonstrated the process of making a second sword for her. She seemed a bit sharper than she'd been when I first met her. I didn't feel all that much more intelligent than I’d been before, but she and the goblins seemed less confused about new things than they had been.

I'd even seen Gobgob making proper use of a few of my electric power tools—without needing training or instructions. That was a far cry from the stone-age hut-dweller she and the other goblins had been before the integration.

"So, Gobgob… think you can build it?" I asked after giving Gobgob several minutes to study the sword.

Gobgob nodded, struggling to lift the sword off her workbench. "Think so. Need sword for tem…” She paused, as if trying out a new, unfamiliar word. “Need sword for temple-plate. And metal drawing sticks."

"For a template?” I asked.

“Yes,” she nodded, “for temple-plate. Need metal drawing sticks, too.”

“You mean engravers—that’s the name for metal drawing sticks.”

“En-grave-hers…” I watched as Gobgob mouthed the new word.

“Yep… engravers. And you're welcome to them." I reached down and gave Gobgob a hand, taking the prototype Mana Sword from her and moving it into the bag of holding hanging off my left hip.

"I have a bunch of spare swords, so you can afford to make a few mistakes. But the more that work, the better."

"Gobgob understands. Will craft!" She eyed the bag of holding at my waist.

I'd noticed her looking at it before. One of the things in Myrina's care package of goods had been a low-grade bag of holding. I'd put the unenchanted swords and other crafting supplies in it earlier. Now, I unhooked it from the right side of my belt and held it out to Gobgob.

"Here, Gobgob. Consider this your bonus for all the good work you’ve done so far. A magic bag of your own." I tossed her the bag. “There’s a bunch of crafting stuff in there you’ll need, including a set of engravers.”

Gobgob's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Gobgob likes! Gobgob thanks chief humie!"

Still a little nervous, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my leg, giving my thigh a quick hug. She looked up at me with wide eyes, afraid I'd be furious at her bold action.

I laughed. "You're quite welcome, Gobgob. Now, I see you have a lot more Mana Bombs ready for me. It seems I've got more work to do."