It's the middle of the night when a magical pulse snaps me out of sleep. Apricot shifts back to her normal size and darts around to look for danger at the same time. I managed a good few hours with the twin Ensmallens, but we all decided to go big when we retired to bed.

"Huh? Whuts happen?" Amelia mumbles groggily, her senses not as fine tuned as ours.

"My staff." My eyes are drawn out the window to our tree. "I think it's done it, or at least its close." I breathe out as my mind drills in on what's happening in the tree.

"Mhm, thas goo." My wife's eyes flutter closed again as her head drops back down to the pillow.

"I think you wore her out earlier." I laugh at the pixie before opening the window to go outside. "And that was just with a couple eggs, wait until I make you two some really fun stuff." I say over my shoulder before dropping to the ground.

"Oh, you are an evil, evil man." She purrs into my ear after catching up. "I can't wait. Now, what's going on in there? I've never been able to get a good read on your staff."

"Really?" I rub my chin with thumb and forefinger. "I didn't expect that trait to work on the Fae. It's a Livingwood weapon made by accident with a racial skill I didn't know I had. The description says that only Plantkin will be able to divine it's true nature."

"Huh, I knew it was more than just a stick, but I just thought it was a really good focus." She shifts back to human size to stand next to me as I place my hand on the tree. "Never heard of Livingwood stuff, but I suppose every race has their own secrets."

"Like the spot between a pixies wings?" I use my free hand to tease up her spine.

"Mmm." She moans. "Or that a Plantkin's vines are ticklish." She plays me at my own game.

"Heheh." We stand there teasing each other like that for a moment, before the staff let's out another pulse. "It's calling me. I need to go inside." I say before taking a step into the tree, like it's not even there.

"I'll be waiting." She darts forward to kiss me. "For you, and your staff." Her eyes dart down to my unclothed waist. *Ding**Ding* "Oh Temmie, you and the staff jokes." Apricot lets out her own laugh at the Systems silliness.

I just smile and walk forwards, my magic pulling me along. "You've grown." I say as my hand wraps around the Livingwood weapon, now back to its full quarterstaff size. We're in the very heart of the Mana Well, where the three trees made one meet and join.

"So much power." I can feel it coursing into and through me. "What do you need from me?" I ask and get back an impression of the herringbone pattern of the mantis shrimp's claw that I based the original modified cherry wood on. "A new pattern, eh?"

I've been wanting to play around more with diamonds, graphene and carbon nanotubes. So, I feed it images of perfectly ordered carbon atoms. The staff soaks it up and we take what feels like hours to test and try out different designs before we arrive at one we like.

The final design is made up of a diamond nano-thread wrapped inside a carbon nanotube, then seven of those bundled together and wrapped up in a larger multi-walled nanotube. Those are then bundled again and braided up inside graphene ribbons like rope. Those ropes are then braided together again and wrapped around with more nano-thread and nanotubes. And so on, and so on.

The staff keeps growing to maintain its size even as it compresses itself down into what is essentially an overpowered space elevator cable. While it's doing that, I'm layering in nano-scale enchantments and spells for even more strength and durability.

The final product is a two meter long, shiny black staff. It now weighs nearly thirty kilograms, and is the next best thing to indestructible. And, even if it does somehow get damaged, it's still alive and can repair itself with the mana that it now generates and feeds directly into me.

Walking out of the giant apricot tree, I blink up at the late afternoon sunlight that's filtering through it's branches. Once my eyes adjust, I look down at the work of art in my hand.

"You are long past due for a name, my friend." I give it a twirl and it cuts through the air with a howling sound. "So, in light of my chat with Apricot yesterday -I hope it was only yesterday- and your new color." I plant the staff in the ground and run my fingers down it's polished surface. "I dub you Blackthorne."

"Just like a boy to name his 'staff'." Apricot teases as she comes running up with Amelia at her side. "And, before you ask, yes it was only yesterday." She laughs, and they both hug and kiss me.

"Darn, and here I was hoping that I missed the party altogether." I chuckle and hug my wives tight. "And, are you really knocking my naming sense? Or should I ask pinky and perky?"

"He's got you there." Amelia laughs.

"Oh, really? I wonder how touchy and ticklish feel about that." Apricot gropes her wife's breasts.

"Hahaha. Ack, quit it." She jumps behind me, but I just send my tentacles up for a quick squeeze. "No fair." She slaps them away and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Alright, enough fooling around." Apricot puts on her serious face. "Let me check this thing out. Identify!" *Ding* "A heavy, black staff. Wow, super informative." *Ding**Ding*(Blame him.)

"Hey, I didn't even know about the Livingwood thing until it happened. Oh, fine. Identify!" I sigh out and make my notification visible for them.

*Ding*

-Blackthorne: Livingwood Staff. This staff is bonded to you as its creator, it will grow as you do and gain new abilities over time. It has connected to and can now channel the powers of a Mana Well. Note: Only Plantkin will be able to correctly Identify Livingwood weapons, to all others it shall appear as a well-made, yet otherwise unexceptional staff. P.S. You are such a cheat. :p Temmie.-

"You really are." Amelia shakes her head. "Living on a Mana Well wasn't good enough for you, so you had to go and make it portable." She laughs at the look on my face.

"Hey, Blackthorne did that all himself." I try to defend myself. "You read the bit about him gaining new abilities, I just got really lucky. No more keeping you stuffed up in my inventory anymore." I picked up the staff and give it a pet. "Even if you are a bit hard to carry around like this."

I nearly drop the staff when it shivers and shrinks into a five centimeter long thorn. It's even got a little loop at the top for me to thread it onto a necklace or bracelet. So, I quickly fashion a string necklace from braided diamond nano-thread.

"Thanks." I put it around my neck. "Also, awesome new ability." I grin while Amelia grumbles. "So, what'd you girls get up to while I was playing with my staff all day?"

*Ding* Temmie laughs, but it sounds a bit forced.

***

"Is it done yet?" Amelia hangs over my shoulders to peek at my work.

"No 'Hi Sorrel, what was spending your day in a tree like?' Nope, you get jealous of Blackthorne and decide I have to make you a wand right away." I chuckle. "And, then it's 'is it done yet?' every five seconds." I turn my head and nibble on her earlobe. "Mmm, you know this might go faster if you put on that Hogwarts costume I made for you."

"Hahaha." Apricot laughs. "Somehow I think that will make it take even longer." She pulls Amelia away from me. "Let the man work. He's adjusting the mana flows right now, it'll be done in a minute."

"I just wanna see what it looks like." Amelia pouts. "I don't see why you have to keep it a secret."

"Seriously? Do you not know him by now?" Apricot pets her on the head. "Of course he wants to make a show of it. Look, I think he's done."

"I am done, and it's a beauty." I drop the shadow veil to reveal a perfect copy of my erect penis made from green diamond. "Oh wait, that one's for Apricot." I crack up laughing, my pixie and Temmie joining in while Amelia's pout turns into a scowl.

"Now that's my kind of magic wand." Apricot snatches it up right away.

"Give me that so I can beat him to death with it." Amelia tries to grab it, but the pixie is too quick for her. "Please, no more teasing. Can I see it now?" She finally gives up and resorts to begging. "I promise I won't beat you to death with your own cock. Might shove it up your ass later though, if this thing isn't worth the wait, that is."

"Heheh, not really my thing." I let out a nervous laugh and raise an eyebrow at the diamond dildo. "But, I'll never ask you to do anything I'm not willing to do myself."

"Mmm, that might be kinda hot." Apricot licks the tip of her 'wand'. "Maybe if you make a harness so she could use it like the real thing."

"Oh, no." I put my hand on the side of my face in a shocked look. "I'm practically puckering, my pervert pixie wants her perfect partner to practice pegging penetration." Another round of riotous laughter from the three of us while Amelia's face turns red.

"That's it!" She stamps her foot. "I was just joking before, but now you're asking for it."

"Patience, patience." She smacks me and Apricot snorts. "I love you." I turn serious and catch her hand, slipping the wand into it.

It's mostly diamond, with a few nano-threads and tubes to provide added strength and spell channeling. The handle is a Green Chinese dragon with its tail and lower body wrapped protectively around a golden Mana-Gem egg. Its upper half is stretched upwards, as it opens its mouth to fire off a water blast. A turbulent ball of deep blue water gathered in its jaws as a thin spiraling stream shoots out.

"Wow." Apricot breathes out, but Amelia is stunned speechless.

"Oh, baby." She runs her fingers over it, savoring all the tiny details. Each and every scale on the dragon and its egg are minutely carved. I even went as far as to give it tiny little eyelashes. "It's perfect."

"Just wait until you try it." I smirk. "I added Mana channels tuned specifically for Water and Light. And, the Gem can be used to boost the power of your spells." I conjure a thick block of steel ten meters away from us. "Give it a try."

She does, and her water stream cuts right through the steel like butter. "Well." She lets out a shuddering laugh. "It's no Elder wand, but I suppose it'll do." A laser beam then melts what's left of the target as she starts giggling.

"Uh oh, I think I made a monster." I say to myself.

***

"You okay there babe?" She scoots over to rub my back when she sees me sitting gingerly.

"I'll be fine in a few, just kinda wish healing sap worked on me. And, that a certain someone wasn't always so enthusiastic." I glare over at Apricot who's wearing a smug grin and little else. "Also wishing I had made that out of silicone... uhh, soft glass." I add at her confused look.

"Is there no way to store the sap up beforehand?" She ignores my latter statement.

"I've tried, but since it's a partly conjured substance, the healing effect fades as soon as I quit channeling the spell." I shrug and adjust my position, already feeling better thanks to my high stats. "Even if I tie it into a Mana Gem, it still loses its vitality, just over a period of minutes instead of seconds."

"I want to say that's too bad, but knowing you, you'll figure something out eventually." She kisses my furrowed brow. "Don't worry about it now, why don't you work on something else as a distraction. What about that hard drive thingy?"

"Ugh. Too much math." I groan. "I'll let that one percolate some more. But, now that you mention it, I did come up with a good idea for Mana transmission when I was working on your wand. Hmm, remind me to have Kyle order a load of coal, I can pull carbon from the air but why bother if I don't have to. And, who knows what other goodies might be in it."

"This related to your Arc Reactor idea?" She moves from massaging me to just snuggling as the look of discomfort leaves me. "Do you think you'll still need to make cars and stuff for the army?"

"Even if I don't I still want to make some form of mass transit for the country." I conjure an image of the train from Dumbo. "That and just generally improve everyone's quality of living. Imagine if every household in the country had access to runes like people in the capital do. Even just giving them heating runes, so they don't have to waste time chopping firewood."

"You're just trying to save some trees, aren't you?" Apricot laughs and lies down on my other side, so that she's looking up at us.

"It's a very noble idea, but how do you think the other nobles will react?" Amelia raises a good point. "And, even if they do go for it. Then what about the people? A lot of them won't react well to what they see as charity."

"That or they'll get greedy for more, and expect you to give it to them." Apricot adds.

"I had some ideas for that as well, and I really should schedule a sit down with Vivian to discuss them."

"Ooh, just Vivian." Apricot smirks. "Not the Queen, or Her Majesty. Hahaha"

"She told me I could call her that, at least in private." I shrug. "But, anyways. I would obviously just bribe the other nobles. We should make a tour of the country soon, and if I can get the Mana lines working, I'll run them along as we go. Then I can enchant their estates with all sorts of junk."

"A bit ham-fisted, but that should work." Amelia nods. "What about the average folk getting prickly or greedy?"

"That's what I need to talk to the Queen for." I smile as I use her title. "Cendassa isn't going away and the more I help improve the country, the greedier they're going to get." I sigh. "My idea is to give access to the Mana grid in exchange for service. Military obviously tops the list, but anything for the public good should be acceptable."

"Damn, that's a big idea." Apricot curses. "Are you sure you don't want to just be King? Cause, you're starting to sound like one."

"No shit." Amelia's eyes go wide as she thinks over the implications.

"Gods no." I shake my head vehemently enough to move the bed. "I've even been wracking my brain for ides to make it look like I'm being forced to do all this by Vivian. I'm sure that it's mostly my paranoia speaking, but I feel that people just don't trust generosity. And, if I can give them an even slightly believable story, then it might prevent issues from cropping up in the future."

"I wish that was just your paranoia, but I think your thoughts are more in line with reality than anyone would like. You've been setting this up since Riverton, haven't you?" She states more than asks.

"At least in the back of my head, yeah." I nod. "I was given all this power, and I can't not use it to help where I can. But, I don't want to be stupid about it either."

"We'll think of something, together." Amelia starts rubbing my tense shoulders. "You don't need to carry the weight of the entire country on these, not alone. It's almost dark, but why don't you call up Oliver and set up a lunch for tomorrow?"

"Eh, it can wait 'til after the party. I still need to build and test the Mana lines." No need to present an unfinished plan after all. "I just want to take this week to relax and catch up on some projects."

"Speaking of, you never did make me a bicycle that could outpace the two of you." She leans forward and gives me the puppy-dog eyes.

"Hahaha. Yeah, I can do that." I give her a kiss. "I need to re-design the engine anyways; now that I have Mastery I can make it lighter and more efficient. Should try working on some electric motors again too." 'Fucking magnets, how do they work?' I laugh to myself, but really wish I knew more about material sciences.

"Well, get on with it then." Apricot urges. "I want to see her face when we pass her even with an engine on her side."

"We need a good area to test them out." I raise my forefinger in the air, and then point it straight down. "To the basement. Wait. To the dresser, first." I point across the room. "Your parents just got home."

***