Chapter 113: And I already need more

Awakening from my deep slumber, my mind coming into clarity. Relishing not being in perpetual pain. Getting hurt sucks; more power to soldiers. They work hard.

Getting out of bed, I flex my body. Testing joints, muscles; looking for lingering pain, only the slightest of aches remind me of the abuse I recently suffered.

Happy with my healing, I head for breakfast. Prepping some honey enriched oats to start my day. Looking out the window, I see sunny skies. Still cold, but at least I can get some natural light.

Sling slinks through the kitchen during my meal. Hunting for a meal, more than likely. Feeding the gluttonous beast, getting happy jiggles in response. Playing with the gelatinous pet while finishing my oats. They have no sense of pain, I’ve found.

By accidently dropping the slime from a significant height, I say I, but sling just jumped. Having spotted a tasty-looking bird.

Instead of catching the prey, I just watched as Sling plummets to the earth. Clearly having taken damage, yet walked away like it was nothing. Well… jiggled away.

Nearly had a heart attack watching the slime splat. Heart calming when they got up. I gave them a heavy scolding afterward. No more green pizza, I demanded.

I noticed the slime lost a lot of size after the fall. Having checked the crash sight, I figured out where the mass went.

Spotting green slime inside the crater.

Enough of that, I’ve got stuff to do today.

Equipping my armor, legs, chest, boots, head in that order. Having to reapply the camo paste, the fight wore most of it away.

I head to town, quickly reaching the market. Enjoying the bombardment of voices. After the silence and loud roars, it’s definitely appreciated. Walking through, I spot my old pal Spice guy.

“Hey, how are you.”

“Good, bud. You?”

“Fine, just healed up a bit of a wound.”

“Ouch, whatcha do?” He says with concern.

“Got in a little fight with an overgrown lizard.” A massive downplay. Don’t want it to be too common knowledge.

“Yeah, dem komodos, vicious.” He looks up, reminiscing a memory of some kind.

“Yeah…” I say in half agreement.

“Take it ya wanting ya spices?” Cocking his head slightly.

“Of course.”

“Here, all neatly packed. Got ya a bow and everything.” A bright smile lighting up his aged face,

“Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it you are my most consistent customer.” He claps my shoulder or at least attempts to, recoiling as he strikes metal.

“I appreciate the sentiment.”

“Knew you would, Lad, why I always get you the best.”

“I best be going. Nice talking to you.”

He waves by, “any time.”

Heading through, mind in the clouds as I walk. I am quickly snapped back to reality as I hear a loud shout.

“Look, it’s the dragon slayer!” A random pedestrian says, pointing his index finger at me.

I rush to him, “Shuh, shut it!” I say in an angry whisper. Grappling his arm and holding his mouth shut. He goes wide-eyed in surprise. But, alas, it’s too late. Fingers pointing, words whispered. Suddenly surrounded by a hoard of people. Questioms being fired at me like machine guns, with such haste I cannot possibly answer them.

Singling out one of the more vocal members of the hoard. I grab them and fly away, bringing them to a secluded alley.

“How did you guys find out so quickly?”

He looks bewildered. Clicking my fingers in front of his face breaks the trance.

“How? Spit it out.”

“The news messengers brought it this morning. My uncle told me ma and my ma…”

“I get it!” I interject, annoyed. “how did you know it was me?”

“Had a description of the dragon slayer. Pale-skinned and looks just like you. Sometimes seen in bright pink armor. The eyes sold it; not many got eyes like yours.”

“Lovely, I can't go out in public anymore,” I say to myself more than my captive.

He looks a little sad. “Sorry, didn’t mean to annoy you. It’s just amazing. We should have surrounded you like that.”

“It’s fine.” Rubbing the armoured area around my temples in frustration. “I just had hoped the news would take longer.”

“With the spatial courier, no chance.” He says with a slight laugh.

“Spacial courier?”

“You don’t know?”

“Clearly not,” I say in sarcasm.

“They feed the whole empire news. Just appear in a town for a moment, tell the local news, then disappear.”

“Lovely.” Looking at the man. “You can go. I need a breath of fresh air.”

“But we are outside.”

“Go… away…”

“Gotcha, good luck.” He says. Running out the alley with vigor.

That was quick; I will have to keep in mind that these ‘spatial’ couriers exist – how frustrating. Also, I am going to deck Flor when I see him. It definitely wasn’t Eric; he can’t speak. Unlikely to be the matriarch and her husband. So, that leaves Flor, the big gob.

Aside from that, it could have been any of the upper echelons of the Dagger family. I knew It would eventually get out, but damn. It’s faster than I thought for sure.

Switching into a hooded robe under my armour, thankfully I had the tailer make one. I disappear into the crowd, reaching the mayor's office. Recalling my first time here, a long time ago. And here I was thinking it was just a real estate office.

Walking through, I head to see the mayor. Being stopped by the clerk.

“Wait, wait. Please take down your hood.”

I do so, shaking my head back so the hood falls under my helmet. Revealing my face.

“Thank you, have a good day, Aeternum. Or should I say, dragon slayer?” He says with a smile.

“Please don’t. I do my best to avoid publicity.”

“Screwed up big time, then?” Leaning forward slightly.

“Yeah,” I say with irritation.

“Don’t worry, rumors of you were already on the mill.” He says like it’s nothing.

“Like?” I enquire, very curiously.

“Professional builder. Generous, can fly, rich, new species, superpowered. Stuff like that; you just gave them something concrete.” He says with wild hand gestures.

“Lovely,” I say sarcastically.

Walking through, I find myself at Averages office.

Walking inside, I thought for a moment I spotted a ball and chain. “Still at that desk? Man, your wearing arm groves into the table.” Spotting the discoloration on the table from use.

He sets the paper down. “Congratulations on your victory.”

I crumble, deflated. “Not you too. It was just a dragon. It was supposed to be on the low down.”

I can feel his smile, not even needing to look.

“Want to fill me in on the truth of the matter. I find listening to rumors… distasteful.”

And with that, I give a quick report of what happened.

“Definitely Flor.” He says with a smile.

“Think so too?” Which got a nod. I am going to have words with him when I get back.”

“Don’t injure him; he is an important noble, the liaison for the Dagger family.”

“I see, how annoying.” Rolling my eyes slightly. Good to know, still frustrating.

“Well, you did save his life. I am sure he will listen to any favors you might ask of him. You made a valuable connection. He really didn’t like you when he first met you.”

“Well, he loves me now,” I say with annoyance.

“I would imagine.” Shrugging his shoulders.

“How are the airships going?” I say, leaning back in the chair.

“Excellent. We haven’t felled any dragons like our local dragon slayer, but we have completed the trial runs. Mass production is underway, and they have started generating a small income. We are still making a net loss, but it’s showing signs of rapid growth. I need from you another boost of capital, aside from that? If you could create some more ship blueprints for variety. We will need it; the recipes will be released soon.”

“Good, good. I will make some when I get a chance.”

“Is it okay if we delay the release of the recipes? Give our business a chance to set some roots?”

“Give it an extra month if you must. I trust your judgment.”

“Thank you.” He says with a light smile.

“Anything interesting happens in town while I was gone?”

“The carnival island has improved the income of the town massively. We are currently going through plans to expand it.”

“Great, I had hoped it would do so.”

“Lots of great things are happening at the moment. And on a less pleasant note, we have fully explored the lake lab.”

“Find anything?”

“A lot of broken tech mostly. Eliminated the 2 guardian robots, taking the remains to the capital. Aside from that, we got a lot of strange metal from the facility. It’s currently sitting in a research lab, government-funded.”

“I see, good the threat is gone,” I say with a strait face. Screaming internally, “Don’t show any guilt, don’t show any at all.”

“Well, I have work to be done. Shall we talk again later?”

“Sure.”

Leaving the office, I head home. Finding Cassie reading on my sofa.

Giving her a quick kiss, “Hey Cassie.”

“Hey A.” Nose still in the book.

“How was your day.”

Looking up from her book. “Boring, had to listen to stuck up nobles all day.”

“I hear you; they drive me mad.”

“Even as part of the merchant's side of things, they still look down on us. To be fair, I met one nobleman who wasn’t a prick. Worked his way up to knight, then a high knight. Ended his solder life with a noble title and some land.”

“Sounds like a hard worker.”

“He was a hell of a haggler too.”

“A merchant's worst Knightmare.”

“You know it.”

“I will be in my lab if you need me.”

“Got it.” She says with a light wave.

Finding myself inside my crafting lab. A bored Chic playing on some webs in a corner. I tickle the distracted monster, which got them running. Chuckling at them before getting to work.

I find the center of the room clear of all my stuff. I replace the floor with blast-proof obsidian. Placing the golden treasure in the center, I ignite TnT next to it. I watch in awe as the heart cracks, blazing golden light beaming through the room. It slowly floats into the sky, to which I quickly place down the charged draconium blocks.

I watch as that golden light turns to snow, slowly moving towards the blocks. They shift from the pink-purple towards a rich golden color. A heart shape embossed on the side. When all the light left the heart, it appears crystal clear. Suddenly shattering in a loud explosion, crumbling to the ground.

I now have 4 blocks of awakened draconium – 36 ingots. 15 ingots required per piece of awakened draconium armor; enough for 2. Wish I could do all 4, but I will need to kill the dragon again. From what I recall, elder dragons drop the hearts too. Not just the end dragon, which gives me more options. Alas, I still need charged draconium either way.

Setting up some more to charge, I will switch it out each morning until I have 4 more.

Taking 8 wyvern cores, I make 2 awakened draconium cores. Next up, draconic energy cores. 4 wyvern energy cores, 1 wyvern core, and 4 awakened draconium; and I now have all the stuff I need.

Taking my wyvern chest and legs, I upgrade them both. Wincing at the realization, I need tons of dragon hearts. Not just to make the armor, but to upgrade it too. They need something like 16 awakened draconium cores each. Not including the power staff, that needs all the awakened draconium tools, enhanced the same as armor. And then that needs upgrading.

“God, this is going to be a pain,” I say, pressing my face with my hands.

Well, power does come at a cost. Let’s test this armor, shall we?

Stepping outside, I turn the armor to the max. Attempting to jump, I say attempt because I launched into the stratosphere. Pretty potent; I cant wait for the rest. Killing the dragon will be a breeze now.

Meanwhile, Cassie is still reading her book. Hearing the explosion; “Getting up to trouble again?” She says with a sigh. Shaking her head from side to side.