Chapter 27 - Energy.
I wake up beside my sleeping Tenka. I can hear Sal and Ami whispering on the other side of the curtain.
I slowly get up, careful not to disturb the sleeping beauty. Then, I get to the other side and say good morning. Salaba blushes heavily and responds.
(Oh boy... I should have known she would wake up. During our "battle," she might have never even slept...)
"Well... Sal, no need to be shy. We are now a family. Tenka loves you very much, too, which is rare. This house is always opened to you."
She blushes even more. Ammit, just look at her, not understanding much. She soon forget all of this, when I bring some breakfast. I then go back to my beloved's side.
To my surprise, she does not feel any pain at all. (It makes sense with our regeneration, it should not take much to heal). Her healing factor is not as good as mine, but after her evolution, she shines in my eyes. She has twice the strength that Beno exuded in our battle.
As for me, I am blocked at twice that amount for now. Of course, our abilities have changed since last time...
After a cheerful morning, we all get to work. Ammit follows Salaba for food hunting and growing. More like, she wants to taste everything she can eat. They cannot go too far, though. We both feel it when the other is too far...
Tenka went to school the pups. As for me, I directly went to the smith, or what they tried to make it look like... Sigh... I spend the whole morning making a forge... again.
I make a big hammer in front of Riley and Ruly, and then, I hammer down the forge to rubbles in three good shots with it.
"When making metalworks, never be afraid to start over. Better this than someone dying because of a bad weapon or armor."
They don't speak English well yet, as they are in the lower ranks, but I brought the two of them with Red, and we went to find many different safe sands and rocks to help them in making the forge. You can't just pick anything, or it will explode or contaminate, or even poison you...
One by one, I show them the simpler laws of physics, how to measure weight, density, temperature, making a mold, and so on. All of this, while never even lighting up the forge yet.
I gain a lot of common language skill, too. Even if I thought myself smart enough to not need it, I realize the others in this world won't speak English for me, outside of this tribe...
Beside their boiling brains, I could see the eagerness to make their first weapons. I thought that daggers are the simplest weapons to start with, and the most used too. I want everybody to have a dagger.
I set them up with softer metals first, for practice. These metals can easily be recycled, and there is no hammering and tempering required, what I call journeyman skill level, which I am not even at yet myself. I am lucky for my memories, in that case, I know all they need about metals, or even minerals, but I had never lit a forge, until I arrived in this world.
Their task is to make me ten regular bronze daggers. Riley is in charge, and Ruly assists.
Meanwhile, I will go get us more materials. Mainly the red metal, but I feel like mapping the area, since Barb did not bother to visit much...
I call Ammit back, to help me with the skeleton that she made for me, and removed last time. I am growing still, so leaving it seem not so smart, but the arms and calf where useful...
After reluctantly eating a bunch of metals, we concluded she can alter metals inside our stomach. By alter, I mean she can switch a metal's density, grain orientation, and alloy it with other metals perfectly.
The limit is that she can't change its nature, as an atom of iron will stay iron, but she could produce any type of steel. We just lack precise control.
Of course, I am not satisfied with this. The metal I got from Arianna would put steel or titanium to shame.
Besides, I am not a walking steel factory...
I made a huge crucible, permanently in the forge, so Riley and Ruly must pour more Echantium, or Red metal ore, so that it condenses more and more, but they also have to keep the forge hot 32/7 (or 24/7)...
...
After a week of searching the north side, Red and I found a nice and deep cave. It should be easier to find what we need here, since except for Echantium, nothing catches my eye.
We dive in there, pretty much unafraid.
Both of us can see in the dark perfectly. Red uses his nose to discern minerals that he has never smelled yet, or tries to find something similar to my claws.
We reach a system of larger caves.
This goes on for kilometers. I don't have Amy yet, and remembering this much seems like a pain, even for Red, so we turn to leave...
Not even five steps later, we come face to face with a giant, brown snake with leopard-like dark green spots on it. Its big head looks like a barbed dragon's head. It was sneaking on us, could you believe it!?
"Red, you're up!"
Red: "The hell! You're up! I can't even shift size in here!"
"My claws are too small to pierce its skin..."
(I wish I could have it as a pet...)
"Can you restrain it?"
Red: "How do you..."
The conversation gets cut off by an angry, and hungry snake, snapping his mouth at us. A foul breath pierces our noses, as we split up and avoid the jaw.
(Red is in a bad posture. This acrid smell seems lightly corrosive. Better keep my claws in until the best moment, or I'll end up poisoned. I still have never tried poisoning myself. No doctors, so...)
The snake slaps at Red with his tail. It was a lot more prepared than us for this. I manage to get under its jaw and slice at its belly. Its blood splashes on my clothes and destroys them in a few seconds.
Luckily, my body just flakes, shedding some skin, and the acid falls off me along with the flakes. Tho my hair are not re-growing that fast...
(This is new! "Is that you, Bes?")
Bes: ("Yeah, this costs pretty much nothing. Just don't go get your arm cut off yet. Your lifespan is not long enough, to regrow our super expensive limbs. By the way, Ammit has been sending some vitality my way, a bit. Try to eat that snake. I want to see if we can accelerate our recovery.")
("I can't when things are alive and bigger than me. The energy in the system, and movements stops the process. What about the poison?")
Bes: ("Just beat him up until it's half dead. We need to test this out!")
Red was way too distracted to avoid the slap and got sent flying into the dark.
"Hahahahaha, oops!" ("Easy to say, but to put in practice?")
While I avoid another tail whip, the wind of the tail makes me roll out, the head crashes into the ground, giving me barely enough time to avoid it too. I jump on top of it and jam my claws into its neck.
- SHAAAAA!!! - BANG! -
Groan... Very bad idea. My ears ring...
I got smashed into the ceiling. My forearms are fine, due to the metal in them, but both upper arms are broken, along with a few ribs, and my skull is rattled.
My lights seem to almost go out. The impact dug my entire forearms into his neck. Luckily, he won't smash me again, because it hurt him as much as it did me, stabbing itself almost to dead.
While my ears are still ringing, Ammit makes her way inside my body and pieces my bones back in place. Within a few seconds, my bones are reconnected. She then sweeps inside my muscles and tendons, making sure everything is well placed for the quickly healing tissues and bones. Surprising, but she does posses my soul...
I can feel the strings of energy inside me untangling themselves where I am healed. Fracturing my bones, letting the marrow contact the blood freely, plus ripping my muscles and tendons, letting them fuse back, but following the power channel requirements, if only to use it properly physically.
I can't use it, but I can feel the power blocked inside, slowly start flowing again. Especially where she heals me personally. While she feel the pain, it surely is less than what I feel now... GROAN...
("Thank you, Ammit! This feels good!")
I say this, but inside, I almost cry. (Another masochistic way of training is coming. Getting beaten to a pulp...)
The snake is unsure what to do, as it can feel something on its head, but the pain it inflicted on itself made it careful. Still, it is pointless, because Red appears beside the gash that I gave its belly earlier and rips a chunk of his own, avoiding the shower of blood.
(He seems pretty dirty, but fine, hehehe.)
"Hey, keep it alive but obedient!"
I can finally remove my arms from its head, after Ammit is done, making it thrash again in panic, but I jump down before this, letting it hurt itself more, though not without any pain, as feel all the remaining fractures rattling.
We both beat it down in a rumble, but I let Red take care of it, only preventing an escape.
Of course, I just let myself get whipped to break my bones efficiently. The slap of its tail is good enough to just crack my skull, but not explode it... I doubt I could do this to myself willingly...
I would not even do the head, if I did not have Ammit, but the first unexpected shot gave me enough confidence, to let her modify my body as she feels is right. She might be young, but I actually don't know, how much knowledge she possesses, which should be everything I know, to be able to make her way in my body. A lot happened when Amy made her...
Every time she touches a conduit, it is like a guitar string attached to my heart and brain, gets tugged and released, in the right place, instead of mixed in a knot with the others. It hurts, it hurts a lot, but the price is worth the experience we gain.
She has to tell me to stop after a while, as it is too much damage at once. I just let Red finish this up. After his first slap, he got awoken pretty badly. Now he is venting his rage a bit, on the poor reptile.
Once the thing is immobilized, I go for the tail and start swallowing hard, making a little glowing sphere in front of my mouth, just like against the Golem.
The beast's power is too weak to stop the compression and tugging. I swallow the living, giant snake like a giant noodle as it meekly fights back.
"BURRRRP!... Haaaaa."
I let out a moan as I feel like millions of ants are massaging my body internally.
Ammit: ("Papa, the shell of the monster is just like metal.")
("They are called scales and skin, on a snake. I know it is confusing, they have lizard scales, but shed their skin?... Can you use it on my skin and bones later, instead of the metal? Just keep my arms and legs the way they are. I am pretty happy with them. Plus, I will need to train without anything on my skeleton later...")
Man, I like my body...
....
Red and I go back to the village to gather every able body and beat the shit out of me every day for like a month. Like a giant masochist... I'm not... Thank you.
I stand in the middle of a circle of women, eyes closed. They then bruise every inch of my skin with staffs first. Except the nuts... Then, I made a bunch of capacitors and a static gathering machine...
Just a few straps of fur on a wheel, creating slight friction. They use the static to shock me. This machine produces a few sparks per second, so while not high, it stimulates my nervous system.
After this part is done, which makes me eat insane amounts of food, but thanks to Berth's power and Salaba's hunting and cooking, we don't lack food, I need to let my bones be broken and my skin be pierced enough to draw blood. I will spare the details of this one, but I found clever ways to make sure I would not agonize.
Hammering a finger does not hurt now, as the signal takes a while to reach the brain. It is more the psychological trauma making us wince, so I coordinate with Ammit and Riley, the smith. Since she has a tough heart and we are close, she has the guts to hammer my bones one by one while Ammit quickly infiltrates the place that was hit. Following the original nerves and other tissues, Ammit cuts the signal before it gets to my brain. She then lets my bone take its rightful place and lets my body heal on its own. My power is slowly starting to circulate better in all my limbs and torso, but there is still work to do.
We slowly forge my very body...
Once my bones are strong enough, my skin is getting better, but I stopped, since I have scars gathering and no way to solve this for now. I ended up consuming many minerals as my bones healed, some I don't even know... Not only Ammit is rebuilding my body, as it has insect and nature(Wood) in its cellular structure.
Dryads are three spirits, and the insect became part of her later, which is also making her unique I guess...
She only left my wrists, feet, ankles and claws, in black obsidian fairy metal. There are now three, one-and-a-half-foot-long claws on the hands, folded in three and five sharp metal toes and heels, good for kicking.
Having claws on the feet is very bad. Can you imagine walking with that? The claws shrink once they retract into my hands. The density of it is incredible. There is no danger of breaking my wrists or hands anymore. the rest is easy to piece back and is stronger after. Well maybe my skull would be better with protection...
I also told Riley to make some training weights, which took the entire loot of Echantium that we gathered at the forge. I had to send Berth with Riley and Ruly to get some more from the creeks. Lots more!
By the way, they finished their task while I was being beaten. So when they came back, I went to check their work. They both passed easily, so the next task is to make hard metal, starting with the red alloy I called Echantium.
They are to make a set of different sizes of anvils, hammers, tongs, crucibles, molds, etc. Then make weapons of all kinds. As for armors, I went with simple chain mail, which is an art to make. You can't bend Echantium, so you have to mold the rings already inside the other one. A mail made from that stuff, can block a high-caliber rifle from Earth. Even more with internal powers charged in it.
...
Berth can easily best Red, when it comes to smelling what they need and bringing back a few tons of materials each time. He is like our freighter, hehe. Plus, the terrain doesn't allow him much space to farm, so he likes to help around...
Now all I do every day, is train Riley and fight all the warriors at the same time, except Tenka and Sal, because of the four-ton weights reducing my speed. They are just too fast for me with the weights on.
Of course, I made some for them, but they like to train against each other because they are opposites: one small and fast, one tall and strong.
I have to be careful to never hit anyone hard, with my limbs, or they would break. This helps me get a lot better at weapons handling.
I train everybody with a sword. I realized that sword practice is very versatile. It is easy to transfer the experience of swordplay, to the other weapon styles. Axe handling is the same, or even simpler.
Parry, slash, dodge, strike, stab, lunge, feint, sweep, block, advance, blade, guard, grip, hilt, handle, edge, pommel, pivot, retreat, stance, tip, and attack.
Once those basic moves are learned, it can be transferred even to a scythe, and with practice, the scythe style becomes clear by itself. Well, that is for sharp weapons. Blunt weapons are another style altogether. I can't use them in training, as it is way too dangerous for them...
On top of that, we can add energy to the blows, which widens the choice of moves and difficulty, as I still have no real access to my power. I still beat them down every day, though. Chuckle.
As long as Salaba or Tenka don't join in. Those two have been sparring all day, while the little ones watch. That and the English lessons. Nobody knows how to write Common, so I have them start with English.
Tenka has the edge over Sal, but she put on the weight I made for her, because I was sorry for myself and Sal, making her real.... slow, chuckle. Beside, she can be even faster, so why not...
Sal has her personalized set of training weights, which is ten times the amount that Tenka uses, and it doesn't even make her flinch. She doesn't use them in a spar, though. When she is serious, she can alter a field in one spar, creating potholes and broken trees, while Tenka is the opposite. She can glide in quickly, undetected and leaves the same way.
Our powers seeping into nature, also change the ecosystem slowly. For example, the training field is destroyed at least thrice a week. Every time that we go, the vegetation grows stronger and the plants that survive multiply. Those plants absorb more energy than the others, and the cycle continues as we destroy them again, the seeds containing more and more power each generations.
Like this, our lives improve by small leaps every day. The food problem has been solved by Berth, and I am showing them how to accelerate growth. This causes the farmers to have large pools of energy, just like Berth. They can't do much with it since they are mostly too old or too young, but they can heal!
Everybody also plants some stuff personally... This makes some cheap healers. I have them practice healing in their free time. If they don't know a bit of anatomy, they will leave ugly scars or kill people in the worst case. Just the basics about skin, muscles, bones, organs, veins, and nerves. At least they know how to differentiate these by color and shape...
I myself only leave small, white marks as scars, since I make sure the place is perfectly healed, but I can't seem to stop the scarring completely.
We also found mountain goats, and sheep, which we captured and tamed. We came across many special animals, that Elnora purposely led to us. Like two unique boars: one that looks like rotten wood, mushrooms, and tangled vines, called the Green Boar; the other looks like a huge, rocky snail, the Rock Boar. Don't underestimate them; the Rock Boar has a heavy, unbreakable charge and is tough as nails. The Green one can use vegetation to attack. Pachy, the chubby teen, and Enta got them as partners.
There is also the Whitemare, which is a white, female, moose-like equine filled with power. She has Antlers, despite being a female. She chose Izuka, the little genius, as a master without a fuss.
(Sigh... I wish mom did that for me back then...)
Akari got a big panther with red spots, that she can ride on, and a small red snake, very poisonous.
Mily got pretty unlucky. She was the unruly Mily already, but now she got herself a wolverine partner, and her soul fused very well with it, to the point that her personality got affected. Luckily, she bends her will to the strong. I managed to calm her down, and I suspect, not many could... Anyway, no other animals want to partner up with her...
I felt bad for her, so I made her a weapon personally with Ammit's help. I sacrificed a bit of my own metal since I didn't need that much for what I use now. She got claws just like mine, but outside her body, at least for now... The mechanism leaves me perplexed. How does Wolverine pull them out? Mine just get squirted by Ammit...
I also give her personal training every day. Except for that, she stays in her house, which I had her move beside us, since Salaba sleeps in our house. Tenka and I are like her parents. Salaba is not even strong enough yet to beat her up, to prove how much Mily gained from her pet fusion. In a fight, the two are fast, deadly, and cunning. Don't underestimate a wolverine, as they look nice and all, when you see them play...
Tema, Utata, and Uli became the shepherds and farmers of the group. They tamed the goats and sheep, and have to grow the food they eat, by channeling power into the ground, making the goats train too...
Riley and Ruly got a Big Moose with enormous antlers. They tamed it together and gained the ability to speak mentally. This is very useful in the forge with all the noise. The moose acts like a wise elder while stepping on the bellows of the forge, happy to be fed and cared for. I wonder if the forgemasters in the future, will all do this kind of thing? Chuckle...
Rita, the milf, tamed a male pheasant, and it became very "productive." In fact, the whole coop that followed us got upgraded, ever since she takes care of them. I don't know how she does it. (Wink, wink.)
Her children, Luqui and Mito, tamed wolf cubs.
Sati and Sera have wolf cubs too.
Xeo and Tio went for something smaller. They found two martens, or sables, and a crow each. More like Intel gatherers.
Nalia found a big spider. She must have known its location for a long time. She became quite the warrior at her age and pretty, rejuvenating a lot. Then again, this world doesn't even have the same lifespan I guess...
You should have seen the people when she came back, sitting on top of it, the huge eight legs as tall as the woman herself. Hehehe. The girls don't seem to like spiders much, even in this world, except for a few, Tenka included. Some things don't change..
Except for the elders and Tali's baby, Zama, they all have an animal bound to them.
By the way, Tali asked for me to awaken her a while back, in fact, her and her baby. For her, I accepted, but the baby... I don't feel ready for this delicate task. She seemed determined, so I did her, but in the end, I am waiting for Amy to wake up, for Zama.
I hope to make him a strong man, who is well educated.
There is not much difference between other the warriors and Tenka. It all depend on the efforts and techniques. The inner power is about twice the amount, for the now evolved Tenka. When they do evolve too, some might surpass her, unless she keep up.
To awaken Tali, I use Tenka's energy since I cannot not use mine much, at the moment. She even helped me doing it, since I can't see much either. I'm stupid doing it, just because she asked...
In the end, everything went well, but she is the same as my other "jobs," which is vexing for me. She is just happy and doesn't hold back the hugs. Sigh...