'Ok, system. Let me know how many points I have to spend, and I remind you, that recently you have been getting rather large doses of awe and fear from even the gods.'
(WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?)
'I'm saying the current presented life point total from the awards seems a bit low considering how well you've been dining.)
*SIGH*
(FINE. TABULATING…ADJUSTING FOR EGO INFLATION.)
Joseph chuckled at that.
(I ASSUME YOU ARE GOING TO WANT TO CASH THEM ALL IN?)
'Yeah, before I go to the wasteland.'
(I CAN SPARE 1372 CURRENTLY AND SAVE UP ANOTHER 300 IF YOU GIVE ME A WEEK.)
'No, I shouldn't wait another week. 1372 is enough for now. Show me the lists for personal and Wizar…'
XxxxX
(DAMAGE RESISTANCE 2 WITH FORCE FIELD ENHANCEMENT FOR WIZAR RACE IS 120 POINTS, AND ANOTHER 13 FOR YOU PERSONALLY IS ANOTHER 78 FOR 198 POINTS TOTAL. REMAINING POINTS ARE 1174. CONFIRMED.)
(RESISTANT TO POISON AND DISEASE ALL +8 FOR THE WIZAR TEMPLATE IS 150 POINTS AND ANOTHER 5 FOR YOU FOR COMPLETE IMMUNITY, PRICE REDUCED BECAUSE OF PREVIOUS BLESSING SO 155 TOTAL. REMAINING POINTS ARE 1019. CONFIRMED.)
(MANA BATTERY 3 FOR WIZAR RACE IS 30 POINTS, AND ANOTHER 42 FOR YOU PERSONALLY IS ANOTHER 84 FOR 114 POINTS TOTAL. REMAINING POINTS ARE 905. CONFIRMED.)
(SPACE RESISTANCE PACKAGE INCLUDING VACUUM SUPPORT, PRESSURE SUPPORT LEVEL 3, RADIATION TOLERANCE 1000X, AND TEMPERATURE TOLERANCE EXPANDED. REDUCING COST AND INCORPORATING RESIST FIRE, RESIST COLD, RESIST RADIATION ITEMS AND TATTOOS. 20 POINTS EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA. REMAINING POINTS ARE 865. CONFIRMED.)
(MIND SHIELD 10 WITH COSMIC ENHANCEMENT TO RESIST GODS IS 60 POINTS EACH FOR BOTH YOU AND STELLA FOR 120 POINTS. REMAINING POINTS ARE 745 CONFIRMED.)
(HYPERSPECTRAL VISION INCLUDES ULTRAVISON, NIGHT VISION, INFRAVISION FOR 25 POINTS. REDUCING COST AND INCORPORATING SPECTRUM VISION MAGIC ITEM. COST IS MODIFIED TO 5 POINTS EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA. REMAINING POINTS ARE 855. CONFIRMED.)
(REMOVING STATUS OF DEAD BROKE. REPLACING WITH FILTHY RICH AT NO POINT COST. YOU LITERALLY MAKE THE MONEY FOR YOUR KINGDOM. IT JUST ANNOYS ME SEEING THAT STILL ON YOUR STATUS PAGE HONESTLY.)
(ELEVATING STATUS TO 8 GOD-KING AT NO POINT COST.)
(BASIC STATS ADJUSTED: SPEED +3 FOR 60 POINTS, MOVEMENT +5 FOR 25 POINTS, HP +30 FOR 60 POINTS EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA. TOTAL COST 265 POINTS. REMAINING POINTS ARE 590. CONFIRMED.)
(ENHANCED MOVE MULTIPLY BY 4 IN AIR AND ON GROUND COSTS 80 EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA. REMAINING POINTS ARE 430. CONFIRMED.)
(PROTECTED SENSES, HEARING, VISION, TASTE, SMELL, MAGIC COST 5 POINTS PER SENSE EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA FOR A TOTAL OF 45 POINTS. STELLA CANNOT SENSE MAGIC DIRECTLY. REMAINING POINTS ARE 385. CONFIRMED.)
(INDESTRUCTIBLE SKELETON INCLUDING INABILITY TO DIRECTLY TARGET YOUR BRAIN IS 15 POINTS EACH FOR YOU AND STELLA. REMAINING POINTS ARE 355. CONFIRMED.)
(UNAGING PRICE REDUCTION BY CONSUMING HALT AGING ENCHANTED RING 0 POINTS.)
'What about enhanced time sense and altered time rate?'
(ENHANCED TIME SENSE WOULD ALLOW YOU MENTAL HOURS TO CONTEMPLATE EVERY MINUTE IN REAL TIME. ALTERED TIME RATE DOUBLES THE SPEED OF YOUR EXISTENCE IN ALL ASPECTS. I'M TRYING TO SELECT THEM BUT I KEEP GETTING A BLOCK.)
(JUDGE HAS RULED ALLOWING JOSEPH AURUM ENHANCED TIME SENSE IS EXCESSIVE AND WOULD LEAD TO DAMAGE IN THE BALANCE OF THE UNIVERSE.)
(UM, HE IS PROBABLY RIGHT YOU KNOW. YOU COULD MENTALLY REPEAT YOUR 9 YEARS IN TIME OUT IN A MONTH WITH IT. ESPECIALLY WITH JOE HELPING.)
'Can I buy it for my children, race, or Stella?'
(YES...NO. IT JUST GOT BLOCKED TOO.)
'Then, I think I'm good system.'
XxxxX
Joseph was busy trying to draw a specific rune into the air, but kept making tiny mistakes and restarting, when Stella showed up.
"Joseph, I'm still not sure about the effects of this global warming you talk about?"
"Listen, Stella, I'm making a miniature sun over the castle, that we are directing solar flares out of into collectors to run the steam turbines and generate both light for the kingdom and convert to mana to power everything else. Of course, if I keep it up for centuries it will affect the temperatures."
"Ok, so even if that's true, what does that have to do with why you are going to make the castle in the sky go back and forth every day?"
"I'm going to try and slowly move the planet further away from the sun. I can cancel the gravity on the mountain to let it float but the planet will gradually try to approach it instead. I'm going to use the movement to keep the castle on the dark side of the planet slightly more than the side facing the sun to gradually expand its orbit."
"This is harder to follow than when you talk magic."
"Here, it's not as good as when you make cookies but Joe made a recipe."
CREATE FOOD.
"It's a chocolate peanut butter pie. The middle is vanilla pudding."
She took the pie, looking at him suspiciously, and stuck a finger in it, to give it a try. Licking her finger clean, her expression cleared with delight.
"Okay. Thanks!" she said, taking the pie and leaving. Joseph could only shake his head and chuckle as he went back to the rune.
XxxxX
DUAL, RUNE WITHIN A RUNE, SHATTER.
"Hmm. That seems capable of slowly breaking the bone down into powder."
"Joseph what'cha doin?" asked Stella in a sing-song voice.
"Stella?" asked Joseph, looking at her confused.
"Yess?" she asked slowly, still in that childish, playful tone.
"Are you feeling ok?"
"I saw it in one of Issa's films. I thought it was cute," she said, with a slight frown, sounding like herself, again.
"It was. It really was. You're never allowed to do that with other people around."
Stella laughed, "But seriously, why are you trying to break the bones from NIKMESH? I thought you wanted to make stuff out of them?"
"I do and I am. These are extra's that I'm powdering. Also, the meat from off the bones is over there. Organs are over there, but I haven't finished analyzing them yet."
"Are you really using the blood in this robot of yours?"
"Mech, and about half of it, yes. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to kill gods."
(THE GODS ARE RATHER ALARMED AT YOUR STUDY.)
'Oh, relax, system. I'm killing NURKONG and whoever else is working for him. Honestly, once I kill NURKONG, I hope the rest will just give up and leave us alone. I have a kingdom to run and I would do a better job of it, and healing the world, if I didn't have to keep stopping to deal with them.'
(DID YOU JUST PUT KILLING GODS AS A TO-DO ITEM ON A LIST, LIKE LAUNDRY?)
'System, please. He's way more effort than doing laundry.'
"Anyway, the femur over there is the core of my new staff. I was thinking about using the ribs as boning to strengthen the armor, but with the weaknesses I'm discovering, I think the normal dragon scales are tougher, much less Saisho's scale."
"Seems a waste of god material to just powder it."
"Oh, I've still got uses for the powder. The fur off the back is already hanging in the throne room though."
"Got it. I'll leave you to it. I'm going to cook up something…divine." Stella giggled as she left.
XxxxX
"Wow! Stella, did you brush orange on the meat while you were cooking it?"
"Yes, and I borrowed one of your tools to MATURE it while it was roasting. It's been cooking about 3 years, I think comparatively. I figured chewing god might be tough. I had to use the god slaying daggers to even cut it up."
"Well, it's awesome now. Super tender."
"Yeah, the citric acid is supposed to help, so I thought I'd try it. Selena came through with another pregnancy craving as I was cooking so I gave her some too."
"She ate it slow roasted?"
"Oh, no, she flame-grilled her pieces. Gave me a bite, too. It was delicious, but I like this better."
"Ah, ok. I probably won't finish the staff until tomorrow and the armors until the day after."
"I'm just glad you didn't try and talk me into enchanted bikini armor."
Joseph laughed at her deadpan expression. "Please, Stella. I want the armor for your safety. I'm incorporating the force fields, but the underlying armor is there in case something can penetrate the force fields. It doesn't do much good to put you in a bikini before a big fight. I can still add that as an illusion if you want, though?"
"Don't. You. Dare."