Jen’s called her bird down to her location so that it could rest. She smiled at the strange bird, with a head that looked like a knuckle, as she threw it some cooked roach-wolf meat. Sam asked, “What’s up with knucklehead? You’re not cutting him lose, are you?”
Jen replied, “No, he’s pretty happy flying around for me as long as I keep feeding him. I’m just giving him a few minutes of rest before I send him to check further up the mountain and down in the valley. I don’t want any surprises coming from a different direction.”
Tamako walked into the campsite with a barely noticeable limp, and she asked Jen, “Jen my flower, please cast a healing spell on my shin.”
Jen understood from Tamako’s body language there was nothing to worry about, but was curious, and as she prepared to cast a minor healing spell, asked, “What happened?”
“Pudding’s golems are doing a good job, and can work nonstop, but they are going too slow, so I was practicing my roundhouse kicks and knocking down the smaller trees for the golems to make planks from. Unfortunately, one of the trees must be some type of ironwood tree, and my attack left me with a stress fracture.”
It was obvious to Sam that Tamako’s injury was much worse than a “stress fracture”, as he commented, “Your normal armor would have probably protected you from the ‘stress fracture’, but wouldn’t a kick with that much strength still have fractured, or at least bruised your bone even with good armor on?”
Sam wasn’t squeamish, in fact, he kind of found it fascinating to watch Tamako force the bone back into alignment while Jen simultaneously casting her healing spell. Tamako continued working on her leg as she explained, “probably, but I’m also trying to get a gage on how much my bones can take before breaking.”
Jen hollered, “Tamako, don’t let Sam use your broken leg as an excuse for him to stop making the log stones!”
“I had already made a bunch of those! I’ve just come up with a much better idea to work on now.” Sam retorted.
Jen looked over and noticed Sam’s evil grin, then replied, “Let me guess…you’re not going to tell me what it is either?”
Sam replied, “Nope, but when I’m done, you are going to realized that I’m a bone-ified genius!”
===
Sam walked with Tamako down to the river where she was cleaning some of her gear, and said, “Tamako, how would you like for me to make you unbreakable?”
Tamako snickered, “I love you Sam, but what makes you think you could come up with a better training routine than me?”
Sam shook his head, “Not that type of unbreakable. I mean how would you like me to enchant every bone in your body so that they are unbreakable?”
Tamako, turned to face Sam and said, “I hope this is not one of those jokes, the type you like to play with Jen?”
Sam assured Tamako, “Definitely not a joke. I can’t promise it’s going to work, but I would like to try. However, I need to warn you, it’s going to be incredibly painful.”
Sam almost blushed as Tamako let out an unexpected squeal of delight, but then controlled herself, and said, “You silly man, again you offer me unheard of power, and think something as simple as pain would deter me. I wish for us to start immediately!”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Sam raised an eyebrow, “one condition though!”
Tamako slowly replied, “What’s that?”
Sam explained, “You have to explain it to Jen, when she finally comes down here looking for us, why you have blood all over you.”
Tamako smiled, “No problem. I have her wrapped around my little finger, but you can’t tell her that!”
Sam just laughed, “Sure you do?!”
Sam then sliced open Tamako’s forearm down to the bone, and used the heat from his mana carving blade to cauterize all the opened blood vessels. He was experimenting on a way to make Tamako unbreakable, he wasn’t exactly sure exactly how he was going to do it. Sam then said to Tamako as he worked, “This is only possible because of the “enchanter’s boundary” I received as a gambling reward. I only need to place the enchantment in one small area, and the power of the enchantment will cover the entire surface area of each of the bone. I’m hoping your bones aren’t affected by this Deck, and crumble to dust, like the storage rocks I make.”
Sam noticed Tamako using some mental techniques to control the pain, so he continued to try and help distract her by explaining, “I’m basically applying a ridiculously powerful strengthening enchantment to each of your bones, then I’m creating storage enchantments, and turning your bones into storage devices that will absorb kinetic energy and any other “released” items that come into contact with your bones, similar to the shield I made for you back on the Second Deck. If someone were to hit your forearm with a sword, it will still cut through your arm, destroying your muscles, and you could still possibly bleed to death, but the force and power behind the sword strike will stop dead as the kinetic energy hits your bone. You will have to practice your focus for absorbing the kinetic energy, just like you did with your shield. Keep in mind, if someone shoots an arrow at you, it will penetrate your body, but if it hits a bone, it will be automatically absorbed into the storage space. When I am done with you, every bone and tooth in your body will basically be ridiculously strong and unbreakable if you active the kinetic storage in time. I am also going to link them all together so that you can release the kinetic force out of any bone you choose. Unfortunately, if your bone is not already exposed, releasing the kinetic energy or other physical items will rip the skin and muscle off your body in that location. Keep in mind, bones are not the best conductor material for use as an enchanted storage device. I’m warning you, if the storage space is filled completely, you will no longer be able to absorb incoming kinetic energy or projectile attacks, which will allow your bones to be broken. You will most likely need to open up your knuckles or something to release the kinetic energy while you are in combat. Your bones can’t store anywhere near the number of items or amount of kinetic energy as your shield could.”
Sam was looking at Tamako, considering how long the project would take, and said, “There are over 200 bones in your body, and this is going to take some time, but I want to finish your hands, forearms, and shins by tonight.”
Tamako, grunted out a question, “I don’t need to rest. Why can’t we just keep working through the night and keep going until you’re done?”
Tamako noticed Sam’s expression turn a little guilty, as he replied, “Well…. I do need to make some more storage rocks, and other surprises before that gang gets too close.”
Tamako was sweating in pain from Sam’s enchanting, but she simply said, “Jen and I have been working on hypnotic tranquillizing trigger words that I can use for the pain. They work, but not completely. Now, quit talking and start carving!”
Sam laughed, and said, “If you are excited about this, just wait till I get access to my tattoo tools, and tattoo the rest of you.”
Tamako was grimacing from the pain, but she had been picking up on some of the Earth quips Jen and Sam used, and said, “Jen's going to have a 'bone' to pick with you when she hears about you trying to tattoo me!”
Sam paused for a moment, surprised to hear Tamako make a pun, and then as he tried to furiously think of a retort pun. Tamako was shaking her head at him, and said, "It's too late now, you've waited too long trying to come up with a reply. Anything you say now will just be pathetic!"
Sam grumbled, "I wasn't trying to think of a reply!"
Tamako tried to laugh through the pain of his enchanting, but could only sarcastically reply, "Sure you weren't!"