Chapter 123: Heart

Heart in hand, I set it down. Exploding the TNT, I create the final awakened draconium. “Don’t, finally.” I say in joy, slumping to my knees, “I am done.”

Killing the dragon even with better armor 3 times back to back was horrible. With the 6 I had left and the 12 new blocks I have gotten, I now have 114 ingots. Immediately using 30 to produce the other 2 awakened armor pieces; I now have 74, a nice haul.

I decided to bite the bullet and finish the set. 55 awakened draconium later, and I have a power staff; a sword, spade, ax, and pickaxe all in one; I love this item.

Now, the annoying part. I need 12 awakened cores per item. At 5 a per core, I need 300 ingots. At 36 per dragon heart, I need 8 more of those golden hearts. This is, of course, not accounting for other items requiring awakened draconium.

Well, let’s get these enchanted first. I ended up with Soulbound on all 5 items, first of all. It’s vital you get insurance before anything else. All the enchantments are adding, not by normal means.

You slot an enchanted book into the respective item. This allows for some wiggle room, otherwise impossible.

In Minecraft, you have several types of protection: Blast and fire, well-known examples. Something that is less known is you can only add one form of protection to each item. If you have fire protection, you cannot have blast protection.

Each item has 5 slots, all interchangeable. So, with soul-bound, I have 4 slots left. I create enchanted books, 16 of them.

So, of course, I add every type of protection to the armor. At one point, Minecraft updated. Not noted in the changelogs, they removed the limiter. For about 1 month, people created godlike armor. It was quickly readded, but the damage was done. Among servers, groups of people were walking around with armor nearly unbreakable.

In this case, I now have the best vanilla upgrades possible. Once I upgrade them with awakened cores, it will be one of the strongest armors possible. Exceptions always exist, but for all intents and purposes; I will be nigh indestructible,

The power staff was a little more complicated. I used my 4 slots for a variety of things. Sharpness 5, fortune 5, Reaper 5, and looting 5; I do love a good multitool. Of course, I can always add and remove enchants to fit my needs. But, this suffices for general use. If I disenchant a vengeance pickaxe, I can add fortune 10 to it.

Now, I need ender dragon eggs. A digital miner will be the best thing for this job, so I’ll craft one. The only ingredient I lack is atomic alloy.

Taking some diamond dust and obsidian dust, I combined it to create refined obsidian. Infusing that onto a reinforced alloy made atomic alloy. I automate this with hoppers while I craft the items.

The thing about a digital miner, it is not hard. It’s just very annoying. Lots of ingredients combine to make other things on repeat about 4 consecutive times for each item. While crafting this thing, I felt something I haven’t for a long time. Crafting Fatigue.

With having made all the awakened armor, then all this complex equipment, it has exhausted my internal battery.

I am forced to take a rest before I topple over. I enjoy a short book, falling asleep before I knew it. I woke up groggy and confused from a dreamless sleep. It likely wasn’t long, but it was still annoying. “I didn’t want to sleep,” I say in a tired voice. Now I am going to be groggy for the next hour.

Shaking my head in hopes the mental fog would leave. It did not, but the action made me feel better.

I chop off one of my vibrant capacity banks. I need it to power the digital miner. Also creating a diamond chest, and collecting extra utility pipes for my gear.

Using my red ant, I disappear into the strange world. Once my disorientation dissipates, I begin to set my gear down. Battery first, digital miner on top, and export with the chest. I bought a dolly with me to move the chest. Opening the terminal, I click begin.

I have set it to only harvest dried spawn eggs. Putting “create a custom mining system.” In my notebook. You can control what it mines down to single blocks. So I plan to edit it to only mine magical, rare and unknown Materials. For example, I don’t need iron. It is growing in my backyard, for God’s sake.

Looking inside the chest, it begins to quickly fill up. Taking a second diamond chest out, a water bucket, and an infinite water source, the long process of manually rehydrating begins.

As a new one is mined, I rehydrate it and move it towards the second diamond chest. This job will need doing eventually; I’m just doing it now while I am waiting. Rehydrating them as they are mined works, but I cannot keep up with the digital miner. It’s far faster than my hands.

I imagine one of these could bankrupt mining towns without a doubt. Stick it in the woods, and boom, you have harvested all the stuff they are mining, secretly. I won’t do that because it is a dick move.

It’s like a bike lock; how are they legal? Walks up to a door, “you are now closed.” Walks next door, “you too.” You hold a lot of power with a bit of metal and some creativity.

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Picking up my supplies, I return home. Putting the battery back and putting the miner away. I dump all the eggs, except the ender dragon egg, into my ME system. Eyeing the KING eggs a little. You could seriously wreck a world with that many kings. Putting them inside the ME system with care.

Taking 9 of the dragon eggs, I begin to fight them. My new armor is beyond broken. I can fly like lightning, tank a tank shell, and shrug off a nuclear explosive. Even without upgrades, I destroy the dragons. 4 strikes and KO, I can’t wait to upgrade it.

Making my awakened draconium, I make all the cores. Upgrading the armor, I split it between shield regen and capacity. The power staff was focused on pure damage. I can always change the upgrades at a later date.

I killed an extra dragon intentionally for a specific item; an awakened draconium flux capacitor. Your armor uses power to do everything. The shield, the flight, it all needs RF. As you can imagine, it drains the energy like a 5 dollar whore. This is where the capacitor comes in. It is a battery you keep close by that store’s extra power. It is vital to have at least 1 when fighting the chaos guardian.

With my task done, I fall back into bed. Do I test my armor yet? “Nah.” I feel like my body is shutting down with exhaustion. Asking Is Chic wants to join me for a nap. They accept, scuttling to my location rapidly. Stroking Chics abdomen slowly while lying back, I fall asleep. This time, I intended to go to sleep.

Waking up was interesting. For a few moments, I thought I was asleep on a water pillow. I then realized I don’t own such a pillow. Getting up only to feel a weight on my legs. Chic is asleep on my legs, and Sling is my pillow. It was a shock to the system, that is for sure.

It took me about 10 minutes to escape their grasp. Falling to the floor with a metallic thump. Surprised at not being hurt, I realized I was inside my awakened draconium armor. Translucent from the inside, I can see out perfectly. Like a second skin, a cushiony layer protects my body.

Moving my arms and fingers, I feel like I am not wearing anything at all. The only indicator the distance when I rub my fingers together, having not made it invisible yet. “Do I need to make it invisible?” it is not wyvern armor. Let’s ask Average first. “See, I am learning.”

“First, let’s test it!” Stepping out of my castle, I walk into my island. Messing with the settings, I start jumping. Increasing the power bit by bit, I jump to insane heights. Enabling flight, I made the mistake of flying at full speed at first.

Hearing a thundering boom as the horizon moves in a blur. Stopping myself, I found unfamiliar terrain underfoot. That is some speed, that is clear. I suppose my Tardis is for dimensional travel now, poor thing.

Okay, let’s see Average. I teleport directly in front of the office building. Having avoided the crowd, I step into the room with full armor. Spotting that Royal Captain milling about the waiting area.

He cocks his head to the side, measuring me with his eyes. I shrug it off, walking to the counter. Lifting the front of my helmet, “here of Average.”

He looks gobsmacked, nodding his head, mouth still agape. Walking to Averages office, I knock politely.

“Come in.” I hear in his usual tone.

“Hey, Average. Just wanted to ask if this armor is fine.”

He began to point at me, letting his hand hover in the air. A mixture of confusion and surprise on his face; “What is that?”

“My new armor. I was hoping no royalty wears this.”

“I don’t think so…” He says, eyeing me like a piece of meat. “That looks expensive.”

“Likely because it is.”

“Looks like the wyvern armor, but gold and better.” I hear, bringing a slight smirk to my hidden face.

“It is the upgraded version.”

He has a look of utter bewilderment on his face. “You are treading a thin line. I don’t know if anyone owns the armor, uses it for royalty, or even knows about it. I won’t tell you not to wear it, but be careful.”

“I will, thank you, Average,” I say in joy. I can wear it, yes!

“No problem. You know, you are the only person who can just… see me. No meeting just walks in.”

“You are always doing paperwork, as it matters. If anything, I break the monotony of the job.”

“I can’t say that is untrue.” He says with a nod.

“See, told you…” He interjects.

“Although, ever since you came here, the amount of work I complete each day is reduced by 40%.” He says with a half-smile.

Shrugging, “Ouch, I can’t believe you keep track of it.”

“You see, I have no direct boss. So, I have to do my own performance review to keep my work quality high.”

“I see; well, have fun with that,” I said while waving him goodbye. Disappearing around the corner. Stepping out of the building, I walk into the market. Getting a whole load more stares. Glad I got used to it in advance. I have been the center of attention for a long while now. “How long have I been here? Nearly a year, I would guess.” Somewhere between 8 and 10 months. Not an insignificant number… I wonder how my family is doing.

I hope my Nan is still hanging on. She was in hospital when I… died. Voice quieting at the painful thought. “How long was I dead? Is my entire family already dead?” Slowing to a stop, voice cracking at the thought. “They are dead; I was in the void for… Only God knows how long.” A tear trickling down my face as the realization sets in.

I stumble to a nearby seat. Sitting with my face in my hands. I am here having fun, living the dream. Yet, my family is dead. Did my brother ever have a family? Am I an uncle? Did his children have children?

“Felix! How long was I in the void?” I say, a thread of hope.

To my surprise, he responds.

“That is impossible for me to guess. It doesn’t follow the natural laws of space and time.” The thread frays at the edges, as I hear every word.

“How likely is it my family is dead and long passed?” I say, a quiver in my voice. I say, asking the painful question.

For the first time, he speaks in a solemn and comforting tone. “Earth right now… is far more advanced than when you were alive. I don’t know what year you died but…”

“2016 was the date of my last memory!” The last line of the thread left.

“I am sorry.” He says in a solemn tone.” ‘Snap’

I just pull my knees to my chest. A heart-wrenching pain in my chest; a void I didn’t know was there. I don’t know when, but I returned home. Sitting in the corner of my room, just breathing.