As he walked back to the hotel, he transmuted a block of food into a set of gauntlets. He had been meaning to give James a pair for a while. This might only protect his hands and forearms, but it was better than nothing. Yang and Lily would probably like a pair as well, but he couldn’t make one for them yet. The card specified that the gauntlets would fit him. Their hands were far too small to use gauntlets sized for him.

Once the gauntlets were tucked away, Max checked his mana pool. 14/36. He would have to keep an eye on the regeneration rate for his next project. His plan was to research different metals on wikipedia and decide on one to use to make his hammer. That was assuming that his e-ink reader was still working, which wasn’t a sure thing. All of his other electronics had already broken.

If everything came together and it didn’t take too many tries to change the default metal of his hammer, he would buy the Armor card. Then he could switch from chitin armor to titanium armor or something. The other great part about the Armor card was that it didn’t say the armor was sized for him. That meant he could armor up the whole squad. It would open up a revenue stream for him too. Everyone needed armor on Spinworld.

He checked in on the rest of the squad when he got to the hotel. They were all sitting on Yang’s bed and talking. She was looking much better now. She still had a scowl on her face, but Max was pretty sure that was just Yang being Yang.

“Hey, buddy. You buy some cool stuff?” James asked.

Max thunked down his pack. “Not yet. I bought us all low mana food, but I haven’t bought any magic stuff yet. I gotta do some research first.”

“Cool beans,” James said. “I think I’ll head out shopping soon too. Lily reminded me that I still haven’t sold the two orbs I got as loot.”

“Ooh, awesome. Get yourself something badass. Don’t forget to check out the armor shop too. I made you some gauntlets, but we’ll all need something to protect us.”

Lily said, “Ashley came by when you were out. She was pissed. It was honestly a little hilarious seeing her deal with the consequences of trying to screw us all over.”

“Speaking of Ashley, are you thinking we should bar her and Gus from coming with us?” Yang asked.

“I was going to ask you guys what you thought. I’m kinda mad at them now. I don’t know if blocking them is the right thing though. They were selfish jerks, but they didn’t actually do anything to directly harm us,” Max said.

“Lily and James feel like they should be given a second chance. I believe if we travel with them again, it’s just giving them a second chance to betray us,” Yang said.

Lily nodded. “She’s right, but that means we can trust them. We can trust them to always do what’s best for themselves. No ulterior motives, just pure self interest.”

Max thought about it and said, “That’s a good point. Yeah, let’s let them come along. We never trust them with loot or protecting us, but they’ll be useful in a fight for their lives. It’s not ideal, but I don’t think I could live with myself if they died because we wouldn’t let them come with us.”

Lily and James smiled and Yang shrugged and looked away.

Lily slapped her knees. “Well, with that out of the way, I think I’ll head out and do some shopping of my own. Yang, get some rest, we’ll be walking all day tomorrow.”

“Yes, grandma,” Yang mocked.

Despite her tone, Yang slid under the covers while everyone headed out. James grabbed his orbs and joined Lily while Max headed to his room.

Before he had headed out this morning, Max had emptied his pack on the bed. It was covered in camping gear from one end to another. Reluctantly, Max decided to clean it up and decide what to throw away. Even with dozens of pounds of food gone, he still had too much stuff to carry around without his exolegs.

He kept his cooking gear, it would be vital for making the roots and veggies palatable. Reluctantly, he set aside the blowtorch. He never even got to use that. The tent and backup tent had to go too. His day pack was full of everyday carry survival gear and light enough to keep. Duct tape was an easy decision to keep. He kept his large water bottle, but emptied it out. There was enough water in the jungle, but that might not always be the case on other layers.

The sleeping bag and pad weren’t strictly necessary, but a good night’s rest was valuable, so he kept them. He did part with the camp chair though. The trio of broken flashlights went too. He hadn’t gotten around to seeing if gold and platinum was valuable here, so he tucked those small bars away. He wasn’t sure why he had brought so much bug spray, but he put most of it in the sell pile. Hammurabi had promised to buy what he couldn’t carry.

That only left the parts of his crossbow. If it was working, he would definitely keep it, a near silent weapon would be fantastic. But the front of the stock was busted and it was in several pieces now. He should throw it away, but he knew it was fixable. Both limbs were still intact, they just needed to be reattached to the stock. Maybe he would see if someone in town could repair it later.

With the packing taken care of, Max could finally get to the kindle. With no small amount of trepidation, he opened up the cover. To his delight, it turned on. He quickly pulled up wikipedia.

He excitedly started browsing through articles on different metals. This might be the first time he had ever been excited to do research. There were a variety of different metals to choose from. At first he looked at the articles on titanium and tungsten. Then he remembered that the female Paj had said copper was an easy metal to work with. It was as good as any place to start.

If he could create a copper hammer instead of a steel one, then wikipedia would have proven its worth. He read the article on copper as an element, its uses in technology, all about the color copper, and even a few about copper mines. Then he went back to the basics and memorized detailed facts about the protons, neutrons, and electrons that made up copper. He wasn’t sure if the electrons per shell was important, but he memorized that too.

By the time he was done, it was almost dinnertime and his mana had fully regenerated. He grabbed the broken flashlights to use them as feedstock. He cleared his mind and focused on only the image of a copper hammer. He imagined what it looked like, what it tasted like. Its chemical properties and magnetic profile. Its flexibility and conductivity. Nothing but copper facts entered his mind. He clicked that mental button. Bright lights flew out and altered reality one mote at a time. Within moments, he held a hammer in his hand. A steel hammer.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He tossed it down onto the bed in frustration. He stomped out of the room knowing it would be at least two hours before he could regain enough mana to create another one. He checked around the hotel for the others. Yang was sleeping and Lily and James weren’t back yet.

He went out to dinner while he waited. He decided to try something new. He wandered for a bit before he found a shawarma place. The pita bread and meat were great, but the sauce was way too spicy. He also discovered he was not a fan of sweet potato fries.

By the time he went back to the hotel, James and Lily were there. James had bought a small metal buckler. It was only slightly bigger than a frisbee.

“Is that all you bought? I thought you would have bought a full suit of armor,” Max said.

James shook his head. “Couldn’t afford it. Everything is insanely expensive. I couldn’t afford magic armor, a breastplate cost more than 250 whites. I spent most of what I had on this shield. I would have saved everything, but I couldn’t pass up this little guy. It will automatically protect the wearer from a single attack once a day.”

“Well, that shield sounds cool, but it’s weird that everything was so expensive. It’s not hard to make stuff with citadel cards. Besides, the Paj woman specifically said we could gear up with just a few whites,” Max said.

Lily held up a bag. “She was kind of right. I bought two basic sets of armor for only five whites. But the problem is that they don’t cover everything and they are made of chitin. The salesman said that was only good against tier one monsters. It’s better than nothing, but the standard monster on this layer can rip right through it.”

“But it would have protected us against the feathered serpents, right?” Max asked.

Lily nodded, “Yeah, that’s why I still bought a set for me and Yang. It’s better than nothing and we are ending up in the first layer anyway.”

“I didn’t buy a set because I had a better idea,” James said with an excited look on his face.

Lily rolled her eyes and went back to her room.

Max put his fingers to his temples and said, “Let me use my psychic powers to discern your plan. You want me to go to All Things Magic and Good and buy the Armor card. Then I can make armor for the whole team.”

“Yes! How did you know?” James asked. “Did you get a Telepathy card?”

Max laughed as he shook his head. “No, of course not. I just visited the same store you did.”

“Oh.”

“The saleslady said the armor card only makes chitin armor. I want to see if I can figure out how to change my card’s material. If I can make steel armor, I want the card, but if it’s only chitin armor, I don’t want it. I can’t take cards out of my deck, remember?”

“Right, right. Well, we brought back dinner. Did you want some?”

“Already ate. I’m gonna get back to studying. The Paj lady says I have to understand a material to use it with my citadel cards,” Max said.

He plopped on the bed and started re-reading everything. When he hatched this plan, he thought that the kindle was a magic bullet. Wikipedia was a huge repository of knowledge, but there wasn’t a lot about copper. It only took him half an hour to re-read everything. He checked his mana and decided to try again.

This time he focused solely on the atomic side of the element. Copper had 29 protons and 34 neutrons, atomic weight of 63, with exactly 29 electrons in a 2, 8, 18, 1 formation. It reacted with oxygen and not much else. He tried to focus solely on those facts and nothing else.

When he felt ready, he clicked that mental button. Motes of light swirled up and chewed through the tent he was using as feedstock. He felt some feedback, like the card was fighting against him. He focused harder, not letting anything distract him for the few seconds it took to transmute the hammer. He squinted his eyes as he stared at the soft glow.

“Yes!” Max yelled as he held the hammer up in the air. The copper hammer.

He had done it! It turned out that the magic just needed precise directions of what element to use. Once he got that right, he could make a shiny copper hammer. It was the most beautiful thing he had seen since he got here. It represented possibility and endless potential. Now that he knew the secret to using his citadel card, he felt unstoppable.

The hammer was a bit unbalanced. It was solid copper instead of having a wooden handle. A minor detail he was sure he could overcome with practice.

He was going to buy that armor card. Now that he knew he could make armor out of any metal he wanted, the card would be a perfect part of his arsenal. He jumped up and rushed out the door. He only had 75 orbs instead of the 80 the Paj had quoted, but he was sure he could talk her down.

As he hurried across the city, he ran across an unexpected problem. Night fell. He skidded to a stop in the darkness. Apparently time had gotten away from him. He waited until his eyes adjusted and used the streetlights to sheepishly walk back to the hotel.

The next morning, Max woke up later than planned. The others were finishing breakfast and he had to eat on the go. He enjoyed the breakfast burrito they gave him and did his best not to think about where the eggs came from. Thankfully, he had already packed the day before, so they weren’t going to be late.

As they walked, Max checked in on Yang. She said she was feeling fantastic and stronger than ever. She said the armor was a bit weird, but other than that she was in top form. Both women were already wearing the armor Lily had bought. It was black chitin and tightly covered their chest and arms. Instead of leg armor, they wore a segmented skirt. The armored skirt was short in the front and long in the back. It must have been made by a Paj, designed to cover a tail instead of legs.

There was a crowd at the gates with more gathering as the day went on. Most of them wore armor and carried weapons. Based on how mismatched they were, Max assumed they were hunters about to head out for the day. The crowd was about half Lunuk and half Paj, with the occasional human thrown in.

Gus and Ashley walked up then, clearly looking for Ebba. When they saw that she hadn’t arrived yet, they awkwardly stood off to the side. Max caught their eye and waved them over.

“We talked it over and decided we won’t fight you two coming with,” Max said. “Just don’t expect us to trust you anytime soon.”

“You don’t get to decide if we come with or not,” Ashley said and threw up her hands. “We fought just like you did to earn the cards you paid Ebba with. We paid our way, you can’t force us out!”

Max rolled his eyes and turned away from her. She was trying to argue even after she got what she wanted. He looked Gus in the eyes and gave him a nod. Gus hesitated for a second and nodded back. There might not be trust, but there was mutual respect.

He turned to James and said, “When Ebba gets here, let her know I’ll be right back.”

“You got it, buddy,” James said and saluted.

Max saluted back with mock seriousness and hurried off. He still wanted to buy a magic card. He had pretty much decided on the Armor card, but he was going to ask about the Drill card before he pulled the trigger. Maybe the nature of its magical effect would change his mind.

A trio of guards walked out as he walked into the magic store. The Paj behind the counter looked happy to see him. Max frowned. This was the Paj from yesterday that had promised to negotiate harshly when he came back. His green skin was hairless, but Max was starting to think he looked like the Grinch.

“Hello my customer! Welcome, welcome. Have you come to purchase equipment for the war effort as well? The best stuff has been sold, but I still have plenty of cards and artifacts suited for a sapling like you.”

“War? What war?” Max said, surprised.

“Oh, you haven’t heard yet?” the Paj said casually. “Abyssinia declared war on us. Their army has been marching since yesterday and should arrive within hours.”