A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 198 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Third Continent***

***Ezekiel***

“So, your story means that the nanotech’s forced partnership system can be switched off?” I asked in wonderment after my wives and I listened patiently to the entire tale. If so, I could have a true physical relationship with all three of my wives, including all the kinky stuff, which would be too risky to engage in otherwise.

Oh, we would have so much fun!

Not that going all the way only with Bianca left me unsatisfied, but Patricia and Christina deserved the full package too, being sisters and all. I had too much love to give to be limited to just one woman!

“Well, yes…” Astra replied, frowning a little bit disapprovingly at the three women hanging off my arms.

I quickly corrected my dreamy expression, then thought better of it and allowed myself to drift back into the world of my imagination. I was an ancient! The one on whose shoulders this place was built! Without me, all my citizens would be dead, or worse! Used as breeding incubators by one of the parasitic nasties that roamed this continent. I had all the right in the world to accept the love of three beautiful women who threw themselves into my arms!

Despite knowing very well that clan Aerie was a little bit prudish regarding their social norms, I shouldn’t care one bit about what they thought of my women or me.

I swallowed the saliva that was already gathering in my mouth at the thought of having a true foursome with all of my wives. Soon, I wasn’t just going to live in a paradise of my own making, but in a true one! We would hide in our rooms and not come out till I couldn’t get it up any more.

Christina, who was sitting on my lap, leaned closer and whispered into my ear while she pinched the back of my neck. “Ask them whether their portal can help with the food problem.”Bummed out at being reminded of the annoying topic that always came up during meetings, I cleared my throat, “Ahem! Concerning this portal technology of yours: If we joined this world-spanning society you are beginning to build, would it be possible for the clans to help out with some of the food problems we are facing?”

“Food problems?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, you see, there is mostly only megafauna on this continent,” I began the explanation. “Killing one of the big Kaiju-sized monsters can feed the settlement for some time, but we almost always pay for it with the lives of our people. Not to mention that some other big motherfucker will almost certainly show up soon enough to steal our kill. So, even if we kill one of the monsters for harvesting, we have only a limited time to gather as much meat as can be carried before the window of opportunity is gone. It is not a sustainable practice.”

I gestured with my hand to emphasise the problem. “Not to mention that farming isn’t on the table for us. We don’t have glowmoss or any underworld ecosystem, for that matter. And if we build farms outside, we would attract the big monsters. While some eat plants, none of them are as nice as the sahernas back on your continent. They tend to smash people if they notice them.”

Astra tilted her head questioningly. “Aren’t you strong enough to take on such creatures? Ancient Mary can solo a worm.”

I laughed. “No, no, no. I am nowhere near the level of that madwoman in combat potential, though I am certainly stronger than your average hunter. My mutations require a little more finesse! Your grandmother is a weapon of mass destruction, while I excel in sneaky tasks.”

As a demonstration, I thrust my hand out and simultaneously flicked a finger at one of the empty glasses of water in the middle of the table. Then I tucked, and the glass flew into my waiting hand.

Magnus’s eyebrows almost rose to his hairline in surprise. “Telekinesis!?”

I grinned.

“There is no such thing as telekinesis!” Astra chided her partner.

I let the glass go, and it fell until it reached the end of the invisible string that was attached to it. Twirling my finger, I spun it around lazily.

Grinning, Magnus pointed a finger at me. “You are Spiderman!”

I frowned, having no clue what he was speaking about. “Who?”

Astra sighed and frustratedly placed a palm on her forehead. “Forget it. It’s surely some reference to some long-forgotten pop-culture thing.”

Judging by their interaction, I guessed this type of interaction was normal for the pair.

Bianca leaned in and whispered into my free ear. “Spiderman is some old comic book hero who also had a spider mutation.”

Understanding, I nodded and put the glass down. “That’s not all of my power, but as you can imagine, it’s not that suited to taking down a fifty-meter giant. At least not compared to Mary, who can turn on her internal nuclear reactor and melt a hole through a mountain.”

Patricia took Christina’s place and whispered, “Tell them we would do anything as long as they help us out, and things remain peaceful.”

“Yes, well. As mentioned, if the clans could help us out with trade, we would join your alliance all too happily. If I remember correctly, just getting some of Clan Aerie’s expertise with underground plantations would be enough to make our settlement indefinitely more livable.”

Magnus absent-mindedly massaged his chin. “We can’t speak for the clan’s resources, which are already stretched thin due to the war, as you can imagine. But I don’t see any logical reason why we shouldn’t be able to share a few specimens for you to cultivate on your own. And maybe it is possible to reroute some of the kingdom’s resources.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Bianca had to add another thing with a whisper, “Tell them that we hope they didn’t have a too bad first impression of us when they met that hunting group.”

“Oh, and please don’t think badly of us,” I added. “You got introduced to us by that hunting group, didn’t you? I bet those ruffians first needed to have their brains straightened out.” I scratched the back of my head and smiled. “I know that hunting is a respected job in Clan Aerie, but around here, it’s a punishment because it is a highly risky occupation. It’s tended to be taken up by people who aren’t respected elements of our society, and who haven’t pissed me off enough to be thrown into the maw of the next monster that comes by.”

Magnus laughed. “I like the way you are doing things!”

Astra glared at him, and he quickly corrected himself.

“Minus the three women part! One is definitely enough for me!”

I grinned. Not every man was capable of handling three wives. Too bad for him.

Bianca tucked at my back to gain my attention. “Ask whether they can do anything to help in the short term.”

I cleared my throat to relay her wish, but Astra held up her hand. “You know… You can speak up directly if there is something you want to say. No need to route everything through your partner.”

Patricia threw her arms around my neck and pouted. “But that’s not how we do things around here!”

I continued to smile like an idiot while our guests exchanged a meaningful look. It felt like they were discussing something, but even my enhanced senses couldn’t pick up on whatever means they were employing. Did the two have psychic abilities, or were they using the UI they had hinted at?

After about two minutes of silent exchange, Astra returned her attention to me. “We may be able to slay one of the big monsters if you can get your gathering teams ready to make good use of the opportunity.”

I blinked. “Slay how?”

Magnus patted one of the big cylindrical containers they had brought with them. At first sight, I had guessed it to be an unwieldy backpack, but now that I got a closer look, it seemed like some sort of device.

“We don’t have enough juice to do intercontinental travel on our own, so we brought these batteries. One for the return trip and one as a backup. If we use one to get home, we could use the excess power to chuck the other at a monster and kill it.”

I frowned. “What would you need to do that?”

“A wide and stable area as a launch platform,” Astra explained. “And, ideally, you could prepare some documentation for our government. Like, what you would be able to offer in trade. I am certain our people would establish a wormgate with your settlement sooner or later. But if there is some incentive, it would certainly make the decision easier.”

I gestured for my officials at the other end of the table, who had been fairly useless so far. “You have heard the lady! You have half an hour to document all the resources we get in abundance here, including those that would be good for trade. I want a list as well as some small samples which are easy to carry, should there be something exotic among them.”

Several people jumped to their feet, and after conferring with each other for a few short seconds, they left the room to do my bidding.

Yes, delegation was indeed the best form of rulership.

My wives and I entertained our guests for another hour, involving some idle chit-chat. But I mostly focused my attention on Magnus while the women had their eyes on Astra.

Magnus was a strange one as far as I was concerned. Most of his interests lay so far outside of my expertise that I was tempted to label him a special form of functional autist. The enthusiasm he could wield for some card game called magic, and how the wormgates worked, was something I couldn’t connect with. Hopefully, there weren’t more of his kind around, or dealing with the clans again would quickly become tiresome.

Nonetheless, reminding myself that these people offered the opportunity to switch off or at least control the cursed nanites was enough for me to smile and nod while I pretended to be interested in the mechanics of spacetime and its applications.

All I had to do was nod and be friendly for my personal paradise to manifest on its own – hopefully.

Thankfully, we found ourselves standing on one of the settlement’s sturdier fortifications soon enough.

My people had handled my wishes to our satisfaction, handing Astra and Magnus a stack of documents with neatly listed possibilities for future trade and support. At this point, they were only offers anyway. Whether the clans saw any potential in what we had to offer was left to be seen.

Someone was wise enough to include a list of possible mutations that were easily achievable with the animals that were available on this continent. In this, I saw the most potential, as there were certainly beasties here which I couldn’t remember inhabiting the area where the clans lived.

With the documents came a backpack with samples, which Astra hung onto her shoulder.

The target was a grazing group of what we called giga-elephants. They were pure herbivores, so even if Magnus and Astra killed only one of them, the others wouldn’t descend on the corpse of their herd member. They were a few kilometres away from the settlement, enough to make them seem small when in fact, they were not.

According to Magnus and Astra, the distance was no problem.

My wives and I bade our visitors farewell before we retreated to a distance which was previously determined to be safe.

Patricia looked a little peeved once we had taken our position.

“Does something have you concerned, Pat?” I asked, already imagining all the sweaty nights we would have soon.

“That Astra prude has already three kids!” Patricia fumed. “Three! And we don’t have a single one! It is unfair!”

I blinked, but kept smiling. “It is, isn’t it?”

Thankfully, Magnus and Astra were done with whatever preparations they needed. Astra placed her cylindrical container on the ground, and it suddenly began to grow!

The pair stepped onto the wide platform of what quickly turned into a sizeable pillar. The side split open, releasing arcs of electricity. Inside was what looked to be a huge coil spinning at incredible speed. If Magnus hadn’t just peppered me for the better part of an hour with physics-talk, I probably wouldn’t have recognised it as some sort of flywheel.

Then an arc of lightning shot through the pair as Magnus hoisted his battery onto his shoulder as if he intended to throw it! The arc bent back around, hitting the pair a second time while describing an infinity symbol as it went back into the hovering flywheel!

My ears cracked as the battery departed from Magnus with a supersonic ‘Boom!’, creating a line of supercharged plasma that connected him and the centre of the herd of giga-elephants.

Then, with another flash of light, Magnus and Astra were gone, and the spent flywheel fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

In the distance, the earth erupted from beneath the herd, enveloping it in a cloud of dust and shrapnel as if a god had decided to delete them from existence. A small mushroom cloud began to form above the impact zone even before the thunderclap of the distant impact reached us.

I opened my mouth and worked my jaw to reset the pressure in my ears, which had been thrown off by standing right next to the equivalent of a rail gun. The infinity symbol was still burned into my vision as if I had looked into the sun for a little too long.

Once I felt comfortable, I spoke, “That was certainly a show. I forgot that the people from the clans do things… so differently.”

Nonetheless, I hoped they would return soon with a solution to those damned nanites.

Bianca pulled and massaged at her earlobe, trying to reset the pressure that way. “We need better security measures to handle people who carry around small, tactical nukes.”

Patricia nodded vehemently. “Once they set up that wormgate, everybody gets searched!”

Christina regarded the huge chunk of metal and coils now left lying on the roof of our watchtower. Her eyes went between the flywheel’s remains and the small door which led to the watchtower’s stairway. “Do you think we can ask them to shrink that back down and take it away? Because I have no idea how to transport that block of metal off the roof.”