Thursday, July 12, 2018, 8:00 AM Norfolk, VA

  I started off the day with reflections of the crafting of homunculi, and other, greater servants of arcana bound into stone and steel. I knew that I was a few days off, but figured that I was going to end up needing to start making the bodies. I knew that I didn’t have the materials yet, and sketching it out only went so far, so I could only do so much preparatory work. Agent Smith said that he would get the materials, and I believed him. With that in mind, I decided to start off my day with reflecting on what I might need to do for anything else that I was having on my plate, and the best way to do that is with breakfast, actual breakfast.

  Now, I could make a facsimile of coffee, but it would not have the same caffeinated succor. Before I left, I decided to put as much energy into the Armor, to try to get it done faster. At least now, from what I estimate, I should be done with the fabrication in just over a week, with no more arcanic force put into it, it will all resolve itself and be fully fabricated by then. Then I will need to figure out the alchemical hardening aspects for each, and also the enchantments. I set up the next project that I was planning to work on, enchanting a rifle case to function as the stand for automatically enhancing the weapons that I get sent, as long as the salt is provided.

  With my daily work done, I decided to get that breakfast that I had been planning on getting. I let Rex know where I was heading, to which he sleepily chirped out an acknowledgement, and I used my enchanted boots to jump out of the storage unit and into the wide world. Almost immediately got assailed by a series of alerts from my S.H.I.E.L.D. phone. Stopping before I went further, I took a look at it. Several voicemails and a couple of text messages were all on my lock screen. I unlocked the phone, with my thumbprint, to see what was written. The voicemails were from calls that obviously could not connect due to being in my extra-dimensional tent, and the text messages were just waiting for me to get a signal again.

  I looked at the text messages and there were a few from Pepper and one from Jonathan. I opened up the message from Pepper, and she seemed a bit panicked. She mentioned that Tony had found a problem with the Phoenix Cores, and needed some help. Her messages ended with requesting that I contact her as soon as I can. I listened to the voice messages and it was a bit more of the same, with Pepper telling me a bit more, that Tony had done some destructive testing on one of the Phoenix Cores, and he found that all of the pieces had the same temperature characteristics of the original Phoenix Cores, meaning he can’t shape or modify them without special equipment.

  I texted Pepper back that I would call her after I got coffee. She replied back fairly quickly that she appreciated my response and that Tony was trying to figure out how to mitigate this and making requests for her to order millions of dollars of equipment to deal with this. With less time to relax and get coffee, I decided to go to Chick-Fil-A, pick up a quick breakfast, and went to the West Point Cemetery, a place that I figured would be fairly empty at this time of day. I made my way there and saw that the sunrise detail for the flag was just leaving. I waited a few moments to be respectful, and then when everyone was gone, I called Pepper.

  Pepper answered almost immediately, saying that Tony was obsessed with solving this puzzle that I had given all of them. I asked her exactly what was the best solution that she, or Tony, could think of. She told me that Tony was looking at materials that could cut super hot stone, collection methods for the super heated dust, and all of the knock on effects associated with it. I listened to her tell me about all of the issues with drilling through these high temperature rocks, and how waterjets wouldn’t work either, as it would flash to steam on contact. After a minute of thinking while she was further describing the problem, I came upon a solution, and waited for her to pause before asking if she thought that she could get a similar box to the one that Wong had delivered.

  Pepper did some quick searching and found a similar box, and said that she’d contact Wong and get it to me ASAP. I told her that if she could get it to me early enough, I could start working on it today. Pepper told me that she would get in contact with Wong as soon as possible. We said our goodbyes and I walked back to the storage unit. I was going to be spending a large amount of time on this, I could tell.

  On the way back, I started doing some estimations and figured on how much time and salt it was going to take me. Roughly a thousand pounds of salt, almost completely emptying my supply. And almost all of today. Well, the things that we do to make the world better, right? Oh look, a marvelous sparkle circle appearing in my tent.

  ********

  Thursday, July 12, 2018, 7:30 PM Norfolk, VA

  I’m not going to say that this was easy. It most definitely was not. I’m not going to say that it was the longest time I had spent enchanting an item, but it certainly wasn’t the quickest. BUT, it certainly was the most interesting, as Wong had decided that he wanted to stay and watch me work with this one as well. Funnily enough, this was going to be the one that I actually called on the excess energy of the Ley Line to do the most. I was really gunning for adding a LOT of extra riders in on this, and it seems like this was the best and worst time for Wong to be there. At least, he knew a fair amount about magic to actually help a little bit.

  At the end of over seven hours though, I was done. It wasn’t as certain as other items I have made, but it DID work. Tony’s gold-titanium alloy in another box, with the name, “Tony’s Petro-Printer” etched in, in the vitriolic green, with another series of runes etched in around the lip of both the lid and the base this time. Thankfully, the lid was hinged on this, so that it was all one piece. Also, it was good that it was one foot by one foot interior, as at least it would ensure that the entirety of the piece is reshaped.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  With it done, I sighed in relief and looked to Wong. He seemed to be nonplussed at it, and I asked if we could wait for three hours to get it to Tony, as it would take me at least an hour to nap, and then another fifteen minutes to recover my arcana energy, then an hour after that to continue with the Scrying. Wong said that he would go check with Pepper, and get back to me, before opening up a portal. I stepped out of the tent into the storage unit and went back to the messages that I had forgotten to check, after the panic from Pepper. It was Jonathan, and he indicated to me that he had the materials, and could deliver them as soon as I needed. I smacked myself in the forehead, and called him promptly

  Jonathan answered and said that he would be over shortly, that he had the materials in the trunk of his car. I dimensionally jumped out of the gate, unlocked it, and lifted it up, as I was fairly certain that Agent Smith did not have a Sling Ring, like Wong did. After a few minutes, Wong walked out of the tent and the storage unit, to tell me that Pepper thought it better that we do it tomorrow morning, when she won’t be busy. That was when two guys tried to jump us, to steal whatever they thought was on our person or in the storage unit. Wong looked at me as the two pulled guns and threatened both of us, and I gave a look saying, I got this.

  Before they could pull the trigger on either of their guns, I pulled my own pistol to even the score, reflexively landing in my Stance of Piercing Rays. One of the two fired off two shots at me, the first one went wide getting deflected by an Interposing Strike from my own pistol, and the second one grazed my ribs. I summoned up my studied focus on the guy who just shot at me, activated Searing Break, and hit him with a massive pair of hits, dropping him unconscious in a violent (illusionary) display of violence and gore. The other criminal had apparently had a second thought, and faltered for just a second, and in that time, I shot him twice with the same attacks, knocking him out as well. Wong snicker and said that it might be a good thing if we taught this miscreants a lesson, and opened up a portal to another place, underneath the two, before letting the portal close, and saying that they would be let loose in an hour, and placed directly in a cell in the local jail.

  I thanked him for disposing of the reprobates, and told him that I appreciated the update and that I would be available tomorrow morning whenever Pepper and him were, to just let me know. Wong opened up his own portal and told me that he would. I wished him well for the rest of his day, while I waited for Jonathan. It didn’t take too long for Jonathan to text me that he was here, with some of the supplies, and on his way up to the unit. I thanked him and watched for him to get there.

  When he got there, he asked me about the obvious wound that I had not dealt with yet. I told him that it was when a pair of motorcycle gang thugs had tried to hold Wong and me up, and that Wong had taken them to some place for… reflection. Jonathan nodded, and wheeled in the dolly with a big block of material, a rectangular box with some writing on it, a box with metal pieces in it, and a small velvet box on the top. I took over moving everything, as I had a MUCH easier time doing it than him. I welcomed him in and we talked for a bit.

  He told me that the pallets of salt would be delivered on the morning of the fifteenth, noticing how much smaller my piles were. He asked me if I thought that I would need some before then, and I shrugged, saying that I could definitely use some, but how much, I couldn’t really know. He told me that he’d get another pallet dropped off tomorrow, as I could probably use it to make more items while I wait. I thanked him, and went through everything he had delivered. The two parts for the material called EPOXICLAY-EC1000FR, the short metal rods and wiring for the frame, the box of Emeralds, and the rectangular box had thin foil.

  I looked at him oddly with that, and he told me that it was frequently used to go around the frame, to decrease the amount of clay or epoxy clay was needed. I thought about it, and realized that it wouldn’t be the worst thing to use for the process, in fact it might make one aspect even easier. Jonathan looked at me a git askew, and asked if I needed anything else currently. I told him no, but that after these are all made, I might probably be up to maybe taking a break to go find some monster to vanquish or something. He laughed at first, but then noticed that I wasn’t making a joke.

  The conversation kind of stifled from there, and after a bit, he shifted it to telling me how well Cal was doing. I listened and learned what all Call was learning, and it was pretty good. He might make a good agent, from what I can grasp. I told Jonathan that, and he sighed, saying that S.H.I.E.L.D. needed more agents. After a bit more, Jonathan said his goodbyes, and asked to be kept up to date on anything that might be important to note.

  I told him that I would, and that if he needed anything, to just text or if I am not available by phone, to just come over. He acknowledged it and left, lowering the gate behind him and locking it. I set the materials aside as I stopped to nap and regain my mystical abilities. It wasn’t much of anything other than a quick nap, and then the fifteen minutes I needed for meditation and reflection. I immediately started up with using the bevy of Unseen Crafter spells for a different purpose. They were going to form and mold the bodies for the dedicated wrights.

  After getting them going on that, I reflected on what I had learned about everything going forward. It wasn’t going to be easy to get everything that I needed accomplished in a short amount of time, but it would be worth the effort at least. I knew that I would need to enchant at least one more thing to start getting ready. I was going to need to enchant a way to store the blood. Fortunately, I think I could make it fairly easily, and I have JUST enough Salt left to make it.

  I decided to quickly finish off my day with a flurry of spells. I cast eight Minor Lasting Images on the pages of a blank book, to give each one of the Unseen Crafters their own reference for what they are making, along with all of the modifications to base form that each will have. This way, they can have three dimensional representation and work from it. A useful trick, and one that will last until I decide to burn the paper. I decided to finish off my journal entry for today and head to bed.

  Tony’s Petro Printer:

  Aura Faint Transmutation, Conjuration, Divination. Caster Level 5

  Slot: None, Price 6580 GP, Weight 6 lbs.

  Description: This device appears as a box composed of Tony Stark’s Gold-Titanium Alloy that has an internal dimension of 2 cubic feet (1 foot Wide, 1 foot Long, 2’ Deep), split in half, creating two 1 cubic foot chambers. When a sample item of any material is placed in the lid portion, and a subject (igneous) rock is placed in the bottom portion, this Item can function.

  The user (who must be Good Alignment, and have at least 1 rank (effectively) in Knowledge Engineering. They then say the phrase, “Fac ut ita sit, numero uno.” The subject stone then becomes soft like clay while pottery working tools of magnificent construction immediately whip around the item, molding the subject into an EXACT duplicate of the sample. The reshaping results in the entire volume of the subject stone, and excess material is left to the side, to be combined with any too-small subject stones, to fulfill the size requirements. After the stone is in the proper shape, it re-solidifies. Crucially, it cannot reshape other stone types (like sandstone or marble), living creatures (even if described as made of igneous stone), or magical items.

  Construction Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, soften earth and stone, unseen crafter, canny effort, crafter’s fortune, guidance, creator must be good, have craft (Stonemasonry or Craft Pottery) at 5 ranks. Cost 3265 GP

  Now this might have been done neater with Fabricate, but I couldn’t figure out a way to eliminate almost ALL materials from the spell effect, so I played around with the descriptions of spells. Ultimately, it is mainly to be used to reshape the Phoenix Cores and any other appropriate meta materials.