Chapter 9

Upon being poked several times with my corpse testing stick Anna eventually lolled back and I saw she had brown hair and hazel-colored eyes that fit her pale skin tone.

"What... Why didn't you ring up all this in the front with Adam?" Anna groaned as she wiped the crust from her eyes and then pouted at me.

I shrugged and spoke wryly. "Adam went through the effort of writing where everything I wanted and in return, I had to come back here so he could go back to sleep."

Anna just sighed and I wondered why one of them was so tired and whether they were related or something. "Alright then, let me just wring you up then," Anna muttered as she walked around her table and over to where my cart containing all my stuff was.

It took a couple of minutes due to there not being scan codes or anything as convenient as calculators to do the math, so she had to manually do the match with a sort of magical abacus that would recall numbers but wouldn't actually do the math for her.

Today's total is 79,000 Valis... For an additional fifty valis would you like all of this bagged up?" She asked but before she even got an answer her head was resting in her hands obviously waiting for me to pay so she could just go back to sleep.

"No. That's fine." I said passing over the money I had and then Anna's face made a thumping noise as she faceplanted into her arms and audibly went back to snoring. So, seeing no witnesses I gleefully stuffed all my purchases into my Inventory and all but skipped past Adam who was also sleeping in the front of the store.

After I exited the store, I quickly made my way back home as I had entirely too many hot items filling my inventory and after the next couple of days, my danger level was going to go through the roof as I have well set myself on the magic/summoner Terraria path.

"Jake, why do you have that same manic look you had when you made those stupidly expensive grenades?" Seshat all but demanded as she held Sir Fluffykins the First in her arms while watching the front of the store.

"I got goodies!" I said proudly and my goddess only raised an eyebrow while Sir Fluffykins the First chittered at me skeptically. "Bah just watch me, I am going to as I said make something awesome!" I said as I stomped back into the workshop muttering about hopeless goddess and traitorous squirrels.

But as I reached the back my face smoothed over as I took out all the aberrant and mutated monster's stones and quickly made them into Mana Crystals and after a moment of hesitation, I set aside three of the six I made before absorbing the three extra's to bolster my mana.

"Alright now to double my magical damage," I muttered as I took out my Topaz staff and began the arduous process of upgrading it to an Aquamarine staff.

Thank all the crafting gods of all pantheons that it was actually an easy just long process as it was merely using seashells and stone from the bottom of an ocean to cast around the Topaz staff and make a full for the compressed magical energy to come through.

After half an hour of casting the Topaz Staff into becoming the Aquamarine Staff, I took it outside and began sanding down the slag that came from melting the pearls and other things to make the new focus of the staff, until finally the staff seemingly became static as it registered as a Terraria grade item and became impervious to normal sandpaper from messing with it.

"Hmm? Hurtful is good enough." I muttered as I took in the epitaph, I got for completing the Aquamarine Staff and saw how it was a ten percent increase in power, which was fine even if I would prefer a mana reduction cost.

Taking the staff in hand I posed as I pointed it at one of the logs that were set aside for Seshat to carve into statutes or whatever.

"Have at ye, thou foe beast!" I mimed as I pushed my mana into the aquamarine staff and then instead of a single brown bolt of magic being launched every couple seconds like from my old Topaz Staff, with my Aquamarine Staff literally every half a second I sent two ocean blue balls of magic that exploded when it hit the log.

"Jake what the..." Seshat drawled off seeing me use my new Aquamarine staff like a machine gun as literally every second four bolts of magic would be launched from the staff.

But not even twenty seconds later I felt my magic drain out and deciding to try and see what mind down felt like in a controlled environment I kept pushing my mana into the staff only to realize that I wasn't using Terraria mana. I was now using my Danmachi mind to fuel the staff, and such fast-paced expenditure without any training made my eyes dim and go foggy as true Mind-Down came to me.

"So that's what Mind Down feels like." I cursed as I held my head and I heard Seshat inspecting the damage I did to the back lot with the staff as, to say the least, the log I used as target practice was all but evaporated.

Huh? What log you were going to care a statue out of? Never heard of it.

"Well, thanks to you I don't have to worry about this stretch of land having any rocks... So, I guess we can make that garden for the herbs and stuff you said you needed to begin making potions." Seshat muttered shrugging as she herself liked the idea of me making potions she could actually sell as her normal business of craftwork was kind of dead.

"So, how's that Mind-Down? you need help getting inside?" She offered with some care in her voice, and I shook my head as I just sat back down on one of the seats that were on the back porch. I wondered if the neighbors were going to complain but then I remembered all my neighbors were also workshops they were probably used to weird noises.

For a minute Seshat then just stood beside me and inspected the staff before she spoke. "Good job. You have improved." Then she rubbed my head making me chuckle. "Would you like to hear where you could do better?" She asked and I nodded as she scratched my head.

"You didn't leave a good enough hole for the casting materials to breathe when you poured the molten materials into the mold. Your old staff wasn't properly placed in the mold altogether as it was turned on its side by half of the staff's rotation which is restricting the mana flowing out of the staff." Seshat then listed off another five issues I made with the staff, and I mentally noted it down so I could improve my craftwork so hopefully one day I could make a weapon with the Godly or Mythical epitaph to it.

"Alright, now for me to make myself a magic mirror that can do the same thing as my recall potions," I said sending my staff back into my inventory.

"Do you need any help?" She asked me and for a moment I wanted to deny her but then I thought that although the magical mirror didn't have all that much in terms of complicated parts nor were they inherently expensive other than my Mana Crystals which I would need to get from aberrant and mutated monsters, messing around with an item that deals with spatial nonsense needed to be done carefully

"Sure, the ingredients are super simple. Ice, silver, two mana crystals, and some glass." I listed off and then explained the process in which I had to magically attune the silver and glass together and then magically attune the Ice to merge together with the silver/glass mixture to make the magical mirror.

"Hmm reminds me of the magical mirrors deities had back in Tenkai that would allow them to scry even down here in the mortal realms." Seshat muttered and then I relaxed as my goddess sat flush behind me and practically wrapped her whole tanned body around my frame so she could control my every movement.

"Go ahead Jake, I will prevent you from wasting your movements even if I cannot assist you in the magical elements of this." Seshat whispered into my ear, and I nodded grateful for her help regardless of how distracting her curvaceous frame was pressed up on me.

Then as I explained previously I boiled the glass and silver into a mixture before shattering and adding one of the three mana crystals I kept aside to fully merge the glass and silver into an alloy and likewise did the same with the ice.

"The side of the frame is ragged over on the left side." Seshat whispered softly as I began making the frame for the mirror and at her words, I moved to sand down and clean up the side that I missed before I melted down the magically attuned ice atop the frame of the glass/silver alloy plate I made to hold the mirror and as the glowing water slowly pooled atop the alloy frame I pulled the lips of the side of the mirror over to pin the rapidly cooling back into its hardened form of ice.

Then I began the cleaning up phase as I buffed the mirror with Seshat whispering advice and sometimes taking control of my arms to buff out things I could only see when she pointed it out.

The Ice Mirror then flashed with light as it became active and for a brief moment, I looked into the mirror I saw the warm comforting room of Seshat's resting room and my eyes dimmed before I hurried threw the mirror into my inventory.

"Wait! That was so cool why did you put it away?" Seshat pouted giving my poor body a full squeeze with the arms and legs wrapped around my midsection.

I just put my hands backward and gave Seshat's thigh I good pinch for attempting to kill me with a bear hug making me hiss in surprise before snorting as her grip loosened up against me.

"Not bad! I didn't have to control you like a puppet on strings like I had to with that workbench you practically had me build for you." Seshat teased me making me chuckle.

I just leaned against Seshat and although my hands were getting sore from making the two items, I still needed to do a lot more work. I needed to make all the Meteor bars so I could make the Meteor armor, which with the armor giving me a bonus towards magical damage I would be set until after I somehow killed the wall of Flesh.

But not only did I want to make the armor with the Meteoric bars, but I also wanted to make the Space gun which was a star pistol-like blaster that used mana to shoot a rather weak laser but combined with the Meteor armor and a Mana flower it would use only twenty percent of the mana it should.

"So should I make another artifact or should I start making armor as this wooden armor isn't cutting it in the dungeon?" I said and Seshat gave said armor a slap which did of nothing to me as her slap couldn't break through the Armor Rating.

"Bah if you are only in the first couple floors do you even need better armor?" She asked and then her scolding expression froze as she realized that yes. In this new dungeon environment and if I should get picked on for being a solo adventure, I needed better armor.

"Alright, Jake let me help you again... I don't want you dying on me so let's make that armor and then you can make the accessory in the morning. It will be getting late by then anyway." Seshat muttered at the end as she glanced at the early afternoon sky but making a whole new set of armor was going to be an all-day event really.

I didn't need help however or Seshat literally couldn't really help me at all when it came to smelting down and magically activating the meteoric ore so that it maintained a scalding high heat even when it supposedly cooled down into its solid bar form.

"You seriously plan on running around in glowing armor looking like it came just out of lava?" She asked and I gleefully nodded as with this armor even if a level three got the drop on me with its armor rating I was fairly sure I could survive their opening attack so I could begin throwing grenades at them while I teleported away.

But not even half an hour later when we started forging the armor into shape she began whining and crying about how this armor made no damned sense in how it would passively absorb the mana in the surroundings to fuel my own magic to make it stronger hence how it accomplished its armor set bonus.

"This is bullshit! A flat ten percent bonus magically powers no matter someone's strength or level is cheating! No wonder you outlanders are called bullshit." Seshat cursed looking constipated at the realization she couldn't make something as great without tapping into her Arcanum or halfway cheating with some divine fire like Hephaestus did.

"Thank you dearly Seshat this is going to be very nice." I grinned as I took in the flee-footed epitheted leggings that would make me faster while the chest plate gave me more flat armor, and my helmet gave me the much-wanted mana cost reduction for all my magical weapons.

But as I stood up from my workspace and my body creaked in protest from coming out of my sitting position, I saw that the sun as Seshat had predicted was hanging low and shrouded the walled city of Orario in a dark shadow.

"Come on Jake, let's get some dinner. I heard about a great restaurant for adventure and don't worry I will pay for it." Seshat assured me seeing how my face scrunched up. But it wasn't money that made my face scrunched up.

Because what were the odds that the restaurant, she mentioned was the Hostess of Fertility?

I brushed a hand through my hair as I took a deep breath. "Uh, Seshat which restaurant did you want to go to?" I asked with cautious hope that my mind was being too overreactive.

Seshat's leopard ears twitched as she eyed my stiff form and then she cocked her head to the side. "The Hostess of Fertility? It's almost a rite of passage at this point for Familia's and their deity to dine there at some point together." Seshat said shrugging.

"I will just make some dinner here..."