Chapter 215 Dear Husband and a True Sun

"Stella?"

Stella quickly swallowed her last piece of pie, that Joe had made her, and looked up. "Yes?"

"I need a few days to adjust to my current body, but then I want to go to the world tree and cleanse it. Right now, I'm only able to do about 80% of what my new body is capable of, and I'm pretty sure NURKONG is going to try and stop us on the way. Once the tree is cleansed, the ability to resist invaders from other realms will increase several orders of magnitude."

"Ok. So?"

"I'd like to do some things before the final boss fight."

She laughed. "Such as?"

"I want to visit my little sister and brother with the elves, pay one last visit to the dwarven king and the other realm world tree, ask Saisho for any last minute pointers on killing gods instead of lesser gods, finish the TRUE SUN generator for the capital to start floating, and get married."

Her eyes went wide. "G-get married?"

"Yeah, I think getting married and not consummating the wedding is probably our best bet at surviving."

She frowned again, shaking her head, "What?"

"Well, us getting married as soon as this is over, just seems like I'm about to die a heroic sacrifice, doesn't it?"

"Okay, but why not consummate it then?"

"Oh, do you want to consummate the marriage?"

"Joseph!? You know what I meant!"

He laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't, well, didn't want to resist. I think getting you pregnant right before the final fight would be even more of a trigger for a heroic sacrifice, complete with leaving a child to remember me by. I have no desire to have to reincarnate to find you again. It will only waste time."

She looked at him for a moment, as if trying to figure out if he was serious or not, before finally scowling. "Is that the only reason you want to marry me?"

"Ok, fine. Honestly, I just want to see you in a gorgeous dress and have you call me dear husband. Happy now?" Even he had a little trouble saying it out loud. His cheeks turned a light pink for a moment before he got control of himself.

Stella froze. "D-dear husband?"

With a wide grin, he grabbed her up in a hug with a laugh. "Ooh! I like that!"

XxxxX

"Your majesty, the generators are prepared. I'm even more amazed at some of these variants you made, honestly," said Boris, scratching his ornately decorated beard. Joseph knew the dwarves were keen on keeping their beards neat and well-kept, but Boris seemed to be going a bit beyond that. Maybe it was a dwarven quirk?

"Why? Once the initial cost to create a permanent gate is made, there is no more mana required," Joseph pointed out.

"Still, your majesty, it just shows we have a long way to go."

"You shouldn't be discouraged. You were one of the lead designers in improving the CAGED SUN generators into the TRUE SUN. It will be a symbol of the kingdom."

"Still, these GATE generators are much more efficient and simpler to make."

"Yes, but I couldn't make them until some of the enemies invading our realm were beaten back and the Sun series generators are just more impressive."

"I grant that your majesty. Oh, speaking of, one of the fragments of illusions that Issa showed us, mentioned total conversion drives and zero-point energy generators, but they were only mentioned."

"Ah, yes, one total conversion drive directly converts matter into energy, so the prohibition on using magically created fuel for generating mana is currently impossible to avoid. That said, for normal power generation, a mage throwing a chunk of created earth into it, would power normal cities easily. Secondly, in all the lives where that technology existed, I died fairly early, so I don't know enough of the basic principles to duplicate it, even with magic. I also wasn't human, so Issa has to do the best she can turning those memories into something others can even understand, so I'm sure even more is lost in the transition. You'll probably run into memories that mention antimatter, too. I can create it, but decided against it, because a containment failure would be catastrophic. Joe keeps working on finding other realms though, so in the future we should be able to learn more. I'm hopeful he can even find more worlds with interesting magic and magical creatures as well. Selena loves the little phoenix chick he brought back the other day."

"Is that why you had us include so many enchantments for preventing failures?"

"Yes. That's also why the cables will store enough mana to keep the mountain afloat for a year, even if the generator is shut down."

"Ha-ha, yes your majesty. Safety first. We can't forget it."

Brago showed up, returning to where they were looking over the blueprints of the new TRUE SUN generator in the TECHNOLOGY college. "Your majesty we are ready to begin. Are you sure you don't wish too…?"

"No, Brago. Everyone here, on the design team, deserves the credit for advancing this design. I'm not going to take the moment from all of you. Selena is casting the main spell, but all of you are getting to enchant your own parts. This is truly an achievement for the kingdom and not just me."

"But none of us would be where we are if not for you," he argued weakly, while the others behind him, including Boris, all nodded in agreement.

"Brago" Joseph said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to watching your next project. Don't deny me a chance to be proud of my people."

Brago stopped, along with all of the others in the room, before bowing. "Yes, your majesty. We will make this a success. Please look forward to our progress on the GATE-assisted ocean powered hydroelectric plant soon."

He laughed. "Of course. Let us go. Now, my TELEPORT can affect everyone in my territory, so I will bring the entire design team along. They've earned front row seats for this. I can't wait to see the TRUE SUN in action, and the mountain in the sky."