The dragon's harem

When morning came, Mira walked into Arad’s inner world to inspect the stump of Qliphoth, and what she saw was utterly terrifying. She couldn’t believe that this was alive just yesterday, and that her husband was the one to leave it in this sorry state. In the middle of the rocky wastelands, and beneath the searing sun, resting in the middle of the valley was a titanic stump almost two kilometres wide and as tall as nine kilometres.

The tree clearly wasn’t chopped, but torn in half horizontally across its titanic and daunting trunk. Just standing beside it made Mira rethink all of her divine power and how much power a mere sapling of a world tree would hold.

How in the nine hells did Arad manage to kill such a titanic plant? The answer was right there in front of Mira’s eyes. The bark was gone, burned to ash, and so was the cambium, the living layer of the tree located right beneath that bark. Arad’s nuclear blast had both burned and irradiated those cells, killing the tree. The shockwave of the blast should have broken the tree, and the upper half could still be seen several kilometres away, mostly burned to ash.

Mira gulped, and looked at Arad who stood by her side. “This poor thing, it didn’t stand a chance.”

Arad shrugged. “Didn’t stand a chance? I was just a brain and a bloodied spine. The abomination used the power of this tree to throw me into the future, a thousand years. Linda managed to retrieve me, but I was torn to pieces.” He crossed his arms. “This tree died in the blast of energy as I regenerated my draconic body.”

He smiled.

“It was an honest attempt and a close one at my life. It was only fair for me to retaliate with just as much violence.” He extended a hand forward, and both he and Mira started floating with gravity magic. “Let’s check this stump. It would be a shame to waste all of this good lumber.” He looked at Mira with a grin. “And, wouldn’t it be nice if you could make a few rare trinkets for your crowning?”

“What could I even create with this much wood, and it’s all infused with time magic. Nothing I make would be safe to use by the common people.” She looked at him, “If I’m to make anything decent, it’ll end up as a divine artifact, at least to anyone who didn’t see a real divine artifact.”

As the two of them landed on the burned and jagged top of the stump, Arad found them a nice place to stand as he looked around. Cutting this stump into usable chunks won’t be easy, even for him. Almost immediately, Mira sat down and tore a piece of the dried wood with her bare hand. “Let’s see…”

She pulled a carving knife and started working, and with each flick of her wrist, the piece of wood quickly transformed as divine shavings of wood fell down and disintegrated into pure power. After half an hour, she had finally managed to create a hundred tiny wooden beads, and showed them to Arad. “Not so bad, if I do say so myself.”

She then sat on the ground, took her shoes off and put them aside, and then tore a lock of her own hair. Of course, that hair quickly grew back, and she wasn’t left with a bald spot.

Arad looked at her and asked. “What are you doing?”

She smiled. “Just watch, I’m making something.” She grabbed the lock of hair, pulled it apart, then, using all of her toes to grab the end of the hair, she started working with both hands to weave a single sturdy string. “Usually, this for making ropes out of vines or flax, but I can use it here with a bit of finesse.”

A minute later, she had finished and ended up with a two-foot-long string of her own hair. “Can I get nine of your scales?” She extended her hand toward him, and Arad tore nine fresh scales for her to use.

Mira grabbed the wooden beads, the string, and the scales and started working immediately, quickly ending up with a set prayer beads. “Ninety-nine beads and night scales, a hundred and eight in total.” She smiled, “A masterwork.”

Arad gave the beads a look, and then stared right back at Mira. “And, what do they do?”

“If you pray to me ninety-nine times, count them, and then pray to you nine times, then give a hundred and eight gold coins to my church, you extend your life by one day. This only works once a day, so if someone is rich and diligent, and does this each day, they’ll double their remaining life.”

Arad gave the beads a glare. “So, basically selling an extra day of life for 108 gold coins?”

“I’m the goddess of greed, so I can change that cost at will. I can make it free even. I just set 108 gold coins as the standard since gold sounds nicer, and fits the golden divine magic a lot.” She smiled. “I might give this to one of my maids, or the nuns at my church.”

Arad looked at the rest of the tree, “So? You’re going to mass-produce them?”

She gasped. “What? No, we won’t mass-produce anything of this power. Each item has to be unique and powerful. Otherwise, the demand and cost of them would drop.” She started swinging the beads on one finger. “Just imagine how many nobles would fight over the chance to live longer, or imagine a shriveled 160-years-old monk standing at the church’s door and praying with these beads.”

“It could become something like a status symbol in your church. Just give it to the most devoted and highest-ranked member so they can live and serve longer.” She gave him the beads to store away in his stomach, and then went on to make another thing.

A staff would be nice, a long and powerful one for Merlin to help her use time spells better. To achieve that, Mira tore a large piece of lumber with her bare fingers and started carving it on the spot. Now, thanks to the strength, endurance, and precision of her demigoddess body, she barely needed tools. Her nails alone were enough, but she still used the carving knife since she was used to it.

When Mira finished the staff, she gave it to Arad to inspect it, and she had done a great job. The staff looked simple and was carved from a single piece of solid wood, but still could easily support time magic with incredible ease. Arad himself won’t have a use for the staff since he is already efficient enough thanks to his many scales, but a regular person could see the cost and burden of time spells drop by as much as half.

“In the market, this might go for more than a thousand gold coins, maybe even more in an auction with enough wizards bidding for it.” Arad swung the staff a few times and then leaned on it. “Sadly, I don’t have a use for it. Time magic cost me less when cast with my bare hands.” He then pulled the old staff Mira made for him. “This one is also far better.”

Mira smiled. “Well of course. If I’m to make something for you, I would spend more time on it. This one was quick job.” She touched the staff for a second, then asked him to store it.

“How about a comb?” She grabbed a small piece of the wood and carved a comb in two minutes. “This comb reverts balding by rewinding time on the scalp when used. It consumes a lot of mana, but I’m certain a wizard worth their salt would be able to use it with ease.”

She threw him the comb and smiled. “Time to make several nice trinkets to fill the showroom.”

Arad smiled. “Then how a long project? A ship.”