Chapter 466: Much Needed Rest
(Planet Vorthas, The Skyshard Mansion, Leo’s POV)
Leo received special permission from Charles to visit his family for a couple of days instead of returning to Juxta, as the Monarch graciously told him that he had earned his rest.
So, rather than training his intent for a couple of days, Leo instead found himself working on his bedding skills, as he spent as much time with Amanda as he possibly could.
"Stopp! You’re tickling me!" Amanda complained, while Leo continued to gently rub his feet up and down her smooth thighs.
"Leo! No! We’ve been at it for six hours... Just because you have an insatiable lust doesn’t mean I have nothing else to do. I have ongoing projects too, you know..." Amanda protested, as Leo kissed her gently on the neck and held her close, even as she tried to shake him off and move away.
"Okay... tell me about what you’re working on then, maybe I can help you—" Leo offered jokingly, as Amanda raised an eyebrow at his words.
"Oh really? What exactly do you understand about runic inscriptions and metallurgy?
Do you know how exactly metals contract upon cooling and expand upon heating?
Do you understand concepts like tensile strength, and how impurities affect the malleability of metals?
Huh? How exactly are you planning to help me, mister?" Amanda asked, as Leo chuckled at her barrage of questions, holding her tighter and continuing to shower her with affectionate kisses.
"Yes, I don’t understand any of that, but if you have a metal you can’t cut, I have a [Dark Blade] skill that can help you precisely cut up any material," Leo offered, as Amanda rolled her eyes in dismissal.
"Men and their desire to always cut through things...
Oh hello? There’s more to life than destruction!" Amanda teased, as Leo pecked her on the lips before glancing teasingly at her perky mounds.
"Yes, yes, there’s a lot more to life than just destruction," he agreed, while Amanda immediately turned red-faced and flustered.
"You... you... GET OUT!" she exclaimed, pushing him off with all her strength, as Leo finally got off her, laughing heartily while he began to get dressed.
"Hmph! Mr. Shadow Dragon... you will not get any action for the next two years if you keep that behaviour up!" Amanda threatened, as Leo’s face sobered up immediately.
"Don’t even joke about that..." he said, while Amanda stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
"Anyways, I need to study your mana heart today, so if you’re not too busy, allow me to run some tests on you," Amanda requested, as Leo raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I’m designing a new body for Master Ben, and I think I should try to integrate a mana heart within it, or at least a synthetic version of one," Amanda explained, as Leo rubbed his jaw with intrigue.
"You can just do that? You can make a mana heart synthetically?" Leo asked, genuinely surprised that such technology existed, while Amanda nodded her head in affirmation.
"The robotics here are far more advanced than what we had back on Earth. By imbuing mana and runes into metals, we can give them far more life-like properties than anything we could’ve achieved before.
I’ve been studying Master Ben’s new robotic body for the past few weeks, and I think I have a general idea of how they built it.
If I tinker around a bit, I think I can make a duplicate of your mana heart. Which, of course, won’t be nearly as good as the real thing—but it’ll still refine mana and help improve the robotic body over time," Amanda said, as Leo clapped his hands in amazement.
"I had absolutely no idea that you’ve progressed so far in your craft. That’s amazing!" Leo complimented, while Amanda gave a mock bow.
"Thank you... thank you..." she replied, as Leo chuckled at her antics.
"Sure, I’ll help you with your studies. You can run all the experiments you want on me today... but afterwards, I’d like to collect my payment via another six hours of bed wrestling..." Leo suggested, while Amanda’s face turned flustered all over again. Her mind replaying the scenes of last night.
"Hahaha... you’re too cute!" Leo said, pinching her cheek, as Amanda smacked him hard on the arm.
*Slap*
"Ouch..."
Amanda winced, as instead of hurting Leo, she ended up hurting her own hand.
"You... you..." she muttered in frustration while stomping her feet, as Leo immediately raised both hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright, I won’t tease you anymore. Only serious work from now until you’re done," Leo said with a straight face, as Amanda let out an angry huff before slowly calming down.
"Yes! Only work now... so sit down and let my machines scan you," Amanda ordered, and Leo obediently turned into her personal doll, letting her run as many tests on him as she pleased.
Over the next two hours, Amanda scanned his mana heart using a wide array of tools, mapping its structure through x-ray, mana imagery, and several other advanced techniques. Her objective for the day was solely to gather data, while the deeper analysis and theoretical dissection would come later.
Leo, meanwhile, enjoyed watching her work. He found himself mostly distracted by how beautiful she looked when focused so seriously, though somewhere in the middle of it all, a fleeting thought slipped into his mind.
It was just a hypothetical scenario, something he didn’t give too much attention to at first, but it continued to nag at the back of his mind, refusing to go away.
Eventually, once he could no longer hold it in, Leo decided to voice it aloud in the most casual tone he could manage, not wanting to raise any alarms.
"Umm... honey, when you design the mana heart for Master Ben, can you also try coming up with an amulet version of it?
You know, something a human can just wear around their neck like a charm, but it still offers the protection of a mana heart?" Leo asked, as Amanda paused and considered his request for a moment before nodding thoughtfully.
"I’m not sure if I can... but I’ll give it a try for you," she said, as Leo gave her the brightest smile he could muster.
He did not wish to burden Amanda by insisting that she find a way no matter what, especially since the doomsday scenario haunting his thoughts might never actually come to pass.
Even so, having the amulet as a backup, just in case that day ever arrived, was far better than being caught unprepared.