AN: This is a DND 3.5e epic-level character with 22 levels in Wizard with access to epic-level casting.

The feats he has is Brew Potion, Craft construct, Essence Mastery, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge(arcana), Epic level spell casting, still spell, craft magical arms and armor, craft wondrous items, empower spell, forge ring

Epic-level spell casting along with rules for epic-level characters are in the Epic Levels Handbook

Essence Mastery is from Feats book by Alderac Entertainment Group

The adventures mentioned are Savage Tide from Dragon magazine and Bastion of Broken Souls

The other feats can be found in the Players Handbook

Wizarding in Worm

Chapter 6: Dragon evaluates the Hoard

2:00 PM Chicago, Illinois

"What was the first thing I told you?" Ms. Alexandria is looking down at me as I lay on the couch after the interview about the S9 slaying. I used my big hat to shield me from her stares.

"Don't use my real name or say where I came from." I drone out as I try to sound sincere.

"And what did you do?" The tone reminds me of my cleric friend. She also scolded me for not bowing to the local magistrate when addressing him. I did like the man but being a "little shit" was more fun at the time.

"I told them my real name and where I came from." I forgot that I decided on Magic Man as my "hero" name. I didn't tell them everything I did or my whole backstory. But I did at least explain how I slayed the 9 in one go. I was informed to not mention Manton being the Siberian.

She sighs, "Try to not tell the world about more of your past. At least the stuff that sounds crazy to the people here." I can agree with her on that. But I will not deny that my powers are magic.

"So." I sit up to look at her, "Now that that's done. What's next?" In the morning I did the contract with the help of a contract devil. After a bit of yelling about sins and evil, I signed the very in-my-favor contract, it didn't even change much besides two things. I don't have to worry about my image and I get to decide if they go over "merch" of my stuff or not. I get paid a king's ransom in this world's currency since I can heal well and I can teleport people across the planet multiple times a day. What excited me was the obligation to be involved in Endbringer fights. At least in the transport and healing regards. She has not cleared me for active combat with the creatures but I will try by the next time one shows up.

"What's next is you going back to PRT base here and going over the things you took from the S9 after killing them. I called in the best Tinker around to come and help you go over your spoils." She pulls out her phone to show me a picture of a woman in green armor. The armor reminds me of the plate armor some warriors wore but the odd-looking joints with no obvious rivets mean it might be one of those "Power Armors".

"What is her name?" she smiles slightly, "Dragon, she is part of the Guild, a more international version of the PRT."

"I see." I get up and stretch, adjusting my hat, "So do we walk or fly?"

"How about you teleport us there? It would be quicker and I can verify its safety for the database." I shrug.

"Sure. You do have to be physically touching me though." A Conjuration sigil flares a dull purple light under me. she places her hand on my shoulder. In a flash, we are gone. My vision shifts to the front of the Chicago Protectorate base, the two thick glass doors glint slightly in the afternoon sun. She lets go of my shoulder.

"Well I don't feel anything wrong, how many people can you transport with a single casting?" She goes first through the door, opening it for me to follow along.

"At my current strength, it's 7 with a range of 2200 miles with the standard casting. The greater version, the range is if I think about it probably the edge of the universe as long as I have an idea of a safe place at the edge." I sign in at the front as she passed me.

"How sure are you of the range?" that's a fair question.

"Well, I'm basing this on the idea that this is one Prime Material Plane and everything in this universe is not in a crystal sphere. Since there isn't one based on the books I read, I could travel anywhere in the universe." We turn the corner to a different hallway to my room.

"I see." She leads me to a part of the complex that I don't know. The doors in front of me look made of solid metal and I don't see a side area. There is a pulsing red button on the side which she presses to open the door. Next to the button was a small "speaker" that I assume has the same thing on the other side. The doors smoothly open, revealing a much larger version of the testing area but there is no window on the side nor is there any vents. The walls look even more fortified. It was extremely spacious with the ceiling being at least 30 feet tall.

"This is where you will do your evaluations of the loot you grabbed with Dragon. It is sealed so nothing can escape it. No air gets through, no electronic signal, nothing. The only way out is through the foot-thick steel doors and even then, you have to press the red button and speak into the intercom to verify your identity. Tell the person on the other side something only you know." That doesn't really help.

"Like what?" she sighs, "Tell them that I am the one who oversaw your power testing. If asked tell them you almost blew everyone up twice." I see that she is going to hold that over me for a while.

"Alright. What time is Dragon coming here?" I start by pulling out the folded {portable hole} from the fold in my robes and laying it on the floor. I stretch it out to its full 5 feet circumference, its pitch-black color contrasts the dull concrete floor. An almost pure white hand reaches out, oh yeah. I forgot I left this one here. I quickly check in with the other snowclone and it is, watching TV. Huh. I assign it the task of watching the news. The other was cataloging all my items and charges. Overall, I need to make more wands, the rods of meta magic are fine, the staffs also need charges. My research material covers almost everything except general building and farming. My stores of gems and metals are, quaint, but I can refill most of them here via other methods. I am out of amber and diamonds but I could probably ask Alexandria for some. The snowclone grabs my hand and I pull him out of the hole.

This whole time Ms. Alexandria just stared at us. "So duplicate creation and pocket dimensions. How do the duplicates work, the short version?"

"The spell is called Simulacrum; I can make a duplicate of myself that is about half as strong as me. When I made this one and the other one, they could only cast up to 5th-circle spells and didn't have some of my abilities. If I cast it now, they would be slightly stronger and have access to 6th-circle spells." I pull out the RV and the Van as I talk.

"So, you got stronger? How quick is your growth if you think you can explain it to me." She seems insistent on the answer.

"Well at home I went from maybe winning a fight with a big dog with my magic to being considered among the current strongest mortals in existence, wielding magic that classified me as someone on par with some of the best wizards ever born. All of this was within about 7 to 9 months give or take a week." I'm not counting when I helped my old employer and friend set up the settlement since it was a lot of wall-making. Gods being able to make stone walls was so convenient for housemaking.

She just stared at me, like everything I said was insane. For a good minute, she just stares. Before she takes a deep breath.

"Okay. You got extremely strong in less than a year and now you are getting stronger here. Okay." I don't think she is okay.

"Dragon should be here in about 5 minutes. I am going to go back to L.A. If anything happens, inform me when you can. Behave. Also, do not let Dragon look at Manton's things." She leaves through the door. I go back to getting everything I looted from the 9 spread out and organized.

The RV, Trailer, and loot are arranged to be 10 feet apart, and the room provides more than enough space for them. The computers and the general loot are piled by person slayed. I don't take out the remains of the others since I think she might get mad at me for it. I present the clothes, rugs, and wads of cash from each person in their respective piles. I also pull out the journals after having the snowclone use a spell to copy them to a blank book.

After about 5 minutes, the large metal doors open. The picture I was shown was similar to the woman I see in front of me but I see the face better. I can also appreciate the way the armor looks better in person. The deep green and the way it is forged to look like scales is also a nice touch. She goes through the doors as they close behind her.

"Hello, Magic Man. I am here on request from Alexandria to help you go over the tinker tech you got from dealing with the 9." She just radiates niceness. It's so strange but I don't hate it.

"Just call me Magnus, it is not like I care at this point." I wave off the concern, "We have a lot to go over Ms. Dragon." She nods.

I led her to the main thing that is of interest, the S9 RV. Before we got close, I gestured for her to stop. I then focus and cast [Deathwatch], a spell similar to [Detect Undead]. Its range is about 30ft in a cone where I look. It's a good thing I looked. I detect something that gives off a "strong" aura. So, I decided to prepare for whatever bursts out. I look at Ms. Dragon to inform her but I pause. She doesn't register as alive. Huh. I will ask later.

I point at the RV, "There is something alive in that cabin, something, well strong based on the spell interpretation." She looks at me for a moment.

"You have a "spell" that can detect when something is alive?" she sounds worried.

"Yes, I have a few friends capable enough to cast it. However, based on my limited understanding of this world, you would be considered the equivalent of a particular race. They may appear to be like robots or golems, but do not call them that to their face - they are proud members of the race called the War Forged," he lectured, attempting to convey his seriousness by staring her directly in the eyes. "Every sapient being has a soul, and the War Forged are no different."

She didn't say anything as I continued my rambling.

"I am not an artificer, sorry to say. I have no idea how they were made, or what was bent into their construction. My studies were more in the general arcanes," I said, with a wry smirk. "What I can say for certain is that the Divines of my Plane inspected them closely, finding within them enough Mortality and Faith to be granted a soul. I know not how you were made or who made you but I know you have a soul. You wouldn't have helped the world so much if you didn't have one."

There is a long pause for a moment. I realize that I am rambling when we are supposed to be cracking open the RV. By the time I look back to check to see if the being inside the RV has moved, I hear sniffling from behind me. Turning back, I see her face red. She is crying.

Oh no! I start to pull out some kind of handkerchief when she approaches. I brace myself for her to strike me. But I wait for nothing. She holds me in her arms as I get a close-up view of her chest armor. It feels warm. I now notice how she is a good bit taller than me.

"I'm sorry if I offended you, Ms. Dragon! I forget myself sometimes. You can ask Ms. Alexandria if you don't want to…" she cuts me off before I can finish my sentence.

"It's fine Magnus," she sniffles, "You didn't say anything wrong." Oh. Then I said something, right? That's odd. I'm used to saying the wrong thing out of nowhere. She holds me for a moment before she realizes she is holding me and backs up. She is blushing. Gods this reminds me of my old employer more and more. Now all I need is for her to accuse me of playing with her feelings and it's a one-to-one.

"I'm Sorry! I was caught up in my emotions." She clears her throat. She is more fetidity than earlier.

"We should continue with the RV." I nod. I readjust my hat and begin casting [Deathward] on myself and her. The arcane sigil of Necromancy covers our bodies for a moment before fading away. "The spell prevents us from being affected by instant death effects. I am going to cast one at the RV to slay whatever is in there and sterilize the whole RV." She nods.

I get within 10 feet of the RV and cast an (Empowered) [Circle of Death]. A wispy black smoke pulses from me and covers the RV in its entirety. For a moment there is no noise till I hear a thump from the front of the RV's door. I ready a cast of [Disintegration] as I order the Snowclone to go and open the door. it opens as an odd flesh creature falls out of the RV. The moment it fell I released the spell. The thin green beam hits the creature, turning it to ash. The Snowclone enters the RV and informs me that there is nothing else.

"It is clear Ms. Dragon. Let's go see what I got from the RV." She nods. We stride to the RV and enter. I see the same thing as last time. The strange addition was this green container that had this floating flesh ball with a monitor with a single line displayed. I think that means it's dead. She scans the room and finds one of the laptops.

"Give me a few minutes to get something out of Bonesaw's laptop." She is hunched over slightly to type away at the laptop. While she does that, I check the little nooks for more loot! Soon I find some keys, a few wads of cash, the insurance policy for the RV which is strangely up to date, napkins, and a pistol. In one of the cabinets, I find some dishes, a box of Legend O's, some potatoes, and a cardboard box holding a plastic-looking stick. I think it is one of those "flash drives". By the time I am done collecting more loot, she motions for me to come to her.

"If I'm reading this right, this laptop has a lot of the general enhancements that Bonesaw did to the 9 to make them immune to her pathogens and a log of every place she released them." She has a deep frown on her face, "It also has a lot of her future plans including going to Brocklin Bay eventually, spreading viruses the whole way to the city." That sounds bad.

"Does it also have the notes on how the pathogens were formed so people can make a cure?" she shakes her head "Most of her pathogens are tinker based so it would be very difficult for non-tinkers to formulate one in time." I see. It's a good thing I slayed her.

"For some strange reason, she logged the process of how she made the modifications. I don't think she would forget how to make them but I guess it's for redundancy sake." She rests her head on her hand, eyes locked to the screen.

"Does that mean that others can make their version of these modifications based on the logs?" She turns to me, "It would be extremely difficult since these are based on her being a Wet-Tinker. It is not impossible given how extensive these logs are but it wouldn't be worth it since they would be hazardous without another Wet-Tinker helping to install them." I could try Wish. But that's a later problem.

"By the way," I pull out the flash drive "I found this in a box in the cabinet." I place it on the table. She grabs it and inserts it in the laptop before frowning. "This isn't a normal flash drive. It's the credentials to get into a computer."

"Are there any other laptops you acquired?" she asks with a slight tilt of her head. I think for a moment before speaking up.

"I grabbed Mannequin's laptop. Let me get it." I quickly jog out of the RV and go to his loot pile. The stacks of spare parts and various tools seem almost comical compared to the laptop a foot away. I pick it up and jog to the RV. Passing it to Ms. Dragon, she plugs in the flash drive as it turns on. The screen displays a bunch of words lost to me but I think "credentials validated" means it works.

"This is," she loses her words for a moment before continuing, "This contains all of his schematics on his self-sustaining system. From his current configuration to how he makes all of the modulated body parts. It also has…" She pauses.

"What else?" I ask. Was it something nefarious?

"It has all of his schematics and plans when he was Sphere…." She bites her lip. "Sphere had wanted to save the world however he could. If the worst would happen, he even had plans to evacuate the earth to have them live on the moon. When the Simurgh attacked the location he was in the past he changed. He stopped trying to help everyone else after his family died in the attack." She scans the laptop more.

"But this means that he kept all of his plans and blueprints on this laptop to prevent anyone from using his methods to save the world." She looked at me for a moment before swallowing whatever she was going to say.

"If it has the plans he had, that means someone else can use them." I start as I begin to think.

If I only cared for myself, I could use Mannequin's plans to improve my next constructs vastly. They would be much smaller but with enchantments from my magic and the plans from him, they would be leagues above conventional methods. But I don't only care for myself. As much as I would like to be on the moon, furthering my magic by leagues and bounds unhindered by anyone, there are good people here. I can't ignore that.

"Yes, they can." She has a complicated look on her face. "Since they are yours, I can't tell you how to use them. But I would ask that-" I cut her off.

"Don't get me wrong, the plans from Mannequin would help me in my next creations. But that doesn't mean I would not leave Sphere's plans unanswered." She lights up when I mention Sphere's plans.

"So that means?" I nod to her, "I will use Sphere's blueprints the same way he did. I may not be what you would call a Tinker but…" I open my palm. Arcane power starts to solidify in my hand, almost asking to be used, "I think I can compete when I get my bearings on how the stuff works. Where I am from, the casters could make things that would be comparable to your world's tinker-tech." I gesture to my bag.

"This is called a Bag of Holding." I say patting the bag, "It can hold ranging from 250 to 1500 pounds without the wearer ever feeling the content's weight." To show her I pull out a quarterstaff. It's made from ironwood but otherwise mundane.

"So, it is like a stable pocket dimension." I make a so-so gesture. "It is still a leather bag so it can be torn and all that. But if nothing happens to it, its contents are generally safe from the weather and time for the most part." I put the quarterstaff back in the bag.

"You can make these? Is there a limit to the quantity or any form of limitation?" she asks.

"Materials and time, since I am the only wizard in this universe as far as I'm aware I would need both of them to make magic items. I can make a vast quantity of things. Like these." I reach into the bag and pull out a {Sustaining Spoon}. It's a boring-looking spoon made of goat's horn.

"This is called a Sustaining Spoon. While its appearance is unremarkable, it can produce enough food to sustain 4 people a day. It makes a pasty gruel that tastes terrible but it fills the belly with all the nutrients a being would need for the whole day." I pass it to her.

"Does it require a charge?" I shake my head, "It doesn't. Magic items from my universe tend to last long past their creator's passing. Some are even said to be thousands of years old. Items that do have a charge either run out of them and be inert or recharge after a certain amount of time." She has this look in her eye.

"This is revolutionary!" she almost vibrates with excitement, "I know you said you require time to make these but, can you make something at produces something like water? Can you increase the amount of food it makes or make it useable multiple times a day?" I go to answer before I pause.

"To answer your first question, I can make something that does exactly what you ask. It's called a Decanter of Endless Water and, well, it makes infinite water. Wizards in the past even tested it. To answer your second question, I would need to research and test things but it's a maybe as of now." I pull out a {Decanter of Endless Water}. It also looks boring, a metal flask with a cork stopper, my Arcane Mark the only thing signifying that it is magical. After writing the command words for the decanter in English on a piece of paper, I also pass them to her.

"I will loan these to you as thanks for helping me with all these tinker items. The command words for the decanter are on the paper while the spoon just needs intent. Let's say you give them back in a month?" she is stunned for a moment before nodding her head. I would give them to her but I want to see what she does with them first. I clap my hands to get us both back on track.

"Now that the RV is done, we need to do the rest." She sits up from her seat in the RV. For the next 45 minutes, we go over the pile of loot I grabbed from the S9. She did question me on the clothes and rugs but I shrugged. Overall, I have about 25 thousand dollars in cash and a lot of jewelry for me to process for gems and gold. I asked if she wanted some of the clothes but she declined. I insisted that she take this flattering green one since it was the only one around her size. She blushes before agreeing. The spare parts are functional so that's a plus. Crawler's trailer had his blood on it but she informs me that is most likely inert. She told me to not abuse the details on the journals and the laptops but otherwise, she left happy. She even left me a gift in my room. The snowclone there tells me it's a laptop and a phone with passwords for both.

3:35 PM Chicago, Illinois

I stayed in the room to clean up and to test a theory of mine real quick. I have the Snowclone with me holding out the laptop on one of the smaller drones Sphere made for scanning things for development and finding resources. The floor in front of us is a small pile of spare parts. According to the files, they are of a special material that is also used to make those drones. So, I decide to use two spells to make a drone.

Pointing at the pile with the drone's blueprint, I cast [Fabricate]. A Transmutation sigil appears under the pile as it begins to melt and shift. It takes a few minutes but it coalesces into the exact type of drone from the laptop but it is without its power source. I do not have the parts for the battery but I do have a few {Pearls of Power}. Pulling one of the 1st circle ones out, I search for its power supply area. Finding it, a small vacant area where a battery would be. So, I use a bit of an extreme way to fuse the two. I [Wish] for this drone to be powered by the pearl.

There is a bright flash as I feel the pearl leave my hand. The laptop makes a ping noise as the screen shifts to what I assume to be a control for the drone as it turns on. The sphere levitates to about eye level as its front lights up to show what I assume to be a digital smiley face. Its small arms salute me. It unexpectedly begins to speak.

"Salutations Creator! How may I help you today?" Its girl-like voice is cheerful. Did I create a sentient construct? Also, how is it talking? The laptop reveals that it is not sentient and the voice was more for his family to enjoy hearing them work. Awww. I find the voice setting. I adjust it to something cooler.

"Awaiting orders." Its deep menacing voice reminds me of that of a devil but I can't help myself. If someone entered the room right now, they would see the most malevolent grin ever seen on my face. They would also hear me cackle in my genius. With this and my plans to make an improved Simulacrum spell, I can get So Much Done!

AN: Who let the wizard figure out how to make drones?
AN: he did not get a feat for leveling up but now he has blueprints to Spheres Drones and Mannequin's blueprints for his cool body!

AN: inform me of any grammar errors pls. it helps me be a better writer!