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I did a rather careless thing while in disk recovery (I was wiping a MacBook Pro 2018 for re-use) and I accidentally deleted the root volume, which means everything.
Because I don't have a recovery partition, I can't get the network recovery console to reinstall.
And because I didn't enable booting via USB before doing this, I can't even get a bootable installer to work.
What options do I have here that don't involve a trip to the Apple store and lightening of my wallet, if any?
You do not need a local recovery partition to use recovery from the internet. Apple created "Internet Recovery" booting for this very case, (and other situations) where an internal drive's Recovery partition isn't available.
Your Mac will: get online before actually starting up, load the minimal OS it needs to run, and offer to download and reinstall macOS right—all right from the internet.
Apple has instructions for Intel-based Mac macOS Recovery (and Apple Silicon Macs). With your 2018 Mac, you'll hold ⌘ ⌥ R (command-option-r) for the latest compatible macOS or ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ R (command-option-shift-r) for your Mac's original version.
Apple firmware will also see any local NetBoot servers and bootable USB and FireWire drives. Just connect and hold option to choose the startup manager on Intel CPU or boot to the setup on Apple Silicon Macs.
