The Newt and Demon - Book 6 Chapters 22,23,24 (Patreon)

Chapter 22

New Alchemical Methods

Theo gave Sulvan access to a piece of the administration interface, allowing him to give updates about the new arrival. The alchemist settled into the lab. Salire had a way of clearing his mind of the outside world, helping him focus completely on alchemy. It didn’t hurt that the hired artificer had fixed the printing machine.

Salire thumped her hand on a bound copy of her book, an endless smile hanging on her face. “Here it is!”

Theo ran his fingers over the book, looking at his name emblazoned on the front. Modern Drogramathi Alchemy was an interesting title. She claimed it needed revisions, but was good enough for now. Within the book was their collective knowledge about distillation, including which skills were needed at which phase. It was thorough about heating instructions, and even had a section dedicated to detailing a guide to creating stills.

“Faith?” Theo asked, flipping to a new section of the book. “Hah, you’re telling them to come here to worship Drogramath. Interesting.”

“It worked for me,” Salire said with a shrug.

“I’m sure Ulvuqor would love a copy of this. Can I have one?”

“You can have ten! I’ll just make more.”

Theo laughed, stuffing a few copies in his inventory. This would be a great bridge for future generations of Drogramath alchemists, even if it would be done on a different plane. For now, he was happy to see the progress he had made represented in a book. More than that, Salire increased her knowledge of the art by putting her thoughts down. She could perform first and second tier alchemy reactions without a problem. Even without the status of Champion, she was an amazing alchemist.

“Are we running anything fun today?”

“Today?” Salire asked, craning her neck to see out the window. “Is there much left in the day?”

“I guess not… Well, since you’re an alchemy expert now, I have some things I want to run by you.”

“Oh, yeah. Look at me. Better than the Champion of Drogramath.” Salire laughed nervously. “What is it?”

Theo led the way outside to his Herbalist’s Workshop. He looked over the plants in his Experimental Garden. They were frozen in time, waiting for him to get better at manipulating plants so he could mimic the effects of the wild-grown fourth tier reagents. Until then, this place was mostly unused.

“We have a few ways we can move forward, but I suspect I know how reagents are working for us right now. We have lower-tier reagents creating lower-tier potions, which isn’t an issue. Not every nail needs a sledgehammer.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the lower potions, though. Is there?” Salire asked. She stooped low, inspecting the things growing in the Experimental Garden Plot. “Splicing has only produced new reagents, right?”

“Yeah. While that’s fine, I don’t see it as a way forward. We might be at a point where we determine where the next phase goes. But I don’t think the powerful wild reagents are it. I think that’s a side-path, rather than the true fourth tier potions. They’re listed as elixirs, rather than potions.”

“You’re saying we haven’t found the right way to make those potions? How certain are you?”

Theo wasn’t absolutely sure he was right. It was hard to know if he was even partially right, but he had followed his instincts to success so far. “Fairly certain. Your book inspired me to think about the ways we have been crafting potions and see if we can find some analogs between that and growing reagents.”

Salire looked up to the sky, biting the inside of her cheek. “Tonight?”

“No. Of course not. It’s getting too late, but I wanted to leave you with something to think about so we can start tomorrow morning.”

“Oh! Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“I can do some experiments in the Dreamwalk.”

“Sounds good,” Salire said, looking at the sky again. She looked eager to leave.

“You’re free to leave,” Theo said, nodding at her. “Since it looks like you’re gonna pee your pants.”

“Thanks!” Salire shouted, dashing off without another word.

Theo locked up the Newt and Demon and checked his administration interface. Alise had made a report that she had worked with Salire to utilize the Order From Chaos skill to create a potion stockpile, even granting each adventurer access. Sulvan had a report that he got into a fight with Jan, striking the unclassed human in the head and inflicting a nasty wound. He had healed it, and the outworlder behaved after that. Perhaps altruism wasn’t in the man’s blood.

“Do you think Theo will figure it out?” Sarisa asked, emerging from the shadows.

Theo began walking away, hoping to outpace the siblings before they could chafe him with more jabs.

“Doubtful! He’s clueless.”

“About what?” Theo asked, glaring at Sarisa and Rowan.

“Oh. Just that your apprentice has a hot date.” Salire whistled.

“Smoldering.”

“Is it Fenian?” Theo asked, narrowing his eyes at the pair.

“No,” they said at the same time.

“Then I don’t care. As long as Fenian didn’t get her, I can rest easy. Let’s go make dinner.”

The confines of the Dreamwalk gave Theo room to think. His first thought for creating new potions was to discover a new technique to extract as much potency as possible. Distillation squeezed an absurd amount of purity from reagents, meaning it was the most effective way he knew of. But there might have been another way.

Tresk and Alex were training in the distance the way they always had. Theo hadn’t been invited to fight alongside them in a long time. They had instead become a fighting pair that required constant drilling. The aerial moves they performed required a level of precision that could only be gained through practice. The alchemist concerned his thoughts with alchemy tonight, instead of increasing his willpower.

The first stage of alchemy was simple distillation. Next came the concentration of essence, and finally the infusion of enchanted alcohol into the mix. The third step worked because it allowed the alcohol to burn away the impurities, leaving them behind during the distillation process. Perhaps that idea could be taken further.

Theo set up a few stills to observe the reactions within during an alcohol run. He asked himself questions about the run, and explained each stage to a rubber duck he had summoned. It wasn’t named Bob, but he just needed something to talk to.

“A Bound Enchanted DIlution works because the alcohol is infused with the property you’re looking to extract,” Theo said, nodding to the yellow duck perched on a rock. “What if we infuse it with more?”

Running a few experiments with his stills showed Theo that this was the right track, but wrong application. He sifted through the skills for his Drogramath Alchemy Core, finding nothing that gave him a hint. There might have been some strange stuff going on, since he was on the forefront of Drogramath’s alchemy in the mortal realm, but he didn’t get that impression. He instead focused on ways he could use existing essence to enhance a run, coming up with several approaches.

The first angle he took was the way he always did things. Standard alchemy. This was the attempt to infuse the essences during the first stage of production. Even with Wisdom of the Soul, his intuition pushed him in a different direction. The resulting angle he approached the problem from brought insights, but wasn’t the way forward. There was no way to entangle the vapor version of the essence with a liquid version. Which led to the last idea.

Messing with the vapor form of an essence was untapped territory. The only way they had worked with essence vapor was by compressing it, resulting in a refined version. Theo worked on imagining this new method, drawing things out in his interface and testing them in the Dreamwalk. Starting with an alcohol infusion during the first step, and ending with another version at the end was the only way. He made alterations to his imagined still, directing the output into the old version of the pressure tank. These were heated, which would allow the essence to maintain vapor form.

“This makes sense, right?” Theo asked himself. He wasn’t convinced, but the strength of his feelings on this concept was undeniable.

Theo allowed the distillation to play out slowly, creating a third tier essence that never reached the condensation stage. It instead poured into the condenser, although the artifice that added pressure to the vessel never activated. It was instead kept warm enough to maintain vapor form. Storage of large quantities of the gaseous essence might be a pain, but this might work. The concept was sound, even if he didn’t have every step. He would double-down on the core of an essence, reinfusing that concept back into the mix.

But the Dreamwalk refused to go too far with this one. It bit back, giving Theo a sensation of foreboding. He instead collected his thoughts, adding them to his notes. Eight hours of rest meant eight hours of experimentation for the alchemist. His nights had been spent using the exploit to send his willpower to absurd heights, but the thrill of discovering new alchemy was too alluring. It was good to take a break, anyway.

Stepping out of the Dreamwalk, Theo followed behind Tresk. They headed downstairs to get some breakfast. As he walked, the alchemist smelled something in the air that was… interesting. It held a similar savory scent he was used to smelling in the morning, but was different. Down in the dining area, he spotted Sarisa and Rowan setting out bowls, instead of plates. Each was filled with a clear broth liquid topped with sliced greens.

“What is this!?” Tresk shouted. Theo could feel her fighting back the urge to flip the table. “Where’s the bacon?”

“No bacon today.” Sarisa sighed into her seat, picking up a spoon and slurping some soup. “This is a cleansing broth.”

“Give me something yummy from your inventory,” Tresk said, pawing at Theo. “I need some proper food.”

“Try it, Tresk.” Rowan sipped from his bowl.

Theo tested his own bowl before passing judgment. He sipped the clear broth, shrugging after the flavor hit his tongue. It tasted like watered-down chicken broth with lemon. His first thought was that it would be great to have if he were sick. It was light and unoffensive while still filling his stomach. “I like it,” he said after a long pause.

“That’ll purge your guts,” Sarisa said. “Which Tresk needs more than anyone. I bet her guts are gross.”

Tresk grumbled, sipping soup from her spoon. “I don’t hate it,” she grumbled.

“Good. Everyone needs to keep their strength up!” Sarisa said, striking a pose.

After drinking his breakfast soup, Theo headed off to check on Jan. Sulvan was being a good disciple of Glantheir and updating the things he was doing with the newcomer that day. He gave a play-by-play, including things about Jan’s temperament and desires for the future. They had been up at the asscrack of dawn, serving the people of Qavell in whatever way they needed. The alchemist went there himself, finding the pair distributing food to citizens.

“Enjoying the work?” Theo asked, looking down at the human.

“Oh, yeah. Toting some boxes around. Excellent use of my skills.”

“He’s doing very well,” Sulvan said, nodding to Jan. “Grumpy, but he’s eager to help. More than anything, he enjoys learning about our world. And I have enjoyed learning about his world.”

That made sense. Jan’s story involved parts where he helped random people as they rescued his nephew. There was some good in him, and Glantheir would only help pull that out.

“Keep it up, guys.”

Jan grunted a response while Sulvan waved, smiling as Theo headed out. Qavell was still a problem and Hanan hadn’t ironed out the details of his acceptance into the alliance. This city and the underground town needed to be sorted. But both were big projects that would take time. Theo instead headed to the Newt and Demon to share his findings with Salire. She was dealing with a customer downstairs. It was a customer representing the town, so was it really a customer? Whatever, they were exchanging cash for potions.

Theo found a length of parchment to scribble on. If they were going to get this to work, they would need a few artifice pieces for their stills. A few quick sketches later and he was ready to show his findings off. But she took too long getting upstairs, so he got busy with some basic alchemy. There was nothing wrong with having low-tier potions on hand, especially now that the adventurers had a pool they could draw from. With the quantities the lab produced, it wouldn’t hurt them. If only there was a way to industrialize the spirit reagent process… Another day, perhaps.

“You look eager,” Salire said, ascending to the lab on the third floor. “I hope that means you found something.”

“Maybe. I couldn’t really test it in the Dreamwalk, but it makes sense. Listen to this…”

Theo explained his idea of injecting the vapor form of aligned essence into the condensation part of their process. Salire nodded along, waiting until he finished to bring feedback.

“But what element of the distillation binds the two essences?” Salire asked.

Yeah, a vaporized essence wouldn’t bind with another just because they were introduced in a pressurized environment. That needed a sort of catalyst, like the Suffuse Potion. “Damn. Why do I have the feeling you’re right?” The alchemist tapped his chin, his tail sweeping back and forth. “Why does this feel like it should work?”

Salire blew out a steady breath, drumming her fingers on the table. “I see what you’re going for here, but we’re talking about a lot of specialized equipment. It’s easy pulling liquid essences together, but as a gas? How would we measure it?”

“I’m hoping we can have Throk create an artifice to do the job.”

“We can follow your gut, though. We’ll need new pressure tanks, some tubing, an injection mechanism, and… Well, other things we can’t predict.”

“Maybe we can do a small-scale experiment. Any ideas on how we can skim some vapor into another vessel?” Theo was eager to get this idea working. He was certain it would work.

“Yeah, we can do that. Let’s put our heads together. What would bind two vaporized essences together so completely that they are almost without flaws?” Salire asked.

Theo cracked his knuckles. “Only one way to find out. Gotta do random bullshit until something sticks.”

Chapter 23

Failure Means Progress

Theo and Salire stood out in the land behind the Newt and Demon. The area around the building was becoming crowded, giving them little room to do dangerous experiments. Essence sputtered from the spout on a still, collecting into a flask resting on a table. The alchemist prepared the temporary pressure vessel, which might as well have been held together with duct tape and bubblegum.

“This should be fine,” Theo lied. “Throk had this junk behind his workshop. He never did anything with it.”

“Good thing he hoards all his stuff.” Salire turned the valve on the condenser artifice, sending the distilling Healing Essence into the tank. The condenser stopped sputtering, depositing the last few drops of refined essence into the flask.

Once they had enough vapor inside of the pressure vessel, they cut the flow and swapped from the still as a feeder to another container they had prepared. Thanks to the artifices on the tank, they could siphon vapor from either direction, allowing them to pump in a complimentary Healing Essence vapor they had prepared before starting this experiment. This was the first leg of experimentation that would give them a sense for how viable this was.

“Flip the switch,” Theo said, giving the signal.

Salire set the artifice to pump, allowing the gas to mix in the chamber. They didn’t have to wait long for something to happen. Moments after hitting the switch, the sides of the container bulged. Both Salire and Theo had enough alchemy instincts to hit the ground, shielding their heads from potential shrapnel. While the edges of the copper vessel bulged, they didn’t give way.

Theo edged close to the container, hitting the release valve on the side. Flames belched from the pipe, roaring out with a rush of heat and sound. The alchemist winced, gritting his teeth as the flaming reaction was removed from the tank.

“Nope. That wasn’t it,” he said, checking that he still had eyebrows. Both were still there, despite his expectations. “Mixing essences is a bad idea, even in vapor form. And even when those essences are the same.”

“We’re missing something,” Salire said, inspecting the damage to the tank. “And we’ll need to commission a few more tanks if we want to continue experimentation.”

“Smaller versions, I think,” Theo said, fixing his hair. “Let’s go over the factors that would cause two vapor essences to bind.”

“They’re incompatible. Which means we need a binding agent to force them to work.”

“Like the dilutions. I’m going to Throk’s to commission a few things. We have some left-over Enchanted Bound Dilution, right? How about we vaporize that and use it on a third tier essence. See if we can’t coax a true fourth tier reaction.”

“Well, that just might work.”

Theo scratched his chin, finding himself fidgeting more and more as this problem went unsolved. “I’m almost certain we’re still missing something, though. Okay, this might take longer than expected. I’m gonna go talk to Throk.”

Theo headed out from their testing area, leaving all their equipment there. This wasn’t a problem he could solve in a day like normal, but he had one more advantage to seize. He made his way to Throk’s workshop, finding the marshling missing. An apprentice was there to take his order, though. With the express fee, they could have the devices ready in hours… If Throk was there. He was working on the northern rail line. So things might take a while to get done. Fine. Everything was fine.

“You guys want to come to Tero’gal?” Theo asked, turning to the shadows he expected Sarisa and Rowan to be hiding in.

“Nope,” Sarisa said, emerging from a different shadow. “Hate that place.”

“Yeah, you can go alone. Go brood in the heavens by yourself, you little demon.”

Theo shrugged, activating his Tero’gal Dreampassage skill. He took the normal way, passing over the bridge and landing in his own realm within a few moments. It seemed smoother somehow, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. And the souls of those in the queue didn’t pass his notice as he approached. But they were a problem for another day. He had tea at the cottage, finding the normal assortment of gods minus Drogramath. That wasn’t concerning, but it was annoying.

Khahar pulled him aside before he could jump to another realm, a smile on the cat-dude’s face. “You found Jan,” he said. “What an asshole.”

“How much do you know about old Earth, Yuri?” Theo asked.

“Not as much as I would like. That man has a lot of stories. I’m rather excited.”

“He came with a gun. Did you see the gun?”

“Vaguely. Your shadow barrier is getting stronger by the day. Have you been lifting?”

Theo paused, narrowing his eyes at his old friend. “Are you feeling alright? You’re freaking me out.”

“I’m feeling great. When you knocked Jan out of the queue, you confirmed a few theories. We deviated from a line of fate that I was tracking, but not by much. Exciting stuff.”

Theo wondered if the use of the word ‘fate’ was intentional or not. He was now highly suspicious of both Fate and Maria, and what role they had to play in the way things were going with this world. So long as it was a step in the right direction, everything would be fine. The alchemist would find a way to interview the souls before he dislodged them from the queue to see if he could glean information. Khahar had a few more pleasantries to exchange—a series of words that were far more verbose than normal—before heading to Drogramath’s realm.

He arrived in those giant potion bottles, finding the lord of the realm tending to some plants. “Questions. Questions,” Drogramath said, laughing to himself. “Theo comes with questions.”

“I thought you might like that.” Theo approached, looking down at the strange plant he had never seen before. “Have you been watching?”

“Yes. You’re pushing my alchemy further than I could have ever imagined. Congratulations on being my most successful Champion.”

“Thanks. But, are we on the right track?” Theo asked. “Mostly. You’ll get it. A few more explosions and everything will be just fine. I’d give you a hint, but… I think you’re there.”

Theo shrugged, kneeling to inspect the plant Drogramath was working on. He didn’t get a system message for the plant. The realm must have blocked his inspection of the plant. Dronon loved their secrets, didn’t they?

Drogramath had some other stuff to talk about, but it was mostly cryptic musings on the nature of plants. Theo didn’t detect any hints, but he didn’t care. He returned to Tero’gal to have more tea, and was happy to just relax. With no souls to sort out, he spent his time in leisure rather than working his butt off.

Theo enjoyed his tea and the lively conversation of the gods assembled in the cottage. But he spent his time thinking about the ways he could make his plan work. Instead of contracting, his list of potential solutions expanded. He focused on the way things had worked for him in the past, and the progression of alchemy he had observed along the way. From standard distillation to pressurization and finally alcohol infusion, each method created an extra dimension. But each dimension focused on the same concept of removing impurities.

It was time to go when Spit wouldn’t stop breaking things. He could only break the things brought into the realm, so that meant all of Benton’s hand-made cups. The bear god needed to step up, even if it was against an ogre god. Theo fell through the realms, his mind too unfocused on godly things to remain there. He arrived back where he came from, and got back to work. He created a list of approaches they could try to get the vaporized essences to bind.

Salire was dealing with customers downstairs when a nervous-looking marshling entered the third floor. He bowed his head at Theo, placing a few artifices on the table and scampering off. It had been about twenty minutes since they put the order in. Someone must have been bored over in Throk’s shop. The alchemist took the first device in his hand. It was a Drogramathi Iron vessel. Mini version, of course. It had all the same input and output ports as the full size one.

“What’s this one?” Theo asked, picking up a strange-looking device. It was a straight tube with pots on either end and one on the side. He decided it could be used inline, allowing him to infuse gasses with other gasses. There were several duplicates of this one. “Good. Cause I’m gonna blow a few up.”

Theo prepared a few things before heading out back to the explosion field. If he used that area more often for that purpose, he might just make a district. Salire finished up with a customer as he left, joining with him out to the yard.

“What do you have there?” she asked.

“The weird artifices, or the other stuff?”

“Yeah, all of it.”

“This is the junk that Throk’s apprentices made.” Theo held up the tiny versions of the pressure vessels. “And these are catalysts I’ve ground to a powder. I’ve never used bones as a catalyst, but whatever. There’s a first time for everything.”

Theo’s plan was to go nuts with infusions. He had a few things prepared, but had also crammed his inventory full of crap to try out. Salire helped him set up the first leg of the experiment. The original tank they had used was deformed, but still contained some un-ruined vapor. He thought it was still usable, anyway. Without a way to see inside, and absolutely no way to inspect the vapor form of essence, he was going off of a guess and intuition.

“Test number one,” Theo said, flipping the tube-thing over after it was filled with Healing Essence gas. “How the hell do I put other crap in here?”

“Oh! There’s an adapter,” Salire withdrew something from her inventory. “The little marshling dropped it off earlier. He’s just bringing them over as he makes them.”

“Weird kid,” Theo said, giving the adaptor a half-turn. This thing was meant for liquid, but whatever. He inserted the powder, pressed a button on the device, and tossed the device away.

It exploded like a pipe bomb.

Theo handed a Healing Potion over to Salire as he yanked a bit of metal free from his arm. She removed a similar fragment from her shoulder, shaking her head as she drank the potion.

“Well, that didn’t work.”

“No one said alchemy wasn’t dangerous. On to the next one.”

Different granularities of powder didn’t change the result. Each created a pipe bomb of varying strength. Theo and Salire tried everything they could think of, mixing different concentrations of gasses together, vaporizing other essences or full potions. The apprentice alchemist had a constant stream of testing artifices coming in from the artificer’s workshop, refining the design as they went. The apprentices there weren’t as good as Throk, but they were good enough for the tests.

Theo twisted the latest model shut, releasing the valve to introduce two gasses together. He tossed the device, plugging his ears and waiting for the explosion. At least they had learned to hide behind trees during the explosion. But the result was a sputtering thing, barely registering as a bomb.

“Wait, what just happened?” Theo said, narrowing his eyes to observe the reaction. “Didn’t we try that already?”

Salire checked her notes. “The mixture was… pure alcohol. We tried a bound dilution, and an unbound dilution before.”

“But it still had a reaction.” Theo dug his heel into the soft ground. “Because…. Why?”

“Let’s move on. Perhaps this isn’t the path forward,” Salire said.

“No, something is itching in the back of my head. I can feel it.”

“Wash your hair more often.” Salire gave a cheesy grin.

Theo turned, his thoughts rolling over in his head. He headed to the artificer’s workshop, commissioning a new piece. Salire followed behind him, watching as the alchemist sketched something for the worker to create. They were making the stuff so quickly because the testing tubes only required a few pieces to be slapped on with some artificer skill.

“What do you think?” Theo asked, pointing to the mixing chamber on top of the tube. Two elements could be mixed before being added to the vapor.

“Vaporized alcohol in one, and… what about the other?” Salire asked.

Theo pressed his hand against the second chamber, allowing Drogramathi mana to bubble to the surface. It dripped in. Like most raw mana that wasn’t controlled, or added to a crafting, it became a faint cloud of purple within the chamber.

“Oh! Oh! I see what you’re doing!” Salire shouted, bouncing up and down on the spot. The annoyed marshling pointed to the door. “Let’s go. He’s giving us the stink eye.”

Returning to the field filled with metal shards, Theo added gaseous liquor to the first chamber and pressed a button. They flooded into a smaller holding tank, ready to be introduced to the essence gas. He filled that chamber, pressed another button, and tossed the tube. Just in case.

“No explosion?” Salire asked, poking her head around the tree.

Theo did the same, setting his sight on the tube. “Nothing. Did it really work?”

The pair ran the gas through a condenser, but didn’t get fourth tier essence for their efforts. They went back-and-forth, finally concluding what the missing piece was. Theo cleaned out the testing tube, flooding the main chamber with essence gas. He put more of his mana into the second mixing chamber, and a Bound Dilution into the first. Pushing the first button, he watched as his mana mixed perfectly. His observations of the reactions were limited to whether or not it exploded. Still to unsure of holding the device and not dying, he flushed the mixture into the main chamber and tossed the tube into the field.

“That’s a good sign! Oh! That means your mana is a stabilizing factor!” Salire shouted, jumping around. “Just like modifier essences!”

“Let’s get it into the condenser,” Theo said, retrieving the tube. He extracted the gas into a spiral condenser, watching as it dropped into a flask below. There was too little for the system to give him a prompt, but he was hopeful. “One step closer to proper fourth tier essence.”

Chapter 24

Explosions Are Essential To Alchemy

Theo pressed his forefinger and thumb into his forehead, picking free a chunk of metal. He followed his intuition and the guidance of the Wisdom of the Soul prompts. A gas form of the unbound dilution had mixed with gaseous essence. The mixture was even stable, if only for a few seconds. But as the mixture condensed, pooling in a flask underneath, it exploded.

“Are you good?” Theo asked, trying not to cough.

“I’m alive,” Salire said. “Why didn’t it work?”

That was a good question. Theo was certain this was the way forward, so why had it failed in the last step. But this wasn’t something he could solve in a moment. He was too laser-focused on the problem, and needed to clear his head before he moved forward.

“Let’s take a break. Could you do me a favor?” Theo asked.

Salire nodded, dutifully pulling out a notebook. He instructed her to get with Throk’s people again, refining the design of the vapor mixing artifices. The alchemist knew this wouldn’t be a waste of time. This was it. They just needed to find the missing piece of the puzzle before he got what he wanted.

“Agreed,” Salire said with a drawn-out sigh. “I was certain that was going to work.”

“Yeah, me too. Get your brain working. Check with everyone you can find about evolving buildings. I’m gonna find Throk.”

The duo broke for the day, parting from the clearing to perform their own tasks. Theo located Throk up north, working on the northbound train system. He stopped by Miana’s ranch on his way there, finding the ex-mayor of the town working with a team of trained wolves and marshlings to ride them. After that, he checked on the market. They hadn’t found a seed core to plant there, but the area had developed on its own. Merchants from afar now brought their wares to Broken Tusk. The place that was once an empty field now bustled with activity.

“And yet,” Theo grumbled to himself, the wind whipping his face. “We still don’t have windshields.”

It didn’t pass Theo’s notice that the trains were slightly faster than before. He had to hold on tighter so he didn’t get tossed as the train took a corner. Throk must have juiced the artifices that drove the train. That or he refined his ability to make fake coins. Whatever the crafty marshling had done, the trip to Gronro could now be accomplished in less time. Theo didn’t think he’d ever get used to seeing the new Gronro-Dir. It seemed as though everyone stayed indoors when the threat of the undead was here. He spotted several new citizens, which he was surprised to learn came from the north.

“I thought everyone was dead,” Theo said, slapping Grot on the back and startling the dwarf.

“Balls, you scared me,” Grot released a heavy sigh that stirred the whiskers of his mustache. “Yeah, there was some druid enclave somewhere up north. Those folks have been walking for a while. Bet they didn’t expect to see Qavell all the way down here.”

“Good to see. Hopefully, they’re adjusting…” Theo trailed off, spotting a new train station to the north. So there would be no line connecting Broken Tusk to this line. They would need to disembark and board the next one. “Where is Throk?”

“Working with some folks. You can take that little train if you want.”

Theo craned his neck, spotting the ‘little train’ sitting on the tracks. It was hovering, waiting for someone to board it. “What’s that all about?”

“That’s how the workers move along the track. Keeps them from walking for days.”

“Keep up the good work, Grot,” Theo said, slapping the dwarf on the back. He considered giving him finger-guns, but walked away instead.

Theo mounted the tiny train. It was a small platform with a few seats. But there was nothing to cover him, leaving him exposed to the chilly mountain air. Without the Coat of Rake, he would have been too cold. Unlike the train that ran between Broken Tusk, Rivers and Daub, and Gronro, this one didn’t have a conductor. The alchemist fiddled with the controls for a minute before urging the train forward. It hummed along the track, approaching the first obstacle of the journey.

The bridge that Ziz, Theo, and others had designed was nice. It was over-engineered, using far more materials than necessary. But Ziz had a way of working with things that the alchemist didn’t want to shoot down. The track was set in on the bridge, separated from the main path by a guardrail. That should prevent traders from driving their carts over the track, which would cause a disaster on both sides. Theo urged the cart to a stop as he approached a worksite. Workers waved at him, shouting for him to slow it down.

Theo dismounted the train after engaging the break, finding a group of workers creating the impressive road. He had passed over two more bridges, noting that each landmass was mostly barren. Throk waved from within the ground, shoving a dwarf out of the way to approach the alchemist.

“Fancy seeing you all the way out here, archduke. Where is your cadre?” Throk asked.

Theo looked around. Sarisa and Rowan appeared from behind the cart. Both were sweating. “There.”

“That wasn’t a pleasant journey.” Rowan released a heavy sigh.

“You guys can tell me when I forget about you. Ya know that, right?”

“Where would be the fun in that?” Sarisa asked, her face pale.

“Anyway, check this out,” Throk said, waving a sawn-off shotgun in Theo’s face.

The alchemist instinctively slapped the weapon to the side. “You need to learn some weapon safety.”

Throk thumbed the release, causing the break action shotgun to fold in on itself. “It isn’t loaded. Alise told me to figure out how this thing works, but…”

“But that’s dwarven technology!” a dwarf shouted. Other dwarves laughed at the proclamation.

“Yes, apparently the dwarves have weapons like this.” Throk waved the shotgun around, uncaring as he flagged most people there. “It just inspired me to make a handheld version of our acceleration guns.”

“Rail guns,” Theo corrected.

“I thought those used magnets? Mine uses magic.” Throk folded his arms, scratching his chin with the barrel of the shotgun.

Theo winced, pulling the weapon from the marshling’s hands. He held it on its side, looking at the strange tech on the side. He scoffed as he realized what this was. “Yeah, this is pretty close to some Earth tech from my time. I’d be surprised if Jan didn’t add these changes himself. This device reminds me of an accelerator weapon we used back on earth. Look, it even has a charge.”

“Could you explain how it works?” Throk asked.

With a shrug, Theo explained how different it was from stuff in his time. To him, this was ancient tech he could only hope to describe. Not only was it 250 years before his time, but he was never the one working on weapons back on Earth. While he had used them, these weren’t the weapons of his profession. Perhaps if it was a bomb, he could give some more insight. But he explained everything he knew anyway, detailing each part. Including some ancient tech battery that would have been useless in his time.

“And how do we make electricity? I’ve seen a lightning mage before, maybe we could hire some.”

Theo shook his head. “You’re better off replacing all the tech components with magic. I’m guessing the dwarves use explosive powder. The only thing you’re trying to replicate here is the ability to throw a slug forward. RIght?”

“True. Still, this is very interesting.”

“Agreed,” Theo said, handing the weapon back to Throk. “Have you talked with the new guy?”

“No. He’s too busy working with Sulvan.”

“Cool, cool. How about you explain your bridge project? While I’m here.”

Throk looked at the workers with pride. He explained how the work was going. Some of those workers were hired from afar, either remaining for the entire project or floating between this region and others in the world. Crossing the continent was now a problem. Ziz and Throk worked to create bridges between the new islands of the continent, allowing people to pass over. The latest group that settled in Gronro had done so with an airship, which seemed exceedingly dangerous.

“They were shot down,” Throk said with a shrug. “But no one died.”

“Good to hear.”

Theo remained at the work area for some time. It was always a marvel to see how classes made arduous tasks trivial. Ziz’s ability to take prefabricated things into his inventory before placing them where he wanted them to go was amazing. The alchemist watched as the half-ogre set sections of the bridge in place. Welded pieces of stone that weighed tons were set in place as though he worked with Lincoln Logs.

Theo got back on his tiny train after a while, heading back to Broken Tusk. Things were going to get weird once the way north was opened. What he needed was a few Town Seed Cores to claim land along the way. He had been so consumed with his newest project that he neglected the underground city and Qavell. Checking his administration interface on the way back, he was happy to see the Cave Dungeon situation evening out. They might have some minor monster waves soon, but it wouldn’t be bad.

“I need to make a checklist of crap to do…”

Theo split his time in the Dreamwalk between increasing his willpower and messing with alchemy. He had a few ideas on how to make this next phase work, but he was uncertain. Between the events of the day and his work in the dream realm, he gained a level in his alchemy and herbalism core. The Tara’hek Core didn’t care about restrictions on his main cores and had jumped to 37. Both his Zaul and Taru’aun core were about to hit Level 10. That would require some deep thought and perhaps some research.

After breakfast in the real world, Theo had plans to work with Salire. But his attention was drawn away from that with a notification in his administration screen. Sulvan had some issues with Jan.

“Keep working on the problem,” Theo said after stopping in at the Newt and Demon. “I need to sort out an old noir detective.”

“Right.” Salire’s expression was one of steely resolve. Theo left her with a sheet of parchment, filled with all the ideas he had. While her skills in alchemy were good, her ability to organize information was amazing.

At least there was now a road that led to Qavell. While the town still wasn’t part of the alliance, Theo doubted anyone’s ability to assault the city. He climbed the stairs leading to the main entrance, losing count of how many there were about half-way up. He was greeted by guards holding their spears and shields. They gave him a brief nod, allowing him entry into the city.

Qavell had done a great job of rebuilding already. Theo wandered around for a bit, unsure of where to find Sulvan. He spotted the man dressed plainly, flanked by the guy in the detective’s coat. The alchemist shook his head as he approached, watching as Jan tried to make a run for it. Sulvan tripped him, gritting his teeth and looking down at the wayward Earthling.

“What’s going on?” Theo asked.

“He will not accept the teachings of my lord. He is unteachable.”

“I thought you were trying to integrate, Jan,” Theo said, looking down at the prone man.

Jan rolled onto his back, letting out a heavy sigh. “Can we have a word without the bible-thumper around?”

Theo knelt, looking at the scarred face of Jan. “The difference here is that the gods are real.” He placed a hand on Jan, interdicting them both through the void. Of course the earthling screamed, but sound didn’t travel far in the void. When they landed in the Realm of Healing, he was still screaming.

“That’s just about enough,” Glantheir said, turning to smile at Theo and Jan. The god was standing on his balcony, overlooking the endless gardens of his realm. “To have the stillness of the day broken by him. Surprised it took you so long to bring him to me, Theo.”

“Yeah, things get busy on the mortal plane.”

Glantheir walked over, hoisting Jan to his feet and dusting him off. Without explaining, he pressed palm against his forehead. “That should calm you down. If only a little.”

Jan glared at Glantheir, as though he could do anything. Within the realm of a god, that god’s word was absolute. Someone could drop a nuke in the center of this place and nothing would happen. Only a declaration of war from another god could do anything.

“Your friend is troubled,” Glantheir said, turning away to return to his balcony.

“John,” Theo said, holding his arms out. “He’s from Earth.”

“I know. You dislodged him from the queue.”

“So you should understand he’s not having a good time.”

“I agree with the purple devil,” Jan said, jabbing a thumb at Theo. “Can I go home?”

“There’s no home to go to,” Glantheir said. “Earth was destroyed 250 years after you left. Why don’t you tell Theo what’s really bothering you?”

Theo watched as Jan went to war with himself. Glantheir had a way of stripping people down. He could soothe whatever Jan was feeling, washing away worries. Being around the Elven God of Healing was like getting express therapy.

“I can still feel her,” Jan said, averting his eyes. He gazed at a pair of elven women, giggling in the room’s corner.

“Who?” Glantheir asked as though he already knew the answer.

“She called herself Fate, but I think she had another name.”

“What was special about this woman?” Glantheir asked.

“Girl. She was a young girl—maybe eight. Said she could see everyone’s fate.”

Theo narrowed his eyes at Jan. What the hell was Earth like 250 years before his time?

“A girl from old Earth is calling to you. Glantheir, how is that possible?” Theo asked.

The god turned to Theo, smiling. “Oh, you’ll use my true name again? No more ‘John’?”

“Sorry. It makes little sense, but Jan is convinced this person is in this new world. Is that out of the question? No. Of course it isn’t.” Glantheir paused for a long moment, summoning an image of Broken Tusk in the air. It was obscured by shadow, but golden lines were visible running here and there. “These are the threads of fate. I’m drawing them for you to see, but anyone who got strong enough on the mortal plane could see them.”

“That’s how she described them,” Jan said, leaning in. “Could she be here… Mister Glantheir?”

“That’s possible. Theo, I suggest you let him loose. If Jan has a connection with another factor, you should know about it.”

Theo shrugged. Jan wasn’t meshing well with Sulvan. Perhaps would do better to be paired with Aarok or Luras. “Fine. But we’re giving him some cores before then.”

Glantheir held out his hand, a glowing silver orb in his hand. “May I suggest one of mine?”

Jan looked between the orb and the god.

“Just take it,” Theo scoffed, shoving Jan forward.

“Under protest,” Jan said, wrapping his hand around the core.

Theo had a few items to bring up to Glantheir, but the god was sparse with information today. The alchemist grabbed Jan’s arm and brought them back through the void. He could feel the mortal’s body degrading, but at least he had a core he could use. Hopefully it was something useful, and not something to keep him in chains.

The pair alighted on the paved streets of Qavell. Sulvan had barely moved. Something caught Theo’s eye and he turned to see Twist. The pale elf’s expression was unreadable under the mask, but he turned after seeing the alchemist. Then his eyes shot to Jan. Blades were in his hand a moment later.

“Jan Turowski,” Twist said, coiling on the spot. “Bastard.”

“Twist. You son of a bitch.” Jan produced a knife he had hidden in his boot.