The Newt and Demon - Book 6 Chapters 31,32,33 (Patreon)

Chapter 31

Who Slept With Who

Theo stood in the system’s realm, standing on the raised platform and looking over the twelve spots. He assumed he had the entire place to himself, but a faint glow issued from one spot. Golden light pooled on the ground, soon creating the form of a young person. Or one of the smaller races of the world—it was hard to tell. The alchemist watched as the being was given a form. He was surprised when it reached a hand out for him to shake.

“Fate.” The voice of a young woman echoed through the immaterial being, filling the surrounding air with authority.

Theo felt as though he could crumble under that power. No ascendant he had met gave him that feeling. “Theo Spencer,” he said, reaching out a hand. He grasped the entity’s hand, a sense of potential flooding through his mind. “You’re nicer than the other one.”

“Void? Yeah, he’s a grouchy old man. You’re planning some serious stuff, huh?” Fate tilted her head to the side, something of a smile playing into her voice. “I don’t envy the difficulty of the task.”

“Shouldn’t you be off destroying realms?” Theo asked. He looked away from this world’s newest god, eyes locked on the spot where he saw the system before.

“That isn’t my domain. I just follow the fates…”

There was a big difference between the new gods and the old ones. Theo couldn’t stop thinking about how little power the ascendants had. They manipulated the system to become something they could use to gain power over the mortal realm, but the cost was clear. Everything would come crashing down soon enough. That just left one question in his mind.

“This is how Khahar planned to restart the world, huh?”

“Seems like it.” Fate shrugged, but didn’t leave her spot. She seemed bound to it. “A restart will be good, though.”

“Seems like a waste, doesn’t it?”

Fate laughed, placing her hand over her mouth politely. “Your plans are transparent to me. Perhaps you didn’t know you would have been immune to the purge. I’ll say this. You need to increase your willpower by a lot if you want to take as much as you want to take. Pulling the town into your realm should be easy enough, but binding it there will be another matter.”

“Fair enough… Who is that?”

Theo watched as another figure appeared, standing right next to Fate. It exuded a kind of energy that sucked in the light from the room, pulling in some of the golden god’s own essence. She sighed, pushing the other figure, who failed to stumble.

“Playing with the food?” the dark figure asked. “How typical.”

“Ugh. This is my brother, Omen. He’s a stinker.”

“You’re the stinker. You can see the destruction this man will bring.” Judging by his voice, he was a young man the same age as Fate.

“That’s why no one invites you to parties. You’re too dour.” Fate folded her arms, seeming to glare at her brother. “If you’re going to interrupt me, you can leave.”

“Fine.”

“Void should open the way for you to get those shards back. The elves might give you trouble, though. I think they created a pseudo system. I’m sure you can handle it.”

Omen leaned in, speaking directly into Fate’s ear. “Hallow is dying.”

“He’s an idiot.” Fate waved the question away, as though she had already seen the conclusion to her brother’s concerns. “That ascendant was ready for him. The only one who would come for us holds a Throne.”

“That means we’re immune, right?”

“Yes, we’re immune. You’ve forestalled enough disasters to keep us safe this far, haven’t you?” For the first time, Theo saw Fate treat her brother with some warmth. “We’re safe.”

“So…” Theo pointed between the pair. “Where did you guys come from? Earth?”

Omen scoffed, throwing his hands into the air. “This man is an idiot.”

“You’ll figure that out on your own. Concern yourself with your mortal problems for now, Theo. You’ll find the ‘new new management’ isn’t as forgiving as the old.”

An impossibly powerful will crashed against Theo. He was confident he could beat most ascendants one-versus-one in a battle of willpower. But this was something else. All his cheated training was rendered useless against such a force. One moment he was standing in the system’s domain, and the next he was back in the mortal realm. He sucked in a breath, the mortal air stinging his lungs. He fell to the ground, coughing.

“Woah!” Salire said, rushing over. She pulled him to his feet, concern lingering on her face. “You good?”

Theo coughed, covering his mouth. He felt warmth splatter against his gloved hands, pulling it away to find blood. Most of his health had been depleted, so he pulled a healing potion from his inventory and drank it. Relief flooded over him as he was healed, driving whatever it was the god did to him away.

“The new gods pack a punch.” Theo groaned, shifting his stance to stand by his own power.

“New what?” Salire asked.

“You good, boss?” Sarisa asked, joined by Rowan.

“I’m good.” Theo rolled his shoulders, checking himself for more injuries. He found nothing. “Just a minor scuffle in the heavens.”

Rowan took it upon himself to check Theo over, making sure he was telling the truth. Only when he was satisfied did he release the alchemist, freeing him to withdraw a communication crystal from his inventory. It was better to make sure Fenian was fine. Uz’Xulven’s Bridge wasn’t immune to the actions of the new gods. If he lost access to that, he might be stranded.

“Yes, what is it?” Fenian asked.

“We got a problem.”

“Oh, is this some town drama? Who slept with who?”

Theo rolled his eyes, explaining the situation in the heavens. Fenian didn’t seem concerned at all, humming along as the alchemist told the story.

“My throne is fine, right?” Fenian asked.

“No problems there. I’m only concerned about the Bridge.”

“Don’t worry about that, my dear alchemist. I should be fine. Lovely chat, Theo. But I need to go! Have a drink for me, would you?”

Fenian hung up the call before Theo could say anything else. When the elf got weird, things were going down. While it was impossible to tell what his plan was, the alchemist only hoped he made it out the other end unscathed. Not only would it be hard to find another person to sit on the Throne of the Herland, he didn’t know if that was an option. With a deep breath, he flushed those concerns from his mind. It was easier with his higher Wisdom, allowing him to focus on the one thing that had driven him to obsession lately.

Before moving past this bout of weirdness, Theo checked his administration screens. Things were going better than he had expected, especially with Qavell. Thanks to Alise’s ability to over-plan everything, there was no scenario the town wasn’t ready for. They had stockpiles of almost everything now, including food, stone, metal, wood, and Monster Cores. Trade was overflowing, and there were more migrants arriving by the day. Those people were mostly interested in exploring the new world created by Fenian’s battle with the unknown entity, but some settled in the region.

No news about Tarantham was good news. Emperor Kuzan could stick to his plans over there. Far away from the Southlands Alliance.

One item grabbed Theo’s attention, though. It was an entry created by Sulvan. The document was commented on by both Luras and Aarok, but also had an amendment near the bottom by Tresk. Theo stood, nodding at Salire.

“Keep working on getting those materials together. I need to check on something.”

“Right away, boss!” Salire said, shuffling off to tend to the work. She was eager to help him gain even more power.

“Rowan, could you stick with Salire?” Theo asked, jerking his head toward the door. “Let’s head out, Sarisa.”

“Why me?” Rowan asked.

Theo smiled, heading to the stairs. Only when he and Salire were out the door did he explain. “Because I think she has a crush on him. Come on, let’s go round up another adventurer or ten.”

Sarisa giggled, following behind Theo. “Wow, you know what? Feels weird without him around.”

“You two spend too much time together.”

“We’re siblings!” Sarisa objected. “Close siblings, you know? What’s wrong with that?”

Theo didn’t need to enter the guildhall to find who he was looking for. “Jan!” he shouted, waving his hands to gain the attention of the only other Earthling in town. “Come on. Got a job for you.”

Jan approached, brooding slightly. He folded his arms over his chest. Theo couldn’t deny the man was looking more well-built than when he arrived. He was likely grinding levels in the swamp.

“What’s the pay?” Jan asked.

“A shiny copper coin,” Sarisa said, laughing to herself. “See, when the archduke tells you to do something, ya do it.”

“I didn’t vote for him.”

“Stop, you weirdos. Let’s go, Jan.”

Jan fell in line behind Theo and Sarisa. He might have been reluctant but some of that hard-boiled detective vibe he had cultivated—no doubt over years back on Earth—had faded away. The alchemist could sense the man’s power growing, although it was slight. That was simply the transition from having no cores to having at least one. He now had access to the system, and all the benefits that provided. The best part was his core. A Glantheir core. Things might get interesting if Glantheir ascended again.

“When we get back, I want to hire some adventurers to watch Jan and Sulvan,” Theo said, not bothering to lower his voice.

“I’ve done nothing.” Jan’s instinct was to object.

“You’re not the one I’m worried about.”

“Just deal with it, buddy.” Sarisa shot him a look. She turned to Theo, the confusion she felt finally coming to her face. “But what’s the problem?”

“Glantheir is a pacifist. But I don’t know what happens when he ascends again.”

“Again? How many ascensions are there?” Sarisa asked.

Theo didn’t answer, but that was a good question. They pressed on through the market and north of the harbor until they reached the massive stairs leading to the city above. The alchemist inspected Qavell before ascending, deciding that it hadn’t tilted to either side. They had stabilized it completely. But that wasn’t the reason for their visit.

The group met with King Hanan at the palace. Theo couldn’t help but notice how hardened the man had become. With his imposter guards gone, he had drawn other people from his city to become his protectors. He was now flanked by humans, wearing whatever armor they could scavenge. While they weren’t as impressive as the old guards, they seemed loyal enough.

“I’ve been reporting on the monolith.” Hanan walked beside Theo, bringing pride to his station as a king and his people. “No visible changes. Your barriers hold firm.”

“That’s good. Did you decide what you’re going to do? Want to join the alliance?”

“I think so.” Hanan sighed, holding the door open to allow the others entrance to the lower levels. Both Theo’s and Hana’s guards came with them, leading the way. “The longer my city is here, the more I think we’re not ready to be on our own. I think we need each other.”

“You don’t think the need is one-way?” Theo asked with a wink.

“For now. But once we get back on our feet? Qavell is strong, Theo.”

Theo wouldn’t accept Qavell as a member of the Southlands Alliance because they were strong. If the world was going to be remade, he wanted people with conviction to join him in the new era. His mind flashed back to Tero’gal, and the way those people had transformed that world into a paradise. He wanted that for everyone, even if it was a dream that was too far.

“The Southlands Alliance would be happy to have such powerful people,” Theo said, patting Hanan on the shoulder. “Especially those with such a rich history in the region. Perhaps we can forge a world that doesn’t crumble after a few hundred years.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Hanan asked with a laugh. “Watch your step through here. We had a minor collapse.”

“Nothing serious, I hope.”

“Ziz reinforced the walls. It should be fine, but we haven’t cleaned up the rubble.”

The passages under Qavell were winding. The group traced a familiar path to the lowest level, finding the abandoned ritual room. Theo sent his senses out the moment they entered, seeing that his wards were holding themselves in place perfectly. Whatever was inside the monolith hadn’t gotten out, but Hanan had missed something. The veins of poison that ran through the strange structure had grown thicker. The Venom potion that Tresk applied to the entity was still doing its work.

“Remind me never to argue with Tresk again,” Sarisa said. She picked up on it, too.

“What is this?” Jan asked.

“Think of it as the helm of a flying city,” Theo said. “Hanan here was coerced into attacking us by someone else. We took the city down.”

“Wow. Now you guys are best friends?” Jan asked. “I would’ve killed him, Mister King.”

“The situation was complicated.” Hanan narrowed his eyes at Jan. “That’s a strange outfit.”

“Not really. Looks like a karatan-driver’s duster to me.” Sarisa shrugged the comment off.

“Yeah, wait until you see the gun… Jan, do you feel anything inside the monolith?” Theo asked.

“Why would I?”

“Fair enough.”

The Venom worked its way through the monolith, but it wasn’t moving quickly. That was the point of the poison potion, after all. It did low damage over vast amounts of time, which was nasty. Purging the entity’s influence on the Kingdom Core and Town Core was something Theo couldn’t solve on his own. Like Qavell, he needed to lean into others and dedicate some time to this problem. But what was the nature of the infection? Fenian confirmed it wasn’t something that violated the system’s laws, so what was the deal?

The Arbiter made sure everything was right within the heavens, while the Dreamwalker was his right hand. The Herald sorted mortal affairs with the Dreamer as his right hand. Theo nodded to himself as a Wisdom of the Soul message appeared.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

Arbiter, Herald, Dreamer, Dreamwalker. You missed the connection between these Thrones and the infection of Qavell at first. But now you realize what’s going on. The Herald did his job by banishing the entity, but the Dreamer still needs to put a cap on it.

In order to purge Qavell from this infection, the Dreamer must delve into the sleeping entity’s mind, cutting free the diseased flesh.

Chapter 32

Cheating With Potions

“I ain’t going in there.” Tresk placed her hands on her hips, looking at the monolith.

Theo, as always, tried to placate her. She intended to delve into the disgusting mind of whatever weird monster plagued Qavell, but it was best to watch him squirm a bit. He went on about how important it was for them to do what they needed to do. She held the Throne of the Dreamer, so she had to go into a nightmare dream world.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tresk said, waving him away. “Get off my back, I’m going.”

“You only need to drive him away,” Theo yapped. “Or figure out why he’s there.”

Tresk cracked her knuckles. Well, she imitated the motion of it, having seen someone else do it. But nothing popped within her fingers. “Okay. Into the dream I go.”

Focusing on her Dreamer’s Core, Tresk felt herself falling. Her stomach shot up to her throat for only a moment, a sensation like falling through eternal nothing flooding through her for only a moment. While she would never admit it, she felt fear for only a moment. The next moment, the falling stopped. Tresk stood on a plane of darkness, the silhouette of something against the sky above.

“Hey!” Tresk shouted. “Go on! Get!”

Her voice echoed through the place, reflecting off of unseen surfaces and repeated into the distance. Theo was eager for her to jump into the dream, but as Tresk thought about it, this might not have been such a good idea. Would jumping into a dead god’s dream be such a good idea? She shook the thought from her head, pushing forward. After what felt like hours of walking, she spotted something in the distance.

“Ah, yeah. That’s really weird.”

Tresk realized she was standing inside of something. A massive dome loomed overhead, giving view to an obscured section of sky outside. The dome had a patchwork of metal bands, creating some shape she didn’t recognize. On the horizon of the structure was a sliver of blue. The closer she got to that band of color, the more she realized what it was. Images from Theo’s memory came flooding back. It was a planet from orbit. And it wasn’t her planet.

“The dead guy dreams of Earth.” Tresk scoffed, shaking her head. “Talk about reliving your glory days.”

Upon the blue orb, a single light shone. It was as though the glimmer of a bright red star rested on the surface, waiting for this entity to pluck it. The planet shifted, viewed as though in fast-forward. An instant later, and the structure was right up against the planet. Tresk could see the detail of the continents, outlined by lights that lit up the night’s sky. This was well before Theo’s time. There weren’t enough craters.

Tresk felt a tickle of something in her chest. Her Dreamer’s Core found something offensive in this area, and wanted her to prune it. For now, she let the scene play out. The red star came closer… No, the structure was moving closer to the red star. Sections of the dome were revealed, folding back onto themselves until more of the interior could be viewed from outside. The star drew closer until Tresk could see a dark-haired figure staring back, standing on some sidewalk back in Old Earth.

There was a brief exchange of words she couldn’t understand. No one else on the street could see the domed structure. Only black-haired guy. The sense in Tresk’s chest grew stronger. She realized that being here had stirred the entity to life. This had happened before. Someone’s dreams had been boring before she arrived, only to get wild after she showed up. Her core practically vibrated by this time.

“Alrighty, core. You can do your thing.”

Tresk snapped back into reality a moment later. She blinked a few times, locking eyes with Theo.

“I think that should do it,” Tresk said, shrugging at her companion. “Hard to say.”

Theo narrowed his eyes at her, reading what little he could from her mind. He saw the visions of Earth and the weird structure. The patterns above her looked close enough to an eye for him to assume this was the Baleful Eye he had heard about. Observing the monolith for Qavell, he was pleased to see the corruption retreating slightly. “Whatever you did, it worked.”

“Yeah. No problem. I’m the best.” Tresk vanished without another word.

Theo watched the monolith for some time. While the corruption was retreating, it wasn’t being purged instantly. “This is great,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “I think we can salvage your town soon enough, Hanan.”

“So, you had the solution all along? You just didn’t want to tell me?” Hanan placed his hands on his hips. Theo couldn’t tell if he was truly offended.

“As much as I’d like it, I don’t know everything.”

“So long as you fix my city, I’ll be forever in your debt. But I do wish the climate here was more temperate. How do you survive in the heat?”

Theo laughed, tugging at the Coat of Rake. “Temperature regulation coat. You should get one.”

“No kidding.” Hanan looked at the coat with covetous eyes. “Are we done here? I need to visit the market in Broken Tusk.”

“Of course.” Theo jerked his head toward the exit. “Let’s go. I have some alchemy to do.”

Tresk might have set things in motion, but they would still take time. Theo knew better than to ask what she had done to kick things off. Something about her Dreamer’s Core allowed her to banish whatever influence that entity had. The alchemist left Qavell with his group, stopping by the Adventurer’s Guild to hire a few people to watch both Jan and Sulvan. He was transparent about it, explaining to anyone who would ask what the situation was. The heavens were changing, and there was no way to know what effect it would have on those that held aligned cores.

On his way back to the lab, Theo was surprised when he checked the town’s temple. There had been no changes to it, or its function. Everything worked how it should have worked, and he even summoned Drogramath for a moment. He left the temple when the projected image of the dronon ascendant yelled at him for being too weak. The difference between the authentic version of him and the projection was too great.

Someone Theo didn’t recognize was working the shop at the Newt and Demon. Theo nodded at the woman, heading upstairs to see what Salire was working on. He found her piling reagents on tables throughout the lab. She turned, a slightly manic look on her face. Before he could say anything, she struck a pose.

“I have a plan!”

“Looks like a comprehensive plan.” Theo spotted the sheets of paper strewn over the table. “Let’s hear it.”

“This is pretty simple, actually. I made a list of each potion we’re going to make. I put in a work order with Throk to get a new mixer made. And I collected a bunch of reagents we can use.”

Theo nodded, appreciating her thoroughness. The only problem with creating such high-ranking potions was the time required to do so. Mana was still a sticking point, preventing them from industrializing the process. The alchemist had shot a quick inquiry to Zarali, who refused to help thanks to wedding planning. The short response she shot back claimed it was unlikely to be possible, thanks to the volatile nature of mana.

“There’s nothing we can do but try,” Theo said, appreciating the reagents on the table. Salire’s plan was to handle the restoration potions first before moving on to attribute potions. Each would give him ten attribute points. The number still seemed absurd.

“Let’s get started!”

Theo felt bolstered by Salire’s enthusiasm, but the process was daunting. Alongside those collected reagents, she had also placed flasks filled with completed essences where applicable. Since they could only use third tier essences, that supply was thin. For most of the potions, they had to start from step one.

“Five stills working at once,” Theo said, nodding at the stills they already had functional. “All producing bound dilutions or essences to make those dilutions… We can bank those in the building’s storage, but we can keep the runs small. What do you think, 50 units?”

“Just make it 100,” Salire said, attaching an artifice grinder to one still. “There’s nothing wrong with leftovers.”

Five stills meant they would start on mana, stamina, strength, dexterity, and vigor potions. That only left intelligence and wisdom potions for the attribute potions. They could have brought out the other five stills they had in storage, but this would keep them busy for a while. Theo didn’t want to get bogged down with this work, just in case something else came up. Instead, they would do reasonable batches of everything.

“Looking good?” Theo asked, supervising the first run.

Each still had enough material inside, filling the air with a noxious mixture that the overhead fan drew away. “Looking great,” Salire said. She had set up a series of flasks to catch the produced essences for now. The plan was to add them to the building’s storage later. “You should get working on the dilutions.”

Even with a tiny amount of second tier essence, Theo could create the Unbound Enchanted Dilution for each potion. He started with the Refined Mana Essence, enchanting Purified Water and binding that property to the mixture. He was thankful that Tresk hadn’t taken all of his alcohol, making it easy enough to transform the unbound version of the dilution into the bound one.

It took most of the day, but in the late afternoon they had five paths forward to brew five new potions. Although there wasn’t enough time in the day to do them all, Theo figured they could get a few done before the sun set. He had plenty to do in the Dreamwalk, and didn’t want to miss a moment there. But some extra attributes would do him good.

“First one,” Salire said, clapping with excitement.

Theo nodded, appreciating the design of Throk’s mixer. The old marshling must have been fairly annoyed with the amount of revisions they had him making. He was working on one that was even better, but this one would allow the alchemist to add essence and dilution directly into the device. He cupped his hand over the second port of the mixer, allowing his mana to fill the chamber. The smaller, longer version of the pressure vessel hummed to life as Salire added essence.

“Mana first,” Theo said. “Because why not?”

“We’re expecting a similar increase compared to the Major Healing Potion,” Salire said, marking her notes. 

“The mix looks good,” Theo said, watching as the parts of the new essence combined in the mixing chamber.

“Really? Throk needs to put a window on these things. And I’m pretty sure you can’t see through metal.”

Theo smiled, pressing his hand to the bottom chamber. It wasn’t too hot for him to touch yet. “It feels like it’s mixing well. How’s that?”

“Much better.”

Theo watched the mixer as it worked. He added mana by instinct, judging the levels by feel. As his wisdom increased, he felt drawn closer to operating off of instinct and the information provided by his cores rather than step-by-step instructions. The condenser did its job, collecting the resulting vapor and depositing the completed essence into a flask the alchemist had at the ready. Salire’s face lit up when she saw the essence, clasping her hands together and jumping up and down.

“You’re very excited about this,” Theo said, flicking the side of the flask. Condensation collected, forming drops of pure essence that dripped into the mixture below. The color was a pale blue, and he could hardly sense any impurities.

“This is history, Theo. I’d say that people would write books about this, but we already have.” Salire allowed herself to giggle. “Hard not to be excited.”

Theo observed the mixer. He could hardly think of any room for improvement. Throk was always thinking ahead, making sure that both parts of the mixing chamber could be fed by modular pipes, or by hand. The size was perfect. Anything larger would make it hard for the alchemist to keep up with his levels of mana. The town’s artificer wasn’t just good at making stuff, he was good at predicting the needs of his customers.

“Ready?” Theo asked, tapping the end of the condenser. The mixer had extracted everything it could.

“I’m so ready,” Salire said, following close behind as Theo brought the essence to a work table.

The mixing process operated at a loss. If ten units of dilution and ten units of essence were injected into the mixer, only five units would come out the other end. This was a change from the way things had always worked. Theo was used to alchemy operated on a one-to-one ratio going from essence to potion.

“Here we go,” Theo said, distributing the new essence in a vial. Salire had made an extra-special vial for this one. It had more flourishes than he thought possible.

“Hooray!” Salire watched as a plume of uneven smoke came from the top of the vial. It smelled pleasant, as though someone had bottled a storm. A moment later, the reaction was done.

Theo ignored his prompt for more attributes, inspecting the new potions.

[Major Mana Potion]

[Potion]

Epic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Good Quality

Alignment:

Tero’gal (Perfect Bond)

A major mana potion. Drink to restore mana.

Effect:

Instantly restores 260 mana.

“Beautiful,” Salire said, bringing her eyes level with the table to peer through the potion. “Look at that. Did you get the prompt?”

“Yep.” Theo swayed to one side after applying his points to Wisdom yet again. His plan was to get that attribute to 100 before trying anything else. He watched as his precognition grew stronger. He knew that without the Wisdom of the Soul potion, he would have been on his ass for days, if not weeks. It acted as a buffer between the attribute and his mind. “Feels great. Three more potions and I’ll break 100 Wisdom.”

“You’re kidding! That’s insane, Theo.”

Theo nodded. It was nuts. This was the equivalent of getting ten levels all at once. And there were many potions they could make to exploit this same boost. The alchemist found a seat, waiting for his lightheadedness to go away. As he did, Salire cleaned the mixer for their next run.

Theo considered which attribute he would boost next. Intelligence was a dangerous attribute to work on, since he was already feeling the cold effects of endless logic with only 30 intelligence. He couldn’t imagine what it would feel like if he had 100. Unless he could break the meta-barrier between his soul and his Intelligence, he would put points into Dexterity and Vigor. Both were useful in their own way, and had served him well.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” Salire said.

Theo craned his neck, watching as the sun drew lower outside. “I guess we have time for one more,” he said, pushing himself to his feet and wobbling on the spot. “Someone might need to carry me home if I get another prompt, though.”

“Oh, I can do that.” Sarisa appeared from the shadows.

“Yeah, me too,” Rowan added. “I’m real gentle.”

Chapter 33

Dizzying Potions

It took Salire and Theo longer than they had expected to get the Major Stamina Potion nearly done. Sarisa ran off to Xam’s place, grabbing food for everyone. Tresk joined them in the lab, eating her food and watching the alchemy. Unfortunately, Alex could no longer fit inside buildings. She was an outside goose now, spending all her time waiting for someone to toss something yummy out the window. Or foraging for her food in the grass around the Newt and Demon.

Tresk was moderately interested in the new alchemy equipment. Theo couldn’t stop thinking about the time he first met her. When he felt the pull in his chest, drawing him to her like nothing before in his life. The Tara’hek’s bond was almost a predestined thing, drawing two people together because they would work. The definition of how those people would mesh was fuzzy, but the results were clear. Tresk used to run around, gathering reagents or helping with simple reactions. Now she just watched.

“I wonder who made that fancy gizmo you’re using.” Tresk sat on a free table, kicking her feet over the edge as she watched. “He must be a smarty pants.”

“I heard his daughter is a terror,” Theo said, tapping the end of the condenser. The essence had finally finished condensing, coming to rest in a large flask at the end of the run. Like the other stamina essences, this one was a faintly yellow color. While the first tier essences had powerful scents, this one was almost odorless, but still smelled vaguely of grass.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tresk waved the jab away. “Make your potion so we can go to sleep.”

Theo nodded, finding the nearest chair to get to work. The last rush of Wisdom had put him on his butt, so he wouldn’t risk bonking his head on a table this time. The reaction of this newest potion was much like the last. Each had been at about the same level of purity, binding to the catalyst and enchanted water with no problem. He watched as a small cloud of smoke rose from an individual vial, holding on for the onslaught of attributes.

Although the prompt appeared, allowing him to select which attribute he wanted to enhance, he inspected the potion first.

[Major Stamina Potion]

[Potion]

Epic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Good Quality

Alignment:

Tero’gal (Perfect Bond)

A major stamina potion. Drink to restore mana.

Effect:

Instantly restores 265 mana.

“I don’t think we’ll see much use from these potions, but the points are nice,” Theo said, passing the vial over to Salire.

“Because you never go adventuring.” Tresk pushed off from her table, standing on her tippy-toes to inspect the potion Salire held. “Popping low-tier potions is a pain in combat. Downing one like this is more efficient. Especially if you only have a few seconds to drink one.”

Theo shrugged. “Then we’ll put a premium price tag on it, because these are a pain to make. Okay, someone catch me if I fall.”

Without waiting for anyone to get into position, Theo placed 10 points into Wisdom. His head swam as the people in his lab turned into ghost-like streaks. He watched as Sarisa darted across the room, a full five seconds before he actually began falling. Getting Wisdom to 80 had brought a level of precognition he couldn’t have expected. As he waited for himself to tip over in real time, he wondered how this worked when more than one person had a lot of Wisdom. Perhaps they canceled each other out. Or fights between people with high Wisdom was like a match they played out in their heads.

Whatever the truth, Theo smiled as his eyes fluttered. Sarisa’s actual body darted across the room, catching him as he fell from the chair. “Gotcha,” she said, her voice muddy in his ears. “Okay. Who wants to carry the idiot?”

“I think he likes you the most, Sarisa,” Tresk said with a wink. She winked a few more times, her tongue sticking out as she did so. “He’s incapacitated. Grab his butt.”

“I’m not gonna grab his butt.”

“Don’t grab my butt.”

“I’ll do it,” Rowan said.

“The first person to grab my butt gets sent to the shadow realm,” Theo said, his head swimming. “I’m very dizzy, not unconscious.”

“Let’s get this little guy to bed. He’s tuckered out,” Sarisa said, her voice taking on a strangely motherly tone.

“I gotta go.” Salire left the lab first. Although his vision was swimming, Theo thought he could see her blushing.

Theo made it back to his manor without getting his butt grabbed. Sarisa placed him gently in his bed, and he was eager to head into the Dreamwalk. He felt bad that Alex had to sleep outside, but perhaps he could commission someone to make her a barn or something. Perhaps there was a seed core for that. He grumbled something to Tresk that she couldn’t understand, but all members of the Tara’hek were snugly in bed a moment later. They all fell into the Dreamwalk.

“Well, that was uncomfortable,” Theo said, rolling his shoulders. The group stood outside of the walls of Broken Tusk, looking out over the rolling fields.

“Those people need to get better at taking orders.”

Theo took a deep breath, allowing his precognition to come into play. He watched as Tresk turned away after saying something. “Hold on,” he said, trying not to smile. “I wanna try something.”

“What? Look at this.” Tresk turned, showing that she had exactly no butt to grab. “Zero muscle definition down there. You’re more likely to grab some tail.”

“No. Come over here and hit me in the face.”

Theo watched as a phantom version of Tresk kicked off from the ground, leading with her fist directly at his face. He tried not to scoff at how quickly his companion would slug him. He slid his foot out to the side, pulling himself out from the strike and pivoting just as she launched into the air. “Too slow,” he said.

And Tresk didn’t waste any time. She launched another attack, catching only air. With a frustrated growl, her daggers were in her hands. Theo didn’t have the most Dexterity in the world, but he had enough to move his body out of the way. It didn’t take long for her to grow frustrated from the fight. The alchemist jumped back when he saw several versions of her spring out from the main one, striking from four different angles. A moment later, he took a dagger to the chest.

“Not fair,” Theo said, looking down at the blade sticking from his torso. “There were too many versions of you.”

“Yeah, I was watching you through your eyes, stinky cheater.”

“I’d argue that’s not cheating.” Theo narrowed his eyes. He allowed his aura to envelop his body. “Wanna try that again without watching through my eyes?”

“How does that work?” Tresk asked, ignoring his question.

“I’m not entirely sure. But higher Wisdom means I can predict possible futures. But when you looked through my eyes, I saw several futures.”

“I wonder if that’s what Khahar felt like. Hey, speaking of… Is everyone screwed in heaven?” Tresk only seemed slightly concerned about the people who owned realms.

“Why don’t you just read my mind?” Theo asked, taking a deep breath. Tresk was being polite, of course. “Well, that’s the problem. They’re not really in the heavens. The ascendants took up a place on other planes and called them godly heavens. They told the system to rename those things, but they’re not true gods.”

“So, the actual gods have come home. And the fake ones are gonna get purged. That’s kinda metal.”

“Agreed. But Khahar and Glantheir saw this coming. Apparently. I’m pretty sure Glantheir is going to take one spot as a god while Khahar stays behind as a throne holder.”

“Good for us, right?”

Theo had some thoughts on that. After watching Void’s behavior, he was certain the new gods were bound by far more rules than the ascendants. After the shards were returned to the mortal plane, the rules for the ascendants would change. Their powers would be restricted, which might affect cores on the mortal plane. He couldn’t be sure how that would work, since the flow of energy from realms to the mortal plane was allowed. But even if that didn’t change, many ascendants would lose their realms and their cores. Which put Theo and Tresk in an awkward situation.

“People who hold a realm can make cores, right?” Theo asked. “Why can’t we evolve ours?”

“Woah. Slow down there, tiger. That sounds tricky.”

Theo shook his head. “Doesn’t matter how hard it is or what you think about it. Both of us will lose our cores if we don’t do something—core evolution is a thing, right? I’ve evolved one core, so why can’t I evolve the others?”

“You’re talking about the difference between making a friction fire and starting a nuclear reaction with a breath.”

“So put on your lab coat. I don’t want to devolve to using a damn basic alchemy core. Why can’t I copy the principles of Drogramathi Alchemy and make it my own? Come on. Where’s your fighting spirit?”

Tresk glared at Theo for a moment. But he could feel her rolling the situation over in her head. It took her a minute, but she reached the same conclusion he did. Like the problems they faced in Broken Tusk, the only way to address this one was to figure it out now. Not after he brought the shards from the Deep Void, but now. While they could still take advantage of the power of their cores. Of Theo’s cores, almost all of them were aligned. Only his Earth Sorcerer’s Core wasn’t. The others would crumble if he didn’t evolve them to become Tero’gal cores.

But that brought a question Theo wasn’t certain he could answer. What made a core an aligned core? The obvious, surface-level thing was the influence of an ascendant’s realm on the core user. In the early days, Theo’s actions weren’t always his own. Drogramath didn’t control him, but there his influence made him lean in one direction. Immense willpower and the Tara’hek took care of that. Cores normally followed a theme. Drogramath was all about alchemy and herbs. Glantheir’s cores were themed around healing. Zaul was the shadow guy. But being the shadow guy could take many forms. Stealth, assassination, willpower manipulation. There was a through line, but it wasn’t solid.

If Theo and Tresk created a core based on Tero’gal, what would it be about? That brought his next question. Did it really matter? The strength of Tero’gal as a realm, when compared to other realms, was middling. It was powerful because it was unlike the other realms, not because it was that high of a level. If the answer to his question of ‘why’ was ‘why not’ all he had to answer was ‘how’.

“What is a core?” Theo asked, imagining a core that fell into his hand. “When I construct a containment core for my golems, it only has a few parts.”

“Metal, soul, energy.” Tresk nodded. She had been following along with his thought process. “The metal contains the soul and the energy powers it.”

“I don’t think our cores contain a soul, though.”

Tresk let out a heavy sigh. “Blah, blah. Yada, yada. We’re talking about doing Coresmith stuff.”

When the problem was boiled down to such a simple statement, it felt cheap. But Tresk was right. No matter how much he tried to wrap his mind around it, he could jump to the same conclusion. They were trying to do what the Coresmiths did. If he could pluck the information from the air, it might have been easier to understand the concept… but there was always…

[Wisdom of the Soul]

It is likely the Coresmiths fuse nescant souls into forms usable by mortals. These souls probably come from monster cores that are transferred into a complex containment core, after which they are infused with unaligned mana.

You don’t have enough information to know if the standard [Coresmith’s Core] can create aligned cores. It is more likely that this is a process achievable by an ascendant. In your case—as the owner of a realm—you can bypass a few steps. 

“Chatty little message, isn’t it?” Tresk laughed. “The power was inside you the whole time!”

“Meh. Maybe.” Theo turned away, summoning an empty containment core the shape of a class core in his hand. He reached up, motioning to draw energy from Tero’gal. But nothing happened. “The Dreamwalk doesn’t want to simulate Tero’gal’s energy.”

“Yeah. She’s been temperamental lately…”

“Have we wronged you recently?” Theo asked, looking up at the dream realm. It didn’t respond.

“You’re just kinda talking to the manifestation of my throne through our connection, right? So that’s kinda weird.”

“Whatever. You said it yourself. We only need to combine a containment core, a monster core, and some energy to make a core. We can certainly give it a try in Tero’gal.”

“Why not? Doesn’t cost us much, and we might get some fancy cores in return.”

Theo turned, laying eyes on the stupidly big goose pecking at the ground. A faint glow surrounded Alex as she searched for bugs. It was likely unrelated to their discussion, but that glow had a familiar feeling that he couldn’t place. Theo and Tresk decided to work on this problem during the day. But he already had an idea of how to make this work for them now. Or in the near future. And Alex was a big inspiration for that. The pair ran off to enjoy some combat with unknown monsters. The alchemist stayed behind to ponder.

Approaching the core problem from the idea that they were going to create new cores wasn’t the way forward. Instead, Theo thought about something Alex had done a while ago. She was born with an affinity for fire. It might have been genetics, a random lottery from the system, or the hand of whoever put her in the mine. But she was meant to be a fire goose. She did everything she could to get herself in front of nature energy, developing an affinity for nature. No one part of her transformation resulted in the change, but a series of small things. Absorbing nature energy through various means was likely the best way to give her a new affinity.

Theo and Tresk had been exposed to Tero’gal energy for a while now. The power of that realm had gotten to where it was bleeding through into the mortal realm. Some of that energy flowed into the nearby dungeons, while others soaked into the lab. He couldn’t be certain if it would work, and he didn’t know if Drogramath would be mad about it. But Theo was certain he could soak his current cores in Tero’gal energy, changing their affinity. Without evidence, he determined that allowing that energy into his cores might have an effect.

Faced with the concept of losing his cores or trying something like this, Theo knew which option was the best.