The Newt and Demon - Book 6 Chapters 64,65,66 (Patreon)

Chapter 64

Dungeon Attack

The bells rang out in Broken Tusk, a song Theo thought he might not ever hear again. Compared to the last time the town was under attack, things were more organized this time around. While he wasn’t aware of it before, the alchemist observed Aarok’s commanders directing people through the town. People flooded from the eastern gates and the train, pouring from Qavell, Rivers, and Gronro. They must have trained for this, as the organization was too great for any other possibility.

Summoning his tactical map, Theo watched as the forces moved into position. He made his way through town, feeling Tresk and Alex flying overhead somewhere. Her job was to provide information to the assembled defenders, doing fly-overs. It was clear the monsters were coming from the Swamp Dungeon, but Xol’sa had that problem sorted. The alchemist arrived at the command tent not long after, seeking answers. Aarok, Luras, and Xol’sa were assembled. The space elf looked tired, taking shallow breaths as he sputtered.

“I should have seen it coming.” Xol’sa turned, giving Theo a worried look. “We should’ve seen it, Theo!”

Biting the inside of his cheek, Theo approached the table. Xol’sa was talking about the godly energy fading from the world. Of course it would interact with the dungeons, how couldn’t it? They were tied directly to the heavens, often siphoning energy from the realms. Even some of Tero’gal’s energy still penetrated the veil, adding some power to the world’s dungeons.

“As though we’re unprepared,” Luras said, smirking at the group. “The walls would hold without defenders. We’ll be fine.”

“Maybe.” Aarok rubbed the stubble on his chin, shaking his head at the map. “Something feels off.”

“Because something is off.” Xol’sa thrust his hand into the air, generating a complex array that hovered over the table. He poked at things that Theo could barely recognize, let alone understand. “This mistake is my fault. The godly energies aren’t even half the problem. What we’re dealing with is the void energy leaking through the realm of my people. Bringing one of them here was like punching a hole in a barrel. We just tapped into the pure void.”

Theo clicked his tongue. “That’s not possible. I control the void.”

“You travel through the void, you don’t control it,” Xol’sa corrected. “That’s like saying you can swim, therefore you’re the master of the ocean.”

“You don’t have to be mean about it,” Theo said in mock offense.

“How can void energy change a dungeon?” Aarok asked, changing the subject to something productive.

“Gods know,” Xol’sa said. “Stronger dungeons. More dungeons. Sapient dungeons—I can’t say.”

“This wouldn’t be the first time someone brought something nasty to Broken Tusk,” Luras said, waving a dismissive hand. “And it won’t be the last. We’ve got this.”

“Go weave some magic, Xol’sa,” Theo said. “We can discuss impacts later. Right now, we need to blow some stuff up.”

“Hell yeah!” Tresk shouted somewhere above.

“Get to work, you lizard!” Theo shouted up.

“You’re a lizard!” Tresk shot back. But she was already gone, sealing the exchange.

The alchemist instead turned his attention to the tactical map. They had every advantage they had used in the past. The swamp was hard to move through, even for high-level monsters. Unless there were flying enemies, it would be a slaughter in the marsh. Even then, the many towers that lined the walls of the town bristled with power. Artifice tubes fed them faux coins, sending their damage outputs to absurd levels. It might have been a small town in the eyes of the world, but Broken Tusk had never held back on defensive measures.

“Oh, that’s messed up,” Tresk spoke into Theo’s mind.

“Ew! Ew! Ew!” Alex shouted. “Someone get me a knife. Peace was never an option.”

“What?” Theo asked, speaking the words out loud. He shook his head, switching to the telepathic channel. “What’s going on?”

“We ain’t gonna have trouble with this wave, Theo. I think I might puke, though.”

Theo sent his sight to that of Tresk’s. One moment he was standing under a hide tent, and the next he was soaring in the air. He looked down at… a nightmare. The Swamp Dungeon usually created goblins and wolves. Sometimes it created turtles, but it was mostly goblins and wolves. The creatures that poured over the swap were wrong. Goblins with too many legs. Others with too few. Goblin-wolf hybrids and other visions of horror. One thing was certain between each of the creatures, though. The ways they had changed were not helpful.

“Good lord,” Theo said, removing himself from the command tent. He assumed his normal sight, rushing over to stop Xol’sa before he ascended the battlements. “The goblins are all messed up.”

“How?” Xol’sa asked.

Theo took the steps to the battlements, explaining what he saw in the marsh below Tresk and Alex.

“By the gods,” Xol’sa said. The adventurers on the wall cleared a spot for them, but the goblins were still too distant to see.

“Any ideas?”

Xol’sa shrugged, clicking his tongue a few times. “I guess I should be an expert on spatial energy, right? I can’t think of anything that would create useless evolutions.”

“Will it be a problem if we blow them up?” Theo asked.

“It shouldn’t be. Destroying the monsters will dissipate the void energy.”

The bell had only just stopped ringing. Now it rang again, more frantic this time.

[Aarok]: Who would have guessed? Commanders, check your notifications in the town’s interface. We have more waves coming from the north and south.

“That makes sense,” Xol’sa said. “Go figure. Here, let me share the dungeon threat indicator…”

[Swamp Dungeon] L45 Attacking

[River Dungeon] L30 Imminent Threat

[Mountain Dungeon] L25 Attacking

[Hills Dungeon] L15 Attacking

[Ocean Dungeon] L30 Imminent Threat

[Cave Dungeon] L65 Imminent Threat

Theo blinked a few times, allowing his mind to catch up. More Intelligence was needed. “That’s every dungeon,” he said, stating the obvious.

“Yes, this is concerning,” Xol’sa said, scratching his head furiously. “The energy should have empowered the dungeons, but it didn’t. I have a theory, may I go work on it?”

“Not gonna blow stuff up?” Theo asked. He shook his head a moment later. “No, you should be fine. Those goblins didn’t look like much of a threat.”

“I’ll be back!”

Theo watched the lines for a while until the first few goblins came into view. They were messed up, so he tried not to look at them. But one got close enough to the lightning tower and was zapped without fanfare. Aarok approached, leaning against the wall a moment later.

“I have mixed feelings about this,” he said.

“I’m moving my golems around. Don’t worry about the underground dungeon, they’ll keep that secure. Just let me know which direction needs the most reinforcement.”

“Send them south,” Aarok commanded. “How many can you spare.”

“A few hundred. Wherever you need them.”

“Half south and half east,” Aarok said. “Yeah, these goblins are… weird, but we can’t let our guard down. Each wave will have a boss, and I’m not eager to see what it’ll throw at us.”

Theo sighed as he leaned against the wall. He had sent his mental command to all his golems. They were lumbering into position, but it would take them a while. “This reminds me of the old days.”

“What, last season?” Aarok asked with a laugh. “You haven’t been here that long.”

Theo shook his head. “If you consider most people spend about twelve hours a day wherever they are, I’ve been here for much longer. A single day for me is like four days for a normal person.”

“Fancy time-dilation guy over here,” Aarok mocked. He let out a bark-like laugh as another goblin was zapped “Okay, that’s kinda funny.”

“I’d be laughing my ass off if I wasn’t so horrified,” Theo said with a nod. Another goblin got zapped and he let out a small giggle. “Yeah, that was pretty good.”

Alex and Tresk flew overhead. Theo caught a glimpse of them. To his surprise, the goose-dragon had a knife in her mouth. He shook his head. If only there were a way to make a goose even more dangerous.

“Impact on the north wall,” Aarok said. “Troll-type monsters, but they’re just as screwed up as the goblins. Trog-like critters from the south. They’re slightly less messed up.”

“We’re only worried about the bosses, right? The system has a lot of control over those.” Theo cast his eyes skyward. This would be a great time for someone to explain what the hell was going on. But that connection was cut. Broken Tusk had to stand on her own two feet for this one.

“I expect they’ll be nasty.”

Theo withdrew Fenian’s communication crystal from his inventory. He squeezed it, but nothing happened. There was no answer on the other end. The only answers he would get from Khahar would be anything relating to their position as ascendant throne-holders. No, this was a storm they would weather. And that was it.

“Where do you need me?” Theo asked.

“I’ll send you orders as needed,” Aarok said, shrugging. “Just hang out, I guess.”

Theo watched as the battle developed. If the towers weren’t enough to handle the waves of enemies, the adventurers would mop them up. It became less about hiding behind the walls, and more about sorties. Packs of wolf-riding marshlings ranged out to sweep through the strange monsters. Several cadres of elven mages headed out with half-ogre hunters as guards. Throk employed a hand-held artifice that belched fire near the northern wall, helping with the trolls. The golems swept through insectoid creatures underground. It was the strangest fight the alchemist had ever witnessed.

After returning to the western gate, Theo waited for the Swamp Dungeon boss to spawn. The wave had thinned out to nothing, and people were cleaning up the goblins that couldn’t walk well. Shortly after he began waiting, a wave message appeared.

[ERROR Attack]

Monster Wave

Duration: ERROR

SYS

Dungeon

Effects:

Duration: Infinite, Swamp Attack, ERROR.

“That’s not good,” Theo breathed. “I think we broke the system.”

“No kidding,” a random adventurer said with a chuckle. “What do you think we’ll get?”

Theo narrowed his eyes on the horizon. “Ah, crap. Is that what I think it is?”

A gout of blue-black fire rose in the distance, met by normal orange fire. Theo watched as Tresk and Alex ascended into the sky, shooting balls of fire and flinging daggers down at the boss monster. A moment later, it broke through the trees, spreading leathery wings wide as it took flight.

[Boss Monster] spotted! ERROR DRAGON has been sighted. This monster is stronger than regular monsters, use caution.

A murmur spread through the defenders. This wasn’t just an aerial enemy, it was a damned dragon. Theo reached deep inside himself, waiting for his Dreamwalker’s Core to respond. But it didn’t. How could this be above board, as far as the system was concerned? It clearly violated some rules, especially those related to void-borne things coming to the mortal plane. But no, it was fine with it.

“Good thing Tresk is a badass,” Theo said, watching as Tresk and Alex danced through the air. They dodged attacks, sending just as many hits back as they took. The alchemist felt something drain from himself, both of his companions gaining a pair of horns and a whippy tail each. “Yeah, this should be over quickly.”

“Not a damned dragon!” Aarok shouted, stomping up the battlement stairs. “I’m starting to think bringing that elf back was a bad idea, Theo!”

“She’s got this,” Luras said, drawing his bow back and firing a pot-shot at the dragon. To everyone’s surprise, it hit. “That dragon is weak.”

The more Theo watched Tresk fight against the dragon, the more he realized how right Luras was. This wasn’t a true dragon, but some imitation created by the dungeon. It was likely hobbled the same way the goblins were, having too many defects to operate well. But the joy flooding from the marshling was unreal. She was having the time of her life. Fighting a dragon in the real world had been a goal of hers for a long time. And there she was, dashing through the air on the back of a dragon-goose, doing battle with her dragon.

“At least Tresk can die happy,” Theo said. “I can’t tell you how many times she has imagined fighting a dragon.”

“She often visits me in my dreams,” Luras said. “Bringing along a dragon…”

Theo smacked his forehead with the heel of his palm. “I thought I talked to her about that.”

“Good luck getting that girl to listen… She’s been like that her entire life,” Aarok said. “Always diving head-first into whatever.”

“That’s our psychotic lizard,” Theo said, nodding with pride.

True to his assumptions, the dragon was weak. There was something wrong with it, just like the other monsters. Theo held hope in his chest that the other bosses would be the same, but he wouldn’t hold his breath. It could have been the void energy, or the lacking power from the heavens, but something had caused the dungeons to screw up. Perhaps the void energy was just a catalyst, setting something greater into motion. Xol’sa would run some tests. It should be fine. Maybe.

It didn’t take long for the dragon to fall from the sky. The wave completion notification sprung up a moment later.

[Boss Monster] defeated! ERROR DRAGON has been slain. The remaining monsters have already been defeated.

[Monster Wave] complete!

256 Monsters Destroyed!

0 gold bonus (paid to the Mayor of Broken Tusk).

Bonus for defeat both wave bosses:

Obtained: Nothing.

“Oh, sweet,” Theo mocked. “Zero gold. Thanks for that.”

Alex swooped down, perching on the edge of the wall. Tresk dismounted, pumping her fists in the air. She marched over, chest thrown out as clapped for herself. “I killed a dragon!”

“You certainly did,” Theo said. “How was it?”

“Meh. Too easy.”

“Tough little girl, this one,” Luras said, nodding to Tresk with approval. “What level was it.”

“Question mark, question mark. I don’t think it really had a level,” Tresk shrugged. “Even those goblins were messed up.”

“Xol’sa will have answers for us,” Theo said. “If he doesn’t, I’ll do my best to petition the gods.”

“Can you even do that?” Aarok asked.

Theo shrugged. “If they don’t answer, I can ask the system itself.”

Aarok gave Theo a flat look. “You can talk to the system?”

“Yeah. Kinda. She’s made of gems.”

“Perhaps that should have been your first course of action…”

“Just because I have the power to talk to the system doesn’t mean I don’t crap my pants when I go to that place,” Theo countered. “Let’s take care of the other waves before I head off to chat. At least we got some dragon bones out of this.”

“Nope. He exploded,” Tresk said.

“The dragon exploded?” Theo asked. “Did you explode it?”

“Nah, just exploded on his own.”

“Of course it did. Because why would we get anything nice for all this effort?”

Chapter 65

Chatting With The System

It was no surprise how the other waves went. Each dungeon provided a boss that was less challenging than the last. And each gave the town exactly no rewards for their efforts. The bodies of the monsters exploded after a time, sending flames into the air that seemed to harm nothing. It was late into the night before the waves cleared, though. Every defender was exhausted, seeming to have no will to go on. With stamina depleted, and little else to do, most went to sleep.

Theo stood with Tresk and Alex at the town’s center, prepared to head off into the void. Xol’sa was still awake, working on his theory. The elf had collected information during the waves, recording all the energy emitted by the monsters. Once he combed through it, he could figure out what had happened. In his Dungeon Engineer interface, each one was now set to ‘dormant.’

“Ready to talk to the system?” Theo asked.

“No. I don’t wanna,” Tresk said. “I wanna go to bed.”

Theo dropped the group through the veil and angled for the sun at the center of the system. Tresk screamed as they went, but he ignored her for now. She was his emotional support newt. As expected, there was an invisible wall segmenting the inner parts of the system from the outer parts. The alchemist placed his aura against it, trying to push through. It pushed back for a moment, but in time he felt them falling into something familiar. They landed on a snowy plane, looking through darkness up at the raised platform.

“I don’t like it,” Tresk said, folding her arms. “Why would we need to talk to the system?”

Theo approached the platform, ascending the steps. Once he was on the platform, the cold from the tundra faded. The twelve spots—plus one for the system—all glowed. So each spot for godhood had been filled. He hoped that was a good thing.

“I have a report to make, system,” Theo said, speaking to the central circle on the platform. “Some seriously weird stuff is happening on the mortal plane.”

“Do your job,” a twinkling voice came from the center. But no one appeared.

“I’m trying to do my job, but that’s hard when all of my dungeons have released weird monsters.” Theo folded his arms, unimpressed with the cold response from the system.

“You have a job,” it repeated. “Return the shards to restore balance.”

“Easy to say, but the elves trapped in the void need saving. Could you at least answer my questions?”

The system was silent for some time. Tresk cowered behind the alchemist, expecting something horrible to happen. Theo had a feeling she was just tired from all the fighting. Like a toddler refusing to go to bed, she was acting weird because she was sleepy.

“Go on.”

Theo cleared his throat. “My people are working on a method to return the shards. But if we’re going to save the elves, we need a way to disperse the void energy.”

“You have a way.”

Theo clenched his jaw. Why was the system being so rude today? The new gods might have been curt, but this was taking it to a new level. Perhaps she was mad about something and was taking it out on him.

“Could you please describe the method?” Theo asked.

“The dungeons,” she responded. “Perhaps you should ask your friends about it. Now begone. I’m busy.”

Theo heard a sound like glass breaking. An instant later, he was standing back near the town’s center, blinking in confusion.

“Ooooh! Trouble in paradise!” Tresk said, giggling to herself. “Can we go to sleep?”

Theo sighed. “The system is normally nicer than that.”

“Uh-huh. I bet she is,” Tresk said, elbowing Theo. “Can we go now? I have some dreams to haunt.”

Theo and Tresk led Alex to her stable, making sure she was comfortable with enough food and water for the night. Before they even left, she was snoring away on a pile of hay. They made their way to the manor, finding food waiting for them on the table. It was cold, but the marshling dumped it in her mouth all the same. Theo abstained from eating, eager to do nothing more than rest his tired mind. They fell into the Dreamwalk with ease. Perhaps he would go with his companion to torture some poor soul. That might make him feel better.

It was hard to know why Tresk had targeted Luras. The interest she took in his dreams was weird, with psychological implications Theo didn’t want to consider. The man screamed, fleeing from a dragon which the marshling rode. At least it was interesting to see her putting her Dreamer’s Core to use. Today the Dreamwalk was plyable, allowing her to bring them into the dreams of others. But it wasn’t always so cooperative.

Deep psychological scars aside, Theo’s mind lingered on his current problem. If the dungeons were the way to clear the void magic from the bodies of the elves, Broken Tusk would endure the coming storm. The dreams went on with the alchemist having no desire to practice his alchemy. When he figured out Tero’gal’s alchemy he could work on leveling some more. Once things settled down.

“I feel refreshed!” Tresk shouted the moment the woke from the dream.

Theo watched as the marshling jumped from her bed, sprinting out of the room with haste. As expected, he found a report from Xol’sa in the town’s messages. He had a solid theory.

“What’s gotten into her?” Sarisa asked, watching with confusion as Theo descended from the upper floor.

“The lizard kills one dragon and she thinks she’s the best,” Theo said, shaking his head. “What were you guys doing during the siege?”

“Not much. You didn’t need defending and the monsters weren’t much of a problem. It was just weird.”

“Not like we slacked off or anything,” Rowan said, forestalling accusations of being lazy. “Just doing what we were told.”

Facing so many waves at once was frightening. But it turned out to not be a problem itself. But the problems came when considering the implications. Perhaps the system was right and this would work itself out. It mentioned one of his friends, which might have been Khahar. As always, Yuri was orchestrating more than he let on.

“I have to meet with Xol’sa to discuss what he’s discovered. Not that it was anything we didn’t learn from the system, but it would be nice to be prepared.”

“We’ll leave the bigger problems to you, Theo,” Sarisa said, putting on a kind smile. “Otherwise, I’d rather just stick my head in the mud and ignore it all.”

“Seconded,” Rowan said, raising his hand.

“Speaking of, are you finally sleeping in the manor?” Theo asked.

“I sleep in the garden,” Rowan said, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t trust the little Dreamwalk.”

“Because my brother is a baby. I’ve been getting experience in my little Dreamwalk.”

The conversation at the table didn’t linger on Rowan’s problems for long. Instead, they spoke of the little things that made Broken Tusk turn. People would be rowdy today, seeing yesterday’s fight as a glorious victory over the dungeons. Even if that wasn’t true, it wouldn’t stop the half-ogres from stirring something up. Theo wouldn’t intervene, as they deserved to celebrate.

After breakfast, Theo had to check in on Salire at the Newt and Demon before getting down to business. Of course she was always pushing ahead when he was gone. When he was done with this latest problem, he could do some batches of second tier Tero’gal essence. She promised to make a full report when he had time. That time—Theo hoped—would be later this afternoon. Perhaps they would have enough time to mess around with dragon bone essence.

Theo passed by the statue of Xol’sa and Zarali on his way to the wizard’s tower. He shook his head, appearing at the tower in a blink. The alchemist waved at Zarali as he ascended the stairs to the top. She gave him a sour look, shaking her head. It was his fault that Xol’sa had been so busy with everything. But there was plenty of time to relax later. As expected, the space wizard was on the top floor of his tower, swiping through random arcane circles and mumbling to himself.

“Find anything fun?” Theo asked.

Xol’sa turned, squinting at Theo. After a moment he blinked away his confusion and nodded. He had dark purple circles under his eyes and his hair was a mess. “I have theories.”

“If you’re looking to form conspiracy theories, you’re well on your way.”

“I haven’t uncovered a grand conspiracy, no. But perhaps… Maybe?”

Theo placed a hand on Xol’sa’s shoulder. “I think you need some sleep, buddy.”

“No, I must deliver my findings to… you, actually. Hello, Theo.”

“Hey,” Theo said, ignoring the tired elf. “What do you have?”

“We were talking about lodestones.” Xol’sa swept his hand through the air, arranging symbols with fervor. “Look at this. Can you believe it?”

“Nope,” Theo said, not understanding most of what he was looking at. “How about you explain it to me?”

“It was right under our noses the entire time. The dungeons were designed to absorb ambient power right? Well, we call any energy borne from a heavenly source power, energy, and so on, but it is like their life’s blood. These dungeons have been fed a trickle of mana for so long. They’re hungry for more, which is why they sucked in the void energy so quickly. But I’ve discovered a feature of each dungeon that had been hidden to me for some time.”

“The ability to process that void mana into something meaningful,” Theo said, finishing the thought. “Or at least neutralize it.”

“Yes, how did you know?”

Theo shook his head. It was the direction Xol’sa was going with his rambling. “Long-term effects?”

“Oh, I can’t say,” Xol’sa swiped his hand through the air, dismissing the runes. “For now, I think we’re good to bring more elves as needed. More waves might spawn, but they’ll become less and less effective. Yes, I think that should do. I’ve done good for the day—perhaps the year.”

Without warning, Xol’sa collapsed to the ground. Theo checked for a pulse before doing anything drastic. After feeding the elf a few potions, he determined the man was just sleeping. The alchemist pulled him into a princess carry and brought him down the stairs. Zarali wasn’t even surprised when she saw him appear.

“Got your husband here,” Theo said, holding Xol’sa up for her to see. “Where do you want him?”

“Just there,” Zarali said, gesturing to a sofa. “Did he finally run out of energy?”

“Yeah, he’s just a tired little guy.” Theo placed the elf on the sofa, pulling a blanket from the back and covering him. “Uncovering the secrets of the void will do that to a man.”

Zarali offered a soft small, all the bitterness gone from her face by this point. “He told me you returned the first of his people.”

“I won’t pretend to know what that feels like,” Theo said. “I’m just here to help.”

Zarali stood, crossing the room to place her hand on Xol’sa’s forehead. “He finds the whole thing to be very confusing. He doesn’t remember his people, but feels a responsibility to save them. Sometimes I wonder if that’s how you feel.”

“We both have a savior complex, I guess. Just for different reasons.”

“How is the elf handling recovery?” Zarali asked.

“That might be something you can help with. Sulvan is working on the man below the temple. He has some soul damage, but I don’t know if it's enough to warrant a Reforge Soul Potion.” Theo gestured to Xol’sa on the sofa. “When that one wakes up, would you mind checking?”

“I would be delighted,” Zarali said, bowing her head. “Once I ensure my husband isn’t dying.”

“Fair enough. I think that sorts everything out, though. I can finally get back to the lab.”

“Have fun,” Zarali said, her eyes lingering on Xol’sa. “I know I will.”

Theo made his way back to the lab, feeling none of the disorientating effects of the portals. That sense had faded long ago, making the journey feel as though he was simply taking a step, rather than traveling a few miles through the swamp. Since people had time to get out on the streets, they were already going about their days. It wasn’t like the wedding. No one was hungover to the point where they were comatose the next day. Just a late night that had most citizens tired. The town’s notes section was filled with praise for the swift response from their allies. Unsurprisingly, what few dungeons existed to the north had activated from the void energy. But it was nothing the combined forces couldn’t handle. As it had spread out in a ripple, they were staggered enough to not cause problems.

“Now that I’m done with that,” Theo said, trailing off as he entered the lab. Salire was waiting there with a half-smile on her face. She nodded knowingly. “What do we have going on?”

“You can toy with your dragon bone essences later,” Salire said, gesturing to the rows of flasks on the far table. They were all a pleasant shade of pink, yellow, and blue. Even from afar, the alchemist detected the smells of restoration essences. “For now, I’d like you to review my essences.”

Theo gave them a quick inspection, but hardly needed to. They were all a minimum of 90% purity, putting them far above his expectations for his assistant. But Salire had come a long way from her first days in the lab. “These are excellent. Almost perfect samples.”

“I’m having trouble with the iron paddles, though.” Salire gestured to the pile in the corner. “The buildup is a problem. Perhaps it depends on the level of your cores.”

“While we can break the residue down, it isn’t perfect. We might as well work on that while we’re here.” Theo placed his hands on his hips. His technique for processing the solid buildup on the paddles wasn’t perfect, but they had to accept it as part of their process now. This was Tero’gal alchemy, which required more steps. “Come on. Let’s record how those reactions work.”

Chapter 66

The New Metal

Salire stood outside with Theo, watching as he decomposed the solid part of the leftover essence. It broke into two parts, one-tenth of which was volatile and couldn’t be broken down further. The liquid it left behind was marked as ‘impure,’ which neither member of the duo knew what to make of. The alchemist held it to the light, swirling the flask of lightly pink liquid and humming to himself.

“It feels slightly reactive,” Theo said. “I’m not sure this is worth using, though.”

“Everything is worth taking a note for, though!” Salire said with a bit too much excitement. “I’ll record it anyway.”

“Let’s review,” Theo said, clearing his throat. “Everything we know about Tero’gal’s version of alchemy and herbalism.”

Salire flipped through the pages of her notebook, nodding and looking up as though ready to take notes.

“We swapped from the grade of an essence, to purity. Which makes a lot more sense. If you examine raw reagents, you can determine some of that purity before processing.”

“Which is why reagent quality matters more for Tero’gal’s alchemy. That’s also why we have the specialized greenhouses.” Salire underlined a section in her notes. “We have better control over what we’re doing because we can assume less pure reactions are more volatile.”

“Agreed,” Theo said, tapping his chin. “Jumping from tier 2 to 3 might be about something else, though. We need some theories about that, since we can only make an essence so pure before the numbers are meaningless. We’ll jump from 95 to 98 percent and then what?”

“Alternative methods,” Salire said with an excited nod. “But I have the current method documented very well. For the second tier, we’re looking at the same deal. A centrifuge removes the impure part of the essence, leaving behind waste. But the pressure vapor condenser is still required.”

“That might be a way to help isolate the functional parts of the essence, though. We might be cheating with that part, but I can’t tell.” Theo clicked his tongue, letting his Wisdom go to work. He would lament his lacking Intelligence attribute more, but he preferred Wisdom. Intuition went a long way with alchemy, and he had leaned on it heavily in the past. A sample of second tier essence was available for testing, but there seemed to be nothing he could gain by inspecting it. As expected, the purity dropped but it was still stable compared to the first tier.

“I think we should enter a phase of experimentation,” Salire said. “We have a lot of functions within Drogramath’s alchemy to test still. Fermentation, alcohol interactions… All that stuff we did daily.”

“There are even more things to consider, though. I’m no longer Drogramath’s Champion.”

“Seriously? Tero’gal didn’t make you the champion?”

Theo turned, offering the woman a half-smile. “I don’t think we have champions anymore. We’re doing this on our own merit now. Which is… Well, if you could get Throk to make some more machines, that would be nice. Think of different methods to remove the impurities involving alcohol. While you work on that, I’ll focus on other experiments.”

“Such as?” Salire asked, making a note.

“Mana injections, gaseous injections, and so on. It wouldn’t hurt to do research into how the space elf is doing…”

“Good idea,” Salire said with a nod. She flipped to the last page written on in her notebook. “I’ve got a few orders to fill. And you still have dragon bones to experiment with.”

Theo clapped Salire on the shoulder, nodding. “I might be back tonight for my experimentations. Gotta visit a dungeon first.”

Theo wasn’t sure what he thought about the dragon bones. He could brew potions for them right now, but was uncertain about if he should. Stepping out into the streets of Broken Tusk, he found Thim standing awkwardly.

“I was about to knock,” the dwarf said. “Finished your weird building.”

“I can see that,” Theo said, nodding toward the completed building. He had been ignoring it, waiting for the man to finish his job. “Care to give a tour?”

“There isn’t much to tour,” Thim said, leading the way down the road.

“Theo!” Gridgen shouted from down the road, rushing up and completely out of breath. “We got a problem.”

Nira was close behind him, her arms folded and her face stained with soot. She was always covered in a thin layer of black soot, though.

“Can it wait?” Theo asked.

“Quick tour,” Thim said, waving at the giant metal cube. It was about the size of his alchemy building, made of faintly purple metal. “Giant metal cube. Sliding door. Have at it.”

Thim left without saying another word. Theo felt something in the way he left, as though he wanted nothing to do with what the others had to say.

“What’s the problem? You never have problems, Gridgen,” Theo said.

“Ore dried up,” the miner said.

Theo clicked his tongue. Gridgen clearly thought he should have a stronger response, but that was that. The energies of the old ascendants was fading from the world. The last weird monster wave was proof enough of that, but he hadn’t expected it to happen this quickly.

“Is our stock of Drogramathi and Tworgnothi metals secured? How much do we have?” Theo asked.

“A lot,” Nira said with a shrug. She produced a faintly blue-silver bar, holding it out for him to see. “Looks like we can get mythril production going.”

“No choice,” Theo said, waving the question away. He took the bar for inspection. “We can’t cry because we’re making the world better. If we have mythril deposits, we should exploit them.”

[Mythril Ingot]

[Metal Ingot]

Legendary

Quality: Excellent

An ingot of legendary mythril metal.

“Very nice work on this, Nira,” Theo said, rolling the bar over in his hands. It was lighter than he expected. “This would be a decent substitute for Azrugium.”

“You have a keen eye,” Nira said, smiling up at the alchemist. “We’ll get about equal strength to that alloy. And, I have something else to show you.”

Nira produced another bar of metal. It was a swirling pattern of black and silver-blue. Although the sun was high in the sky, Theo could have sworn the ingot was glowing. He inspected the item.

[Dragoniron Ingot]

[Metal Ingot]

Legendary

Quality: Excellent

An alloy of mythril and iron. Only the finest smelters can produce such an ingot.

Theo felt the weight of the ingot in his hand. It was heavier than pure mythril, but perhaps there was some advantage to that. “What are the qualities of the dragoniron compared to mythril?”

“Mythril is lighter. A lot lighter. But dragoniron is tougher.”

“Excellent,” Theo said. “This is going to do very well for what we need. Now, is there anything I can do for either of you?”

“I’m good,” Nira said, turning and heading out. She was a very self-sufficient person, so Theo wasn’t surprised.

“We could use more mythril veins,” Gridgen said with a nervous smile. “Although we wouldn’t want to wake that beast…”

Theo sent a mental command to his metal golems. He ordered them to march down into the mine, toward the new vein of mythril they had exposed. “Let’s sort this out real quick. Come on, we’ll meet my army there.”

Before heading into the mine with the golems, the alchemist sent word to Aarok about his plan. Then they evacuated the mine, just in case anything happened. With the adventurers on standby, and the mine packed with golems, Theo headed down alone. After some probing with his Earth Sorcerer’s Core, he found the cavern belonging to whatever beasty was waiting to burst forth. He reinforced the walls, scouting new tunnels with more mythril nodes. The process took a few hours, but he was taking it slow. Whatever creature waited below didn’t stir during his work, so it seemed safe enough.

“I found a few safer veins of mythril,” Theo said. He left about twenty-five golems behind to handle any unexpected monster incursions. “Keep the first one we found sealed, and just hit the other ones I revealed.”

“Got it,” Gridgen said, saluting. “You heard the boss! Back in the mine!”

Copper and iron were still valuable metals, so there was no reason to stop production. Theo made his way to the smelter before visiting the temple, giving Nira some new orders. The moment the mythril nuggets rolled in, she was to shift her focus to them and nothing else. Whatever leftover aligned nuggets they had could be stowed for now. He didn’t want to operate off a dwindling supply of anything.

Nira didn’t care what the orders were, so long as she could work the smelter.

Theo had some time to think as he made his way to the temple. It wasn’t far, but it gave him enough time to reflect on his progression. His advancement in terms of levels had stagnated. But he had made progress in other ways. Both the town and the alliance were rocketing forward in power. Tero’gal had become a Throneworld. And his ability with alchemy had expanded significantly, making him a better alchemist. It was only a matter of time before he caught up to where he was before. This was a fact he hoped to accomplish before he had to take his people to Tero’gal.

“Gotta remember to check in on the doomsday party supplies,” Theo muttered to himself. He sent his senses off to his Plant Golems managing his small farm. They had been banking wheat for a while, so there would be no shortage of bread. Perhaps it was time to make some zee-shine.

The temple was as intimidating as ever. Theo stepped into the halls, reflexively bowing his head. He could feel the power of the true gods here now. They all mingled together to create a tapestry of something he couldn’t quite identify. Those gods waited in a cloistered heaven for him to bring the shards back, adding some stabilizing force to the world. Xol’sa would pull through. The space elf always pulled through.

“Knock knock,” Theo said, standing at the entrance to the dungeon.

The door swung open, revealing a massive figure. “Ah, Theo,” Bilgrob said. The massive ogre barely fit in the dungeon, even though it had been constructed with half-ogres in mind. “Come to visit the elf?”

“Yeah, how is he doing? And how is that Tero’gal core treating you?”

Bilgrob grunted, turning and leading the way down the darkened corridor. “I won’t lie. It isn’t as fun as my Spit core, but I can’t complain. At least I didn’t get my core stripped away or something like that. Anyway, the healing magic is fine. There is a diagnosis spell that works well.”

“How does Tero’gal magic work?” Theo asked.

“Just some magic language adjacent to Axpashi. I assumed you invented it.” Bilgrob pushed the door to a cell open. It really was like a dungeon, but the space elves needed to be contained. There was no way to tell if they would still be insane when they woke. And until this one came to his senses, the alchemist refused to bring more.

“Tero’gal has a mind of its own. It must have invented the language,” Theo said. The elf rested on a bed, a wet cloth draped over his forehead. He had been stripped of his clothes with only a thin sheet covering his body. A small air conditioning artifice sat in the corner, pumping gently cool air into the room. “What does your diagnosis spell say about him?”

“He’s in stable condition, but he has a lot of problems. We’ve been working on curing him… slowly,” Bilgrob sighed. “The good news is that we’ve purged the void mana from his system. Everything else comes down to potions and healing spells.”

“Is the Reforge Mind potion doing its work?”

“Very much so. Watched his head go transparent earlier this morning. I could see his brain.”

“That’s nasty,” Theo said, placing a hand on the downed man’s shoulder. His body temperature was high, but that was to be expected. He had something like a fever, reminding the alchemist of what happened with Xol’sa. “Can you inspect his soul?”

“There doesn’t appear to be obvious damage to the soul,” Bilgrob said. “Were you expecting soul damage?”

“I was expecting a lot of soul damage,” Theo said, knitting his brow. That flew in the face of what he knew about the Bara’thier. “Xol’sa had soul damage when he came here. I thought the void energy they held in their bodies would affect the soul.”

“Not so. The energy was only in his body, not his soul. How did Xol’sa arrive here if he is from the Bara’thier?”

“That’s a good question. I suppose they catapulted him through… Ah, I get it.”

“What?”

“They sent him into the void unprotected. The place where the space elves are hiding out was protected by a bubble. It was weak, but the shards are still keeping them safe. I think they tossed baby Xol’sa straight into the void, allowing him to sail on magic to Iaredin.”

“Nasty business,” Bilgrob said, shaking his head. “Well, I’m working shifts with Zarali and Sulvan. We’re trying to recruit more healers for when you bring more elves. But you know how hard that is.”

Theo shook his head. “The care of an actual healer is too important. I don’t think my potions could see them through. Perhaps we can throw some money at people.”

“Or we could train up new healers. Can’t you gift cores?” Bilgrob asked.

Theo winced at the question. “I don’t know. I can’t create them, only change the ones people already have.”

“That’s unfortunate. At least you don’t have to worry about this one. He is under our care, and he won’t decline. I can promise you that.”

Theo didn’t doubt the man. What kind of secrets would this space elf hold to the old world? They had shoved off with the shards a long time ago. Those precious lodestones had likely enabled the ascendants to do what they did, creating a mockery of the intended system with their realms. With the old gods back as the new gods, order would soon be restored. This long-plotted scheme cooked up by Khahar and whoever else would finally come to a close.

The alchemist would rip his people from this land, sending them through the void and onto a permanent home. A place where he could ensure everyone would be safe. But even after they left, he had a job to do. The Dreamwalker was the hand of the void, ensuring everything ran as it should have.

“Keep up the good work,” Theo said, backing out of the room. “Update me if something else happens.”

“Can do.”

Theo left the temple with alchemy on his mind. Rocketing through the next tier was essential if he wanted to produce powerful potions. And of course he wanted to produce powerful potions. Maybe he would even have time to figure out what kind of potions a dragon’s bones would make.