The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 31,32,33 (Patreon)

Chapter 31

Water Sorcerer’s Core

Of all the dungeons around Broken Tusk, Theo considered the ocean dungeon to be the most dangerous. It had waned in its difficulty, thanks to the watertight tower they had built around it, but the interior was no less offensive. Here are the reports from the scouting party. The interior was a nightmare. An expansive ocean floor spread out as far as the scouts could see. Massive ocean creatures loomed overhead while others that didn’t belong drowned or were crushed by the pressure.

An adventurer had even been injured and forced to use a Potion of Return to avoid death. How they drank it underwater was beyond him.

Theo made his way to the harbor and then out onto the piers that stretched into the bay. As he walked along the paved path, he looked up at the massive towers with a smile. Atop each tower was a rail gun, trained on the sea and prepared to fire on attacking lizard folk. He was happy that the lizards had not come to call, and ‌he doubted they would. At least that was one thing in his favor.

Aarok stood near the entrance to the tower and nodded as Theo approached. "Are you sure this will work?" he asked.

"No, I'm not sure at all if it'll work," Theo said with a shrug. "There are some concerns I have about the vapors in the potion being able to expand, but there's only one way to find out. Do you have somebody who can head inside and check the results for me?"

"That's me!" Tresk said, bursting from the shadows.

"Alright, you little goblin," Theo said, jerking his head towards the entrance to the tower. "Let's head in."

"Oh, I actually have a present for you." Tresk said, taking the steps two at a time. “But I don't actually know if it’ll be useful.

"You never get me presents," Theo said. He continued taking the steps, unsure of what weirdness she had in store for him.

When the pair reached the bed of the bay, Tresk withdrew something from her dimensional storage bag. She handed it over with a flourish.

“A class core?” Theo asked, "You shouldn't have."

"Stop being a butthole. Inspect the stinkin’ core.”

Theo obeyed the command, inspecting the core.

[Water Sorcerer’s Core]

Common

Sorcerer Core

Unbound

2 Slots

Level 1 (0%)

A sorcerer core focused on the water element.

Innate Skills:

[Water Attunement]

The core was a duplicate of his Earth Sorcerer's core, except it was aligned to water. It would allow him to manipulate water based on his willpower, which was actually extremely helpful. He swapped his Earth Sorcerer's core out and placed the new one in his soul. As soon as he did, he could feel the water all around them. A small dribble of water came through the wall, forming a tiny puddle at his feet. He swiped his hand and picked it up with his will power, forming it into a sphere and nodding with approval.

"You know, this would have come in handy when we were working on the river," Theo said, cracking a smile. "We could have done that job without the intervention of Khahar."

"So here's the thing," Tresk explained. "I'm trying to collect all the elemental sorcerer cores for you, since your willpower is just too high. So now we have water and earth. All we need is air, fire, and... whatever other elements there are.”

“Cool,” Theo said, tossing the ball of water around. “Actually, this might be really helpful for alchemy. I wonder if it works on essences.”

Theo messed around with his new water powers as the tear waited. He could keep the tower drained without the help of the Artifice pumps with no problem, but eventually Xol'sa came, and it was time to get to work. Theo slotted his Shadow core as the man descended the steps.

“Uh, we’re cleaning up another tower today, are we?” Xol'sa asked, shaking his head. “It’s just a shame we can’t do anything to preserve them.”

"Nothing we can do about that," Theo said. "Problem is, we'll be up to our eyeballs, and Franks, if we're not careful."

“Right. Are we ready to try this out?” Xol’sa asked.

The plan this time was the same as last time. Theo would exploit his future sight to see if one of his nukes would go off underwater. He wouldn't Shadow Wrap the first one, just test if it would work. The alchemist would toss the bomb in, and if Tresk didn’t return immediately, he knew the bomb had gone off. She was in absolutely no danger, as things that happened in his future sight didn't come true if he didn't let them. So the plan was technically safe, if not grim.

"Ready," Theo said, holding the bomb up. Xol'sa wrapped it in his extraplanar energy, and Theo tossed it through the portal. A moment later, he watched as a spectral version of Tresk traveled through, only to return immediately. "That one didn't work. I don't think the bomb went off underwater. This might complicate things."

The bomb needed very simple conditions to explode. It basically only needed to hit something hard, no matter what it was. Normally that meant the ground, but if the inner chambers of the multi-layered bomb didn't break, then the entire thing wouldn't work. The group started brainstorming ideas on how to get the bomb to go off. They could commission an artifice that broke it automatically, or any other number of complicated things, but the Alchemist had a simple solution.

A metal golem lumbered down the stairs of the tower. Its rumbling steps were shaking sediment loose from the walls. There was barely enough room for the four of them down at the bottom, but this was the perfect delivery system.

"I've got a question," Tresk said. "Why didn't you use the golem to test your future sight bomb detection system the first time?"

"It's more fun when it's you,” Theo said with a wink. "All right, let's see if this works."

Theo had all the intent of issuing an order to his golem to head into the portal and return. If the bomb didn't detonate when it smashed it, he watched as the spectral version of the giant metal creature headed in, but didn’t return.

"Alrighty, that one worked," Theo said, nodding to himself. He applied the bonuses from his Shadow Core to another bomb and handed it over to the golem. A moment later, Xol'sa covered it in his energy, and the golem passed through the entrance. This time, the stone frame of the dungeon rumbled.

"We'll need to wait a bit to see if this works," Xol'sa said, inspecting the frame of the dungeon. "I'm not sure if we'll have some time dilation nonsense from the explosion interacting with the dungeon's energy, but we'll see."

Of course, they didn't have to wait. Theo exploited the combination of his connection with Tresk and his future site to look inside and give them a report. The bomb had worked. It had gone off right near the entrance and sent a high-pressure shock wave out. It seemed to have killed the monsters inside, but it was hard to tell from the murky entrance.

They would unfortunately need to mount an expedition. Which is why Aarok was waiting at the top of the tower with a team of adventurers. Theo sent a few more golems in with bombs, just to be sure. One could never have enough bombs.

"Physics be damned," Theo said, rolling his shoulders as he stepped through the dungeon's portal. He had concerns about keeping the water and pressure off of him, but trusted in the world's magic. It didn't hurt that he could rely on his overwhelming willpower to make something happen. If that didn't do the trick, he had watched himself go in and create an enormous bubble for them to survive inside made things even easier to accept.

The crushing pressure inside the dungeon was immediate and almost deadly. With his Water Sorcerer's Core, Theo focused on pushing all the water away from himself. Physics said that air shouldn't have rushed in, but it did. He couldn't know where it came from, and he didn't care. The one thing that amazed him was how large the bubble was. It spread out, surrounding his body at first, then it encompassed the portal he had just arrived through, and then much of the surrounding area. Moments later, the rest of the adventuring team came through, including Xol'sa.

"How long can you hold that up?" Aarok asked, patting his hand on Theo’s shoulder.

"Forever," Theo said with a shrug. He wasn't pushing his willpower to its limit, not even a little bit. He was confident he could encompass a much larger area than he was currently shielding from the crushing depths of the water.

"The dungeon core should be this way," Xol’sa said, "just forward." And the party set off.

It was incredibly eerie watching the deep ocean scene outside of the bubble. The group had to bring lights to illuminate the area, otherwise it would have simply been too dark. Still, shapes moved on the other side of the bubble: massive sea creatures that had somehow avoided the bomb. Perhaps they were used to the intense pressure and the shock waves that didn't affect them. Theo expanded the bubble, and he was glad he had done so.

A massive shark-like monster fell through the barrier, slamming against the seabed and flopping around helplessly. That was their one advantage here in this dungeon. The monsters that could survive the depths couldn't survive within his bubble, and the adventurers made quick work of it.

"It turns out the Ocean Dungeon’s strongest points are weakest against your abilities, Theo,” Xol'sas said with a chuckle.

This small bit of levity didn't take Theo's attention away from the largest of the dark shapes moving through on the other side of his bubble. He expanded it out again, tapping into about half of his willpower to hold up an area about the size of a Qavell. It was ridiculous to think of, but he didn't want any probing ocean monsters to sweep in and get any of his people. The walk was mostly boring. They made their way across the ocean's floor and eventually found their way to the dungeon core.

"It might take me a minute to work," Xol'sa said, cracking his knuckles as he approached the core.

Tresk nudged Theo in the ribs and pointed upward. "Giant squid," she said in a low voice.

Theo swallowed hard as he looked up, and it was the creature he had seen several times before, but he hadn't wanted to say anything. As Xol'sa did his work, the creature seemed to probe the outside of the bubble. Shouts of surprise came when one of the tentacles shot through the surface, slapping against the ground and probing the area as though it was looking for something. Which meant the monster was roughly the size of a city.

"What's up with the negative dungeons creating monsters of unreasonable size?" Theo grumbled.

“Never trust a M.O.U.S.,” Tresk said, shaking her head.

Brought to this, provided an opportunity while Theo was distracted by maintaining the bubble. The adventurers did battle with the tentacles of the monster. They weren't able to engage with it properly, but when the appendages came back down, they slashed at them or hurled arrows and spells. Of course, that gave Tresk time to harvest materials from the monster. When she had found enough that Theo was satisfied, she stuck the creature with a dagger infused with venom, and then it backed off.

The sound of a mournful cry came from outside the bubble, vibrating the ground as the giant squid retreated. Unfortunately for the monster, thanks to the potency of the venom, it would continue taking damage almost forever. Theo would almost feel bad if it wasn't such a horrifying sight. But overall, this dungeon went far better than the last one. Xol'sa worked his magic on the core and soon had it overloading. Then they were given a certain amount of time to retreat and headed straight for the entrance.

The party all traveled safely through the dungeon's entrance, heading to the other side. Although the dungeon would collapse soon enough, the party was still required to assemble at the top of the tower, waiting for it to be destroyed. If anything were to break out while they were waiting, they would need to respond swiftly.

"Check it out," Tresk said, withdrawing an item from their shared inventory. It was a massive chunk of monster meat she had taken from that carved from the squid monster. Theo took the spongy material in his hand and inspected it.

[Xotl Flesh]

[Alchemy Ingredient] [Ascendant Xotl Ingredient]

Legendary

The flesh of an ascendant xotl. Known as terrors of the sea, the xotl terrorize the seas, attacking and eating anything they can find. They have a very high affinity with water, and this reagent reflects that.

Properties:

[????] [????] [????]

"This is very strange," Theo said, inspecting the reagent. "There's a spirit fruit called the Xotl Orange. I always thought the creature it was named after was a mythological thing, but I guess they're real."

"You know how these negative dungeons are," Tresk said, taking a bit of the flesh and inspecting the red-orange color on the surface. "It may as well be making everything up."

Theo was certain of one thing. Tresk had had enough sense to harvest quite a lot of the flesh. As long as they kept it in storage, he could use it in potion making for as long as they were still on this planet. And he was eager to see what kind of water-aligned properties it would have. The orange didn't have many interesting things, and it was difficult to get a lot of them.

"Can we cook it?" Sarisa asked, appearing from nowhere to sniff the lump of flesh. "I would like to cook it."

Theo held the chunk of meat out for her and laughed to himself. "Just to be warned, I'm pretty sure consuming ascendant flesh changes you."

"On second thought, let's not eat it. I don't want to turn into a giant squid," Sarisa said.

Chapter 32

The Lizard That Defied The System

“A giant squid?” Salire asked, shaking her head. “Glad I’m not involved in the adventuring world.”

The day was wearing thin, but Theo wanted to visit the lab before he went to bed. The sense of accomplishment related to dealing with the dungeons was growing. With every new dungeon destroyed, he felt as though the town was a little safer. But they had to keep on top of the problem, or it would get out of control. The Hills and Ocean Dungeons were now destroyed, but that left a few more. He reviewed the screen provided by Xol’sa’s Dungeon Engineer class.

[Swamp Dungeon] L30 Dormant

[River Dungeon] L19 Dormant

[Mountain Dungeon] L3 Dormant

[Cave Dungeon] L45 Dormant

The Mountain Dungeon, which was to the north near the quarry, would need to be dealt with next. Theo had no intention of allowing it to get to the negative levels. They would destroy this one before it created the horrible beasts found in the others. If they started on the problem early, he wouldn’t even need to be involved. Huzzah. Before getting the next round of space elves, he wanted that dungeon gone. It would give enough wiggle room for the other dungeons to descend in levels, and they could avoid a disaster.

“So, are we working on anything fun today?” Theo asked.

“Not really,” Salire said with a shrug. “I’m building my confidence with mana infusion. You’re not running the squid bits tonight, are you?”

“I don’t plan to.”

“Good. That gives me room to test some stuff,” Salire said, waving him away. “Now, leave me. I seriously can’t concentrate when you hover.”

Theo nodded, bidding her farewell and heading out the door. He understood how the added pressure of another person standing nearby could stifle the learning process. Salire was always a person who appreciated instruction, but needed time to digest information in her own way. As he left the lab, he spotted the position of the sun.

“Who can I bother?” Theo asked, tapping his chin. After a few moments of thought, he snapped his fingers. “I have just the man to bug.”

Broken Tusk had taken off thanks to the help of Fenian. But when someone needed to step up to satisfy the daily needs of townsfolk old and new, the young man that filled the role was Azrug. Brother of Xam and all-around little shit, he had filled some big boots. Now he owned a few fiercely independent businesses in town. His general store was located near the Marsh Wolf Tavern in the center town, offset from the cluster of buildings owned by Throk.

Of course, Azrug wasn’t working the front counter in the general shop, but Theo still stopped by to see what kind of stuff they had. There were an assortment of items that leaned toward gear for adventurers. He hummed to himself when he saw a few potions on the shelves… Potions he had crafted.

“That little brat,” Theo said, shaking his head. If he cared more about his alchemy store making a big profit, he would complain. Azrug could also get away with a lot. He was ambitious enough to accomplish a lot.

Another venture Azrug had started were some stables. Theo didn’t find him there either, as there wasn’t any overland travel on the continent. Instead, he was in the market. Theo found the half-ogre taking his role as Lord Merchant seriously. He was chatting with a group of elves about something. Likely something related to trade. The alchemist had avoided these talks since it had been proven he wasn’t good at it. In cases like this, it was best to let those with the talent take care of it.

“What do ya need Theo?” Azrug asked. A sly smile spread across his face. “Life has been good since you no longer bother me.”

“Show your leader the respect he deserves,” Theo said, folding his arms.

“My lord,” Azrug said, bowing dramatically. “Shall we discuss the food I’ve ordered for the town in the stead of Alise?”

“Nah. What do you think about the market?”

“The market is great,” Azrug said. “We’re funneling a ton of money into the town from the taxes we collect on sales. We charge the merchants for docking at the port, then charge them a percentage for selling stuff here. They seem fine with it, though.”

“Taxes and taxes, huh?” Theo asked. “So, what’s your take on money? The world is restarting soon, so why chase it?”

“On the off-chance money is useful on the other side, we’ll have it. Even if it isn’t, I get experience from selling crap,” Azrug flashed a wide smile. “I’m hoping levels translate, so that’s my motivation. And you know what? This is fun. Do you know what fun is?”

“I have fun sometimes. Blew up a dungeon today, which is pretty fun.”

“Yeah, that sounds kinda fun…”

“Hey, watch this,” Theo said, sweeping his hand through the air. He gathered moisture from both the ground and air, condensing it down to a baseball-sized globe that hovered in the air. “New party trick.”

“Hmm. I wonder if we could see water… People don’t really buy water.” Azrug stroked his chin. “Can you use it to pull mixtures apart?”

“Perhaps. I haven’t really tried.”

“Could be a business opportunity here,” Azrug said, withdrawing a wineskin from his inventory. He held it out. “Can you manipulate this?”

Theo flicked his wrist, pushing the liquid through the opening. It hovered in the air. That brought a question to his mind. How much water had to be in the water for him to manipulate it? Thinking back to using his Earth Sorcerer’s Core, he realized there were likely impurities in the earth he had been manipulating. Whatever made wine the way it was wasn’t enough to make his core not work.

The alchemist reached out with both hands, pulling the wine apart. Powder fell to the ground while pure water remained. “Looks like I can pull them apart.”

“Excellent. You turned my expensive wine to water,” Azrug said, narrowing his eyes. “And whatever made it delicious and intoxicating is now on the floor.”

“You asked,” Theo said, squeezing his hand. The orb of water balled onto itself before bursting into vapor. He scooped it up again, turning it back to water. He tried again, this time intending to turn it to ice. But it didn’t work. “No free ice. That sucks.”

“Get yourself an Ice Sorcerer’s Core next,” Azrug said. “I could use ice.”

“Really?” Theo asked.

“Naturally. Not everyone has access to artifices and potions. Some simply use ice to cool themselves.”

“Neat. I’ll keep that in mind,” Theo said.

Azrug had a few more things to chat about, but it was mostly logistics. Of course, he didn’t want the alchemist’s opinion. He was just excited about all the logistical challenges they faced to feed the coming party. While it was fun checking in with the town’s merchant, Tresk was sending messages to his brain. She was hungry and wanted to eat.

When Theo arrived back at his manor, he smelled something strange. It took him a few moments longer than he would ever care to admit realizing what it could’ve been. When he entered, he saw the plates already arranged on the table. Large chunks of bright-red meat were drizzled in a brown sauce. The scent was something between the light smell of seafood mixed with sweet barbeque sauce. Apparently, Sarisa had made the xotl flesh into a dish, despite his warnings.

“That’s a unique scent,” Theo said, finding his way to the table. Tresk appeared from nowhere, jumping up into her chair and glaring at him.

“Rowan convinced me to make it,” Sarisa said, taking a seat. Her brother joined her, taking the seat next to hers. “Smells good… Right?”

“This reminds me of something,” Theo said, cutting a strip of the xotl flesh and giving it a better sniff. “Can’t put my finger on it.”

“What are you cowards waiting for?” Tresk asked, opening her mouth wide. She took a bite of the large chunk that was resting on her plate. She chewed for a few moments before smacking her lips. “Delicious.”

Theo braced himself, taking a ginger bite of a strip of the meat. The flavor was unique. The meat was slightly greasy with only the faintest hint of the sea. Laying overtop that was the sweet barbeque sauce. It wasn’t quite as strong as normal barbeque, but went perfectly with the meat. With all those things in mind, the alchemist studied how he felt as he ate.

Just as he had seen with Alex, there was something that spread through his body when he ate the xotl flesh. As he studied the effects, he realized there was a foreign energy spreading through his body and soul. After a few more bites, he determined it wasn’t unsafe to eat occasionally. The energy was broken down by his soul, turned from an invasive energy into inert mana that soaked into his soul.

“Should be safe to eat a bit of this,” Theo said, taking another bite. “But you might turn into a fish if you eat too much. Or you could get super strong… Either or.”

“Oh, sweet. I’ve always wanted to be a monster,” Rowan said, pushing the plate away. He withdrew a loaf of bread from nowhere and took a bite. “I’d rather not take my chances.”

“Fish-person, here I come!” Sarisa said, taking another bite.

###

“I’m betting the River Dungeon is gonna be nasty,” Tresk said.

Theo and Tresk stood in her memory of the dungeon. Parts of it were under water, but others were on the banks of random rivers. All sections of the dungeon were underground, encased in caves that seemed hewn by the very rivers themselves.

“Of course, we have no intention of letting it get this far, do we?” Theo asked.

“No, but the whole thing with the dungeons makes me sad,” Tresk said.

“I am also sad,” Alex put in.

“Right, but our options are to murder the dungeons or discover more giant horrors,” Theo said. “We got lucky with the Ocean Dungeon. Since it was underwater, I was able to use the fancy core you gave me to make a bubble of air. We won’t be so lucky with the river.”

“Bah. I can still be mad about it.”

“I am also sad.”

Theo had been spending his time in the Dreamwalk mostly relaxing lately. It was growing more reluctant to entertain his efforts to push forward with his alchemy. Reaching tier 3 had been hard enough, and he couldn’t imagine getting all the way to 4 before they headed up to the heavens. Of course, it was impossible to predict the scenarios concerning the system after everyone left the mortal world.

Tresk apparently picked up on that sentiment.

“I have a strong feeling we’re missing something about the transition,” Tresk said. “We got some factors outside of our control, and some are compounding.”

“An oddly elegant way to phrase that sentiment… You’re talking about Death and Elrin. The interaction of the gods with quasi-mortals, right? Then we have 3 loose-ends to think about. The System, Monitor System, and the Shards. I think those big chunks of crystal are going to play a far bigger role than we can expect.”

“And our boy Elrin has a deep connection with them. Makes ya wonder, doesn’t it?”

All Theo could do was make sure Elrin connected with the system, making sure something was done about Death. It was hard to find a path forward with that, considering how cloistered the System had been. It would freely interact with him, but he couldn’t know if it would go for any proposals. Then there was the problem with Death himself. His motivations were unknown, and the alchemist doubted he would ever crack that nut.

“At a point, we’re going to only worry about ourselves and our people,” Theo said. “Because we can’t change the universe. Despite our best efforts.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ll stab everyone if needed. A few well-placed daggers can change the universe.” Tresk struck a pose that didn’t inspire confidence.

“The lizard that defied the System,” Theo said, shaking his head.

“You’re changing your mind on this?” Tresk asked. “You already shied away from killing Death. Are you going to back out of our little council?”

“Consider the interaction of the thrones,” Theo said. With a thought, he gave himself a pair of glasses and a gown. He thought it looked professorial, but the effect was lost on the lizard-girl. “We know they were generated by the system as a stopgap solution in answer to the Ascendants.”

“Okay, where ya going with this, ya weird demon?”

“We know the System is good about honoring stuff that’s already here. But are they going to go away when we ascend? Are we even going to have control over our own planets?” Theo asked. It wasn’t as though he was concerned… If a balance of power had to be established, he would give it all up. So long as his people were safe.

“Consider the scenario where we don’t have our crap,” Tresk said, holding one hand out, palm up. “We’ll still be on another planet. And good luck to the System if it tries to break up our Tara’hek.”

“Right. I doubt the system can even break our connection,” Theo said. “If you study the connection between our planets, it is like our Tara’hek.”

“Attempting to understand the intentions of the System is futile,” Alex said. “Like understanding what the wind is thinking. I would like to fight some things now.”

“I agree with the goose-dragon,” Tresk said, nodding at their companion. “We can bring this up to the other throne-holders when we can. We could also call a meeting with them.”

“Perhaps we could bring Elrin along to Khahak. Get some dialog going concerning everyone’s intentions.”

“Sounds good. Murder now, talks later.”

Chapter 33

A Shadow in the North

Theo made absolutely no decisions about anything by the time morning came. The only thing he could think about was the Seal of Judgement resting over the heavens, and how that meant he had less to worry about. Still, it would be nice to have a big meeting with the mortal-facing people of the world to set things straight. When he woke in the morning, a familiar scent wafted to the second floor.

Sarisa didn’t make more squid meat for breakfast. Instead, it was the familiar scent of sausages and eggs fried in butter. He descended the stairs, finding Tresk, Sarisa, and Rowan already chowing down on the familiar spread. Something he had missed from the scent alone was the zee bread—which was just discount cornbread. Of course, Tresk wanted to talk about taking out the next dungeon before it became a problem.

“Dungeon season is open!” Tresk shouted. “Aarok is getting teams together to make it happen. We’re starting today.”

Theo nodded. Once the new space elves were on the mortal plane, he wanted to snag a few shards as quickly as he could. Otherwise, he was concerned about what the void energies would do to the world. For now, he focused on the delicious sausages made by Whisper. Things seemed pleasant today, which meant everything would go right forever.

“We got a pretty big order from Alise for some healing potions,” Theo said, reviewing his administration interface. “I thought we had a decent stockpile.”

“That’ll be for the party,” Tresk said with a nod. “You know how stuff gets when Broken Tuskers get drinking.”

Theo nodded. They were legendarily good at getting themselves hurt after a few drinks. He skimmed over the other reports from Rivers and Gronro. They were doing fine and were even helping with the party planning. Qavell had been doing better than ever. The people there were adjusting to life in the Southlands Alliance well. Only a few people were opposed to the ascension plan. They could stay here for all he cared.

After checking on Salire after breakfast, Theo made his way down a path he didn’t walk very often. He briefly visited the harbor. Ships were still being constructed as quickly as the shipwrights could crank them out—because why not. He then followed the path alongside the river, walking over a newly built road. It didn’t take long to catch sight of Qavell looming in the distance like the behemoth it was. Using his Earth Sorcerer’s Core, he checked around the base of the city to ensure it was secure.

“Looks good to me,” Theo said, making his way to the giant ramp.

As the builders of the ramp didn’t want to watch the carts of merchants sailing down the ramp at racecar speeds, they had made it at an extreme angle. That made the walk to the top tiring, but it also provided an excellent view of the area. Especially the bay. Theo stopped before the gates of the city, leaning over the railing and sighing out to the sea. Ships dotted the area, and he spotted the Cork fishing the waters near the passes on the horizon. The bay was mostly filled with trading chips, although he was certain some held passengers. 

“I was told my guard saw a shady demon lurking near the main gate.”

Theo turned, smiling as he nodded to King Hanan. “Everything good around here? Is your city’s core still clear?”

“You’re really worried about that, aren’t you?” Hanan asked with a chuckle. He came over, leaning against the railing with Theo. “Not that I can blame you. This has all been too strange.”

Although he wouldn’t share, Theo wasn’t happy there was no cap on the end to that story. The thing possessing the town had fled. No one confirmed the kill. The only upside on that was the entity was poisoned forever. It might take a few thousand years, but it would die. Maybe Tresk would get a notification when that happened…

“Has there been much business in Qavell? I’ll be honest, I don’t know what your people were known for before everything went down.”

“We were known for a corrupt merchant class, a failing king, and a war lost with Vesta. Also we had some decent coresmiths. Nothing like Tarantham, but they were pretty good.”

“Well, I always have Fenian on the lookout for cores. The merchants in town have been better for that lately, though.”

“Fenian is a character. He stirred up quite some trouble for my father before the city flew around on its own.” Hanan issued a polite chuckle.

“I’m not sure I heard this story,” Theo said, searching his memories. “Nevermind, I have. He took some merchants out, didn’t he?”

“Indeed. They were lords and ladies, but yes. Before you ask, no. I don’t have an opinion on it.”

Theo and King Hanan chatted about random things after that. It was nice to take this downtime to check in with everyone around time. The alchemist had neglected some people, but that was the point. Many aspects of the city and kingdom were now run by other people. And it was awesome. That was the fact that allowed him to mess around like this. When the conversation died down a bit, the alchemist withdrew a chunk of squid flesh.

“What’s that?” Hanan asked, making a face.

“You guys were landlocked, right?” Theo asked with a chuckle. “Bet you don’t have a taste for seafood. This is from a giant mythical squid called a xotl.”

“I can’t even say that,” Hanan said, plugging his nose.

“Just wait. Gonna get a bit more stinky here in a sec.” Theo watched as the surface of the meat slab bubbled. It then turned to vapor, which drifted away in the wind. The primal essences left behind held all those juicy secrets.

“You’re right,” Hana said, heaving. “That’s absolutely foul.”

“The life of an alchemist,” Theo said, inspecting the properties on the Xotl Flesh.

[Pressure] [Drown] [Echo] [Constrict]

That certainly made sense for the theme of the monster. When they were in the Ocean Dungeon, the pressure from so much water was intense. Drowning was also a real risk. Even Constrict made sense for the theme of the monster. Theo had to wonder what the Echo property meant, and figured it was something to do with echolocation… Although he was fairly certain squids didn’t do that sort of thing.

“I should see if there are any free stills back in the lab,” Theo said, clapping a hand on Hana’s back. “Good chat.”

Theo departed from the city without entering. Talking with the king was fun, but he wanted to investigate these new properties. At some point, he needed to take all the new properties he was finding and make a production chain out of them. This likely wouldn’t happen until Alise’s order for so many healing potions was filled. Salire also had a desire to produce potions that would be useful for adventurers, not ones that were simply fun to mess around with.

“Got any free equipment?” Theo asked, poking his head into the lab.

Salire turned, narrowing her eyes at him. He noticed she was working with the mana infusion stills. “You broke my concentration. You know how shy I get.”

Theo bowed his head in apology. “I just wanted to test out some new reagent properties… I mean, I could help you work on your mana manipulation if you wanted.”

“No offense, but you’re not a great teacher…”

“Come on. I’m no longer a champion. We can work this out.”

Xol’sa would’ve been a better teacher. But Salire eventually relented, allowing Theo to walk her through his process. It took them both a while to figure out what the problem was, but it wasn’t her. Instead, there was something strange going on with the mixture of mana in her soul. Anytime Theo had done anything with his mana, it had come out as pure aligned mana. But when she did it, it was mixed with something else.

“Check it out,” Theo said, nodding as he observed the mana in Salire’s hands. She had the cupped together as though she were holding water in her palms. The mana she held shimmered, small sparkling ripples echoing throughout. “Your mana isn’t pure.”

“What?” Salire asked. “How could that be?”

“I dunno. Try pulling them apart,” Theo said, watching as she struggled to do so.

After a bit more coaching, Salire pulled her mana into pieces. She held one puddle in her right hand and another in her left. The one aligned with Tero’gal was easy enough to identify. The other one was pure, unaligned mana.

“This doesn’t seem normal,” Salire said. She seemed more frustrated with herself than anything else. “Why isn’t my soul producing purely aligned mana?”

“Who knows? Maybe my soul is just weird since I have another person’s body. Anyway, I’d bet you could use the mana now that you fixed it.”

“Feels like someone should study this,” Salire grumbled, walking over to the infusion stills.

Theo was pretty sure this was a recent development. At least, he didn’t remember seeing any of that other mana present in her mana before. It was possible he wasn’t looking close enough. Despite evidence to the contrary, he wasn’t very good at magic stuff. It wasn’t as though he was inspecting mana with different affinities embedded all the time.

Something tickled the edges of Theo’s senses as he made his way from the lab. It was a vague sense he got that something was wrong. He was reminded of the time when Zarali first came to town. At first it felt like a warm breeze washing over him, then like something sniffing around in his soul. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. Checking his administration interface, he found no one was talking about it. A quick message to Xol’sa revealed the wizard had felt nothing.

“Odd,” Theo said, walking from the lab. He sent his own aura as wide as it would go, but felt nothing strange. He could sense the people around town to an extent, and the dungeons in the distance.

“Tresk, did you feel anything just now?” Theo asked, speaking into his connection with his partner.

“I did,” Alex answered. “Far in the distance. Something that… Resonated with me.”

“Pick me up,” Theo said, gritting his teeth.

Tresk was busy doing dungeon crap, so Alex was free. Theo spotted her in the sky, making a wide turn and landing in the nearest clearing. She went down on all four of her limbs and flapped her wings before shooting some fire for effect. He could feel her unease, even without probing too deeply.

“Let’s go,” Theo said, finding it slightly awkward to get on her back. He wasn’t sure how Tresk did it so often. A moment later he felt his stomach drop into his groin as she took off, pushing with power he didn’t know she had.

It felt as though only a moment had passed before Broken Tusk was far below. Theo drew on Tresk’s bravery as they ascended upward. It only dawned on him how odd this was. Both he and Alex knew they needed elevation. But what for? He dismissed the thought for now as she urged forward, her powerful wings sending them forward in lurching bursts.

Rivers passed by below, and soon Gronro came into view. Alex was so unbelievably fast and Theo could do nothing but focus on hanging on. They did a few circles around the dwarven city. The desolation of Balkor’s shade spread out as far as they could see. But there were sparse pockets of green nearest to where they had purged the undead corruption.

“See anything?” Theo asked, squinting against the horizon.

“Not really,” Alex said. “That first pulse was weird. But I don’t feel anything anymore.”

“Am I just being paranoid?” Theo asked, holding on tight as Alex dove forward. She brought them further north of Gronro, soaring along the long strands of mountain landscape. This area had also been touched by their restoration efforts, but not as well as the miles south of them.

“I’m feeling something,” Alex said, honking. “It feels like a song.”

“What does that mean?” Theo shouted above the rush of wind.

“I don’t know.”

It appeared as a dot on the horizon. Theo had been watching with his future-sight as a dot appeared. While it was distant, he was absolutely certain of what he would see in about a minute. Without hesitating, he used Tero’gal Dreampassage on both himself and Alex. One moment they were soaring above the wasteland, and the next they were standing on the soft grasses of Tero’gal.

“What was that for?” Alex asked.

Theo’s brows knit tightly as he turned to the goose-dragon. “It felt like a song to you because it was a dragon.”