The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 34,35,36 (Patreon)

Chapter 34

The Gangs All Here

The alarm bells rang throughout Broken Tusk. Most members of the local defense force scrambled around, rushing to their stations. Tresk wasn’t sure why. She had reported the dragon Theo saw. It was quite a few miles north of Gronro-dir, so what the hell were they worried about? They might have been worried because everyone knew it was the result of a negative dungeon. Which meant the dragon was an ascendant.

“Hurry and get back, Theo,” Tresk said, gritting her teeth. Her partner was currently in the temporary place between places as he retreated from the dragon. Thanks to the two-to-one time dilation, it would take him a few minutes to get there and back. Or he was just screwing around.

“You’re sure you saw a dragon?” Aarok asked, coming up alongside the marshling.

“Sure did. And I’m gonna kill it,” Tresk said, rolling up her sleeves. A dagger appeared in either hand.

“You can't be serious," Aarok said, shaking his head. "Can you kill it?"

"I've been training my whole life for this," Tresk said. "Of course I can kill it."

Aarok had too much to worry about to correct her, and walked off. A few minutes later, Theo and Alex appeared in the air. They flew down and landed below the battlements on the eastern wall. Of course, Tress didn't hesitate. She jumped down and mounted the dragon goose before flying off.

###

Theo scratched his chin as Tresk flew away. You knew exactly what she was planning to do, but you weren't sure if it was the right move. She was loaded up with enough utility potions that she could get out of just about anything, but still, you worried about Alex.

"Are you coming to the front?" Aarok asked, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "We're sending the trains out right now. You'll be able to get on the next one if you like."

As much as Theo disliked riding the trains, he agreed, heading off with the commander to mount one of Throk's high-speed trams. To his dismay, it took off at top speed, thundering across the landscape and heading for Gronro. Tresk still hadn't reached the dragon by the time they entered the mountain town. The local force was preparing their defenses, and the alchemist was happy to see they had maintained their rail guns well. They were now trained north toward the wasteland.

The Dwarven Duke Grot was waiting for them in the town's center. He had a smile on his face and an axe in his hand. "I've never slain a dragon," he said, slamming the axe against his breastplate and laughing. "There's a first time for everything."

Theo had a feeling they wouldn't need to slay the dragon. He suspected the monster emerged from a negative dungeon somewhere to the north. He wasn't sure how any dungeons could survive over there, but it was undeniable. The dragon wasn't undead, meaning it wasn't tainted by Balkor’s necromantic magic. It was a fresh spawn from some random dungeon.

Tresk spotted the dragon, and Theo watched through her eyes. It wasn't heading south; it was making its way to the west. In that direction, it would only find more destruction for a few thousand miles before finally hitting Tarantham, at which point it would be cut down by the might of the elves. But before the marshling could engage, another figure emerged. What followed was the most confusing series of events he had seen in quite some time.

"Someone just tossed a giant net over the dragon," Theo said, scratching his head. "Tresk is cursing and throwing daggers at him, but he's got some kind of shield."

"Seriously?" Aarok asked, his face twisting into confusion. "Did we just ride out here for nothing? Hey, how about you keep me updated?”

Theo nodded, watching the events play out through Tresk's vision. Whoever tossed the net over the dragon was using some kind of magic to repel Tresk. Theo couldn't tell what the person was doing, but the dragon eventually calmed. The dragon itself was a four-legged, winged, classical dragon. Its scales were shifting shades of opalescence. Once the dragon had calmed, the person who had subdued it gave Tresk a big thumbs up before climbing on the creature's back and flying away. She watched, gawking the entire time.

"I'm pretty sure someone just tamed the dragon," Theo said, more confused than when the situation started. "Let's wait for Tresk to get back to hear her first-hand account. She was pretty far."

It didn't take long for Tresk to return. While she seemed rather pissed off, Alex was very excited about the events. The moment she landed, she started jabbering about what she had seen, and how powerful the person who had subdued the dragon was.

"That was Elrin, dude!" Tresk shouted, throwing a fit. "He stole my dragon."

"Are you certain?" Theo asked.

“Yeah, he was riding a giant eagle. And then the eagle disappeared, and he jumped on the dragon's back after throwing the net,” Tresk said, throwing our hands up in the air. “I can't compete with that. He made me look bad."

Theo withdrew the communication crystal from his inventory and squeezed it. He felt the haptic call going through, and then Elrin picked up.

"Yes, that was me," Elrin said, chuckling. "I saw your companion coming to fight the grand dragon. Apologize to her for me."

Theo was pretty certain he knew what was going on. "Did you tame a dragon?"

"Indeed I did," Elrin said. He seemed far more excited than normal. He was normally quite dour. “The ones I remember were a lot weaker.”

Theo chatted with the man for a minute, but the moment he brought up what the guy's plans were, he hung up without warning. Apparently, that was a line too far for him. The alchemist let out a sigh and relayed the tale to Aarok and everybody else gathered.

"If this guy would just work with me," Theo said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We wouldn't have panicked situations like this."

"Are we angry that he's playing world defender?" Aarok asked with a shrug. "If he wants to take out the big bads while we ride out the end of the world, what's the problem?"

"The problem is how strong those monsters are," Tresk said, folding her arms. "If we think about how hard it is for Miana to tame the wolves for the goblin wolfriders, you can see why we're concerned."

"It takes her at least a week to tame a pup," Theo explained. "This guy just flies up and tames a dragon in a few moments. No, he's scary. And these aren't just normal dragons either."

"It was an Ascendant Dragon," Tresk explained. "Which, depending on how you think about it, means that it satisfies two conditions. It is strong enough to command a realm, and over level 100."

"Well, when you put it like that, yeah, it seems kind of concerning," Aarok said, shaking his head.

Theo withdrew another crystal from his inventory and squeezed it. As expected, Fenian picked up pretty quickly.

"I need a face-to-face," Theo said, trying not to sound too grumpy. "Since you fell through on your promise to help me take care of the dungeons, I need you to get your ass to Broken Tusk."

"Oh my, my dear alchemist," Fenian said. "I'll be there with haste."

Theo hung up and looked at his people, shaking his head. "We're about to bring more elves back from space, so I'd like to be ready for what happens. Are we making progress on the other dungeons?”

"We'll have more of them destroyed soon enough," Aarok said. "Do you have any concerns you want to share with the rest of us?"

“Just a buildup of energy from when we bring the space elves back. You know, it's going to cause another surge of void magic, which will send the current dungeons plummeting.”

There was some debate about how bad the plunge would be, but Theo wanted to expect the worst. Keeping everything stable was a weird game of whack-a-mole by now, and he really wasn't sure what the best approach was. Right now, he wanted to understand exactly how strong Elrin was. How high of a level did he get before that other world was reset? What sort of hidden talents was he sitting on?

Despite Theo's lack of faith and Fenian, he came pretty quickly. It was surprising enough that everyone rode the train back, and the karatan-drawn carriage appeared near the town's square, only about an hour after he had been requested. The thing that did shock the alchemist was who stepped out of the carriage. Fenian came first, but then it was Jan and Twist.

"Those aren't faces—or a mask—I expected to see again," Theo said, glaring at Jan.

"Apologies," Twist said with a bow. "I didn't expect our animosity to be squashed so easily."

"I'm not sorry about a damn thing," Jan said, crossing his arms.

"Oh, play nice, you two," Fenian said with a light chuckle. "Run around and enjoy all the town has to offer. I’d like to have a word with my best friend."

"Oh, we're best friends now," Theo asked, clicking his tongue. "Funny how you show that friendship. I thought I could count on you to help with the dungeons."

"Well, I was delayed," Fenian said, patting Theo on the back as he led them away from the crowd. "Things got a little wacky, and I might have gotten myself in some trouble."

"Fenian got himself into trouble," Theo said dramatically. "News at 11."

"Do you want to hear the tale or not?" Fenian asked, keeping the mood light by laughing again. 

Yeah, the elf had a way of smoothing things over. He knew Theo couldn't stay mad for long because they needed each other.

"Alright man, let's hear it." Theo said, with a shake of his head. They traveled down the road, heading south towards the smelters and the mine.

"We tried to kill Death, but it didn’t go well,” Fenian said with a weak shrug. “We barely made it out. Jan was forced to use a Return Potion and… Well, I have an answer for a question you had in the past.”

"Wait, Jan was born on Earth, wasn't he?" Theo asked. "Where did he appear?”

“It generated a long list of system errors, and he was cast into the void. Fortunately, he was near enough to the bridge that I was able to retrieve him, but it was close.”

"So what stopped you from killing death?" Theo asked. "Was he immune to damage or what?"

"The bastard's just too smart," Fenian said with a weak shrug. "Even back in the day, he was clever. When he dropped the mantle of shade and became Kuzan, he got even smarter. You know, back before the big reset, he was never intentionally malicious. He was driven by the system to destroy everything, but when he became the leader of the elves… I don't know, perhaps he changed."

Theo did not have the same history with Cousin as Fenian did. From what he could put together, Fenian was awakened somewhere between 200 and 500 years ago. He then masqueraded as a member of House Southblade in the Elven Empire. Something happened, and he was cast out. But from what he knew, Kuzan never took direct action against Fenian and his now deceased wife. That was Karasan.

"Was it the Seal of Judgment that thwarted you?" Theo asked.

“In a way,” Fenian said, "When we got there, we chatted with Death, which was odd. He's a lot more reasonable than he used to be and I..."

Finian's words hung in the air, and Theo could feel the implication. He gave the elf some time to collect himself. For once, he seemed genuinely emotional.

“Death has created a queue that locks the soul into a certain fate. Once the next switch happens, the Seal of Judgment ensures he can't change what happens to the souls, and my wife is on the list for transmigration to another realm.”

Which meant that death held no ill will against Fenian, despite the many attempts he might have made on the once-leader of the Elven Empire. That spoke well to Kuzan’s character in Theo's eyes. Once Fenian, Twist, and Jan were in Death's realm, they should have been at his mercy, but instead he had let them live. This was a curious development, but it fell in line with Theo's assessment of the god.

"I've met with him a few times now," Theo said with a shrug, "and he's always seemed very reasonable. I think he may simply have a deep need to be the shepherd for these lost souls."

"As much as I hate admitting that I was wrong, it seems as though in this case, I am," Fenian said, his shoulders slumping. "But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot for us still to do."

"So, your wife is going to be transmigrated?" Theo asked. "Do you know which world she's going to go to?"

When Fenian looked up, his eyes were misty. He sniffled and nodded. "Death has promised her transmigration to my world," he said.

Theo trusted the system, and he trusted the seal. If it did what the system had described, it would ensure Death was honest about his decisions. This was the best outcome they could have hoped for. It was a massive weight off of the alchemist’s shoulders. He felt it physically, almost as though somebody had been pressing against him this entire time, but it was the last bit of evidence he needed.

"Maybe you should try relaxing for five minutes," Theo said, patting Fenian on the shoulder.

"Perhaps you should do the same," Fenian retorted, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Now show me, what dungeons do we need to take care of?"

Chapter 35

Xotl Potions

Fenian, Jan, and Twist all joined the adventuring teams taking care of the dungeons. Now that Theo had dungeons further from his city to worry about, he wanted those within town gone before they became a problem. And that problem would come soon. Like, tomorrow. The rescue efforts on the elves would need to wait another day if they couldn’t get every dungeon destroyed. That left the alchemist with some rare free time in his day.

“You should really try it,” Theo said, holding a lump of Xotl Flesh out for Salire.

She moved back, pinching her nose and squinting. “I’d rather die.”

“It actually tastes pretty good,” Theo said, inserting the chunk into his grinder. It made a horrible squishing noise as it ran through the artifice, dropping in piles to the bottom of the still. “Although that doesn’t look appetizing.”

“While this isn’t the worst scent I’ve had the pleasure of inhaling in this lab, it isn’t great,” Salire said. She crossed the room, opening the window and fanning the room out with her hands.

“I still need to check the infusion on a lot of other properties, but the ones from the flesh look interesting,” Theo said, starting up another still. Salire had been kind enough to finish a few batches and give him the run of the lab. “I need to get these out of the way or I’ll forget.”

“Curious how a man with a perfect memory can forget,” Salire said, tapping her chin.

Theo smiled to himself. Maybe more Intelligence would help with that. “That got me thinking about what skill I should take at Level 35. It’ll be an in-between skill, so it won’t be amazing.”

“Let’s see… Pressure, Drown, Echo, and Constrict,” Salire said, gesturing to the respective stills for the properties. “None instill confidence, but I’m happy to see the results.”

As long as they did small batches, the potions would be done soon enough. It gave them time to chat while they waited. “How do you think ‘real’ alchemists do all this stuff?”

“What do you mean? Distillation is locked behind a skill at Level 50 for non-aligned alchemy,” Salire said.

“They end up mixing poultices,” Theo said. “I imagine they use a lot of tools to crush reagents and mix them together. But I think their work is less explosive.”

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Salire said with a laugh.

Theo and Salire shared theories about where their alchemy would go toward the next tier. He had to wonder if he would make it there before the switch, but he was hopeful. Perhaps if he buckled down and did more alchemy, he would get closer to it, but it was a passing fancy rather than a goal.

Right now, the most important thing to Theo was understanding the fundamentals of alchemy and developing it more as a skill, rather than levels. Any transferable skill would be incredibly useful, no matter what happened. The thing he was most confident would transfer over is the control of mana when performing third tier alchemy.

Both alchemists in the lab had reached a point where even second-tier alchemy was something they could do with few issues. So long as they understood the reagents and properties and how they interacted, they weren't at much risk of an explosion. The scent the stills produced wasn't pleasant. It had a fishy odor that lingered in the air. Neither their extractor fan nor the open window could truly banish it, but Theo had smelled far worse brewing essences.

"We'll just go straight down the line," Theo said, withdrawing one of the completed essences. It had taken three or four hours, but all the stills had produced enough for them to create a test potion. “Starting with the pressure property.”

All the essences had a slightly blue tinge to them. Theo had the sense that the one he currently held wouldn't produce something useful, but he had been wrong before. The reaction was fairly tame when Theo introduced the water and the catalyst. It bubbled slightly, looking as though it was effervescent. He kept a close eye on it, but that was about it. It turned a slightly darker shade of blue, and the outside was warm when it was done. Both he and Salire inspected the result.

[Pressure Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 92%

Imbibing this potion allows the drinker to withstand extreme pressures.

Effect:

Immunity to high water or air pressures.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Salire said, tapping her chin, "but that's a decently useful potion."

“Yeah, I'm not sure when it would be incredibly useful, but it isn't straight-up negative. So yeah, I'd count that one as a win.”

“Now, the Drown property‌… I have the feeling it's going to make a bomb-style potion. What do you think, oh master alchemist?” Salire asked.

“Yes, both the Drown property and the Constrict property should create a bomb-style potion.”

"Ah ha, you see? I think I'm actually learning something," Salire said, beaming. "But I can't really get a read on the Echo property."

“We'll work on Echo after this,” Theo said.

The alchemist got to work on the bomb, finding that the reaction was far less violent than most other bomb-style potions. When he introduced the catalyst and the enchanted water, it bubbled, and the sides of the vial got hot. But none of the contents jumped out or caused any other problems. When the potion was complete, he inspected the result.

[Drown Bomb]

[Bomb]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 95%

Targets affected by this bomb will drown.

Effect:

When the liquid of this bomb comes into contact with the skin of a foe, that target will be unable to breathe for 5 minutes.

“Oh, cool. A horrible potion,” Salire said.

“That follows the theme of the deep sea, though,” Theo said. “But I can’t really think of a use for this on its own.”

“Even as an offensive potion, it isn’t very useful. There are more effective ways to deal damage to an enemy,” Salire said.

Theo had to think about it for a moment. Perhaps if they applied this potion in a wide area—like with the Aerosolize modifier—it could be useful. But even then, setting stuff on fire was normally more effective than depriving it of air. The only thing he could think of was to use this as an infusion property on another bomb, then modify that bomb… The result might be deadly.

“Time for the next one,” Salire said, dusting her hands off. “I’d rather forget about that one.”

Theo nodded, moving onto the Echo property. He wasn’t sure what he thought about this one. The essence seemed more lively than the others, and it held a brighter hue. When he introduced the water and catalyst, it bubbled furiously. Holding it at arm’s length, the alchemist activated his safety squint and waited it out. The scent produced was pleasant, holding a salty undertone that reminded him of the sea. Each other potion just smelled slightly fishy with a strange soapy overtone.

“Interesting,” Theo said, inspecting the potion.

[Echo Potion]

[Potion]

Epic

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 85%

Imbibing this potion allows the drinker to sense the world through echolocation. Depending on the density of the surrounding material, this effect might be more or less effective.

Effect:

Grants the drinker echolocation for 1 hour. This effect is twice as effective underwater.

“Come on,” Salire said. “You know you want to drink it.”

At least this one didn’t have negative side-effects. Theo only had to think about it for a moment before quaffing the potion. Salire gasped as he did so, not expecting him to actually do it. The effects of the potion weren’t immediate. The alchemist felt something swelling in his forehead, but when he checked there was nothing there. Then it was as though he had two pairs of eyes, one dedicated to sight and the other to echolocation. He pinched his eyes closed right away, a headache developing in his skull.

“This is trippy,” Theo said, swaying on the spot.

“Describe it to me!” Salire shouted.

“It isn’t a one-to-one translation,” Theo said. “I can sense things around me, but I can’t see them. Not like with my real eyes. Seems more like it gave me another sense. Yep, I can see you waving at me over there. And you just moved. Oh, god it works with my future-sight. I’m gonna throw up.”

“I wanna try!” Salire shouted, taking the leftover essence and brewing a potion of her own. It bubbled violently, settling down to create the same potion.

The alchemist watched as Salire swayed on the spot, holding onto the table for support. “Oh, yeah. I might puke.”

“If you push it hard enough, you can almost see through stuff,” Theo said, focusing his new sense on the door leading downstairs. It felt as though whatever unhearable sound he was producing resonated with the door, continuing onto the other side. Combined with his future-sight, the echolocation power overloaded his senses. And he came to a realization. “There’s no way we can open our eyes for the next hour.”

“Agreed,” Salire said. She had knocked something over. Theo didn’t see it happen in this unfamiliar sense, but he heard it. “Hope that wasn’t important.”

“Smells like a potion,” Theo said. “Don’t touch it. Just in case that’s the one that makes you drown.”

“The one that makes you drown, the one that blows you up… This lab is full of dangerous crap that could kill you,” Salire said. Theo watched as she shrugged in his echolocation.

“Hold on, we have another potion to brew,” Theo said, shaking his head. “Sarisa, are you here?”

“Yup,” Sarisa said. Strangely, he hadn’t seen her while using the potion. Did that mean the half-ogres actually vanished into the shadows, rather than hiding in them?

Theo found the last of the essences he needed to test. It was the Constrict Essence, and he could tell it would generate a bomb-style potion. He found an empty bomb vial and poured the essence in, getting ready to mix in the water. Thanks to a practiced hand, he felt as though he tipped in exact quantities. But that’s what Sarisa was here for.

“Did the shade go slightly lighter? And are there tiny bubbles on the side?” Theo asked.

“Yup. Looking good, boss.”

Theo nodded, adding the catalyst. The reaction was in the middle of the pack as far as violent bomb reactions went. Heat built on the side of the vial as a layer of condensation formed at the same time. The scent was quite fishy, coming in a hint of the sea. That scent settled down a moment later.

“Time to see if you can inspect an item without seeing it… Yep!” Theo was excited as the system message appeared.

[Constrict Bomb]

[Bomb]

Legendary

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 82%

Target is restrained and crushed by the pressures of the deep sea.

Effect:

A single target is afflicted with the pressure of the deep sea. For 5 minutes, they will experience the pressure of the deepest ocean on the planet.

“Ah, yes. Alchemical horrors beyond my comprehension,” Salire said.

“That one might be useful,” Theo said. “It isn’t explicit, but this should do a lot of damage. Although, I don’t know how deep the deepest part of the ocean is.”

“Pretty deep,” Sarisa said. “Not that Broken Tuskers sail, but I’ve heard some stories from people stopping in at the port. I mean, they mostly talk about the size of the monsters they run into on the high sea. If that’s anything to go by, we’re talking about some deep water.”

There was some debate in the room about how deep it could be, and how they could test it. Theo could take the bomb to the Dreamwalk and test it out, as long as it cooperated. But the experimentation was done for now and Salire couldn’t continue her work for the day. Instead, they left the lab to mess with the echolocation effect.

The biggest drawback to the effect was how much it overloaded their brains. Sensing a few people was simple, but as they drew closer to larger crowds it got more taxing. It wasn’t as easy to focus their attention as it was with sight or hearing. Theo had a lot of trouble singling out people in crowds. Instead, they just appeared as massive blobs that clogged his thoughts and worsened his headache.

“I’m going home,” Theo said, finding it hard to stand.

“Good idea,” Salire agreed. “By the gods, this one is rough.”

Sarisa helped Theo limp back home. She had a lot of theories on how that potion could be super useful, as long as the person imbibing the potion had a lot of training. The alchemist got a rare look into the way she made food for them everyday, including her process of deciding what to make. She based it off what was easy to get. Whisper had some decent cuts of meat for sale at the butcher, so she planned to do a take on a Broken Tusk classic.

Theo judged the entire process by smell. The scent of meat being browned in a pan came first, joined with the sound of something sizzling in oil or butter. The richness of that scent revealed it was butter a few moments later. Next came pungent garlic or onions and after that were the herbs and spices. Just a few too many spices, since the alchemist found his nose stinging from the smell. The pan sizzled as liquid was introduced. After chopping more things up, he heard the drop into the liquid.

Salire reduced this soup down far more than the stuff Xam typically made. By the time Theo’s sight was restored, he saw she was making it more as a stew. But she didn’t stop by reducing it a little. The sauce shrunk to barely cover the meat and vegetables, creating almost a curry.

“Dungeons!” Tresk shouted as she burst into the room, laughing. “Oh, man. Fenian is a monster in the dungeons.”

“Oh, yeah? Did you guys take care of another one today?”

“Yep. Scratch off the Cave Dungeon. Shocking, since it was Level 45,” Tresk said, stretching her back. “Dang, what smells so good?”

“Classic Broken Tusk wolf stew,” Salire said, placing the pot on the table. She had some flatbread to go with it.

“Just like papa used to make it,” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together.

Theo sat at the table, prepared to eat with his companions. He was just glad the marshling had forgotten about the dragon. Or perhaps she was just hiding it well…

“Come on, jokers,” Tresk said, dishing some stew out for herself. “Let’s EAT!”

Chapter 36

Sausages And Tea

“Been a while since I’ve done some testing,” Theo said to no one in particular. “Are you going to work with me today?”

After having dinner, Theo and Tresk had retreated into the Dreamwalk. It didn't seem as though it would fight against him tonight. After all, he had already created the potions he intended to test, so it shouldn't have had anything to complain about. Of course, Trask had already summoned the image of the dragon she had tried to fight and was currently battling it, claiming that she could have beat it, ‘IRL’.

At least she had agreed to set the scene near the ocean so he could test these potions properly.

First was the easiest potion to test. Theo had to convince the Dreamwalk not to drown him as he walked into the sea. He had imagined a drop-off that would allow him to ensure the pressure potion worked properly. It wasn’t shocking when he moved around the depths—weighed down by a rock—and nothing happened. He could feel the pressure pushing in from all sides, but nothing else. But he wasn't crushed by the depths.

Just to put the potion through its paces, he swam his way to the surface, expecting to feel the effects of rapid depressurization. But once again, nothing happened. It was a delightful outcome to an uncertain potion. While he was in the water, he checked the Echo potion, which worked far better than it did on the surface.

"Two down, two to go," Theo said. It was time to test the bombs. Well, he didn't expect anything mind-blowing. It was always very important to know exactly how a potion worked, no matter how specific the description seemed. It could often react in unexpected ways.

Goblins were always an excellent testing dummy. A small goblin appeared on the beach. Looking around in confusion, Theo had imagined it with no purpose. So it just stood there as he prepared to toss a Drown Bomb. It turned out that watching a goblin drown on dry land wasn't as entertaining as Theo had expected. It was exactly as the potion described. The goblin seemed to be without air for a while before he un-imagined it.

But it wasn't as bad as the constrict bomb. The pressures of the deep sea could apparently do some seriously nasty stuff to a body, and the alchemist didn't wish to remember it. It was a horrible day to have a perfect memory.

With time left to screw around, Theo checked out his various core levels of interest. Right now, he was mainly focusing on his alchemy and herbalism cores, but something interesting would happen soon with his Tara’hek core. It had been sitting at level 39 for quite some time, seeming reluctant to roll over to level 40. While his other cores were bound to the maximum level of his two primary cores, this one just didn't care.

When his alchemy and herbalism skills leveled up, that would cause his personal level to increase as well. And that would give him access to an ability point, which he was unsure what he would spend it on. Of course, he hoped for an ability that made mana infusion easier for alchemy. He had put herbalism mostly to the side for now, but perhaps it was time to invest more effort into that.

Tresk and Alex landed nearby. The marshling jumped down and placed her hands on her hips in pride. "I could have beat that dragon," she said, grinning. "If Elrin hadn't come and taken it from under me, that would have been my kill."

“Speaking of Elrin,” Theo said, "I've wanted to get all the throne holders together, along with him, for a meeting. Do you think you have time to do that tomorrow?”

“Where we meeting?”

“I think Kahak would be best. I don't know if Kahar can travel outside of the Arbiter Citadel.”

"Yeah, but can Fenian and Elrin travel through the void?" Tresk asked.

"It should be possible," Theo said with a shrug. "Fenian travels through it often, even if it's over the bridge of shadows. And Elrin has a special affinity with the shards. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Or they'll explode," Tresk said, nodding. "Anyway, yeah, I'm down for it. But does this mean you're delaying bringing the rest of the space elves back?"

"Just by a day," Theo said. "I think the healers could use more rest.”

“Cool. I’m gonna kill another dragon.”

###

“If that’s what you wish,” Elrin said through the communication crystal. “I’ll be in your town soon.”

Elrin hung up before Theo could correct him. It was a city now, not a town, even if it was a tiny city. He sighed, looking across the table at Fenian and nodded. Theo, Tresk, and Fenian had gathered in the Marsh Wolf Tavern to have breakfast. Sarisa and Rowan were thrilled that they didn't have to make food and had been sent off to do whatever they wanted on their own today.

"What exactly is this meeting about?" Fenian asked.

"Everyone who holds a throne has a duty to the planet," Theo explained. "We all have our parts to play, and I wanted to make sure we're playing them correctly."

"And what about Elrin? Why have you added him to the mix?" Fenian asked.

"He doesn't hold an official throne now, but I think he did in the past," Theo said. "Even if he doesn't, he has a special relationship with the shards, which we've already determined are very important."

"I don't recall if he had a throne," Fenian answered honestly. "He kept a lot of stuff from us, but then again, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Well, actually two worlds."

"He's too insular," Theo said. "We need to make him feel like he belongs to this group."

"You might have trouble with that one," Fenian said. "Back in the day, we established a guild to help protect the world. He was always dropping in here and there, but it never seemed like he truly fit in."

"Doesn't matter how hard it is," Theo said. "He's too powerful not to draw into the fold, and I don't think he's a bad guy. Was he a bad dude back in the day? Seems like he had a couple of enemies."

"Twist" is a bit of an exception," Fenian explained. "The man has never told me the full story, but he always said he didn't belong in our world. And Jan had a personal vendetta against him for something that he was completely wrong about."

"What about that vendetta?” Theo asked.

“Here's how it worked. Earth and the Iaredin were symbiotically linked. From what I understand, the people on Earth were given a chance to come to our world. They could pick one of two options. The first was to visit. They could come and go as they pleased. But the second was to come permanently.”

"And Jan was involved in this somehow," Theo said. "Did a loved one of his go to the other world permanently?"

"Exactly. From what I understand, his cousin or nephew had an incurable disease and chose to reach the other world permanently for a new body. It worked out very well for him, but of course, Jan wasn't happy about it. He fought with Elrin when the carnage spilled to Earth, but he could never win."

The story about Earth before his time got wilder every time Theo heard it. None of this was in the history books he remembered. And he could only explain it away by considering the way his governments controlled information. There was also the possibility that the knowledge was lost, seeing as so many years had passed.

"So does anybody know how Elrin got so strong?" Theo asked.

“He never really told us directly, but from what I saw, he had three things on his side. The first was that he didn't sleep. Ever. He doesn't need to rest to regain his stamina and can keep going almost indefinitely. There were stories about him fighting against hordes of monsters for days on end without taking a break.”

“Well, that would be a powerful ability.”

“The second was his crafting. People were limited to only accepting one crafting profession and one gathering profession, but that rule didn't apply to Elrin. He could do it all, and he did. Blacksmithing, goldsmithing, tailoring, carpentry. He leveled it all and reaped the rewards. He could also make items that were more powerful than the ones the other crafters could make.” Fenian took a long pause after this one, seeming to fall back into his memories. “I used to beg him for his wares. That’s where I made some of my highest profits.”

“What’s the last point?” Tresk asked impatiently.

“The last one is simple,” Fenian said, "Logistics. One of the biggest problems we had was moving people from one place to another. Now, you'll remember, most of this war took place in the area now occupied by Tarantham. There were several major cities all linked with airship networks, but getting from one place to another could take days. During an attack on the city of Perisart, we only had a meager force to defend it. All our people were in the field. The overland trip took about a week. The commander of that siege had been half a world away when the attack started, and arrived in about an hour.”

“Elrin,” Theo said with a nod.

“Indeed. He made the trip from Hallben to Perisart in a few hours and rallied the troops. Of course, he held favor with the royal elven family, so they provided him with a cadre of mages and the fiercest company of elven warriors led by Silvain.” Fenian shivered. “Gods, what I wouldn’t give to see that man fight again.”

So Elrin had three big cheats that allowed him to rise to power, and it wasn't surprising since that old world experienced a reset from what the Alchemist understood. Everybody was put back to level one, and they had to work their way back up. If Elrin didn't have to sleep and he could craft and go anywhere he wanted in a blink, he would’ve risen to power extremely quickly.

“Good to know more about the guy,” Theo said. “He always seemed like a brooding loner.”

“Well, he had a family back then,” Fenian said. “His mother and father were alive when the swap happened, so I imagine they’re still here somewhere.”

“Damn, that’s kinda rough,” Tresk said.

“We made it work somehow. Do either of you know how this new-new world is going to pan out?”

“I only have guesses,” Theo said with a shrug. “But I think all our realms will be different worlds. Travel between them might be difficult.”

“I guessed as much. Any idea how much of our powers translate?”

Theo tapped his chin. He really wasn’t certain. “How much of your power translated from the old world?”

“Dunno. I have a system message that has been blinking for about 100 years that I’ve ignored,” Fenian said with a shrug. “From what Jan said, it combines your current class with the old one if you accept the message. The system placed him pretty high, so he got a head-start.”

Theo didn’t think the system would do a one-to-one migration of their cores and levels. He had a feeling it would rewrite the system, taking the chance to make things right. The last time Iaredin was migrated, the system had been constrained by something. It was almost as though it wasn’t fully awake, which might have been why the space elves were able to steal the shards. But now that both the regular system and the monitor system were working correctly, it would restart everything.

This could come as a total rework of the system, where everyone lost everything. Or it could bring over some stuff…

“How different is the leveling system here compared to your time?” Theo asked.

“A lot different. We didn’t have cores,” Fenian said with a laugh. “We were locked into one class that we could change through evolution. It favored gaining levels rather than going wide.”

“That makes sense. My theory is that the system will reboot us once again. If we retain the core system, I think we’ll have something closer to the specialized main core and sub core system,” Theo said. “I can’t really guess if the system wants to keep seed cores, though. That seems like a system design to encourage destruction.”

“You think so?” Fenian asked with a smile. “Yes, it is a devious aspect of the system that allows nations to rebuild overnight.”

“This place has sixty-thousand years of history none of us here know about,” Theo said. “How messed up is that? How many lives came and went?”

“Too many,” Tresk said.

“And here we are! At a brave new frontier!” Fenian said, hosting his glass of fruit juice in the air. “We’ll reforge this world to make it better.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Theo said, toasting with his tea.

Tresk ate a sausage in celebration.

Breakfast went well after that. It was nice having Fenian around again. Especially since there was nothing for them to do before Elrin arrived. When they were done eating, they went out and appreciated the statue the elf had commissioned for Salire and Xol’sa’s wedding. The stillness of the morning was broken when a shriek issued in the distance. The bells of the town rang.

Theo spotted it and shook his head.

“Hold on, I gotta call Aarok and his boys off,” Theo said, opening his administration interface. “Elrin is riding in on his dragon.”