The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 43,44,45 (Patreon)

Chapter 43

A Fight to the Death

As was tradition, breakfast the next morning was more of what they had for dinner. In this case, it wasn't a situation where they had leftovers. Sarisa and Rowan were just so satisfied with what they had made, they wanted it again. Since most Broken Tuskers didn't have a concept of different foods for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, they just made the same thing they had made the previous night.

Theo made absolutely no plans to complain about this. He ate his grilled cheese at the table, savoring every bite of the luxurious cheese and slurping up his soup like a slob. Even Trask was taking her time with the food, taking small bites and munching loudly. She sipped the soup by hoisting the entire bowl and putting her pinkies up, both of them, as she drank.

Theo scoffed as he witnessed a future event. He cleared his throat, dabbed his mouth, and sighed. "I sure hope nothing unexpected happens in approximately 40 seconds from now," he said, tapping his chin.

"Yeah, that would suck," Tresk said.

"That was an oddly specific statement," Rowan said, narrowing his eyes at Theo. "I just can't put my finger on what it might mean."

"You guys are absolute idiots," Sarisa said. "How can you forget about Theo's future sight?"

"Future hearing, too," Theo said, counting the time down on his fingers. When he was out of fingers, the clatter of a bell rang outside of the manor, and the alchemist smiled. "Guess who's come to visit?"

Theo was quick to access his interface and order the parties on the defensive piers to hold their fire unless the guests made an offensive action first. He took one last bite of his grilled cheese before stowing it and the soup in his inventory. He nodded to his companions. "I think I'll need everybody, just in case things go south."

After a few brief orders, Tresk ran off to patrol the skies on Alex, while Rowan and Sarisa sank into the shadows behind him. He drank a foresight potion and made his way to the area outside the walls. Somewhere along the way, Aarok joined up with him.

"We've already identified the ships as belonging to the lizard folk," Aarok said, shaking his head. "Guess we're finally gonna pay for Tresk stealing from them."

“I don't think they have boats that are meant to go into the open ocean, so I'm surprised they made it at all,” Theo said, "What kind of force are we looking at?"

"Two boats," Aarok said with a weak shrug. "A small one and a slightly larger one. About the size of the Cork.”

It was a pleasant surprise to see that the lizard folk of Saetalein Ya’ax hadn't started shooting already. More than likely, it meant they weren't as offended as they said, but they had a strange culture. And it was almost impossible to tell if they took deep offense to the theft or not. It was best to play it safe though.

Aarok and Theo made haste to the piers. They passed by groups of adventurers who had assembled for combat and ascended the southernmost tower of the two. As expected, Zan’kir was there.

"Why have you ordered me to hold fire?" Zan'kir said with a sour look. "I could sink them now with ease."

“Because they didn't bring an army?” Theo asked, more as a question than a statement. “We only stole a few absurdly expensive plants, not like we killed any of their people.”

"They may demand satisfaction," Zan'kir countered, "and if you wish to entertain such a thing, I can't help you."

"Just stay frosty," Theo said, patting the man on the shoulder. "We'll see how it goes."

The two boats approaching the harbor were those used by the lizard folk. They were vessels that ran very low in the water, reminding the alchemists of Viking longships. Of course, they were made from jungle woods and adorned with living plants here and there. The tropical palm fronds that hung over the edge graced the surface of the water, dragging narrow lines as they inched across the bay.

"That's Squeak," Theo said, gesturing to a lizard folk and lead ship. "He's from the Nojoh clan over there. Those are the smart ones."

"That works in our favor," right? Aarok asked, folding his arms as he peered down at the boats. "I don't see any fighters amongst them. There is a priest and a mage, but they're not here for war."

If they played their cards right, this could work out in their favor. Theo felt bad that they had stolen from the lizard folk, and perhaps this was a time to make it right. Of course, he could simply pay them, but Broken Tusk could offer many other services for them, including better boats. And since his shipwright had been pumping out merchant vessels just to pass the time, he could spare a couple of boats.

"They're approaching the harbor," Aarok grumbled.

"I can still shoot them," Zan'kir said.

"Look, they're turning to the side," Theo said with a sigh, just laying down at the ships a moment later. The boats did indeed turn to the side. "They're going to moor on the pier rather than entering the harbor, which I'll take as a sign of humility."

Although Aarok grumbled, he followed behind Theo as he descended the staircases of the defensive tower. They made their way to the pier and waited for the lizard folk to finish their mooring. A small lizard-person among them jumped up onto the pier and bowed deeply at the waist. It was Squeak, the same emissary they had dealt with when they first contacted the lizard people. These folks were extreme isolationists.

"We demand recompense," Squeak said, characteristically squeaking as he spoke.

"We're happy to work with your people," Theo said, returning the lizard person's bow. "But what action are you referring to?"

The scales of the lizard person shifted, moving in a kaleidoscope of colors. It started at his snout and worked its way all the way to his fat tail. His body was covered in tribal feathers and freshly cut palm fronds, and a necklace of bone rested on his chest.

"Do not play the shy chameleon with me," Squeak said, shaking his head. "You have stolen sacred herbs, and we demand satisfaction."

From up on the tower, Zan'kir cackled.

"And what might that satisfaction be?" Theo asked.

"A fight to the death," Squeak said. "Between our strongest mage and the one who stole our herbs. We know her as Tresk."

From high above, a baleful screech issued. It was a mix of a roar and a honk, a gout of fire, a mile-long shot, covering the world below in a pale orange glow for a moment. Then the flapping of leathery wings issued as both Tresk and Alex dove. The goose-dragon spread her wings wide at the last moment, stopping her descent and landing on the ground with a resounding thud. The ground shook, of course.

"Which one of these lizard bastards am I stabbing to death?" Tresk said. Two gleaming daggers appeared in her hands as she teleported from Alex's back to the ground. She did a couple of stabbing motions in the air and frothed at the mouth.

"Did I say fight to the death?" Squeak asked with a nervous chuckle. "No, I meant a contest."

"No, I'm pretty sure you said, 'we're fine to the death,'" Tresk said.

"You must have heard someone else," Squeak said, ringing his hands together.

"I'll fight every lizard," Tresk said. Searching around, she pointed at Aarok. "I'll fight this guy, I don't care."

"I've known you since you hatched," Aarok said, glaring at her.

Tresk shrugged.

This might be extremely entertaining, depending on the competition Squeak wanted to hold. It could be something that spread further than this simple misunderstanding about herbs. Broken Tusk now housed a lot of refugees, and while there was a lot of work for them to do, the amount of activities they got up to was minimal. With no real connection to the mainland—not that there was a mainland to speak of—there was little in the way of entertainment. One could only poke a snapping turtle in the face so much before they got bored.

"I have a proposition," Theo said, spreading his arms wide as he smiled at the emissary. He was doing his best impersonation of Fenian. "Could you tell me the value of the herbs we took?"

"I could put a price on it," Squeak said with a shrug. "Probably close to 200 gold coins."

“Then, I have the perfect alternative to a fight to the death. How about we host a competition here? The grand prize being 200 gold coins.”

That was, of course, a lot of gold coins. Theo wasn't certain he had that much himself, so he would likely need to dig into the town's treasuries. However, if he sold a few things off, he was certain they could make it up. And if he didn't have it, he could always borrow it from Fenian. That guy was always good for a couple of gold.

"This is an interesting proposition," Squeak said, rubbing his chin. Mostly his eyes flitted with concern to Tresk, who was still holding her daggers and stabbing them into the air. "What kind of competition were you thinking about?"

Theo considered what kind of competition they should hold. If he opened it up only to combat, it would be one-sided. If somebody like Elrin participated, he would win it with ease. But if he created several categories with tiers, it might work better. Imagine a situation where one leg of the competition had more to do with brains, and winning that would advance you to a new bracket if you wanted. But the people who didn't want to fight, they didn't have to fight. He could iron the details out later.

"A fair test of skill in various categories," Theo said. "We won't just be seeing who's the best fighter, but we could have challenges based on intellect, spellcasting, crafting, and whatever else we can think of.”

Aarok rubbed his chin. "This sounds awfully expensive."

"And we've got money to burn," Theo said, turning to glare at him. "Unless you plan on taking a horde of cash with you when the world ends."

Aarok shrugged.

“I’m not sure my people are interested in…” Squeak trailed off, eyes going wide as he looked at Tresk.

“Stabby stabby,” Tresk muttered, still foaming at the mouth.

"My people are incredibly interested in participating," Squeak said, doing a complete 180. "How long do you think it will take to set up these games?"

"No longer than a week," Theo said, waving a dismissive hand. "The hardest part is going to be coming up with what we're going to test people on. But I'll put my best people on it."

"Then we shall return in a week," Squeak said, bowing his head. "I am happy to have reached a more amicable solution to our mutual problem."

"Yep," Theo said, waving as the lizard person returned to his boat.

The sails on the ships caught the wind and dragged the shallow-running boats through the bay. Tresk did very well holding back her laughter until the group was far enough away that they couldn't hear her. And then she cackled, falling on the ground and rolling around.

"I thought he was gonna poop himself," she said, slamming her fists on the hard stone. "Did you see his face?"

"I must admit, it was hilarious," Aarok said, cracking a smile and shaking his head. “But are we seriously commiting to these games?”

“Absolutely. I want an arena and everything,” Theo said. He turned from the group and walked away, intent on gathering everything he needed to make it happen. It wasn't a surprise when Aarok and Tresk followed closely behind.

The arena Theo had in mind was ridiculous and completely unnecessary, but they were at a point in the city’s development that ridiculous things were the only things that excited him anymore. So, why not make it as absurd as possible?

"I've got a few ideas for some games," Tresk said, raising her hand. "We can create games based on common skills used by adventurers, but as we've seen, there's much more that goes into life than just killing monsters. We should definitely have a cooking competition and an overall crafting competition."

"But at the same time, we shouldn't neglect a martial competition," Aarok retorted.

"How about leaning into your military background?" Theo said to Aarok. "We could do larger-scale battles between two teams, blunt weapons and strict rules of course."

"That's not a bad idea," Aarok said. "What about tracking competitions? Those don't have to take place in an arena. We could capture a monster and release it into the swamp. First person to find it wins.”

The ideas bubbled between the members of the group. They all pitched something that interested them, and the others helped refine it into something that would be useful. Of course, these were just the early phases of the ideas. They would kick them back to the town administrators to look over. But for now, the thing Theo wanted was some plans for the arena itself.

A quick check through the administration interface told him Ziz had expanded his gang of stoneworkers to a healthy team of far too many people. A quick message told him they had enough of a working force to pull teams from the housing project. The amount of refugees had slowed down, giving them some extra time.

Which meant Ziz and his boys would focus on producing stone for a while. Any building efforts would wait until the alchemist cleared the area for this arena.

“Knock knock,” Theo said, cracking the door to Alise’s office. He stuck his head in, grinning.

“Oh, gods. What do you want?”

“Two options. Mountains or ocean,” Theo said.

Chapter 44

Mountains or Ocean

Alise pressed the heel of her palms into her arms, groaning. “What are you talking about, Theo?” she asked. “Mountains or ocean? What?”

“Do you want our new coliseum atop a mountain or in the middle of the ocean?” Theo asked, wiggling his eyebrows. “Both are very exciting for me.”

Alise’s head thumped against the desk. She released another groan before running her fingers through her hair. When she eventually looked up, she took a steady breath and shook her head. There was a deep red mark on her forehead. “I seriously don’t care. And I know I can’t stop you.”

“Fair enough,” Theo said. He turned back to his companions. “Let’s poll the citizens. Put the adventurers you assembled to work, Aarok. Make them ask the locals which coliseum they want.”

“Sounds like an excellent use of my time,” Aarok said.

“I can help, too!” Tresk shouted.

After organizing themselves in the office, the group headed out to round up the adventurers. They would track the poll through the administration interface, making sure no one person’s vote was counted more than once. Theo didn’t mind which option they picked. Either location would make for an impressive arena and he didn’t think either would be more work than the other. Thanks to his Earth Sorcerer’s Core and his absurd willpower, it would be a breeze… Mostly.

“Let’s go!” Tresk shouted.

“Yes, let’s neglect our duties,” Aarok said, twirling his finger through the air.

“Come on. We have some time to spare. The dream team will take care of the dungeons,” Theo said, patting the grumpy half-ogre on the back. “Time to get into the spirit of the newest shiny thing that has caught my attention.”

Grumbling, Aarok led the way out onto the streets. It really wasn’t that busy today. The lizardfolk docking at the pier was likely the most interesting thing that would happen today. Otherwise, Aarok and the adventurers would just pull guard duty the way they always did.

Theo approached random people in town, getting their name and which location they wanted the new arena to be built at. There seemed to be no agreement which spot was better, but he took each vote and added it to the tally. The alchemist checked his interface as he went. The most interesting thing was how much progress the adventurer team had made with the dungeons. Now the River Dungeon had been destroyed.

Two more to go.

After polling for a while, Theo took a break and headed over to the pier. He climbed one tower, nodding to Zan’kir as he leaned over the side.

“Have you come back to taunt me?” Zan’kir asked, rubbing the rail gun and tutting. “She wanted to fire. You have denied her request.”

“She’ll get over it,” Theo said.

“I’m gonna fire a shot for fun,” Zan’kir said. He aimed the weapon and let off a shot. Theo was happy he covered his ears for that one. “I feel much better.”

Theo shook his head, looking out to the bay. It was expansive enough out there for him to move a bunch of dirt and stones to create an island. He would place it to the north, as he could draw material for the sheer mountains in that region. These were the same mountains he drew stones from to prop up Qavell.

The more he looked at the shape of the bay and the barrier islands, the more he thought reinforcement of those islands was a good idea. Perhaps he could work on that while he was at it, giving the alliance better control of the area. Allowing people to enter the bay might have been an oversight, but the amount of work required could only be justified with extreme boredom.

It took more time than Theo expected for the poll to complete. It was close, but the ocean-based arena won. He suspected it had less to do with the ocean being a scenic place for an arena, and more to do with how it would give people access to the bay itself. Yeah, the ocean was the coolest spot for it, and the alchemist had no intentions of delaying the construction.

Theo swapped in his Earth Sorcerer’s Core and made his way to the road outside of Qavell. People watched with curiosity as he walked along the coast, skirting the water’s edge until he found his way off the sandy shores and onto the path of stone. Pulling large sections of the mountain out from under would cause rockslides. Which might fall onto the city above.

Unlike the alchemist’s last attempt to seed the ocean’s floor with stones, he had an advantage this time around. The bay’s bottom was much shallower than the open ocean, and his understanding of the sorcerer core much greater. A crack formed on the sheer wall of stone as the alchemist exerted his will on it. Unseen magic drove seams between those stones, pushing them further apart until the wall crumbled.

“Whoops, gonna need this…” Theo swapped another core for his Water Sorcerer’s Core in time to stem the tidal wave that followed. As the stones fell, they sent water spewing high into the air, that water eventually falling to catch the light of the sun. The rainbow that formed seemed in contrast to the silly level of destruction he could bring with his sorcerer cores.

The sensation of manipulating two elements at once was novel. Theo felt his mind splitting into two segments. One for the water, one for the earth. He dragged massive chunks of rock into the water, piling them high before moving to the smaller pieces. He laced those over the top of the causeway, sealing the arrangement together. When a large rock dropped into the water, threatening to send another wave out into the bay, he tamped it down.

“Look at him work!” Ziz shouted, pumping his fists into the air. “You’re hired!”

Theo turned, smiling at the half-ogre. “How much am I getting paid, boss?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Ziz said, crossing the fifty-feet of causeway the alchemist had already constructed. “Very slick work. You got any idea how big you want this thing?”

“No clue. My plan was to walk this out to the barrier islands and set the platform there. This causeway is only temporary.”

“That far out, huh?” Ziz asked. “Might be out of range of our guns.”

“New guns,” Theo said, nodding to the distance. “We’ll reinforce the barrier islands with new towers. I’m thinking we’ll use… that island as a base for the arena. Got any designs in mind?”

“Not until you tell me the size,” Ziz said, crossing his arms.

Theo grabbed another cluster of rocks, watching as they soared through the air. Ziz winced as they hit the water yet produced no splash. He clicked his tongue.

“Seriously, do you need work?”

Theo laughed, shaking his head as he moved more stones into place. He pushed his power further, drawing on every part of his will. Sweat formed on his brow as he released another cluster of stones. He sagged as they hit the surface of the water, shaking his head to fight back the oncoming stupor.

“Wait a sec,” Theo said, opening his inventory and sifting through the disorganized thing. “These powers are expressed through a person’s aura. Right?”

“I have absolutely no idea.”

Theo withdrew a potion from his inventory. “Aura Potion,” he said, swirling the contents of the vial. He quaffed it, feeling a surge of power rush through his body. “Oh, yeah. Let’s see what we can do with this…”

Reaching out to his pile of rocks, Theo scooped up a mass twice as big as the groups he had been gathering. Ziz skittered back as the rocks hovered above their heads. Dust and smaller stones fell, clattering against the ten-foot-wide causeway. The half-ogre let out a frightened peep.

“Now we’re cooking,” Theo said, lowering the stones into place. “Nothing like halving the time to do a job. Am I right?”

“So right,” Ziz said, breathlessly.

“This property comes from a very common reagent. Throk’s Weed. That’s a hybrid plant which was growing on the farm,” Theo said. His will didn’t feel as strained compared to before. The Aura Potion had not only strengthened his willpower-based abilities, but it had refreshed whatever invisible resource it drew from. “It was the third property, and I really didn’t know what it would do.”

“Oh, fascinating,” Ziz said, whimpering as another cluster of stones flew overhead.

“So, I’ll work on the causeway—which will give me a path to bring the stones over—and you get working on the design. Just assume it’ll be as wide as the barrier island. Circular structure, I think…”

“That’s not much to go off of…”

Theo shrugged, dropping his most recent load of rocks and snatching a smaller one from the air and drawing it close. He imagined a structure and punched his willpower forward. As though imprinting the structure onto the stone, his aura chipped away the rocks. Left behind was a circular arena similar to the images he had seen of a coliseum back on Earth.

“Oh. That’ll do,” Ziz said, grabbing the sculpture from the air and looking it over. “I’ll make some adjustments, of course.”

“Yeah, that’s just a rough design,” Theo said.

“Looks finely crafted to me,” Ziz grumbled. “Guess I’ll make designs based on this.”

That was much easier than putting it all on paper. Theo didn’t know a thing about doing the architectural diagrams Ziz could do, so this was the next best thing. The alchemist got back to work, but bored locals gathered near the shore to watch him move the massive stones. Only when he let a massive boulder ‘slip’ did they get to a safe distance. Making his way across the bay, he watched as the ocean beyond the barrier islands drew closer.

Creating the causeway between the mainland and the islands took less time than Theo had expected. He jumped from the rocky bridge onto the soft sands of the islands. The open ocean rolled over the far side of the island, a chilled breeze blowing in to rustle the grasses and tropical plants that grew there. It brought with it the scent of the ocean and the sounds of sea birds flying overhead.

Theo waded into the water of the bay, nodding with satisfaction. It wasn’t actually very deep on this end of the bay. He waded a few hundred feet out into the bay, and the water only came up to his chest. While he was only measuring by eye, the alchemist figured this area would need far less stone than he first expected. Laying a sturdy foundation for the arena was necessary, otherwise it would just collapse into the muddy bottom of the bay.

Heading back for more stone, Theo shook his head as he passed curious citizens on their way to the barrier islands. As expected, they were having a ball. Building the causeway so wide had been a bit of foresight the alchemist was proud of. He walked between the mountain and the barrier islands, holding the rocks above his head and creating massive piles on the far side. Citizens would clap politely when he let them fall to the ground, often cheering when the ground rumbled enough to knock someone over.

Setting the foundation of the building was difficult. But the layers of mud and silt responded to the combination of Theo’s Water and Earth cores, allowing him to scoop it out with ease. He dug until he found hard ground underneath, depositing the mud onto the island’s ocean-facing side. He then pressed the large blocks as deep as they would go, layering smaller ones atop that until it all came several feet over the bay’s high tide. Using this as a blueprint, he labored away until the sun grew dim in the sky.

Theo’s work was broken when Tresk and Alex descended from the sky. The dragon-goose landed with much drama, spewing fire into the sky and roaring. “Working hard out here?” she asked, jumping from Alex’s back.

“It really is fun,” Theo said with a smile. He looked back at the foundations he worked on, nodding with pride. “We’re going to have some water flow issues in the bay until I add a permanent solution for the causeway.”

“Oh, who cares?” Tresk asked, waving a dismissive hand. “This is a cool project.”

“Agreed. Very cool,” Alex said. “What is the purpose again?”

Theo had to explain what they were working on. He wanted an area out on the barrier islands for a few reasons. The first was the arena, of course. But he had another motive. Reinforcing the islands to give them more warning against attackers would be lovely. And he had heard about sea monsters roaming the world. Where were they? If a giant poison whale, or something just as absurd, came calling he wanted to be prepared. How would one fight such a monster anyway?

“Think we can bring this area into the city?” Tresk asked.

“I don’t see why not. Might be expensive, but the bay is a single purchase in the interface,” Theo said. “We should rope in all the way to the islands, and the entire strip of land. If we can reinforce this area, I’d sleep a lot easier. How many layers of defense do we have against sea-borne attacks?”

“Uh, let’s see,” Tresk said, putting up fingers and counting the items off. “The towers, then the wall at the harbor. So, we have two layers.”

“Yeah, we need more layers,” Theo said, rubbing his chin. “And no part of the defenses are without a population.”

“So, you want to have walls where there’s nothing inside. Got it,” Tresk said. “Hey, man. I gotta say, that sounds like a lot of work.”

Theo shrugged. The next biggest thing he needed to work on was bringing the rest of the elves back and then the shards. After that, his schedule was free. “I think I have plenty of time,” he said. “We can also use this as a way to reclaim a lot of space. Imagine if we filled even a quarter of the bay.”

“We’ll circle around to environmental implications later,” Tresk said, patting him on the back. “Because that sounds like a great way to mess up an ecosystem. Right now? Let’s get some grub.”

Chapter 45

Spiked Conch Shell

Theo used his time in the Dreamwalk to simulate how the bay would get destroyed if he went through with his plan. According to it, the best way to avoid disaster was to ensure water could come in from either side of the bay. Which meant he could completely pave the outer islands, so long as he left room for water to flow in between them. While that seemed easy enough, it took him longer than he had expected to get it working properly.

Tresk thought it was a boring way to spend his time in the dream realm. But to the alchemist, this was the best use for their ability. It could simulate not only events as they happened on a one-to-one timescale, but also things that happened over months and years. While he didn’t expect them to stick around for that long, he couldn’t bring himself to do the project ‘wrong’. Instead, he watched as water flowed in and out of the bay without end. Only when he had all the flows of water right was he satisfied.

“Come on, can’t we summon another hurricane?” Tresk groaned.

“Oh! That’s actually a great idea,” Theo said, imagining a Hurricane Potion. “We can test the current foundation’s ability to withstand storms.”

“Boring. Let’s add a dragon.”

“Two dragons!” Alex countered.

Theo quaffed the potion and watched as the storm formed above his head. He stood at the pier and the towers, looking out over the bay. In this imagined version of Broken Tusk, the far side of the bay was seeded with a stone foundation. The dragons that appeared overhead a moment later dove, shooting fireballs and doing flips in the air. Tresk always had a flair for the dramatic.

Something the alchemist didn’t expect was the way the hurricane affected the flow of water. The storm started inland and worked its way out to the open ocean, dragging all the water with it. This overloaded the draining channels the alchemist had created, resulting in a redesign. While the dragons didn’t help matters, it was funny watching them dive bomb his causeways and rip the stone apart.

“I don’t know if we learned anything,” Tresk shouted above the sound of the storm. “But that was cool!”

“Indeed, it was,” Theo agreed.

Theo spent the rest of his time in the Dreamwalk experimenting with more designs. It was a decent break from alchemy. Civil projects were always fun to work on, especially when they were silly like this one. But, as always, the Dreamwalk came to a close. The alchemist rose in his bed a moment after the connection with the dream world was closed, feeling a sense of confidence for his current project.

The pair had breakfast together downstairs with Sarisa and Rowan, and as the alchemist was making his way back to the bay to continue his project, Tresk stopped him.

"I get a good feeling about this one," she said, beckoning him down to her level.

Tresk pressed her forehead against Theo's, and he felt a sense of warmth spread through his body. A moment later, a system message appeared, and he chuckled.

[Tara’hek Core] received experience (0.01%).

[Tara’hek Core] leveled up! Level 40!

[Tara’hek Core] gained an additional effect: [????]

“Hah!” Tresk shouted, pumping her fist. “I knew it. We were so close to getting that level. It just needed a nudge.”

“Interesting… But what is that ability?” Theo asked, digging into his interface. “That’s new.”

[????]

Unknown Skill

Unknown description.

"That's disappointing," Tresk said. "I expected an overpowered ability, but instead we got a bunch of question marks."

"I've seen errors in skill messages before, but nothing like this. It seems like everything is undefined." Theo tapped his chin as he thought about what this could mean. "Do you feel any different?"

"Not really, but normally, to use a skill, focus on it, and when I focus on this one, I feel absolutely nothing."

When the system messed up like this, Theo was always unsure what to think. It could mean that the system had an error processing what the ability was supposed to be. He had seen this when he was given a special core from one ascendant, but this also could be something else entirely. He wasn't sure how high other bonds like this had gotten, so it was impossible to say.

"Best we can do is keep an eye on it," Theo said, unsure of what else to say. "At least we finally hit level 40."

"Yeah, that's been a long time coming, hasn't it?" Tresk asked, puffing her chest out with pride. "I'm going to experiment with this today."

That was as good a plan as any. When Tresk left, Theo made a slow path to the Barrier Islands. Along the way, he focused his will inward, probing at the Core and the skill it now held. The Tara’hek Core functioned differently than the others. He had no control over what skills slotted into it, so it always felt slightly more distant than his other cores. But the way this skill felt in his mind differed from anything he had experienced so far.

“You waste no time, do you!?” Ziz asked, jogging up behind Theo as he crossed the causeway.

Theo turned, offering a sly smile. Gentle waves lapped against the causeway’s edge, some water flooding over it. Despite his efforts, the bay could still rise above his plans. The entire base of the arena would need to be raised a bit to prevent flooding.

“Any thoughts on this project?” Theo asked.

“I think it’ll come together well,” Ziz said. “Might need help from you, but we have an effective, modular way of building things now. We can put up a dorm for the refugees in a few hours, so long as we have the materials.”

“And are materials going to be an issue?” Theo asked.

“Shouldn’t be. I’ve got a team gathering the stone for this project. Another team is fabricating the sections. And the last time will work with you to get the dimensions of the foundation set.”

Theo could see the excitement on Ziz’s face. They walked together, touring the construction area. Although the alchemist had done some work, there was a lot left to do. But with the master builder at his side, they hashed out some better dimensions for both the arena and the fortifications. He wasn’t even mad about doing more work. The view of the ocean sprawling helped ease fraying nerves.

Poking around near the far side of the barrier island, something pulled in the alchemist’s senses. Theo brushed his hand over the wet sand, feeling his fingers getting caught on the sharp edge of a shell. He withdrew his hand, sucking the spot where he was poked and withdrawing the offending shell from the sand.

“Hello, little reagent,” Theo said, rolling the shell over. It was roughly the size of his hand, covered in several spikes. Although it wasn’t occupied, the shell itself was alchemically reactive. The alchemist inspected it.

[Spiked Conch Shell]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Uncommon

The shell of a spiked conch. Useful for all kinds of things like horns, tossing at people, or skewering your hand. Seriously, these things are spiky.

Properties:

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

“Guess I’ve never really been this far out,” Theo said, holding the shell high for Ziz to see.

“Looks like a nasty creature,” Ziz said. “And you already stuck yourself.”

“Yeah, but the spikes will make it easier to find,” Theo said, digging through the sand again. He stopped, brows knitting as he thought better. A stick appeared in his hand a moment later, and he poked at the soft sand. After a few moments of poking, he found another shell. “The beach is lousy with these things.”

“So, uh… About the construction…”

Theo allowed himself to be distracted by the shells for a bit before getting back to work. The work was tedious, of course. He had to walk over the causeway with large rocks over his head. But on his first trip back to the mainland, he broke on conch down using his Reagent Deconstruction skill. The shell refused to reveal its fourth property right away, marking it in the alchemist’s mind as a decent reagent.

The three properties he revealed were Sharpen, Poke, and Call of the Sea. Sharpen was obvious enough, and he felt it would produce a potion which worked like a salve for a weapon. Poke was curious, and gave the feeling as though it would create a bomb-like potion. That one was the hardest one to tell, though. Call of the Sea might have felt weird, but it was clearly a standard potion.

After sacrificing another shell, Theo uncovered the fourth property. It was called Bolstering Horn and gave him the impression of a powerful buffing property. This property would create another standard potion. It wasn’t the worst reagent he had experimented with and held all unique properties. No duplicates!

Theo cut into the mountain again, smiling to himself as he thought about getting back to the lab to test his new reagents. He was too excited for them to wait, so he contacted Tresk. He shoved the shells into their shared inventory, and instructed her to drop them off at the lab. Salire could start them for him, so long as she wasn’t too busy.

“Yeah, she says no problem,” Tresk said through their connection. “But she can’t get the fourth property to do the thing or whatever.”

“No problem,” Theo said. “Thanks for the help.”

“I’m just doing boring patrols today,” Tresk said. “Can you see me? Straight above you.”

Theo looked up, squinting against the sun. He saw a tiny dot that could have been a marshling riding a dragon-goose. It could have also been a bird…

“Yeah, I think so,” Theo said, squinting harder. Alex shot a jet of fire from her mouth. “Oh, yep. That’s you.”

Tresk cackled into his mind.

Theo shook his head as he split another section of the mountain off. He strained under the weight, popping another Aura Potion before adding more rocks to the load. Half-way across the causeway, he felt a familiar presence approaching him from behind. Some of his hair had fallen into his face, plastered to his forehead with the sweat already forming there.

“Perg,” Theo said, managing a weak smile as he juggled the rock. “Been a long time.”

“Hah. And how far you’ve come,” Perg said in a sing-song tone. “I had to come check out the bridge everyone was talking about.”

“Word gets around, huh?” Theo asked. “If nothing else, at least people are having fun crossing the causeway.”

Perg snapped her fingers, jogging up alongside Theo. She elbowed him in the side gently. “That’s what it was. Causeway. Looks like you’re having about as much fun as a snapper in a storeroom.”

“Something like that, anyway,” Theo said, pressing on along the path. “How about you? Still tanning hides?”

Perg shrugged, stretching as they walked along the path. “Fewer than before. More than I care to do. I’ve got no motivation. Just been napping all day.”

“Yet that’s a perfectly normal response to the end of the world,” Theo said. “Honestly, I’m shocked that anyone is working.”

“I’ve seen a few people slacking. I ain’t telling who it was, though,” Perg said with a wink. “We’re bringing all of this with us, right?”

“Yep. As long as I win over the other gods…”

“Good. That’s why people work so hard. They trust you to bring it all with us.”

Yet Theo didn’t know exactly what would happen once they left. As long as they didn’t end up like the space elves, everything would be fine.

“Hey, wanna see me lift some more heavy rocks?” Theo asked.

“Duh.”