The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 49,50,51 (Patreon)

Chapter 49

Arena Construction

The next morning, Theo tested his danger sense some more. He found it extended to actions by non-sapient creatures, including exploding potions.But it wasn’t nearly as helpful as his future sight. That was something he would have to learn to live with. Since a god had told him his ability was too overpowered, there was little he could do about it. Instead of complaining, he would hone this new power until it became second nature to him.

After having breakfast and attempting to blow himself up, Theo went to the lab and found Salire working hard on a set of restoration potions. Of course, since there was the potential for combat-based sports in their future, the city wanted as many healing potions on hand as possible. However, the budding alchemist didn’t stop there; she also created digit and limb restoration salves while she was at it.

All of that meant the lab was quite busy, making it difficult for Theo to accomplish his short-term goal for the day.

“I think ensuring the people in town don’t die is more important than testing your conch shell,” Salire said, offering the alchemist a sly smile. “It won’t take me all day to finish these off, though. I should be finished around midday.”

“Fair enough. I guess I’ll go see how the arena is coming along.” Theo considered the other things he had to get done in town, but there were a few alchemical experiments he wanted to pursue. However, with the lab so busy, there simply wasn’t enough time.

One thing he could do was to expand the size of the Newt and Demon. It was at level 30, and while it might be prohibitively expensive, he could bring it up to level 40. Any upgrade would be nice, but Theo hoped for one that would give him an additional floor. They currently had two floors dedicated to brewing potions, and Salire could easily occupy those. Finding another lab building seed core might have been an option, except he hadn’t seen one for sale anywhere.

And it wasn’t as though coresmiths were growing on the trees outside his lab. The elves had a monopoly on those, as far as he knew, and he had no luck recruiting any of them to his town. Instead, he would need to share the space with Salire and figure out how to make it work. Since Theo had fallen into more of a research and development role, it wasn’t as much of an issue. However, there was always room for improvement. For now, he headed off to see the progress the arena had made.

The construction efforts on the arena were visible from the harbor. Theo looked down the straight path leading out into the bay, and he could spot it. Although it was tiny in the distance, he could see it. Walls were being erected on the sides as Ziz and his ever-growing gang of stonecutters went to work. They were tireless creatures that were to be feared, even without the help of stamina restoration potions. They worked without rest. It was a bit psychopathic.

As the alchemist made his way across the causeway, which was currently occupied by a gaggle of citizens enjoying the newest structure, he made a few changes. As expected, the flow of water through the bay was an issue. Mostly, it was the fishermen who were having issues moving to their favored spots. Although Theo had never attempted such a technique, he used his Earth Sorcerer’s Core and pulled parts of the causeway apart, smashing rocks together with enough force to grind them until they stuck. He couldn’t tell if he had melted the material, but with great effort, it allowed him to form rudimentary shapes, such as an archway.

In the center of the causeway, Theo created a bridge. It was long, with a supportive pillar in the center, but he ensured it was tall enough for the small fishing vessels to pass underneath. Naturally, a group formed behind him as he changed the only way to or from the barrier islands. While they complained, they were satisfied when the structure was completed.

The idea behind the arena was simple. Theo wanted to create a massive stadium where various games and competitions could be held. The goal was to have a wide open space in the middle, with raised seating on all sides, mimicking the Colosseum of ancient Earth. He hoped the result would entertain the locals and exalt those with skills from around the world. If the side-effect was bringing more mortals along, allowing them to bypass Death’s system, the alchemist would be happy.

Theo inspected what little of the arena had been constructed. From a distance, it appeared as though they had only created a few feet of vertical wall on the outside. However, as the alchemist tore through the exterior, he looked up at 30-foot-tall walls made from finely hewn stone. Each stone was set together with such skill that he had to question whether it was the work of Ziz or Khahar.

Naturally, the work wasn’t being done on the structure itself. Instead, the stonecutters had developed a unique method for building large structures. They prefabricated sections in another location and then used a stonecutter’s skill to place them where they needed to go. Ziz would create a section of the arena, stowing it in his inventory. When he brought it out, that section would weigh nothing to him. It might’ve been odd to watch a half-ogre haul around a two-story section of wall, but that’s the way they worked.

Ziz walked past, holding a massive column over his shoulder as though it weighed nothing. He waved and smiled at Theo as he went, chuckling as he swung it and nearly decapitated someone in the distance. Once the pillar was in place, he came over to have a chat.

“You certainly have a flair for the dramatic,” Ziz said, slapping Theo on the shoulder. “What do you think about our progress so far?”

“I think you people are sort of fabulously insane.” Theo shook his head as he looked up at the massive structure. They’d be done by the end of the week if they worked hard enough. “Is there any difficulty building on my artificial island?”

“Absolutely none.” Ziz stomped his foot on the ground as though to punctuate his point. “You built this thing rock solid, but if I were you, I would expand it out a bit more in every direction.”

“You’re the architect,” Theo said with a shrug. “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll make it happen.”

“Now, about the additional structures on the barrier islands. Do you have any idea what you want them to be?”

This was a plan that Theo hadn’t thought out completely. He had a general idea of what he wanted to do, but no details. His goal was to create something impressive. He envisioned a trader leaving Broken Tusk for a week, only to return and find an entire city resting on the edge of those barrier islands. It needed to be something so remarkable that they wouldn’t soon forget it. Even more impressive would be the fact that they didn’t use any seed cores to make it happen. Certainly, he could use the incorporation upgrade from the town to bring these buildings under his influence, but everything would have been built by Broken Tusk’s sweat and blood.

Ziz laughed when he heard the explanation from the alchemist. He shook his head, offering Theo a somber smile. “That’s a bit too poetic for you, demon. You’re not normally so flowery.”

“Well, look at this thing,” Theo said, gesturing to the arena around them. “It’s big. It’s impressive. This one structure is going to be bigger than Broken Tusk was when I first arrived here.”

“We’re not getting into a wangus-measuring competition with another nation, are we?” Ziz asked.

“I understand what you mean from context, but I’m not going to dignify that with a response,” Theo said. Of course he put on a brave face, but he was still smiling, doing his best not to laugh at the joke. “No, this one’s for us. Have you noticed the number of people coming out here just to check it out? They really like it. They think it’s neat, and that’s enough for me to do something stupid like this.”

There were many more hours until midday, so the Alchemist got to work. Ziz needed quite a bit more land mass around the arena to keep it from sinking into the ocean. If they wanted anything like a city on the ocean side of the barrier island, it would need much more reinforcement. Of course, that meant going to drag rocks from the nearby cliff and depositing them onto the island. Theo tried a couple of tricks, but he couldn’t get anything to work. He grasped at one massive boulder and attempted to drag it through the void to cut the distance between the cliffs and the island, but it didn’t work. The boulder simply fell into the water when he vanished into the void.

Thinking he was brilliant, Theo then tried to drag a boulder onto the Bridge of Shadows. He pierced through the veil, pulling the house-sized rock with him. However, when he arrived on the other side, a gaggle of living shadows attacked it, breaking the material down until it was dust.

“Why are you bringing rocks into my nascent realm?” Uz’Xulven asked, her shadowy form appearing on the endless road with her hands on her hips.

“I was trying to take a shortcut,” Theo said, looking around and feeling rather foolish after the attempt.

“Yes, rocks don’t belong here. Technically, you don’t even belong here, but the rules are still a bit fiddly.”

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to run into you in your own home.” Theo tried to suppress a laugh, but he couldn’t. “There goes my shortcut, I guess. How are you doing, anyway?”

“I’m bored, waiting for the restart. It appears it’s taking quite a while,” Uz’Xulven said. She was always a self-confident person whom Theo imagined was unflappable, but as time stretched on, things were getting to her. “You are going to hurry the migration, aren’t you?”

“We’re moving to the second phase. Once the shards are in place, the restart can happen, although we don’t know how long it will take.”

“Excellent… I’m getting rather bored,” Uz’Xulven said.

“Why don’t you just come down to the mortal plane?” Theo asked. “You could hang out with us while you wait.”

Theo felt a fizzle of something in his chest, then the gathering of energy. There was a snap, and the tall cat-person, Khahar, appeared on the bridge.

“That violates the Seal of Passage,” Khahar said.

“Um, actually…” Theo licked his lips, pointing a finger in the air. “I think you’ll find the Seal of Passage is defined as a barrier sealing the heavenly realms—the inner realms—and the outer realms.”

Khahar narrowed his eyes on Theo. “I’m gonna smack you. Uz’Xulven is here on lease from the old system. She’s trapped in the Bridge until we merge with the new system.”

“Damn. Thought I found a loophole there,” Theo said.

“Don’t worry about little old me, Theo. Besides, Khahar is wrong. I can still travel to the old heavenly realms.”

There was some debate on the topic after that. Uz’Xulven wasn’t supposed to move to those realms, but she had been. If only to ease some of her boredom, the power of the Bridge of Shadows had diminished in recent days. And she was bored. Khahar objected to her traveling, but Theo gave her the go-ahead.

“That puts it in a gray area,” Khahar grumbled. “Which means we won’t act against you if you want to travel between the outer realms. Just don’t go to the mortal world, okay?”

“Yes, father.”

As weird as the trip to the Bridge of Shadows was, it did nothing to ease Theo’s need to move a bunch of big rocks. He promised to dedicate the first half of the day to expanding the barrier islands. Ziz and his boys needed no help with constructing the arena. They had their techniques, and they worked very well. However, the alchemists had them beat with moving raw stone. No one could hover big old rocks above their heads quite like him.

Although he was quite impressed with himself, Theo couldn’t deny the power of the stoneworkers. When he finished expanding his part of the barrier island, the arena had grown considerably. Ziz was happy to give a tour of the area. The way he talked about things was fun to watch. The half-ogre had a way of swiping his hands through the air as though he were painting what he saw in his imagination into the real world. It was always inspiring to see someone so dedicated to their craft.

It stoked the desire he felt to improve his alchemy.

“Has half the day passed, yet?” Theo stood on the floor of the arena, looking around at the image Ziz had painted. He couldn’t see the man’s vision. Not entirely, but a ghost of the finished product was there. Right now, it was just too hazy.

“Looks like it,” Ziz said. “Why, you got somewhere to be?”

“Yeah, I have an entire nation to run and potions to brew,” Theo said. “Haven’t you heard? Some idiot gave me the title of archduke.”

Ziz placed a powerful hand on his shoulder. “I quite like that idiot. Maybe I can meet him one day.”

Chapter 50

Bagpipes

Taking a break from the normal stuff Theo had to do was nice. But he had recently discovered a cache of Spiked Conch Shells on the barrier island. The properties that seemed very interesting. It even revealed a forth property for him to test, unlike the reagents he found on the void island. Best of all, Salire had finished her work on the second floor of the lab, leaving an assortment of alchemy stills open for him to experiment with.

“They’re all yours,” Salire said, patting Theo on the shoulder. Of course, she had another random local working the shop downstairs.

“Thanks,” Theo said, holding one shell in his hands. It really was too spiky, threatening to jab his palm at any moment. “Time to turn this into something.”

“Did you evict the slug within?”

“The what?” Theo asked, rolling the shell over in his hands. He poked himself, of course. “I don’t see anything in there.”

“Otherwise, we’ll be eating some delicious conch.” Salire licked her lips in anticipation. “Keep me updated on the status of that delicious slug.”

Theo winced, leaving the third floor of the lab before she could get weirder.

To the alchemist’s great relief, there was no delicious slug buried in the shell. He had found it on the shore, abandoned among the sand and other shells that had washed up there. So he figured there wasn’t anything living inside. Theo ran it through the alchemical grinder, turning it to dust with little effort. After collecting enough to test all four properties, he commandeered four stills that would produce four second-tier potions. Their experimentation with the new form of alchemy had refined the process to a series of steps that were effortless to follow. Once the stills were running, he only had to keep an eye on them, although they didn’t require nearly as much babysitting as they did in the early phases of development.

While he waited for the stills to do their work, he reviewed one of the newest drafts of Salire’s book. It was an ever-growing project that expanded to encompass everything they had learned about alchemy. Although she had already detailed the new process of infusing potions with other effects, creating these baseline potions was important to understand how they worked. Properties could be strange and often produced unexpected or useless effects.

Both the Sharpen and Poke properties on the shell were brewing up nicely. They didn’t object to the process at all, but the Call of the Sea and Bolstering Horn properties were fiddly. Theo watched as those two stills rocked in place, having some difficulty churning through the mashed reagent. Although they sputtered and protested, it seemed stable enough for him to proceed. But the result was a much slower process, which allowed the first two stills to jump ahead to the finished product within the hour.

The stills churning through the Sharp and Poke properties weren’t completely done running, but enough essence had been produced for him to brew two quick potions and inspect the results. From the qualities of the essence, Theo figured Sharp would make a poison-like potion which could be applied to a weapon while Poke would produce a standard potion. He started with Sharp, finding that it brewed up without an issue. It bubbled for only a moment, creating a cloud gray potion that held a silver sheen and light effervescence.

The alchemist held the potion at arm’s length and inspect it.

[Sharp Potion]

[Potion]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 90%

Applying this potion to any object with an edge will make it sharper. The amount of sharpness added depends on the quality of the item and the purity of this potion.

Effect:

Sharpens any object with an edge. This effect is temporary, only lasting two hours.

The strength of this potion depended on exactly how sharp it made something and if the durability of that item came into play. Perhaps it added an edge to a weapon, giving it false confidence to cut through something it otherwise wouldn’t be able to. If the result was a broken weapon, the potion was useless. But if the potion didn’t care about such details, this could be a powerful potion. It would make otherwise weak weapons operate at a higher level.

Theo was certain of one thing. He would need to ask someone who knew about weapons to test it out for him. Only when he got their expert opinion would he declare this a success or failure.

Moving on to the Poke property, Theo was less excited about the brewing process. While it produced a semi-clear, gray essence, it reacted poorly once he added the catalyst. The potion bubbled, almost frothing over the top of the vial as the alchemist held it. That foam sputtered and popped, sending flecks of boiling-hot liquid spraying around the room. As he was considering tossing it out the window, the reaction calmed down until it fizzled into nothingness.

“Well, that was violet,” Theo said, clearing the foam from his face. “Let’s see how good you are…”

The resulting potion had the same silver sheen as the first. Theo was glad to see his suspicions about a normal drinkable potion were correct. He checked the description, raising an eyebrow as he read.

[Poke Potion]

[Potion]

Rare

Created By: Theo Spencer

Purity: 88%

Imbibing this potion makes the drinker better at poking stuff. So long as the thing used to poke is a weapon, the drinker will find all actions in such endeavors more successful.

Effect:

Thrusting-style attacks with weapons deal more damage and are harder to parry.

Putting aside the dubious name, this could actually be a good potion. It was strangely specific and Theo wasn’t certain he saw the connection between stabbing things and the shell. Perhaps because of the amount of times he had been stabbed by the shell while handling it. He knew Fenian used a lot of thrusting attacks in his fighting style. A lot of the half-ogres in Broken Tusk relied on spears, which would make this potion valuable. Depending on its power, of course. If it only had a moderate increase to a person’s ability to poke, it wouldn’t be as helpful as raw attributes. Combined, it could be an extremely deadly combination.

That only left the more difficult essences to check. By the time Theo had finished with the first two properties, the other two stills had produced barely enough essence for him to experiment with. He made a mental note to do some serious testing with these new potions, but still moved on to work with the last two essences.

Thinking it had the cooler name of the two, Theo moved on to the Call of the Sea property. The moment he introduced it to the Enchanted Water in his vial, he felt something strange. It was a flash from his new danger sensing ability, but when he pulled on that thread nothing happened. The alchemist’s brow knit as he waited for something to happen. When he dropped the catalyst in, the sense did not return.

“Was that just a general sense of danger?” Theo muttered, looking around for a left field dragon to come crashing through the wall.

Nothing happened.

The reaction for this potion was extremely violet. Not only did it bubble and sputter within the vial, but the area around the container visibly warped. Theo took a few healthy steps back, ready to jump out the window if he needed to. It took a while, but the reaction calmed down. Now his worktable was covered in a thick layer of seafoam that glittered with magical energy. The liquid inside the vial was a swirling mix of blue, wave-like ripples issuing from the bottom and lapping toward the top. Even staring into the vial brought a sense of gravity he couldn’t deny.

When the alchemist inspected the potion, he realized what that sense of danger had meant. He stowed the potion in his inventory, reviewing it from his memory instead.

[Call of the Sea]

[Potion]

????

Created By: Theo Spencer

Come. Return. Become.

Effect:

Looking at, drinking, smelling, or otherwise interacting with this potion will draw the user to the sea. They will be compelled to do so and cannot resist.

“Screw that,” Theo said. He planned on telling no one about the potion and destroying his only sample. The description claimed a person couldn’t resist, but he realized now his extraordinarily high willpower had saved him. Perhaps even the danger sensing ability gifted by Omen’s power set had helped. One thing was certain, that potion was not good.

“I must drink the devil potion,” Tresk said, speaking into the alchemist’s mind.

Theo dropped into the void, traveled to Tero’gal, and deposited the contents of the potion as deeply as he could within the potion. He then dumped several barrels of water onto it and fell back into the void before returning to the mortal realm.

“Absolutely not,” Theo said. “We’re not messing around with crap like that.”

“I was just kidding,” Tresk said. “But good move. You should have set it on fire, though. We don’t need a potion that makes sea zombies.”

“Sea zombies? Oh, people who are drawn to the sea like zombies? Yeah, good point. Anything that takes a user’s will away isn’t good, since we can’t predict what it’ll do. Can’t even reliable use it as a weapon if just looking at it will mess you up.”

Theo searched Tresk’s mind, ensuring she was joking around with what she had said earlier. He absolutely refused to mess around with a potion like that, and had to be sure she was simply making a Tresk-style quip. Thank whichever gods still cared she was just joking.

“What was that?” Salire asked, poking her head down the stairs.

“Knocked some glassware over,” Theo said, giving her a toothy smile and a hearty wave. “Nothing to see here.”

Salire narrowed her eyes, nodding slowly. She slid back upstairs, leaving him to his shady work.

Theo moved on to the Bolstering Horn property, an effect he hoped would produce something more interesting than the others. Not that the first two weren’t good, it was just that the third one was so bad it left a horrid taste in his mouth. The essence itself seemed eager to become a potion. Although the distilling process wasn’t smooth, the brewing was. When he introduced the Enchanted Water to the essence, it barely reacted. Light bubbles formed on the sides of the vial as he added the catalyst and the color shift from pale gray to light blue was instant.

The potion smelled like the sea mixed with lemons. Which was weird but inviting. Theo double-checked that the description of the potion didn’t invite him to do horrid things before he read it more in-depth. The description was… interesting.

[Bolstering Horn Potion]

[Potion]

Legendary

Created By: Theo Spencer

Purity: 95%

Have you ever wanted to be really good at playing a flute? Well, this potion can’t do a damn thing for you. But if you can already do that, this is the perfect potion for you!

Effect:

Depending on the skill of the player and the purity of this potion, playing a breath-based instrument for a set duration bestows boons on those listening. A breath-based instrument is defined as any instrument you need to use your lungs to play.

“I think we just crafted a bard potion,” Theo said, shaking his head as he looked over the description a few more times. The body of the description was written by a Loremaster, he was certain of that. It held the hallmarks of a non-system generated bit of text.

But Theo had to be careful with this one. It wasn’t as dangerous as the last potion, but it could bring a doom to Broken Tusk the likes it had never seen before. He imagined it. Half-ogres with their love for loud things and their inability to carry a tune walking around with flutes, playing as loudly as they could. Perhaps it would even go a step further with Throk creating the most feared weapon of all.

Bagpipes.

Theo shuddered. He then felt a dark energy flood into the room.

“What’cha got there?” Tresk asked, leering from behind.

Theo stowed the potion away as quickly as he could, doing everything in his power to shield his thoughts from her. “N-nothing,” the alchemist said, making himself busy with the items on the table. “Just wrapping up an alchemy session.”

“An alchemy session, huh?” Tresk padded closer, the sense of a predator entering the air. It felt as though a lion lurked behind him, waiting for the moment to pounce. Then he heard it. Two sharp sounds.

Toot. Toot.

“You know, I’ve always considered myself a flautist,” Tresk said.

“No, Tresk,” Theo said, turning with a look of horror in his eyes. “You don’t understand the kind of power this potion holds.”

“Within that vial is the power to change the world,” Tresk growled, lurking closer. “You know I never wanted to be an assassin. I wanted to be a bard.”

“Don’t do this.”

Toot toot toot.

###

From the third floor of the Newt and Demon, Salire heard another strange noise. She had finished the bulk of her brewing for the day and was making plans in her head. Ziz had been working on a structure on the barrier islands and she planned to check it out. With the games approaching—even if they were still quite distant—she had wanted to bolster their stock of healing potions. But a sound came from downstairs. It started with a slam and ended with the shattering of glassware and the shuffling of feet.

Salire rushed down the stairs, throwing the door open to the second-floor lab.

“What in the hells is going on?” Salire asked, her eyes going wide.

Theo stood on a stool, swinging a length of wood through the air. Tresk was on the ground, an instrument made of bone pressed against her lips. She turned, glaring at Salire.

Toot.

Chapter 51

Poke or Slash

“I don’t see why I need to help you if you’re not going to let me be a bard.” Tresk said, her face wearing a sour expression as she stood in the open field.

Breaking from tradition, Theo wanted to test his potions in the real world. Well, the potions that wouldn’t drive a person insane, anyway. He brought the marshaling along to a field outside of the harbor. It had once been a place that was rarely visited by locals, but had since become something of a crossroads. The path worn into the landscape by so many traveling feet went from the harbor to Qavell and to the causeway.

There were plenty of tough rocks littering the area. They would be perfect for testing these two new potions, and Tresk was the ideal person to conduct the tests.

“Don’t worry about becoming a bard. You can’t carry a tune,” Theo said. “Now, I assume you have at least a few daggers you don’t mind losing in that arsenal of yours.”

“All my babies are precious,” Tresk said, withdrawing a chipped and rusted dagger from her inventory. “Even Henry here. He’s one of my favorites.”

Theo withdrew his own junk dagger from his inventory, holding it by the blade and handing it over. He had a few more of similar quality ready for the test. “As I thought,” he said, “I brought a few spares from the smithy for you to work with. The first potion we’re testing is the Sharp Potion.”

Tresk cradled the dagger for a moment, sighing. “I want to give him a name, but then I’ll get attached. Okay, hand me the potion.”

“Baseline first,” Theo said, gesturing to a stone. It looked like a decent stone to split.

Tresk shrugged. Holding the weapon with both hands, she raised it high above her head and then brought it down in an arc as it struck the side of the large rock. It bit into the surface. However, when she withdrew it, there were deep chips on the blade, and the structure of the weapon itself had been compromised.

“It probably wouldn’t survive another hit,” Tresk said, rolling the blade over in her hands for further inspection. “There’s a seam that goes all the way to the back. It’ll break in half soon enough.”

“As expected,” Theo said, pulling another dagger from his inventory and holding it up. This time, he also gave her the sharp potion, which she knew exactly how to use. The marshling poured it over the blade and watched as the magic took hold. A silver sheen rushed over the surface, with visible beads of light gathering near the edge. She held it aloft and nodded with approval.

“Ready?” Tresk asked, holding the blade above her head with both hands. When the alchemist nodded, she brought it down in a tight arc. It left behind a stream of silver that traced a perfect line through the stone. The rock itself didn’t split from the force but was instead perfectly cut all the way to the ground, where the blade continued to bite until it was buried up to the handle in the dirt. “This is the part where you ask for about a thousand of these potions.”

“If they pass a few more tests, I’ll be mass producing these,” Theo said. “So there’s no worry. It should give people without very good weapons an edge in combat.”

“An edge!” Tresk shouted, laughing and slapping her knees. “I get it. So what’s the other test?”

Theo then produced a new blade, a stout sword imbued with system-generated magical enchantments. It was one of many items that had been rewarded or given by locals over the past few months. He understood it wasn’t the most powerful weapon, but it should have been strong enough to stop an unenchanted iron dagger.

“Hit this. Not me, Tresk. The blade,” Theo said, holding it out as far as he could.

The marshling coiled back as though she would dive straight for his heart and then winked, pulling the blade through the air and leaving a silver streak that went straight through the magical weapon. Her cut was so clean that the sword maintained its form for a few moments before splitting in half, the top end tumbling to embed itself into the ground.

“I think I’ll need more than a few thousand of those potions,” Tresk said, licking her lips. “We need to figure out how hard of a material this thing can cut through in the Dreamwalk.”

This single potion would level the playing field for many people in Broken Tusk. It seemed like a simple thing at first, but if it made any bladed weapon significantly more effective, it would make any adventurer holding that weapon massively more powerful. He had some worries about it coming into the hands of someone who would use it for nefarious purposes, but as the reset drew nearer, he felt less risk-averse.

“We still have another potion to test,” Theo said, pulling a spear from his inventory and tossing it over to Tresk.

“Yeah, I don’t use these,” Tresk said.

“Yeah, but I do,” Sarisa said, emerging from Theo’s shadow and jogging over to take the spear. “What are we doing? Am I stabbing you? Please tell me I’m stabbing you today.”

“You’re going to stab me after you take a potion. Well, I suppose we should do a baseline first to see if you can stab me with your own merit. It might be good training for my new ability.”

Theo felt the tingle of danger before he even gave the order for Sarisa to strike. The spear flashed through the air in slow motion a moment later, and the alchemist relied on his abnormally high dexterity to move to the side, swatting the spear away and preventing himself from kicking forward. Sarisa stumbled to one side, looking up with a raised brow.

“You’re a quick one, aren’t you?” Sarisa said, coming in again.

As Theo danced over the open landscape, he gained a better understanding of his new ability. Recognizing the connection between the sensation of danger and the slowing down of time was paramount. Without that connection, the ability would not even activate. However, with it, he perceived each of her attacks coming slowly and could manipulate his body to move out of the way or otherwise foil the attacks before they arrived. He also gained a decent estimation of Sarisa’s abilities with the spear.

“Take a moment to regain your breath,” Theo said, adjusting his coat.

Sarisa lay on the ground, panting for breath as she gave the thumbs-up.

By the time the half-ogre woman had recovered, Theo had a decent mental image of how well she fought. The problem with the Poke Potion was that the description was vague. It claimed to increase the effectiveness of thrusting-style attacks, stating that it would make them deal more damage and that they would be harder to parry. But there was only one way to figure out what that meant exactly. Of course, he wasn’t about to give her a real spear for this, instead opting for a simple wooden quarterstaff.

“I guess I can still poke with this,” Sarisa said, giving it a few test pokes. “Now, where’s the potion?”

Theo handed over the Poke Potion and watched her quaff it. Sarisa stood there for quite some time, eventually shrugging when nothing seemed to happen.

“Focus on how you feel while under the effects of the potion,” Theo said.

Salire didn’t wait much longer than that. Theo felt a sense of impending doom as he watched her move. When her thrust came this time, it blurred in his vision. The alchemist went to slap it to the side, but his parry failed. His hand rolled over the staff as it thrust toward his chest. Then, his entire body shifted to the left by about a foot, and the strike missed.

“Oh, come on! I had you,” Salire said, frowning. “What happened?”

“I took a Potion of Limited Foresight earlier. Since I knew that would happen.”

“Cheater!” Tresk shouted, growling. “Take the hit like a man.”

Theo turned, narrowing his gaze at the marshling. “We’re testing a potion, not dueling.”

There were some important things to note from that singular attack. The thrust was very difficult for Theo to parry, and he wasn’t certain if he could ever make it happen. Dodging the attack might be possible, but if he ended up taking a hit from it, the potion claimed the damage would be increased. Well, there was only one way to know for certain.

“Let’s go again. I’m going to dodge this time,” Theo said.

“It’s bad form to announce what you’re doing before you do it,” Sarisa said, tightening her grip on the staff. “Let’s see you dodge this.”

The alchemist stepped to the side as she launched forward, watching the weapon pass in slow motion. She performed another quick thrust, which he moved out of the way of. Just to test it, he parried the next strike by slapping the staff away, but as expected, his hand rolled off the staff and his body shifted to one side about a foot again. He wondered if parrying was impossible. The potion, combined with Sarisa’s natural ability with the spear, created a frightening opponent.

“So, are we counting both potions as a success?” Tresk asked.

“I think so,” Theo said. “Important thing to note is that these shells are common, so we can make a lot.”

“I have concerns,” Rowan said, stepping from Sarisa’s shadow.

“So, do you guys just live in people’s shadows?” Tresk asked, folding her arms.

“Kinda,” Rowan said with a shrug. “Don’t see any other shadows around here, so we gotta use yours.”

Tresk cleared her throat. “Right. Continue.”

“These potions seem powerful,” Rowan said. “You’re always harping on about keeping the weapon-style potions out of the hands of people who don’t deserve them. Why are these different?”

Theo smiled to himself. The creation of exported weapons had been a hot topic for quite some time now. At first, he didn’t want to make those weapons because it made him think of his old life too much. Now he didn’t want to make them because he didn’t want others to have them. Perhaps that was a selfish thought, but there were still enemies out there. They might have been few in the waning days of the world, but they were still there.

“Things are calm,” Theo explained. “And you know what happens when stuff gets calm in Broken Tusk?”

“That’s when the monsters come out,” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together.

“You think we’ll need these potions?” Rowan asked.

“Maybe. If a few slip out of the town, we have people around who can deal with troublemakers. I guess I should count myself among those people, actually.” Theo had to think about it. He had been powerless for so long, but now that he had grasped some measure of strength he could use it.

“Our big bad alchemist,” Tresk said, slapping Theo on the butt. “Just watch. He’ll chug thirty potions and go to town on any nasty boys.”

“There’s a few more things I’d like to test with the Poke Potion,” Sarisa said, interrupting the concerns of her brother and bringing the group back to the task at hand.

“What is it?” Theo asked.

Sarisa wanted to see the limits of the Poke Potion. She entered the role of an alchemical researcher easily, helping Theo map the limits of the potion. There was a lot of magic involved, ensuring that whoever had consumed the potion became significantly more effective with a spear. But skill was still required. When Tresk took up the staff, she was significantly less successful at hitting the alchemist. She missed most of her hits, meaning he didn’t need to parry the strikes.

Next, they tested the increased damage of the potion’s effect. As expected, the increase to damage was significant. But unlike the Sharp Potion, it did nothing to protect the weapon. Sarisa thrust forward with a spear Theo had bought for this purpose. It slammed against a rock, bending in the middle before snapping. The stone still chipped, sending shards flying into the air to pepper those observing the demonstration.

“I would like a few of these potions,” Sarisa said, holding the ruined half of a staff. “With my enchanted spear, this could easily double my strength.”

“What about a glaive?” Theo asked. “Pair the Sharp Potion with the Poke Potion.”

Sarisa’s eyes went wide. “That’s not a bad idea.”

Of all the things Theo could have found to produce good potions, he would have never expected a conch shell to be it. This made him wonder how many reagents were lurking just under his nose. Once the experimentation was done with the two potions, Tresk, Sarisa, and Rowan just screwed around with their effects for a while. They tested to see how big of a rock the marshling could chop in half, and how hard Sarisa’s enchanted spear could hit.

A field of boulders sliced in half or otherwise exploded sprawled far into the distance by the time they were done. Theo had fun watching them experiment, and made mental notes about the effectiveness of those potions. Perhaps the Sharp and Poke properties would be the perfect ones to pair with something like a Strength Potion using his infusion methods. A mental tingle told him it might be a decent path forward.

But there was only one way to tell. Through experimentation.

Unfortunately, Tresk was eager to test the effects of the Call of the Sea potion. She knew the drill, though. As Theo had classed this as an extremely dangerous potion, she wouldn’t mention it aloud. The reagent would be stored in the alchemist’s inventory, and even Salire wouldn’t be allowed to reveal the properties. That was the only way he could ensure it didn’t get out into the wild.

“Wanna ride around on Alex until dinner?” Tresk asked.

“Why not? What better way to whittle away the day than riding our dragon-goose?”

“More dragon than goose lately,” Tresk muttered, whistling. Alex descended from the sky moments later, stirring up clouds of dust as she landed.

“We gonna do some tricks?” she asked.

“You know it!”