The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 73, 74, 75 (Patreon)

Chapter 73

Enchant Weapons

A field of darkness flowed from Theo’s feet, spreading out over the arena as the spell fulminated. Mass Bind rolled over hundreds of the small creatures, shadows latching onto their legs and holding them firmly in place. Elrin was already dashing between them, sweeping his halberd in a wide arc. Yet despite the power he put behind each hit, he couldn’t take them down in a single strike. His weapon bounced off their hard shells, sparks intermingling with the paper-like material to fill the air with a strange burning scent.

“Hold on, let me craft a spell,” Theo said, closing his eyes and digging through his memory. He discarded properties from reagents related to poison, since those didn’t affect the beasts. For a moment, he considered using Dragon’s Dance, but it was incompatible with his method of creating spells.

Instead, the alchemist modified the spell to affect allies. He pulled from the Spiked Conch Shell, drawing on both the Poke and Sharpen properties. Although those properties fought him at first, he soon felt it flutter through his chest. The pieces locked together and he cast it, draining most of his mana away in an instant. He delayed reading the system message, chugging a mana potion first.

[Enchant Weapons successful]

3 targets affected.

“There we go!” Elrin shouted, bringing the edge of his halberd down on the body of one monster. Although it didn’t go all the way through, it did peel away the first few layers. “More of that, please!”

Theo smiled to himself, navigating through his screens to find the spell’s description.

[Enchant Weapons]

[Advanced Mass Tero’gal Spell]

Creates a field of magic that enhances the power of friendly targets’ weapons.

Derived Properties:

Poke, Sharpen

He read it a few times. Was this the first true mass-style spell he had created with Tero’gal’s magic? It was a combination of Toru’auni principles mixed with the developing magic his own realm was creating. The result was a spell that pulled from alchemical properties, infusing them into spellwork to create something novel. One thing was certain. The effect, Poke and Sharpen, weren’t as effective as their potion version. Elrin might’ve split the monsters in half with a single stroke if he had used the potion.

With a few hundred monsters barreling down on them, the alchemist saw no better time to practice with this new magic. Theo pulled a simple spell together, focusing on the Dissolve property from the Living River Water. He sucked in a deep breath and threw his arms wide, sending the shadowy spell forth. It latched onto each monster, causing a ripple of water to flow across each creature.

[Mass Dissolve Armor]

238 targets affected.

28 targets resisted.

“They’re getting even easier to kill!” Elrin shouted with delight. “What did you do?”

“Weakening their armor,” Theo shot back. “And sharpening your weapon.”

Once again, the Dissolve effect wasn’t as powerful as it could be, and it was functioning differently from the potion version. But this was enough for Elrin to make a dent in the many monsters scattering around the area. He darted between them, having a much easier time whittling the monsters down.

Theo was chugging Mana Potions to reapply his buffs and debuffs during the fight. The monsters kept coming for a while until another light appeared in the center of the room. Elrin and Trevor knew what to do with that, dragging monsters with corresponding colors along to the center, where they soaked in. Before long, even that light in the room’s center was whittled down until it glowed bright white, flooding the area with a blinding shine.

“This next part is complicated,” Elrin said, blowing the whistle around his neck.

Theo shielded his eyes as the arena filled with a blistering wind. Trevor, in his dragon form, beat his wings. His form barely fit in the area, straining not to press against the walls. Cracks formed in the paper-like material, although the alchemist wasn’t certain it was from the dragon or the deterioration of the dungeon.

“Hop on,” Elrin said, jerking his head toward the dragon.

Theo blinked a few times, taking stock of the massive creature. It was the same kind of dragon as Pogo, having four legs, a long tail, a slender neck, and a pair of wings. Trevor snorted, producing a wave of heat that came with a shimmering cloud of magic. When Elrin clapped his hand, it snapped the alchemist out of his thoughts, and he climbed the side of the beast to find a perch behind his shoulder blades.

“You’ll want to hold on tightly,” Elrin said.

A moment later, Theo’s stomach dropped. Trevor pushed off with enough force to shatter the ground beneath them. The arena’s walls came next, crumbling after the dragon burst through the side. They were soaring through nothingness moments later, what little of the dungeon remained vanishing like shreds of paper being blown by a stiff gust.

“You can see why these dungeons weren’t ideal for our adventurers,” Elrin said. “Sometimes the dungeon core doesn’t appear. The dungeon simply vanishes, consuming everything inside.”

“Not that I’m an expert on dungeons,” Theo said. “But that seems to run against the designs of the system.”

“Yet here we are.”

Theo’s point was that his core should’ve said something about it, right? Perhaps this was something Tresk was better suited to take care of. The Dreamer was the hand of the Herald, and the one in charge of ensuring the operation of the mortal plane. Although the dungeon was on the void island, it followed mortal rules… Mostly. That was because it was a chunk of the mortal world sent adrift in the void, which made it a confusing mix of worldly and otherworldly rules the alchemist wasn’t sure he truly understood.

Trevor banked to one side, then the other. Before them hovered a massive portal—large enough to accommodate the dragon. He barreled into it, forcing Theo to close his eyes as they soared through. The next time he opened his eyes, they were gliding over the void island, the jungle landscape below whipping by. He barely caught sight of the crumbling dungeon as they banked, landing back near the ziggurats.

“Well, that was something,” Theo said, realizing his iron grip on Elrin’s cloak. “More dangerous than advertised, I think.”

“They get much worse than that,” Elrin said, dismounting off the side. Theo joined him, and a moment later he blew that whistle again. Trevor turned back to his tiger form and yawned, stretching and kneading the ground a few times. “Anyway, how about we get that shard?”

Theo scoffed as he followed behind Elrin. “You’re acting like this is business as usual.”

“Because it is,” Elrin said. “I might’ve been locked away for however many years, but this was what I did. Clear a dungeon, crafting in town, coffee at my favorite cafe in Vesta.”

“What a charmed life.”

They found the shard in question. Elrin claimed it sometimes mattered which shard he moved where, but Theo couldn’t feel the difference between them.

Elrin approached the shard, placing his hands on the surface and closing his eyes. He cracked one eye open, looking back at the alchemist. “This will just take a few minutes.”

Elrin then vanished, leaving Theo standing there awkwardly. He narrowed his gaze at the shard’s surface, thinking he saw some difference in the material. Energy swirled from within, although he couldn’t tell the flavor of it. Perhaps it was magic related to the shards themselves. It took a good half-hour, but eventually the man himself returned looking slightly worn.

“What a pain,” Elrin grumbled, tapping a finger into the shard. It righted itself, hovering a half-foot above the ground and rotating. “I swear the Shard Network grows less cooperative by the day.”

“Is it any worse than the system?” Theo asked with a smile.

“Somehow worse. I had to deal with the system back in the day, and it usually cooperated. The Shard Network pushes back against most things. She is very willful. Anyway, drop us into the void. I’ll give you basic directions… if I can find the damn island.”

Theo shrugged, surrounding them with his aura. Elrin had taken care of the beacon and tracker part of the problem already, making it easy enough to follow the subtle directions. The alchemist got the impression of the location and became slightly confused. Something about the elevation of the place threw him off, but the beacon did its job. When his aura’s bubble pressed against the mortal world, it bent. A moment later, the pair were standing on weathered stone blocks, sparse trees scattered here and there.

“Where is this?” Theo asked.

“Somewhere off the coast of… the elf place. What’s it called?”

“Tarantham,” Theo said.

“That’s right. South of modern-day Tarantham City. We’re on a floating island,” Elrin said, jerking his head to the side. “We’ll plant the shard over there.”

Theo nodded as he followed along. There were stranger things he had heard during his time in this world. A floating island near the elven capital was normal as far as he was concerned. The only thing that stuck out to him was that he hadn’t heard of it before. He would save those questions for later, reserving them as they planted the shard.

Just like when they placed the shard on the farmer’s mound in, a tower sprung up around it. Stretching high into the sky, it created a shadow that spanned far into the distance. Theo took a step back to appreciate Elrin’s good work, instead finding himself distracted by the strange landscape. It truly appeared as though someone had abandoned this place. And when a monster appeared in the distance, the alchemist cocked his head to the side in complete confusion.

“What the hell is that?” Theo asked, gesturing toward the monster.

The creature seemed to be made of dull red ceramic. It lumbered along, shifting from one foot to the other without moving at any joints. Elrin laughed, clapping Theo on the back.

“More questions I could never answer,” Elrin said. “I’m surprised this island survived the change, but it moves sometimes. We’re high enough to go unnoticed by most, and it has a way of blending in with the clouds. Those monsters are strange remnants from something I never understood. But they were a good source of experience back in the day… Even if they were a pain to kill.”

“I think they’re alchemically reactive,” Theo said, licking his lips. “Mind killing a few?”

Elrin laughed, shaking his head as he readied his halberd.

With little effort, Elrin added some pottery shards to Theo’s stock of new reagents to check out. The small paper fragments from the dungeon still appeared as nothing in his inventory. Those small chunks of paper still showed nothing when he focused on them. The shards held a description that required a loremaster to reveal. With that in mind, he waited to reveal the properties until he got back to town. There were enough weird things going on to distract him for now.

Once he was done being distracted by the new reagents, Theo turned his attention back to the island. “So this place existed in your time?” he asked.

“That’s right,” Elrin said. “First time I saw it, a dragon was hanging around. I stayed away until the dragon left.”

“Now you have a dragon of your own,” Theo said. “Comes full circle, huh?”

Elrin scratched his head, shrugging. “Guess so. There’s no way I could’ve tamed one back then.”

“Guess we should get back,” Theo said. “I was kinda doing something back in Broken Tusk.”

“Right,” Elrin said, casting his eyes back to the tower. “Yet the shards are likely more important than what you were working on.”

Theo actually agreed with that. Siphoning foreign energy from the mortal world was important. It fell under Tresk and Fenian’s domain, but the alchemist was happy to lend a hand. Without prompting, he dropped them into the void.

“Next stop: Broken Tusk.”

Chapter 74

Sky Shard

Elrin didn’t stick around for long after they returned to Broken Tusk. Theo found himself in front of the lab with the man dashing off for another adventure. The alchemist knew the next big thing he had to do was to go to Slagrot, but it was a mission he wasn’t excited for. Not only was trespassing in the home of the ogres dangerous, but there were other things to consider.

The Dreampassage’s ability to send Theo into the void was an evolution of the original ability. Mixing his will into the ability had allowed him to learn the secrets of the veil. This was the mechanism he used to travel to places other than Tero’gal. But this ability rested in a gray area as far as the rules were concerned. After he combined that idea with the way he returned to the mortal plane, he had a technique that could take him anywhere on the planet in moments. Which was absolutely a violation of the rules.

And there was one man he knew who was a stickler for the rules.

"You went on an adventure without me?" Tresk asked, appearing behind the alchemist and folding her arms in disappointment.

"It was a brief adventure," Theo said. "I was only trying to bring a shard back to the mortal plane, but we ran into something strange. On the void island, a dungeon had appeared, and it was weird."

“Was it all corrupted with void energy?” Tresk asked, her face shifting to disappointment as she scanned his memories. “That looks like a fairly normal dungeon for what I expected. What do you think caused it?”

"Now, that is an excellent question," Theo said, rubbing his chin. “Although the island was soaked in void energy, it didn't seem to penetrate into the dungeon itself. I don't know; I'm no expert. We destroyed it anyway.”

"And good riddance to bad dungeons," Tresk said, nodding. "So, are you excited about our trip to the home of the ogres? I'm sure there are quite a few half-ogres in town who would love to go."

"I'd rather bring as few people as possible. The problem is that we're going to run into more issues than just the ogres themselves. I don't have much faith that our Arbiter won't give us trouble."

"Also, are we just teleporting around the world now? Is that something I'm allowed to do or is that another rule-breaking action?" Tresk asked.

"That's part of the reason I'm worried you might go to Slagrot, but we'll deal with that. Don't worry about it. I think teleporting around the world should be fine by now. From what I understand, we mostly have the backing of the system, and Khahar is the only one we truly have to worry about. You know how he gets."

“Cool. So, when are we going on a trip?”

“What?” Theo asked.

"If we can teleport anywhere in the world, we have to see the world, don't we?" Tresk asked. "What's the point of having that power if you don't use it?"

Theo didn't entirely disagree. He had a few things he needed to get done in town, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that wasn't exactly true. He had things that he could accomplish, but were they vital? He was most interested in experimenting with the newest round of ingredients he had acquired, but everything else was secondary.

“How about we go tomorrow morning?” Theo asked. “As long as you pick an interesting location, I’m happy to visit. But if you pick something boring, I might veto it.”

"Oh hell yeah!" Tresks shouted, pumping her fist in the air. "I know exactly where we're going." 

She scampered off before Theo could say another word. Instead, he just shook his head, watching as she went. He now had two items in his inventory. He was desperate to identify them. From the lab, he made his way north, passing by the familiar buildings. In Broken Tusk, it seemed he couldn't walk through his own city without being reminded of the progress they had made over the past year. When he finally walked by the statue in the town square, he couldn't help but shake his head. Azrug’s store was just down the road, and he turned into it, finding another employee smiling from behind the counter.

"Oh, I'll retrieve the master," the shopkeeper said, performing a slight bow before disappearing into the back room. That left Theo alone to gaze at the products in the store. They were items on display, in glass cases, and on wooden shelves. Everything from potions to dried foods and even artifices. Moments later, Azrug returned to the room, waving with an excited look on his face.

“You always bring interesting junk in here,” Azrug said, chuckling. “What is it today?”

"Two things," Theo said, removing a shard of pottery from his inventory. He placed it on the counter and looked at it, taking a beat before explaining what it was. "I encountered a strange type of monster that produced this ingredient. At first, I thought it was a construct, but well, just have a look."

"That's really weird," Azrug said, holding the piece up for inspection. He shook his head, setting it back on the counter. "I can identify it, but I'm not sure I've seen something like that. It seems to be made by a person, but the system recognizes it as a monster ingredient. Very curious."

"The next one is even weirder." Theo said as he produced a jagged strip of paper-like material, flicking it with his finger to show how firm it truly was. He then set it down on the counter and slid it across. "This one's even stranger. It comes from a dungeon I found in the void, and even stranger, the monsters inside weren't afflicted by the void. So, I really don't know what it is."

Azrug scooped the item up, his brows knitting tightly. "It doesn't even have a system description," he said, tilting his head from one side to the other as the wood revealed some secret of the paper. He tested its qualities, flicking it through the air and tapping it against the counter. When he went to lick it, Theo stopped him.

"It's alchemically reactive," Theo said, holding out a cautioning hand. "I'm pretty sure it will react to half-ogre spit."

"Now chemically reactive without a system description that doesn't make sense," Azrug said. "Actually, it has a small amount of magic in it, which means the system should have recognized it. Any magical item gets a description, even if some mundane items don’t."

“I have a theory about that, but it isn’t firm. I think some of the system here affects the system on the void island, but it isn’t the same.”

“Different systems?” Azrug asked, the folds on his forehead increasing as his brows knit tighter. “Does that make sense?”

Not really, but it was the simplest way Theo could think of to describe it. From what he understood, the system reigned from the high realms, influencing every other realm within it. This meant the void island should be under the jurisdiction of the same system everyone else experienced. The system was changing, altering the rules as they went along to suit the shifting needs of those many worlds.

"I really couldn't say," Theo said. "Can you do anything for that item, though?"

"No, this one's out of my skill set," he said, handing the chunk of paper back. "How about I just identify this and call it a day?"

"Sounds good."

Azrug cleared his throat, holding the shard of pottery up. “Now, where did you find it?”

“An island floating in the sky,” Theo said.

“Yeah, sounds about right,” Azrug said with a click of his tongue. There was a long pause where Theo could feel the magic swirling in the air. The young man then handed the shard back. “There ya go. No poop jokes in this one.”

“Is that something you commonly do?” Theo asked.

“Yup.”

The alchemist inspected the shard, eager to see if there was a hidden joke.

[Sky Shard]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Legendary

A shard of pottery found nestled amongst the clouds. It is said that anyone who holds such an item is blessed with luck.

Properties:

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

Theo looked up from the item, spotting the wide smile on Azrug’s face. "Legendary… That’s weird. What's up with that line about luck?"

"That's just a bit of flavor," he said. "I like to add a little twist in the description. And this doesn't seem like something other people are going to get their hands on. Not if nobody's found it already. Anyway, I figured you're pretty lucky to have found such an item."

Theo withdrew some coins from his inventory, paying the man for his services. It was a nice description, and as promised, there were no poop jokes included. He thanked Bob and made his way out of the store after chanting for just a little bit. He found people thought less of him if he only approached them for their services before skedaddling. The alchemist thought it wouldn't be the wisest idea to take the pottery shard to the lab for deconstruction. Instead, he made his way to the giant metal cube, which was currently occupied by several locals who were creating more of the booze.

"We were just ready to clear out," one half-ogre said, wiping sweat from his brow. He then drank from a glass jar of boiling hot zee liquor and smacked his lips. "It's drinking time, boys."

The workers filed out from the giant metal cube, all cheering and chugging large glasses of liquor. Theo shook his head but allowed himself a secret smile. His fear with the half-ogres was that they would go wild with the booze, getting nothing done and spending their entire day fighting. Instead, they were mostly responsible about it. Once it became widely available, few indulged too much, and it had become a staple. Of course, most people watered it down, not drinking it in its purely distilled form, instead preferring to dull the bite of the aggressive drink.

Theo focused on his heightened senses as he decomposed the shard of pottery that had gone up in smoke, releasing a strange scent he couldn't quite place. It was almost metallic but also held an undertone of earthiness, as though he were sniffing the clods of mud. Once again, this was a reagent that refused to reveal its fourth property. Even when he withdrew another, it simply didn’t come.

The alchemist shrugged, inspecting the Sky Shard to see which properties he had revealed.

Properties:

[Mercurial] [Focus] [Automaton]

The shard had revealed three properties that the alchemist had never seen before. He couldn't get a sense of any of them, but he wasn't surprised when he considered the status of the item. It was a legendary ingredient, which placed it in a rare class of items. Theo had worked with the spirit plants before, and he placed those things above this item. But he was still impressed as he looked down at the primal essence resting in his hands.

Theo added the shard to his list of things to test. He still had to work with the Emberstone Moss and a few of the ingredients he found in the deep ocean. That only left one thing on his mind. There wasn't enough time for him to brew anything today. He would rather arrive at dinner on time and perhaps head to the bathhouse. But in the safety of the gigantic metal cube, he could try one last thing. The alchemist withdrew the shard of paper from his inventory and rolled it over in his hands.

Just holding the item was enough to send his danger senses tingling, but time didn't slow when he focused on them. He held the item at arm's length and let out a steady breath. The makeup of the item was tough to penetrate, but eventually he applied his reagent deconstruction ability, and the edges turned to smoke. An unseen fire spread across the surface, eventually consuming the entire item until it released an acrid scent into the air. Dark smoke billowed throughout the metal cube.

Theo felt something shift, as though his navel had dropped for only a moment. He blinked, focusing on the murky surroundings and unable to see more than a foot in front of him. His eyes widened, and his breath hitched. The smoke cleared, revealing a familiar landscape. He was no longer within the cube.

“Ah, shit.”

Chapter 75

Paper World

Sarisa tapped her foot, looking over the spread she had placed on the dining table and frowning. Theo and Tresk had been late before, but she typically knew where they were and why. When the alchemist had ducked into his giant metal cube for some experimentation after coming back from another world, she assumed he would be along shortly after that. But there had been no sign of the errant dronon or the marshling. That forced both her and Rowan to wait around.

“Who misses out on steak?” Sarisa huffed.

“You’re giving them too much steak,” Rowan said, making his way over to the table with each much stealth as he could muster. He was soon hit in the back of the head by a flying spoon. “Ow!”

“Give them another half-hour.”

“Come on! I’m hungry. They won’t mind.”

Sarisa sighed. Her brother was right, but she took her job seriously. While she was more of a bodyguard than a maid, she didn’t want to discredit her primary title. Anyway, doing stuff like this got her more experience for her maid-aligned core and leveling that one made work around the manor easier.

Releasing a short scream, Sarisa turned to the door. It had been kicked open, slamming against the wall and falling from the hinges. Tresk stood at the threshold, drawing ragged breaths as her eyes darted around the room.

“Where’s Theo!?” she shouted.

“Why would I know!?” Sarisa shouted back. “You’re connected to him.”

“Yeah, and I can normally feel him no matter where he is in the universe. But he’s gone. Not like gone from this world, but gone.”

“That don’t make no sense,” Rowan said through a mouthful of steak. “What? Theo is missing. He won’t be late for dinner, he just won’t be here.”

Another spoon flew, hitting him square between the eyes. “Damn you!”

“You guys don’t understand,” Tresk said, flailing around. Somewhere outside, Alex released a mournful honk. “Ugh! I’ll be back.”

Tresk dashed outside without explaining further. Sarisa’s gaze dragged back to the table. After a beat, she shrugged. “Okay. Guess we’re eating.”

***

“You may release me,” the system said.

Tresk flailed, hands on the shoulders of the crystalline entity as she shrieked. “Where the hell is Theo, you weird gem-person!”

“I believe you should calm yourself,” Death said.

“I dunno. This is pretty funny,” Hallow said with a chuckle.

“Theo’s soul wasn’t released in any realm or the void,” Death said. “He isn’t dead.”

Tresk growled, twin daggers appearing in either hand. “He isn’t dead, but the gods can’t tell me where he went?”

“I urge calm,” Silver said. This was one of those new gods Tresk didn’t trust yet.

The marshling’s gaze snapped to the khahari god, appearing as though she might lunge at any moment. “Any ideas, meower?” Tresk asked, containing herself for a few moments.

“System, is it possible Theo accidentally jumped to another dimension?” Silver asked.

“All dimensions are connected to this one. The only possible action is that Theo Spencer was sent to a far-flung part of the existing universe.”

“Unlikely,” Death said. “I have another theory.”

“Kuzan, you dirty ghost,” Tresk growled. “Let’s hear it.”

“Theo recently visited a strange dungeon in the void,” Death started. “I have been researching the layering of dimensional spaces in our universe… This led to a theory I’m all too familiar with.”

###

Theo coughed some more, waving away the tendrils of smoke that lingered in the air. His jaw was set as he looked out over the landscape before him. The dull gray of the paper world stretched as far as he could see, strange creatures visible coming over a slow rise. Unlike the dungeon version, this one wasn’t segmented by islands. Instead, the landscape was continuous, resembling a gray paper version of the real world rather than a slice.

Reaching out for his connection to Tresk, Theo found it missing. When he searched for the veil to part, he also found that it was gone. Instead, he could only feel a constant dull ache from the strange energy that lingered in the air around him. Although it was similar to the ambient energy he was used to, it was different enough to send his senses prickling.

“This might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Theo said with a sigh. He was only certain of one thing. His connection with the other planes had been cut entirely. Yet after summoning his attribute screen, he confirmed his connection to the system itself hadn’t been cut. “Good thing I’ve crammed enough crap in my inventory to last me a lifetime…”

Theo came up with a simple plan. He picked a random direction to walk in, and focused his willpower and mind on that fragment of the void he could feel. While it wasn’t exactly like he remembered, he figured it was a good idea to understand that before anything else. From what he could tell, it wasn’t a dungeon space. The entire area seemed more like a normal planetary space, like Iaredin or Tero’gal.

If so many weird things hadn’t happened to Theo, he might’ve panicked. He hoped all his experiences to this point would lead to a solution. For now, he walked forward. Much of the landscape seemed the same from a distance, but as he inspected it closely he realized the subtle differences. The thick paper floor beneath his feet ran deep, sounding more like solid stone than paper. Trees dotted the area, appearing as husks of the real thing made of the same material. When he surmounted one hill, the alchemist leaned against a stone wall drawn in the same paper as the rest.

“Is this more or less weird than the dungeons?” Theo asked himself, leaning against the wall. The landscape over the rise was more rolling hills that seemed to stretch on forever. Squinting, he spotted something that looked like civilization. Perhaps it was only another collection of fake stone walls, but it was a better target than the mountains rising in the distance.

Theo wasn’t sure how long he was walking for. He dug into his stock of food and water, avoiding the creatures as he went. At least he confirmed they were monsters—likely the same ones he had seen within the dungeon. He didn’t risk it, instead avoiding them entirely. A channel etched into the landscape ran far into the distance, cutting a path toward the mystery structure.

Before heading to the structure itself, the alchemist inspected the channel. It appeared as though it should have been a river, although whatever water was contained within had long since dried up, or perhaps the structure of this world didn’t allow for such a thing. His magical senses had been developing over the past few weeks. Theo had put concerted effort into it, ensuring that he wasn’t as abysmal at the act as he had been when he first learned magecraft from Xol’sa.

With nothing but time on his hands, Theo inspected his surroundings, finding the paper-like material all around him to be both strange and interesting. It was mostly uniform, but it was clearly there to mimic the normal structures of a planet. The paper beneath his feet was meant to act as dirt, although if he were to attempt to dig into it, he couldn’t penetrate the first layer. Just like the material in the dungeon he had visited with Elrin, this substance was hard. He couldn’t move it, even after withdrawing daggers and tools from his inventory and attempting to peel pieces off.

After being satisfied with his inspection of the landscape, he proceeded to the structure. On the outside was a wall that tracked the landscape in a lazy fashion. It was half completed, with an area that was clearly meant to be a construction site denoted on the left side. Theo looped around and entered to find a scatter of paper buildings here and there. The doors were functional, allowing him entry to each one, but within were just more questions rather than answers.

“Deep breaths,” Theo said to himself, looking around. Perhaps it was a secret wish of his to be freaked out by the situation, but he wasn’t disturbed by anything he had seen. He understood he was trapped here, but no panic settled in. Instead, it was only the determination that had been born of so many tribulations until now that drove him forward. He could concoct a plan to get out of here, and then there was always a trump card.

Thanks to Jan’s experimentation, Theo knew that drinking a Potion of Return would send him to the void, but there was an opportunity here. He didn’t have enough time to study the contents of the dungeon while he was there, and he wanted to attempt to pierce the veil on his own rather than relying on the potion. For now, the alchemists explored the area, making note of structures that seemed purpose-built for things that were analogous to those on the mortal plane. Although the river was similar enough to the one in Rivers and Daub, none of the other landscape matched.

After finding his way to the tallest tower in the area, Theo surveyed the paper town. It was strange to see such a drab landscape unfold before him. More concerning were the packs of monsters that roamed the area. They moved as one, unlike the normal paper monsters he encountered, which were solitary. Fortunately, the largest of the groups was far enough away from his position.

Yet the most disconcerting part of it all was the lack of a sun. It reminded him of his own realm before it was given its planetoid shape. There was light in the sky, but no sun to be seen. Instead, it was a smear of gray emitting a pale light that was hard to adjust to at first, but the alchemist’s eyes had adapted.

Atop the paper tower, the alchemist took a seat and gazed out over the area. He took steady breaths, focusing on the sensation of the veil he felt close at hand. It was within his grasp, but when he reached out to touch it, it seemed to back away as though avoiding him. He went through all of his menus, examining each piece of the system that seemed to be present here, and yet there was a distinct lack of that same system. Just like the veil, he couldn’t exactly touch it. It was more of a passive thing. All abilities related to Tresk seemed cut off. He couldn’t invoke any of them, not even their shared inventory. Not that he had much use for the junk she kept in there.

Taking steady breaths in and out, Theo fell into a type of meditative thinking. He pushed his will as far as it would go, watching as the shadowy aura spread out as far as he could send it. Yet he couldn’t force it through the dimensions the same way he did when he traveled into the void. It would only go out and up, not through. He continued this for hours, feeling the time slip away as he became more desperate with each attempt.

“At least I can say I tried,” Theo said. After another few hours had passed, he released a frustrated breath and stood. The paper towel wobbled below him as he made his way to the ground floor yet again. To collect more information, he tested the effects of the potions in his inventory. Everything seemed to work. His attributes were enhanced, and when he used a retreat potion, it sent him flying back a decent distance. Most aspects of the system worked; it was just those parts that he needed to escape that didn’t function. Eventually, he withdrew the potion he had in mind from his inventory and held it to his lips for a few moments. There wasn’t anything else he could think of trying besides exploring this world. So, he downed the potion in one go and waited for the system message to appear.

When it did, his heart dropped.

[Potion of Return Error]

You have quaffed a Potion of Return.

System unable to locate point of origin!

Recalculating…

System records indicate point of origin as: World B71…

World B71 has been destroyed completely.

Recalculating…

New point of origin for soul (Theo Spencer) by way of vessel (Belgar).

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through void network.

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through shard network.

FATAL ERROR: Cannot connect through system network.

Aborting Return process. Item refunded.