The Newt and Demon - Book 8 Chapters 1, 2, 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 1

Unrivaled Tero’gal Mastery

The third floor lab of the Newt and Demon was cluttered with completed potions. Theo hunched over a table, mixing Enchanted Water with Healing Essence before dropping in a fleck of metal. The potion bubbled, performing a near-perfect reaction and resulting in an extremely pure potion. He placed it in the pile and moved on.

Eleanor Bracken, the newest addition to the lab’s alchemists, leaned over the table with a reluctant look on her face. She pursed her lips as though to consider if she should say what she wanted to say.

“Out with it,” Theo said, watching as another reaction kicked off.

“You’re just very focused,” Eleanor said, taking a step back when Theo turned to look at her. “Maybe you should take a break.”

Theo let out a steady breath, some of the tension releasing from his shoulders. “I’m almost done.”

“You’ve been going at it for a week,” Eleanor said. “That can’t be healthy.”

Theo relaxed even more. He realized Eleanor wasn’t annoyed that he was taking up space in the lab. She was concerned that he was overdoing it. But he was truly close to making the breakthrough to the next rank in his alchemy and didn't want to linger on it too much longer. His alchemy core was now at level 39 and was teetering closer to 40 by the moment, but his herbalist core was lagging behind slightly, resting at 37 to match his personal level.

“Just a few more potions, I promise,” Theo said, performing the reaction on another higher-tier potion to garner more experience. "After that, I will take a long break, I promise." 

“Okay…” While it didn’t sound like Eleanor would accept the excuse, she didn’t fully buy it. Instead, she lingered close by as though to check on his progress.

“So how are you liking it here in the lab?” Theo asked, splitting his concentration between work and the worried half-elf.

"I like it a lot," Eleanor said, finding a seat and perching herself upon it. She still gazed at him with the same discerning look, which was difficult to ignore. “The work is challenging, but it reminds me of my old job. That makes everything kind of easy.”

"Easy can be good, but things might get difficult here pretty soon. When we switch to the new world, we don't know how much the system is going to change. Hell, we don't even know if it'll be remotely the same system," Theos said. Another message appeared, marking the amount of experience he had gained from the potion. “Five more.”

“Wow, you are close to a level,” she said, cracking the faintest of smiles.

One thing Theo had learned about Eleanor was that she was shy at the best of times. She mostly kept to herself and buried herself in her work. During the week Theo had cloistered himself in the lab, she had flitted around like a spirit. Everything she did seemed designed to keep herself as small as possible, staying out of the way and never making a peep unless she needed something. That was a stark contrast to the boisterous personalities of the locals.

“I wasn’t kidding,” Theo said, chuckling as he set another potion to the side. “Then I need to grind experience for my other core.”

“The endless grind…”

Eleanor remained silent for the rest of this grind. When Theo felt the power flood through his body, he knew he was done with his work. The message appeared, proclaiming that he had understood the secrets of his core enough to advance it to Level 40 and beyond. He had passed the checkpoint without trying, thanks to his experimentations prior to hitting the mark. Truth was, he had become so used to understanding those gates that he made it his mission to master them well before they were needed.

“That’s it,” Theo said, sighing as he relaxed in his chair. “And now the town has an impressive supply of restorative potions.”

“And you’ve gone through a fair amount of our supplies,” Eleanor said.

“Well, that’s what golems are for,” Theo said, standing and turning as though to leave. He paused, nodding to his apprentice’s apprentice. “You’re doing a great job, by the way. Keep it up.”

Eleanor’s eyes locked onto the ground as she performed a slight bow. “Thank you,” she said as the alchemist left the building.

Out in the day's sunshine, Theo stretched. His back popped in several places as his tail whipped from side to side. Grinding out experience was becoming less viable with each gate he hit. He knew getting Level 50 wasn’t possible before the reset, and it had taken more than he had in him to even hit Level 40. Maybe he could aim for Level 45, but he doubted it would matter much unless he could hit another rank.

For now, the alchemist had a long list of upgrades to review and select the best one. Of course, the option he would normally have considered was already chosen. Theo had selected the Tero’gal Alchemical Infusion skill when his personal level hit 35. That skill made everything about the infusion process both easier and better. Now he was left with endless pages of things to pick through, and he wasn’t sure which one was the best option. He remained frozen outside of the lab before he had the list narrowed to about three page’s worth.

While he mentally thumbed through that list, the alchemist headed out into his town, thinking that observing the progress they had made since he had arrived in this world would help inspire. He started at the city's center. The black monolith that had been erected there had since been joined by a large statue depicting a scared-looking space elf being defended by a large demon woman. He couldn't help but laugh.

Broken Tusk’s city center was quaint when he first arrived. There were only a few buildings around and not much foot traffic compared to the modern day, where the number of people passing through the area was significant and the cluster of buildings around them was dense, the old version seemed quite pathetic. Nearby was the town hall, Throk’s smithy and Artificer Workshop, and Xam’s tavern. The western road led to the swamp, while the east led to the port. North and south revealed places deeper within the ever-expanding city.

Theo took the western road first, ticking a few items off of his potential skills as he toured the butcher, Adventurer’s Guild, and the Sawmill. He stood on the western wall for only a few minutes, his eyes dragging over the many towers defending it. There was a time when the city didn’t have walls, let alone weapons to defend them. Now it was a complex arrangement of artifice tubes and towers that would rain death on anyone who dared to attack.

Theo ticked a few more items off of his list as he left the western part of the city. The southern area of Broken Tusk was notable for the scatter of homes, the smelters, and the mine. There was that in-between section that housed his alchemy buildings, the seamstress, and Zarali’s enchanting shop as well. Down near the mine, the alchemist watched as the miners entered and exited the underground section. That area could be dangerous, and it housed one of the sister towns of Bal’gon. He had no desire to go underground right now.

After chatting with the miners for a bit, he narrowed his list of abilities to only a few. But next on his whirlwind tour of his own town was the harbor area. This was a cluster of districts near the eastern part of town that held the bathhouse, markets, and the harbor itself. Lingering in the distance was the artificial island and the arena he had constructed, but the harbor was the real gem here. Thanks to Fenian’s itchy sword hand, most of the continent had been destroyed. That meant the harbor was vital to the town’s survival.

With his list narrowed to two skills, Theo passed through the city, heading through the farm, and the small cluster of houses to find his way to the quarry. It was empty right now. Ziz and his crew were working hard on a few projects. The pit where they drew their stone from was deep, dipping far into the ground and cleared of all usable stone. He found a spot to sit on a large marble block of stone and opened his interface.

Theo knew the reason why he gave the other skills in his selection menu a chance. He wanted an excuse to wander around town for a while, admiring the things he had helped build. But the skill that had caught his eye from the start was something else. It might have even been the most powerful skill he had seen, and he wasn’t sure if he was deserving of it. He summoned the skill, tapping his chin as he read through the description.

[Unrivaled Tero’gal Mastery]

Tero’gal Alchemy Skill

Unique

Tero’gal doesn’t recognize champions. Instead, it recognizes those who push its boundaries further. You are the most powerful living practitioner of alchemy. There are none alive in your world who understand the process more. Therefore, some leeway is in order…

Effect:

Using your Wisdom, Intelligence, Willpower, mana, and the relative power of Tero’gal, allows you to bend the rules of your alchemy system.

“Way to be vague,” Theo said, reading through the description a few more times. There were a few other skills that might have been good to pick, but this overshadowed everything else. It was clearly something the world had created, perhaps as a big middle finger to the system or the reset. The alchemist wouldn’t question it for now, he simply accepted the skill and slotted it into his Tero’gal Alchemy Core.

A strange sense flooded through Theo’s body, radiating from his chest and echoing through his being until settling into his mind. It felt weird, almost the same as before he took the Wisdom of the Soul potion. There was something tickling at the back of his mind that said he knew more about alchemy than ever.

Yet, nothing came to mind right away. Theo couldn’t figure out what the skill did exactly. His instincts were telling him this was some overpowered nonsense ability, yet he couldn’t figure out how to apply it. Instead of worrying about it too much, he headed over to one of his favorite places in town. The harbor was always buzzing with activity. Most impressive of all were the elven vessels currently moored out in the bay. More folks from Tarantham had come in anticipation of the games than ever before, and it was only going to get more crowded.

The adjoining market area was even more busy, with folks from all nations coming to sell their wares or otherwise linger before the games. Unfortunately, the alchemist would need to stir some stuff up if he wanted to take care of Balkor’s remnants…

The alchemist released a heavy sigh. “Time to annoy my apprentice… and her apprentice,” he said, leaving the harbor and heading back to the Newt and Demon.

Chapter 2

Fast Me

Theo leaned against the counter on the first floor of the Newt and Demon. A bored-looking half-ogre stood behind the counter, thumbing through a book he had never seen. The person working the counter was now always some random dude hired from within town. Potions weren’t such a precious thing that they needed to be sold en masse anymore. Most of their stock went to the town to be used by the adventurers. Exports of the potions was more profitable than selling them from the shop.

Yet the shopkeeper lingered. Perhaps they were just a monument to the way things had once been, but Theo wouldn’t complain. It made him feel as though his shop was more complete than it really was.

“Working hard or hardly working?” Theo asked.

“Hardly working,” the man said with a disinterested nod.

“Sounds about right.”

In his hand, Theo held a bit of Spiny Swamp Thistle Root. From within the reagent, he could feel the alchemical and magical potential. It was like an entire universe of effects housed within such a small package. He knew the basics of how his alchemy worked. Smashing the reagent up, mixing it with water, and heating it for extended periods would produce an essence. This was the core of distillation alchemy. The process got more complex after that, but the base-level was just that simple. The point was that distilling essences was the fastest way to extract magic from a reagent.

Theo focused on the description of his newest skill. He could use facets of himself and Tero’gal to bend the rules of alchemy. What exactly did that mean? The rule was: he needed to heat a mashed reagent in water to extract the essence. So, how would he ‘bend’ that rule?

From his inventory, Theo withdrew a Flame Artifice and a copper pot. After a quick test to ensure the pot was alchemically inert, he filled it with enchanted water, placed some Spiny Swamp Thistle Root inside, and turned the heat up.

“Time for tea?” the half-ogre attendant asked, perking up.

Theo gave him a flat look for a moment before his expression softened. He then withdrew another Flame Artifice, a teapot, and some Moss Nettle from his inventory and started some tea. “Well, now that you’ve mentioned it…”

It must’ve seemed strange the way Theo was staring into his pot of boiling roots. But the more he focused on it, the more he could feel unseen interactions. The essence wanted to bubble to the surface to mix with the enchanted water, but the rules of the system forbid it. The alchemist pressed his will into the boiling pot, watching as it sputtered and released fragrant vapors into the air.

“There’s something here,” Theo said, removing the teapot from the fire idly and pouring two cups. “Almost like I can influence the way the alchemical reaction happens. But does that make sense?”

“Are you asking me?” the half-ogre asked.

“Only if you have answers,” Theo said with a grunt. His attention was now back onto the boiling pot, and anything the shopkeeper said failed to penetrate his mind. He sipped his tea while he experimented with the boiling reagent.

There was a lot going on with this experiment. Most importantly, Theo had a clear sense of what was going on when he did different things. If he focused his willpower on the pot, he felt it surge with potential. Adding mana to the water had a similar effect, but it was less pronounced. The alchemist arrived at one conclusion: he could extract an essence from the reagent without putting it under pressure. Perhaps he could take it as far as pulling an essence from a reagent without heat. That would require more experimentation.

When a skill said it scaled based on willpower, Theo knew things were going to get silly. He withdrew a flask from his inventory, placing a fresh root inside. After dripping some mana inside, he held his hand over the top and imposed his will. The root within vibrated, sloshing the loose mana around until the reagent itself liquified. The mana and root combined, resulting in a sloshing liquid that was far thicker than normal essence.

When Theo leaned in to inspect the resulting essence, nothing came. He recognized the hidden qualities of the essence. It was a Healing Essence of some kind, although he couldn’t tell if it would work with his normal brewing process. With a concerned look to the idle shopkeeper, he stood and left.

“Enjoy the tea,” Theo said, departing from the lab. The half-ogre offered a non-committal grunt in response.

The alchemist marched to a less-populated part of the city, finding his way outside the giant ominous metal cube. Skipping a few steps in the distillation process was fine. But he had jumped ahead some pretty big steps, making him feel uneasy about the stability of the resulting essence. Also, it was way too thick. He pressed his back against the cube and sat, once again refocusing his willpower on the liquid.

“Maybe we can skip another step,” he muttered, adding more mana and observing the reaction.

It was nothing like the regular process. There was no bubbling or the creation of vapor. It just got slightly more like a liquid, and shone with a deep red color. The alchemist’s brow knit tightly, wincing as he looked at the ‘potion’ in his hands. He was certain he had created a potion. It was about 3 units by volume and smelled deeply of the earth and metal. This left him with a singular question.

“Should I drink it?” Theo asked himself, tapping his chin as he thought about the consequences. His alchemical senses told him it was safe… ish. 

“Drink it,” a haunting voice came from behind.

Theo turned, watching as Sarisa—a very imposing half-ogre woman when she wanted to be—emerged from the shadows. She had a taunting look on her face, and wiggled her eyebrows to make her point. “You know you want to do it.”

“Indeed,” Theo said, pulling the flask close to his lips. He took the smallest of sips. Well, it was more of a bite with how thick it was. He winced, clutching his chest and falling over with a strangled shout.

“Oh, crap!” Sarisa shouted, rushing over and grabbing Theo by the shoulders. She hoisted him up with strength he didn’t know she had. “We gotta get you to a healer!”

Theo slapped Sarisa on the back after she had thrown him over her shoulder. She was dashing down the road by the time her pace slowed at all. “I was messing with you,” he said, slapping her back harder. “I’m fine.”

“What!?” Sarisa shouted, tossing Theo to the ground with no care to how hard he fell. “Are you serious? I thought you were dying!”

“You hoped I was dying,” Theo said, standing and dusting himself off. Just from taste, he could tell the mock-potion had excellent restorative effects. The one problem was, just like with the essence, it didn’t have a system description. “This is weird…”

Sarisa folded her arms, looking down at Theo with an annoyed expression for only a few seconds. Half-ogres, the alchemist had come to learn, were big fans of pranks. Her anger didn’t last long. “What’s up?”

Theo jogged over to the place where he had dropped the flask, scooping it up and handing it over. “Check that out. A potion without a description.”

“Ew, why does it look like jelly?” Sarisa asked, taking the flask, but holding it at arm’s length. After a few moments, she ate some of it. After a few breaths, a wave of light spread across her forearm under her armor. She peeled back the layers of armor, revealing her skin. “I had a pretty bad scratch there. So I guess the potions work.”

“Yet it doesn’t explain why the system doesn’t recognize it,” Theo said. “Maybe this new skill is just weird.”

“I’m going with the weird theory,” Sarisa said, nodding. “I was wondering what you were doing…”

“Let’s try something else,” Theo said, withdrawing a few Salamander Egg shells from his inventory. He stowed the other flask and added the shells to an empty flask before heading south. Sarisa followed behind him, bouncing with excitement as they went. He added his mana and forced his will onto the mixture, creating an essence in moments. Repeating the previous steps, he added even more mana and gained a swirling mixture of glowing red liquid.

“Oh, that looks dangerous,” Sarisa said.

Theo stopped on the road, blinking a few times as he realized something. “Without a system message, you wouldn’t know how dangerous it was. You’d have to be an alchemical expert to know the differences between reagents. Maybe I finally have my training wheels off.”

“Or you’re poking a snapper with a broken leg. Just begging for trouble. You know, the way you always are.”

Theo actually agreed with her. He wasn’t ready to chalk this method of alchemy up as the ‘better way’ just yet. There were too many unknowns when the resulting potions—or bombs in this case—gave him no information. The volatile mixture within the flask sloshed from side to side as they moved past the smelters. By the time they reached the rocky mountains to the south, the bomb threatened to detonate on its own.

“Okay,” Theo said, spotting a rocky area without vegetation that would be perfect to test. “Ready?”

“Let’s go!”

The alchemist tossed the flash into the hills, watching as it spiraled through the air. His eyes went wide as the glass shattered against the rocks. The fireball that rose into the air was far bigger than he had expected. Washing out like an oncoming tide, the flames doused the entire hillside in cleansing fire. Theo barely got up a barrier, encasing himself and Sarisa in a layer of fire-repelling magic. Still, they both felt the heat pressing through as though to suffocate them.

As fast as the fire had appeared, it flashed over the pair and dissipated into the air. Left behind was a greasy slick on the ground that crackled and popped.

“Okay! That was something!” Sarisa shouted, digging her finger into her ear.

“That was at least twice as powerful as my best basic firebomb,” Theo said, studying the way the remaining flames burned. The lingering effect wasn’t as good as the initial blast, but it was still impressive. The jelly-like material did a great job of sticking to a target. “We could blow up some serious stuff with this.”

“How about other potions?” Sarisa asked. “Like a go-fast potion.”

“You wanna go fast?” Theo asked.

“Is that even a question?” Sarisa asked. “Yeah. I wanna go fast. Like… real fast. Come on, magic man! Fast me!”

As much as Theo wanted to make Sarisa the fastest half-ogre who had ever zipped through Broken Tusk, he wasn’t sure it was within his abilities. The closest thing he could think of was a Dexterity Potion imbued with Elemental Wind, but that was a few too many steps for him right now. Instead, he settled for creating a Dexterity Potion with this new method to see what would happen.

Theo sat so he could concentrate, and whipped up the gooey potion in no time at all. He held the shimmer purple mixture out and Sarisa winced.

“I’m impressed with your speed, but could you do something about the consistency?” she asked.

Theo shrugged. “I doubt this will even make you go fast. At most, it’ll increase your Dexterity in some unpredictable way.”

“Hmm. An untested potion that feels like an unpalatable goop in the mouth… But I might go pretty fast?” Sarisa asked. “Those are odds I’m willing to take.”

And take the potion she did. Far too much of it, as was her way. Sarisa slurped down the entire flask’s worth of potion. Then she began twitching. Then vibrating. Theo watched in horror and amazement as Sarisa did some of the quickest, and most impressive combat moves he had ever seen.

“My body is filled with electricity!” she shouted, scratching at the back of her neck as every muscle in her body twitched. “How fast am I?”

Theo watched as the woman darted around the area. She was a bit faster than before. Maybe. He couldn’t really tell with the way she lurched here and there.

“Way faster,” he lied. “Come on. We got some… And she’s gone. Why did I expect anything else?”

Chapter 3

Seal of Intelligence

With Sarisa in the wind, Theo saw little use in testing the potions further. He had a few things he wanted to do before he tried some seriously complicated stuff. As he moved through the city, he felt a familiar presence nearby, and then he watched as Tresk materialized beside him. She had a concerned look on her face, and her eyes were darting back and forth.

“Yo, did you see what happened to Sarisa?” she asked, offering only a nervous chuckle.

“I may have fed her an unknown potion,” Theo said, scratching his chin and avoiding eye contact. “But she seemed very excited to eat it.”

“Okay, first, you don’t eat potions,” Tresk said.

“These ones you do,” Theo said, withdrawing the goopy healing version of the potion from his inventory and holding it out for her to see.

“Ew. Why does it look like that? And why isn’t the system giving me a pop-up?”

“Well, that’s why we’re going where we’re going,” Theo said, meeting the way down the street and heading toward Broken Tusk’s only general store. The truth was, he wasn’t entirely certain how well Azrug’s business had been doing of late. However, if the well-kempt exterior and the small crowd of people outside were anything to go by, he was doing quite well.

The alchemist entered the establishment and noticed the same person working the counter as he had seen before. He didn’t even need to ask before they vanished into the back room and returned a few minutes later. “He’ll be out in a second.”

Sure enough, it didn’t take long. As soon as Azrug emerged from the back rooms of the shop with a smile on his face, he asked, “What do you need today, Theo?” He did not sound exactly annoyed, but it seemed as though he had something better to do with his time.

“Well, if you’re not too busy, I’d like you to work your loremaster magic on this weird potion I crafted,” Theo said, holding the potion out for the young half-ogre to inspect. 

Azrug didn’t even take it at first. He looked at Theo with a sly grin on his face. “I’ve got a few things I’d rather be doing. I have a large pile of gold in the back that I like to dump on my head until I see stars. But I guess I can spare a moment for a destitute dronon like you.”

“My king,” Tresk said with a half-hearted bow. “Identify the potion before I stuff you in a locker.”

“Let’s see what we have here.” Azrug said. He took the potion and watched as the jelly-like material sloshed around inside. His brows knitted together as he gazed at the flask, the air filling with a familiar flavor of magic. When the sting of magic on Theo’s skin doubled, he knew the merchant was having issues. “What have you done this time, Theo?”

“What do you mean?” Theo asked. “That is a completely normal, innocuous potion.”

“Yeah, right, and I have wings and can shoot fire out of my butt,” Azrug said, finally placing the flask on the counter. He shook his head. “That potion is anything but normal. My core detects that it’s a magical item, but it claims it can’t produce a message for it since it belongs to a different system.”

Theo turned to Tresk, concerned, a flood of feelings coursing through his body. “Does your Dreamer’s Core say anything about it?” he asked.

If the item violated the system’s rules, then Tresk’s core would tell her. She would be tasked with removing the item from this plane and destroying it.

“Not a damn thing,” Tresk said, shaking her head.

Theo cupped his chin in his hand and thought about the problem. This tracked with something he suspected would happen after the switch. He imagined that each world might develop a slightly different flavor of the progression system. It wasn’t as though the System was changing. It was that the progression, leveling, and items would be different.

“This is a real head-scratcher,” Theo said. He withdrew a gold coin from his inventory and placed it on the counter. “Thanks, Azrug.”

“You’re paying me?” Azrug asked with a snort. He took the coin, despite his disagreement. “I’m wondering why you’re not broke.”

As the alchemist stood in the loremaster’s shop, thinking about the implications of this new item, he felt a strange pull at his chest. He turned to Tresk, who had a concerned look on her face. “You feel that?” he asked.

“Yeah. Someone’s trying to interdict us,” she said, withdrawing daggers from her bag. “Which means someone is about to get stabbed.”

“Hey! No weapons in the shop!” Azrug shouted.

Theo shook his head. He recognized the godly power of the one trying to pull him into the heavens. While he doubted they could pull him away on their own, it almost seemed like a polite knock more than anything. Without waiting for Tresk’s confirmation, he folded the void over onto the mortal plane, placing the points in ‘space’ over each other. A blink later, they were somewhere else.

Tresk and Theo arrived in an enormous structure made from sandstone. From each wall to the left and the right raged waterfalls. The scent of water and mist filled the air as braziers licked upward. The alchemist scanned around, clicking his tongue when he realized what he had done.

“Oopsies,” he said, offering the room a nervous smile.

“You’re nothing but trouble,” a familiar voice said.

Theo scanned the room, finding a khahari woman sitting on a throne made from living water on the far side. She sat with some creature in her lap, stroking its short fur and smiling to herself.

“Didn’t mean to teleport into heaven,” Theo said, taking his time in approaching the throne. “I thought you were calling me from the central meeting point.”

Silver was one of the newest ascended gods. From what Theo understood, she represented elemental concepts of water. This made her different from the other gods, who all represented more mercurial ideas.

“Ew, what is that?” Tresk said, gesturing to the creature in Silver’s lap.

It was a pathetic-looking animal that reminded Theo of the dogs back on Earth. Those dogs had been bred to be smaller than their wolf cousins, rendered as little more than toys to sit on people’s laps. Its eyes were too big, nose too short, and ears too long. The black-and-white pattern on its body was kinda cute, but the way its eyes looked in two different directions at once was unnerving. Maybe the animal was just prepared for an attack from either side.

“Don’t talk about my baby like that,” Silver said with a huff. “Ugh. I knew dealing with you mortals would be a pain.”

“Seriously. Your dog looks like it’s having an existential crisis.”

“Yes, she has a lot on her mind… as do I,” Silver said. She placed the animal on her seat cushion as she rose, blue and white robes billowing behind her. “I meant to summon all the throne holders, but I suppose you will have to do.”

“Right. So, what’s this about?” Theo asked.

Silver strode over the space between them with unrivaled grace. Theo could barely tell when she had taken a step; it appeared as though she was gliding. She moved to one of the many waterfalls that conspicuously made almost no sound. When she finally turned, she had a playful smile on her face.

“Theo, I know you are familiar with the last seal that was placed on an attribute. You were the one who instigated that change anyway,” Silver said. “We’re redesigning the attribute system, and intelligence is the next to be updated.”

“Oh hell naw,” Tresk said. “You’re going to make the world stupid?”

Silver tilted her head to one side, her smile becoming more playful. “Those who have leaned on the attribute might suffer. But that’s why you’re here.”

“You brought us here because you want us to monitor the mortal plane,” Theo said with a nod. “I get it. I’ve had a problem with the Wisdom and Intelligence attributes for a while now, so I won’t say this isn’t welcome.”

“Eventually, we’re going to change the way those attributes work entirely,” Silver said. “But we need to wait for the change first. For now, we’re putting a bandage on the wound, which gives us leeway after the change.”

“Smart move, lady,” Tresk said. “As the Herald’s Hand, let me get this straight. You brought us here to tell us about the change and that’s it?”

“Yes. The other gods have already agreed to the Seal of Intelligence. Several of our number were outspoken in their desire to inform the throne holders, so here we are.”

“Wait, you drew the short straw?” Tresk asked. “That sucks.”

Silver shrugged. “My realm is the youngest, meaning it’s easier to pull you in here. Well, I suppose you broke in… which might be a problem.”

“Yeah, are the gods mad about my little stunt?” Theo asked.

Silver turned back to the waterfalls, rubbing her chin. She clicked her tongue after a while, turning back. “My mind hasn’t fully adjusted. I’m not very godly yet. The others have settled into their positions and have therefore become more god-like. Their concerns stretch further than just our small area. One man who can defy the gods isn’t enough for them to care. Not least of which since you have a decent track record with the heavens. And yet… Well, let’s just say we had a year-long council over your involvement with Leon. You’re lucky we ruled in your favor.”

So the heavens were time-locked again. They experienced a different rate of time than the outside world. But when Theo heard Silver talking about concerns outside of their area, it sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. What could there be outside of their little bubble that would concern anyone, let alone the gods? The last thing he needed right now was a mystery.

“Well, thanks for being hospitable,” Theo said with a slight bow. “I’m glad the gods agreed that I didn’t do anything with King Leon.”

“Yeah, if anything, he was a victim!” Tresk shouted.

“No need to get all defensive,” Silver said, holding up a silencing hand. “I’m just happy things ended well. I am disappointed in one thing, though. I would’ve liked to see Yuri again…”

“I mean… I can grab him,” Theo said.

There was a long moment where it appeared as though Silver was considering the option. She eventually waved it away. “No. I couldn’t impose. He wouldn’t want to see me anyway… Well, now that you’re in my realm, there’s something I’m very interested in doing.”

“What’s that—”

Theo couldn’t finish his sentence. It felt as though someone had wrapped him in a bear hug and suplexed him through the universe. One second he was standing in Silver’s realm, and the next he was on his back on the mortal realm. He blinked the stars away as he stared at the blue sky, Tresk coughing beside him.

“That was rude!” Tresk shouted, groaning to her feet. “What a jerk. And I’m telling you, that dog wasn’t right.”

“Yeah,” Theo said, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. “I have a feeling that was gentle compared to what she could’ve done. Perhaps messing with the gods isn’t the best idea.”

“I’m just surprised they let you into heaven,” Tresk scoffed. “Think about all the trouble you’ve caused for them.”

“Like Silver said… They’re living a different kind of life than we can understand.” Theo felt something building in his chest. His Dreamwalker’s Core sang a song he had heard before, and it wouldn’t take long before the seal fulminated. “Hope you’re ready to deal with a bunch of idiots.”

“Oh, you mean like every single day of my life?” Tresk asked.

Theo couldn’t help but laugh. Then the system message appeared.

[Dreamwalker’s Core Message]

A seal has been set in place. The balance of both the Wisdom and Intelligence attribute has been called into question. The Godly Council led by Silver has proposed the imposition of the Seal of Intelligence, limiting the effect of that attribute.