The Newt and Demon - Book 8 Chapters 25,26,27 (Patreon)

Chapter 25

Unknown Plants

Drogramath’s abandoned realm was filled with weird plants. When Theo and Tresk first entered that world, it was difficult for him to determine which plant within those glass domes was useful for alchemy. The way those plants felt reminded him more of the potions he had created with his new skill. They were magically powerful, yet in his senses, it didn't immediately stand out as something supported by the system.

Inspecting those plants provided nothing more than a tingling sensation bordering on an error. In order to prevent his own death, Theo started with a plant from which he felt the least amount of deadly poison energy. It was a plain-looking green leaf that smelled like nothing more than a plant. It was the most innocuous of all the things he had gathered, something he figured wouldn't be deadly or damaging to the world.

Despite the plant's lack of a system message, the research expansion within the Herbalist’s Workshop still responded, providing a strange message.

[Unknown Plant]

The plant you’re attempting to research is not within the bounds of this workshop.

The text might have been simple, but Theo got the message. It further cemented his idea that the things they were dealing with weren't compatible with the current system, meaning it was all outside of it. His thought was that the system had been a jumbled mess since the first reset that created the sector. Only when the next reset happened would these weird errors go away. Whether that was a new system that supported multiple different paths of power or one unified, adaptable system, he didn’t know. But now wasn’t the time for that. Now was something the alchemist thought would never happen.

He had to rely on his own skill to make these reagents work.

The system had provided Theo with many crutches along his path, although he didn't know it. He had first leaned heavily on being a champion of Ascendant. After that, he shifted his focus, exploiting holes in the system to use his incredible willpower to create things that shouldn't exist. He stared at a single green leaf on his workbench, wondering how he would know what properties it held.

“Perhaps it doesn’t even have properties,” Theo said, poking the leaf with a copper knife. “Maybe distillation-based potion-making isn’t even possible…”

The first thing he tried was to cut a section of the leaf away with his alchemically treated knife and put it aside. Then he withdrew iron shavings from his inventory, setting them on the table and squeezing some of the juice from the leaf on top. It was barely a drop, but the moment it hit the iron, it sizzled, creating tendrils of smoke that rose into the air and had a deeply earthy scent.

“Smells like healing,” Theo said, nodding with approval. “I’ll call you: Healing Leaf.”

Theo turned, waiting for Tresk, Sarisa, or Rowan to burst onto the scene to tell him how stupid he was. But then he remembered how everyone feared his workshop. The deadly plants he kept here were enough to drive most away. Even if over-adventurous kids within the city would sometimes dare themselves into an expedition. With no one there to mock him, he pressed on.

Although he couldn't be sure exactly what the properties were to call, Theo placed the reagent in a flask and focused on it. He stared through the glass, squinting as he directed his will toward the leaf. Through his magical senses, he could feel something that reminded him of the healing property. With nowhere deeper to dig, he introduced some of his mana to the flask, decomposing the leaf into its essence form. It didn't resist as much as he had expected, turning into a bubbly pink essence after only a few moments. It felt as though it was between potion and essence form, as if shaking it the right way would push it over the edge.

“Much more volatile than normal,” Theo noted.

After finishing the reaction and ensuring it was now a potion, Theo set it aside. Testing it would require someone to drink it, and he wasn't eager to be the volunteer. However, he had tricked Rowan a few too many times and felt bad about it. Instead, he took time to once again push his senses into the potion to figure out what it was about. It reminded him of the healing potions he had made in the past, but it wasn't exactly the same. There was something in it that didn't match.

With a shrug, he brought the flash to his nose and took a sniff. Another shrug later, and the flash was pressed against his lips. The residue near the rim left a tingling sensation and when he took a tentative sip, he felt the same feeling rushing down his throat and spreading throughout his stomach. A feeling of power flooded through him, similar to the effects of a Stamina Potion, but much less pronounced. Theo studied all those feelings, putting the potion in a few categories.

“Healing with a minor Stamina boost,” Theo said, nodding to himself. He withdrew another sample of the broad, green leaf from his inventory and placed it on his tongue before chewing.

The same curious sensation flowed through the alchemist's body. Even the raw, reagent form of the plant was enough to provide a decent effect. He examined his feelings and sensations, determining that the leaf itself was about as powerful as a lesser healing potion. Once brewed with his new technique, it was likely the most powerful healing potion he had available. Of course, it was no surprise that Drogramath had created a plant that was this powerful. Not only was it outside the bounds of the mortal system, but he had many thousands of years to perfect his craft.

Theo had to take a moment to appreciate how dedicated the man was to his craft. It was easy to only think of him as ‘the potions guy’, but Drogramath was much more than that. He was an amazing botanist.

Of the many plants Theo had taken from the potioneer's realm, many were analogs of ones he could find here on the mortal plane. There were those that restored health, stamina, and mana, as well as poisons and attribute enhancement reagents. These came in the form of mushrooms instead of flowers, but were all related to elements. Fire for Strength, Lightning for Intelligence, and so on.

He experimented for the entire day, bringing both his Herbalist core and personal level to 38. By then, he had experimented with many of the herbs from Drogramath’s realm, although he could never go through them all in a single day. But he had established the ex-ascendant’s desire to cultivate powerful reagents, especially those that also existed on the mortal plane. Whether that was some nostalgia or something else, he couldn’t say.

But one thing was certain.

No matter how hard Theo tried, he could never match the skill of Drogramath. He simply had too much time to learn the art and had done so with such expert hands that the alchemist questioned his own ability in the craft. The sheer talent needed to cultivate those plants was beyond anything he could imagine. To Theo, it represented a stepping stone. If he was going to create potions that increased a person’s attributes permanently, he wouldn’t use the flowers he had cultivated himself. He’d use the ones he found in good old Drogy’s realm.

That added a layer of complication to his plan, but so be it. If his assessment of the potions he created were true, the raw reagents were significantly more powerful than the ones he was working with. Their magical potential was beyond anything he could create on the mortal plane. The last fact that drove him forward was that he was still standing there. Using the heavenly reagents on the mortal plane hadn’t exploded him.

“Not dying is always good,” Tresk said, entering the workshop after invading his thoughts. “What kind of boost are we looking at?”

Of course, Tresk was only interested in getting more attributes. At least she wasn’t weird about it like Fenian, but he was disappointed to see she wasn’t as afraid of the workshop as he had thought.

“A bigger boost,” Theo said, looking around the room. His table was filled with completed potions. All were analogues of the ones he could already create, but most had side-effects. They weren’t negative effects, just things like increasing Stamina, Mana, and so on. “Think of the new reagents as a beyond perfect version of the reagents we’ve been working with. Drogramath has refined these things past what we can do here on the mortal plane. He’s infused them with a kind of energy I don’t understand. And yet…”

“And yet, he’s Drogramath. And you’re the ex-champion of Drogramath. Which means…”

“I know what he would’ve done,” Theo said with a shrug. “I know why he would make a reagent work how it works. That’s how I cut my teeth in this world. By figuring out how he designed his alchemy and herbalism system, I’ve already figured out how he would design an herbalism system without restrictions.”

“You’re not still connected to him, are you?” Tresk asked.

There was a time when Theo would’ve said ‘yes.’ But he had pushed himself far away from that man, never wanting to be a reflection of him. The alchemist wanted to be his own person, refusing to bow to a pretender. Because no matter how brilliant Drogramath was, he had once been a mortal man. Perhaps an alien from some other sector that had been integrated into this one, but a man.

“The connection is long-since dead,” Theo said. “Killed and buried by the Tara’hek. I think that screwed with their plans.”

“Of course it did. We’re too awesome to be contained by some fake gods,” Tresk said. “Anyway, I got a bit of a surprise for you.”

“A surprise?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s never good.”

Tresk giggled, but Theo was happy to follow along behind her. He didn’t want to spoil the surprise by looking into her memories, and instead followed behind. They snaked their way through the city. Passing by Mudball Fundamental, she giggled again. But they pressed on, soon arriving in the sprawling neighborhood. This was a part of the city the alchemist spent little time in, but Tresk knew the way. They soon arrived at a stone house with a red door.

A hanging side on the doorframe read, in Bantari, Sledge.

“Seriously?” Theo asked, hesitating. “Is she still… You know… Biting?”

Tresk cracked the door open, a devious smile spreading across her face. “Come on. She’s fine.”

Trusting his companion, Theo entered the building and looked around. Danger sense didn’t spring up. Embers were in the fireplace to the left, while a gaggle of tiny marshlings scampered around a wooden enclosure in the room’s center. Sledge sat on the ground, staring at the creatures with dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted.

“Hi,” Sledge said, her voice thin. “These things have drained me of life.”

The baby marshlings all screamed in unison.

“Why are there so many?” Theo asked, wincing as one marshling gnawed on the wooden barrier.

“Yup. It was a big pod,” Tresk said. “We normally only have two or three. Sledge here got dealt the raw end of the deal.”

“Save me,” Sledge said.

“Oh, stop,” Tresk said, going over to kneel near Sledge. She patted the other marshling on the head, cooing. “You’re fine.”

Theo shook his head. He was pretty sure nothing was gonna be fine the way Sledge was looking. He was immediately concerned for her health. “Is she, though?”

“Kinda a long story,” Tresk said, shrugging. “Why don’t you crawl in there with those biters and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Theo looked at the ravenous marshlings inside the cage. One of them ripped a large chunk of wood from the enclosure, chewing it with a smile. “I think I’ll stand.”

Chapter 26

Part-Timer

Tresk busied herself stoking the fire in the fireplace. She put a few new logs on it before breathing new life into the flames. The locals sure did love their fires, no matter how hot it was outside. While it wasn’t as bad as the Season of Fire, it was still hot enough to make the idea of a roaring fireplace unappealing.

“It's good for the babies,” Tresk said, clarifying. “They like it hot.”

“I bet they do,” Theo said, edging away from the pen. “So, what’s wrong with her?”

“Ain’t no potion gonna heal her up,” Tresk said. “She’s gonna need time. Only time.”

“So this is some genetic thing? A natural progression for marshlings?”

“Yeah. We go crazy when the clutch hatches. All our lifeforce goes into raising the babies,” Tresk said. “It takes a lot away from us, leaving us in a state like this for a few seasons.”

“Damn. Looks like she’s dying,” Theo said.

“I am dying,” Sledge said.

“You’re sure there’s no cure?” Theo asked, kneeling next to Sledge. He could feel there was nothing magically wrong with her. She had no status effect he could cure with a potion or magic. There might’ve been something the people aligned with the gods could do, but he doubted it.

“None that my people know of,” Tresk said.

“Two options,” Theo said, not even allowing time for his thoughts to gather. “The lizard-people, and migration.”

Tresk turned, both brows knitting. “Nah… Migration? This early? No, we can’t do that. Can we?”

This was something Theo had thought about a lot. Mortals in the heavens were a big problem back when he had first taken control of Tero’gal. They couldn’t exist there for long, often going through some seriously horrible symptoms. Both he and Tero’gal had advanced since then. Sending Sledge to his world would reset her mind, allowing her to get over this hump. Yet was it right to take her babies along? There was a moral question he couldn’t answer on his own.

“I think I can do it,” Theo said. “With the progress I made with my aura control, I can bind her soul to Tero’gal.”

Tresk rubbed her chin, looking down at the pleading eyes of Sledge. “Dang, looks like she’s about to keel over at any moment. I mean, the people from Mudball are helping her out, but they can only do so much. Would migration really fix her stupid brain?”

“Hey…” Sledge offered her objections, but it was faint. “Take me and the babies.”

“You heard the woman,” Theo said. “I’m certain it’ll work. The healing energies of the middle realms will clear her mind.”

“Life gets hard and we just run away to heaven,” Tresk said, clicking her tongue as she folded her arm in disapproval. “You gotta let her get her affairs in order, though. Don’t just zap her there now.”

For all of Theo’s eagerness to get someone migrated from the mortal realm to the middle realms, he wasn’t about to force Sledge to move without sorting her life first. As he thought about it, he realized he didn’t know if she had family. But like most people in Broken Tusk, her family was the other townsfolk. Whatever business she had to sort out wouldn’t take too long.

“Sounds good,” Theo said, patting Sledge on t​​he head. “There are plenty of people at Boar Hollow happy to take in you and your babies.”

“Thanks,” Sledge said, pushing herself to her feet. “It won’t take long.”

With a nod, Theo left Tresk and Sledge to figure that stuff out. He walked idly through the neighborhood, always marveling at the way it had developed into its own little town. Along the paved roads were the fronts to houses, shops, and even a few artisans. Those crafters were relatively new and had ensconced themselves in places the alchemist thought reserved for houses.

The locals had done well to transform the area, and Theo found it hard to be mad. It was a localized slice they could change however they saw fit, and the region was only expanding. He might even need to expand the city’s walls to the east before the switch.

“Looks like people have bought property,” Theo said, rubbing his chin as he looked at the sprawl before him. “A lot of people.”

Summoning his administration interface, he navigated through the menus to find the place where Alise detailed the migrants and property sales. There had been quite a few people buying plots and placing their own buildings. The only thing that would’ve made him complain was if they didn’t match the other buildings. But the crowded press of the neighborhood hadn't changed. It had only expanded.

Despite the neighborhood increasing, no more major players had settled. In the interface, Theo saw how Alise had rejected applications for other businesses. He smiled. She had Broken Tusk’s interests and the interests of the Southlands Alliance in mind. Maybe money didn’t mean a whole lot, but protecting the ability of the locals to provide for themselves was important.

“I hired the right lady,” Theo said, snaking his way through the town some more.

One business that had settled was a cafe. They served tea, confections, and other casual items. There was even an outdoor seating area, which Theo took full advantage of. He took a seat on the stone patio, watching the throngs of people on the streets. While waiting, he withdrew a reagent borne of the mortal plane from his inventory. Next he pulled out one of the healing leafs he had found in Drogramath’s realm, and placed them next to each other.

To a trained alchemist’s eye, the differences were immense. Theo focused on both, going between each as he considered the differences. The energies between them were the key difference. The one from the mortal plane had a limited aspect, almost as though its potential was much lower. But Drogramath’s reagent felt like it didn’t have an upper limit. Perhaps it could absorb more latent energy, or generally had access to more in the middle realms.

Theo was drawn out of his thoughts as the server brought him his moss tea and a lemon-flavored confection. “Thanks,” he said, taking in the smell of the tea. He paused, looking up at the server. “Who made this?”

“Oh. Our part-timer,” the man said, pointing with his chin inside the establishment. “She’s pretty good, right?”

Through the glass window of the cafe, Theo saw his apprentice’s apprentice working behind the counter. “Thank you. She’s excellent,” he said.

“I’ll let her know the archduke likes her tea,” the human man said with a slight bow before disappearing into the shop.

Theo watched the server cross behind the counter, saying something to Eleanor. When she looked up, her cheeks flushed a dark shade of red and she vanished behind the counter, ducking out of view. The alchemist couldn’t help himself and barked a laugh. But the quality of the tea was in the taste, not the smell. He took his first tentative sip and nodded with approval. It rivaled even that which Xam could make. While the quality of his own tea was lacking, Eleanor had brewed a seriously good cup.

He couldn’t help but wonder if her time in the lab had helped her. He had some questions to ask her about her time in the cafe, but gave attention to his tea and lemon pastry first. Of course the sweet item was also delicious, pairing oddly well with the tea. Both were sweetened slightly, but not overly so. When dipped into the tea, the pastry imparted a gentle lemon flavor, making it perfect for dunking. Combined with all those positive notes, it was oddly filling.

Theo entered the shop, Eleanor averting her gaze as he leaned over the counter. “That was some excellent tea. Did you do the lemon-thing, too?”

“That’s right,” Eleanor said, turning to meet his gaze. She had a resolute look on her face, as though she were facing down some great beast. “I’m quite good at both.”

“I’d say. You’re not the owner of the cafe though, are you?”

“No, I’m just working the evenings for now.”

“For money?” Theo asked.

Eleanor shook her head. “Absolutely not. I’m paid more than fair at your lab.”

Theo laughed, unable to control himself. “This isn’t an interrogation. You’re not even my apprentice. Just wanted to make sure you were doing well for yourself.”

Eleanor let out a heavy sigh, looking over the interior of the cafe with a wistful expression. She pushed a strand of her black hair behind her pointed ears and nodded. “I’m unsure which I like better. Alchemy or baking.”

Theo shrugged. “No reason you can’t do both. There might be something about combining the two that just works. We noticed my tea was better than anyone else’s until Xam got a cooking core.”

“I don’t have the funds to start my own thing,” Eleanor said.

“Tero’gal is a big place with lots of opportunities. There are so many cities, I don’t know the name of them all. But there are plenty of places that could use a cafe. Actually, there’s this awesome seaside town… I can’t even remember the name of it.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Eleanor said, nodding fervently.

“Well, just let me know if you want to go early. I need to do a few tests, but I think we can do some migrations soon if you’re interested.”

“I’ll think about it,” Eleanor said.

But Theo read the look on her face as a reserved one. He nodded, not willing to push the issue for now. Instead, he gave her a sharp nod and left the cafe. He’d have to come back again so he could try more of the sweets she had created. Their menu even had flavored tea, which he was very eager to taste. For now, he was happy to leave a too-big tip and head out for the day.

As Theo made his way back to his manor, an administrative report caught his eye. Alise was concerned about migrating Sledge and her kids to Tero’gal. It didn’t take her long to round the corner, nearly spotting him near the Marsh Wolf Tavern. He ducked behind it, slinking around the back and over a few fences. The woman nearly spotted him after he crossed the road, ducking behind Throk’s workshop. Just as he thought he was in the clear, a gruff voice echoed from within the darkened shop’s rear entrance.

“Are you sneaking around my place for any reason?” Throk asked, arms folded as he glared down at the alchemist. “Or are you just looking at getting clobbered?”

“I’m avoiding Alise.”

“What did you do this time?”

“Nothing big,” Theo said with a shrug. He got to his feet, dusting his knees off. “Just moving mortals to the middle planes. Standard stuff, if you think about it.”

“I thought we were going after the swap,” Throk said. “You pushing that up?”

“No. But I gotta practice for the swap. It’ll be up to me to migrate everyone in Broken Tusk. Otherwise they gotta go through the reincarnation system, and who knows how long that’ll take.”

Throk grumbled. “Ya just can’t leave it alone, can ya?”

“It isn’t in my nature to leave things be. I gotta poke just about everything.”

“Fair enough,” Throk grunted.

Theo worked his way through the city, avoiding Alise and finally arriving at the manor. Tresk had signaled that Sledge would need more time to get her affairs in order. But she warned that others were now interested in migrating to Tero’gal.

“Just make sure they know it isn’t possible. Now until we know it can work,” Theo warned.

“Got it, boss. I’ll be home for dinner soon. Promise.”

Stepping into the manor, Theo smelled the food before he saw it. Sarisa and Rowan had created a decent spread. It wasn’t as luxurious as some of the things they had made in the past, but it was still impressive. Steaks, flatbread, spicy zee grits, and more. The alchemist rubbed his table as he approached, reaching a hand out for a steak. Sarisa slapped him away.

“Not until Tresk gets here!” she warned, glaring at him.

Theo took his seat, pouting. “Come on. I’m hungry.”

“Deal with it.”

Chapter 27

Stop It

There were far fewer formalities in sending a member of the city off than Theo had expected. By the time the next morning came, Sledge and her babies were ready to head out. Yet the alchemist wasn’t sure he was. His confidence in his abilities to manipulate the void, and migrate the woman into his realm was absolute. But he had never done this, causing some amount of reluctance.

“You’ll be fine,” Tresk assured him, patting the alchemist on the back. “Big steps, right?”

“We’ll do her first,” Theo said. “Then the babies.”

“Right,” Tresk said. “Just in case you turn Sledge inside out.”

Theo gave her a concerned look.

“I’m just kidding! Everything is gonna be fine,” Tresk said. “Searching your thoughts, I know you know how to do it. Just that last bit that’s dangling.”

“Right. The last bit. The part where I need to weave someone’s soul into the fabric of the void, then bind it to Tero’gal,” Theo said. “No pressure.”

Tresk gave Theo a few more pats on the back. Truth was, this was something Theo had put some thought to in the past. Once he learned the gods weren’t real gods, but pretenders who took the mantle of ascendants, he thought about them. Souls would fall into the void, drawn to places of power. And when they got there, those people would be integrated into the realms. There was one person he trusted to ask about this, but he had hesitated.

“I need to see Glantheir before we go,” Theo said. “I need to talk to John.”

“If you say so,” Tresk said with a shrug. “Sledge is ready to go whenever.”

Turning his eyes skyward, Theo thought about the heavenly realms. He wondered if he could pierce the barrier. Maybe, but it wasn’t the time to upset the system. She seemed stressed as it was. Instead, he folded the void over himself, appearing in the snowy landscape a moment later. He sighed when the system appeared.

“I wanted to talk to Hallow alone,” Theo said.

“You’re never alone,” she said, a faint smile playing on her face. “I’ll summon him.”

It took about half a second for Hallow to appear, his ghostly form flickering into existence on his corresponding sigil. The smile that spread across his face was genuine. “Theo. What can I do for you?”

Theo looked between Hallow and the system, clicking his tongue. “Wanna give me a crash course on soul magic?”

Hallow blinked a few times, his eyes darting to the system as his brows peaked. “Uh, is that allowed?”

“I really don’t care,” the system said with a weak shrug. “If you need me, I’ll be everywhere within the sector at the same time.”

And she vanished in a snap, leaving both Theo and Hallow looking at the spot where she just was in confusion.

“That’s one way to do it,” Theo said.

“Soul magic?” Hallow asked. “You’re not becoming a necromancer, are you?”

“God, no. I need to migrate my people to the middle realms. But every time I’ve taken a mortal up there, they get sick. I figured since the ascendants had been absorbing the souls of people using their realms, there had to be some soul magic to bind them.”

“Well, that’s much better than what I expected,” Hallow said. “So, you’re determined to move some mortals your own way, despite what the gods desire?”

“You know I can’t trust the gods,” Theo said. “That’s how this whole thing started.”

“Fair enough,” Hallow said with a shrug. “I don’t care either way. The way they’re still holding on is pathetic. When the reset happens, we’ll have a definite barrier between—”

Hallow went silent.

“Ah, said the wrong words,” Theo said. “Too much information for someone as unimportant as me. I’ve figured most of it out, system. Don’t worry about it.”

Hallow probed at his throat, eventually coughing a few times. “Rude. Anyway, the trick isn’t too complicated. The biggest thing you need to know is that the soul will need to roost. That means, it has to want to live in your realm.”

“Should be easy enough. But there has to be more.”

Hallow shrugged. “How about the souls that came to your realm when it was a realm? Did you do anything special with them?”

“No, but they didn’t have bodies.”

“Fair enough,” Hallow said, giving a playful smile. “Have you sensed soul energy before?”

“Maybe. I don’t think so.”

“With your willpower, it should be easy. Focus on the soul, and once you’ve done that you need to—”

Silence again. Theo’s brows knitted, and he looked to the spot where the system should’ve been. He wasn’t puzzled that she had silenced him. He was confused as to why she hadn’t silenced him sooner. The system should’ve known he could piece together the rest of the formula from those few words, so why didn’t she?

It clicked.

The monitor system.

“That should be enough,” Theo said, nodding to Hallow. “Sorry for getting you censored.”

Hallow shrugged, then gave the thumbs-up.

Theo took his leave from the realm, but instead of going back to the mortal plane, he made his way to Erradon. Fenian’s world was fairly lawless at this point, so when he landed outside the city gates to Vesta, he was unsurprised to find a small skirmish taking place in the distance. Over the fields, the residents of this world did battle. The alchemist’s first instinct was to stop the fighting, but this wasn’t his world. Instead, he turned to approach the city gates, only to find guards brandishing spears and standing at attention.

“Gentlemen,” Theo said, nodding to each.

“Papers,” one guard demanded.

“This place is going to be a mess, isn’t it?” Theo asked with a sigh. He extended his senses, his darkened aura flooding over the guards. They jumped, looking around before their eyes narrowed on him. “No need to worry, fellas.”

“Stop it,” one guard demanded.

Theo pushed his senses into one guard, aiming at his chest. That’s where he had learned the soul was. It was a murky cloud of something that lingered in the chest of everyone. The alchemist hadn’t cared much for understanding it before, but this time he probed with academic intent. The soul of the guard he scanned felt faint, as though he wasn’t as strong as his attitude claimed.

It took Theo only a few moments to find what he was looking for. A wisp-thin thread snaked from the soul, connecting it to the energies of the realm. That’s what Hallow was going to say when they were back in the system’s little domain. This soul was bound to Erradon, meaning other souls were bound by the same thread to their respective realms. It was likely a thread that formed naturally as a soul adjusted to their new realm. It might’ve been something he could emulate or force, either through alchemy or magic.

“Thanks, guys,” Theo said. “Keep up the good work. I guess.”

With two more points of data to collect, Theo next went to Tero’gal. He checked in with Belgar, who had some super-duper interesting reports about administrative structures, and confirmed a similar thread. He then returned to the mortal plane, finding Tresk and Sledge hanging out in the manor… with all the marshling babies.

“Are they eating the banister?” Theo asked, looking on in horror as a marshling chewed on his beautiful railing.

“It’ll grow back,” Tresk said, waving a dismissive hand. “We have a babysitter for them, but they’re late.”

“Are we ready?” Sledge asked, her voice thin.

Theo cleared his throat. “Almost,” he said, withdrawing a Soulbloom from his inventory and placing it in a flask. He reached out with his senses, probing into Sledge’s soul. There, he found nothing. When he checked Tresk, he felt her connection to her own realm. Then he found Sarisa hiding in the shadows in the corner, and found nothing. “Okay. Souls from the mortal plane don’t have a binding. That means I have to forge you a new binding to Tero’gal.”

“What does that mean?” Tresk asked, patting Sledge on the shoulder.

“Two options,” Theo said. “First, I sculpt your connection by hand.”

“No thanks,” Sledge said.

“Second, I use an express version of the Reforge Soul potion,” Theo said, holding his hand over the flask. He decomposed the bloom and added his mana, creating the workings of a new essence. “It’ll hurt like hell, and I doubt it tastes good, but it should work.”

“Are you going to put my babies through pain?” Sledge asked, her voice carrying a flinty edge.

Theo reached out, feeling the souls of the baby marshlings. Each felt like putty. He doubted it would take more than a suggestion to bind their souls to Tero’gal. “Nope, I think they’ll adapt on their own. If all my theories are correct.”

Sledge gave Tresk a concerned look.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Tresk said. “Just trust the nice demon.”

The essence bubbled in the flask. Theo didn’t want to tell Sledge this mixture was closer to ‘Reforge Soul on Hard Drugs’ rather than a pleasant way to say it. He suspected the process would be almost instant. But all the pain would come at once.

“I trust the demon,” Sledge said, sagging.

“Good, because there’s no better demon,” Theo said, forcing his will on the potion. He withdrew another flask and got to work on the second half. “This might be my first time making this potion, but the concepts are familiar. Xol’sa drank a version of this, and he’s fine.”

“If you say so,” Sledge said.

“She’s just ready to go,” Tresk said. “Get the potion done, buddy.”

Between his Willpower and his new skill, Theo made quick work of the potion. I combined the exact concepts of the Reforge Soul potion, and cranked the power up to an absurd degree. The feeling he had about this one was that it should happen quickly. Almost instantly, with any luck. He gave the potion one last swirl, nodding with approval.

“That’s it,” Theo said, holding the potion up to the light. “We can go whenever you want.”

“Now. Yesterday,” Sledge said.

“Okie dokie,” Theo said, spreading his aura out.

“I’ll watch the babies,” Tresk said, nodding at the gaggle of ravenous creatures. “Hope backup arrives soon.”

Folding the void over onto itself again, Theo teleported him and Sledge to Tero’gal. They appeared outside the recently developed landscape of Boar Hollow and she sagged. The alchemist caught the marshling and hoisted her into a princess carry.

“Tired, aren’t ya?” Theo asked, nodding at Belgar in the distance. He was already jogging over, waving like an idiot.

“I got a house ready,” Belgar said, looking down at Sledge and grimacing. “Is she okay?”

“She should be fine,” Theo said, turning his senses to her soul. Wisps of it were already snaking off, searching for a connection to Tero’gal. He wondered if they would eventually make a connection without his help. “Lead the way.”

Belgar had transformed Boar Hollow from a small reception town to something greater. Many people now lived there, and Theo couldn’t deny how much it looked like Broken Tusk. He appreciated how they had gone with stone and timber buildings with painted wooden roof tiles. Although the style was similar to that back home, they had incorporated a lot more decorated wood into both the structures and the streets.

Theo looked at the effigy carved in a pole of wood outside a building. Belgar was gesturing for him to enter, but he hesitated. “Is that a goat?”

“I’m not sure,” Belgar said, stepping over to get a better look. “A pozwa?”

“Not enough horns or feathers,” Sledge groaned. “Can we get this over with?”

“Inside we go,” Theo said, leading the way. Belgar came in right behind him. “We’re ready for her kids, right?”

“I had a metal playpen constructed for the purpose,” Belgar said, rushing forward to pull covers from a bed he had arranged in the room’s center. “It is a local metal alloy. Very durable.”

“Okay. Let’s get this done.”