The Newt and Demon - Book 5 Chapters 22,23,24 (Patreon)

Chapter 22

Chatting with Droggy

A calming breeze blew down from the mountains west of the Tero’gal Ocean. No one had come up with a better name for the places here. Things were always referred to as ‘the ocean,’ or ‘the mountains.’ There were many mountains within the realm. Certainly, there was only one ocean. But the cornerstones of history that saw things being named were lacking here. It just was, and the beings within the realm accepted it.

Drogramath adjusted his coat, popping his boots off awkwardly as he approached the white sand beaches. The demon god dug his toes into the sand. The phantom of a smile graced his face, before it returned to a neutral countenance.

“I like your realm.”

“Really?” Theo asked, finding a fallen log to sit on. “I’ve noticed how the gods all pick themes.”

“My realm is a confusing landscape of glass structures. Massive greenhouses to grow my reagents.” Drogramath looked off into the ocean. The sound of the waves lapping against the shore played a calming melody. “Balkor’s was a word of undeath. Tworgnoth rests on a copper throne, in a cogwork realm. This seems more like the mortal realm than anything.”

The entire exchange had been weird. Theo’s thoughts hadn’t landed on how he felt about the situation. Yuri prevented gods from interacting with the mortal realm, but that didn’t stop the owner of a Mortal Dreamrealm. Whatever that was. The alchemist could invite whichever god he wanted into his realm. They could come to sip tea, or dip their toes in the ocean. Any thoughts of ascension wars, or ploys back on the mortal realm seemed to fall away. The facade of power melted, revealing the gods for what they truly were.

“You’re just people. Aren’t you?”

“A simple question, with a difficult answer,” Drogramath said. The demon god flinched. “Ah. An official warning from the Arbiter. He doesn’t want me telling you the truth about Dronon.”

“Don’t get yourself in trouble for my curiosity.”

Drogramath shrugged. He seemed so easily defeated. The gods were so long-lived, perhaps he stopped caring a long time ago. That energy Theo had witnessed at the start of all this had somewhat vanished.

“The world was seeded. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“We call the first conflict for the heavens the First Ascension War. Or the First War of Ascension. People from Earth were seeded… Ah.”

A loud pop, and Khahar appeared behind Drogramath. The Arbiter was scowling.

“Why bother giving us free will if we can’t tell him?” Drogramath asked, sounding bored. “Why does it matter if he knows?”

Khahar glared. He was at war with himself.

“When the world was seeded,” Khahar said, picking up where Drogramath left off. “People from Earth were sent first. Not everyone was sent at the same time. You’re a good example of that, Theo.”

“They say things were good for a while,” Drogramath said.

Khahar scoffed. “We were at each other’s throats from the start. But ascension was never an option. Not until the Second Seeding.”

Drogramath shrugged. “The first races were the elves, the dwarves, and the Khahari. When the Dronon were seeded… things erupted. Ascension was unlocked, and we were behind.”

“Enter the cycle of destruction and rebirth,” Khahar said. “The best theory is that a different being brought the Dronon here. One of malicious intent.”

“The baleful eye,” Drogramath sighed. “What a mockery.”

“The point is,” Khahar continued. “There might be a Third Seeding. Or a fourth. We just don’t know when it will happen.”

That was too much information for Theo to process at once. The Dronon weren’t from Earth. And there might be more people from different places coming to this planet. They weren’t exactly aliens though, were they? Everyone in this world was an alien. Nothing native existed in this world. What a haunting thought.

“Why tell me?” Theo asked.

“Good question,” Khahar growled.

“Because he deserves to know. This Mortal Dreamrealm is outside of the plan, isn’t it? Anything outside of the plan stinks of him.”

Khahar answered before Theo could ask. “That Baleful Eye Drogramath was talking about… The Harbinger set this world in motion, then stepped away. The other being left a series of instructions hidden away in the system. This place is likely a result of that.”

“So, wait… I thought I was caught in a heavenly pissing match. You’re saying the dick-measuring contest is even bigger?”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Drogramath trailed off.

“I’m saying we don’t know. Until we have control of the system, we can never know. Even then, I’m not sure we can do anything about it.”

“Okay,” Theo said, standing and stretching. “I’m going to push all that crap out of my head and take a walk.”

Neither Drogramath nor Khahar called out as the alchemist walked away. He might have had more pieces to the puzzle, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted any of them. And Yuri wanted to take control of the system? That’s what those thrones were about. Taking control away from the monitor system so they could hunt down whatever vestigial code the Baleful Eye left. Theo walked along the beach for some time before the demon god came to walk with him.

“You’re the first Drogramathi to do industrial alchemy,” Drogramath said, keeping pace with the alchemist. “At scale, anyway. I had a small operation back in the day.”

“How does that work?” Theo asked, trying not to laugh. “Did you show up with a [Drogramath Alchemy Core]?”

Drogramath chuckled, perhaps for the first time since Theo had met him. “I had a basic [Alchemy Core]. Before the war, it evolved into a [Demon Alchemy Core]. Now I just have an [Alchemy God Core]. I don’t care for god-level alchemy, though.”

“Did you always intend for Drogramathi alchemy to be so helpful?”

“You’re missing the point. My alchemy outpaces every other class in the first leg of the race to ascension. By Level 50, every class you’re helping will do their own thing better. Priests can heal better, laborers can build better, and so on. You’re a generalist. With all the good and bad that comes with that.”

“What was the name of your planet?”

“Ard. Doesn’t sound right in the mortal tongue, but close enough.”

“What… uh… was the base for your species? We were apes.”

Drogramath laughed again. “Something close to the reptiles of this world.”

“Fun. A real life lizard-dude.”

“Indeed.”

Drogramath must have thought that Theo took offense to this new information. But he didn’t. It was like being told a moon was slamming into the planet. What was he going to do, stop the moon? It was so far out of his reach that he didn’t care. He would enjoy his time in the Southlands Alliance and that was that. No need to worry about anything else.

“You should stop by, if you can,” Theo said, gesturing vaguely to his world. “This must feel close to being on the mortal realm.”

“It really is. The closest I’ve seen in Baelthar’s realm. The Eternal Game. It’s an endless forest filled with beasts to hunt. The biting bugs are horrid, though. The ogre claims it helps with the realism…” Drogramath trailed off, shaking his head. “Vile little midges.”

Another comfortable silence set in between them. Theo could feel that the demon god had something to say, but didn’t know how to express it. After a moment, he gathered himself up and spoke. “It was nice to see Zarali,” Drogramath said. “Her brood had a hard time with life.”

“Seems like every new batch of Dronon has a hard time.”

“They do. Better than it used to be, though.”

“How does that work? Can you spawn new dronon in from your realm?”

“Not exactly. But kind of. We only need one living dronon to make more. We possess a follower, then create a clutch of eggs through them.”

Theo winced. “Alright. Less details.”

“The conditions are specific, but we end up with a brood. They’re born with the ability to care for themselves, but they’re still children.”

“Man. We should get a brood of Drogramathi in Broken Tusk.”

“Perhaps in a few years. My resources are… dwindling.”

Theo and Drogramath walked the beach of the massive ocean. The demon god was eager to chat about whatever, although several topics seemed off-limits. The more time they spent together, the more the potioneer seemed to brighten up. He was even smiling by the end of the conversation, and the alchemist thanked the grace given to him by Glantheir. Perhaps spreading those good vibes was more valuable than anything else.

Naturally, Drogramath had to appear before Zarali before he left. Both she and Belgar pressed their faces into the dirt when they saw him. They openly wept, making conversation impossible. Theo watched from afar, then busied himself with other things. He waited for them to finish up before taking his charge back to the mortal realm.

Theo stood before a row of imagined stills, looking off into the scenery that Tresk had created. His trip into Tero’gal had presented many questions, but it was also a relief. He got to meet Drogramath face-to-face. That was fun. He also learned a bunch of weird stuff he didn’t know what to do with. To ease his mind, he decided to exploit the Dreamwalk to test some reagents out.

A beam of pure fire lanced through the air, scattering the clouds above. Tresk wanted to fight against dragons. Again. So long as the massive beast didn’t disturb his equipment, he didn’t really care.

First up was the [Grimeling Ooze]. The stuff was absolutely foul. It stank before being added to the stills, and now generated a putrid miasma after being heated. The alchemist distilled the Sludge, Rust, and Deteriorate properties as second-tier essences. He didn’t have a good feeling about any of them, but it was worth investigating. Another lone still was creating essence for the Assail property from the [Reanimated Skeleton Fragment].

Perhaps he should have asked Drogramath about the dangerous properties on some reagents. But it was all part of the concept of a generalist. If he could do everything, then some things were bound to be dangerous.

Theo banished the grimeling stills away the moment the essence was done brewing. All three flasks were filled with a murky, brown-green liquid. It was the most color he had ever seen in an essence. He moved to his worktable, preparing a vial for the first reaction.

“Huzzah. I’m sure sludge will produce a useful potion,” Theo said, mocking the nasty little flask on his table. He mixed the essence with enchanted water, then added metal shavings to kick off the reaction.

The scent was almost unbearable. Although he was in the Dreamwalk, the alchemist doubted that the smell would leave his mind soon. He didn’t know what he expected, but he inspected the resulting potion anyway.

[Potion of Sludge]

[Potion]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

The drinker sweats a thick, stinking type of grimeling sludge.

Effect:

For one hour, the drinker’s sweat is replaced with grimeling sludge.

“Straight in the trash,” Theo said, banishing the potion forever. “Absolutely not. Nope.”

The second essence, [Refined Rust Essence], had a slightly red color to it. It smelled slightly less than the other potions, but perhaps that was simply Theo’s nose dying a slow death. As he crafted the essence into a potion, he was surprised at where his hands led him. Sometimes, potions didn’t want to be brewed as a standard potion. This one wanted to be a bomb. The alchemist went through the motions, adding his enchanted water and flecks of iron to create a [Rust Bomb]. He inspected the result.

[Rust Bomb]

[Bomb]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

Covers the target in a sludge that eats away at all metal.

Effect:

Unless cleared away or purified, this sludge will eat all metal (magical or otherwise) for fifteen minutes. The rate of decomposition depends on the rarity of this bomb.

While the [Rust Bomb] wouldn’t go straight in the garbage heap, it was weird. There was one situation that Theo could think of for this bomb. When Fenian led the giant elven construct to their gates, this would have been perfect. Any metal-based monsters would be destroyed with ease. But there weren’t any, as far as he knew. Since the potion destroyed magical metal items, there was a scenario where he could toss the potion at a knight, depriving them of their weapon and armor.

“You go into the ‘maybe’ pile,” Theo said, moving on.

Next up was the Deteriorate property. It was an unlockable property, but that didn’t mean it was good. The impression Theo got from looking at the essence was strange. Memories of the [Cleansing Scrub] came back to him. There was an entire class of potions that were considered cleaning agents. Those potions were normally poured over things, rendering some kind of effect. The alchemist added the essence to a vial, mixing equal parts enchanted water and a metal shaving. The reaction wasn’t as gross-smelling as the others, but it was still foul. A plume of black smoke filled the air as the reaction occurred. A moment later, the potion was ready for inspection.

[Potion of Deteriorate]

[Cleaning Agent]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

Submerging any item in this potion for at least one day will completely destroy it.

Effect:

Items (magical or otherwise) submerged in this potion will be destroyed without a trace.

Items must be of equal or lesser strength to this potion.

Length of time taken to destroy items depends on the relative power between the potion and the item.

“I don’t even know what to think about that one,” Theo grumbled.

The grimeling was, as expected, a useless creature. There might have been a niche use for the [Potion of Deteriorate], but Theo couldn’t think of it. Even in a scenario where he needed to destroy a dangerously powerful item, that item's power was the problem. The description of the potion said it couldn’t destroy items more powerful than itself. So, he moved on to the next potion.

The [Reanimated Skeleton Fragment] was an interesting item. Theo had already confirmed that this fragment did not drop from undead out in the world. Those undead generated by Balkor dropped nothing, unless they were carrying something in life. The fragment came from dungeon-generated monster versions of the undead. It held a property, withering, which was useful for poison modifications. Hone Edge was a decent property. Reanimated Dead was one of those properties he wouldn’t touch even if he needed to. That only left the vial of green-silver liquid in his flask. [Refined Assail Essence].

From the outside, Theo had the sense that the Assail property was much like Berserk, or Desperate Attack. It would draw on the life of the imbiber to power an attack. He mixed the essence with enchanted water, watching as a faint cloud of greenish smoke rose from the vial. The scent wasn’t unpleasant, but was distinctly related to the smell of gravedust. Gravedust, being a catalyst in the alchemical world, had a smell between fire-cracked bones and fresh earth. He shook his head, casting off his musings to inspect the potion.

[Potion of Assail]

[Potion]

Rare

Created by: Theo Spencer

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Grade: Excellent Quality

The next physical attack performed by the drinker ignores all resistances.

Effect:

Applies the [Assail] property to the drinker’s next attack. This effect ignores all resistances, regardless of their source.

This potion came with implications. A Wisdom of the Soul message popped up, confirming what Theo was thinking.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

The wording of the item prompt is too specific. Generally, resistances are considered to be a reduction in damage, or a resistance to that damage. But, the prompt claims that the source of those resistances doesn’t matter. Anything protected by system-generated resistances would be vulnerable to this potion. While you don’t have enough information, this potion might even eliminate the damage reducing effects of the invisible rank function.

Wisdom of the Soul was often cryptic. Theo had to remember that the ability granted to him by the [Wisdom of the Soul Potion] was taking guesses at points. The only drawback to the potion was that it limited the effect to physical attacks. The alchemist wasn’t much of a physical attacker, so it was something for Tresk.

Theo stretched, rolling his shoulders to relieve imagined tension. His alchemy session was fun, even if it was stinky. The most satisfying part about alchemy was taking a reagent and refining it into something usable. The resulting potion might be useless, but knowing if it was useless or not was the important part.

Tresk flashed a sense of recognition through the Dreamwalk. Dawn was drawing closer, and she was interested in getting an early start on the day. Theo finished up his experiments and prepared himself to fall back into the real world.

Chapter 23

One Zorp Too Many

Some of the sweltering heat notable in the Season of Fire was diminished today. It was the thirty-first day of the season, and a bank of laden clouds had moved in from the north. Theo walked from his manor, gazing up at the sky through the boughs of the mighty cypress trees as he made his way to the town square. The experiments in the Dreamwalk had left him feeling satisfied. Like the clouds overhead, he plotted a lazy course through the town.

There had been a distinct influx of foreigners in the alliance. Folks from afar had sailed from overseas. Most notable among them were the Khahari. Despite Khahar’s declaration of friendship, what remained of his theocracy didn’t seem interested in visiting. Only those Khahari calling themselves adventurers crossed the sea, interested in either the newly formed Southlands Alliance or the undead to the north. In either case, the tourists were a considerable source of income.

The most jarring thing about the morning walk was when Theo spotted a copper-skinned dronon in the distance. He identified her as tworgnothi. Unsurprisingly, she was chatting with Throk outside of his workshop. The alchemist pressed on, opening his administration interface and sorting through his notes. Today’s agenda was sparse, but the interface had become a trove of information. Alise deleted nothing she or others wrote in the interface.

As Theo approached the monolith, he felt it pulse with recognition. There was a hidden will in there. Something that swelled when it recognized its master. The alchemist hadn’t decided if that was a good thing. But there was work to be done. He didn’t intend to upgrade the [Kingdom Seed Core] today. Instead, he would focus on the town itself. Each seed core building in town was limited by the level of the town itself. While they hadn’t experimented with the limits, he guessed a seed core building couldn’t be more than five levels away from the [Town Seed Core].

With Tresk and Alex busy doing things for the Adventurer’s Guild, and the administrators spinning their wheels, this was the perfect time to upgrade buildings. Broken Tusk was currently Level 25. Getting it to 30 was a breeze, but that wasn’t the hardest part. Looming in the upgrade selection menu were the same two options he had seen since the start. [Water Tower] and [Watchtowers]. While [Watchtowers] was a later addition to the ever-rolling list of upgrades, it had remained one of the less useful ones.

There was normally only one new option per five levels. Theo looked at his upgrade interface, confused why there were three new options to pick from. The alchemist inspected the strange ones first.

[Water Purification]

Your incorporated water boilers can be upgraded. This upgrade will make your current water purification system more efficient, drawing on the power of your Kingdom Core. Your current water purification system will be replaced if this upgrade is selected.

This was the first time that the system reacted to something he had done to the town regarding upgrades. The upgrade wasn’t good, but it was interesting to see the options offer more than one thing. Nothing could compare to the next upgrade, though.

[Dungeon Information]

Allows anyone with the administrator title in this town to view information about every local dungeon.

The presence of a Dungeon Engineer in your town enables the selection of this upgrade. If the Dungeon Engineer leaves your town, revoking their citizenship, this upgrade will be refunded.

Theo was certain he would take this one. But this was an upgrade dependent on a person. Since Xol’sa had the Dungeon Engineer class, he had spawned an upgrade for the entire town. Even more interesting was the condition that it would be refunded if he left. The alchemist’s mind spun at the implications. The skill itself was very interesting. Xol’sa could check on the dungeons, but he had to go there and put his mana into the dungeon. So on, and so forth. This eliminated the need for the elf to stress himself.

The alchemist stopped salivating for a moment to inspect the last upgrade.

[Zorp]

Allows you to instantly transport materials between storage containers in your town.

Zorp sucked. The Zorp ability for the nation was good. But transporting things between production chains in town had never been a problem. Theo had also gained infinite storage for the town, although that was only for resources like lumber and stone. [Dungeon Information] was too good, though.

Theo turned, finding that a small crowd had formed. He waved sheepishly, then turned back to his work. It was an event when he upgraded the town. That meant everyone else could increase the level of their buildings. No one else seemed interested in upgrading the town, but that wasn’t their responsibility. As the buildings got higher in level, they required more cores to increase their level. That increased the expense, and made folks less likely to fork over the money.

“We’re going with [Dungeon Information],” Theo said, nodding to himself. The crowd politely clapped. His face went a darker shade of purple. He distracted himself by inspecting the town.

[Massive Town]

Name: Broken Tusk

Owner: Theo Spencer

Leader: Archduke Theo Spencer

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 30 (20.33%)

Core Buildings:

Alchemy Lab

Greenhouses (x6)

Mycology Cave (x3)

Blacksmith

Artificer’s Workshop

Large Farm

Small Farm

Windmill

Quarry

Stonecutter

House (x528)

Manor

Tannery

Tavern

Adventurer’s Guild

Hotsprings

Sawmill

Mine

Smelter (x3)

Enchanter

Ranch

Townhall

Butcher

Weaver

Defensive Emplacements:

Chain Lightning (x12)

Frost Cone (x7)

Fireball (x10)

Firebolt (x25)

Upgrades:

[Stone Walls and Gates]

[Stone Roads]

[Defensive Emplacements]

[Synergistics]

[Dynamic Incorporation]

[Dungeon Information]

Effects:

[Troll Slaying]

[Coordinated Fire]

[Defensive Effects]

Current Resources:

Timber: 20,122

Stone Blocks: 0

Metal: 3,020

Motes: 20,000

That was interesting. The resources in the town had been climbing for a while now. Ziz was really digging into the town’s stock of stone for his projects, reducing the count to nothing. Theo relied on his administrators to sort that out when there was damage done to the town. Seeing as the eastern wall had repaired itself, they must have been doing something right. Metal and timber numbers were also going down. Broken Tusk was exporting more materials than ever.

“Yay,” Theo said, turning to his administration interface. “Now let’s see what this new upgrade does…”

It didn’t take the alchemist long to find the Dungeon Information panel in his interface. He opened it, getting a status screen listing… six dungeons. Six? Wasn’t it five? Swamp, river, ocean, mountains, hills. Theo spotted the problem. The sixth dungeon was listed as ‘Underground Dungeon.’ Interesting. Each entry gave him information about the dungeon’s level, how close it was to a wave, and other interesting facts.

[Swamp Dungeon]

Level 35 Dungeon

Monster Types:

Goblin, Wolves, Undead

Description (from loremaster):

This dungeon was seeded after the destruction of the continent. Balkor’s Betrayal marked the destruction of almost all the dungeons in the region. Once the Swamp Dungeon was fed the invasive power of Drogramath, it ascended in power.

Trends:

Power trending down (strength decreasing).

Level trending up (one level over the past week).

Thread Level:

Minimal. No monster wave predicted.

Each dungeon had a description like that. But the more useful at-a-glance feature was the list of every dungeon. Theo inspected that quick info screen, gawking.

[Swamp Dungeon] L35 No Threat

[River Dungeon] L18 No Threat

[Mountain Dungeon] L15 No Threat

[Hills Dungeon] L10 No Threat

[Ocean Dungeon] L20 Imminent Threat

[Cave Dungeon] L95 No Threat

Theo made a note not to mess with the cave dungeon. That dungeon must have been near the dragon, Pogo. Hopefully the creature was handling it. Maybe the rock people were secretly extremely powerful. But the alchemist didn’t like seeing a Level 95 dungeon in his interface. That meant it was near, and the idea rubbed him the wrong way. A shiver crept down his spine as he drilled down on the entry for the [Cave Dungeon].

[Cave Dungeon]

Level 95 Ascendant Dungeon

Monster Types:

Golems, Cave Fald, Trolls

Description (from loremaster):

Loremaster’s level is too low to provide additional information on this dungeon.

Trends:

Gathering power for ascendancy.

Level trending up (two levels over the past week)

Thread Level:

Minimal. No monster wave predicted.

“No big deal,” Theo grumbled. “Just a dungeon trying to achieve godhood.”

The implications for that one were too much for him to deal with right then. But this supported an idea that Theo had been kicking around about how seed cores work in this world. When he used his wards on seed core buildings, he felt something pushing back. Although the will that fought against him was minor, it was there. Enough to say ‘I’m here,’ and that was significant.

The alchemist turned away from the monolith, heading out for his next stop. The crowd parted, allowing him to leave. He hadn’t bought a bunch of monster cores for nothing. The next stop for the day was the Harbor. Avast Ye Newts had been the most important building in town for a while now. It opened the world up to the Southlands Alliance, giving them access to all the other nations of the world.

Theo walked the slight decline toward the river, smiling when the scent of salty sea air hit his nose. The chatter of people engaging in trade with whatever merchant had docked filled his ears next. A small, single-masted boat was docked in the harbor. It was a khahari vessel, if the alchemist had to guess its origin. Made of wood that seemed bleached by the sun, and sails with too many tatters. He approached the core building, which was a warehouse just off the wooden dock area.

The harbor sat at level 20, with 4 extremely useful upgrades. [Expanding Docks] made it so the wooden docks that bordered the harbor would expand with the building’s level. [Delayed Decay] slowed the aging of ships docked. [Shipwright’s Drydock] was the reason they could build boats at all, providing a workshop for the shipwrights to work in. Last was [Fair Winds], which made it easier for boats to move within 13,000 halms of the port. Of course, that measurement came out to about a mile. Depending on the system’s version of a halm.

Theo shoved [Monster Cores] into the building, intending to give it 10 levels today. Each level made the area slightly bigger. When it expanded, the ground rumbled beneath him. The wall, generated by the town itself, pushed out with the upgraded harbor. The dock rearranged itself. People shouted in fear and excitement. The first upgrade notification popped up, and he weighed his options. It didn’t take long, and he selected the one that made the most sense.

[Safe Harbor]

All sailing vessels docked within this harbor will not experience the effects of weather. High winds, torrential downpours, and other negative weather effects will no longer affect the vessels, although those boats will still catch moderate wind in their sails.

If a big storm kicked up, hitting the harbor, the boats would be safe. Easy pick. Theo shoved more cores into the building, his eyes lingering on the drydock. Laedria had put a few cores into that building, but had gained no significant progress. His attention was drawn back to the upgrade screen when it popped up, providing more upgrade options. The new upgrade that appeared was the best, so he selected that one.

[Automatic Repairs]

So long as a person with a shipwright-style core is in the harbor, ships that are docked in the harbor can be repaired automatically. The resources required to perform the repairs will be drawn from local, or town storage. The shipwright may decide to accept or decline requests for repairs.

Ding, ding. Another business opportunity. Theo had seen the shipwrights performing repairs on vessels as they came into port, but this made their job a lot easier. Laedria would appreciate that one, making her day-to-day life easier. The alchemist nodded with satisfaction, heading over to the dry dock.

“Hey!” an annoyed voice called after him. Laedria trotted, catching up to Theo. As always, her leather apron was covered in sticky tar. “Upgrading my stuff?”

“Someone has to do it,” Theo said, gesturing to the dry dock. “I can leave it to you. If that’s what you want.”

“Whaaat. No. I’m just being…”

“Being a Wavecrest,” Theo said, winking. “Stubborn bunch of elves.”

“Hey, we didn’t survive the purge by being nice,” Laedria said, pouting.

“Fair enough. Help me pick the best upgrades for the dry dock.” Theo began shoving [Monster Cores] into the building.

“Sure thing, boss.”

Since the [Shipwright’s Drydock] upgrade generated a new building, it could be upgraded. This was something that Theo had left to the future for some time. If he wanted Laedria to make more boats, she needed the right equipment. With artisans, that came down to a powerful set of seed core buildings. The drydock leveled to five without an issue, presenting the alchemist with three upgrade options.

[Speedy Assembly]

All parts of the ship-building process are faster. Tar sets quicker, wood cures faster, and workers are invigorated as they assemble a ship. This effect doesn’t translate to non-shipwright related tasks.

[Plus One]

All ships assembled in this drydock will increase by one rarity rank. Ships retrofitted in this drydock may gain an additional rank, depending on the level and skill of the shipwright.

[Magical Winch]

Any shipwright may access a magical winch which hoists boats from the harbor, onto the drydock. This is considered a purely magical device, consuming motes or coins to operate.

Each option was good. But Laedria had a favorite.

“The winch,” she said, bouncing up and down. “Oh, please get that one.”

“Why?” Theo asked. The other options were really good.

“Because I can’t retrofit anything in the drydock right now. If I could hoist the boats out of the harbor, I could do a ton of things. Including retrofitting foreign ships. Meaning… Money!”

Theo nodded, selecting that one as their first option. He continued to put [Monster Cores] into the building, selecting random directions as it expanded. The next upgrade option appeared, and he read it out to Laedria.

[Expanding Bays]

The drydock will gain more bays the higher the building’s level is. This will add approximately one bay every twenty levels.

“Oh goodness,” Laedria said, hyperventilating. “These are all good. Uhm. Okay. [Expanding Bays], for now. But I really want [Speedy Assembly].”

Theo selected [Expanding Bays]. “We can pick that one next time.”

“As long as nothing awesome pops up.”

Leveling a building to 10 was easy peasy. Theo could use low-level monster cores to accomplish that. His one problem was that his spread of cores thinned out between 10 and 30. That forced him to use the higher-level cores—the more expensive cores—to bridge the gap. He dumped several gold worth of cores into the building, then read the Level 15 upgrade option off to Laedria.

[Safe Travels]

After being serviced in this drydock, vessels will gain increased speed and durability for seven days.

“That one stinks,” Laedria said, bouncing up and down with excitement. “Get the other one.”

Theo selected the [Speedy Assembly] upgrade, then added more cores. The drydock reached level 20 with ease, and he was presented with another upgrade option. He read it out for Laedria to decide on.

[Cranes]

Every bay in the drydock gains a magical crane. These cranes are powered by coins, or motes, and have a high weight capacity.

Laedria shook Theo by the shoulders. “That one! Do you know how hard it is to move those masts into position? We could make bigger boats with this upgrade!”

After being jostled back and forth, Theo nodded and selected the upgrade. He took no offense to the violent shaking. Laedria was excited about these upgrades, and he wouldn’t dampen her spirits. He pressed on, bringing the building to level 25. Second to last upgrade for the drydock today.

[Rollers]

Each bay in the drydock is equipped with a roller, which makes moving boats in and out of drydock easier. This upgrade is static, and requires no coins or motes to operate.

“Stinky upgrade. Get the [Plus One],” Laedria said, fanning the air away from her face.

Theo picked [Plus One], then went back to his work. The drydock expanded, gaining two bays at some point. The ground rumbled slightly as it pushed into the area occupied by the wall. It finally hit level 30, and the alchemist read the last upgrade out for Laedria to pick.

[Dynamic Scaffolding]

Any shipwright operating the drydock may summon magical scaffolding. This scaffolding consumes coins or motes to operate, providing a customizable working surface for the shipwright.

“Might not seem like it, but that one is awesome,” Laedria said, nodding to herself. “Can’t express how many times we had to go buy ladders from Sledge.”

“Alrighty,” Theo said, picking [Dynamic Scaffolding] as the last upgrade. “There ya go. A level 30 drydock.”

“Oh, I’m just so excited,” Laedria said, practically brimming with energy. She danced on the spot, hugged Theo, then ran off to inspect her new building.

Theo watched as the crazed elf summoned glowing platforms, then climbed them. He nodded, then inspected the building.

[Drydock]

[Plug Yer Bunghole]

Owner: Theo Spencer

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 30 (0.15%)

Rent Due: SUSPENDED

Expansions:

[Magical Winch]

[Expanding Bays]

[Speedy Assembly]

[Cranes]

[Plus One]

[Dynamic Scaffolding]

Theo narrowed his eyes. “When the hell did Tresk name this building?”

Chapter 24

Dead Dog Upgrades

Theo took a break before pressing on with his building upgrade crusade. Tresk might have given the drydock a crude name, but at least it added characters. It wasn’t as though sailors were strangers to rude words and crass jokes. The amount of curses that flung from the harbor was staggering. It seemed to be a constant stream of rude limericks and words that would make the alchemist blush.

For his break, Theo headed off to check on a few old friends. And there was plenty to see in town. Compared to when he first arrived, Broken Tusk had changed entirely. It was hard to imagine that only a season and a half had passed. The alchemist moved through the bustling streets of the town, nodding to people as they passed by. He stopped in to check on Perg, first.

“Hello?” Theo entered the tanner’s workshop, finding the half-ogre woman working hard.

“Look who came to grace me with his demon goodness,” Perg said, removing herself from the tanning pit. She was covered in a thin layer of goo.

“How’s it going, Perg?”

“Well enough. Making some real money with these foreigners coming to town. They love wolf leather.”

Theo nodded, engaging in polite conversation. Perg had become somewhat insular in recent times. She kept to herself, working hard in her tannery and never bothering others. Unlike most others in town, even those native to the area, she was content to live a quiet life. The alchemist reflected with her on that, part of him wishing he could do the same. He had found balance recently, but it was very recent.

Once he was done chatting, Theo headed out. He aimed to catch up with Xam and Miana, but he spotted the tworgnothi woman once again. The alchemist was drawn to her. It wasn’t his goal, but in the heavens he had saved more than a few dronon souls. There was no administrative report on what the woman was doing here, or how she got here, but he needed to know.

Theo approached Throk’s workshop timidly. He waved at Throk and the tworgnothi woman, smiling. “Hey.”

“Ah, there he is,” the woman said. Her voice wasn’t as cold as he had expected. There was a brightness that radiated the ideals of Tworgnoth. It was a pleasant change, compared to both drogramathi and zagmoni concepts. She had black hair like most dronon, with copper-colored skin. Like a true child of the demon artificer, she wore a work apron, heavy boots, and a pair of thick leather gloves.

“Theo!” Throk shouted. “About time you came poking your head in. This is… how did you pronounce it?”

The woman laughed. “Tweliagia. Most who speak Qavelli have trouble with it. Call me whatever you like.”

“Lia,” Throk said. “We’ll just take the middle part of your cursed name so us southlanders can pronounce it.”

“Theo,” the alchemist said, reaching a hand out. Lia shook it, nodding. “I didn’t expect to see another dronon. Not with the undead.”

“Right. I was working in the Khahari Desert when my lord called me here. He said there was a lizard-folk man who wanted a [Tworgnoth Artificer’s Core],” Lia said, smiling at the marshling. “He also thinks I can help with the incursion.”

“She’s damned skilled, Theo!” Throk shouted, puffing with pride. “Puts my work to shame.”

Tia smiled, patting Throk on the head. He seemed to melt a little. “He’s doing his best with what he has. An unaligned core won’t compete with a demon core, after all.”

“Please. If you need anything at all, let us know. We have access to Tworgnothi Copper, Drogramathi Iron, and an alloy made of the two. Anything for a child of Tworgnoth.”

Lia smiled, nodding. “Do you treat all wandering dronon so nicely?”

“We have had no wandering dronon,” Theo said. “Just a priestess of Drogramath and some Zagmon assassins.”

Lia’s face darkened slightly. “I heard about what Zagmon did. He deserves what he got. Just because we’re considered demons doesn’t mean we can’t get along with the other races. Don’t you think?”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Theo said. His excitement for meeting another dronon was too high, and he recognized that. The alchemist took a breath, calming himself. She might have been a servant of a friendly dronon god, but that didn’t mean he could spill all his secrets. “Once again, you’re welcome to stay as long as you need. If you need some cash, we’ll provide it. You’re giving Throk a splendid gift.”

“Yeah. Bumping elbows with demon gods,” Throk said, snorting a laugh. “Not something I expected to do.”

“I appreciate your hospitality,” Lia said, bowing her head. “I’ll be around for a while.”

The thing Theo wanted more than anything was to house more dronon. He wanted the Southlands Alliance to be a safe place for them to live. A place where they could stop running and settle down. There weren’t many people in the world who hunted the race down. Not with the Eye being destroyed. But the thousands of years before that had etched into the very bones of all dronon. It was now a reflex to run away. Lia seemed different, though.

“If you don’t mind me asking… are there more tworgnothi in the desert?”

“A few,” Lia said with a shrug.

“I want to find the scattered dronon. Give them a place to stay.”

“That’s noble.”

Theo felt awkward after that. Lia wasn’t as excited about it as him. He smiled politely, then excused himself from the artificer’s workshop. Lia was helping Throk work on his various designs. With the support of the Demon God of Artificers, he could do great things. That required time, and practice.

“Wow, that was weird,” Tresk said, appearing at Theo’s side. “And she was nice. Way nicer than Zarali.”

“Yeah. She was,” Theo said. He stood at the town center, deciding on a direction to travel. “Aren’t you working?”

“I’m on my mandated break,” Tresk said. “What are you doing today?”

“Upgrading buildings. Which is kinda fun.”

“I’m all about upgrading buildings. What do we have?”

“Ziz and his guys maintain their own levels, so not them. Throk is responsible for his crap, so not him. What about the school?”

“Is that your responsibility?”

“According to the contract it is.”

“Since Sledge is gonna have her babies, it’s a good idea. We’ll need to expand the crap out of that school.”

The school was a good place to start. Theo made his way over, standing outside of the play yard. Kids of all races and ages were playing in the mud, which had become something of a tradition. Bob was somewhere nearby, doing his best to keep the kids in line. As expected, the school’s level hadn’t budged since the last time Theo upgraded it. It was level 15 with three upgrades. [Dormitories] made a comfortable area for the kids to stay. That upgrade was vital for the orphans, who had nowhere else to call home. [Play Yard] was a no-brainer, it gave the kids a safe area to play outside. And [Speedy Education] allowed Bob to teach them easier. That was the most important one, as it reduced the amount of staff they needed to teach the kids.

Tresk lingered around the area while Theo shoved cores into the seed core building. Bob came outside the fenced, shouting angrily as the building jumped beneath his feet.

“I’ve got sleeping babies in here!”

“Sorry,” Theo said, smiling. “But I’m making your building bigger.”

“Ugh. They’re already awake, I guess.”

First was the Level 20 upgrade option. Since Bob was already there, Theo consulted with him on what the best upgrade would be. Thankfully, the first one was easy to pick.

[Second Floor]

Adds a second floor to the school. The operator of this building can designate what the rooms on this floor are used for.

“More space is always better,” Bob said.

Theo agreed. The more people they got in town, the more kids there were. He continued to add cores to the building, reading the new option for level 25 out for Bob to hear. The teacher was interested in the new option.

[Shelter]

Adds a basement level to the school. This basement is highly resistant to damage, providing a safe shelter. All sapient beings under the age of 12 that enter this room will take less damage, become less fearful, require less food and water, and become well rested easily.

This was perfect. One problem Theo had faced in the past was keeping people safe when a monster wave attacked. Once a boss monster breached the outer walls, everyone in the town was in danger. But the children were especially vulnerable, making this an easy pick. Not only could the kids hide in the shelter, but when the town wasn’t under attack, they could use it for other things.

Theo inserted cores into the building until it reached level 30. This was as far as he intended to get any building in town, not wanting to upgrade anything too far. Since it was a matter of having enough [Monster Cores], he didn’t to spend them all in one place. The average level of his high-level monster cores was around 30. Leveling a building beyond that would have diminishing returns. The alchemist read the next upgrade for Bob to pick.

[Nourishing Meals]

All meals eaten by sapient beings under the age of 12 while within the school will be more nourishing. Children who consume food within the school will gain more nutrition from less food.

Quality food wasn’t a problem for Mudball Fundamental. But Bob was insistent that this was the best pick, so Theo picked it. The educator was happy with the upgrades, and the expanded space of his school. Since each level added a few feet of space to a building, he now had a lot more floor space to work with. Added onto that were the two new floors.

“Thanks, Theo,” Bob said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have babies to get back to sleep.”

Theo nodded, watching as the brogling went off to his duties. The alchemist inspected the building before moving on.

[School]

[Mudball Fundamental]

Owners: Alise Plumm

Operator: Graplaptappin Tublubbin Grappin

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 30 (92%)

Rent Due: SUSPENDED

Expansions:

[Dormitories]

[Play Yard]

[Speedy Education]

[Second Floor]

[Shelter]

[Nourishing Meals]

At least the administrators had figured out how to suspend rent. Alise and Theo were on the same page about that. The money earned from taking rent from citizens was minimal. It was better to give those people the tools to do something profitable, then tax them there. The difference between the approaches was drastic. Ziz’s operation was taxed at a flat rate at the end of his production cycles. That tax was based on the amount of money he made from sales. Dead Dog Mine was taxed completely differently. The state owned the mine, which meant the individual workers were not taxed at all. Instead, they were paid for their production. Broken Tusk itself processed the ore, then sold the ingots.

With Dead Dog Mine on his mind, Theo headed south. He passed by the cluster of smelters operated by Nira, waving at the people within from a distance. He didn’t care for the heat of the smelters. Even with his fancy coat. The alchemist passed through a small neighborhood outside of the mine. Most people who worked the mine wanted to be closer, resulting in a spotty neighborhood that rolled over the hills, seemingly without order. Several miners were outside of the entrance, lingering with golems and adventurers alike. Security had increased ever since they discovered the cave system below.

“Hello,” Theo said, waving at the group. They waved back, and he got to work on the upgrades.

Dead Dog Mine was at level 10. One of the lowest in town. Theo was embarrassed that it had taken him this long to get to the mine, but things had been busy. He sorted through his inventory, ordering the remaining [Monster Cores] he had on him. The alchemist was almost out of low-level cores, and his supply of high-level cores was dwindling. The mine currently had two upgrades. [Miner Fortitude] made the workers less tired when they mined. [Automatic Deposit] made it so that any nuggets mined would appear in a [Dimensional Storage Crate] outside of the mine. Both were great upgrades, and the other two options given were pretty interesting. The mine hit level 15, presenting him with three options.

[Grom Rang’s Banishment]

Monsters are less likely to find your mine.

[Miner Quickness]

Anyone with a [Miner’s Core] (or variant) will move 25% faster within the mine.

[Rock And Stone]

Anyone with a [Miner’s Core] (or variant) will clear away rock and stone 50% faster.

[Grom Rang’s Banishment] and [Miner Quickness] were both older upgrades. [Rock And Stone] was the new one, and Theo didn’t know which was better. Monsters weren’t really an issue anymore, so he dismissed the first one. He couldn’t decide if it was better to move faster, or to clear stone away faster. He polled the nearby miners, and went with their recommendation. They claimed that [Miner Quickness] would help them a lot, especially since the mine had expanded considerably. It took them too long to get to the bottom floors, and it had annoyed them for some time.

Theo added more cores until the mine hit level 20. He was presented with the old options again, and a new one. By now, a crowd of miners had formed around him. They had an interest in making sure he picked the right options, so he didn’t blame them. He read the upgrades out for everyone to hear, resulting in an indistinct murmur of conversation. The alchemist inspected the new option.

[Grom Rang’s Tenacity]

After working in the mine for an hour, anyone with a [Miner’s Core] (or variant) will gain an increase to their Strength and Vigor. This effect increases every thirty minutes, up to eight hours.

The miners normally worked four to six hour shifts, so they agreed this would be the best option. Theo selected it, smiling to himself as the miners discussed the upgrade options. He had never seen them so involved in the process. But perhaps they had never been given the chance. The mine hit level 25 with ease, presenting him with yet another option.

[Escape]

Once per day, anyone with a [Miner’s Core] (or variant) working in the mine may instantly teleport to the entrance. This ability costs no mana and casts instantly.

There was an uproar for that option. Every miner assembled agreed that this option was awesome. They gave their opinions as to why that was. Gridgen had created so many tunnels that ran so deep that getting to the surface was a problem. When a person’s shift was done, they wove a path through the maze-like mine to reach the surface. Several miners claimed they had been lost in the mines before, forcing them to hunker down for the night. As Theo wasn’t interested in forcing his people to sleep in the cold mine, he picked that option.

“One more,” Theo said. The crowd cheered. He fed the last few cores to the mine and read the option for everyone to judge.

[Rail Carts]

Magical rails, complete with magical rail carts, appear within the mine. The rail carts are powered by coins or motes and can be summoned by anyone using a [Miner’s Core] (or variant). These carts can only be summoned at the entrance, allowing a miner to ride to their intended section of the mine with ease. The carts vanish after all occupants disembark.

The crowd went nuts. Once again, this was an option that improved the quality of the miners’ lives. They theorized on how amazing the upgrade would be, or how fast the carts would go. But the one thing they all agreed on was that Theo should pick that option. The alchemist was happy to obey, selecting [Rail Carts] as his last upgrade for the mine. Theo inspected the mine now that he was done upgrading it.

[Mine]

[Dead Dog Mine]

Owners: Theo Spencer

Operator: Gridgen Dev

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 30 (2%)

Rent Due: SUSPENDED

Ore Type:

Copper

Iron

Drogramathi Iron

????

Ore Quality: Perfect

Expansions:

[Miner Fortitude]

[Automatic Deposit]

[Miner Quickness]

[Grom Rang’s Tenacity]

[Escape]

[Rail Carts]

While they still hadn’t found silver or gold, things were looking up for the mine. Nothing in the system’s description of the building included the cave below. But Theo understood that to be some weird stuff created by Khahar back in the day. He left the mine before the crowd got too rowdy, heading back to his manor for some rest. The alchemist wasn’t sure when Tresk had slipped away, but that was how she worked.

Theo settled into the garden behind his manor, finding a shaded spot to sit. The heat of the day only seemed to increase, no matter where he sat. Thanks to his comfortable coat, the weather felt perfect. That wasn’t the case for everyone, though. Somewhere in the distance, he could feel both Alex and Tresk suffering from the heat.