The Newt and Demon - Book 5 Chapters 31,32,33 (Patreon)

Chapter 31

More Golems

The sound of the dwarven smith Thim’s hammer rang out in the early morning. He formed it into a spherical cage of Drogramathi Iron, magically setting glowing hunks of iron into place with his class core. Theo watched nearby. Artisans were always happy to get rush orders because they got paid rush prices. With Tresk’s move last night, most of the alchemist’s golems had been destroyed. The sudden sway of willpower had annihilated their containment cores, ruining the monster cores within.

But it was a good time to reorder his ranks of golems, anyway.

“How’s that?” Thim asked, limping over to produce a still-hot iron cage.

“What happened to your leg?” Theo asked as he inspected the cage. Of course the containment core was perfect. Thim had made more improvements to the design. The more he understood the way Drogramathi Iron worked, the better his skill with the material became.

“Old war wound. Acts up sometimes,” Thim grunted. “How many do you need?”

“Ten, please.” Theo backed away from the hot metal, then withdrew his payment from his inventory. He took a bit more gold out. “Better make it twenty.”

Thim laughed. “Always easy doing business with you, Theo. Say, I have a question…”

Thim wanted to expand his blacksmithing operation. He claimed there was a seed core building that was aligned with Borhig, the Dwarven God of Blacksmiths. Theo was reminded of an elf that had arrived on the Wavecrest. That person had claimed to have experience doing core smithing, but it turned out to be useless to the town. While the elf had served as an assistant to a coresmith, they had never done the job themselves. That meant the only way they could get an aligned seed core building was to find one from a dwarven coresmith.

“And where are we going to find one of them?” Theo asked, leaning against the smithy while Thim worked.

“Well, we just have to get a messenger to the mountainhomes.”

Theo just smiled. Dwarves had always been a mystery. While dwarves were happy to spend their lives with the other races, most of them talked about those mountainhomes. “And where is the nearest mountainhome?”

“Technically, Gronro-Dir. But that tiny town is nothing compared to the others. No, we’ll want to get in touch with the forts near the spine, or those gracing the southern mountains in the Qavelli Region.”

“Which means,” Theo clapped his hands together. “We have to clear the undead corruption.”

“Ah. Yeah.”

“Let me know when my containment cores are done, please. I’m off to be yelled at by my administrators.”

“Hah! Better you than me.”

Theo nodded, leaving the smithy. Of course Alise wanted a meeting with Theo. She had requested that Tresk show up to the meeting too, but the little marshling refused. She had a ‘catch me if you can’ mentality, which the alchemist wasn’t against. He took the long way to the town hall, stopping by a few places before finally arriving. The meeting was already ongoing, and everyone stopped talking when he entered the room. With a shrug, he sat and listened to the state of the realm.

To his surprise, Theo found Alise didn’t mind the late night disturbance. She was more interested in the heavenly implications of the act.

“No one here knows what’s going on in the palaces of the gods,” Alise said with a weak shrug. “And you don’t seem eager to give reports on those matters.”

Theo cleared his throat. “I only bring things up when you guys need to know.”

“Perhaps you should consider that we need to know more than you’re saying,” Gwyn said with a flat look.

“Well, that’s fair…”

Theo had to think for a moment before explaining what was going on in the heavens. He really had little to report. Khahar had brought order to the heavens with an iron fist. It was the only way the Arbiter could get everyone in line, and it was working for now. What the alchemist didn’t know was Khahar’s endgame. He had taken the Throne of the Arbiter, setting it up so that Fenian grabbed the Throne of the Herald right after him. Then he put things in motion to sit both Theo and Tresk on a throne each.

“Why?” Theo asked. “I don’t know. Remaking the universe at the worst and fixing all the weird rules in the system at best.”

“That’s less information than I expected,” Alise said.

Gael drummed his fingers on the table. After a pause, he shrugged. “I see why you’re not sharing much about the heavens.”

“Tero’gal is very insular. The gods come to have tea and eat sweet things. They’re pretty guarded with their information. That’s just how the rules work.”

“Good. Very good. We’ll move on to other matters,” Alise said. She clicked her tongue when Theo went to stand. “This one concerns you, Theo. Ziz’s newest project has failed spectacularly.”

Theo sat down again, raising an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“Building a bridge across the sea is harder than expected. He set one section as a test, and it collapsed when a very minor storm swept through.”

“That’s a setback…”

“Indeed. He’s back to the drawing board on that project for now. I suggest you have a talk with him about it.”

“Will do.”

The meeting went on. These meetings were so boring that it made Theo want to fall asleep at the table. But he had enough respect for what these people were doing to stay awake. These slogs of meetings were necessary to keep the alliance running and were designed to make sure each citizen was getting what they needed. Mercifully, the meeting didn’t go on for too long. The alchemist left, heading over to the smithy to collect some of the wares he had ordered. With containment cores in hand, it was time to create new golems.

Theo assessed his current need for golems. The Small Farm, operating outside of the walls, needed four lesser golems or two of the upgraded version. The mine required exactly none. Those metal golems he had constructed to guard the place had become obsolete thanks to adventurer involvement. The greenhouses behind the Newt and Demon required anywhere between one and two lesser golems, and one upgraded version would take care of the place nicely. Based on his intuition, the alchemist could handle eight to ten, depending on how much will he siphoned from Tero’gal.

“Four golems here, four roaming the necromantic wasteland? Sounds good,” Theo said, nodding to himself. He cracked his knuckles,leaving the spot to gather his supplies.

The first stop was Throk’s workshop. The marshling had been working on more batteries and siphon artifices, stocking the work area with his creations. Theo bought everything he had on hand, along with the excess copper bars. Next stop was the Newt and Demon, where Salire was working the shop on the first floor. The alchemist waved politely, then ascended to the second floor to treat his containment cores and create Hallow Ground constructs. The second floor was always more dreary, never seeming to get enough light without the help of candles. Annoyed with the somber room, he relocated to the third floor.

Several stills on the top floor of the building were bubbling away. Salire had her experiments running in three of the stills, leaving others free for the production of Hallow Ground potions. Theo paused before moving forward, tapping his foot as his thoughts gathered. The hovering platform project wasn’t moving forward as quickly as he would like. Mass production wasn’t working, and he decided the path forward for now was the golems. The single golem he had roaming the area north of Gronro had done excellent work. How about four of them?

Treating the containment cores was easy enough. Theo selected eight Monster Cores to insert into his creations. There was a creature called a Fald Scryer, which had served as an excellent base for his previous Plant Golem. The scryer’s core was aligned with wisdom, making them excellent herbalists. For his metal golems, destined to be sent to Gronro, he selected Level 20 Goblin Spellflinger cores. One of the rare magic-casting goblins, the Spellflingers were aligned with intelligence. And any creature roaming the corrupted area would need sharp decision-making skills.

After assembling his materials, Theo bumped into Salire on his way out of the lab.

“Oh! Any direction, boss?” she asked, smiling.

Theo tapped his chin, trying to think of something for her to do. Salire was great at self-study, and rarely needed direction. “Could you prepare the materials for another Hallow the Soil run? I think you can make the Suffuse Potion on your own, right?”

“Yeah, I can manage that.”

“I need to go to Gronro to replace my golem, and refresh the ward on the town.”

“Sounds good,” Salire said, moving off. She was already withdrawing materials from the spatial storage crates before he even got to the door.

As Theo left the Newt and Demon, he thought how far she had come. Not by being a champion, like he was, but through sheer determination. He gathered plant material in his greenhouses, picking out the burned-out core of his destroyed golems. The containment cores had been destroyed almost entirely, leaving piles of ash where the golems once were. The alchemist created one Plant Golem for his greenhouses and mushroom caves, inserting the battery and siphon into the seething mass of plant material. After a moment, the creature rose, linking to the lodestone network and awaiting orders. A beat later, and it accessed the already-existing orders in the nearby lodestone network.

Theo turned from the greenhouses, heading directly for his small farm. The golems that had been destroyed there burned some of the wheat. He created two Plant Golems for that small farm, and ensured they drew from the right instructions in the lodestones before moving on. That was the entire point of the farm. The alchemist didn’t want to touch it. He didn’t want to put his hands on a single stalk of wheat, or get his hands dirty in any way. It was absolutely self-run by the golems, and would remain that way forever.

The farm was a small experiment on that front. With enough lodestones and borrowed will from Tero’gal, Theo could run most of the town with golems. The quarry, sawmill, mine, and even the large farm could be operated by golems alone. Perhaps when Salire took the constructs skill, they could expand the golem-run things in town. For now, he would focus half of his capacity on removing the corruption.

“Rowan, Sarisa?” Theo asked.

Sarisa popped out of nowhere, coming to stand beside the alchemist. “Yes?”

“Let’s take a trip,” Theo said, double-checking his inventory. He had the materials to create the Fire Construct required for metal golem construction, and the accompanying metal. “Off to Gronro.”

“Sounds good.”

Sarisa fell in line behind Theo as they headed for the station. The train was half-way between the towns, giving them a moment of respite before heading off.

“How do you like the job, so far?” Theo asked.

Sarisa shrugged. “More boring than I expected. We’re still treating it as though you’ll be ambushed at any moment.”

“Might be better that way,” Theo said, feeling an uncomfortable itch spread across his midsection.

Sarisa sighed. “Wish we could have been there when those Zagmon goons attacked you.”

“To see Fenian fight?” Theo laughed. “That was something else.”

Sarisa paused for a long moment. Theo could feel as though she had something to say, but was holding it back. In true half-ogre form, she couldn’t help herself. “Seems unfair. Powerful people gravitate toward you.”

“Yuri set most of that up. Everyone here knows him as Khahar, but I knew him back before all this. He always had a knack for fixing things, and I guess he sees the system in the same way.”

“You really think our system is broken?” Sarisa asked, somewhat incredulous.

“Yeah. Take a look in the history books. What little there is. Or gaze northward, to where Qavell once was.”

Sarisa grunted, then nodded. “Decent point. How would you fix it?”

Theo had to think about that one. Shouting for change was one thing, but enacting it? There were so many little things at play in this world that it was hard to say how to fix it. “Limit a person’s lifespan to start. Maybe break up the progression of leveling to make it clear how the realms of power work.”

“What’s a realm of power?”

Theo laughed, shaking his head. He explained his observations on the way the system worked. Every 10 levels, there was a jump in power. But that wasn’t even the worst part about the system. “If I could only change one thing, it would be the way Wisdom and Intelligence work. I found a solution for my Wisdom, but… Well, as my Intelligence gets closer to 30, I feel myself slipping away. I’m finding it harder to care about things.”

“You drank a potion, right? Just drink another.”

“You can only drink one soul potion.”

“Bummer.”

The train arrived with merciful timing. Theo and Sarisa boarded, and then they were off to Rivers, then Gronro. Throk still hadn’t sorted out the problem of a windshield for the train. And the alchemist didn’t care for being whipped by a constant drive of hot wind. The temperature got slightly better when the train made its stop in Rivers. A few people got on, headed north. Dropping slightly more, the temperature was far more pleasant up in Gronro. The high altitude wasn’t enjoyable, but disembarking the train was the highlight of the alchemist’s day.

“What are we doing here?” Sarisa asked, standing with Theo outside the stone walls of Gronro-Dir.

“Golems and wards,” Theo said, sucking in some fresh mountain air. “Talking with Grotgrog Stormfist as well, if he has anything to say about it.”

Sure enough, Grot came trotting through the south-facing gate before Theo could even enter the town. The dwarf with his bushy beard bounced on the spot, smiling as he shook the alchemist’s hand.

“Your demon magic is working wonders!” he shouted, slapping Theo on the lower-back. The alchemist’s tail swished defensively, swatting at the dwarf’s hand. “Lively one.”

Theo proceeded forward, and Grot fell in line beside him. “The ward really scoured this place clean, didn’t it?”

“Yep. And your golem cleared the entire mountain pass up. Before it exploded.”

“Sorry about that.”

Gronro-Dir was the most dwarven town Theo had ever visited. Well, he had only visited four towns during his time in this world. While none of the town was built under the mountain, most of the buildings were constructed into the side of the crags on either side. Those buildings standing free were made from the same gray stone that entombed the place.

“I read a report that Qavell is approaching,” Grot said, scoffing. “What kind of horrid human magic are they weaving up there?”

“Nothing good. You’re stocked with my new shots, right?”

“We are. Loaded up in those fancy weapons you sent us. Ready to fire at anything that flies.”

Those were the orders. Anything found in the skies above the alliance’s territory was to be shot down with Theo’s new constructs. The administration had already cleared the action with the other nations they were in contact with. Both Bantein and Partopour had been warned, and a message was sent to the Khahari without response. Anyone violating the airspace only had themselves to blame.

Theo was most eager to tour the northern wall of the town. He ascended the battlements with Grot and Sarisa, looking out over a changed scene. The foul miasma that had once hung in the air had been cleared entirely. The alchemist saw a distinct line in the distance where his golem had been clearing, and the puddle of metal it left behind.

“For the first time, Archduke Spencer, I offer you a tour over the bridge!” Grot shouted, slapping Theo’s back again. “Come on!”

Theo and Sarisa joined him, crossing the bridge. On either side were chasms that seemed to go on forever. The stone bridge they crossed was sturdy, but still held the purified bones of some undead. After crossing the bridge, they stood on the open rocky fields of Murder Passage. Mountains rose on either side. This was a monumental moment for the alchemist. His golem had cleared more area than he could have hoped. He could only wonder what four of them would accomplish.

Withdrawing materials from his inventory, Theo turned to Grot. “I’ll send you a message if the golems get out of the lodestone’s range. The pole with the crystal on the end? You’ll have to move that closer to them if they get too far.”

“I can do that,” Grot nodded.

The first step to constructing metal golems was to pile bars of metal on the ground. Theo placed four equal piles of metal on the ground, then got to work on the containment cores. Once those were inserted, he placed a Fire Construct in each, then stepped back. Each pile burst into flames, the intense fire turning those bars into molten metal. Each formed into the general shape of a humanoid. The alchemist’s shoulders slacked as the intense weight of the creatures drew on his willpower. After a moment, they connected to the lodestone and eased the burden.

Once the golems swapped over to their battery, each stood at attention. Theo repositioned the lodestone, then prepared himself to ward all four golems. While casting the Deflect necromantic Magic ward didn’t cost much mana, it was taxing when applied to things with their own will. Casting it on the town took a lot out of him, but not so much the golems. Silver barrier sprung up around each golem as Theo warded them, chugged Mana Potions, and repeated the process. After checking that each of their siphons and batteries were working, he sent them off to clean the mountain pass.

“Three more than last time,” Grot said, laughing. “They’ll have the continent cleaned in a day!”

Theo wasn’t so sure about that. But the golems would do an even better job cleaning the area than the last ones. These were built with power siphons, which would pull necromantic energy from the air and convert it to mana. While that might corrupt the golems, the ward they brought with them would certainly do a lot to take care of any residual corruption. The alchemist turned away from the mountain pass, smiling at the dwarven duke.

“We’re getting there, Grot. Slowly.”

Chapter 32

The Pale Elf

Theo let out a sigh of relief as he departed from the train. The conductor laughed as he stepped off, allowing others to board before resuming his back-and-forth path. Standing there with Sarisa, the alchemist spotted a familiar face grinning from near the gate. Azrug waved as the duo approached, looking unapologetic in his fancy clothes. The more time that passed, the more the young man looked like Fenian. Too many ruffles for one half-ogre.

“I got a problem,” Azrug said, providing no other greetings. He pushed off the stone wall, beckoning Theo to follow him.

With a shrug, Theo followed the merchant. Azrug had done some interesting things lately. He had two businesses in town. His item shop earned him the bulk of his coin, while his stables were effectively bankrupt. No one ran beasts overland anymore, and the only creatures to take care of in town were the wolves, karatan, and pozwa in Miana’s ranch. But he had taken the failure in stride, focusing on his item shop.

“So, are you going to share your problem? Or is it a secret?” Theo asked.

“Ah. Well, I think you’ll just want to see it first. Just a quick walk to the farm.”

This gave Theo a chance to view a part of the town he wished he frequented more often. Traveling north from the main road, he got to see Xam’s tavern and bathhouse. Next up was the school on the left and the tightly packed neighborhood on the right. The farmer’s hill rose in the distance. That place was a remnant of some powerful mage back in the day. The wizard had diverted the river, raising the land to allow people to farm. That was before the town was made into a seed core town for the Kingdom of Qavell.

Theo, Azrug, and Sarisa climbed the hill to the farmer’s fields. At first, everything seemed normal. Fields of zee were growing in their various states. Farmhands scratched their heads at the edge of fields, shrugging on occasion. Banu himself just leaned against the farmhouse, shaking his head.

“Notice anything weird?”

Theo didn’t remember when Azrug got in the habit of playing weird games like this. He approached the field, brushing his hand against the stalks of zee. Then he noticed the beads of fruit growing near the stems of leaves. Larger than a grain of processed wheat, they were covered in something like corn silk and smelled sweet. After a moment of thought, the alchemist realized what had happened.

“They hybridized on their own?” he asked, clicking his tongue. “How did that happen? My wheat field is pretty far.”

“Who knows?” Azrug asked, plucking one bundle of fruit from the stalk. He held it out for Theo to inspect.

[Throk’s Weed]

[Alchemy Ingredient] [Hybrid Plant]

Epic

A unique hybrid plant created from a zee plant and wheat plant. This plant combines the healing properties of both zee and wheat.

Properties:

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

Theo gave Azrug a flat look. “Throk isn’t going to like that.”

A smile spread across the young merchant’s face. “Thought you’d like that.”

Inspecting the plant, Theo found there to be no issues. As far as zee went, it was a weird plant. The fruit normally grew at the top, resulting in a few large kernels, depending on the individual plant. The fruit here grew on the sides, near where the leaves sprouted. But so long as the yield was similar or better, there shouldn’t have been an issue.

“So, what’s the problem?” Theo asked.

“We need to know if this stuff is safe to sell. And eat.”

Theo had the impression that being dragged here was solely for Azrug’s amusement. He held the plant in his hand, glaring at the merchant as he deconstructed the reagent. It went up in a plume of smoke; the ashes falling to the ground. It revealed the Efficient Healing property, which was in line with both wheat and zee. While the alchemist had never seen the property, he could assume it was safe. He repeated the process, finding the next two properties to be Efficient Regeneration and Aura.

“I don’t see any negative properties. Do we have a grown version of the crop?”

“Hey Banu!” Azrug shouted, waving the farmer over.

Banu trotted across the farm, dabbing his forehead with a cloth. “Yeah?”

“Tell him how fast it spread.”

“Yeah. Like a wave,” Banu said, chuckling nervously. “Plants just started being different.”

“I don’t see a problem with farming Throk’s Weed… Ugh… But you’re saving kernels from the same field, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

Theo knelt near a plant, inspecting the way it grew from the ground to the top. Depending on how large the fruit got, the hybrid plant might produce more than the old version. It hardly seemed to matter, though. There was no going back from where they were. Every field in the farm had been infested with Throk’s Weed.

“Do you have any untainted samples on hand?” Theo asked.

“Just a few. Not enough to replant quickly.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. Hand the samples over to me and I’ll get it sorted.”

Banu ran off to grab what few unchanged samples of zee he had stashed away. The plan for those was simple. Under closer observation, Theo could make sure they didn’t randomly hybridize into another plant. This was honestly the best outcome, considering the concept of monsterized plants. At any point, a plant could monsterize if given the right condition. The only conditions Theo had found for that was the introduction of too much growth-stimulating potions. That’s why they relied on the power of seed core buildings instead of alchemy.

Once Theo had his samples, he stowed them in his inventory and chatted with both Azrug and Banu. The merchant seemed excited to name more random things, but his Loremaster class core had given him insights on more than just items. Each new thing he discovered gave him insight into the history of the land. He joined with the alchemist on his path north, to the quarry, and shared the tales he had learned.

“I mean, we’re all aware of the original seeding of the world. From what those old people let slip,” Azrug said, picking at his teeth lazily. “But just consider how much stuff has happened here. Wars were fought. Kingdoms rose and fell. My core has been drip-feeding me information about the kingdom that was here before Balkor’s fall.”

“Really?” Theo asked. “How old was that kingdom?”

“Pretty old, compared to the length of time kingdoms normally last. The longest lasting single-body government in the world has to be the Tarantham Empire. That only works because they’re always killing each other in small batches. The system won’t give me the name for the place that was here before us, but it spanned the entire continent.”

Theo was aware, to a lesser extent, of this kingdom. He knew that the Qavelli language was based on whatever came before. Something he tried not to think about often were the bones they stepped on every day. It struck too close to home.

“Did you learn anything interesting? How vague is the system when it tells you about the old kingdom?”

“Journal entries. Bits from old books. Folk tales. I got one page from the king of that kingdom. King, leader… whatever. It was so mundane. Aside from the invasion from the north.”

“Maybe it’ll go back further in time the higher your core gets.”

“That’s my hope. It’s not really useful, but very fun to read all that old stuff.”

The group was approaching the quarry. The sound of chipping stone and grunting half-ogres issued over the sloped hillside. Ziz and his boys were forming slabs of stone into blocks. Despite their failure with the bridge, he had a big smile on his face when he spotted the alchemist.

“Theo! How are ya?”

“Good. Just came to check on my favorite stonemasons.”

“We’re the only stonemasons…” one elf muttered. The half-ogres around him laughed.

Ziz’s workers had expanded recently. Unsurprisingly, they were still almost all half-ogres. But the influx of elves had resulted in those fair people joining his ranks. It wasn’t simple work. Working the quarry was back-breaking labor that required them to dump attribute points into Strength and Vigor.

“You heard about the bridge. Didn’t you?” Ziz asked.

Theo smiled. “I heard it was a massive failure.”

“Yep.” Ziz stretched, seeming almost apathetic to the colossal failure. “When we set the platform on the pillars, the waves and the wind just knocked it over. Can you imagine that much stone tumbling over from the weather?”

“The amount of stone required to make the pillars sturdy is too grand,” Azrug said, waving his hand through the air. “The entire project is a boondoggle.”

“Yeah, but it was fun,” Ziz shrugged. “We’re setting our sights on more manageable projects. Just keeping busy and stockpiling stone before we come up with something better.”

“Good to hear it didn’t crush your spirits,” Theo said, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Hah! Never!” Ziz shouted, striking a pose.

The group chatted for a while, but Azrug was dragged away by his duties. Theo carried on polite conversation with Ziz. The problem with the alchemist’s work today had his mind spinning. Plants rarely hybridized in his greenhouses and mushroom caves, but it had happened before. That event resulted in the creation of Azrug’s Truffle. While the new reagent was interesting, it spoiled an entire batch of Swamp Truffles. Further study was required to understand what was going on.

Theo left the quarry after a while, walking with Sarisa back to the Newt and Demon. He planned to clear space in his greenhouses for the untainted zee kernels, but a dedicated greenhouse would be better. That way, they could keep all their baseline samples safe from the ravages of random hybridization. Until someone with a magical carriage that could traverse dimensions arrived, that wasn’t possible. Perhaps traders would bring seed cores with their ships, but that had not been happening.

Sorting through the tangle of overly large plants in one greenhouse, Theo found a spot to plant one zee kernel. This seemed like a lot of effort to preserve something that closely resembled giant corn, but the zee had cultural roots in the region. The last thing Theo wanted to do was to strip away the culture that half-ogres and marshlings had built here. He kept the remaining kernels in his inventory, preserving them for as long as he held them there. After offloading some junk in his own inventory, and clearing out some crap in the Tara’hek shared inventory, he turned away from the greenhouses.

“Interesting,” a cool voice came from around one greenhouse. Theo recognized it, after a moment of thought, as belonging to the pale elf, Twist.

“Are you allowed on the surface?” Theo asked, moving to catch sight of the masked elf.

Twist stood there in white robes, hood pulled up over his head. His clothes were tattered from the years, ripped and torn in various spots. Especially around the sleeves. But no part of the elf was exposed to the sun hanging above. He jabbed a thumb back toward a group of Broken Tusk adventurers. “With an escort. Your reagent farming operation is interesting. Using golems to care for them is smart.”

“Are you an alchemist?” Theo asked, walking away from the spot. Twist followed, forcing his minders to follow as well.

“No.”

“I don’t know anything about your people, Twist,” Theo said. He had nowhere to go, but didn’t want the pale elf to linger around his lab. “What do you call yourselves?”

“Not for you to care. Everyone else calls us deep elves, and that’s good enough.”

“Are you related to surface elves?”

“No.”

While Twist was being annoying, that was good information to have. Theo was always interested in learning more about the various races in the world. He could reveal one fact about the deep elves from that statement. Twist could have been misinformed about his race’s origins. The deep elves might have come from the surface elves, but they might draw their lineage from another race. It was also possible that they were a seed race. The alchemist still didn’t understand where any of the lizard-folk came from, or the ogres. Every race that couldn’t track their lineage back to the start could have been another seed race.

“Our Loremaster, Azrug, would be interested in talking to you,” Theo said, moving in no direction in particular. He headed north, toward the harbor.

“Have you made progress on your promise?” Twist asked, ignoring what Theo said completely.

“We have, actually. The path north of Gronro is clearing by the day. I have a few methods to remove the undead, but it is slow.”

“As expected. If you don’t deal with Qavell before you clear the way, I will need to find another path. That is undesirable.”

“If you’ve got a defensive weapon tucked away… somewhere… feel free to bring it out.”

Twist ignored the comment, following Theo up the battlements near the harbor. Several foreign ships were docked there, unloading or loading cargo. The alchemist recognized the flags of Bantein and Partopour, but there was also a much smaller boat belonging to the Khahari. Khahar’s people hadn’t made good on his promise of trade, but it was hard to say how his absence affected them. Broken Tusk would be happy with any trade.

“Why don’t you travel the underground to reach Qavell?” Theo asked the question, but knew the answer.

“Because that’s where my people live. Locked in constant war.”

Theo nodded, but didn’t respond. Instead, he climbed a long staircase down to the harbor below. With Twist still following him like a lost puppy, he talked with several vendors to check their supply of seed cores. It was disappointing to learn that Tarantham was the world’s largest producer of seed cores, and they had stopped exporting when the latest civil war kicked off. One trader had something similar to a greenhouse, but it wasn’t the same. Instead, it was something altogether more interesting.

“I’ve never seen one,” Theo said, holding the Herbalist’s Workshop Seed Core in his hands. “How much?”

Never one for negotiation, the alchemist settled for the over-priced seed core and left the harbor. He made his way to Sledge’s sawmill, but didn’t find her there. The workers directed him to the school instead, where he found the marshling hissing at several children. She was lurking over a wooden crate, stuffed with straw. Inside were a few spotted eggs, roughly the size of Theo’s fist.

“Oh,” Theo said, blinking away his confusion. “Your clutch.”

“My babies,” Sledge hissed, snapping her jaws at the alchemist.

“Think you could get Bob to watch those for a minute? I need a new road.”

“Babies,” Sledge responded, jerking her head toward the clutch.

“Perhaps another day,” Twist said with an amused tone.

Theo left the school without his Fabricator, making his way back to the Newt and Demon. The alchemist had wanted a road running from the main avenue, heading east next to his lab. After his first plan crumbled, he considered the next-best place to put his new workshop. The next building south of the lab was Perg’s tannery. Theo counted out twenty dronon-sized paces before selecting a spot for his new workshop.

“Is this what you do all day?” Twist asked, watching as Theo pressed the seed core into the ground.

“Sometimes. Other times I’m helping folks with stuff. Or brewing potions.”

“Fighting the undead?”

“I don’t really fight,” Theo said, stepping back to watch the seed core grow. Roots sprung from the ground, wrapping around themselves. He had a feeling that this one would take a minute or two to form, even with the help of some Monster Cores. “I just toss bombs. Sometimes knives.”

“Throwing knives can be effective, though.” Twist nodded.

Theo had absolutely no idea why Twist was hanging out on the surface today, but he didn’t like it. Everything he had heard about the deep elves painted them as people who enjoyed waging war more than anything. Mercifully, the elf stopped talking to watch the new seed core form into a building. The roots tangled amongst themselves, and a pulse of recognition radiated from the core. For the first time, the alchemist felt the seed core’s will feeling out around itself. It probed the surrounding buildings with faint willpower, then sent tendrils off to the other buildings. He realized it was getting an impression for the buildings around itself to blend in.

“That’s new…”

Wisps of will pulled back, and the seed core constructed itself. It matched most of the local buildings, forming a stone foundation with wooden walls. Sometimes the seed cores would go for all-stone construction, while other times they would assume a combination of stone and wood. Narrow windows formed near a heavy wooden door, then the roof emerged from a tangle of dark roots. A straight, stone chimney poked from the top of the building, seeming to burst from a blue roof.

“Cute,” Twist said, entering the building without asking Theo’s permission.

“Come right in,” Theo grumbled. “Make yourself at home.”

Chapter 33

Herbalist’s Workshop

Twist had become an annoying carbuncle on Theo’s otherwise-pleasant day. It wasn’t through the deep elf’s words or actions, but his mere presence. He didn’t make noise when he moved, and only spoke when needed. Those things left the alchemist feeling a strange sense of foreboding that he couldn’t shake off. He did everything he could to turn his attention away from the elf to focus on his new building.

The interior was pleasant enough. It was a single room with a fireplace, a table with chairs, and a few shelves for storing things. Very little light found its way through the slitted windows, casting the interior with darkness. Twist enjoyed those shadows, finding his way to a chair and taking a seat. There was a comfortable sense to the workshop that brought a great sense of ease to the alchemist.

“It seems wise to have an herbalism workshop,” Twist said, his single visible eye lingering on various things in the room before moving on.

“I never thought about it,” Theo said. He took stock of his Monster Cores, finding that he had enough to bring the building to at least 10. There were always the vendors selling their wares in the harbor. “But I agree.”

Inserting Monster Cores into the Herbalist’s Workshop, Theo selected each expansion to go behind the building. While there was enough room on either side for both the workshop and the lab to grow, he wanted to be cautious. Monster Cores dwindling in his inventory, the alchemist felt another ripple of will as the first upgrade selection appeared in his vision. The workshop had hit Level 5.

[Radiant Growth]

Plants will grow quicker and larger within a radius based on the Herbalist’s Workshop level.

[Research]

Plants inspected within the workshop will display additional information. The amount of information revealed depends on the level of the workshop. The type of information revealed depends on the cores of the workshop’s owner.

[Tero’gal Inspiration]

The owner of this workshop may select growing areas (including fields, plant beds, pots, etc) to spontaneously grow plants from the realm of Tero’gal.

Twist said something, but Theo ignored him. There was a lot to take in here, and the alchemist wanted to take every one of the upgrades. Sometimes a building would present decent upgrades for the Level 5 upgrade, but these were all great. Radiant Growth would be an easy pick. Everything within the greenhouses would likely grow at an increased rate. Research was also interesting. Theo could only guess as to what kind of information he would get from that one. Tero’gal Inspiration might have been the worst pick, only because he could just go to Tero’gal.

“What are the upgrades?” Twist asked, apparently repeating the thing he said before. He did so in monotone, looking from his comfy chair as though bored.

Theo read the first two out, but made one up for the third. No reason for the random deep elf to know about Tero’gal. “Last one increases the chance of hybridization,” he lied.

“The first is the best,” Twist concluded.

With another chance to get the Research upgrade, Theo agreed. He selected Radiant Growth and got back to shoving Monster Cores into the building. The interior expanded to the east, making the building a quarter as long by the time it got to Level 10. After hitting the next upgrade level, Research and Tero’gal Inspiration appeared alongside a new upgrade. The alchemist inspected that one, reading it out for the strange elf.

[Experimental Garden Plot]

A small garden plot appears behind the workshop. Anything planted within the plot may be closely controlled. Cultivation rate, hybridization rate, growth rate, etc, may all be changed. If the owner of this workshop does not have an herbalist-style core, some features may be restricted.

“That’s what we’re looking for,” Theo said, releasing a contented sigh.

Twist only nodded as the alchemist selected the upgrade. The building rumbled for a moment. Through the narrow windows, Theo saw the garden plot spring up behind the workshop. He was getting a better idea of the purpose of this building the more upgrades he saw. The greenhouses were made to grow plants, but there was a research aspect to the Herbalist’s Workshop. With Level 30 coming up for his Drogramath Herbalist Core, this building might pair perfectly with his next ability.

But Theo’s supply of Monster Cores had run dry, and the day was growing late. He gestured to the door and Twist stood up and slumped to one side.

“The underground is so boring,” Twist groaned.

“Not my problem,” Theo said, smiling from the door.

The pale elf marched out of the building, but stayed there on the road.

“You don’t have to go home,” Theo said, waving and smiling at the elf. “But you can’t stay here.”

Without further warning, Theo allowed himself to slip through the veil of the mortal world. Observing the sensation as he fell, the alchemist felt more at ease in the void than ever. He focused his will, finding it pathetic compared to Tresk, and lingered in the darkness for longer than normal. One could imagine the structure of the mortal realm, void, and the heavens as layers of fabric. Between the heavens and the mortal world was the void. Spanning over that void was the Bridge. After piercing through that thin fabric, a person or spirit could go anywhere they wanted. With the appropriate approval.

Heavenly words within the fabric of the heavens were like planets drifting through a starless universe. Traversing between those things was a matter of will and permission. Theo urged himself forward, only flitting over the Bridge for a moment before moving on to his own realm. The moment he landed, he sensed the presence of other heavenly beings. Drogramath, Uz’Xulven, Glantheir, and Benton were in the expanded cottage. He could smell the scent of confections and brewing tea from the village’s center.

“A few souls for you,” Belgar said, trotting up to greet Theo.

Belgar was completely formed. The form he had created for himself was distinct from his old one. Theo was happy that he didn’t need to stare into a mirror every time he came to his realm.

“Thanks. How are things going?”

“Very well. Foot races have become popular amongst the souls.”

“That sounds fun,” Theo said, imagining the various souls in his realm racing around. He got an idea, but kept it in the back of his mind until later. For now, he was happy to accept the 40 souls into his realm.

“We have a spread this time,” Belgar said, gesturing to the gathering of souls.

When souls gathered in Tero’gal, they always seemed so worn-down. The longer they stayed in the realm without permission, the more of their essence was dragged away by the void. Theo still wasn’t that excited to accept Zagmoni Dronon into his realm, but they seemed repentant. He could cast them into the void if they did anything nefarious, anyway. But there were other interesting souls today. Some elves, humans, and even a stray marshling.

“That’s not a bantari,” Theo said, accepting the marshling into his realm. “Doesn’t look like one from the lizard-islands either.”

“No, I’ve never seen one of their kind. We can ask them in a few days when they have their senses.”

Theo approached one soul and grimaced. They had been torn to shred by the void. The soul was little more than tattered streams of blue-green energy lashing from a central core. “Could you go grab Glantheir. Please?” he asked, turning to Belgar with concern on his face.

“Oh, yeah. Be right back.”

Belgar dashed off, leaving Theo alone with the soul. Seeing a soul’s core was never appealing. It was a small ball of dancing light in their chest, and this soul’s core was weak. He only got a few moments to study the being before Glantheir came to the alchemist’s summons.

“What do we do about souls like this?” Theo asked, gesturing to the tattered ball of energy.

“Ah,” Glantheir said, approaching the soul. He pressed a hand into the core. A moment later, it vanished. “I sent him to the House of Healing for now. He needs time to recover, then he’ll come back here.”

“How does that happen? Too much time in the void?”

“Indeed. When a person dies, their soul enters the void. If they have a strong connection with a god, they will gravitate toward that god. But if they have doubts, or they have been scorn by their god, the journey will be hard.”

“Yet, some souls that come here are years old. Decades. How long can they live in the void?”

“Centuries, or millenia I’d guess.” Glantheir shrugged. “Someone like Khahar could live in the void forever. The strength of their soul core determines… come on.”

Khahar had appeared behind Glantheir, a stern look on his face. “He doesn’t know about that.”

“Well, he does, now.” Glantheir folded his arms. The legendary patience was present nowhere on his face.

“I knew about soul cores,” Theo objected. “Not exactly. But knew that everyone had something in their chest that held their other cores.”

Khahar’s serious expression faded, then he smiled. “Fair enough.”

“Anyway,” Glantheir said, clearing his throat. “He knows about hidden attributes. The soul core is one and it is tied to willpower, dimensional stability… other stuff, too. But that guy will yell at me if I get into the specifics.”

Khahar nodded. “Yes. Yes, I will.”

“Since you’re here, Khahar… Can a spirit ever return to the mortal plane?”

“Yes. But it would be like a soul without a realm entering a realm. They would only last for so long. Mortals have a limited time in the realms, too. Unless you’re a precious, special boy like you.”

“I am special, aren’t I?”

Tero’gal was a great place to get away from the stresses of the mortal realm. When the conversation with the gods died down, he went off to work on the project Belgar inspired. There wasn’t much to it, but his Landscape Manipulation upgrade allowed him to reform the world however he saw fit. The realm had been siphoning power from the souls and collecting ambient energy from the void for a while. The alchemist made his way to the far side of the village built by the souls, looking out over the rolling landscape.

Since the souls had taken up foot-races, Theo thought they might enjoy other leisure activities. He activated the Landscape Manipulation ability, and got to carving. From the village, he carved a wide footpath to the northwest. Along the way, the alchemist created different features. At one point he created a tall hill for the souls to hike up with switchback paths cut into rocky cliff faces. At the top of that hill he carved out a picnic-style area for the souls to observe a sprawling forest below.

“One last touch,” Theo said, poking his finger into the interface. A small pond appeared in the clearing below.

Theo zipped along the trail, adding different landmarks where he saw fit. The trail snaked a path from the village to the Sea of Tero’gal. That’s what the locals had been calling it, anyway. Along the hard-packed earth trail, the alchemist placed clearings where the souls could construct buildings. Caves for them to explore. Cliffs for them to climb. He thought about all the fun things he would want to do if he were here for eternity. The souls here were trapped, in a way. They were saved from the void, but that didn’t take away from their imprisonment. Unless they were accepted by another realm, this was all they had.

At the beach, Theo stood in the sand and looked out over the water. More fish had come to swim those waters. While he knew little about fish from Earth, he could recognize many of the critters living in the forests. Squirrels, rabbits, boars, and so on. All native to Earth, now brought to life here in this realm. The alchemist could feel his time in Tero’gal wearing thin. He sent himself back to the village, then found Belgar chatting with other souls. Everyone seemed excited enough about the trail, and promised to use it for racing each other.

That wasn’t Theo’s intention with the trail, but whatever made them happy. He bid farewell, falling through the veil and landing right back where he started in Broken Tusk. Mercifully, Twist was gone. And the merchants were still in the port. After pilfering some of the profits from his shop, Theo went to the harbor to buy more Monster Cores. Almost every merchant who docked in the harbor seemed to sell the cores, so he bought from the one giving the best price.

The upgrades for the Herbalist’s Workshop had proven to be too interesting for him to resist. Daylight was fading, but Theo wanted to get at least one more level out of the workshop. He headed over, shoving cores into the building until it hit Level 15. Along with the Research and Tero’gal Inspiration upgrades, a new one popped up for his consideration. The alchemist inspected the new upgrade.

[Splicing]

Herbalist-style abilities that combine two (or more) plants will be more successful in a certain radius around the workshop.

Intentionally combining two plants was something Theo had on his mind for a while. The only problem was one of labor and time. It was hard enough keeping up with regular reagents. He couldn’t imagine dealing with a doubling, or tripling of those things. It was still a great upgrade that he intended to pick later, but for now he selected Research. The building shivered with recognition, likely sensing the pile of reagents within his inventory. The alchemist withdrew a Mage’s Bane flower and inspected it.

[Mage’s Bane]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Rare

A flower with anti-magic properties.

Research:

Infused with a mixture of Drogramath and Dreamrealm power.

Fast growth cycle with great anti-magical properties.

Hidden fourth alchemical property.

Properties:

[Resist Magic] [Absorb Magic] [Mana Seep]

That was interesting enough to make it worth taking the upgrade. The description of the upgrade claimed that different information would show up depending on the level of the building and the cores he had in his chest. He already knew about the mixture of powers in the air, but it was nice to see the system confirm that it was both Drogramath and Tero’gal’s energy mingling there. Theo headed off from his new workshop for now, crossing the street to enter his manor.

Tresk had already come home for the night, and was waiting patiently at the table. As patiently as that woman could wait. She was fidgeting endlessly. She looked up from the table, waving at Theo. “Xol’sa and Zarali are coming over for dinner. Think they’re gonna pitch their wedding date.”

Theo found a seat at the massive dining table. “That would be nice.”

“Right? Get some more babies in town. Every baby is a future worker.”

Theo grimaced, but nodded. “Oh, I saw Sledge’s eggs.”

“Did you? She won’t let anyone get near them.” Tresk sighed, shaking her head. “She’ll get over it, but for now I heard Bob is keeping his distance.”

“She hissed at me.”

“You’re lucky she didn’t bite you.”

Zarali and Xol’sa showed up for dinner eventually. Sarisa and Rowan had already served the food, taking their own seats to dig in. It took the lovebirds a while, but they eventually broached the topic of their marriage.

“We’re always putting things off,” Zarali chuckled. “But we’ve settled on a day.”

“The first of Death,” Xol’sa said, nodding.

Theo winced. Setting a wedding on the first day of a season called the Season of Death seemed like a grim portent. But if they were happy with it, he was happy. “Sounds good to me. As long as you’re prepared to move it around.”

“Of course. Things happen,” Zarali said.

“What style of wedding are you guys doing?” Tresk asked, belching after consuming her entire meal in one go.

“A great question,” Zarali said, shooting a glare at Xol’sa.

“Ah. That’s a problem,” Xol’sa chuckled nervously. “I don’t know what my people do for weddings, and dronon don’t get married.”

“Do a Broken Tusk wedding,” Tresk said.

“What does that entail?” Xol’sa asked.

“Lots of fighting. Lots of booze. If someone isn’t seriously injured by the end, it wasn’t a good wedding.”

“No, thank you.” Zarali shook her head.

“Just do your own thing,” Theo said with a shrug. “Make it up as you go along and let me know if you need any support from the town. Everyone likes a festival, anyway.”

The conversation swayed from here to there. Each culture in the world had a different way to do their weddings. By the end of the conversation, Xol’sa and Zarali were talking about picking traditions from several cultures, along with inventing a few of their own. Before taking the Intelligence of the Soul potion, the wizard would have shrunk away from so much responsibility. He seemed positively bubbly now, and it only reminded the alchemist that he needed to find a solution for his own growing Intelligence.

After dinner, Theo, Tresk, and Alex went off to have a hot bath at Xam’s place. The attendants were nice, as always, and a good soak did a lot to remove whatever stress the day brought. Once cleaned and thoroughly hot, the Tara’hek headed off for the Dreamwalk.