The Newt and Demon - Book 5 Chapters 40,41,42 (Patreon)

Chapter 40

Drogramath Dedication

A mossy forest, filled with conifers, smooth boulders, and bubbling streams stretched as far as Theo could see. He touched the bark of one tree, finding it to be a fair recreation of Earth trees. Tresk had pushed herself as far as she could go to imagine the dream landscape, and the alchemist was impressed. While she refused to give up her secrets, there was clear progress in the dream's quality. In the distance, she fought with a creature from the same origin as the forest. Trees crashed. The sound of boulders being split in half from a heavy sword grated against the alchemist’s senses.

Theo moved to a clearing far from the battle, creating his alchemy equipment and getting to work. His day on both the mortal plane and in Tero’gal had been uneventful. The welcome reprieve gave him time to focus on something that now hung tantalizingly close to his grasp. Achieving Level 30 would bring with it a flood of new abilities. One each for alchemy and herbalism, and a free-pick skill. If he was right about the progression in this world, it also meant his other cores would unlock, allowing him to progress in those as well.

After starting the stills and cultivating a decently large plot of land for growing reagents, Theo hesitated. He could spend his time in the Dreamwalk exploiting the features within to find more uses for the Holy modifier. But that had become something Salire enjoyed. Instead, he focused his efforts on finding the reason that the modifier had been so hard to ferment last season. He imagined a table, then a few cultivated Swamp Truffles for experimentation.

Reagents had rarity, but that hardly seemed to impact Theo’s ability to distill or ferment them. A Zee Kernel had just as much of a chance to produce a powerful potion as a Swamp Truffle. And the difference between those reagents was a rarity of common and epic. Reagents with a higher rarity produced potions and modifiers that were harder to come by. The rarity reflected how many of an item existed. Or something like that. The alchemist still didn’t have a handle on how that worked.

The alchemist applied his mana to a truffle, breaking it down into the powdered primal version of Hallow Ground. Smoke rushed upward from the process, dispersing in the air after a few moments. Somewhere between the primal essence on the table and the dissipating smoke was the answer. He performed the same demonstration on a Zee Kernel, finding the quality and scent of the produced smoke to be different enough for note.

“Something about impurities,” Theo muttered to himself, waving away what colored smoke lingered above his head.

Breaking reagents down with the Reagent Deconstruction skill was an interesting example of what made a reagent a reagent. There was a physical component to every reagent. A physical thing a person could hold. Reagents could often be eaten, giving a person a minor version of the property’s effects. More than that, the Reagent Deconstruction skill could extract whole elements from reagents. Theo was never much of a chemist, but he understood enough about trace minerals in plants to know those things were in there. Salt from seawater was the best example he had.

On the magical side of things, all reagents held their three standard properties, and a hidden fourth property. And more, if some of the information Theo had was to be believed. Those two halves of the coin led him to think of the problem coming from the weight of the magical properties. He conducted his experiments that night, thinking on the topic and making only theories. His plan to make sure both his alchemy and herbalist cores hit 30 at the same time faded as he drew his conclusions near dawn.

Theo stood near Tresk’s pitched battle. She was fighting a massive, horned serpent he didn’t recognize. “I think the alchemy system is busted,” he shouted. The marshling performed a rolling spin over the creature’s back, leaving behind a trail of poison and blood.

“Oh, yeah?” Tresk asked, shadow-teleporting away from the snake’s strike. Somewhere above, Alex honked and shot a fireball.

“Yep. All the reagents are in tiers. Which means you have to be at a certain level to work with them properly.”

Tresk was impaled by the snake’s horn. She trashed, kicking at the thing’s face and cursing. The marshling clicked her tongue and the creature vanished. “We almost had it!”

“Did you?” Theo asked.

“Nah. But your reagent theory tracks with what we’ve seen with alchemy. Big smart boy.”

“I am a smart boy aren’t I?”

“If you say you’re a smart boy, you’re no longer a smart boy.”

Theo nodded in agreement. He felt something twinge in his chest, then remembered his ongoing alchemy experiments back in the clearing. A bigger rush filled his chest, almost making the Dreamwalk feel like the real world. A system message appeared.

[Drogramath Alchemy Core] received experience (0.3%).

[Drogramath Alchemy Core] leveled up! Level 30.

Obtained free [Drogramath Alchemy] skill point for hitting level 30 with this core.

“Level up!” Tresk screamed, jumping into the air and pumping her fist. “Guess you missed the train on your herbalist core.”

“I got distracted with alchemy tonight,” Theo said.

Level 30 was unlike any level he had achieved so far. The free skill was great, but there was something else. He recalled feeling a similar sensation when his Tara’hek Core got to Level 30, although it didn’t happen with his Governance Core. Tresk was ready to end the Dreamwalk, which was with him. The alchemist needed time to look over his skill options, and doing so over breakfast was appealing to him. In a flash, the world melted around them until they once again appeared in bed.

Tresk was off before Theo’s eyes could fully open. The alchemist took his time heading downstairs, looking through the endless list of skills he could pick from. He tried not to look at them between level-ups, since most were unavailable for viewing until he hit that level. Otherwise, he was staring at a list of skills he couldn’t pick.

Sarisa had made her standard breakfast, which brought a great sense of comfort to Theo. Most seemed to enjoy a variety of food, but he had always preferred the same thing for breakfast. If he ate breakfast at all. His work on Earth made breakfast the easiest meal to skip, as his early hours always seemed to be crammed with things to do. Here in Broken Tusk, he had time to sit and relax. But that old habit remained and he poked at his food while scrolling through the list. Something had already caught his eye, but he wanted to give the other new entries a fair chance.

“Anything interesting going on today?” Sarisa asked.

Theo looked away from his screen for a moment, finding the half-ogre assistant standing with her hands on her hips. “Is Rowan still on vacation?”

“Yeah. A few more days,” she said, shaking her head. “Things have just been… boring lately.”

Theo paused, his brows knitting slightly. “Boring is good. Right?”

Sarisa offered a faint shrug. “Not really.”

She was a fiery half-ogre that reminded Theo more of an amped-up version of Aarok than anyone else. He returned his attention to the screen, scrolling on. “I’m sure you could head off to the dungeons if you needed to blow off some steam.”

“Not a bad idea.”

Theo narrowed his selection as he ate breakfast, finally making his pick. He inspected the ability one last time, realizing that it was the only pick. Even if he considered just the rarity rating, it was amazing.

[Drogramath Dedication]

Alchemy and Herbalism Skill

Unique

The holder of both a Drogramath Alchemy Core and a Drogramath Herbalist Core dedicates themself to the potential of both cores.

Effect:

Removes the meta barrier between the core user’s soul and both Drogramath Alchemy Core and the Drogramath Herbalist Core.

Both cores may never again be removed.

All other cores will be considered sub-cores, and may no longer add to your personal level.

All other cores will be capped at the average level between your Drogramath Alchemy Core and Drogramath Herbalist Core.

Unlocks the potential to evolve any core into a Drogramath variant.

This wasn’t just an ordinary skill. Drogramath Dedication changed the way the system worked, and there was a lot to take in. Theo sat in silence as he considered how far-reaching this skill was. He considered the meta barrier first. Removing the meta barrier meant that his cores would no longer influence his mind. That was the most simple way to explain it. It was a topic that the alchemist could talk about for hours, but removing the meta barrier on the cores meant that there was no longer a divide between himself and the cores. They would become a part of him, rather than metal cages floating in his soul. The effect would be a vast increase in his ability to perform alchemy, as though those cores were both no longer influencing him, and an integral part of him. He wanted that more than anything else in the long list of effects.

Next was the removal of the cores. Theo had never removed a core, let alone his most powerful ones. Perhaps he would start, now that he was standing on the edge of Level 30 for his personal level. This effect would not be an issue for him.

The next one was both interesting and haunting. His other cores would be considered sub-cores, which wouldn’t add to his personal level. This paired with the next item on the list, capping his other cores at the average level of his two main cores. Both effects wouldn’t be a problem, and would make the leveling system easier for him to deal with. The haunting aspect of these effects was that this was his idea on how to make the system better. Main and sub-cores were something that he had thought about in the past. And there it was, displayed in a unique skill. Convenient.

If the last two effects were a downside, the last effect made up for that. Theo knew he could trust his interpretation of the text. The system was always clear with effects, and never tried to use double-speak. Except with potions. Those were always weird. But if any core could evolve into a Drogramath variant… that would be powerful. As the champion of Drogramath, Theo’s Drogramath cores were more powerful than his other cores. If he changed his Governance core to a Drogramath Governance Core, it would get stronger by default.

“Damn,” Theo said, drumming his fingers on the table.

“Something on your mind?” Sarisa asked.

Theo snapped out of his contemplative mood, looking up to see the smiling, tusked face of his assistant. He had to laugh at himself for getting so absorbed in a new skill. “Let me read you this description. Tell me what you think…”

Sarisa nodded along, or made faces when Theo read the skill out to her. When he was done reading, she shook her head. “Want my honest opinion?”

“Naturally.”

“This skill means you’re willing to go all-in with Drogramath. Is that something you want? Truly?” Sarisa asked. There was a hint of something in what she said.

But there was a problem with her logic. Theo couldn’t assume he could get as powerful as Drogramath before he acted on his plan. While he was in the mortal realm, he had to treat himself as a person needing the help of the gods. Everything he did here was reliant on Drogramath, or Glantheir, or Uz’Xulven. And now he counted Drogramath as more than just a patron, but a friend. And he couldn’t create his own cores, yet. Her unspoken suggestion was to wait and replace his Drogramath cores with Dreamrealm cores, then take a similar ability. When Sarisa flicked his forehead, he snapped out of his thoughts.

“Sorry. You’re right,” Theo said. “If I could make my own cores, this wouldn’t be a problem. But is it wrong to draw on the power of the gods?”

“Of course it isn’t. I’m bound to Baelthar, and would be happy to accept more of his power. Just thought you should pause before accepting that skill.”

She was right, of course. A skill like this required deep thought. “Thanks. I appreciate your advice.”

Sarisa snorted a laugh. “Yeah. Don’t get weird on me.”

Theo set aside the skill for now, leaving his bonus skill unselected. He cleared his plate away, heading off from the manor and making his way to the Newt and Demon. The hired guard trundled along behind them, seeming more bored with the calm pace of the day than even Sarisa. Salire was waiting in the shop section of the building, brightening up when she saw the alchemist and his guards. She had been in a lovely mood since they cured the frog problem.

“More experiments?” she asked.

“And something more,” Theo said, gesturing for her to follow him up the stairs. “Mind watching the shop, grumpy guard?”

“Are you kidding? I made a gold last time,” the hired guard said, rubbing his hands together.

Theo headed upstairs, then explained the new skill to Salire. He wanted an alchemist’s opinion on it. Sarisa watched on, her arms folded over her chest as she listened. The alchemist hoped she wasn’t offended with him looking for a second opinion.

“This is hard,” Salire said, releasing a sigh. “There are good things and bad things.”

Sarisa smiled from the room’s corner, nodding to herself. “That’s what I said.”

“I’ll take a day to think about it,” Theo said. “Maybe consult with Drogramath himself. I don’t know if the gods create these skills themselves, or if the system generates it for them.”

“What better way than going straight to the source?” Sarisa asked.

“Let’s do some alchemy,” Theo said. “That’ll clear my head.”

There was the standard lineup of work that they had to do. Theo needed to check in on the golems in Gronro, but hadn’t had a chance. He could feel their faint responses coming from such a distance, but needed to see it for himself to form an opinion on their effectiveness. For now, it was more important to get more of the Hallow the Soil essence prepared for distribution.

“We’re seeing a slight increase in the quality of the essence,” Theo said, holding a flask of the liquid up to the light. There was more clarity in the silvery sheen. “Nothing that’s going to tip the scales.”

“I’m getting better at the heating patterns,” Salire said, holding up a notebook. It was filled with the names of reagents and the proper heating times during a batch.

The improvement was slight, and it didn’t matter for their current application. But the point was that Salire was getting better at this. While she wasn’t the primary brewer of these essences, she helped more than she should have been able to. And Theo was proud. They moved on to produce some of the potions at second tier, favoring speed over potency for this batch.

“I only have one Holy experiment to try today,” Theo said, moving away from the brewing Hallow the Soil potions to inspect his supplies. He found a second tier unmodified Poison.

“Oh!” Salire exclaimed. “A holy poison… How does that work?”

Theo swirled the purple mixture, smiling at the vial. Salire was already preparing a vial to transfer it into, but the alchemist was reminded of the first time he made a poison for Tresk. His instincts told him this wouldn’t make an amazing poison. But the elemental foundation of the Poison wasn’t death. It might have been similar, but it wasn’t death. The golden Holy modifier mixed with the purple Poison, resulting in a moderately violent reaction. But it settled down, resulting in an even mixture of swirling purple and gold. They both inspected the resulting potion.

[Poison]

[Holy]

[Poison] [Modified Poison]

Uncommon

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Excellent Quality

Alignment:

Drogramath (Minor Bond)

Coat your weapon to deal additional damage over time to an enemy.

Effect:

Cripples an enemy, reducing their Wisdom by 5.

Applies a stacking DOT effect based on poison quality. Maximum 10 stacks. Each stack of the poison adds increasing Holy damage based on the strength of the wielder’s patron’s realm.

Allies afflicted with this poison will instead be purged of common poisons.

“As expected,” Theo said to himself, reading over the description a few times.

“Not great.”

This was another Holy potion that got more powerful based on a god’s realm. Instead of trying to figure it out himself, Theo placed the Poison in the Tara’hek inventory.

“I have a poison for you to try,” he said, speaking directly into Tresk’s mind.

“Ooo! Holy!”

“We’ll let Tresk try it,” Theo said, patting Salire on the shoulder. “Now, let’s get more Hallow Ground essence brewing. After that, I’m taking a trip to Gronro.”

Chapter 41

Reagent Splicing

Theo stood outside of the northern gates of Gronro-Dir. He let out a low whistle, and couldn’t spot the lodestone anywhere nearby. Duke Grotgrog Stormfist cackled somewhere nearby, drinking in the alchemist’s stunned expression. Miles from the northern gate, snaking along the mountain passes, the land was healed. What few mountain grasses inhabited the area had returned. Non-monsterized critters scurried around the rocky paths. Even the air felt cleaner.

“Is it better than you expected?” Grot asked, slapping Theo on the back. The alchemist’s tail swished instinctively.

“Far better,” Theo said, pressing on up the road. Sarisa followed closely behind, her weapon at the ready.

The necromantic corruption had lost some of the steam it started with. It hadn’t been that long since the undead were here, but their influence was waning by the moment. Theo knew it was because the forces of undeath were being led west, toward Veosta. Perhaps they had already reached that city. It was hard to know if the elves planned to come to aid their lost kin, but at least it wasn’t here. As the group walked, Theo got a few ideas to make this process better. For now, he wanted to take in the sights.

“How far does this road stretch?” Theo asked.

“Forever. Or a few days’ walk. Depends on how fast you are.”

That was the problem with estimating distance in this world. No one had a standard pace, so no one relayed the right amount of time it took to get from one place to another. The alchemist had estimated the distance between Broken Tusk and Qavell to be somewhere between eight-hundred and twelve-hundred miles. From the maps he had seen, the mountain road went on for about a quarter of that. At least two-hundred miles of mountain road before they would hit anything resembling open land.

“Have you seen any more undead?”

“Not at all. Been silent up here,” Grot said, taking a deep breath. “Peaceful. Finally.”

Theo grunted a response, moving further up the road. It took him a while to reach the place where Grot and his people had moved the lodestone. The golems were in the nearby hills, scouring the land of all that necromantic energy. The alchemist commanded them to return so that he could refresh their wards. He cast his spells as they came in, and chatted with Grot some more.

“I want to put some stakes in the ground,” Theo said, gesturing to the road’s edge. “And ward them. If the corruption comes back, all this work will be wiped away.”

“Good idea. Are we going to war with the north when this clears up?”

“Absolutely not. Our information says there is no one to go to war with. If anything, we’ll try contacting the toora.”

“Those bear-folk know how to make a home in the mountains,” Grot said, nodding with approval. “Almost as good as dwarves!”

“Speaking of. I also want to find those old mountain homes. We’re not going to war, but I want more allies.”

Grot had some rude things to say about the other dwarven strongholds, but Theo ignored it. He had an actionable plan to reclaim the continent for fair people and he wouldn’t squander it. He had been feeling stretched too thin, lately. But after things calmed down with Tarantham and Fenian escaped from Balkor’s realm, he was feeling full of energy. Clearing an entire landmass didn’t seem so difficult anymore.

With the golems refreshed, Theo stood on the mountain road and prepared to do something he wasn’t very good at. “Just give me a moment,” he said, closing his eyes.

“Oh, yeah,” Grot said awkwardly. “Sure.”

Theo clasped his hands together, fidgeted with his coat, and ground his teeth. But nothing came. Sensing magic was his weakest skill, and it had never improved. No matter how much he ignored it and complained. The alchemist’s eyes snapped open and he let out a frustrated breath. “Nope. Can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what?” Grot asked.

“Figure out if the magical power in the area is diminishing.”

“Oh, yeah. About half as strong as it was when the undead were here,” Grot said, waving a dismissive hand.

“Right,” Theo said. Grot must have had a mage core of some kind. He didn’t see dwarves as being mages, but whatever. There it was. “I’m thinking our artifice platform can start working on this area. Makes me think the necromantic energy would go away on its own. Eventually.”

Grot shrugged. “How far in the future is ‘eventually’ though? I’m happier if we’re clearing it ourselves.”

“So, about those posts.”

The group returned to town, finding anything laying around that would either stand upright on the rocky road, or could be jammed between a pile of rocks. They collected Ogre Cypress Boards, rusted weapons, old carts, and so on. Theo had an innate sense for which of those objects would hold a ward well enough. Bone would have been best, but there weren’t piles of large bones sitting around. The alchemist chuckled to himself as he thought about that. An army of bones had left, right when he needed some bones. But the wards he could produce would be good enough.

Sarisa wedged an old spear into a pile of rocks, shrugging as it tilted to one side. “Good enough?”

“Yeah,” Theo said, kneeling near the pile to recite his poem for Deflect Necromantic Magic. When the spell was complete, a silvery orb sprung up to cover some of the road. “Not perfect. Better than nothing, though.”

“This is going to take all day,” Sarisa groaned.

“Maybe longer.” Theo dragged the cart filled with junk, then jogged over to ward the weapon Grot had placed in the rocks.

Theo, Sarisa, and Grot worked through the entire day. The alchemist took a five-minute break, heading off to Tero’gal to ask Drogramath about the new skill. Old Droggy wasn’t there, and wouldn’t answer his summons, so he just had tea with Benton, Glantheir, and Uz’Xulven. They had opinions on the skill, but they varied from god to god. As his time in the realm was running out, and the alchemist was preparing to leave, Drogramath finally answered his summons.

“I was occupied,” Drogramath said, seeming more grumpy than normal. He took a deep breath, wringing his hands. “What is it, champion?”

Theo explained his problem with the Drogramath Dedication skill. He expressed his concerns, and asked questions about who made the skills.

“That is for you to decide,” Drogramath said. He looked around as if expecting someone to stop him when he started speaking next. “You cannot create cores of your own, so you cannot dedicate your cores to… yourself.”

Drogramath paused, waiting for Khahar to come clap a hand over his mouth. After a moment of nothing, he shrugged. “This is a Dreamrealm. You asked who generates skills? The system. So while you might see some Tero’gal abilities show up in your town, or the cores of those within your domain, you will never generate a core.”

“Meaning there’s no reason to not accept Drogramath Dedication.”

“You’re already my champion. We’re tied closer than you know.”

“Might as well get closer, huh?” Theo asked. Drogramath shrugged a response. “Would you take the skill?”

“I would. There’s a hidden part of the skill that negates the influence of all sub-cores. And without the meta barrier for your two main cores, you’ll have an easier time leveling past Level 30. Most people don’t make it to Level 50, let alone 40.”

Theo had heard that line a few times. Not that exact line, but the belief that folks had a hard time after 30. It wasn’t just that the experience was harder to get, but the system took the training wheels off. Alchemy was a great example. It was almost impossible to screw up a base potion. An alchemist could do it with their eyes closed. But at the third tier, everything got absurdly hard. If a brew was off by fractions of a unit, it would explode. Incompatible reagents? Explosion. Giving an essence a funny look? Yep. Explosions.

“I’m going to take it,” Theo said.

“Do it before bed,” Drogramath said. “The change is painful, and you will likely have vivid hallucinations.”

That was good to know. “As long as I don’t need to be healed by Spit, I’m fine.”

“Yes. That ogre is… insufferable.”

“Agreed. Well, thanks for coming all the way here for me. Let me know if you need me to do your bidding in the mortal realm.”

“You already are. Just keep clearing the taint of undeath. After you reach the spine, you’ll confront the—”

Khahar appeared with a hand over Drogramath’s mouth. “Hey, Theo.”

Theo waved awkwardly.

“The gods are getting used to their new restrictions,” Khahar said, glaring down at Drogramath who shrugged. After a moment, the demon god was released.

“My apologies, Arbiter. I thought he had figured out… Figured out that thing.”

“He’s almost got it,” Khahar said. “But remain sensitive on the subject.”

The pair continued to talk about the rules, but Theo felt himself being dragged away from Tero’gal. His time had already expired on his skill, and his consciousness slipped away by the moment. “Okay,” Theo said, wincing. “Gotta go.”

After passing over the bridge and through the void, Theo reappeared near Sarisa and Grot.

“Funny watching you vanish like that,” Grot grunted.

“Yes. Hilarious,” Sarisa mocked. “But we should go.”

It was getting darker by the moment. Running around the mountain road, spending mana, and dragging the heavy cart had reduced Theo’s stamina to a sliver. He and Sarisa bid farewell to Grot and caught the train out of the mountain town just before night fell. Their stomachs were growling when they arrived back in Broken Tusk, and Tresk was upset that her dinner didn’t get made. After eating a hastily prepared dinner, the alchemist paused before going to bed.

Tresk sat in her bed, sensing his hesitation. Even Alex waited to see what he had to say, honking from her ever-growing straw-stuffed box.

“I’m going to take Drogramath Dedication,” he said.

“I would have done it already,” Tresk said, curling up into a ball. “Come on. We got serpents to fight.”

Tresk fell into the Dreamwalk before Theo could stop her. He shrugged, opening his free skill pick menu and finding Drogramath Dedication. The alchemist made sure he was snug in his bed before he picked the skill. And he was glad that he had done so. The pain was immediate and intense. He felt the skill slot into his Drogramath Alchemy Core. Then the barrier dropped between his soul and his two cores. He could feel them grinding together as they moved around in some unseen space in his chest. They swirled, radiating with power as all his other cores diminished. All but the Tara’hek Core.

Theo grabbed on to whatever he could find, gripping it tight as pain radiated through his body. This went on for endless moments, but only about a minute had passed. He finally took a sharp breath. The transformation was done. He allowed himself to slip into sleep, falling into the Dreamwalk. A moment later, he was standing in that familiar mossy forest.

“Dang. What took so long?” Tresk asked.

“The transformation was painful,” Theo said, looking around the area. He focused on his senses and his thoughts, trying to detect any differences. “I don’t feel different.”

“You don’t look different either. Still a demon.”

So much had happened after he took the skill that it was hard to catalog everything. Theo remembered the cores moving around. He recalled how his Toru’aun core and his Governance core had waned, and how the Tara’hek core did the exact opposite. The core that represented his soul bond didn’t care that the alchemist had taken a skill making it a sub-core. It didn’t want to be a sub-core, and had simply refused. Fair enough.

After those physical sensations, there were the mental ones. Drogramath hadn’t been intrusive into Theo’s thoughts for a long time. But as his champion, there was always a little bit of something in the back of Theo’s mind. Like with the Wisdom of the Soul potion, that small voice was expunged. Unlike that potion, the voice now seemed to be more of a feeling. While it wasn’t quite intuition, it was close.

“I’m gonna go fight a snake,” Tresk said, scampering off into the distance.

Unless something had gnawed Theo’s leg off, Tresk would not worry about it. That made him feel slightly better about the decision. Deciding to focus entirely on his herbalist core, the alchemist found an open section of the forest and generated a large plot of land to practice on. He generated a pile of plants to work on, and knelt in the tilled earth to plant them. The moment his hand touched the plant he felt something strange shoot through his body. A kind of recognition he had never experienced.

Theo held the Spiny Swamp Thistle up for inspection, finding a new appreciation for the plant. Deep in his chest, his Drogramath Herbalist Core resonated with the plant. After staring at it for some time, he got to work. With each plant he put in the ground, he understood the sensation a little more. But it wasn’t until nearly half-way through the night that he decided on what exactly that feeling was. As he had thought earlier, the core was more a part of him than ever. The part of Drogramath who loved caring for plants spread through him like a wildfire.

“I guess I really love plants now,” Theo said, patting the ground near the thorny stem of a thistle.

There was also the uncomfortable sensation brought by his other cores. It was as though they didn’t belong, and Theo determined it was because of the level cap he now experienced. His Governance Core was above his intended level cap, providing a bit of discomfort. But he worked through it, grinding away his plants until sometime near dawn. When he finally saw the message he had been waiting for.

[Drogramath Herbalist Core] received experience (0.5%).

[Drogramath Herbalist Core] leveled up! Level 30.

Obtained free [Drogramath Herbalist] skill point for hitting level 30 with this core.

[Theo Spencer] received experience (0.08%).

[Theo Spencer] leveled up! Level 30.

[Theo Spencer] received one free point.

[Theo Spencer] received one free skill.

Theo swayed on the spot, returning to a kneeling position when the rush of levels hit him. “That was a bit much.”

Once he had recovered from the head rush, he considered where to put his attribute point. Not wanting to tempt fate just yet, he put another point into Vigor, bringing it to 23. Next he had to look through a nearly endless list of skills to pick for his herbalist core. This wasn’t as hard of a decision as his free pick for the alchemy core. The entire point of the Herbalist Workshop was to get this one ability. He inspected the skill he intended to pick.

[Reagent Splicing]

Herbalism Skill

Epic

Allows the user to create hybrids between two plants. The success of this action depends on the compatibility of the two plants.

Effect:

Gain innate knowledge on how to splice plants. Amount of knowledge gained depends on the amount of herb lore the user has on that plant.

Greatly increases all splicing actions on reagent plants.

Gives a measure of control over which properties carry over to the spliced plant.

An easy pick. The line about herb lore was slightly confusing, but Theo guessed it had to do with how much he knew about how a plant worked as a reagent. His base of knowledge for that had grown significantly, meaning he should be able to work with a lot of reagents. He had seen plants hybridize on their own, but splicing had been a skill the alchemist wanted for a long time. Since the early days with the farm, he wanted to have control over how plants combined. The last line of the effects list was the most important, though. Breeding reagent bearing plants that did exactly what he wanted was powerful.

Theo was happy with his pick, and abandoned the imagined farm. He wandered through Tresk’s imagined forest, looking over the long list of abilities he could take from his free Level 30 skill. That list offered him a selection from every one of his cores aside from the Tara’hek core. The result was a confusing grouping of skill that were hard to classify. He came upon Tresk fighting the same snake as before. She was being gored while Alex wrapped the monster in flaming vines. He did not intend to work anymore today. He wanted to watch his companion fight a snake.

Chapter 42

Garden Plot

The dining area in the manor was filled with the scent of a cooking fire and a freshly made breakfast. Sarisa had created more than her normal dish to celebrate the return of her brother. He was still in town during his vacation, but she thought it was fitting to make him something nice for his first day back. Theo was under the impression that he would have been gone for longer, but there he was. The half-ogre man didn’t have a mild scowl on his face like normal. He was smiling.

“Must have been a good vacation,” Theo said. He smiled as he dabbed a piece of wheat bread into the runny part of his pozwa egg.

“An excellent  vacation,” Rowan sighed.

“You guys can take days off,” Theo said with a laugh. “You don’t have to work for weeks before taking time.”

Sarisa shrugged at the suggestion, reclining slightly in her chair as she sipped moss tea. “Maybe you should take the same advice.”

“I have a twenty-four hour vacation every day. Into a world I can shape to be whatever I want.” Theo smiled at his assistants. Tero’gal had become a personal vacation home for him and Tresk.

“He has a point,” Rowan said.

Rowan and Sarisa went back-and-forth on the importance of a good half-ogre work ethic. Theo went into his own mind, finding the information from the Reagent Splicing skill unfurling in his mind. He now understood the best way to splice many of his reagents together. Some were obvious things. The alchemist had spent time propagating his reagents by taking clippings or seeds, so some methods transferred over. Those that didn’t were provided by the skill, only leaving him to decide which to try first.

The only thing left for Theo to decide was a core for his new core slot. With how much time alchemy, herbalism, and magic took from his schedule he didn’t want anything that was active. He was more interested in a core that was passive, like his Governance Core. That required research, which would take time. There was also the idea of transforming any of those cores into a Drogramath core, which might have interesting effects. There were too many things to think about when there were plant hybrids to make.

The alchemist finished his meal, chatting with Sarisa and Rowan for a while before heading out for the day. Salire was already at the Newt and Demon, swapping the essences out and preparing for another run of Hallow the Soil. She already had the required suffuse potions brewing, which was surprising. Salire had done some independent experimentation, finding that she could brew that potion just fine. So long as it was at second tier or below, which is what they were running. The pair had abandoned the plan to do third tier potions, as it had an extra, annoying step.

“You’re getting better by the day,” Theo said, helping Salire load some Dragon Talon Mushrooms into the grinder. “Are you going to take over my lab?”

“Be careful,” Salire said, pointing a finger in warning. “I just might.”

Theo smiled and got back to work. With the way things were going, there might be enough room in the alliance for two alchemists. Once he got his hands on some Town Seed Cores, and reclaimed some land in the north, it would be open season for expansion. That came with problems from whatever nations could reach them from the north, resulting in the need for defensive measures up there. But he only had plans to make more friends, not enemies.

Salire and Theo labored, preparing only two stills for a batch of Refined Suffuse Essence. As they worked, the alchemist felt as though he was gliding around the lab. Lacking the meta barrier between his alchemy core and his soul had resulted in a feeling of extreme excitement when performing alchemy. His assistant pointed this out.

“You’re normally so brooding,” she said, watching him dance across the lab.

“Ah,” Theo said, suddenly remembering to be embarrassed about the act. “I’ve been making mental notes about the effects of the meta barrier. Alchemy feels like a part of me, now.”

Salire danced from one foot to the other. “Oh, I’m going to take that skill.”

Theo laughed with her, placing his hand on her shoulder and nodding. “I think you should. The meta barrier is this membrane that makes you feel like someone else. I hate it.”

“Speaking of… I don’t want to make assumptions, but I might need a soul potion.”

“Wisdom?” Theo asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you feeling the effects?”

“Not yet. But I’m getting there. I put a lot of my points in Wisdom to start, but changed to Vigor for my other job.”

“No worries. I’ll start the potion the next time I go to Tero’gal.”

“Thank you!”

“This is only a temporary fix. You can only drink one soul potion, and if you pump Intelligence like me you’re going to need two of them.”

“Yeah…”

This problem ran deep, and Theo knew that no solution was on the horizon. The only thing he could think to do was more alchemy. The alchemist clapped his hands together, gaining Salire’s attention. “I have a task for you.”

“I’m ready,” she said, showing far too much conviction.

“Make a list of each reagent we have access to with the idea of splicing two together. Imagine which would make the best matches.”

Salire withdrew a notebook, then flipped through the pages. “I can do that. Already have a list of our reagents.”

“Perfect. I’m going to clear some space in the greenhouses, and prepare the experimental garden plot.”

“Let’s do it!”

Salire was more excited about the task than Theo had expected. He left the lab and headed to his greenhouses, finding everything to be the way he left it. The Plant Golem was doing its job by preventing hybridization, clearing the weeds away, and other general maintenance. Each greenhouse was packed with reagents, all growing at ever-increasing rates thanks to the various upgrades he had applied. The alchemist ordered a few corners in each greenhouse cleared to make way for hybrid reagents. There was no better time to push his alchemy as far as it could go.

After he finished creating a new set of orders, he went next door to the Herbalist’s Workshop, finding the garden plot behind the building. Any upgrade that had the text ‘appears behind the workshop, building, etc’ meant that building was upgradable. The plot could hold nine reagent plants, depending on the size. It was made of a low stone wall with a gate, within which was freshly tilled earth. Inside the plot, the air seemed still. Almost stiflingly so. Despite the open-air arrangement, the inside of the plot was sealed from the outside world. He inspected the plot before moving on.

[Experimental Garden Plot]

Owner: Theo Spencer

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 1 (0%)

Rent Due: SUSPENDED

Expansions:

None

The upgrades produced by the attached plot might be good, but that wasn’t what Theo was after. He wanted more area to test his new reagents. And there would be a lot of reagents to test if his new sense for alchemy was anything to go by. The alchemist shoved cores into the building, trying to be as efficient as possible. Each level the plot gained saw the gray stone wall moving a foot or so in any direction. When the plot hit Level 5, the list of three upgrades appeared.

[Precision Control]

Gives the owner of this plot the ability to control cultivation rate, and growth rate on a per-plant basis.

[Nurturing Soil]

The soil within this plot will always provide maximum nutrients. Plants within will never wither, and will always have the exact amount of water required.

[Perfect Climate]

Every individual plant within the plot will experience a perfect environment for growth. The preferred temperature, soil quality, humidity, etc of an individual plant does not affect the others.

This was an herbalist’s dream. Theo felt a shiver of excitement run through his body as he read the description on each upgrade. He wanted them all. Precision Control was the least useful, but he could isolate plants instead of setting rates for the whole plot. Nurturing Soil would make it so he didn’t need to assign a golem to the plot. Perfect Climate was something he would pick down the line. Either when there was no other good option, or when the building got high enough. But he didn’t have any non-native plants, and if he did he would use his new splicing ability to alter that plant’s preferences. He selected Nurturing Soil for his first upgrade.

Before moving on to the next upgrade, Theo took a second to inspect the features of the plot. It claimed to allow him to alter factors of growth for all the plants. With a touch and a little mental prodding, a new system interface appeared in his vision.

[Experimental Garden Plot Controls]

Cultivation Rate: 0%

Growth Rate: 0%

Hybridization Rate: 0%

Watered Rate: 100%

Nutrition Rate: 100%

Available Spots: 12

Spots occupied: 0

Environmental Condition Preset: Humid Swamp

Soil Preset: Rich Swamp

Now that's some fine control. Theo could press a button near some entries, changing the rates. The interface was easy to use, but he moved on. There were more upgrades to get. He inserted more Monster Cores into the building, watching as it expanded to gain more plots. Three rows of four became four rows of four by the time it hit Level 10. The new upgrade appeared alongside the old ones. The alchemist inspected his new upgrade option.

[Stable Conditions]

Unstable plants placed within the plot will not degrade. Any drastic magical expulsions will be contained, never leaving the plot and leaving the other plants within the plot unharmed.

‘Drastic magical expulsions’ was a fancy way of saying ‘explosions.’ Theo hadn’t considered exploding reagents before, but now that they were messing with splicing it was possible. This upgrade fell into the same category as the Perfect Climate upgrade. He didn’t need it now, but it could be useful later. Instead, he went for the Precision Control upgrade. Then he was back at it, shoving more cores into the building. The four by four arrangement because five by four when it hit Level 15. A new upgrade popped up. The alchemist checked his supply of cores before inspecting the upgrade, finding that it was dwindling once again.

“Rats,” Theo said, inspecting the new upgrade.

[Recovery Factor]

A small tank of magical energy appears near the Experimental Garden Plot (this tank is not upgradable.) The tank accepts motes, which are converted into liquid magical energy. This energy may be used to stabilize recently spliced plants, ensuring they survive the splicing process.

Theo didn’t have to think long about that one. Since he was new at the splicing game, this would play well with his current plans. He selected the upgrade, then went around the side of the plot to watch the magical tank appear. A device that looked like one of Throk’s artifices appeared. The stout little copper tank had a mote port on the side, and a gauge showing how much magical energy it had. The alchemist inserted one mote, watching the quantity of magical energy inside increase. Upon closer inspection, he found a list of controls for the tank.

[Recovery Factor Tank]

Stored Energy: 5%

Release all energy

Release energy to specific plant

Purge tank

Set specific instructions

The button labeled ‘Set specific instructions’ had a series of commands he could issue. Theo could tell the tank to release energy onto a plant, sustaining it so it always had energy. He could do the same for every plant. There was even an option to only release energy in an emergency situation.

“Very interesting,” Theo muttered to himself. He scratched his chin, inserting motes and observing the tank’s energy increase.

“He hasn’t talked to himself in a while.”

Theo looked up from his tank, narrowing his eyes at Rowan and Sarisa. They had been whispering conspiratorially. He stood, pointing at his assistants. “You leave me alone. I’m having fun.”

“He never has fun,” Rowan said in mock shock.

“By the gods. Was he replaced?”

“With a copy, perhaps.”

“A joyous copy.”

Rowan grabbed his sister by the shoulders, shaking her. “Can we keep him?”

Theo turned away so they couldn’t see his smile, stifling a laugh as he got back to stuffing cores into the garden. The vicious mockery only went on for as long as the half-ogres had attention, then the area behind the workshop was silent yet again. Only the gentle rumbling of the plot’s expansions filled the air as the alchemist worked. The notification popped up, allowing him to pick an upgrade for Level 20. He inspected the newest option, noticing the five by five plot before him.

[Accelerated Research]

Researching reagents originally grown within the plot will reveal more information.

It was hard to tell if this one was good. Theo hadn’t worked with the research aspect of the workshop enough to pick it just yet. Instead, he went through the other options. He settled on Stable Conditions instead. If anything could go wrong in the plot, an explosion would be horrible. He was satisfied with where the plot was at, stepping back to get a better look at it. The low stone walls had expanded out enough to house five rows by five columns of plants. Before going to check with Salire, he inspected where the plot was for now.

[Experimental Garden Plot]

Owner: Theo Spencer

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 20 (12%)

Rent Due: SUSPENDED

Expansions:

[Nurturing Soil]

[Precision Control]

[Recovery Factor]

[Stable Conditions]

Theo nodded with approval before returning to the lab. Sarisa and Rowan followed behind, one remaining in the shadows and the other out in the open. The alchemist had gotten used to their shadowing, and hardly noticed them anymore. Salire was still working on the list of items and potential hybrids, but it was already comprehensive. Something that was missing from her analysis of reagents was elemental alignment. As he thought about it, he realized he didn’t have much of an expansive understanding of the topic. Just raw instinct and assumptions.

“When you’re done, meet me at the workshop,” Theo said, collecting a few reagents Salire had already set aside.

“I’ll be done soon,” Salire said, writing furiously. “Just about there.”

Theo returned to the workshop, settling into the unfamiliar interior. There was something strange about doing work related to alchemy in the new building. He rearranged what little furniture was in there before opening two windows to get a breeze going. He would need to have one of Throk’s air conditioners installed if he wanted to work without the oppressive heat. He finally settled down at the table, pulling an uncomfortable chair up and sighing as he sat into it.

With a single Mage’s Bane flower on the table, Theo focused to let the wisdom of his unimpeded cores settle in. He couldn’t tell if it was intuition, experience, the research upgrade, or the state of his new cores but he knew it was a Lightning alignment reagent. He also knew that meant it would hybridize with other Lightning plants easily. He treated this as an exercise to test how his new cores interacted with his mind. After a few simple tests,  Salire arrived at the workshop.

“I like the new place,” she said, dragging a chair over to the table. “Needs more furniture.”

“Agreed. Let me see your list,” Theo said, holding his hand out. Salire placed the notebook in his hand, already opened to the right page.

Salire had identified a lot of stuff that made sense. She had used the logical idea to line properties up by effect type. Healing reagents with healing reagents and so on. Theo didn’t see this as the way to create hybrid plants, but it was a start. His thought was to first take plants that would work with the splicing process first. Only then could they look at properties that worked together.

“This is a good start,” Theo said, flipping between the pages. “I have a feeling that thistle and zee won’t combine, though.”

“I wrote everything that might work,” Salire said, scooting closer to press her finger into the page.

“It feels weird,” Theo said, digging deep to find a way to express this new intuition. “Like all my experience is coming together to combine with the power of my cores. I just know zee and thistle won’t mix. But I think Mage’s Bane and Lightning Poppy will.”

“You have more experience with zee and thistle than you do with those two flowers. Especially in growing them. You helped with the farm.”

“That might have something to do with it,” Theo said with a nod. “Okay. Let’s focus on one thing at a time. I need to learn how to use my new Reagent Splicing skill.”