The Newt and Demon

The massive metal cube constructed by Thim had a nasty echo. Theo stood inside, looking at the working stills he had installed there. At least the dwarf had the foresight to install ventilation methods. Artifices hummed, drawing the thick vapors from within to send them outside. As long as he didn’t aim for the second tier—without improving the process—no explosions should happen. If they did, the container should have contained it. The three stills running within the cube would produce properties from the Quindalias Bone reagent. Soar, Lost Hope, and Dragon’s Insight.

“We won’t mess around with fourth properties for now,” Theo said, crossing through the entrance and sliding it closed.

Of the three properties, Theo was most hopeful about Dragon’s Insight. Lost Hope might have been dangerous, but the system had a way of naming properties that made it hard to know what a property would do. It could have produced an amazing effect for all he knew. Before departing from the ominous cube, he took stock of the town’s potion supply. They were good. Better than they had been since the systems shifted away from aligned cores. The alliance could handle emergencies better, especially since Salire had crafted curative potions to handle standard status effects. Disease was still a thing, no matter how much they built the town.

“You!”

Theo turned, spotting Alise walking down the road. The alchemist had plans to head to his Herbalist’s Workshop, messing with his reagents to get more insight for the shift in his alchemy. “What did I do now?”

“Oh, nothing. I tried getting your attention through the administration interface but you wouldn’t answer. I have some early numbers on your ‘feed the world’ project.”

Theo brightened up, his tail swishing back and forth. “Sweet! How does it look?”

Alise shrugged. “We made projections for housing and feeding an amount of people for a season. Ah, well… There was some speculation at first, but we made some estimations on the amount of people that would come for the party.”

“How did you manage that?”

“I have some contacts in other nations. I forced them to take a survey.”

Theo tried not to laugh. He tried real hard. He coughed, failing to pretend his laughter was a coughing fit when she gave him a death stare. “I’m sorry. You’re just so on top of everything.”

Straightening her back, Alise smiled. “I pride myself on it. Well, the projections are interesting. You’ll be surprised to learn that not many people want to attend a party at the end of the world. Still, we’re looking at about ten-thousand people at most.”

That was less than Theo had expected, but it made sense. The reality of the party was that it was a place where people could make an easy transition to Tero’gal or Khahak. That got the alchemist thinking about something he needed to take care of. But that could wait until he was done with his meeting out on the streets of Broken Tusk.

“How does that reflect on our food production and housing situation?”

“We can do it. With stockpiling, and a fairly massive construction effort it wouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“I’m wondering… Did you include the part about this being the end of the mortal world to those polled?”

“Yes. I made it clear the world was ending, but I’m not sure if anyone believed me.”

Theo tapped his chin. There might be considerable panic if people learned this was actually the end of the world. Perhaps they would flood into Broken Tusk at the last minute,s training their resources.

“Change your projections for about one-hundred-thousand people.”

Alise blinked a few times, finally pinching her eyes closed for about five minutes. Theo stood there awkwardly as she took steady breaths. “Okay. We’ll clear some farm land between here and Rivers. The planes between Rivers and Gronro are expansive enough that we can build housing there. We can also add more lines to the train, allowing people easier access to each town in the alliance.”

“Wow. I’m surprised you didn’t push back against that.”

“I believe you when you say the world is ending, Theo. Well, we’re moving, aren’t we?” Alise nodded to herself, cupping her chin. “I plan to be the first bride on Tero’gal, so I’ll do anything to make that happen.”

“Speaking of,” Theo withdrew a communication crystal from his inventory. “I’ve got a call to make. Buy up everything you need to make this thing happen, okay? We’ll start the construction right away. I’m sure Ziz will take a paycut if we can’t afford it. I’ll give him something nice when everyone migrates to the Throneworld.”

Alise bowed her head, then ran off like a madwoman. Theo just hoped she was doing her best to rely on the other administrators that she had hired. Oh, well. She always sorted stuff out. The alchemist squeezed the crystal and waited, walking over to his Herbalist’s Workshop while he waited for a response.

“I’m busy,” Fenian said, hanging up.

Theo felt a rush spread through his mind, as though the sudden cut of the connection shocked his senses.

“Well, that was rude,” Theo said, turning his attention to his workshop.

While Theo had already learned the effects of his aligned greenhouses, he used the workshop to confirm a few things. The reagents grown in the aligned greenhouses were better because they were perfectly aligned to whatever environment they needed to grow. Each reagent had a preference for climates it grew in, including exposure to latent elemental energy in the air. This infused the reagent to become more pure, making it easier to work with when using Tero’gal’s alchemy. As he stood there, a message he hadn’t seen in a while popped up.

[Tero’gal Herbalist Core] receivedexperience (0.2%).

[Tero’gal Herbalist Core] leveled up! Level 33.

“That’s been a long time coming,” Theo said with a sigh.

Theo’s Tero’gal Alchemy Core wouldn’t be too far behind that one. That would get him Level 33 for his personal level, adding another attribute point. Not that attribute points mattered much at this point. It was the skills he was after, and he would gain access to a free skill point at Level 35. While that might make things easier for the transition, investing into the town itself was a better idea.

The alchemist never had trouble finding things to do. Even back on Earth, he had a habit of running off to do anything to keep himself busy. Here in Iaredin, facing down the concept of moving his entire nation to another world, was no different. He selected samples of reagents from each aligned greenhouse, testing them in the workshop to confirm their purity. When he used the Research upgrade on each one, he confirmed they were all of excellent purity. Yet they still seemed lacking.

For all the efforts Theo had put into cultivating reagents that could hold up to this new form of alchemy, they still failed. Compared to those almost perfect samples he had discovered in the swamp, these were poor samples to compare. But the alliance didn’t need a single run of potions using those ultra-rare reagents. It needed a lot of potions. The greenhouse method would have to work for now.

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As Theo turned away from his greenhouses, intent on taking care of other chores, he felt the familiar buzz in his mind. He withdrew the communication crystal from his inventory and squeezed it.

“Sorry about that, Theo. I was busy with… uh… something.”

“Well, now that’s not suspicious at all,” Theo said.

“You’re so nosy my dear alchemist. I was investigating a group of dronon that is known to me when I got distracted.”

Fenian’s ‘distractions’ often led to wars. Or undead armies…

“Did you kill Balkor’s shadow?”

“Me? Little old me? Your sweet and lovable Fenian? Absolutely not.” The elf’s words dripped with sarcasm, even in Theo’s mind. “I would never kill him.”

“So what did you do with him?”

“Nothing for you to worry about. I was busy because I was in Tarantham, trying to discover the source of some disturbances… Well, I found your errant Earthling.”

“You found Jan? Are you kidding?”

“I found both Jan and Twist. They’re working together as a team. I thought they would be at each other’s throats, but no. They were trying to kill a god or something.”

Of course Jan and Twist were working together. Why not? There was a lot of animosity between them, but they had apparently patched things up. This had to do with what happened on both Iaredin and Earth all those years ago. Theo viewed it as old scores he had no idea about. Well, while Fenian was in Tarantham he might as well do something helpful.

“I’m washing my hands of both of them. They’re not welcome back in the alliance without at least some explanation, but I don’t care to hunt them. While you’re in the elven empire, could you do me a favor?”

“You dismissed that rather quickly.” Fenian chuckled to himself, making sure to push as much mirth through the communication crystal as possible. “What do you need?”

“A survey of what people think about the world ending and if they’d want to attend a party.”

“No need for a survey there. Everyone believes it will happen here, and most are happy to die. They’ll get sent to Death’s realm, after all. You’ll be lucky to see a few thousand people attend from Tarantham.”

That shouldn’t have been unexpected. The elves were weird.

“Anyway, all this isn’t even why I’m calling. I think we need to do something drastic while the gods are sleeping,” Theo said.

“You naughty little demon. What is it?”

“We’re gonna make another planet.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s no reason you can’t form a planet. The system set a president for throne holders to create their own world. I don’t think Tresk can do it, since we’re tied so closely together, but I’d be more comfortable with three planets rather than two.”

“How would that work?”

Theo didn’t even have the idea of a plan. “I’ll talk to the system about it. The system should agree because it did it before.”

“I’ll trust you on this one, Theo. Ah, got to go. Jan is pointing a gun at me and screaming about grand betrayals. I think he wants to duel… or kiss. I cannot tell, but I’m happy to do either!”

Fenian cut the connection before Theo could say anything else. The elf’s most powerful core was his Parantheir’s Duelist Core, so he wondered how he had managed after the change. With a shrug, the alchemist fell through the veil. Visiting the system wasn’t a good idea just because he needed something to do. As the Dreamwalker, it was his job to interface between all the heavenly elements. If the gods had a problem with something, it was Theo’s job to relay that problem to the other throne holders. His domain might be the void, but his ability to travel through it freely meant he was the perfect messenger.

Landing in the snowy landscape, Theo dashed for the raised platform. It was too cold for him to linger very long. As he ascended the platform, he made note of the twelve spots. The way he always did. He knew of only a few gods so far. Hallow, Death, Void, Shadow, Fate, and Omen. With only half of the gods known to him, he wasn’t comfortable claiming to hold the Throne of the Dreamwalker.

“What is it?” the crystalline figure asked, appearing from nowhere.

Theo cleared his throat. “One realm, please.”

The features of the crystal woman were mostly indiscernible. For the first time, the alchemist noticed her brow furrowing, crinkling in a way impossible for such material. “You must repeat your request.”

“Tero’gal and Khahak are fine realms, but we need another. I’d like for you to grant Fenian a realm. The Herald needs a Throneworld.”

The system stood, looking at Theo as though he had just peed on her favorite bit of shag carpet. Her hard features softened in time. “I’ll allow it.”

“Oh, thanks. Is it just gonna be out there in the void?” Theo asked, jabbing his thumb behind him.

“He must form his own realm, then evolve it into a world,” the system said, waving a dismissive hand. “This must be done before the final seal is broken, otherwise I will not allow such a thing.”

More talk about a seal Theo knew nothing about. He cleared his throat, surprised she relented so quickly. But his logic was sound. “Any tips on that?”

“Use the same method Khahar used to form a world. The Herald’s power is tied to the mortal realm, meaning he should use the same method. Your partner—the Dreamer—may create an orbiting body to accompany Tero’gal, if you wish. You should know how to do that.”

Oddly, Theo felt as though he did know how to do that. Which was weird, considering he had never done it before. But he suspected Tresk had an idea on how it would work.

“I have a few more questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Questions are your right,” the system said, inclining her head. “There are some things I cannot answer, though.”

“Of course. First is about the time scale,” Theo said. “Are we working on that?”

“When the last seal is broken, time will be adjusted.”

“Any projection on what the scale will be?”

The system shrugged.

“Right. Of course. Next, I know about six of the current gods. Is it possible for me to meet the others?” Theo asked.

“You only know of five.”

Theo counted them off on his fingers aloud, holding up six fingers when he was done.

“Fate and Omen are like you and your Tara’hek partner. You only count as one person.”

“Two sides of a coin?” Theo asked.

“That’s right.”

“Last question. When does the last seal break?”

“When you implant the shards onto the mortal realm.”

“And do I have a timetable for that?”

The system shook her head. “Please don’t take more than one more mortal season.”

“Sorry… Last-last question. Do I have your approval to bring my alliance to the ascendant realms?”

“You have my approval, but that hardly matters. You’ll need a majority vote with the gods.”

“Can I bypass them?”

“Perhaps. If you’re strong enough.”

Theo clicked his tongue. After a moment, he straightened himself up and bowed his head. “Thank you for answering my questions.”

“It is my duty.”

Theo turned, passing through reality and arriving in the mortal realm shortly after that. His to-do list was growing. Well, at least the next exciting thing for him to handle was the brewing of dragon bone potions. Until then, he would take it easy. Kinda. Tresk was gonna be mad when he told her she needed to form a moon around Tero’gal. Not because of the effort of creating the moon, but naming it. If he wasn’t careful, he would end up with a moon named Moony Moon Moon the Moon.