The Newt and Demon - Book 7 Chapters 13,14,15

Chapter 13

Feed the Masses

Theo tried not to laugh at himself as he headed for the market. Since trade had increased to absurd levels—thanks to the harbor—he could find almost everything he needed at the market. His first instinct had been to pull out his communication crystal, contacting Fenian to request the materials. In recent days, it seemed the elf’s primary role in the world was less of a merchant and more of an adventurer. Or a crazed dude who ran around taking out whoever he wanted.

It might have been a problem, but it wasn’t Theo’s problem.

The scents within the market were a confusing mixture of grilled food, sweat, and animal droppings. The sights were somehow more shocking to the senses, displaying the full range of the races, and wares within Iaredin. It wasn’t unheard of, but Theo was shocked to see several dronon peddling wares at a booth. Even from a distance he could tell they were from an older Tworgnothi brood. Their skin was a shade that seemed like dull brass, and they wore interesting adornments from their horns.

Theo talked to them for a few minutes, but they were aloof. Like most dronon in the world, they were secretive. When he would ask an elf where they were from, they would proudly state their house and a short list of accomplishments. Humans liked talking about where they had been, while marshlings enjoyed giving accounts of the stuff they currently had on their person. Only those dronon who had gone to the heavens cared to share anything about themselves.

“Looking for anything in particular?” a particularly well-dressed elf as Theo was passing.

“Seed cores,” Theo said, leaning in to see the man’s wares. “You’re a coresmith.”

The elf shrugged. “I work for one. With my homeland in disarray, the laws concerning exporting seed cores have evaporated. Take your pick.”

Yes, people still enjoyed their money. None of the items on offer were free, forcing Theo to stretch his substantial budget to meet his needs. This elf had Small Farm Seed Cores on offer, but also the regular and large versions. Negotiating was Theo’s least favorite thing, so he spent as little time as possible on it. But it revealed that cash wasn’t as important as he first thought when the negotiation devolved into bartering.

Theo parted with more mythril than he was comfortable with, but the five seed cores he left with were worth it. Maybe, depending on how mad Throk was. He planned on not saying anything and denying responsibility when the shortage was noticed. For now, he had some seeds to plant and some Monster Cores to shove inside. At least Monster Cores were still cheap.

After making a note in the administration interface and heading to the lab to get some supplies, Theo was unsurprised to find Alise trailing behind him. She jogged up—almost out of breath—and slapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s a lot of farms,” she said, offering a pained smile at him. It wasn’t pained because she didn’t like the idea, but because she had an obvious stitch in her side.

“Why not increase our food capacity by a factor of five?” Theo asked, giving her a less-forceful slap in return. On the shoulder, of course. “I don’t care what happens, we’re taking all this crap with us when we go. I almost got the approval of all the gods.”

“Huzzah for that,” Alise said, clearing her throat. “So, is the output for this farm open for the town to pull from?”

“Yeah, I’d like if the products were dedicated to the party effort,” Theo said. They passed under the gate, heading out into the fields of his Small Farm. “I’ll need a few more golems, but I think I should have enough space to make them here.”

“More than enough space, I think. Maybe, depending on soil quality…”

“We’ll just take over the other side of the river,” Theo said, waving her concerns away. “At least Ziz had the sense to leave me some space on both sides.”

The area where the river came near Broken Tusk was nearer to the mountains bordering the area to the north. It opened up further north, but nearby it was narrow enough to cause concerns about space. He got to work anyway, planting the first seed and feeding it with cores. It grew quickly, a house sprouting up to mark the controlling building of the area. When he added more to level it—all the way to 20—fields sprung up. A mental message sent the nearby Plant Golems to work, although he would need far more to manage all five.

Alise followed him around the entire time.

“Looking at the projections for attendance has me worried,” she said, writing information onto a physical piece of paper. Normally she used her interface. “We’re concerned about both space and food supplies. Since we’re apparently catering it. And I don’t know how long we’ll need to host everyone.”

Theo worked on the next farm, planting the seed and feeding it. “Shouldn’t this sort the food problem?”

“It might. But there isn’t enough booze in the region for everyone. I wanted to ask if you could make some.”

Theo had to think about that for a moment. He could brew some moonshine that would destroy the liver of the most ardent alcoholic, but he wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted. People in this world liked their liquor, but the stuff the lab could produce was a bit much. Well, perhaps he could cut it with water to make a weaker drink… Or mix it with another drink like a cocktail? End of the world party cocktails?

“I might have an idea,” Theo said. “Okay. Leave it to me.”

“Really? You’re going to take on new work willingly?” Alise asked.

“For once. Just don’t ask me to do anything else for a while.”

Alise actually bounced with excitement a few times. It looked as though she might hug him for a moment before heading back to town. He watched as she went. Of course, brewing a bunch of booze wouldn’t be as slow as his current alchemy process. He could make some corn moonshine easily, since he could use the massive 500 unit still to make it. Hell, maybe he could have Throk create something even larger for the job… No. Better to not get a rise out of the old marshling.

The goal of the farms outside the town struck a stark contrast to the single farm within. The concept of the farm inside Broken Tusk was to elevate it above the marshy soil. While that soil was useful when dried, if it remained wet indefinitely, then they couldn’t grow the favored corn-like product of the half-ogres. With Theo’s ability to manipulate the terrain and his plan to leave the planet entirely, he wasn’t too concerned about seasonal flooding or water leaching from the swamp.

Instead, he placed these new farms wherever they would be needed. If the town needed to expand, it could choose a different direction. Or it could expand around the farms and then proceed across the river. Partway through the process, he realized there wouldn’t be nearly enough room for his forms there. He had no option but to cross the bridge and plant more on the far side. It would be very susceptible to monster attacks, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t putting people at risk, only his golems.

Of course, with five full-sized farms to tend to, he needed to recruit a new force of golems. Just like his alchemy, the golems were broken into pieces. The first were the lesser golems, the second were simply called golems, and the next were “greater” golems. The distinction between these golems was the quality of the items used for the containment core, the medium with which they were made, and the level of the monster core placed within that containment core. Plant golems needed no additional items to function, unlike the metal-based golems which required fire-based constructs.

A plant golem was happy to rebuild itself with random vegetative material. Anything would do.

Theo had to search for a bit longer than he wanted to find enough material for his golems. Three golems were fine to operate his small farm, but with five large farms, he figured that ten per farm was the bare minimum. Once he had gathered the materials, he went through his supplies, finding that someone had made and delivered some high-grade containment cores to him. They were made from the Azrugium alloy, a blend of Tworgnothi and Drogramathi metals. Since those aligned metals were now extinct, it made them quite rare.

Working on the golems was extremely relaxing. Theo had forgotten how it felt to impart his will into a containment core. First, he assembled fifty piles of vegetation—vines, leaves, sticks, and so on—behind his lab. Then he inserted level 30 monster cores into the containment cores and imparted some of his will into them. Next came the Slates, the power system that would keep the creatures going. Throk might have made a decent amount of batteries and siphons, but he didn’t have fifty on hand, so some golems would need to refresh their power systems by manually collecting Mana Constructs.

Sweat beaded on the alchemist’s forehead as he went between the piles. He drank mana potions when he ran low, infusing each core with both a small amount of his will and a spark of his mana. The golems, twice his size, rose into massive piles of twisting vegetation. They shambled about the area, feeding into his current network and warring with themselves over the instructions within. A sharp rebuke from his will had them all standing stock-still until he was done with each pile. It took many hours, but he finally had his new army of farmers. He inspected one, smiling at his progress toward a stronger golem.

[Greater Plant Golem]

[Alchemy Construct]

Level 30

Plant Golems excel at tending to the natural world, while also having mild combat capabilities.

Containment Core: [Alchemically Treated Azrugium Cage]

Monster Core: [Goblin Dwarfsticker] (Level 30)

Medium: [Plant Matter]

Alchemy Slates: [Mana Construct]

Power System: [Mana Construct]

Siphon System: None

Additional Modifications: None

The Golem might have seemed simple on the outside, but Theo knew the kind of effort that had led him to this place. A greater Golem would be stronger, faster, and smarter in a combat sense, but for a Plant Golem it would be better at tending crops, smarter about the decisions it made when plucking weeds or selecting the spacing for planting. The result was a small army of farmers eager to get to work. Even with a blank command in their little network, he could feel their eagerness to begin.

The fact that they pushed back against him sent a significant amount of concern flooding through his mind. As the golems increased in power, so did their intelligence. That was concerning, especially considering the cores he used to construct them were made from goblins. Goblins weren’t the smartest decision makers.

Blowing a sharp and completely unnecessary whistle, Theo turned and led his army through the town. If he weren’t at the head of the formation, the guards on the walls to the east would most certainly have rung the bell. Instead, they nodded and muttered under their breath. The words they spoke were no doubt about the crazy archduke who ran the town, but he had long since stopped caring what others thought.

As soon as the golems got out into the open fields, they drove a sharp wave of desire into his mind. Each wanted to tend the fields immediately, without organization, but Theo pushed back. Instead, he segmented them into groups of ten, assigning each group to an individual farm. He placed storage crates in the buildings of each farm, giving the golems a place to deposit their wheat, gather seeds, and replenish their mana constructs.

“Get to work, little guys,” Theo said, smiling as he watched the golems rush off. It was strange to see them pull the seeds from the storage containers, and even stranger to watch them distribute the supplies amongst themselves.

“New army, who dis?” Tresk said, appearing behind Theo.

“What do you think?” Theo asked, not bothering to look back at the marshaling.

“Well, you’re quite good at raising armies,” Tresk said, tapping her chin. “Seems like we could start a war with this many golems.”

“I can make a lot more than what you see,” Theo said. “My army of golems is at about 300 at this point. I don’t even know where half of them are right now.”

“I heard a lot of them blew up,” Tresk said, giggling to herself. “They caught fire and died.”

That’s right. A lot of his golems were metal golems, which had the unfortunate side effect of exploding at random times. This was because they had to have a fire construct within them. If they took too much damage, they used that construct to reshape their form. That sometimes had explosive consequences.

“I think I’ll need help with this project. Are you interested in brewing a large quantity of alcohol?”

“What? But me no am alchemist. I’m just a little lizard,” Tresk said.

“This is the easy stuff,” Theo said. “The stuff we used to make back in the day. Or close enough to it. I remember you used to be very useful in the lab.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Sounds good to me,” he said, dressed sadly, fidgeting on the spot. “You know, I’m kind of concerned about the dungeons, though—about the void energy and whatever negative monsters it shoots forth.”

“That’s Xol’sa’s problem. You shouldn’t worry about it unless somebody needs something stabbed,” Theo said.

Tresk shrugged. “I’m hungry. Let’s get some food.”

Chapter 14

Consistent Randomness

Theo was excited for a nice, calm morning the next day. He woke and ate a pleasant breakfast at his table, taking his time and watching in amazement as Tresk did the same. Now that she wasn’t so busy with the dungeons, she seemed to have fallen back into her habit of shadowing him for most of the day. Alex lingered outside, doing whatever a dragon goose does, while Sarisa and Rowan ate with them.

Despite his standing invitation, Salire still didn’t feel the need to eat breakfast with him. Perhaps it was just too weird, having breakfast with your boss every morning.

That peaceful breakfast was broken when someone knocked on the door. Opening it, the alchemist found Xol’sa, a smile on his face. He let himself in, finding a place at the table and laying out long sheets of paper, and waiting for Theo to take his seat.

“That’s the look of a man who actually has good news for me, for once,” Theo said, sitting down at his place and picking at his food.

“Of course, I’m done with the tethers and beacons, and I’ve made some decent progress on the negative dungeon. Thanks to Tresk, actually.”

Theo turned, looking at the marshal, who shrugged as though she had done absolutely nothing.

“What can I say?” she asked. “I picked through your memories and saw some computer stuff.”

Xol’sa went on to explain what the dungeon was doing.  It was an idea about computers that Theo had heard once on Earth, and Tresk was able to pick through his memories and find it. But the system expected dungeons to always have a positive value. When it went negative, weird things would happen. It was called an undertow, or underflow, or something. Anyway, once it went negative, it started looking in weird spots in the system’s code to populate the dungeon. That resulted in a completely random dungeon. Every aspect of it was random, which was slightly concerning.

“We can have a dungeon that never produces a wave, or a dungeon that produces a wave every second for the rest of eternity,” Xol’sa explained. “The point is that if a dungeon is completely random, we can see anything, and that’s a problem.”

“I thought you said you had good news for me,” Theo said.

“Of course, I do. I have several paths forward that I can take to fix the dungeon. Unfortunately, each one requires us to get to the dungeon’s core.”

This wasn’t good news at all. Theo picked up his food and sipped his tea for a minute as he thought. If they needed to get to the dungeon core, then that meant they had to clear the entire dungeon. He couldn’t remember a time when the adventurers in town had said they cleared the swamp dungeon—maybe back when it was young and he had first arrived.

“I thought the whole problem was that the randomness made it impossible to clear the dungeon,” Theo said.

“A correction,” Tresk said, pointing her finger into the air. “I said it was too dangerous to look for it, but we’re understanding a bit about this particular brand of randomness.”

“That’s the thing,” Xol’sa said. “Once the dungeon goes into the negatives, the randomness it produces is consistent.”

“So it isn’t random,” Theo said.

“No, it’s random upon generation. This means that once it shifts from a positive to a negative number, it creates a set amount of randomness. Those elements remain. Perhaps not forever, but we can’t know yet.”

So it was good news after all. If the dungeon wouldn’t change while people delved into it, then they could map out a course and take the safest route. Dungeons in this world were interesting things. The swamp dungeon was the most clear-cut example; it was a series of floors heading down. Clearing a floor often gave you access to the next one, but Tresk often skipped floors. The dungeon that had been generated as a negative dungeon, on the other hand, was an open field, so it was a different sort of dungeon. But if it remained consistent, they could clear it. They were certain of that.

Theo withdrew two communication crystals from his inventory. “I have a proposal,” he said, placing Fenian and Elrin’s crystals on the table.

“Are we going to call in the big guns?” Tresk asked.

“That’s the plan, anyway. If Tresk links up with either of these two, then they won’t have a problem clearing the dungeon. That’s the idea, anyway.”

“I have no objections,” Tresk said. “Although, I’d rather have stealthers with me.”

The group debated the plan’s specifics for a while, but it seemed straightforward. Shoving more powerful people into the dungeon would work if they could avoid the giant Sky Whale. That seemed to be the biggest threat, along with the wide-open fields. This is why Tresk wanted stealthers to avoid attracting attention from afar. But since the dungeon was not currently producing an immediate threat, they could take time to formulate a plan.

Theo held Elrin’s crystal and squeezed it tightly. He felt the familiar haptic buzz in his mind, but the man didn’t answer. When he tried again, he received the same effect. Sighing, he placed it back on the table and picked up the other crystal.

“Theo, my dear alchemist,” Fenian said, his voice honey-sweet.

“What do you need?” Theo asked, sensing the familiar sweetness as a call for help, rather than anything else.

“I’ll remind you that you called me,” Fenian said. “But it’s interesting that you know I need something. Are you watching me right now?”

“Maybe I am,” Theo said. “What are you doing? What do you need from me that’s so important?”

“Just a few minor supplies,” Fenian said. “Nothing you can’t provide without much effort. Mainly, I’ll need the help of your artificer and maybe a blacksmith.  I’ll be in town in a few days, so we’ll talk about it then. What do you need?”

“I need you to clear a dungeon,” Theo said, “a negative dungeon.”

“What kind of dungeon?” Fenian asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a negative dungeon.”

If the elf understood the strange dungeon he would be facing, he seemed to grow more excited as details emerged. More surprisingly, he had something else to add.

“Now, if you promise not to be mad,” Fenian said, “I can bring some backup. Some real heavy hitters in the world that I think we’ll desperately need if the dungeon is as bad as you say.”

Theo sighed. Which one of their enemies had Fenian made up with? “Okay, who is it?”

“Oh, lovely. Jan and Twist have become very close friends recently, after we fought Elrin, that is.”

Theo blinked a few times. “Whatever,” he said. “Stranger things have happened.” He didn’t remember either man directly attacking Broken Tusk. The only reason he was upset that either had left was that he had more questions to ask. With the end of the world coming, it seemed he didn’t have much time for enemies, but plenty of time for allies.

“Sounds good. Keep me updated,” Theo said. A moment later, Fenian cut the connection without saying anything more.

That was more than a little weird. Fenian was normally excited to help with most projects around town, but his schedule was normally a bit more packed. Theo had to take a moment to think things over to see if he’d missed something important. Elrin’s arrival and Fenian’s recent adventures weren’t a coincidence. The pair had some kind of history, and the idea that Twist and Jann could also have been involved was curious.

“So I don’t need to do anything, do I?” Theo asked, dismissing the other thoughts from his head. “Fenian said he was coming with some heavy hitters that I’ll need to clear with the town, but you should have a small team ready to go into the dungeon with you, Tresk.”

“Oh, goody. I get to run around with the super high-level guys and pretend that I can pull my weight.”

Of course, Tresk could pull her weight. She could draw on Theo’s attributes to make herself far stronger than before. He knew she could do it; she could keep up with them. The thing that concerned him most about all of this was the throne cores and how they hadn’t reacted to the negative dungeon. That meant that the dungeon was within the bounds of the system, and there was nothing they could do to use their cheats to help.

Theo excused himself from the table as Xol’sa and Tresk discussed specifics.  There were some interesting projects back at the lab that he wanted to attend to. The streets of the town were busier than normal today. People went about their business, but a noticeable influx of folks had clogged the streets and made the local businesses far busier than usual.  Anyone who wanted to stay for the end-of-the-world party had to sign one of the town’s contracts. The alchemists wondered how far their magic could go to protect them, but if that failed, they did have walls bristling with guns and an army of golems ready to strike at any time.

The scent within the lab was noticeable. Salire must have already started working on the fermented properties they planned to test. The potions they created from the pitch, expanded, and fluff properties might not have been useful, but he was eager to see what they could add to his potions as modifiers.

“Things are getting pretty busy out there, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, so I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse,” Salire said, turning around. She had been leaning over the table, working on a series of restorative potions when he had entered. They might be interested in pushing alchemy further to test how each facet worked, but they still needed to create standard healing potions.

Theo didn’t need to ask if she had prepared the modifier essences; he could see three flasks sitting on the table near the window. Salire had cracked that window, allowing a warm breeze to blow through. It might have been this world’s version of autumn, but the weather hadn’t done much but calm down slightly. At least the intense summer heat was gone. They didn’t call it the Season of Fire for nothing.

“What do you say we test these modifier properties?” Theo asks, approaching the table and selecting the Pitch modifier essence first.

“Most bomb-based essences don’t mix well with standard potions,” Salire said. “Maybe we should combine this with a standard bomb to see how it works.”

Theo couldn’t help but smile. She had come a long way from being his assistant, someone happy to be a shopkeeper. Now she had ascended to a knowledgeable alchemist. If one took the modifier system at face value, they would assume the pitch modifier would mix with anything. But she was right; one would have trouble mixing it with standard potions if it took it all. A bomb-based potion was the best idea.

Ario rummaged through their storage, finding a Basic Firebomb to test. He transferred the bomb to a larger vial, one that could contain both the bomb’s liquid and the modifier, before introducing a few drops of the modifier. The reaction was tepid, which was a good sign, so he poured the entire thing in. Then it bubbled and produced an amount of smoke as the swirling orange liquid of the bomb mixed with the dark, cloudy pitch modifier.

“Stable reactions are good, right?” Salire asked, chuckling to herself.

Theo simply nodded, keeping an eye on the reaction to make sure it didn’t go overboard. But everything went well before long. The potion was done brewing, despite the fact that he was mixing a modifier from the new system and a potion from the old system. As expected, the resulting purity was quite low, but it was stable enough not to explode in his hands. He inspected the resulting item.

[Basic Firebomb]

[Pitch]

[Bomb] [Modified Bomb]

Common

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 72%

Shatter against a surface to release flames that stick to the target.

Effect (Modified):

A sticky tar-like substance adheres to the target, lingering for twice the time but dealing half damage.

This was a very balanced effect from the modifier. Sometimes modifiers would change the way a potion worked entirely, but this one just altered the length of the damage-over-time effect while reducing the damage. It wasn’t a good or bad potion; it was just a different application. This kind of potion would be perfect to fight against a troll, since trolls often regenerate their health over time. Applying a potion like this would ensure that the regenerative effect was minimal.

“That’s shockingly good,” Salire said, looking at it. “I was expecting something far worse, but... can’t be mad about that, can we?”

“No, let’s check out the Expand property next. That’s the one that I think might be the most useful for other potions.”

 To get an idea of what a normal modifier would do to a potion, Theo often used it on his standard healing potions. This would be no different, and he had several of the new potions to work with. He selected a standard healing potion, withdrawing the expand modifier and transferring both to a new vial. The reaction was very pleasant; there were no strange things going on, so he was happy about that.

The light pink of the potion shifted, becoming paler as the essences mixed together. Both he and Salire leaned in to inspect the effects of this potion.

[Healing Potion]

[Expand]

[Potion] [Modified Potion]

Rare

Created by: Belgar

Purity: 90%

A healing potion. Drink to restore health.

Effect (Modified):

A healing aura emits from your body, restoring 30 health over 15 seconds to all those within 100 paces.

This was a weird one. It was hard to tell if it was good or bad. It took the normal 75 health that the Tier 2 potion healed and reduced it to 30. But it didn’t have a target limit on how many people it would heal. Unfortunately, it also didn’t specify whether it healed only allies, or allies and enemies. Theo saw this as an interesting thing, though. If it took the standard effect of a potion like this and turned it into an aura, that would be amazing for other potions, like attribute potions.

“This one might be a winner,” Salire said, rubbing her hands together.

The more Theo thought about it, the more he realized that it was indeed an amazing potion, and applying it to others might change the way they performed group combat. He went from mildly interested to excited.

“I want to test this on other potions. I really do. But first, we really need to see what the Fluff property provides.”

Chapter 15

Fluff Modifier

It was impossible to deny the excitement of discovering new combinations of potions and modifier properties. After finding how useful Expand would be, Theo tried to keep his hopes for the Fluff property down. They once again selected a healing potion to test. The mixture worked perfectly. The liquids merged in the vial, producing a stable potion.

As the two liquids mixed in the vial, Salire turned to Theo, excitement evident on her face. "What do you think we'll get from this one?"

"I've learned not to speculate," Theo said, smiling. "But it could be anything from an extremely useful potion to something that just explodes in our face. You never know."

The potion finished its process shortly after the steam rising from the top abated, revealing a slightly pink liquid. Theo didn't like the smell of it, but he leaned in close anyway and inspected the result.

[Healing Potion]

[Fluff]

[Potion] [Modified Potion]

Rare

Created by: Belgar

Purity: 90%

A healing potion. Drink to restore health.

Effect (Modified):

A layer of extremely light fluff covers your body. Segments will detach when a nearby injured ally is detected, healing them for 10 health. This effect has 15 charges.

"I'll give you three gold coins if you drink that," Theo said, reading the description a few times. "That does not sound pleasant."

Rowan appeared from the shadows, stepping onto the lab floor and raising an eyebrow. "Did you say, 'three gold coins'?"

Theo held the potion at arm's length, smiling at his assistant. "If you drink it, yeah.”

Rowan didn't notice his sister step out of the shadows behind him, grinning. He accepted the vial and sniffed the contents, eventually shrugging.  After detecting nothing offensive, he threw it back without question, obviously not having read the description. He then stood there, making a strange face as his stomach rumbled. “What is supposed to happen?”

Without warning, the man's skin began looking strange. The exposed parts of his forearms appeared as though his arm hairs were growing faster than they should have. Only after closer inspection did Theo realize that it was a thin layer of fluff appearing on his skin. His eyes went wide as the fluff spread to his face, giving him the appearance of very bushy eyebrows at first, before the fluff spread further.

"Help!" Rowan shouted, rubbing his forearms to remove the fluff, but it didn't work. The thin layer remained where it was.

"You're fine, just calm down," Theo said. "If the potion does any damage, it'll just heal you back up, so no need to worry."

"Oh, gods, the fluff! It's everywhere!" Rowan shouted, rolling on the ground.

Sarisa couldn't hold back her laughter any longer. She fell to the ground with him, cackling and slamming her fist against the wooden floor. She tried to say something, but the words only came out as more incomprehensible laughter. That's about the time her brother gave her a good boot to the ribs.

"Interesting," Theo said, watching as Sarisa rolled in pain. But a small piece of fluff had detached itself from Rowan's skin, floating through the air and landing on the area he had kicked. A moment later, her face was once again placid, before shifting to laughter.

Being covered in a layer of itchy fluff didn't seem fun, but the potion's effects were incredibly powerful. It had taken the normal 75 health points it would have healed and upgraded that to 150. Not only that, but it didn't seem to have an expiration time, meaning a person could walk around with this healing fluff for quite some time.

"That's a powerful potion," Salire said, nodding. Rowan was still having an existential crisis, and Sarisa couldn't control her laughter.

"Powerful!?" Rowan shouted, "this is horrible! I'm having a very bad day."

Rowan had injured himself during his fit, but Theo was happy to see that the fluff would heal the person it was attached to. More sections of the man's bare skin were visible now, meaning he had used two of the fifteen charges.

"Go find some sick people," Theo said. "Check to see if the fluff does anything for diseases. Otherwise, I'm sure you can find people with minor wounds around town. They'll be missing a few health points, so it'll help you disperse the charges."

"Yeah," Rowan asked, placing his fuzzy hands on his hips. He then extended his hand, palm out. "Where are my three gold coins?"

Theo chuckled to himself, removing something from his inventory and handing it over. "You can make a lot of money as a guinea pig."

"I'm no pig," Rowan said, turning after snatching the coins, "but I will take your money."

Salil had managed to keep her cool during the experiment, but the moment Rowan left the room, she was laughing right alongside Sarisa and Theo. They all cackled until their sides hurt, wiping tears from their eyes and feeling quite out of breath.  The group finally calmed down. It was hilarious, but the truth was, the potion was very powerful. Depending on the range, it could heal people. This could be an excellent way for anybody to become a mobile healing station. It didn't hurt that the potion specified injured allies. It didn't have the same problem as the Expand modifier.

"Let's get a few more of those brewed," Theo said, rummaging through their stores and pulling more healing potions forth. "People might not like the sensation of being covered in fluff, but if there's an emergency situation, this potion would be very helpful for group combat."

"Or the potions could be very useful for pranks," Sarisa said. "We could tell them it did something else and make them drink it. And then we could laugh at them as they were covered in fluff."

"While that's very tempting, I think that might erode the trust we have with the people in town," Theo said.

Sarisa said something about Theo being a spoilsport before vanishing into the shadows once again. His eternal stalker went back to her paid position as a silent guardian. He turned his attention to creating more of the potion, eager to have something more than just restoration potions in his arsenal. The change from the old alchemy system to the new one had caused no small amount of potion shortages. He was only happy that they now had three capable healers to bridge the gap between the injuries the townsfolk sustained and healing options.

Now that those three healers were busy tending to the injured space elves, the potions became even more important. Creating more versions of the fluff-infused healing potion was easy enough. Theo even created a version of the potion for mana, just to test. He inspected the result, but was unsurprised by it.

[Lesser Mana Potion]

[Fluff]

[Potion] [Modified Potion]

Common

Created by: Theo Spencer

Purity: 85%

A lesser mana potion. Drink to restore mana.

Effect:

A layer of extremely light fluff covers your body. When a nearby ally has mana below 50%, a segment of the fluff will detach, restoring 5 mana. This effect has 20 charges.

Theo expected that the stamina version of the potion would do the same. But it was a very interesting application for the modifier. Fun potions had taken a backseat to useful ones. Theo didn't mind, although he'd always enjoyed silly potions with absurd effects.  But now wasn't the time to focus on fun. Practical potions were paramount in Broken Tusk.

"So, what's our next course of action?" Salire asked.

"As far as the lab goes, that's a good question," Theo said, taking a moment to think. She waited patiently for his thoughts to gather..

It was a point of pride that Theo wanted to get his lab back to producing third-tier potions. They had a decent understanding of how that was going to work and only had to push forward to get the proper equipment and procedures in place. Tier 2 potions were fine for the town's current needs, but if the step to get them up a tier wasn't that taxing, there was no reason not to do it.

Anytime he thought his urge to push forward was stupid, he remembered the space elves and the infirmary. If they had had the equipment and methods already in place, creating proper tier 3 potions would have been a breeze. Instead, they were sent scrambling, especially for reagents, to get the job done. The end of the world was coming, but it wasn't as though the world would end—not their world, anyway. They would continue living on a different planet, but the needs of the people would likely still be the same.

"When we transition to Tero’gal," Theo said, pausing for a moment, "it is very possible things will change more than just the way the system works or how the system itself is organized. We might experience some hardship."

“Experience some hardship?” Salire asked, laughing, "That's a very political way to say that things might go wrong."

"We could be in trouble," Theo said, stating his thoughts more plainly. "We could get over there, and everything could get scrambled. The system might treat our new planet as a place to reset. I don't think it will scour the world clean, like it's doing here, but things might get shuffled."

"Which means you think our skills will be very useful," Salire said, nodding.

"And why wouldn't they be? Alchemy has always been incredibly helpful. We've been able to cure diseases, dig tunnels, and defend against monsters. It seems like the applications for alchemy are endless."

“So we're going to focus on tier 3, huh?”

"We don't have to focus on that tier. We can, of course, instead put most of our effort into working on more restoration potions. But as a side project, yes, I'd like to have a step-by-step procedure ready for tier three."

"That sounds good to me," Salire said. "That just means I'm basically doing what I'm already doing. Yay."

Theo went over some specifics with her, ensuring she understood his expectations. As more days passed, she needed less instruction. This was because she was becoming more independent with her alchemy. She didn't need him to walk her through every single step, guiding her so she didn't blow herself up. No, Salire's ability with alchemy was approaching levels that people would think were pure mastery before most of the continent was destroyed. If not for their little cluster of alchemical geniuses, she would have been the best in the world.

"And what are you going to do with your time?" Salire asked after they finished their chat.

"Now that was a great question." There was plenty to do around the town, but Theo wasn't sure what he should do first. Concerning the problem of insufficient space near the town to house visitors, he could level some mountains if he wanted. He could see if Ziz and his men needed help with those very houses.  There were also potions to be brewed, the dungeon situation to sort out, or even the space elves to consider. And that wasn't even considering the problem with Elrin and the shards.

“I think I’ll go for a walk,” Theo said, nodding to himself.

"Interesting," Salire said, patting him on the shoulder. "That doesn't sound like work. Have a good walk."

Theo bid farewell to his apprentice, heading out onto the street. Tresk was doing some work for the town, scouting the dungeons and ensuring none dropped below a certain level. Xol’sa, it appeared, had come up with a method to delay the decline of the other dungeons, but it was iffy and required power from Tero’gal. Since the throne world had gained some level of sapience, it was less reluctant to infuse the world with much of its energy. But, according to Tresk, it had gone along with some of the plan, and the projected decline of the dungeons was slowing.

You couldn't even use the term "apprentice" to refer to Salire anymore. As Theo walked the streets of Broken Tusk, he admired how much it had changed. Things were getting cluttered and weird, and he should probably go and shove some monster cores into the town itself to level it. Things were going about as well as he could hope. And with how calm everything had been in recent memory, he made his way to the harbor and then the path that followed alongside the river emptying into the bay. He walked on the causeways and looked up at the massive towers, with the railguns perched atop.

An adventurer struck up a conversation, asking questions about the end of the world and whether they were all going to die, and things like that. Despite the dissemination of this information throughout the town, some residents remained unconvinced unless it originated from an authoritative source. A town-wide announcement was not always taken seriously, especially given the way Aarok phrased things.

The alchemist dangled his legs over the pier's edge, giving his thoughts time to settle. With so many things to do, it was hard to prioritize. Instead, he took that solemn moment to allow the sound of the lapping waves to wash over him. The soothing scent of the sea and the calls of birds overhead brought him a great sense of comfort. Perhaps it didn't matter which thing he started first, so long as he was busy doing something.