Chapter: 23

"I'm here to see chemist Tenebrook," Rick’s voice echoed, dodging a nurse who was rushing into the back of the large medical building.

"With all of the competition, Mister Tenebrook is extremely busy," the woman at the front desk stressed.

"I understand," Rick assured her. She gave him a look that seemed to doubt he did.

"Tell him that Rick is here and he might have a way for him to help more patients. And give him this." Rick passed her three vials. One was a stamina potion, another a healing potion, and the third a mana recovery potion. She took them with a confused expression before glancing between Rick and his sister.

Lydia was wearing a covering to hide her hair and simple clothes, making her look no different than anyone else in Goran.

She'd even wiped some dirt and soot on her face to take away her cleaner-looking appearance. The woman hesitated for a minute before sighing, drawing the three vials into her hand closer. "Wait here a moment," she said, leaving the desk and hurrying back into the medical building.

"Help, please!" someone yelled, pushing the door into the building open.

One man was holding another up, a bloody gash on his forehead streaming down. Attendants rushed forward, asking a series of rapid-fire questions before getting the man into a chair.

"Competition week," Lydia said.

Rick grunted in agreement. It was always around this time that the hotheaded fools got into the worst of the worst.

The building took in the worst patients, those with simple ailments waiting in the reception.

Rick yawned as time stretched on.

The door into the medical building burst open with Tenebrook holding the three vials. He looked wild, wearing a butcher's apron and clean but rumpled clothing, showing that he had been working longer than he had been sleeping.

His brown hair was scattered upon his head with a hooked nose and owlish eyes. His eyes latched onto Rick as he stalked forward.

"Where did you get these?" he demanded, holding up the three potions.

"Mister Tenebrook, this might be a better question for your office," Rick suggested.

The man seemed to come back to himself, looking around the waiting area. He turned and stalked away, pushing open the door back into the medical building's depths. "Come along then," he yelled back, moving at a brisk pace.

Rick followed him, with Lydia trailing behind.

They met the lady at the front desk halfway, trying to catch up to Tenebrook, who'd left her well behind in his rush. Seeing them all, she opened her mouth, then closed it and straightened her dress, continuing on back to the front reception.

Tenebrook moved past a series of warning signs, telling anyone that was willing to read not to enter and the dangers that lay beyond. He threw open a door, dashing off inside to the sounds of steam whistling out of some instrument.

Rick stepped inside, looking at an alchemist's dream. There was glass of all shapes and forms, diluting, tincturing, condensing, mixing, and completing all kinds of alchemical processes happening in seemingly chaos.

Tenebrook moved around the lab, adjusting flames, opening and closing valves, reading temperature gauges and more.

"Where did you get these potions from?" Tenebrook yelled, holding up the potions still in his hand as he moved amongst his contraptions.

"I found those ones," Rick said, "but I can teach you how to make them as well."

The man snapped his head back around, fixing Rick with a look that tried to pierce through him and the world beyond. "You're Rick Isendia, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yep," Rick shrugged.

Tenebrook frowned. Rick had come to Tenebrook several times.

"You keep coming to me because you don't want your family knowing all of the scrapes and fights you've gotten into. You don't want anyone to know all of the fights you've been in or the injuries you gained through them," Tenebrook said. "Same as your sister." His eyes snapped to Lydia next to him.

"Rick let it slip once or twice that if I needed any medical help it would be best to come see you," Lydia said.

Tenebrook snorted. "Wish the rest of your family understood that. Or understood the value of medical science and advancing the realm of pharmacology and alchemical interactions. Which is also why I am hesitant to listen to what you have to say about these potions." He wiggled the vials back and forth, crossing the room towards them. "These three potions are stronger than anything I've had the pleasure of testing, making or seeing. I don't think I've heard of anything with these effects." He looked at them, at the vials, as if to try and peer through their secrets.

"What you're holding there is a healing potion, a stamina potion and a mana recovery potion," Rick pointed to them individually.

Tenebrook paused. "I tasted the stamina potion and it felt like I’d had a full night's rest. The healing potion..." Tenebrook paused again, "I kept looking, really looking at the vials. I didn't realize that my eyes were as bad as they were until I took it. And then everything came back in stunning clarity."

Rick looked around, spotting a pad of paper and a pen off to the side. "Do you mind if I..." he gestured at it.

Tenebrook gestured to it in permission.

Rick quickly wrote down an alchemical formula, tearing off the piece of paper and handing it over to Tenebrook.

"What are these ingredients?" Tenebrook asked.

Rick took off the pack he'd carried from Grandma's house and opened the top, taking out ingredients.

"I've never heard these names before in my life." Tenebrook was wholly focused on the formula.

Len coughed, drawing his attention over.

Tenebrook blinked up from the formula, looking at Rick, and then down into the bag. He picked up several and held them up to the windows, squinting at the items inside.

"Each of them are labeled," Rick said, continuing to lay them out on an unused section of tabletop.

Tenebrook inspected them as they were drawn out, comparing them against the formula in his other hand from time to time.

"And these ingredients will have the effect of that healing potion?" Tenebrook asked.

"That and more. As you know, if you use different materials and different methods, you will have different outcomes. So while we know that you can create the healing potion following the formula and the ingredients, you might be able to create other potions and concoctions."

Rick looked over to Tenebrook, who had gone very still, his eyes unfocused in the direction of the ingredients. A smile crept upon Rick's face, seeing the gears turning, the ideas firing in the other man's head.

Rick picked up the pen again, writing down where to find him as well as tomorrow's date, time, and a question. “Once you've tested out the formula and been able to create the minor healing potions, you can find me at Grandma Lydia's Manor. Come and meet me tomorrow if you've had any success or have questions, and I'd be happy to chat more."

The words seemed to snap Tenebrook out of his stupor. "Yes, yes, very well. Thank you. Tomorrow, Grandma Lydia's," he said, moving towards the ingredients.

Rick knew he was just repeating it without taking it in. The note would help.

"Tomorrow it is," Rick walked towards the door, indicating for Lydia to follow.

He quickly left Tenebrook, who was already opening the different ingredients, taking them deeper into the lab to begin his tests.

Lydia had an expression of one with many questions and no way to ask them all. They left the medical building behind, with Rick glancing about the place. "All right, now next stop is the industrial district. Need to see how that's looking nowadays," Rick said. "Which direction is it in again?"

"This way," Lydia said, leading him. Her face was still closed in thought. It took her another ten minutes before she found the words she'd been looking for.

"Rick, since you've come back, you healed Grandma, used magic, tempered my body, apparently learned how to be a really good fighter and pushed my bladed skill from Apprentice to Journeyman. Now you've got potions and Len’s meeting with a whole bunch of crippled veterans saying that they could fight again. What is going on?" she asked.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"There's a dozen ways to answer that question, many of which aren't helpful, a few that are terrifying, but I know you appreciate the truth," Rick paused, considering his words. "The timer that’s going down? On that day mana storms will reshape the world, beasts and creatures spread throughout the world, other races will arrive to take our resources. Essentially the apocalypse starts and we have very little time to prepare."

She let out a heavy breath. “Well shit, was hoping it was just some kind of prank. Figures it would take the end of civilization as we know it for you to learn how to use a sword properly.”

“Damn that was a good burn.”

“Tell me where I lied?”

“And now it just hurts!” Rick grabbed his chest in pain.

Lydia laughed, bringing back some lightness to the world.

***

Len stepped out of his room wearing his armor and a pack. Most of his gear he’d be leaving behind.

Lydia nodded to him as she stepped up to her brother’s room and rapped her knuckles on the door.

“What is it?” Rick yelled through the door.

“Tenebrook is here, looks like he’s not slept in a week.”

That was the alchemist in training?

“One sec!” Rick yelled. A few minutes later he opened the door, wearing his own gear and pack. He nodded in greeting to Len and looked at Lydia. “Shall we?”

She led them through the house to one of the reception rooms.

Tenebrook nearly jumped out of his skin from where he had been pacing. The man was as described, wide eyed and almost crazed. That of one with too much focus and work and not enough self preservation.

“Rick!” He ran over to the room. “The ingredients you gave me! They’re like nothing I have ever seen. First I used them for the formulations that you gave me. Then I began running tests on them. Finding out their characteristics and how they interact with one another. I realized that the Eurin Root processing was actually less effective than another method I have for purification so I tried that out and then the balance of the formulation was skewed so I tried it in different combinations. Then I realized that it should be used for other concoctions so I began mixing it in with tho—”

Rick grabbed the man by the shoulders, pushing him away and holding him up so his feet weren’t touching the ground. “Breathe, mister Tenebrook, just breathe.”

“But this is so revolutionary! This could change the entire way that pharmaceuticals are created! The advancements to science!”

“This is just the start,” Len said. “Were you able to get any alchemy levels?”

Tenebrook’s eyes snapped to him. “Journeyman grade, it felt like a connection being made in my mind.”

Rick lowered the man back to the ground.

“There will be all kinds of new ingredients, all different kinds of formulations, beyond Journeyman is Expert, then master and grandmaster,” Len said.

“I am up to date on all the latest information, this is beyond what I have ever seen.”

Len spotted paper on a table and a pen. “If you want to learn more, first we’ll need to enter into a contract.” He quickly outlined the parameters, before flipping it over and writing out the enchantment.

Tenebrook looked it over. “I will become a member of your alchemical research and development arm?” He raised his head.

“Your task will be to get a greater understanding of different ingredients. Figure out how to combine them into various effects. Try to decrease the cost of ingredients and increase the effectiveness of your products. We will supply you with a place and supplies to do so,” Len said.

Tenebrook read the contract three more times before he took out a pencil from his pocket and signed on the paper.

It burned apart as the enchantment sunk into his skin. “That was different. What now?”

“Memorize everything on this piece of paper, once you hold it in your mind, power it with mana and you’ll be able to read any books you’re given, no matter the language.” Len gave him a piece of paper with a spell-form upon it.

“Oh,” Tenebrook took the piece of paper, focusing on it. “Quite elegant.”

“We should be getting in shipments of equipment, plants and more books on alchemy in the coming weeks,” Rick said.

Len pulled out the alchemy books. “These should get you started.”

“Here you are,” Tenebrook handed him the piece of paper back and picked up the book opening it and reading it.

And we’ve lost him.

“Uhh, it worked okay?”

“Yes, similar to molecular chemistry,” Tenebrook said in a tone that told he wasn’t focused on the conversation.

“Alright then I guess we should talk to your Grandma about the farmers?” Len asked.

“Yeah, let's get this over with," Rick said.

They moved through the Blue Manor, which had transformed overnight. Men and women, mostly those in uniform, marched in and out of the building with purpose.

The guards at the door knocked as Len, Rick and Lydia approached, ushering those who were waiting for Lady Carolyn to wait their turn. The door opened as Gibson marched out, nodding to Len and Rick before he hurried out of the manor. They entered the room with Lydia trailing behind.

Rick's grandma had moved the room around, bringing a desk forward, which she was now sitting behind. Light poured in through the windows, the curtains removed completely. A whole place had been cleaned out and all signs of tired and aged furniture removed.

"Going somewhere?" She asked, taking in their expressions and gear.

"We're heading off to Velkaris on the next train," Rick said.

She couldn't hide her lips pursing nor the squint at the corner of her eyes. "Goran will be the best place for you to begin.”

"A good plan always needs a backup," Rick said, "though that's not the idea we wished to talk to you about. There's several farming families that came with us from Warwick, all of them trained with magic, skilled up and ready to work. We assured them that they would have a place to work on and be compensated for it handsomely."

"That might be well and good, but we have an issue of funding and it's already turning to winter," Carolyn said.

"Even if it is winter, these farmers will be able to grow crops throughout the season, possibly through the depths of winter itself," Len said.

"I find that hard to believe," Carolyn said.

"And many people find it hard to believe that you're up and walking around instead of an invalid. Things change and we have to adapt and overcome,” Rick said.

“I will see what I can do, I'll have the people that deal with agricultural land get them some plots to work on,” Carolyn sighed.

“They're also going to need security," Len said.

"Something to keep the beasts at bay while they take care of the crops. One of Adrian's squads will do," Rick said.

"With all the training that you gave them, the skills skill up and the leveling, they're the best trained unit that we currently have," Carolyn said. "And you want to have them guarding fields?”

“You were going to use positioning, optics, and subterfuge to make me the leader of Goran. Or was that all just theater?" Rick asked. “If you want us to support Goran, you’re going to have to listen to us.”

His grandmother grimaced, emotions passing too fast to be read across her face before she let out a sigh. "All right, I'll have a squad of Adrian's fighters guard the fields. Out there protecting the farmers," she said, reluctantly.

“Food, not steam engines, not iron, not coal, not wood, is going to be the most expensive resource shortly. You can't eat any of those things. Food is the only thing that will sustain a population and nations will barter with you for it,” Len said.

That got her interest.

“The faster we can be reliant on our own food the less we’ll have to pay others,” Rick added.

Carolyn started nodding.

“It would also be good to set up a trade deal with the dungeon at Warwick. We brought a selection of crystals with us that give off light, heat and lightning. You’ll be able to get more from the dungeon periodically. They’ll be more expensive that coal, oil and other power sources that you have right now to start. Though they will last much longer than those consumable power sources and give off more energy,” Len said.

“And they don’t react real odd with mana and start exploding. Be good to sell off all the stuff you can burn for power that wasn’t made before mana arrived,” Rick said.

“What does that mean?” Carolyn askd.

“Wood will have grown with mana going through it so while it burn a little stronger it won’t have the potential to explode. Coal and oil doesn’t have mana in it because it was formed so long ago. When mana interacts with it, it’ll create all kinds of reactions,” Len said.

“So these crystals will replace our need for oil and coal,” Carolyn said.

“Yes, they’re a quick and easy way to do it,” Len said.

“I want to go with you when you go to Velkaris,” Lydia said, drawing all of their attention to her.

“Velkaris is about gathering information, getting a deal with Lucius and seeing if it will be a better place to setup,” Rick said. “I well, I don’t know how useful it will be for you. We’re going to be travelling and negotiating. You’d probably learn more fighting and training against Everett or with Adrian and his people.”

“The dungeon?” Len asked.

Rick turned thoughtful.

“Dungeon?” Lydia asked.

“The dungeon we were talking about with the crystals a co-op of farmers control near Len’s family farm. It respawns beasts, foxes and spiders. They’re a decent level and the dungeon creates rewards. You clear out the dungeon and fight the beasts, increasing your level and will let you get used to your strength and then you can harvest everything that comes out of the mine. Minus twenty percent the value of the goods which goes to the co-op,” Rick said.

“While you’re there you could coordinate shipping back what we have stored there. The heat, light and electricity crystals,” Len said.

“Can ask the farmers there if they want to try growing throughout the winter and we’ll buy what they can grow,” Rick said.

Lydia looked from Rick to Len and then her grandma.

“Really?”

“Yeah?” Rick frowned.

“Well I was told that I have to be a lady all the time, that I should be learning all about etiquette, which forks to use, dancing and stuff?” Lydia said.

“Well that shit is about to be useless. The system and mana doesn’t care who you are. You put in the work and you’ll get stronger. We have the edge of knowing how the system works so we need to use that to the fullest,” Rick said.

“I can go fighting?” Lydia asked.

“Yeah?” Rick said.

Carolyn nodded too.

“Aww fuck yeah, screw the negotiating crap then! I can head off to this dungeon right away,” She said.

“You’ll need to take soldiers with you, its not the kind of dungeon you can solo. Everett can figure it out with Adrian. Adrian and the farmers know what will be need. Make a plan with all of them before you go. This will be a test,” Rick said.

“A test?”

“To see if you can run an expedition. There are lots of places that we need to go and things that have to be recovered. Some will require Len and myself. Others will need other teams,” Rick said.

“Okay,” Lydia was locked in on him.

“Depending on how you do, you could be running some of those expeditions,” Rick said.

Alright,” Lydia nodded, a look of determination had come over her face.

Rick turned back to Carolyn.

“Do what you must,” She said.

“Thank you Grandma,” Rick said.

“When will you be back?”

“Not sure, sometime! We’re going to need that steel, or iron at the very least and a train engine!” Rick pointed at the ceiling as he turned around and started for the doors.

“A train is not easy to get and we’re still deep in debt!” Carolyn raised her voice as they headed out.

“There weren’t any bankers when the apocalypse happened.” Len winked at Carolyn.

“You-wait, what?”

“Don’t remember them existing for a bit of time. You know they had other things to worry about and I don’t think that they really could figure out all of the people that owed them money or how much.” Len followed Rick. “And well who would want to piss off the city that’s ready for the apocalypse, safe harbor, food and a fighting force.”

Rick walked out, Lydia in a daze. Len closed the doors to see Carolyn thinking. Looks like Lydia, and Rick when he’s trying to figure out something really hard. Len smirked at the family similarities.

“I’ll go get that expedition,” Lydia said.

“Talk to Adrian and his people they were with us in there,” Rick said.

“Thanks,” Lydia walked off down a corridor, deep in thought.

“We didn’t talk about any kind of expeditions,” Len said as they walked down the stairs.

“Got a good idea and ran with it. We can’t really do everything. We set up expeditions to go to places that aren’t as risky, or to go to dungeons after we’ve checked them out to keep clearing them out and harvesting what’s inside.” Rick clapped his hands together and rubbed them against one another. “Now lets go make the biggest mana stone deal in history!”

“Future too,” Len said.

“Uhh—hmm yeah guess so, sounds weird though,” Rick said.