Rick walked into the clinic that Tenebrook worked in.

The number of patients was greatly reduced, but the woman at the reception looked haggard even though he could feel she’d leveled up several times.

“Uhh—oh, hello,” she blinked smiling at him.

“Tenebrook in?”

“Yeah,” Her smile dipped. “He’s very busy though.”

“If you want to tell him that Rick is here and he has more books and ingredients?”

“Mister Isendia!” She nearly jumped out of her seat, patting down her skirt and clutching her hands together, bobbing out a bow and then attempting a curtsey.

“Thank you miss,” Rick gave her a calming smile.

“He said that you were allowed to go and see him no matter what, I can get him,” She said.

“If its okay I can go to him, I’m interested to learn what he’s been doing.”

“Right, uhh well, this way.” She came around her desk and led him through the swinging doors into the clinic.

There were a few people in beds, looking like they were recovering from drinking incidents. Rick noted their appearance. Probably some of the guys coming back home for the first time.

They were due to blow off some steam.

Been a long time for most of them. They’d left with loved ones and families back here and been gone for months, some years. Things might have shifted and changed while they were gone.

See if we can’t set up some dances give them something fun to look forward to. People needed outlets and if done in the right way they could help instead of hurt.

The deeper they ventured into the clinic, the more disorganized it appeared.

In various rooms, he observed shelves and desks cluttered with an assortment of items, each progressively messier than the last.

In one room, several individuals clad in lab coats were sprawled asleep on the floor, in chairs, and even on a desk, some having fallen asleep in the middle of writing notes.

Meanwhile, two others worked diligently on chemistry sets, maneuvering around their slumbering colleagues as if they were part of the furniture.

"I'm sorry for all of the mess," the receptionist apologized, wringing her hands.

"Seems like things have gotten a little hectic around here," Rick commented.

Whoump a flame erupted from a beaker held by a chemist. The flame nearly licked the ceiling as the chemist simply extended it further from himself until it extinguished. He then brought it closer, shaking it to inspect the remaining contents.

"Interesting, high flammable properties," he mused, placing the beaker down and moving to the opposite side of the room where his notepad lay.

Judging by the receptionist's non-reaction, this was not an unusual occurrence.

The fact that the man's notepad was on the other side of the room seemed to suggest that they’d become used to it.

Rick allowed the woman to guide him deeper into the labyrinth that was Tenebrook’s clinic.

It took all kinds of eccentricities to uncover the secrets of alchemy.

“Tenebrook has brought in all of the chemists from the clinic. Most of them have been working around the clock to learn this new school of chemistry,” The woman explained.

“Have there been any incidents?” Rick asked.

“Yes, but they created potions that would heal people and another that would allow them to work without the need of sleep or food.”

“Right,” Rick nodded.

The woman reached Tenebrook’s room, the door was tilted. She knocked on the door.

“I’m not to be interrupted!” A voice yelled from the other side.

Rick pushed open the door, it nearly fell out of the doorway, drunkenly scraping against the floor as it revealed the chaos beyond.

The lab was a maze of glass beakers, bubbling concoctions, and glowing crystals. The air was thick with the scent of herbs and strange fumes, faint trails of smoke twisting toward the ceiling.

The shutters in the window frames were all broken in some way.

Burn and acid pitting marks could be seen everywhere.

In front of Tenebrook, an experiment was reaching a critical point—vials filled with volatile liquids shimmered, their contents swirling ominously as the alchemist added a pinch of powder.

“I said—oh RICK!” Tenebrook’s thunderous expression, flipped into a wide smile as he released his pinch of powder.

As the powder touched the bubbling mixture, a deep, resonant hiss echoed through the room, and the entire lab seemed to hold its breath. Tenebrook’s eyes widening as he threw the concoction at the fume hood he was near.

The liquid in the flask churned violently, turning a deep, unnatural shade of crimson. For a split second, the concoction sat still—suspended, frozen in an eerie calm.

Rick dove to the side, grabbing the receptionist.

Then came the explosion.

A deafening boom shook the lab. A brilliant flash of purple and blue light stole Rick’s vision.

Rick picked himself up off the floor and ran into the room.

There was no trace of Tenebrook.

The tables had been ripped from the floor and overturned, glass and metal twisted beyond recognition, the once-organized shelves now reduced to rubble.

The door had given up the fight, learning on a broken table.

The fume hood at the heart of the explosion, was now a blackened crater, still glowing faintly with residual energy, while tendrils of unnatural smoke coiled into the air, shimmering with the last remnants of unstable magic.

Broken shelves shifted on the opposite side of the room.

Rick pulled the shelves off of Tenebrook. The man coughed and spluttered.

A thin barrier fell away from him as he waved off Rick.

He still hit the man with a healing spell.

“Oh, that feels better, head was swimming there for a minute.” Tenebrook reached out a hand. Rick took it, helping him to his feet.

The air smelled like lightning, burning Rick’s nose.

“Was just testing out some of the new ingredients that came in! Quite excitable!” He patted his clothes, getting out the glass that filled them. He grimaced as he looked around he room. “Going to need more space and a dedicated testing lab.”

The receptionist shakily looked into the room, glass cracking under her shoes.

“Thank you miss, I think it would be best if you take the rest of the day off,” Rick said.

“Uhh, umm, yes, thank you.” She nodded. “Thank you mister Isendia.”

“No problem.”

She blushed slightly and carefully manouvered her way out of the lab’s wreckage.

“I have much to do,” Tenebrook said.

“I know, come on,” Rick patted him on the shoulder and guided him towards the lab door.

“My work is here!” Tenebrook dug his heels into the remains of his lab, crossing his arms as Rick pushed him like a plow.

“We brough ingredients and books on alchemy as well as a lab from an alchemist. Barely cracked it so their concoctions could still be ongoing.”

“Another alchemist?” Tenebrook picked up his feet and marched for the door, Rick nearly falling over. “Where to mister Rick? Oh I should bring the staff, they’ll be interested and if there are books to be read it would be best to read them over then have a discussion upon them.” Tenebrook nodded to himself “ALCHEMISTS!”

And there goes the rest of the glass in the building.

People hurried out into the corridor, some stumbling, waking from sleep, others wide-eyed from not having rested.

Many were drinking green stamina potions, becoming alert once more.

“Assemble all of your notes and information! We will be heading out at once!”

They rushed back into their rooms.

“All of them are under contract?” Rick asked.

“Yes.”

Rick noticed he wasn’t moving. “Do you need to grab anything?”

“I have all my notes,” Tenebrook tapped his breast pocket.

“So what have you been up to since I’ve been gone?” Rick asked. Maybe I can help him.

“Having actual samples we were able to test out our theories and grasp the basic principles of these new ingredients systematically. Its fascinating, the principles of chemistry apply, though the final concoction is as much about the physical properties but the flow of mana. I took something from that molecule you showed me--”

Molecule? The spell form?

“You see the potion will work if the properties are aligned as well as the geometry. If the geometry is wrong then the whole thing will become unstable with varied results. Combined in the right way with the right molecule being formed the overall effects of the concoction can be greater than the sum of its parts.” Tenebrook frowned. “It is thankful that we have gotten stronger with our skills. The ingredients when combined can be highly unstable. I sent everyone out to a skill-up that the soldiers were hosting, your grandma approved it. Safety is key.”

Rick couldn’t help but remember him dropping a pinch of whatever into a beaker. He glanced past Tenebrook to the remains of his lab. “Right, safety.”

* * *

Rick walked through the city with the alchemists, their appearances drawing stares. They crossed over to the industrial side of the city across the tracks.

He spotted Mackie, some of his squad members and other mercenaries standing at a gate leading into the warehouses where the dungeon’s materials were kept.

Mackie and the others snapped to attention, hitting their chests in salute.

Rick returned the salute, walking up to Mackie.

“Got you on guard duty?”

“Had to have someone they could trust watching over all this stuff,” Mackie tilted his head back at the compound.

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“How’re things with the companies?” Rick dropped his voice.

“Been away for a long time. Got issues, having some time off and getting them trained back up is going to be necessary.”

Rick grunted.

“So what brings you down this side of the tracks?” Mackie looked past him at the alchemists.

“Know where they put all the alchemy stuff and the lab?” Rick asked.

“Yeah warehouse three,” Mackie pointed to it.

“That’s what I’m here for, these are our alchemists and I’m hoping we can get them making potions,” Rick said.

“A drink that can keep you awake for days and another to heal your injuries.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Good luck,” Mackie grinned and moved to the side. “Open the gate!”

The others on guard duty pushed open the gate. Rick waving his alchemists to follow, nodding to a few of the troops he knew.

He pushed open warehouse three. The lab was in the back left of the building, the rear wall was covered in shelves with crates of alchemy ingredients nearby. The front right of the building had shelves up against the walls too and crates filled with books.

The front left had worn desks and chairs.

The alchemists spread out as they entered the warehouse, taking it all in.

“First we will learn as much as we can from the books as possible. I want us to categorize them all then share our learnings. From there we will study the laboratory and the ingredients effects!” Tenebrook looked at the alchemists with him.

“I’ll get the translating spell form so your associates can read the books,”

“No worries, they all learned it already,” Tenebrook waved him off, walking over to a book, he picked it up and started reading. “Crystalline formation and coloration permutations.” He flicked open the book, reading the first page.

“That’s a really complicated spell form,” Rick said.

“It was elegant, interesting roots. We think in molecular geometry so it wasn’t that hard to figure out.”

“You understand it?” Rick asked.

“I don’t understand it. Though I can memorize the form and then cast it.” Tenebrook frowned. “Might be interesting to think of other spells in the form of molecular geometry, test out what they do? Though that form was not based on the molecular bonds. I wouldn’t know what combination it would be.”

“Well I’ll leave this with you.” Rick said hurriedly, passing him the spell form. “Let me know if you need anything. And don’t start casting random structured spells. They can cause blowback and harm you.”

Tenebrook nodded, wandering away towards a desk. The only noises were flipping of pages and pencils on paper.

Going to need someone to make sure they eat, drink, sleep and keep the place orderly.

Rick headed out of the warehouse and looked around for the tallest building.

He jumped up nearly three stories to the top of a brick wall of the warehouse, holding his arms out for balance. Don’t eat shit Mackie and his guys are watching.

Rick jumped up to the apex of the brick wall, landing in a crouch. All smooth like.

He sat on the top of the warehouse, looking over Goran.

To the north of the train tracks lay Goran City proper. The entire city was laid out in a grid network, established when the five military bases were erected. Four of these bases surrounded the Isendia family home, a smaller walled compound within the city. North of the family compound was the largest military base.

What had once been the city's edge, where the bases were located, now only contained two-thirds of the city.

The city had expanded beyond the bases into the surrounding areas, leading to the construction of shoddier buildings and creating a sort of slum.

The areas between the military bases were connected by main roads, well-worn cobbled streets.

The spaces not occupied by these roads were filled with homes and businesses for the people of Goran.

These were the loved ones of those serving as mercenaries or had been working in the industries that supported the city.

Horse-drawn carts clattered along the roads, laborers and factory workers crowding the sidewalks, their clothes stained with the grime of the factories or fields.

The air was thick with coal smoke and oil, the smells of industry.

Rick looked at the warehouse and industrial district he was in. It had come later, a secondary thought. Laying south of the train tracks warehouses, the few remaining factories and a few workshops toiled away.

He stood to get a better view. The warehouses were soot-streaked from their proximity to the train and the coal that was hauled up into the city to feed it. The buildings, once symbols of progress, were weathered and tired, their brick walls covered in grime and windows fogged with soot.

He could see the clean lines that the city had carved into the ground and how progress had advanced faster than the city could keep up with, or stopped caring about.

“Not the best, but not the worst,” Rick said. “Got to work from what’s important outwards.”

Trains could be the new lifeblood letting us move rapidly across the world. Food will always be important.

Though they’d just need big buildings, some dirt, and a bunch of mana channelled into the whole thing to grow food.

“We have a set of tracks that go west and south east we’re going to have to go north with the obelisk. Velkaris is to the south.” Rick frowned. “Could just built the north-south station under-ground.” Rick’s words faltered.

He’d said that they would connect to the tracks between Goran and Warwick. Though he’d have to go under or over the track that already ran through Goran to have a north-south line.

If we’re making an underground station and line through Goran anyway, we could run that all the way to Velkaris.

Rick mentally drew up the map of Plynthia and the dungeons.

Connecting the two cities, the track would run near the starlight gate.

Rick pulled up his sound transmission device, calling Lucius.

“Hello?”

“hey Lucius, Rick here, I was thinking about just connecting Velkaris directly to Goran. Gonna modify the city a bit here anyway and if I do an underground station then I don’t see why we need to run the risk of running the train on the line from Warwick to Goran.”

“I don’t see a problem with it,” Lucius said. “Also while I have you I’d warn you about heading to Eskon personally or doing in the direction of the city Crenda.”

“Ah, good to know,” Rick said. “Talk later, bye.”

“Bye.”

Rick put the sound transmission device away and squatted on the roof, looking at the layout of the city.

Alright, now lets fix you up and plan if we were to increase the population by a hundred lets say.

The train line was destined to be the new heart of the city.

He took out a travel table and started drawing out a new plan.

Surrounding it would be the warehouses and the industrial district, as well as the crafters. People wouldn't mind working near a train line, but they certainly wouldn't want to live near it.

Given the train line's importance and its large opening, it was necessary to place two of the military bases on either side of the above-ground track running east to west. This way, they could monitor incoming trains and any other creatures.

He could turn the tracks outside of the city into bridges that could be raised or lowered in case of beast attacks or unwanted visitors.

The city itself would be a large rectangle, with the north and south walls each having a large base guarding the gates, two more large bases on the east and west train lines.

They’d be connected by a truly massive wall.

Four stories high of extruded stone and ten meters wide to allow for outer rooms where one could fight oncoming enemy and an inner area where supplies and people could move to keep those fighting supplied without being under threat.

He drew up a cross section of the wall, the floors, slits, doors off center from one another. Reinforced third and fourth story balconies on the interior wall to hurl payloads over without being exposed to fire.

Smaller bases would be situated in each corner of the wall, stretching between the bases and encapsulating the new city.

The old bases would be converted into squares where people could buy and sell goods or cultivate crops for their families.

The grid layout would be maintained to facilitate the movement of people. The cobbled stone would be replaced with stone slabs, and new roads would be laid through the southern section beyond the storage district.

Going to need stone extruders to start. Can make do with fusers to clean up the cobbled roads.

The city's current footprint would be quadrupled to accommodate the population.

Even if there weren't enough people to fill the space with houses, the remaining area could be used for protected farmland to grow food within the city walls.

Best to have some food production inside the city no matter what. Rick ringed it around the tracks and along the walls. It would give more space between the industrial activites and peoples homes and if fighting broke out they could clear the fields around the walls to create a larger mustering area.

There were wells under the current bases and throughout the city, supplied by the aquifer that ran through the area. Cleansing enchantments and water condensing enchantments to keep good flow of water.

If they could make enough, they could add water collecting enchantments on the roofs of buildings would direct water into reservoirs, similar to the wells.

Gravity would then feed the water through pipes to wash away detritus. He added sewage lines across the city.

Waste collection points would be located near the gates. Another enchantment would convert the remaining waste into fertilizer for the fields within and beyond.

Going to need a mana barrier at sometime too.

He checked his design and looked over the city again. As a second thought he added designated inns as well as bathhouses. Inns to get the revenue from visiting merchants and count as overflow if the famers had to be pulled inside the walls.

And everyone appreciates a warm shower or bath. Help with hygiene too.

Rick stored away everything and dropped from the roof before walking to where Mackie was watching the gates with his people, talking to some of them.

Rick raised his head to Jameson who was off to the side. “You know where Len’s at?”

Jameson grinned. “Yeah, he’s down that way. When you see Wilkins can you tell him to stop flirting?”

Rick snorted. “Alright.”

He walked down the group of workshops, the place had seen better days. Going to need to bring all those people back.

They could set it up, but they were hoping for the best and it was to be seen what would happen.

Best preparations.

Rick opened the door, finding Wilkins heading for the door.

“Rick,” Wilkins nodded.

“Jameson was looking for you,” Rick looked past him to the young woman at the counter.

“Thanks,” Wilkins coughed and hurried out the door. Young lad, glad he was able to get back his arm.

“Miss,” Rick nodded to the woman.

"Young Master Rick," she squeaked.

Rick gave her a smile walking past her into the rear of the store. "Len!" Rick yelled.

The man jumped up from where he was working. "Damn it. Scared the crap out of me!”

"Well, it's better to scare the crap out of you when I'm further than arm's reach, than being right next to you and scaring the crap out of you." Rick grinned as he looked around Len's workspace.

“Playing with your wood I see?”

Len gave him a flat glare, a partial enchantment growing through the tall torch from where he held it. “What you looking for?”

“Nothing,” Rick siad.

“What do you want?” Len changed his tact, putting the rod to the side, joining another he’d completed.

“Well I was thinking how a couple of tools would make things a lot easier with building. Though I’d be needing enchantments on them. Remembered you can make whatever your mind comes to and so well, I need some enchanted gear,” Rick leaned on a workbench.

“What you need?” Len sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the opposite bench.

“Stone extruder and fusers, Excavators, that should get things started.”

“I’m going to need a carpenter or a smith to make the frame for the excavator. Stone extruders–you need big pieces of stone?” Len asked.

“Yup, bigger the better,” Rick agreed.

“That kind of works with something I’ve been thinking about,” Len said.

“What?”

“So these heating crystal holders,” He pointed a thumb at the rods he’d finished. “They draw in mana through the fields and direct it into the city, increasing the density of mana with time.”

“You working to create Arcanus? They turned the entire region into a formation that drew mana in, focusing it all into their city.”

“And the mana was so dense that unborn children were corrupted by the powerful mana and the people started to turn into demons. The enchantments were broken in the city in a rebellion and by then nearly half of the population were demons. The release of the mana created its own mana storm and the entire region became a shit show.” Len said.

“Not pretty at all,” Rick said.

“Hasn’t happened yet.”

“Be nice if we could stop that, though it is far away.”

“Before you think too hard Rick, what I’m thinking instead is storing that mana throughout the city. Whatever stone you extrude, we add a mana battery to it. A series of lines that capture the mana and store it.”

“That would help out with building a barrier,” Rick said.

“Can use it in training rooms to help people to cultivate a higher mana level. Also powering up weapons on whatever wall you’re deciding to build.”

“Who said I was designing a wall?” Rick said indignantly.

“Only idiots don’t have a wall, and you’re not that stupid,” Len said. “Also I was thinking of linking it to the train tracks, share mana between us and Velkaris, draw in mana through the areas they run through, keep the train charged up.”

“Oh, that would be pretty cool.”

Len looked up at the ceiling. “Now an extruder like the one we’re talking about is going to take a lot of mana. I’ll put a mana draw enchantment on it as well as the extruder. I think that I can make it so you attach it to a frame and it’ll pull stone up according to that.”

“So I put it to a plank of wood, point it down and it will bring up stone in the size of the plank of wood?” Rick asked.

“Yeah and you put it on a shield and point it at stone it’ll extruded that stone out in the shape of a shield,” Len said.

“That’s all kinds of useful,” Rick held his chin, nodding.

“The bigger the frame the more mana its going to need,” Len said. “Though it also means if you carve into the form, it looks pretty, but it also adds in the lines needed for the battery.”

“With the amount of stone that’ll be a lot of mana,” Rick said. “I’ve got to talk my plans over with my Grandma anyway so I’ll ask her for some people.”

“Ask for me too, I’ve got a lot of the things we need figured out,” Len gestured at the table of metal plates, rods, and crystal creations as well as clay forms. “Oh and you can give her these.” Len picked up a token and a sound transmission device, handing them to Rick.

“Activation sequence is the same as our old ones. The token, you just need to use it, it’s the contract itself and so it’ll work just for you.”

“Gotcha,” Rick shook his head ‘I don’t know whatthe hell you mean, but I don’t want to ask’ “What kind of workers do you need?” Rick asked as he put them into a pocket.

“Blacksmiths any grade, general laborers with at least ten mana stat,” Len said.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Rick said.

Len stood up and started gathering up the things he’d made.

“Where you going?” Rick asked.

“Check on my family, see what they think of what I’ve made and they’re under contract already. I can start getting them working on producing more of these items. Might be a few among them that want to do something other than farm.”

“Good idea,” Rick turned and headed out of the workspace. “Catch you later!” He waited as he got to the door at the front. “Oh and I decided to put the train statin under the city!”

“What!?”

Rick nodded to Gretchen as she looked around, confused and hurried out the door before Len could catch him.