Theo had a lot of time to consider Benton’s words inside Tero’gal. His priority was to finish Miltar’s order, but after that he was left with his thoughts and random tasks. The alchemist brewed more potions to sell in the shop, covering the basics of healing and mana restoration potions. But he also completed several batches of attribute enhancing potions.

Alex was content to play in the small pond, even after Benton left. Theo completed a reaction for the last of his potions, then settled down near the pond. He dangled his feet in the water, splashing at the goose occasionally. The image of the real world over the island’s edge focused on Tresk. She did what she always did. The Marshling took her job as an adventurer seriously and rarely went a day without killing a monster.

Theo exited his private realm when his time was done. Alise had waited the five minutes for him to come out, and was happy to accept the potions he’d crafted. Tresk checked in on him as he retreated behind the building to check on his plants. She’d felt him go into the realm and was naturally concerned.

We’re fine. Just completing a few orders, Theo said.

Alright. Keep me in the loop.

She wasn’t as worried as the last time Theo’s life had been threatened. That would have surprised him, but her confidence was growing by the day. While he wouldn’t bring it up, they were both benefiting from their shared realm. It helped keep his thoughts ordered, and reduced the worry that came with his unnatural intuition. It often felt as though his thoughts weren’t his own, and he didn’t know if he should blame the realm or Khahar’s ascension.

Theo checked his administration interface, ensuring his guests were behaving themselves. Gael had taken that project on, writing reports about the vendor stalls the sailors set up in the port. He reported the exchange of a lot of gold. The items didn’t draw people in because they were useful. They wanted to have something from afar. Something that wasn’t produced within the town.

Alise had penned reports about the usefulness of the dock beyond just a means of connection. Miltar was happy to pay a fee to sell his wares within the town. It wasn’t a massive sum of money, but it was enough to line the town’s pockets. More than they’d get without buying the dock, anyway. But the sailors’ arrival had brought with it high spirits. The people in Broken Tusk saw it as a beacon of hope. Theo wandered the streets, listening to those hopeful voices.

Theo walked south, inspecting the smelters for a time. Embers drifted from the open workshop, carrying on the hot air only to extinguish themselves on the ground. The heat was already oppressive outside of the smelter. Even at a distance the smelter’s heat was exhausting to endure for more than a few moments. Nira and her people worked within, drenching each other with water as they worked.

The area around the smelter had built up slightly. Both the mine and the smelter had workers that didn’t want to walk far to get to work. They built their homes in the area. Some didn’t even follow the path of the road, planting their [House Seed Cores] up on hills, or in slight depressions in the terrain. The area wasn’t as organized as the massive neighborhood north of Xam’s tavern.

But there was a charm to that.

An orderly town might be easier to get around, but there was something about the disorder that made it feel more human. Theo walked to the mine and thought about how the buildings were placed. His previous thought about the disorder of humanity faded when he spotted a lone house far in the distance. It was one thing to go against the grain, and another entirely to make one’s house in such a horrid spot.

Theo waited awkwardly outside of the mine. Gridgen usually came out to greet him, but all he saw were random workers. They greeted him well enough, but no one stopped long enough to hold a conversation. Alex had been wandering around, eating bugs, and when presented with the chance to go in the mine, she declined.

Gridgen had made good progress on digging more tunnels. He’d expanded the level that mined copper and iron. But Drogramathi Iron was still hard to get. The alchemist stood outside the holding gate, looking in toward the place where they found Alex’s egg. More than ever, he was certain there was something under the town. But projects were pushed back as time went on, and the mine’s extra duties suffered.

The purpose of the mine was never to find random passageways into the underworld. They were fine hauling absurd amounts of nuggets out.

Theo didn’t have to chase down anyone for a report. Gwyn had posted their last week’s production, and it was looking good. But with only 50 [Drogramathi Iron Nuggets] mined, they wouldn’t have much to export. The alchemist’s other ventures were doing well. The weaver was producing absurd amounts of [Starbristle Cloth], something that Miltar was very interested in. Another thing the trader was searching for was lumber, although he had no desire to buy their stone. Gems were another item he wanted, but Ziz wouldn’t part with those.

The day whittled away as Theo stopped in on all his people. His wandering march through town always ended in the same place. The area between Perg’s tannery and the harbor. Throk had been working on his device for a while. It had started as nothing more than a pile of items strewn around. Before long, the artificer had assembled a length of track. Sledge came in to help set up the wooden cart. Finally, Ziz and his boys built a thick stone wall at the end of the track.

Theo watched as Throk adjusted his artifices. It was just a long bar of iron with artifices embedded within. As the alchemist looked upon the Marshling’s creation, he couldn’t help but say, “looks like a monorail.”

“Dunno what that is,” Throk said, making another change to his devices.

The thing looked like a monorail with an open wooden cart on top. A single bar rested under the carriage, causing it to float as though locked in place above the rail. Throk would need to solve several problems with this setup. He needed to feed motes to the track, but also the cart itself. It wasn’t workable to feed the motes manually. They needed an automated system, or nothing at all.

“Right,” Throk said, finishing his work. He smacked a metal box with a bunch of dials and buttons on it. “This isn’t the final version. But this thing talks to all the tracks at once, but I only have a dumb fire mode right now.”

“Alright,” Theo said, stepping back and crossing his arms. “Why don’t we start out slow? Just make it go to the end of the track. Don’t hit the wall.”

“I think we can do that,” Throk said, pressing a few buttons on the panel. “Stand clear of the wall. Just in—”

The cart vanished. Well, part of the cart vanished. The boards that created a platform at the base had remained on track, secured to the hovering artifice. The rest of the cart was torn away, falling to where the track started. An ear-shattering crash filled the area. Theo’s hands went reflexively to his ears, covering them as the stone wall exploded. Shards of rock fell from the sky, peppering those gathered. Everyone took cover under trees, shielding their heads from the deadly rain.

“Maybe a bit fast!” Throk said, wincing as a shard hit him in the head.

“Ya think?” Theo asked.

Once the dust had settled, they inspected the stone. The militia arrived moments later, investigating the sudden explosion. Theo waved them off, checking out how the wall had been turned to powder. There was no sign of the cart, or the device that sat under it.

“Yeah, way too fast,” Throk said, inspecting the stone. “Thought I did all the math right.”

“Clearly not,” Theo said. “We’ll need some safety measures. But this is good. It’ll work as a weapon.”

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“I wanted it to work as transport,” Throk said, crestfallen.

The crowd that had gathered to see the maglev experiment’s failure chatted. Theo turned to look at their reactions. Most seemed to think it was interesting, not expressing an aversion to the new method of transport. But he spotted a strange sight among the group. Miana stood with a [Marsh Wolf] at her side. The same creatures that roamed the swamp, attacking adventurers whenever they could. He waved her over.

“Alright there, Theo?” Miana asked. “Heard this was going to be transport. Not a weapon.”

“Both, actually,” Theo said. At least the rails underneath seemed undamaged. Even if Throk lamented, kneeling near them to assess the damage. “You have a wolf.”

“Ah, yeah,” Miana said, patting the creature at her side. It whimpered, closing its eyes as she stroked the monster’s fur. “I got myself wrapped up in a job for Aarok. He’s convinced we can breed a domesticated version of the wolves, then stick Marshlings on their backs for cavalry.”

Miana had a [Monster Tamer’s Core], but Theo didn’t think she was doing anything with it. He was under the impression she’d use it to capture monsters like the [Fire Salamander], using the domesticated version of them to harvest their delicious eggs. Mounted Marshlings was the furthest thing from his mind, and he doubted their usefulness. Aarok had more experience here, though. If the commander thought it was a good idea, the alchemist wouldn’t step in the way.

Alex didn’t care for the wolf. She held her wings out, honking repeatedly. No matter how annoying she was to the creature, it didn’t even glance at her. Miana had trained it well. Perhaps the goose could learn something from the program.

“How hard is it to tame them?” Theo asked.

“Not hard at all,” Miana said. “They need to be equal-level with my core. That was the hardest part, but the levels came quickly after I found a few nests of salamanders.”

Theo warred with himself on how he felt about the tamed monsters. He watched as Miana lovingly stroked the wolf, showing it as much affection as she did her farm animals. His first thought was to use the animals as fodder, exactly like how he treated his golems. But watching the wolf push into the Half-Ogre woman’s hand changed his mind on the spot. They’d work better as bonded pairs with citizens. As creatures meant to comfort folks and provide something more than just a weapon of war.

“They’re cute,” Theo said, kneeling to inspect the creature. He lifted the wolf’s lip, inspecting its sharp teeth. It was more plump than the wild monsters in the swamp. Pinning its ears back, the wolf whimpered at the alchemist. “Bet you could do some damage, huh?”

The [Marsh Wolf] let out a yipping bark, licking Theo’s hand.

“The process is kinda annoying,” Miana said. “I have to tame them, then bond them to me. If I want to transfer them to another person, I then have to do the bond all over again. And I can only have one tamed monster at a time. Releasing them reverts them to their monsterized state.”

Throk came trundling over. He spotted the wolf and narrowed his eyes, then took a few steps back. “Found the problem. My control panel made a feedback loop. It made all the rails use their stored power at once.”

“Which is perfect for the railgun,” Theo said.

Throk grumbled. “Well, I’m ready for another test. Although, we’ll just be floating the connector rail instead of a full carriage. Sledge is mad that I destroyed her ‘creation’.”

“Naturally,” Theo said, approaching the testing area.

Instead of the full carriage on top, Throk used his backup bar of iron. Like the last one, this had various artifices attached to it. When the Marshling set it over the rail, it floated like before. When he pressed a few buttons on his control panel, it moved. Slowly. He cranked a dial until the speed increased, then stopped it before it hit the end of the track. The thing could even reverse.

“I’ll get it to a point where it doesn’t need a person manning the controls,” Throk said. “Other than that, we’ll start working on the ‘monorail’ soon.”

“And my weapon?” Theo asked.

Throk gave the alchemist a flat look. “Come on, you needy bastard. Let’s work on some designs.”

Throk ordered his people to clean the area up, and prepare for large-scale production. They were his assistants from the blacksmith. Like most people in Broken Tusk, they desired to specialize in one thing. What ended up happening with everyone was a generalization. Blacksmiths did a bit of artifice work, even if it was just in a helping capacity. Theo went off with the Marshling, ascending the walls to sketch out some designs.

“So it needs to spin and tilt?” Throk asked.

Theo had sketched a simple design. A ring that allowed the gun to spin, and something to allow for tilt. Firing would be manual, but he doubted there’d be an issue there. If Throk did what he said, the weapon would send a hunk of metal off at absurd speeds. Aiming would be easy.

“Right. Basic functions,” Theo said. “But we need maximum speed out of the muzzle.”

“Muzzle?”

“The long bit that shoots things out,” Theo said. “Is it possible to reuse your sled?”

“Sled? Oh, right. The carriage mechanism. Yeah, maybe. Maybe not.” Throk tapped his chin for a while. He drew a quick sketch on the parchment.

Throk detailed the carriage mechanism as it already existed. He then drew an attachment on top that had a forward-facing hook. That would allow the sled to hold onto something as it was accelerating forward.

“And then we have other rails after the launch-point to slow the sled down. Once the sled slows, the projectile will launch forward.” Throk nodded after his statement, satisfied with the idea.

That was the thing with Throk. He was always grumpy when Theo brought him ideas. But the alchemist never forced him to do uninteresting things. They went on a journey together, solving weird problems with artifices. That’s how to hook the Marshling on a task. Show him something cool and weird, and he got on board.

“We’ll see about launching potions later,” Theo said. “That requires a lot more experimentation.

“The purpose of this new weapon… You’re planning on targeting airships, right?” Throk asked.

That was Theo’s first thought, but not the last. He imagined batteries of these things on the port’s walls, aiming out at sea. Small forts on the coast, perhaps even on the mountains. But their immediate use would be to take down unfriendly airships, if those ever came.

“We’ve never gotten ahead by staying still,” Theo said. “If I know airships exist, I need a defense against them. We know Qavell didn’t have a sea-faring navy. What about one in the sky?”

“You’d think they’d have sent them by now,” Throk said, folding his arms. “Open rebellion and all that.”

“Yet I’m still worried.”

“Well, this is your money,” Throk said. “By the way, all this crap is expensive.”

“Of course it is. Just send the costs to the administrators.”

“Looks like I got a lot of work to do.”

Theo and Throk departed the wall. Alex had not only stayed behind, but had followed Miana’s wolf. The alchemist used his connection with the goose to find her harassing the Karatan at the ranch. Miana took it in stride, her deep love for all animals clouding her jugement.

“Come on, Alex,” Theo said, clicking his tongue. “Leave those poor cow-bugs alone.”

Battle! Alex said, her thoughts flowing into Theo’s mind.

“They don’t wanna fight you.”

Yes! They do!

“Come on. The Karatan and Pozwa are important. They’re not familiars. They do not have the power to fight you.”

Fine.

Even through the telepathic connection, Alex seemed disappointed that she couldn’t fight the farm animals. Miana came to the ranch’s edge, leaning over the paddock fence and grinning. The goose fluttered to a post, stomping with her webbed feet.

“She’s got a strong spirit,” Miana said.

“I think she’s frustrated,” Theo said, stroking the goose. She ruffled her feathers, honking loudly. Then she shot a fireball. “She wants to change her affinity. Or get a new one.”

“Oh? What affinity is she looking for? Maybe I can help.”

“Alex told me she wanted a life affinity. Or something related to life.”

“Nature?”

Nature! Alex honked. I want nature!

“Guess she wants nature,” Theo said.

“Alex, it should be easy.” Miana came up to the goose, holding the creature’s head in her hands. “We just need to expose you to a naturally aligned energy, feed you a few motes.”

I want motes!

“What motes?” Theo asked. “My inventory is crowded with the damned things.”

“[Nature Motes],” Miana shrugged. “Should be plenty in the swamp.”

Theo nodded. His [Lesser Mud Golem] collected all kinds of motes. The alchemist had several [Dimensional Storage Crates] filled with motes of all kinds. He had a plan to hoard them, then sell them when traders came. But traders didn’t seem too interested in motes. Or he was a bad salesman. Likely the last option.

“Perfect,” Theo said, clapping his hands together. “We’ll start on that tomorrow, Alex.”

I want it now!

Theo stared at his goose for a few moments. “I think we’re entering the teenager phase.”

Alex honked.