“You should really talk to more people before you drink that—oh, he’s drinking it.”

Salire watched in horror as Theo downed his [Wisdom of the Soul] potion. His feet had only pressed against the wooden floor of the alchemy lab for a moment before he withdrew the potion. The effects were instant and intense. The alchemist fell to the ground in a heap, the potion worming its way through his body. After traveling from his stomach to the place where his cores were, it ate away at something.

A distressed honk issued somewhere in the distance.

“Damn you, Theo!” Salire said, rushing over to crouch by the prone Dronon. “Do you ever think?”

A few fitful spasms later and Theo rested on the hard ground. His vision swirled before him as the potion finished its good work. Tero’gal and the Tara’hek had done wonders to ease the constant barrage of mind-altering attributes. But they were nothing compared to this. His thoughts came in ordered patterns, even as his new assistant shouted for help. One thing after the other, never interrupted with a poke from his intuition. Those intrusive thoughts were now relegated to something else entirely.

“I’m fine.” Theo said, reading over a system message he had never seen before.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

Salire Hogrush shows concern over your condition. The concern is genuine. The [Wisdom of the Soul] potion has already done its work. You are in no immediate danger.

“Are you sure?” Salire asked, pressing her palm against his forehead.

Shadows stirred at the room’s corners. Three figures burst from those dark places, two with the dang pole-axes and one with a dagger and a rapier. Tresk, Rowan, and Sarisa looked over the scene with concern, eyes lingering on the prone alchemist.

“Who am I stabbing!?” Tresk demanded.

“No one. I just had a potion,” Theo said, standing to his feet. It was a heady rush. “Khahar said it was fine.”

“You talked to Khahar?” Tresk asked, still staring. “That guy is trouble.”

Salire stood nearby, hands on Theo’s shoulders to keep him steady. He appreciated the gesture. While the effects of the potion had subsided, he still felt like he’d topple over at any moment. The alchemist stuffed a wad of [Moss Nettle] into his mouth and chewed. It had the flavor of dirt with a sprinkle of lemon juice. He was not surprised to see another wisdom notification pop up.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

Chewing on some raw reagents seems to grant the imbiber a less-potent version of the reagent’s property effects.

“This is gonna take some getting used to,” Theo grumbled, finding a sturdy chair to sit on.

“You’re fine, then?” Sarisa asked, still holding her weapon firmly.

“I’m fine. Thanks for worrying, but that’s just part of the process.”

Tresk, Sarisa, and Rowan cleared out of the room reluctantly. They left Theo behind with an overly excited Salire. She grilled him about the effects, wanting to know how it had changed his mind. It was a simple explanation. The alchemist had considered the way attributes messed with his mind from the start. He’d spent long hours considering the interaction of cores, and how those gods affected the wielder.

“I brewed some stuff for the shop,” Theo said after finishing his explanation. When he stood, he stumbled. But Salire was there to catch him. “Thank you.”

“Let me put some tea on. Tell me how your trip into Tero’gal went.”

Salire shuffled off, activating a [Flame Artifice] and putting a pot of water on. Theo retold his experience in his private realm. Twelve hours of poker and tea. Conversations that revealed some of the Arbiter’s plot. His new wisdom messages popped up occasionally, telling him that the woman was interested in the story's content. There seemed to be no ulterior motive. This new existence would take some getting used to, but it was nice.

“Sarisa, do I need to be anywhere today?” Theo asked.

The assistant stepped from the shadows, bowing her head. “You’re not obligated to be anywhere today. Ziz and his men are working on the underwater tower. Throk has made progress on your weapon platform. The new Ogre is still running around healing everyone—there’s a bit of rat problem now.”

“A rat problem?”

“The Ogre’s magic has unintended side-effects. The most common one is the attraction of rats.”

Theo tapped his chin a few times. “Do we have rats? Regular old rats? Four-legged rats, pointed faces, long scaly tail?”

“Six legs,” Sarisa corrected.

“Two tails,” Salire put in.

“Of course. Why not?” Theo shrugged it all away.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

Hybrid animals were likely the result of seeded people’s manipulation of indigenous fauna. A selective breeding program that resulted in Earth-like creatures. But not quite.

Theo rose to his feet. He wanted nothing more than to watch Ziz and his guys work on the underwater tower. That was one project that seemed silly. When he got to his feet, he didn’t sway as badly. The moss was doing its job.

“The temple should be done incorporating into the town soon enough. Then I’m sure we’ll get you a Drogramathi core.”

Salire looked up at him with hopeful eyes. She wanted this badly. The alchemist just hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed. He relayed his intentions to Sarisa, then bid farewell to the budding alchemist. Bilgrob passed by as he exited the Newt and Demon, waving and grinning. At least the Ogre priest was getting along in town. Better than could be said about the Elves when they first arrived.

“Breaking eggs and all that,” Theo mumbled to himself. “Rowan, are you near?”

“Of course,” Rowan said, stepping from the shadows.

“Good. Let’s go check on Ziz.”

The group made their way to the harbor first. It was empty of all boats, and the crew that was left behind was pitiful. While Laedria was working on several more ships—roughly the size of her first generation—she was working at a slower pace. They tracked a path along the canal’s wall. Khahar’s handiwork was there on display. The stone wall seemed almost seamless in places. Ziz’s good work was a stark contrast to the work of a god, after all. But function went a long way in Broken Tusk.

Theo picked what little reagents grew near the canal. Without the bank of the river, several ingredients would be harder to get. [River Kelp] was among them, although he had never found a good use for those. The [Hone Edge] property from the [River Clam Pearl] would also be missed, but only because he had never found a good use for it. But a few [Water Lilies] were accessible from the water’s edge. He had little use for them, as they were uncultivated, but any experience was good experience.

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It took them a while to work their way to the beach, but what they saw was amazing. The only boat remaining in Broken Tusk bobbed on the bay’s waves. Crews of workers labored on spans of ice. Not just over the dungeon, but jutting from the edge of the canal’s wall. They were expanding the walls out, creating the defensive structure Theo had wanted from the start.

“Oh, they’re really going at it,” Rowan said with an approving nod. “Get an idea in that man’s head and he goes all in.”

Theo nodded to a worker as he stepped onto a section of finished stonework. It was hard to classify the structure. The stoneworkers had created an underwater wall, much like the marble wall that held the canal together. It ran out into the bay, holding the angle created by the river they had straightened. He could walk two healthy paces in one direction and still have room to step. The structure was equal on both sides at the moment, reaching roughly half-way toward the dungeon’s location.

“What a mighty fine… bridge?” Theo asked, turning to his assistants. “Would you call this a bridge?”

“A causeway.” Sarisa offered.

“Underwater wall,” Rowan said.

“Ziz!” Theo shouted. The Half-Ogre was working on the other side of the wall. “What is this thing?”

Ziz shrugged, looking up from his work. He had chipped ice in his beard and a stupid look on his face. “A defensive structure! We’re gonna end them both in towers so we can put your guns in them!”

“Oh, fair enough,” Theo said, scanning the horizon. The Cork was out there, fishing away near the barrier islands.

Since the canal was already wide enough to accommodate massive ships, the walls that extended from there were also wide enough. Theo imagined a gatehouse somewhere along the lengthy span. Somewhere for boats to be checked before they entered the town. Collapsable defenses were a great idea. A forward post like this could be abandoned in case of an attack, allowing defenders to retreat to the walls of the town. Sledge would work overtime to use her [Fabricator] skills on these structures.

It was nice to see the technique working, though. Theo had his doubts about it, but it was simply the best way to create a structure under the water. There might have been a way to fabricate the walls, then move them in here. But that seemed like more labor with more specialized tools. Instead, they’d take advantage of the magic in this world. Freeze the ocean, then dig it out. Stupid, but effective.

This was a task that might have been too much for other people. But Ziz had a way of latching himself onto a problem and creating workable solutions. Theo and his assistants watched for some time before the sound of an artifice wheelchair crunching on gravel came from behind. Fenian cursed as he failed to get his chair up onto the wall. Sarisa and Rowan rushed over to lift him up, setting him down gingerly on the white marble.

“Lovely day for a roll, isn’t it?” Fenian asked.

Theo chuckled. “What do you think about the extension to the canal?”

“It’s lovely. And weird. What was the point of it again?”

Theo’s Wisdom of the Soul told him that Fenian already knew, and was just trying to get a rise out of the alchemist. “We’re mounting defensive guns and providing access to the [Ocean Dungeon]. But you know that.”

“Do I?”

“I chugged a new potion that lets me see my intuition in text.” Theo cast the Elf a sly smile.

“Oh. Maybe I should be more careful with my words.” Fenian giggled. “Look at my arm, though.”

The Elf waved his arm around. It was still floppy, but had formed into something closer resembling a man’s arm. The limb regeneration process would end in a few days, giving him freedom of movement once again.

“What are you going to do when you’re all healed up?”

“I need to flush out Karasan again before he returns. I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect the capital to last this long. They should have fallen by now.”

Theo knew little about Qavell’s defenses. He only knew that people spoke of their defenses as good. Multiple walls with weapons bristling from every available surface. The alchemist assumed they could not create undead killing weapons, though. A few high-level priests would be effective at holding back the tide, but they were limited in number without the ability to toss potions all day and night. Or spray the potions over their walls like they did at Gronro-dir.

“Where is he hiding, anyway?”

“Between the veil, I think. Something I didn’t plan for. Khahar was supposed to sort that out on his end, but here we are. Adapting as we always do.”

There was something satisfying about watching Ziz and his crews work. He had gone from only having himself and five workers to creating a small army. They applied Theo’s potion to the surface of the water, letting that freeze the lower layers, then repeated the process. Eventually, the pillar of ice would reach the bottom of the bay. Then they got to work cutting it out with a mixture of [Tunneling Potions] and muscles. After creating a work area all the way to the bottom, they built their stonework.

The crews had taken their structures to a new level, though. The wall they were building wasn’t just stones stacked on one another. At the top, there was a decorative lip, carved with various images. It held an artistry that Theo hadn’t seen in the town before, stirring something in his heart. Survival had been a concern for quite some time. But perhaps there was room for art.

After getting his first taste for relaxation, Theo decided that’s what he was going to do today. The crews took breaks in shifts, and the alchemist departed during one of them. He worked his way through town, accompanied by his guards. Luras was running drills with the military outside of the eastern gate, near the bridge. They stayed for a while to watch the various formations and practice duels that formed out on those fields. His golems working the small farm had collected a fair amount of wheat, so the alchemist took that into his inventory.

Banu’s farm was going extremely well. The farmers were getting rich off the cost of the [Starbristle Flax], and it showed. They were eating well. The other plots of land were producing more than ever. Filled to bursting with highly cultivated Zee, these fields could sate the hunger of the entire town. Far from where they started out. Far enough from the panic of food shortages to make all the effort worth it.

Theo worked out a deal with Banu to use their windmill to grind the wheat into flour. Since it fell under the current contract, there was no need to amend it. The farmer would take the wheat from the golem farm, then grind it up on the farmer’s hill.

“An automated farm, huh? Planning to replace us anytime soon?” Banu asked, his arms folded. As always, the farmer had suspicions about everything.

“Just another experiment,” Theo assured him, turning to his assistants. “Could one of you make sure that Xam is aware of this flour? I’d like some real pasta.”

Rowan bowed his head, then vanished. Sarisa remained.

To the north of the farmer’s hill was an area Tresk had named Stabby Groves. This was the place where most of the adventurers called home, but that was changing. A sprawl of homes spread out from the main road, creating a grid-like pattern of houses. It was unlikely that everyone who lived here was an adventurer. Theo stopped by Zan’kir’s place but no one was home. Instead, the alchemist surveyed the area.

“We’ve got some expansion potential to the east and west here,” Theo said, gesturing in either direction. He had his administration screen up and was visualizing potential expansions. “When we run out of room for homes here, we can dip into the space south of Perg’s tannery.”

“Might be time for another big project.”

Theo grunted a response. The land south of the smeltery was rocky and uneven. Hills sprawled out to the south until they became the mountains at Dead Dog Mine. Cutting into those hills would be laborious, even with the [Tunneling Potion]. And the essence that made that potion was limited. It came from the [Living River Water] that the alchemist had collected during a monster wave.

“Make a note for me, please. If a trader comes by with [Living River Water], I’d like to buy all of it. Anything with the [Dissolve] property, actually.”

“Noted.”

“How do you think the town is coming along?”

“We’re a lifetime away from where we started.” Sarisa’s gaze lingered out over the farmer’s hill in the distance. “I think your focus should be on gaining more citizens.”

Theo tapped his chin. That was a big problem. “I expected Khahari refugees, to be honest. When the traders from Partopour showed up, I expected people to immigrate from there. It isn’t happening.”

Sarisa nodded. “We got lucky with the Elves, didn’t we?”

That was an understatement. House Wavecrest had been the biggest boon to the town. They were hard workers and smart. Well, the ones that didn’t break their contract and die. Those that held true to their contracts were now integral members of town.

The journeys through town Theo took were always enjoyable. He spent time with other citizens, checking in on independent people who barely needed his help anymore. By the time dusk was approaching, he had worked up an appetite. The lights inside of the manor were already burning brightly when he returned. True to his word, Rowan had informed Xam about the wheat flour available at the farm’s windmill. The alchemist settled in with those that refused to leave his home, taking his seat at the head of the dining room table.

Sarisa and Rowan served plates of wheat pasta slathered in Xam’s signature Karatan cheese sauce. There was a vast difference between pasta derived from Zee flour and wheat flour. As Theo took his first bite, he closed his eyes. The sensation the texture gave him sent him back to Earth. He savored every bite and ate far more than he normally did.

“This is heaven,” Theo said, barely paying attention to the conversation around him.

Tresk laughed. “Give the man a little taste of Earth and he’s satisfied.”

The meal was pleasant, though. The group continued their hearty conversations even after Tresk, Theo, and Alex headed off for bed. A constant roll of sound could be heard downstairs, even as the group drifted into the Dreamwalk.