Tero’gal was unrecognizable. Theo stood near his fields of spirit fruit, eyes lingering over the crowds that had assembled to welcome him. Benton and Belgar led the procession, singing a song and waving banners. The alchemist was immediately uncomfortable with the admiration. He had hardly provided anything to the lost souls of the void. But safe haven and a diet of spirit fruit did wonders for the wayward spirits. The assembled welcoming party wasn’t even the most noticeable change about the realm.
With the expansion of the landmass, and expansive forests, the lost souls had created a town. The workmanship of some buildings was questionable, and the road didn’t always move in a straight direction. Wisps of smoke rose from chimneys while the scent of baked goods lingered in the air. Benton pulled the alchemist into a tight hug, laughing as he gestured to the assembled group. They represented a vast range of races from the world, even some he hadn’t seen before.
“This is like nothing else, Theo,” Benton said, refusing to let him out of the hug.
“Alright… I still need to… breathe in this realm.”
Benton released him, slapping the alchemist on the back. “I knew there was something funny about your realm from the start. It’s like a magnet for lost souls.”
Theo’s eyes lingered not over the souls he had accepted, but those awaiting his approval. Another fifty-something people were waiting for his blessing. Were things getting out of hand, or was this just a one-off rush of the lost hearing about his realm? As if answering his thoughts, space rippled nearby and Khahar stepped out.
“Good to see you mingling, Theo,” the Arbiter said with a chuckle. He nodded to the bear god. “Come for a walk, old friend.”
Theo didn’t object, he just fell in line with Khahar, tracking a path around the gathered ground and through the village. The closer he got to the homes, the more he realized how well the spirits had done. Without cores, they had assembled an acceptable grouping of homes. That was more than he could have done. The duo found their way to one harvesting array. It was a grouping of metal plates, coated on top with a black material, that spread out like the petals on a flower. Dotting the area were massive towers that stabbed skyward. Those were little more than plain stone towers, each topped with a gem.
Khahar sat on a log, hunched forward with his hands steepled. “This is about as far as I saw before I ascended.”
“Yeah, I’d like to know what ‘this’ is. Tero’gal doesn’t make sense, if you think about the way the other gods work.”
“Well, you’re not a god. The system doesn’t know what to do with what you are, so it lets you tap into the god system. When each throne is occupied, you’ll become something else entirely.”
“Neat. How do I get Fenian to Balkor’s realm?” Theo asked. He hadn’t taken a seat next to his old friend. There was still much of his realm to explore. Even more when he accepted those spirits into his embrace.
“You’ve been practicing. You’ll need Tresk and Alex’s power.”
“My interdiction practice. Gotcha. So, is this my entire purpose? To slingshot Fenian so he can kill Karasan so he can take the throne so he can… do what, exactly?”
“Remake the world, of course. No, this isn’t your purpose. I’ve said this before, but I didn’t know it was you that was being brought over. All I knew was that there was someone entering the body of a Drogramathi man. Drogramath and I conspired, pushing things over the eons to make your bond happen. The key is the twins, you know.”
“The twin Marshling gods?” Theo asked.
“Yes. They found a similar path to godhood, but… Well, they’re not true gods. They’re like you. Destined to sit where you sit, they bit the hands that fed them.”
“They bit your hand. But you don’t seem mad about it.”
Khahar shrugged. “You can’t fault someone for taking control of their destiny. Making themselves more than they were.”
“So what happens if I refuse to help?”
Khahar turned his gaze to Theo, piercing him with those sand-colored eyes. “While I hope you won’t do that, I won’t stop you. We’ll adjust our plan and move forward. Time marches on.”
“You know I believe in Fenian’s idiot plan too much. He’s bringing Balkor back, isn’t he?”
“Not really. Kind of. Well, we’re going to find out. Balkor broke an oath no god can break. He moved his physical body into the mortal realm. We don’t know what will happen to his soul when his realm is returned. Perhaps that’s just another scheme in a long line of schemes.”
“Alright. Enough talking shop. How are you doing? How is Khahak and the other realms?”
Khahar laughed Yuri’s laugh, placing a comforting hand on Theo’s shoulder. “Order has been restored to the heavens.”
Theo and Khahar chatted for a few hours. The spot he had selected near the forest was lovely. Errant breezes blew across the open fields, rustling the leaves within the forest. It created a pleasant, soothing sound that seemed to wash away all the alchemist’s worries. The Arbiter was spending a lot of his time enforcing the law of the heavens. When he wasn’t doing that, he was pursing things he enjoyed back on Earth. Things he couldn’t do as the leader of the Khahari. Fishing, playing cards, and of course his metalworking.
Yuri had worked his way through the Moscovian spy network as a support specialist, not an asset. Theo had only seen the man’s metal sculptures a few times, and he wasn’t impressed. Art wasn’t the alchemist’s strongest affinity, and he wouldn’t pretend otherwise. At the end of his life, he had gained a new appreciation for the things his old friend created. Something to leave behind. Even if it would have been destroyed by the sun.
Khahar departed after having some tea with Benton. The bear god had brought some new confections. Sweet things that Theo didn’t even have a name for. As always, they were incredibly delicious. Then it was time for business. Accepting the new souls into Tero’gal. They all formed an orderly line and pledged themselves to the realm. After getting the alchemist’s blessing, the wandered off to explore their new realm.
With every soul accepted, the realm grew a bit more. It was hard to tell how much it was growing, but Theo assumed it would double in size after he finished. He would also get another upgrade, which he was looking forward to. But the work was exhausting. He realized it was taking more than his physical stamina to accept the new people, dipping into a resource he didn’t know he had. Some manner of spiritual endurance trickled out of him with every new soul.
Theo moved away from the group after finishing the job, mopping his brow with a rag. He stripped down, stowing his clothes in his inventory, before plunging into the cold spring water. His body seized with the shock at first, but quickly adapted. The water was cool and clear, a purifying current to scour the stain of exhaustion from his soul. When Belgar drew close to the pool, taking tentative steps, he withdrew Zarali’s latest note and exchanged it for the Dronon’s.
The spirits Theo had accepted gave him three upgrades worth of levels. Three upgrades he had to thumb through, finding the best one. While the alchemist had intended to select the [Bubble] upgrade, the three new ones he was presented with were pretty good. He went through them one at a time, reserving his judgment until he was done.
[Anchor Point]
Creates a spiritual anchor point within your realm. So long as there is power within your realm, you may use this anchor to navigate through the void.
This upgrade was questionable to Theo. He didn’t have trouble finding Tero’gal, thanks to his Tara’hek skill. The urge he had was to take the skill, then dive into the void to make it work. But the other upgrades were also very good. He didn’t select the upgrade, moving on to inspect the next one.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
[Landscape Manipulation]
Allows the owner(s) of this realm to manipulate the landscape. They may move, add, and change the landscape at the cost of realm power.
Theo selected this upgrade as one of his three picks right away. Changing the way Tero’gal looked would be awesome. Currently, it was a blank reflection of what he and Tresk wanted out of their realm. But there were spots that would be better suited for other purposes. The alchemist moved on to the last available skill.
[Guardians of Faith]
Guardian of Faith allows the realm to generate heavenly defenders. The amount of defenders is equal to half the total number of souls.
This one was interesting. The alchemist didn’t know how good the souls in his realm were at defending it. He had the towers, but that was it. This was a comparison of [Bubble], [Anchor Point], and [Guardians of Faith]. He could only pick two. Several hours passed by before he decided. More souls would come, and he would get the option to pick [Anchor Point] again. For now, he picked [Guardians of Faith] and [Bubble]. He inspected the realm after that.
[Tero’Gal]
Mortal Dreamrealm
Owners: Theo Spencer, Tresk
Faction: Unaffiliated
Level: 26
Souls: 109
Expansions:
[Harvesting Array]
[Defensive Towers]
[Landscape Manipulation]
[Guardians of Faith]
[Bubble]
Pending Requests: 0
Theo didn’t have the desire to craft anything while he was within the realm. He got dressed and picked a [Fairy Plum] from the grove and moved off, traveling through his new realm without an aim. No one joined him, leaving him to his exploration. The alchemist took his first bite of the incredibly sweet fruit before getting a system message.
[Spirit Fruit Consumed]!
You have eaten a portion of a spirit fruit. Your natural wisdom has increased slightly. You may only eat one whole spirit fruit per day.
[Property Discovered]!
Deconstructing the [Fairy Plum] has revealed the property: [Fairy’s Blessing]
As always with the spirit fruit, the properties seemed tied to some lore. Theo didn’t know what a fairy’s blessing would be, but it was the fruit representing Wisdom. And it was delicious. A bit too sweet for his taste, but that was to be expected. Even the sweetest thing Benton could create paled when compared. But the rate at which the fruit grew was slow with only a few sprouting every real-world day. At first, the alchemist thought the residents of Tero’gal were eating them. He was corrected earlier, and had thought nothing more of it.
There were bigger problems to consider within the realm. With the expansion of the realm came the expansion of his time within. But even those extra hours weren’t enough for him to travel across the length of the land. He made it as far as a mountain range to the west before giving up at the base of those jagged crags. As the owner of the realm, he should have been able to move around it freely. But whatever technique allowed him to do so escaped his grasp. Instead, he relaxed in a forest, near a babbling brook.
Something to note about Tero’gal was that there was no wildlife. No creatures roamed the land. There didn’t seem to be seasons, although things grew. It was a confusing comparison between here and the real world. Theo thought about that for a while before diving back to the mortal realm. Food had already been prepared, and he was eager to eat.
Fenian was looking more healthy by the day. Theo was confident the man could stand, but he remained in his wheelchair. The alchemist ate as quickly as he could, dragging Tresk over to the bathhouse. As expected, others had welcomed themselves into his private room. He didn’t mind, happily sharing it with the other citizens. No matter how much they insisted, he made them stay. Tomorrow was a big day, and it was all he could think about.
According to Alran’s reports, their liaison to the lizard islands to the south would return tomorrow. With company. That was enough to drive Theo to bed as quickly as possible, sending him, Tresk, and Alex off to the Dreamwalk. As always, the Marshling was eager to strategize. The alchemist wanted to go over their cores.
The progress for their [Tara’hek Core] had ceased. It refused to gain another point of experience and they couldn’t figure it out. Theo’s alchemy and herbalist cores were moving along, although it was quite slow. His [Governance Core] had recently reached level 30, and fell in line with the [Tara’hek Core], refusing to move. He would inspect the available skills for that core later. The only core of his that was getting decent experience was his [Toru’aun Mage’s Core], which was at level 14.
“Same thing for me,” Tresk said, dangling her feet over the harbor’s edge.
Theo picked through skills for his [Governance Core]. The last ability he got for that core was [National Status], something that seemed made for leaders of nations. It allowed him and his administrators to see information about the entire nation. The ability created a new tab in their administration screens, providing vital information about the other towns in their territory. He was searching for an ability that synergized with [National Status]. Instead, he found a few abilities that would help the towns during attacks, settling on one.
[Rally]
Governance Skill
Epic
Grants the leader of each town the ability to use the [Rally] effect once every 5 days. This effect lasts one hour. The cooldown is per town leader.
Effect:
[Rally] grants all allies within a town enhanced abilities. Increases all attributes by 1.25x, damage by 1.15x, health regeneration by 1.5x, mana regeneration by 1.75x, and stamina regeneration by 1.5x.
The cooldown on that ability was bad, but the effect was good. Theo selected that as his level 30 ability for his [Governance Core]. Then he and Tresk got to discussing their halted progress.
“I bet it has to do with our personal levels. Once those get to level 30, we’ll be good,” Tresk said.
“That might be true. Or there’s another barrier. People are always talking about level 30. The training wheels come off after that.”
That sounds scary.
Theo stroked Alex, shaking his head. “No, we just need to be ready. I think we’re more prepared than most.”
“Especially since you’re a champion. How does it feel?”
“No idea. I’ve been one this whole time and I didn’t know it. I don’t know what it feels like to not be a champion. You saw how Fenian fought those Zagmon Dronon. Do you think I can do something like that?”
“Doubt it!” Tresk shouted, falling back to stare up at the sky. “You’re the champion for a non-combat class. Just makes your potions better, doesn’t it?”
Theo fell back with his companion onto the hard ground. “Yeah. That’s true.” He continued, explaining the situation in Tero’gal. Tresk had apparently already visited today. She just forgot to tell him about the line of souls waiting for some kind of absolution. But she was excited to see how their world had changed. And eager to exert her will to teleport around the place. If anyone could do it, she could.
They lingered on the topic of their realm and Fenian for a while. Tresk was the most distrustful person Theo had met in his life, but she liked the Elf. That might have been because of her internal doctrine of ‘burn it all to the ground and let the gods sort them out’. Theo had to convince himself that they were doing the right thing. That the souls would arrive in a better place after they were gone. He still didn’t believe it. What he knew was that he knew less than Khahar. He knew who Yuri was sixty-thousand years ago.
It was good enough.
Theo and Tresk had been spending more and more of their time relaxing. They didn’t grind experience while they were in the Dreamwalk today. They hung out and helped Alex get better with her nature aspect. The Marshling was a shockingly good teacher. That was only because the system that familiars got fell in line with her strengths. It was more about understanding herself as a goose with magic powers than selecting an ability from a list. The way she summoned the vines fell closer to manipulation of will than anything else.
Alex’s control was increasing by the day. Once she broke into the realm of nature, she took off like a goose in flight. Her powers focused on the manipulation of natural elements, such as plants, but extended beyond that. The vines she conjured weren’t a magic spell that summoned vines. She forced her will into existing plant life, twisting it to become those vines.
“You have an affinity for this,” Theo said, watching as Alex forced a blade of grass to become a spiked vine.
“Affinity?” Tresk scoffed. “Nah. She has stubborn, hard-headed willpower. Just like her mama.”
Mama! Alex honked.
“Or she’s borrowing the will from you.”
“Hey, there’s no shame in that. You do it all the time,” Tresk said. “But, no. I’m not lending her a drop of my will. She’s doing this all herself. Aren’t you, cutie?”
Honk honk!
Alex often reverted to her goose-self when she got excited. She flapped her wings, honking repeatedly as more vines sprung up. Once she got the hang of her nature powers, Theo would consider her one of three wizards in town. She would likely become the second-most skilled user of magic. He was always hopeless when it came to magical studies, always sticking to what he knew. But the power of his [Toru’aun Mage’s Core] was being wasted. Wasn’t it?
The alchemist would look to Alex for inspiration. Motivation to become better at the gift given to him by the Queen of Mystery. Even if that gift came with invisible strings he knew were there. Theo turned to the goose and smiled. “Alright. Back to training. We need to meet some lizard-dudes tomorrow.”
“Lizard dudes!” Tresk shouted, pumping her fist. “My ancestors!”
Hoooonk!