The lab in the Newt and Demon was getting worse by the moment. Theo had battled his way back to town, fighting against the sucking mud and biting turtles. Covered in mud, he dumped a vial of [Cleansing Scrub] over himself before entering. Salire had gone somewhere, likely attempting to avoid the constant sensation of illness brought by the soil.

“That stuff is very gross,” Tresk said. She went to pinch her nose, but realized she didn’t have one. “Dang lizard face.”

“I’m thinking this potion isn’t strong enough to do all of Qavell,” Theo said, dumping out a sample of the soil. “But it should get us started.”

The alchemist tipped the vial, allowing some of the liquid inside to coat the soil. Running through the sample were seams of green. The potion soaked into those streaks immediately, glowing with golden power. Looking closely, he could see the battle within the dirt. The necromantic energy fought against the [Hallow the Soil] potion for control. But the potion did its work well, scouring the entire sample clean.

“Woohoo!” Tresk shouted, pumping her fist. “Do the big one next.”

Theo dumped the entire potion into the clay jar, then shielded his eyes. Golden light filled the lab, bringing with it a strange mixture of scents. The potion itself had a pleasant smell that he couldn’t pin down. Something like freshly laundered clothes. The soil had a foul stench, like rotting meat left out in the sun to bake. While the mixture was unpleasant, it didn’t last long. The potion cleansed the soil, leaving behind nothing but regular dirt. His stomach immediately unknotted itself, leaving behind only the faintest sense of unease.

“We’ll need to produce this in massive quantities. Do you know where Salire went off to?”

“Nope.”

“Okay. Perfect.” Theo eyed his stills, then sent his thoughts out to his lodestone network.

The golems working his pop-up farm had collected a massive amount of Earth’s wheat. He sent an order for them to march over to the lab, bringing as much as they could carry. Once the order was sent, he turned on the spot and headed out of the lab. Tresk followed behind, but went her own way once they were outside. Her duties to the stealther squads in town were absolute, and she did good work. Their scouting was vital to the town’s safety.

“Miana,” Theo called from the edge of a wooden paddock.

The half-ogre was grooming one of her many karatan charges. She waved happily, stood up from her stool and jogged over to the fence. “Yeah?”

“How much [Karatan Cheese] do you have?”

Miana held a knowing grin on her face. She leaned in over the fence, pressing her finger into Theo’s chest. “You’re going to ask me for a Theo amount of cheese, aren’t you? Is this official business, or have you just developed a taste?”

“I’m always official. Mister official over here.”

“How many units?”

“No less than a thousand.”

Miana grimaced. “You’re going to cause a shortage.”

“No other option. We’re talking about the undead here.”

Miana gestured back to her herd of Karatan. The horrific bug-cow hybrids were something Theo would never get used to. “I only have so much livestock. Isn’t that trader from Partopour here?”

“Does he have cheese?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then I need your cheese. Give me the cheese.”

Miana sighed. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do. For the sake of your alliance, huh?”

Theo shook his head. She was still dealing with some stuff. Unlike most people in town, she was put in a horrific position. When the town was founded, she was held hostage. Forced to keep it at a low level. All for Theo’s sake, and all at the hands of Yuri. Well, Yuri never admitted it was him. But the writing was on the wall. When it came time to settle up for the cost of the cheese, he overpaid her by a considerable amount. Then he pretended not to hear her protests as he walked away with thousands of units of delicious cheese.

“Maybe I will start a cheese empire,” Theo giggled to himself. “Build a nice cheese tower.”

Creating the [Hallow the Soil] potions wasn’t really an issue. Theo consulted a map of the region in his mind on his way back to the Newt and Demon. He had difficulty estimating the square miles he would need to cover in the Southland Alliance’s lands. The number ballooned to absurd heights when he considered the places between the alliance and Qavell’s capital. He had crafted thousands of potions in the past. But none of those projects were this massive. Or this vital.

The bell above the door rang as Theo stepped into the shop. Salire was behind the counter, looking far more energetic than before.

“The smell is gone!”

“Indeed it is. I found a solution to the corruption problem, but…”

“But we need a lot? I figured.”

The alchemist’s apprentice was getting the hang of everything. But she was still locked into performing first tier reactions, and hadn’t shown as quick of advancement as him. She was still invaluable in the lab, though. Only Tresk had been able to handle the volatile materials before, and she was always too busy. The duo headed for the third floor, breathing in clean air for the first time in a day.

“My sanctum is restored,” Theo said, letting out a contented breath.

Salire giggled. “So, what’s the plan?”

“The only way we can get the Suffuse property is from cheese.” Theo removed a wheel of [Veostian Karatan Cheese]. “That’s a massive problem. Especially with the undead headed west. We can’t import ten-thousand units of the cheese if the place that’s known for it is gone.”

A dark thought made itself known on Salire’s face. Theo cleared his throat. “Not that I’m certain the undead are going for Veosta. Just a guess.”

“More than a guess, I’d bet,” Salire muttered.

“Right. So, the underground. Has Azrug given it a name?”

Salire shrugged.

“There’s a lot of reagents down there. Mostly mushrooms. We can cultivate mushrooms, so I need to know everything they have there.”

Salire brightened up at that comment. She withdrew an assortment of reagents, then set them out on the table. Theo tried to hide the prideful look on his face. His apprentice had taken the initiative while he was busy, likely heading down into the underground to collect reagents. None of the first properties were revealed to the alchemist, but the half-ogre went through them one-by-one. None had the properties he was looking for.

“So, here’s what we’re going to do.” Theo held the first wheel of cheese over a still. He crumbled it in his hands, letting the pieces fall onto the cold Drogramathi Iron below. “We’ll brew all of these, and I’ll check each reagent with [Reagent Deconstruction]. Sounds good?”

“Right!”

The lab was quickly filled with stifling heat. Salire turned on the artifice air conditioner, but it was a losing battle. Theo prepared the stills and set them to work. Then he turned his attention to the ten reagents resting on the table. He went through them, applying his mana to deconstruct them. As expected, there were reagents that had some of the same properties as plants on the surface. The [Lifeshroom] had all the same properties as the [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root]. One sample was just an uncultivated [Manashroom].

A mushroom at the end of the line felt promising. Unlike most mushrooms Theo had encountered, this one was as hard as stone. He could break sections of it off with his alchemically inert knife, but otherwise it would need to be ground with the grinder artifice. As the alchemist deconstructed the reagent, revealing all three properties, he rubbed his hands together.

“There it is.”

Salire was adjusting the heating settings on the stills. She spun around, nearly brushing against one. “Found it?”

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“Yep.” Theo held up the [Dragon Talon Mushroom] for inspection.

[Dragon Talon Mushroom]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Rare

This mushroom resembles the claw of a dragon and is inedible.

Properties:

[Hone Edge] [Distortion] [Limited Foresight] [Suffuse]

There were no new properties on the mushroom. Theo had to push himself to reveal the hidden fourth property, but he found it. Now it was only a matter of having the space in his mushroom cave to house them. After that, they would have an infinite source of the property. Once the reagent was cultivated, the yield would be even better than his cheese method.

“Perfect!” Salire shouted, clapping with excitement.

“Yeah, we might actually get our industrial production going. How rare is the mushroom in the underground?”

“Pretty rare.”

“All right. Watch the stills, I need to tend to the mushroom caves.”

Behind the building were a cluster of buildings. To the left of those were two entrances that went underground. A [Lesser Plant Golem] was coming up from the first [Mycology Cave], carrying an armful of [Azrug’s Mushrooms] with it. Each cave was at level 25, and Theo was certain he could push them to 30 without a problem. There might be problems pushing them any further, though. Both the alliance and the town itself needed upgrades. But that was incredibly expensive.

Broken Tusk was currently at [Massive Town] status. Theo was certain the next upgrade would require them to become a [Tiny Town]. The upgrade path went tiny, small, none, large, and massive. ‘None’ meant there was no prefix, so it just appeared as ‘Town,’ or ‘City.’ If the Wavecrest returned from Tarantham, they might have another fifty citizens. Not nearly enough to meet the requirement of a city.

It was one of those things. To get more people, he wanted to clear the way north of Gronro. To do that, he needed to upgrade his buildings. And of course, to upgrade his buildings he needed more people. It seemed like an endless cycle, but the alchemist pushed that thought out of his mind. It was time to upgrade both caves to 30, and reorganize their contents.

Theo shoved Monster Cores into the first building, expanding the interior as he went. When the new upgrade option came up, he read it thoroughly.

[Tero’gal Empowerment]

Latent energy, aligned with the Dreamrealm of Tero’gal, will be drawn from the air to enhance your mushrooms. Energy density affects growth rate, cultivation yield, and nutrient usage.

“Aren’t we double-dipping?”

The caves already had [Drogramath Empowerment]. That upgrade was already amazing for enhancing growth rate. And now he could do it again with his own realm? Perhaps one day a [Khahak Empowerment] upgrade would appear, allowing him to dip even further into the overpowered patron features. For now, he was happy enough to select the upgrade. Theo did the same thing for the second cave, then inspected one as a sample.

[Mycology Cave]

[Shortcut to Mushrooms]

Owners: Theo Spencer

Faction: [Southlands Alliance]

Level: 30 (15%)

Expansions:

[Spontaneous Spores]

[Deep Beds]

[Drogramath Empowerment]

[Rapid Growth]

[Untamed Cultivation]

[Tero’gal Empowerment]

Of course the upgrade was amazing. But the space within was the thing the alchemist was after. He entered the first cave, and noted how far it had expanded. Then it was a matter of organizing the existing mushrooms, which mostly involved a difficult choice. Both [Swamp Truffles] and [Manashrooms] were vital to his operations. He tapped his foot on the soft ground for a while before throwing his hands up in frustration.

“I need them both!”

Theo stomped out of the cave, then followed a straight path east. Once the harbor was in view, he cracked his knuckles and nodded to himself. With any luck, the traders from Partopour would have seed cores. They would likely charge him an absurd price, but he needed all his mushrooms growing. There was no other option.

As expected, the harbor was packed. Theo spotted Merchant Lord Miltar hawking his wares under a banner. Citizens from Broken Tusk bustled in the open-air market, tossing coins at products as though it was their final days. The alchemist shoved through them, finding his way to the shouting merchant.

“Archduke!” Miltar shouted with excitement. He then performed a deep bow. “I didn’t think we’d see you on this trip.”

“Been busy,” Theo said, having to raise his voice above the loud crowd. “I need some seed cores.”

“Come! Board my ship. We’ll discuss this in my cabin where it isn’t so LOUD!”

Theo followed the human trader onboard. The deck of the ship was massive compared to the trading vessels they were producing. Near the raised section where the wheel was, there was a door. The pair ducked inside, and the constant roll of loud conversation died in an instant.

“Ah. That’s better,” Miltar said, slumping slightly.

The room was spartan. There was a bed in one corner, and a large desk and chair dominating the center. The interior was lit by crystals that hung in ornate lanterns. A small black box hummed in the corner.

“[Mycology Cave] seed cores, if you have them,” Theo said.

“Ah, I might have some,” Miltar said, pulling random items out of his inventory. “You know, I’ve heard the strangest rumor.”

“Uh-huh. What’s that?”

“The undead are moving off!”

Theo nodded, watching as the man withdrew a carved wooden duck. “And they’ve left behind a serious problem. Tainted soil. The entire continent will be uninhabitable before long.”

“Unless you do something about it. Right?” Miltar smiled a blinding smile. “Anyway, I have a single [Mycology Cave Seed Core]. Fifty gold.”

Theo folded his arms. That wasn’t a horrible price. He could get it from Fenian for fifteen to twenty-five gold, and expected to be gouged within an inch of his life. “Sounds good. Oh, do you have any illusory necklaces? The ones that change your clothes.”

“Fresh out. I have a coat, if you want it.”

The heat within the cabin was awful. The padded gambeson Theo was forced to wear for safety was bad enough. Why would he want a coat of all things? “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but we’re in a swamp.”

“Oh, but this is no ordinary coat,” Miltar said, withdrawing a jet-black coat from his inventory. He swished it through the air, shaking the material out.

The coat was sized to the approximate height of a half-ogre. Or a dronon. Two sets of buttons ran the length vertically, and a large hood was attached to the collar. As cool as the thing looked, it also looked very hot.

“Inspect it,” Miltar said, noting Theo’s hesitation.

Theo did so.

[Coat of Rake]

[Leather Coat]

Epic

This coat once belonged to a mysterious dark-elf. He was said to live in a moon.

Effect:

The wearer of this cloak will have the [Extreme Comfort] status.

The first attack made against the wearer, per day, will be completely absorbed.

All attacks made while the wearer’s feet are not on the ground deal bonus damage.

“Please note, the [Regulated] status relates to a person’s body temperature. I have a ring that does the same thing.”

Theo took the coat into his hands, feeling the material. It seemed to be made of leather, but was supple. It was also stylish enough for him, although he was never one for fashion. He gave the trader a flat look. “How much?”

“This is a priceless artifact.”

“It’s only epic. A fair amount of my gear is already epic.”

“Ah, but does it make you comfortable? Also, note how the back end of the coat is split near the middle. Room for your tail. Tell you what. I’ll sell you the seed and the coat for seventy-five gold.”

That was robbery, of course. Theo was used to getting his gear for free, or at cost. But the [Coat of Rake] wasn’t just good for keeping him cool. It had the [Minor Foresight] effect on the second property, and an interesting effect as the third property. He hadn’t tried aerobatic combat yet, but this could be useful. When his feet weren’t touching the ground, this item would take effect. Otherwise his [Leather Boots of the Defiler] would be in play. The cost wouldn’t even drain his funds completely. Alchemy had been making money constantly, even if the town wasn’t doing so well.

“Sixty. Remembering that I’m the archduke.”

“Oh, the old ‘I’m the leader of this place so you’ll cut me a deal’ play? Alright, alright. I like it.” Miltar rubbed his hands together. “How about forty and a crate of your anti-undead potions.”

“How many is a crate?”

“Call it fifty.”

Theo reached out a hand. “Deal.”

Miltar shook Theo’s hand, then let go of the coat. The trader withdrew the seed core and handed it over. The alchemist took out his mid-tier [Hallow Ground Potions] and handed those over, along with the gold.

“I love when business goes well,” Miltar sighed.

“On a serious note,” Theo said, tapping his finger on the desk. “How is Partopour viewing the undead threat?”

“We’re unconcerned at the moment.”

“What if I told you that I was almost certain the undead were moving west? Toward Veosta, and perhaps Tarantham?”

“Well, that might raise our level of concern.”

“What about the fact that they can traverse the sea?”

“Ding! Higher. Anything else?”

Theo considered how much information he should include. “Balkor is alive.”

“Oh,” Miltar blinked a few times. The smile faded from his face. “How many potions can you spare?”

“I’m not producing the world’s supply of [Hallow Ground]. Doesn’t Partopour have alchemists? Any specialists in distillation?”

“We have a guild. There certainly aren’t any Drogramathi alchemists.”

Theo had to think about this for a moment before he acted. A part of him wanted to hold onto all of his secrets. Isn’t that why Belgar died? Isn’t that why Drogramath’s dronon were on the brink of extinction? There was no way that [Hallow Ground] could be used against the innocent. The [Experience Boost] property was dangerous, but it wouldn’t kill anyone. The alchemist withdrew a length of parchment and began scribbling.

“These are instructions on how to distill the [Swamp Truffle] into [Hallow Ground Essence]. I’m including warnings to only brew the first tier version. It should be strong enough.” Theo then withdrew a cultivated [Swamp Truffle] from his inventory, setting it on the table. “And a sample for your people to seed in a [Mycology Cave].”

“How much?” Miltar asked.

Theo didn’t care how much he was paid for the recipe. If the other nations didn’t prepare themselves for the undead, there wouldn’t be a soul left to trade with. “Free with a caveat.”

“Oh?”

“Spread the recipe to Bantein, the Khahari Desert—wherever. I have a bad feeling about the undead. I think we’re just getting started.”