Theo let out a sigh of relief as he departed from the train. The conductor laughed as he stepped off, allowing others to board before resuming his back-and-forth path. Standing there with Sarisa, the alchemist spotted a familiar face grinning from near the gate. Azrug waved as the duo approached, looking unapologetic in his fancy clothes. The more time that passed, the more the young man looked like Fenian. Too many ruffles for one half-ogre.

“I got a problem,” Azrug said, providing no other greetings. He pushed off the stone wall, beckoning Theo to follow him.

With a shrug, Theo followed the merchant. Azrug had done some interesting things lately. He had two businesses in town. His item shop earned him the bulk of his coin, while his stables were effectively bankrupt. No one ran beasts overland anymore, and the only creatures to take care of in town were the wolves, karatan, and pozwa in Miana’s ranch. But he had taken the failure in stride, focusing on his item shop.

“So, are you going to share your problem? Or is it a secret?” Theo asked.

“Ah. Well, I think you’ll just want to see it first. Just a quick walk to the farm.”

This gave Theo a chance to view a part of the town he wished he frequented more often. Traveling north from the main road, he got to see Xam’s tavern and bathhouse. Next up was the school on the left and the tightly packed neighborhood on the right. The farmer’s hill rose in the distance. That place was a remnant of some powerful mage back in the day. The wizard had diverted the river, raising the land to allow people to farm. That was before the town was made into a seed core town for the Kingdom of Qavell.

Theo, Azrug, and Sarisa climbed the hill to the farmer’s fields. At first, everything seemed normal. Fields of zee were growing in their various states. Farmhands scratched their heads at the edge of fields, shrugging on occasion. Banu himself just leaned against the farmhouse, shaking his head.

“Notice anything weird?”

Theo didn’t remember when Azrug got in the habit of playing weird games like this. He approached the field, brushing his hand against the stalks of zee. Then he noticed the beads of fruit growing near the stems of leaves. Larger than a grain of processed wheat, they were covered in something like corn silk and smelled sweet. After a moment of thought, the alchemist realized what had happened.

“They hybridized on their own?” he asked, clicking his tongue. “How did that happen? My wheat field is pretty far.”

“Who knows?” Azrug asked, plucking one bundle of fruit from the stalk. He held it out for Theo to inspect.

[Throk’s Weed]

[Alchemy Ingredient] [Hybrid Plant]

Epic

A unique hybrid plant created from a zee plant and wheat plant. This plant combines the healing properties of both zee and wheat.

Properties:

[????] [????] [????]

Theo gave Azrug a flat look. “Throk isn’t going to like that.”

A smile spread across the young merchant’s face. “Thought you’d like that.”

Inspecting the plant, Theo found there to be no issues. As far as zee went, it was a weird plant. The fruit normally grew at the top, resulting in a few large kernels, depending on the individual plant. The fruit here grew on the sides, near where the leaves sprouted. But so long as the yield was similar or better, there shouldn’t have been an issue.

“So, what’s the problem?” Theo asked.

“We need to know if this stuff is safe to sell. And eat.”

Theo had the impression that being dragged here was solely for Azrug’s amusement. He held the plant in his hand, glaring at the merchant as he deconstructed the reagent. It went up in a plume of smoke; the ashes falling to the ground. It revealed the Efficient Healing property, which was in line with both wheat and zee. While the alchemist had never seen the property, he could assume it was safe. He repeated the process, finding the next two properties to be Efficient Regeneration and Aura.

“I don’t see any negative properties. Do we have a grown version of the crop?”

“Hey Banu!” Azrug shouted, waving the farmer over.

Banu trotted across the farm, dabbing his forehead with a cloth. “Yeah?”

“Tell him how fast it spread.”

“Yeah. Like a wave,” Banu said, chuckling nervously. “Plants just started being different.”

“I don’t see a problem with farming Throk’s Weed… Ugh… But you’re saving kernels from the same field, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

Theo knelt near a plant, inspecting the way it grew from the ground to the top. Depending on how large the fruit got, the hybrid plant might produce more than the old version. It hardly seemed to matter, though. There was no going back from where they were. Every field in the farm had been infested with Throk’s Weed.

“Do you have any untainted samples on hand?” Theo asked.

“Just a few. Not enough to replant quickly.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter. Hand the samples over to me and I’ll get it sorted.”

Banu ran off to grab what few unchanged samples of zee he had stashed away. The plan for those was simple. Under closer observation, Theo could make sure they didn’t randomly hybridize into another plant. This was honestly the best outcome, considering the concept of monsterized plants. At any point, a plant could monsterize if given the right condition. The only conditions Theo had found for that was the introduction of too much growth-stimulating potions. That’s why they relied on the power of seed core buildings instead of alchemy.

Once Theo had his samples, he stowed them in his inventory and chatted with both Azrug and Banu. The merchant seemed excited to name more random things, but his Loremaster class core had given him insights on more than just items. Each new thing he discovered gave him insight into the history of the land. He joined with the alchemist on his path north, to the quarry, and shared the tales he had learned.

“I mean, we’re all aware of the original seeding of the world. From what those old people let slip,” Azrug said, picking at his teeth lazily. “But just consider how much stuff has happened here. Wars were fought. Kingdoms rose and fell. My core has been drip-feeding me information about the kingdom that was here before Balkor’s fall.”

“Really?” Theo asked. “How old was that kingdom?”

“Pretty old, compared to the length of time kingdoms normally last. The longest lasting single-body government in the world has to be the Tarantham Empire. That only works because they’re always killing each other in small batches. The system won’t give me the name for the place that was here before us, but it spanned the entire continent.”

Theo was aware, to a lesser extent, of this kingdom. He knew that the Qavelli language was based on whatever came before. Something he tried not to think about often were the bones they stepped on every day. It struck too close to home.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Did you learn anything interesting? How vague is the system when it tells you about the old kingdom?”

“Journal entries. Bits from old books. Folk tales. I got one page from the king of that kingdom. King, leader… whatever. It was so mundane. Aside from the invasion from the north.”

“Maybe it’ll go back further in time the higher your core gets.”

“That’s my hope. It’s not really useful, but very fun to read all that old stuff.”

The group was approaching the quarry. The sound of chipping stone and grunting half-ogres issued over the sloped hillside. Ziz and his boys were forming slabs of stone into blocks. Despite their failure with the bridge, he had a big smile on his face when he spotted the alchemist.

“Theo! How are ya?”

“Good. Just came to check on my favorite stonemasons.”

“We’re the only stonemasons…” one elf muttered. The half-ogres around him laughed.

Ziz’s workers had expanded recently. Unsurprisingly, they were still almost all half-ogres. But the influx of elves had resulted in those fair people joining his ranks. It wasn’t simple work. Working the quarry was back-breaking labor that required them to dump attribute points into Strength and Vigor.

“You heard about the bridge. Didn’t you?” Ziz asked.

Theo smiled. “I heard it was a massive failure.”

“Yep.” Ziz stretched, seeming almost apathetic to the colossal failure. “When we set the platform on the pillars, the waves and the wind just knocked it over. Can you imagine that much stone tumbling over from the weather?”

“The amount of stone required to make the pillars sturdy is too grand,” Azrug said, waving his hand through the air. “The entire project is a boondoggle.”

“Yeah, but it was fun,” Ziz shrugged. “We’re setting our sights on more manageable projects. Just keeping busy and stockpiling stone before we come up with something better.”

“Good to hear it didn’t crush your spirits,” Theo said, clapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Hah! Never!” Ziz shouted, striking a pose.

The group chatted for a while, but Azrug was dragged away by his duties. Theo carried on polite conversation with Ziz. The problem with the alchemist’s work today had his mind spinning. Plants rarely hybridized in his greenhouses and mushroom caves, but it had happened before. That event resulted in the creation of Azrug’s Truffle. While the new reagent was interesting, it spoiled an entire batch of Swamp Truffles. Further study was required to understand what was going on.

Theo left the quarry after a while, walking with Sarisa back to the Newt and Demon. He planned to clear space in his greenhouses for the untainted zee kernels, but a dedicated greenhouse would be better. That way, they could keep all their baseline samples safe from the ravages of random hybridization. Until someone with a magical carriage that could traverse dimensions arrived, that wasn’t possible. Perhaps traders would bring seed cores with their ships, but that had not been happening.

Sorting through the tangle of overly large plants in one greenhouse, Theo found a spot to plant one zee kernel. This seemed like a lot of effort to preserve something that closely resembled giant corn, but the zee had cultural roots in the region. The last thing Theo wanted to do was to strip away the culture that half-ogres and marshlings had built here. He kept the remaining kernels in his inventory, preserving them for as long as he held them there. After offloading some junk in his own inventory, and clearing out some crap in the Tara’hek shared inventory, he turned away from the greenhouses.

“Interesting,” a cool voice came from around one greenhouse. Theo recognized it, after a moment of thought, as belonging to the pale elf, Twist.

“Are you allowed on the surface?” Theo asked, moving to catch sight of the masked elf.

Twist stood there in white robes, hood pulled up over his head. His clothes were tattered from the years, ripped and torn in various spots. Especially around the sleeves. But no part of the elf was exposed to the sun hanging above. He jabbed a thumb back toward a group of Broken Tusk adventurers. “With an escort. Your reagent farming operation is interesting. Using golems to care for them is smart.”

“Are you an alchemist?” Theo asked, walking away from the spot. Twist followed, forcing his minders to follow as well.

“No.”

“I don’t know anything about your people, Twist,” Theo said. He had nowhere to go, but didn’t want the pale elf to linger around his lab. “What do you call yourselves?”

“Not for you to care. Everyone else calls us deep elves, and that’s good enough.”

“Are you related to surface elves?”

“No.”

While Twist was being annoying, that was good information to have. Theo was always interested in learning more about the various races in the world. He could reveal one fact about the deep elves from that statement. Twist could have been misinformed about his race’s origins. The deep elves might have come from the surface elves, but they might draw their lineage from another race. It was also possible that they were a seed race. The alchemist still didn’t understand where any of the lizard-folk came from, or the ogres. Every race that couldn’t track their lineage back to the start could have been another seed race.

“Our Loremaster, Azrug, would be interested in talking to you,” Theo said, moving in no direction in particular. He headed north, toward the harbor.

“Have you made progress on your promise?” Twist asked, ignoring what Theo said completely.

“We have, actually. The path north of Gronro is clearing by the day. I have a few methods to remove the undead, but it is slow.”

“As expected. If you don’t deal with Qavell before you clear the way, I will need to find another path. That is undesirable.”

“If you’ve got a defensive weapon tucked away… somewhere… feel free to bring it out.”

Twist ignored the comment, following Theo up the battlements near the harbor. Several foreign ships were docked there, unloading or loading cargo. The alchemist recognized the flags of Bantein and Partopour, but there was also a much smaller boat belonging to the Khahari. Khahar’s people hadn’t made good on his promise of trade, but it was hard to say how his absence affected them. Broken Tusk would be happy with any trade.

“Why don’t you travel the underground to reach Qavell?” Theo asked the question, but knew the answer.

“Because that’s where my people live. Locked in constant war.”

Theo nodded, but didn’t respond. Instead, he climbed a long staircase down to the harbor below. With Twist still following him like a lost puppy, he talked with several vendors to check their supply of seed cores. It was disappointing to learn that Tarantham was the world’s largest producer of seed cores, and they had stopped exporting when the latest civil war kicked off. One trader had something similar to a greenhouse, but it wasn’t the same. Instead, it was something altogether more interesting.

“I’ve never seen one,” Theo said, holding the Herbalist’s Workshop Seed Core in his hands. “How much?”

Never one for negotiation, the alchemist settled for the over-priced seed core and left the harbor. He made his way to Sledge’s sawmill, but didn’t find her there. The workers directed him to the school instead, where he found the marshling hissing at several children. She was lurking over a wooden crate, stuffed with straw. Inside were a few spotted eggs, roughly the size of Theo’s fist.

“Oh,” Theo said, blinking away his confusion. “Your clutch.”

“My babies,” Sledge hissed, snapping her jaws at the alchemist.

“Think you could get Bob to watch those for a minute? I need a new road.”

“Babies,” Sledge responded, jerking her head toward the clutch.

“Perhaps another day,” Twist said with an amused tone.

Theo left the school without his Fabricator, making his way back to the Newt and Demon. The alchemist had wanted a road running from the main avenue, heading east next to his lab. After his first plan crumbled, he considered the next-best place to put his new workshop. The next building south of the lab was Perg’s tannery. Theo counted out twenty dronon-sized paces before selecting a spot for his new workshop.

“Is this what you do all day?” Twist asked, watching as Theo pressed the seed core into the ground.

“Sometimes. Other times I’m helping folks with stuff. Or brewing potions.”

“Fighting the undead?”

“I don’t really fight,” Theo said, stepping back to watch the seed core grow. Roots sprung from the ground, wrapping around themselves. He had a feeling that this one would take a minute or two to form, even with the help of some Monster Cores. “I just toss bombs. Sometimes knives.”

“Throwing knives can be effective, though.” Twist nodded.

Theo had absolutely no idea why Twist was hanging out on the surface today, but he didn’t like it. Everything he had heard about the deep elves painted them as people who enjoyed waging war more than anything. Mercifully, the elf stopped talking to watch the new seed core form into a building. The roots tangled amongst themselves, and a pulse of recognition radiated from the core. For the first time, the alchemist felt the seed core’s will feeling out around itself. It probed the surrounding buildings with faint willpower, then sent tendrils off to the other buildings. He realized it was getting an impression for the buildings around itself to blend in.

“That’s new…”

Wisps of will pulled back, and the seed core constructed itself. It matched most of the local buildings, forming a stone foundation with wooden walls. Sometimes the seed cores would go for all-stone construction, while other times they would assume a combination of stone and wood. Narrow windows formed near a heavy wooden door, then the roof emerged from a tangle of dark roots. A straight, stone chimney poked from the top of the building, seeming to burst from a blue roof.

“Cute,” Twist said, entering the building without asking Theo’s permission.

“Come right in,” Theo grumbled. “Make yourself at home.”