Theo woke to the sound of banging the next morning. System messages crowded his vision as he stirred from his slumber, bringing a rush of confusion to his mind. Setting up the stills to run while he slept was a waste of motes in his [Flame Artifice], but it bore fruit. Both his alchemy and herbalism core leveled to 11, also increasing his level to 11. He considered his options for a moment as the banging continued, Tresk cursing and springing from her bed. He inspected his character sheet.

Belgar (Theo Spencer)

Drogramath Dronon

Level 11

Alchemist

Core Slots: 3

Stats:

Health: 61

Mana: 40

Stamina: 53

Strength: 16 (+10)

Dexterity: 5

Vigor: 11 (+4)

Intelligence: 15 (+4)

Wisdom: 23 (+6)

Points: 0

The alchemist was still absurdly clumsy, but he was getting brawny beyond anything he expected. The [Strength] stat didn’t seem to affect his physical appearance much, but he was looking less like he had noodles for arms. Out of the stats he’d been pumping, [Intelligence] was finally at a decent level. He could do basic math in his head, and extrapolate on information better. It also informed his [Wisdom], to a lesser extent. He could sort through those whispers that influenced his actions to determine who was steering him. That left [Vigor] for him to consider. He placed a single point in the stat without hesitation. More [Vigor] meant more stamina, and he’d been struggling with that issue for quite some time.

The sound of a slight scuffle issued from downstairs. Theo bolted upright, running to the landing to see Tresk pinning Sledge to the ground.

“You can’t assassinate an assassin! I’m too damn good!” Tresk shouted.

Sledge let out a groan, Tresk’s knife laying across her throat.

“Tresk, let her go,” Theo said. “She’s a carpenter, not an assassin.”

Tresk removed herself from the carpenter, straightening her clothes and scowling up at Theo. “Who knocks so early?”

“I’m just here to install these pipes,” Sledge said, looking rather fearful. The powerful face she put on had melted away in the face of Tresk’s power. For all her quirks, Theo’s companion was a fearsome fighter.

“Say you’re sorry, Tresk,” Theo said. “I hired her.”

“Sorry,” Tresk said, narrowing her eyes. “But I’m watching you.”

“Whatever,” Sledge said, brushing herself off. “It’ll take more than that to startle me.”

The carpenter pushed past Tresk, moving up the stairs without another word. Theo could see that she was shaken from the encounter, but no more worse for wear. He followed her, watching wearily as she stood and nodded to herself. Sledge withdrew several lengths of pipe from a dimensional bag at her hip, setting them around the lab and humming to herself.

She eventually turned her attention to Theo and Tresk, watching her from the door to the lab. “Throk gave me instructions. He has all your tanks ready to go, just needs a [Fabricator] to do some of the work.”

Sledge held up a pipe for them to see. With a wave of her hand, the stone on the north-facing side of the building parted, creating a perfect hole. She slid it through and closed the building around it again. The pipes fit into one another with clamps that tightened down at a touch, making the process quick. The carpenter continued her work, connecting the pipes together and placing 3 funnels under each condenser. Those pipes led to holding tanks at the edge of the room, about 500 units of capacity each. Then, the pipes led outside, waiting to be connected to something.

“This valve here is your flow valve,” Sledge said, pointing at one of 3 pipes leading through the wall. “These 3 tanks are just staging tanks, but you can extract your alchemy stuff directly from them with this port.”

Sledge gestured to the ports on the side of the 3 tanks. She then pointed to the pipes leading through the wall.

“You have to power these for the suction to work, but these will all lead to large tanks outside. Throk said that they’re 10,000 capacity each. Leave the valves open if you want these to go directly to the tanks outside. Press this button to clear it for a new run,” Sledge said, attaching the last pipe.

The button she gestured to was on each of the 3 interior tanks. Theo was confused about the operation of the system. 3 funnels led to 3 holding tanks. Those tanks led to bigger tanks outside, that was easy enough to understand. What he didn’t get was resetting the tanks after each run.

“Why do I need to reset the tanks?”

“Throk built in a sensor that remembers the last thing that ran through here,” Sledge said, smiling proudly. “He said you’d blow up your lab if you accidentally mixed the alchemy junk.”

“I also need to alchemically treat the copper,” Theo said, inspecting the woman’s handiwork.

“Whatever. I need to go attach these tanks outside,” Sledge said.

“Could you attach the tank out back? I assume that’s part of your [Fabricator] skills,” Theo said.

“It is,” Sledge said, nodding. “And I will.”

The woman disappeared down the stairs, Tresk watching her the entire way. Eventually, she let out a sigh. “Well, this is a fancy bit of work. Pipes everywhere, now.”

“Yeah, that might be an issue,” Theo said. He ran his hands over the pipes, smiling to himself. “This is going to be great. If he has my timed [Flame Artifices] ready, I can distill a full run without worrying about my flask overflowing.”

It was a big issue for the alchemist to deal with his flasks. Creating glassware that was larger than 200 units was tricky. It was like handling a giant glass barrel, which wasn’t as much of an issue with his increased strength. The awkwardness of it was enough for him to separate out the large runs into 100 unit flasks, the situation made worse by his 500 unit capacity [Drogramath Still].

The Newt and Demon shifted ominously under their feet, a loud clanging sound issuing from outside. Tresk and Theo bolted down the stairs, turning the corner to the north side of the building to find Sledge working her magic. Large copper bands held 3 massive tanks to the side of the structure, holding them steady. The carpenter moved to the back and the pair watched her, streams of light flowing from her body to summon the magical copper.

“All done,” Sledge said, flicking her hand to attach the pressure vessel. She marched up to Theo and held out a hand, a smile on her face.

“What?” Theo asked.

“You’re supposed to tip the [Fabricator],” Sledge said, scowling. “Don’t be cheap on me now, mayor.”

Theo did not know how much her time was worth, or how much she’d charged others in the town. He produced an amount of coin from his inventory that seemed twice what her time was worth, trying to encourage her to keep up the good work. The alchemist placed 10 silver coins in her hand.

“Nice doing business with you,” Sledge said, marching off without another word.

“That is a very useful core,” Tresk said, speaking once Sledge was out of earshot.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I can imagine the issue of not having a [Fabricator],” Theo said. “I’m not sure if the system allows you to modify a seed core building. Maybe if we just shoved some pipes through the wall and expanded the building, it would destroy them.”

“Your guess is as good as any,” Tresk said, shrugging. “So, do you want breakfast?”

Theo nodded and the pair retreated into the lab. While Tresk prepared breakfast, their standard fare of wolf steaks and moss tea, the alchemist worked on alchemy-proofing his new toy. He dug through his storage, finding his [Potion of Infusion] and dumping down each of the 3 funnels. His intuition said that when the potion came in contact with an untreated material, it would spread. This ensured that the interior of the tanks would be protected against the reactive nature of the essences.

The pair ate breakfast together, but Theo’s mind was on the storage vessels. It would be perfect if he commissioned two new stills from Throk, similar to his old design but with a higher capacity.

“We should upgrade the building,” Tresk said.

Theo nodded. He knew that was a good idea, but had been focusing on other projects. “Have you been hoarding monster cores?”

“I’ve been donating them to Aarok,” Tresk said. “The guild hall was a hungry little monster. Well, not little at all—that place is massive.”

Theo scooped the essence he’d distilled last night into his inventory, returning to the table to sip on his tea. Bombs were on his mind, but not just the firebombs. As he told Aarok, he had a few ideas for other types of bombs. While a freezing bomb wasn’t in his book, his intuition said that it would be easy enough to make. That left him with an arsenal of things to defend his town with, something that brought comfort to his mind.

Tresk departed, pressing her forehead against his before leaving, and made a surprised sound. They received more experience to their Tara’hek than normal. The curiosity passed and the Marshling departed without another word. Theo had a feeling it was because she defended him, even if Sledge wasn’t a threat.

Theo found his way to the back of the lab, loading the pressure vessel with 500 units of [Flame Essence] and setting it to work. He knew this would produce a more powerful version of his standard fire bomb recipe, but was interested in the effects the modifiers would have. The alchemist left his gravel yard, intent on letting the copper pipes imbue while he checked in on Throk.

Dawn had hardly painted the eastern sky with its brilliant colors, but the town was already buzzing with activity. The sound of a hammer meeting metal came from up the road, signifying that the blacksmith was already hard at work. That was the standard in Broken Tusk, though. The people raised in the swamp were workers. They left nothing for tomorrow, preferring to get it done then.

“How are my new [Flame Artifices] coming along?” Theo asked, catching the Marshling by surprise.

“Hah! Your [Flame Artifices]? Wait until you see this,” Throk said, rubbing his hands together. He beckoned Theo into his workshop, turning a corner to reveal 2 massive stills, approximately the size of his [Drogramath Still].

“I didn’t order these,” Theo said, laughing.

“But you wanted them,” Throk said. “Hah! I can see it in your eyes. You were going to ask me to make new stills after you saw the 500 unit capacity holding tanks!”

Theo couldn’t help but laugh. The old man was right, after all. That is exactly what he was going to do. The alchemist pressed his hand against the still, receiving a popup from the system.

[Custom Copper Artifice Still]

[Alchemy Equipment]

Epic

Created By: Throk

A 500 unit capacity copper still with attached advanced condenser and internal heating element. The advanced condenser allows for a more efficient cooling of essences, decreasing the time needed to distill.The internal heating element provides an even heating of the still, preventing burning.

Effects:

Distillation time reduced.

Occasionally produces more essence.

Reduces the chance of producing low quality essence.

“Built in heating?” Theo asked, searching near the bottom of the still. He found the heating artifice attached to the bottom, complete with a mote port.

“Hah! I knew you’d like that one. Bet your fancy Drogramath still can’t do that,” Throk said.

“No, it can’t,” Theo said.

“But, I also built you a [Flame Artifice] with an auto shutoff. You can dial it in,” Throk said, producing another artifice from nowhere. It looked a lot like his old ones, with the exception of another knob near the bottom. Theo inspected that one as well.

[Timed Flame Artifice]

[Specialty Artifice]

Rare

Created by Throk

Feed the artifice motes to produce a steady flame. Each mote provides 6 hours of fire. The intensity of the flames is determined by the dial on the side. Setting the artifice’s power to zero preserves the mote’s stored energy. Attached timer will shut off after the designated time.

“How are you so good at this?” Theo asked, taking each item into his inventory. Strangely, the stills fit.

“That’s just me. Over here. Being the best,” Throk said. “The materials were about 2 gold, so whatever you want to toss me.”

That made sense to Theo. Throk had no reason to lie about his expenses, and often made this stuff at cost. Each element of an artifice required those tricky little gears, and whatever other nonsense he hadn’t seen yet. He knew they were incredibly expensive based on the [Flame Artifices] he’d bought from Fenian in the past. The Elf trader sold those near cost, somewhere around 1 gold each. The alchemist withdrew 3 gold coins from his inventory and handed them over.

“Always a pleasure doing business with you, Throk,” Theo said.

“Well, you paid for my new core. And my retirement,” Throk said, laughing.

“You’re going to retire?” Theo said, feeling a flash of fear run through his chest.

“Nope. But, I like to pretend that I will. One day,” Throk said. “No, the forge calls me. I can’t give that up, no matter how much I envy the idea of an easy life.”

“Simple lives aren’t for Broken Tuskers,” Theo said, grinning. “We’re born from the mud to toil.”

“As far as I’m concerned, Theo, you’re part Half-Ogre and part Marshling,” Throk said.

“I like that,” Theo said. “Well, I’ll be off. Time to rearrange my lab.”

“So long.”

Theo left feeling slightly guilty. No, he squashed those feelings down as soon as they arose. He wasn’t a good mayor; he was a great mayor. When the time came, he would inform everyone about the impending monster wave. Withdrawing the crystal from his inventory, he saw it was an orange-yellow color, lining up with his estimate of the attack window. The alchemist returned the item to his inventory, casting those concerns as far away as he could. Things would line up if he planned properly, and he was actually good at that. His intuition drove him close to the right answer, even if he didn’t understand the implications.

Reorganizing the lab was easy. The magical stills could be returned to his inventory, and his relatively high [Strength] made it a simple thing to scoot them along the wooden floorboards. Throk’s new stills were very similar to his old design only larger. The section near the bottom was different, though, containing a mote port to power the built-in [Flame Artifice]. Theo fiddled with the controls for a moment, but shrugged. They were simple. The same intensity-based dial sat near the bottom of the device along with another one, labeled with various times. They seemed to increase from 30 minutes to 5 hours in increments of 30 minutes.

Theo flushed another [Potion of Infusion] down the funnels, watching with satisfaction as steam rose from the spout. He also bathed his new stills in the potion, although he didn’t know if they needed the treatment. It wasn’t a problem before. With the volatile nature of the essences, it was better to be safe.

The alchemist repeated the flushing process once more before cleaning the entire system out with a vial of [Cleansing Scrub], just to be sure. He tested the valves at various parts of the line, then went outside to test the extraction method on the storage vessels. The artifice extraction system removed every drop of his infusion potion, drawing the liquid through the tank magically. Theo went between the gaggle of artifice ports in and around his building, feeding them motes. Upon returning to the lab, he positioned the condenser of all 3 stills over their respective funnels and rubbed his hands together.

Shredding mass quantities of his reagents was easy with his [Alchemical Grinder]. It felt like no time passed, and he had each still firing away with their mashes. Health, freezing, and stamina set to 1 hour timers. He flicked the valves on each holding tank, ensuring they would remain within the lab for this run. With that sorted, he turned his attention to the [Refined Healing Essence], intent on spending most of his day crafting [Healing Potions] and testing their modifier effects.

The process was slow, especially compared to the [Lesser Healing Potions]. The 1st tier recipe was forgiving and required barely any attention. Those 2nd tier recipes stood in stark contrast, refusing to react in a large container. His [Drogramath Alchemy Core] whispered that his skill was still too low to handle them easily, but it made sense. He went back to that old process he’d hung up ages ago, individually distributing the potion in 4 unit vials. While the reaction produced 2 units of liquid, he settled on the idea of either having breathing room for the new potion, or adding the 2 units of modifier essence.

A question popped into the alchemist’s mind as he labored away. These potions were 2nd tier, but his modifier essences should be 1st tier. What horrible reactions would take place if he dared to add the inferior modifiers to his valuable potions?

Theo waited to answer that question, diligently adding exact amounts to each vial with pain-staking precision. Not all the [Refined healing Essence] got used up during his reaction, and he returned the rest to the [Dimensional Storage Crate]. By the time his hands were cramping from the repetitive action he only had 200 of the new healing potions with hours gone by. It was significantly less efficient than the old potions, but he gained almost an entire level from the run.

Higher potions give more experience, Theo said to Tresk.

Duh. Did you think they’d give less? Tresk asked.

Theo smiled. That was a stupid question, after all.

I have enough healing potions for the next wave. I just need to make the bombs, Theo said.

And plenty of time to do it. Right? What color is our crystal at? Tresk asked.

Yellow… Now, orange, Theo said, noticing the subtle change of the crystal as he removed it from his inventory. I think I need to call a town meeting.

Meeting after bombs. Bombs first, Tresk said.

He could hear her bouncing up and down, even through the telepathic connection.

“Right,” Theo said, clearing away his work space. “Bombs.”