Theo woke the next morning in a haze. The remainder of the previous day was spent securing reagents and distilling his fermented ingredients. 600 units of fermented [Moss Nettle] produced an equal amount of the [Surge] modifier essence. There was even time enough to distill his [Swamp Onion] fermentation down to 200 units of [Aerosolize] modifier essence, which he would reserve for his gardening experiments. Half the [Surge] produced was to make potions, while the other half was for the tricky task of experimentation.

Tresk wasn’t happy that he had pilfered her store of onions and demanded satisfaction. She challenged him to a duel at sunset, something that never came to be. The busy Marshling was asleep before the sun even crested the horizon and she forgot about the challenge by morning. Instead, he found her making breakfast in the lab. Theo approached, withdrawing the early warning crystal from his inventory and setting it on the table.

“Still orange?” Tresk asked.

Theo eyed what she was cooking suspiciously. The normal wolf steak had been replaced by something resembling a sausage and onions.

“I thought I stole all your onions,” Theo said.

“You stole my decoy stash,” Tresk said.

“Of course. Also, yeah. Whatever Xol’sa is doing, it’s working,” Theo said.

Theo leaned back in his chair, casting his eyes out the window. Too many things had happened in too short a time, leaving him feeling confused. It felt as though he’d taken hasty turns in a maze, running on his gut feeling with little else to steer him. Even the advice he received was questionable, ‌but he sorted that out. There were innocent souls in this world that would help him without an agenda. Xol’sa was one of those. Having no home of his own left him adrift, unable to anchor himself to the ways of his people.

He let those thoughts drift from his mind, replaced by the smell of the strange sausage and sizzling onions.

“One day, people are going to have Broken Tusk food on their plates,” Theo said.

“And Broken Tusk potions in their belt, and Broken Tusk stone underfoot, and Broken Tusk timber in their bridges,” Tresk said, smiling as she rolled a fat sausage over.

“Exactly,” Theo said with a nod. The teakettle whistled, and he poured himself a cup, taking a delicate sip. “One thing isn’t good enough. We need to do everything.”

“Well, I’m doing my part,” Tresk said, plating the strange breakfast. “I’m getting really good at stabbing.”

Theo was reminded that Tresk took something of a hybrid class recently. He had been wrapped up in his own stuff and hadn’t inquired about it. As he cut his first piece of sausage, watching the Marshling swallow hers whole, he asked, “how is [Shadowdancer] going?”

“It’s perfect,” Tresk said, coughing, choking, then recovering. “I only have 1 skill for it so far, but it’s a good one. I can use [Shadowdance] to move between the shadows. It’s effectively a travel power. The bonuses the core gives me are great, though.”

Theo mentally activated the phrase [Shadowdance] to inspect the ability.

[Shadowdance]

Shadowdancer Skill

Rare

Cooldown: 5:00

Allows the user to jump between shadows while remaining in stealth.

Effect:

The user must be in stealth and standing in a shadow to activate.

The user may jump from shadow to shadow.

If the user isn’t broken from stealth, they may jump to another shadow (maximum 10).

The skill didn’t detail how far she could jump, so he assumed it was line-of-sight. This is how she was zipping across the swamp so readily.

“Seems powerful,” Theo said.

“Yeah, the whole class is great,” Tresk said, slurping down her onions.

Theo bit into the first sausage. An herbaceous, greasy flavor coated his tongue in an instant. The coating of the sausage exploded under his teeth, making a faint popping noise. It was the strangest, most delicious thing he’d eaten since arriving in Broken Tusk, and it made him wonder where the Marshling had bought them.

“Are you buying food from Fenian?” Theo asked.

“Yeah,” Tresk said, taking a moment to prepare her tea. “I can’t even remember what these sausages are called, but they come from the northlands. Those bear-people.”

“The Toora,” Theo said, nodding. “We had one of their people pass through town. Boral… I don’t know what happened to him.”

“Cool. Well, I don’t care who made it, or how they made it, or what it’s made of,” Tresk said. “It’s delicious. We should start importing food.”

“I wanted to make my own food,” Theo said.

“Yeah? Got any Karatan in those fields?” Tresk asked, laughing. “Come on. Be realistic, for once.”

Theo let out a sigh. She was right. He needed to take things one step at a time. Once he got his ranch running, he could worry about the creation of food, whatever that meant. He could end up exporting Karatan butter, for all he knew. It all depended on how fast the strange cow-like creatures grew.

“Yeah. No livestock, no meat,” Tresk said, tilting her head after sipping from her cup. “Well, I guess we could process the wolf meat we get. Make wolf sausages… Well, we’d need some spices for that. And we don’t have spices.”

“I’m working on a farming concept,” Theo said, waving her away.

“I saw your plants out back,” Tresk said. “And you still haven’t found a way to make salt.”

Theo frowned at that. He hadn’t discovered the technique to break things down into parts yet. Even the pressure vessel out back couldn’t do it, even if it was a step in the right direction. The extreme pressure, combined with magic, removed the impurities from the essences but the waste was unusable. So far, the alchemical pressure vessel spat out solid blocks of junk that seemed unusable. Something in the alchemist’s intuition told him this was user error, and not a function of the pressure vessel. He brought his copy of Basic Drogramath Alchemy over to go over while he ate.

“I hope you know that book is creepy,” Tresk said.

Theo took a moment to look at the cover. The Drogramathi script stabbed like daggers, ending in deadly points and ominous swooping circles. “Yeah, it’s pretty creepy.”

While he could recall the contents of the book from memory, there was something about the tactile feel of the thing. He found the section on pressure refining and went over the section regarding waste. The refinery would concentrate the essence by removing the stuff he didn’t need. First-run essences were left with traces of all 3 properties, rendering them impure. Refining those essences removed those traces to an extent, leaving behind that waste. That waste was elemental, in a way. It couldn’t be further refined to create more essence, but it could be changed to serve a different purpose.

This line of reasoning led Theo to an additional problem to his process. The quality of the waste he was producing was poor, resulting in useless hunks of matter. The alchemist needed to process that waste, or improve the quality of it to produce better samples of those elemental castoffs. He explained the problem in terms Tresk would understand.

“More experiments,” Tresk said. “I’m going to convince the adventurers that the portal is safe.”

“Is it safe?” Theo asked.

“It’s pretty safe,” Tresk said.

“Pretty safe isn’t safe,” Theo said.

“Safe enough! They’re adventurers,” Tresk said, standing. “They got through danger often.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“That’s fair enough,” Theo said.

“Well, I’m going to head out,” Tresk said, pressing her forehead against his. “That’s a lot of experience for breakfast.”

[Tara’hek Core] received experience (2%).

A simple interaction like this usually garnered 1 percent or less. “Maybe it was the sausages.”

“Bonus experience sausages,” Tresk said, nodding sage-like. “We gotta eat more sausages.”

Theo bid farewell to his companion, doubting the existence of bonus experience sausages. [Lesser Experience Boost Potions] existed, and the alchemist had brewed them in the past, but nothing to give experience. Tresk’s line of reasoning simply left him with thoughts of his little garden, and the potential to cultivate herbs and spices. He didn’t consider his garden project as overreaching, since it fed into his alchemical experimentation.

Before leaving the lab, Theo took a mental catalog of his catalysts. His favorite was [Copper Shavings] but that had to do with availability. He’d bought enough additional catalysts for experimentation and considered them for a moment. He considered the copper to be a first-tier catalyst. [Iron Shavings] would then fall into the 2nd tier, [Grave Dust] the 3rd, and his [Ice Quartz] in a weird realm all its own. Using these catalysts in the pressure vessel was still mysterious.

Theo found his way outside, patting his hand on the storage tanks before moving to the pressure vessel. He pressed the flap at the bottom, finding the brick-like waste he hadn’t tended to in a while. After adding those to his inventory, he considered his options. It didn’t take long to add his 300 units of [Surge] modifier and the appropriate amount of [Iron Shavings] to the mix. With a turn of a knob, the machine hummed to life, rocking ominously before settling down.

The 3 storage tanks on the side of the Newt and Demon contained a large amount of each restoration essence. Theo stood near them for a while, letting a breeze wash over him as he thought about his next move. It would be simple enough to turn every unit of those essences into basic lesser potions, but the profit would be less. He was also considering the prestige of his lab, and the fact that Fenian would be gone for days. If each storage tank held 1,000 of each essence, he’d end up with 500 potions of each 2nd tier restoration potion. The task would also take at least a day, perhaps more.

The alchemist decided that more advanced potions were more valuable, and left to wander the area near the river. He collected reagents idly along the way, greeting citizens as they passed. The eastern gate had shifted north, a cobbled road stretched from the center of town to meet it. Beyond that wall was a dirt road, leading to a bridge over the river. Theo left through the gate, placing his hands on the timber of that structure.

It was a handmade thing. A structure that already showed its age, no matter how new it was. The distance it spanned was impressive. The bridge went 200 paces into the river, secured by massive poles driven deep into the riverbed, then secured to a small island. From there it was another 100 paces to the other side. While the water was calm today, it still rushed by in a torrent of sound and splashing water. Theo turned south, watching as the river wound a bend. From this distance, it was impossible to spot the ocean.

“A day’s walk, perhaps,” Theo said, bringing up his mayor map. There was a fog settling in on the south side of the map. The furthest he could see was near his mine, but the river bent east, away from Broken Tusk there. The alchemist scooped up a few [Water Lilies] before turning back for town.

His hope was to find evidence of spices or herbs through the different scenery, but it was more of the same ingredients. The 2 new herbs he discovered near the southern hills, near Dead Dog Mine, weren’t useful for that idea. A mental timer ticked off, marking the progress of the pressure still. With another hour to go, he returned to town and headed north, spotting Banu. The farmers designated a few fields for their traditional method of farming, leaving the others to grow the alchemist’s way. It was a compromise he could live with.

Theo handed over the remainder of his [Alchemic Soil Enhancer] and avoided a lengthy conversation, heading to the small area he’d designated for the adventurers. There were still only 3 homes there, but that would take time. People didn’t migrate in waves, it seemed. They came as a trickle over time. When the alchemist finally found what he was looking for, he saw an interesting sight.

“That works,” Theo said with a satisfied nod.

The sound of tools working stone hit his ears before he caught sight of Ziz and his men. Since the last time he came, the quarry was shallower. Some stone had regenerated, but the stoneworkers adopted a new strategy. Instead of quarrying straight down, they dug distinct channels, running north to south.

“Theo!” Ziz’s gruff voice called from a 2-Theo deep channel. “What do you think?”

“Inventive,” Theo said, gesturing to the channels. “The stone regenerates quick enough. Does it push the water out?”

“Sometimes,” Ziz said, dusting his hands off and pulling the alchemist into a hug. “The slant of the hill just drains the water off through the channels.”

Theo could picture that working in his mind. If they dug deep in one section, then dug more channels to siphon the water off to the south, the hill would eventually dip enough for them to drain the water off. It was smart, and not labor-intensive.

“Very good work,” Theo said. “How is business?”

“Extremely good,” Ziz said, beckoning Theo into the workshop.

The workshop was larger than the last time he saw it. Scattered along the ground were gem-bearing stones being processed. Those jewels were trapped within the hard marble and represented an array of colors. Theo spotted purple, red, and yellow within those arrayed. Ziz scooped up a purple gem and handed it over. The alchemist inspected the refined jewel.

[Cut Zaulize]

[Processed Gem]

Rare

A shadowy gem, cut and prepared.

“Zaulize,” Theo said, knitting his brow. He moved to pick up a yellow gem before inspecting it as well.

[Cut Glanthierize]

[Processed Gem]

Rare

A holy gem, cut and prepared.

“I get it,” Theo said. “So, do the gems hold alignment to gods?”

Ziz shrugged. “No idea, but they’re worth a lot of money.”

“The system is just attaching ‘ize’ to various god’s names to the gem. Zaul is the god of shadows. Glanthier is the god of healing,” Theo said.

“Oh, that’s fun,” Ziz said, smiling. “I wonder if there’s a Drogramathize.”

“Somehow I doubt it,” Theo said. “I have a feeling these only fall into the Prime Pantheon.”

“Whatever that is,” Ziz said. “Hey, I have some money for you.”

Theo waved him away. “I’ll take some of these gems instead.”

“Oh, that works,” Ziz said.

“And we’ll draw up an official contract,” Theo said.

The alchemist made something quick and dirty, promising to only take 10 percent of their earnings. As he thought back on the deal he made with Ziz originally, he was happy with it. The original plan was to take most of the stone and use it to make roads, but that wasn’t necessary. The town’s seed core provided those. Now, with the stoneworker’s agreement, it provided them with the materials they needed to repair the town. That reminded him of his agreement with Sledge. She hadn’t approached him about their deal to work the forest and collect lumber.

“That works,” Ziz said, accepting the deal. “Take as many gems as you want, Theo.”

“I’ll take one of each, for now,” Theo said, finding a section of the workshop that wasn’t covered in chipped stone and sat down on the ground. “I want to export lumber, but I have a feeling Sledge is dragging her feet.”

“I saw her plying her new trade,” Ziz said, flashing a smile. “You might have distracted her too much.”

“Indeed,” Theo said. That was the impression he got from her, but he could blame her. The [Fabricator] class seemed fun. He imagined her running around, changing people’s houses to suit their needs. “So, I need lumberjacks.”

“What’s a lumberjack,” Ziz asked.

“Foresters,” Theo said with a shrug. Sometimes his thoughts didn’t translate as well as he’d like. The system could only do so much.

“Well, if you want someone chopping trees full time, you need specialists,” Ziz said.

“Then it’s too much right now,” Theo said. “I’ll be happy with what Sledge gets me.”

“Spreading yourself too thin?” Ziz asked, coming to sit by the alchemist.

“Far too thin,” Theo said. “Well, I’m working on that. I’m trying to focus on only a few projects at once.”

“Only a few,” Ziz said, barking a laugh. “That sounds like you. A ranch, a mine, an entire town, and your alchemy business. Just a few.”

Theo smiled, punching the Half-Ogre playfully in the arm. They shared a laugh, only continuing the conversation when it died down.

“The plan is to set these things up, and let them run themselves,” Theo said. “Dead Dog Mine is my newest test for that idea.”

“What a name for a mine,” Ziz said, stretching. “I get you, though. It’s working well for this place.”

“Well, I suppose you were my first experiment for that,” Theo said, clapping his hand over the man’s shoulder. “And look how you’re doing. Making decisions on your own. Advancing this place without direction.”

“We’re not children, Theo,” Ziz said. “Put more trust in Broken Tusk and she’ll treat you right.”

Theo let those words linger in his mind for a long time. While he wanted to believe he broke that habit, it was still lingering. He still treated these people like they needed a minder. The mayor didn’t need to be involved in every single thing they did.

“Then, another test,” Theo said, nodding and smiling. “I don’t need metal from the mine. Not yet. The operation can take a long time to get running. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“So, set them off and let them work the mine,” Ziz said. “See what they can do on their own. People thrive when you give them the chance. They want to prove you right with the faith you put in them. Or prove you wrong if you’ve doubted them.”

Theo rose from the spot and exited the workshop without another word. From the northern hills, he could see the adventurer’s homes and the farm sprawling to the south. Those specs on the horizon, those little lives going about their day in Broken Tusk shone brighter than the gems in his palm. That was the genuine treasure of this place. He knew that.

“They’ll thrive,” Theo said, pulling Ziz into a sidelong hug. “Even if it's this town against the world, we’ll come out on top.”

Ziz answered with a warm smile, simply standing there with his friend. Despite the alchemist’s intent to manage his time well that day, he spent most of it in the northern hills, among the workers of the quarry. Their tools rung out, echoing through the vast expanse, singing a chorus of labor and industry. By the time he left, the sun hung low in the sky. No rain fell over Broken Tusk that day, and Theo took it easy. Sausages and onions seemed like a strange meal to have for dinner, but it didn’t matter. The 36th day of the Season of Blooms fell into twilight over the town.

Tresk’s snores quickly filled the room after they retired for the night. The early warning crystal, shining from underneath Theo’s bedsheets, stayed that faint orange color.