The Newt and Demon

7.38 - Level 35

With little ‘official’ business to handle in the meeting of throne-holders and otherwise powerful people, the meeting devolved into idle chit-chat with tea and scones. Theo released a heavy sigh, closing his eyes as he ate another lemon scone. Somehow Benton had increased his skills in baking and tea-making. Fenian had increased his skills in embellishment and story-telling.

“Using her own hair, she strangled him!” Fenian said, finishing a tale Theo was certain he had invented completely.

“A yarn I’m sure you made up entirely,” Elrin said, patting the elf on the shoulder. “Do you remember how your wife used to beat you when you went off like that?”

“I can still hear her screams,” Fenian said, sighing with contentment.

The conversation rolled on for some time, until it became exactly what Theo had hoped for. Elrin had been on the outside of their circle for too long. But this recent shift in his personality had opened something. Now he would enjoy these moments. The moments that represented calm in a chaotic life. The alchemist remembered back to when he had tea with the false gods in his realm. They would all gather on their own. No invite required.

The tea party wound down after a while. When there was no more tea to drink, no more scones to eat, and no more interesting stories to share, the group parted from Khahar’s company. Theo drew them all into his aura and dropped them into the void.

“Khahar is up to something,” Elrin said. “I saw the image of a silver hara’nas when we entered his office.”

“They’re called khahari here,” Fenian corrected.

“The image had a sense of divinity,” Elrin said, ignoring Fenian’s correction.

"It doesn't matter," Elrin said. "Whatever schemes he has will be set aside when everything resets."

The group moved through the void with no issues. They landed exactly where they had left, and, as promised, the dragon had left. However, Alex was still there, waiting for them to return. Although Theo had told them to stand down, the adventurers were still in defensive positions on the wall, prepared to strike out at anything strange.

“Well, that was supremely entertaining,” Theo said, stretching. “Elrin, you're free to hang out in town if you want. It would be nice if you could stick around and help with the dungeons, Fenian.”

"I think I'll do exactly that," Fenian said with a nod. "I've got a few more things to take care of, but I'm always happy to lend a hand to my favorite alchemist."

There was little more to be said. Theo had something of his own to take care of, and with a bit of free time today, he intended to work on it. The group said their farewells, all going their own separate ways. Of course, Fenian and Elrin departed together. The beastmaster was apparently going to help with the dungeons, which would be nice. They had a few more to destroy in the area before Broken Tusk could be safe. The Alchemist made his way to his herbalist's workshop, a place he had neglected in recent memory.

The problem with researching and expanding his knowledge of Reagans was the complexity. It was a supremely confusing world to delve into, even with all the knowledge he had about the art. Theo went around the back of the building to see his experimental plots. There was the deadly flower, still growing. He had left it there with no desire to interact with it. Now, he felt more confident, whether it was the Night’s End flower he would work on, or something else. He intended to put this building to good use.

One aspect of the new form of alchemy was the necessity for purity. His Tero’gal Greenhouses could do a lot to force a reagent to work with him. For now, he cleared away the deadly flower, taking it to his inventory and intending not to bring it out for quite some time, and went to retrieve a Spiny Swamp Thistle from his greenhouse. He brought it back to the workshop and placed it on the table, invoking the research feature of the building.

If Theo were to compare the rue that had been growing in his greenhouse to those in the wild, there was an interesting contrast. The thistle that grew around the town was impure to a degree that was difficult to imagine. It was like taking a bottle of wine and dumping it into the ocean. How much wine was left when compared to the expansive sea? So, the cultivated root was impossibly pure. But the new form of alchemy didn't seem to suffer from this problem with monster-born reagents. Those were just about as pure as they could be. But then again, the types of reagent he was working with lately were from high-level or otherwise rare monsters.

Then there were the methods you needed to take into consideration. They had started with Taro’gal's alchemy at a point where they knew nothing about it, but through rigorous experimentation, they had turned it into a refined process. Much of their recent success was owed to this.

Theo messed around in the workshop for a bit, and then he darted between it and the lab, helping Salire with whatever it was she was working on, as always. She was the workhorse of the lab, producing much of the potions consumed by the town. At first, he didn't understand his manic back-and-forth dash until he remembered one of his recent goals. Until the system message appeared, it had sort of slipped his mind.

[Tero’gal Alchemy Core] receivedexperience (0.001%).

[Tero’gal Alchemy Core] leveled up! Level 35.

[Tero’gal Herbalist Core] receivedexperience (0.002%).

[Tero’gal Herbalist Core] leveled up! Level 35.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

[Theo Spencer] receivedexperience (0.1%).

[Theo Spencer] leveled up! Level 35.

[Theo Spencer] received one free point.

"I just leveled up," Theo said, stepping away from the worktable and placing his hands on his hips. "I can't remember the last time I saw that message."

"That's a mid-level, isn't it?" Salire asked. "Nothing as exciting as a multiple of ten."

"No, but I've gotta go through this big list of abilities and find one worth taking."

The mid-level ability options were often fillers compared to the ones that came at multiples of 10. Theo thumbed through the list. For this free ability, he focused on stuff that would help his alchemy and herbalism. Either option would present a boon to his process, and since those cores were his highest it only made sense. First, he whittled down the list to a few options that would make life easier. But of course, one stuck out.

“I have a lot of useful abilities already,” Theo said. “My latest ability is Reagent Splicing, which hasn’t seen much use.”

“Every ability can’t be a winner,” Salire said, tapping her chin. “I always look for abilities that are universal within the class. Know what I mean?”

Theo nodded. “Right. The wider an ability is, the more impact it has on the class core. But ultra-specific abilities can be nice, too. My constructs ability has been amazing. But as I’m looking through these options, I have an observation.”

“Oh, we’re just pontificating today, aren’t we?”

Theo chuckled. This was far more of a nuts-and-bolts conversation than he was prepared to have with Salire today. “Something like that. There’s a skill here for infusion. But we’re already doing infusion. Guess I never thought much about, but all the abilities just make stuff easier. Personal skill can overcome that.”

“I’ve always thought about abilities as shortcuts,” Salire said with a shrug. “So, does that mean you’re going for the infusion ability?”

That was an excellent question, but Theo wasn’t so sure. He could always pick it up at Level 40 if he missed it here. But the other options for him to pick right now weren’t as interesting. The other problem there was that he wasn’t having trouble with infusion right now. It came naturally. He inspected it for now before making a decision, reading the text out for Salire so she could weigh in.

[Tero’gal Alchemical Infusion]

Alchemy Skill

Epic

Allows the user greater success while infusing essences with spell arrays.

Effect:

Increased chance of success while infusing.

Increased purity of resulting potions.

Expanded access to spell arrays while infusing essences.

“I can’t tell if that’s a weak pick or not,” Salire said, tapping her chin. “What are we comparing it to?”

“Dismissing all the options related to my other cores, there are a few skills that increase the purity of stuff I produce… Also one that makes handling deadly plants easier,” Theo said. “I thought about the plants one for a while, but… Seems as though that one is limited.”

Salire engaged in a brief debate about which would be best. It seemed academic after a while, seeing as she was leaning toward Tero’gal Alchemical Infusion. Truth was, Theo had all the skills he needed to make it through the reset. Rather than that, he thought about the future of alchemy and any influence he might have on it.

“If you consider our actions now, they might reflect what alchemy looks like on the other side,” Theo said. “What would you say is the embodiment of Tero’gal’s Alchemy?”

Salire tapped her chin before idly working on some potions. “At first we were all about volume. When Drogramath got the boot, I thought it was about quality. What I’ve learned is that Tero’gal’s alchemy is more about understanding, rather than purity. Once you started working with infusions, I came to that realization.”

“That’s an interesting way to think about it.” Theo considered all the ways Tero’gal’s version of alchemy differed from Drogramath’s version. “That’s a really great way to put it. Tero’gal Alchemy is more about understanding everything about a reagent and an essence.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Salire said, snapping her fingers. “Anyway, I’d go with the infusion skill. That’s the frontier I’m most interested in.”

Theo took her opinion seriously. Not only was she intuitively good at alchemy, she had a practical approach to most things. No more internal debate was required, and he went with the new skill. With it comfortably slotted in his alchemy core, he closed his eyes and took a breath.

The skill might have influenced his mind slightly, but it was hard to tell. “Looks like I need to invest more time into spellcraft,” he said, opening his eyes and shaking his head. “No matter how hard I try, Xol’sa’s vision for me seems to come true.”

“Hah! Can’t get away from the damned space elf, can ya?” Salire asked, patting him on the back. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you study. What level of spellcasting are you at?”

“Zero, I think,” Theo said. “I’ve never really cast a spell. I mean, Tero’gal Magecraft is basically an undeveloped art.”

“So, develop it,” Salire said. “That’s our entire mission now, isn’t it? What kind of spells do you want your class to have?”

That was an excellent question. Theo didn’t see it developing into an offensive thing. It started based on Toru’aun’s Demon Mage class and developed from there. Right now, it was a class based on subtlety and the concept of reaction. If the alchemist could change one thing about it, it would be the way it specialized so deeply into warding magic. Instead, his preference would be enhancement or defensive magic. Things he could cast on someone to enhance their prowess. He knew that steering the core that far away from its roots might be impossible, but that’s what he wanted.

The alchemist thought back to something that happened during monster waves. When Zarali was still a worshiper of Drogramath, she would perform town-wide buffs that really helped during those times. Why couldn’t his form of magic become something like that? Would that conflict too much with the concept of wards? Even so, perhaps there was a compromise…

“Well, now I’m going to study how to shift the course of an entire class core,” Theo said, shaking his head. As absurd as that sounded when he said it aloud, he knew he could do it. They were already doing it with alchemy. “Unfortunately, I think I need to understand more about magic and faith-based casting to do that.”

“That sounds like a daunting task,” Salire said, shaking her head. “Too much for me. No thanks.”

“It really isn’t that hard… I don’t think. The first step would be to change the mode of casting. Have I explained how Toru’aun’s casting works?” Theo asked.

“Yes, you have. But I don’t think changing the mode is what you need. Just change the effect, instead,” Salire countered. “There’s nothing wrong with casting spells by reciting poems. I like poems.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t like dronon poems,” Theo said. “They’re so long-winded… Although, that does give me an idea.”

“Tell me all about it while I work,” Salire said, mixing another potion. “There once was a dronon from Qavell… Who took a fair trip down to hell…”

“I’m unsure how both you and Drogramath don’t understand what a limerick is, but I won’t question it.” Theo withdrew the instructional book he had been gifted by Xol’sa and cracked it open. “Ah, Axpashi. A language I always have, and always will hate.”