NOVPUB
7.68 - Deep Slug
Although the Dreamwalk was working with Theo a lot more than it had been in recent memory, it still wouldn’t allow him to test new reagents. He had a bunch of weird stuff he found at the bottom of the sea he wanted to test. That wasn’t even to mention the stuff he had to take from the ogre island nation of Slagrot. The alchemist stood on the slopes of an imagined volcano, glaring down at his companion.
“You sure this is Slagrot?” he asked.
“Of course it is,” Tresk said, folding her arms.
Theo looked down at the scene before him. Tresk had put very little effort into her lie this time. It was a landscape that appeared to have been drawn by a child. Almost none of the features made sense, and it took the alchemist a while to realize what was going on. She was generating the scene based on second-hand information, maps, and drawings she had seen earlier in her life.
He then realized the representation was topographically accurate… Mostly. The details were all wrong, but he didn’t need details. He needed to know the best way to sneak to the top of the volcano.
“I see what you did,” Theo said, smoothing his hair. “We might need some heat-resistance potions.”
“Just make a spell,” Tresk said, waving the thought away as though it was obvious. “Ya got the parts to make it. Field of No Fire or something.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound fun,” Theo said. “I don’t think the heat from the volcano is even the problem. The ogres are going to be a much harder thing to deal with.”
“Yeah, like this,” Tresk said. She reimagined the landscape, creating a roving fortress below them. Ogres poured from the fort, rushing up the side of the volcano like a tide. “So we’ll need to find that stuff we need while under attack.”
“Well, how do you know they’ll attack on sight?”
“You’ve met some ogres,” Tresk said, shaking her head. “They’re gonna attack us right away and you know it. Doesn’t matter if we come in the front or the back, they’re gonna try to bash our heads in. And that’s how they say ‘hello’!”
Theo clicked his tongue, freezing the army below. “Just realized I got conned into helping Fenian. I didn’t even try to refuse.”
“Cause you’re a pushover,” Tresk said.
“I didn’t hear you complain, and we basically share a brain.”
“Cause I’m a pushover too,” Tresk said with a shrug. “Fenian’s little quest sounded cool. We get to see a foreign place… Hey, so why don’t we just go wherever we want whenever we want?”
Theo shrugged. “I like the Southlands. Using the void to travel seems like an abuse of power, anyway.”
“Why? We all have a job to do as holders of thrones, so we need to use the powers we’ve been given to get it done. Removing Balkor’s energy is part of my job, so you can use your teleporty powers to help.”
“Except you can just steal my powers.”
“Come on. Let’s go somewhere,” Tresk said.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. We’ll teleport all over the damn planet. Why not?”
Theo wasn’t sure where he would visit first, but there were some historical sites he was interested in. Both Bantein and Partopour were of interest to him, since he knew little about both places. Tarantham was big on his list, but that might be complicated thanks to the secluded nature of the elves. He couldn’t forget about the Khahari Desert. It was unlikely the khahari would give him trouble, and perhaps he could get a few answers about the vanished dragon.
Because come on. If the dragon went anywhere, it was the Khahari Desert.
“Sounds like an awesome plan,” Tresk said, giving the thumbs-up. “While we’re abroad, we should steal a bunch of stuff.”
“Remember what happened the last time you robbed someone? I’m still waiting for the lizardfolk to respond appropriately.”
“Nah, they know I’m kin.”
“Yet I feel the ogres won’t be so happy.”
The plan wasn’t exactly good, but Theo couldn’t think of any other way to go about this. All he could do was ensure Fenian didn’t go off the rails this time. The way he handled Qavell wasn’t ideal, especially with the end of the world coming. It wasn’t just that the alchemist didn’t like the loss of life. It was that there was no loss of life. The people who had been wronged by the elf would have a chance at revenge on the other side, meaning Fenian had to look over his shoulder even after the change. ＲÅℕꝋ𝐛ƐṠ
While Theo had done what he could to extend offers of friendship, Fenian had set upon a warpath. Perhaps they would get a new Herald before the end of this.
Tresk eventually shifted the scene to something that better suited her. Before long they were standing on an open field, small dragons coming at them from every angle. As always, Theo found a quiet corner among the chaos and worked on creating potions. He had been spending more of his time in the Dreamwalk just hanging out, but the understanding that he needed to make some more powerful potions pushed him to get some decent experience. And the Dreamwalk was the perfect place to do it.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
After Level 30, everything became very slow. Theo could crank out an untold amount of potions, but the experience gain was slow. Gaining fractions of a percentage point per potion was now the norm, meaning it would take several thousand just to get a single level. Even if the lab was geared toward quantity, he didn’t really have the time.
Since Salire and Eleanor were likely going to take the top floor of the lab tomorrow, Theo picked only two reagents to test on the second floor. The stills there were fine, but he didn’t want to work with new materials in the cramped space. He imagined two items, watching as they fell onto the table before him. The Dreamwalk might have been resistant to new experimentation, but it relented and allowed him the first three properties of each. The first item was a gray sea slug looking thing that oozed a viscous black liquid from both ends.
Theo winced as the slug went up in black smoke. It filled the air with the smell of the sea with a hint of asphalt. After imagining another, he inspected the system message that appeared.
[Deep Slug]
[Alchemy Ingredient]
Epic
A slug found in the deep place of the world.
Properties:
[Pitch] [Mana Poison] [Undulate]
There were a few weird things about the reagent. It didn’t mention the slug’s habitate being the deep sea, instead claiming it was just from deep places. That was fine, but the properties were too strange. Pitch was a property he had seen before, and it was moderately useful for constricting potions. Mana Poison was one he had never seen before, and would likely make an interesting poison-style potion. But Undulate? Theo didn’t even want to consider what that one might do.
Instead, the alchemist moved on to the other reagent for now. This one was a long shell with a pearlescent sheen. When the light caught on the surface, the color seemed to shift. Theo had harvested this reagent among large clusters that lived near rocks. The shell would open up on either side, revealing the meaty body of the creature within. He had sensed no reactive properties of the meat, but the shell would be useful.
Once again, the Dreamwalk was happy to allow the act of dissolving the shell. It revealed only three properties once again, drawing a question Theo didn’t care to answer for now. Instead, he leaned close to inspect the reagent. For things that only appeared on the bottom of the ocean floor, he was surprised that some loremaster had already given it a name.
[The Most Delicious Clam Ever]
[Alchemy Ingredient]
Rare
You will never find a more delicious clam. If you’re holding the shell of this succulent clam, consider yourself lucky. Your skin graces greatness.
Properties:
[Propulsion] [Cloister] [Energy Shimmer]
Theo snorted a laugh. Whichever loremaster had discovered this clam didn’t take themselves seriously. The alchemist wasn’t certain it was technically a clam, but he doubted the person who found it had cared. Instead, they sought to share the information of how yummy the clam was to the world. Theo had given the meat to Tresk, who had no opinions of the flavor. Perhaps that was because she didn’t taste her food when she shoved it down her gob.
“Pretty interesting stuff to experiment with,” Theo said, waving the clam shell through the air as he approached Tresk. She was in the middle of fighting off about twenty dragons the size of Earth chickens. “I’ve got some fun properties to play with.”
Tresk grunted, dodging to the side as a dragon tried to bite her tail. She followed up with a few poisoned slashes that made the imagined monsters think twice. The marshling then turned, giving him the thumbs-up. Then she was eaten by all the dragons in a comical display. Yet she didn’t blame Theo, instead getting back into once respawning herself. For this exercise, Alex mostly stayed out of it. She sat on the sidelines, watching as the marshling was torn to bits time after time. Perhaps she would get the hang of it one day, but today’s mock battle didn’t play out in her favor.
“What the heck does Undulate do?” Tresk asked.
Theo didn’t have a sense for what the property would do. Sometimes the properties would speak to him, but this one felt like a complete blank. He shrugged. “Maybe it makes you wiggle around,” Theo said, wiggling.
“Ew. Stop wiggling.”
“I’m not wiggling,” Theo said. “I’m undulating.”
“Well stop doing whatever you’re doing, you’re grossing me out.”
“Hey, what about Propulsion?” Theo asked. “Some sea animals use water to propell themselves, maybe that’s what it means.”
“You think so?” Tresk asked. “Energy Shimmer sounds cool. As does Mana Poison. Bet that’s a poison that poisons a person’s mana.”
“Which means it's either a better or worse version of the Anti-Mage property,” Theo said. “Guess it doesn’t really matter. I’m going to find out tomorrow.”
“More potions is better,” Tresk said.
Theo snapped his fingers. Something had almost slipped his mind. “We need to find prizes for the tournament. Different brackets and all that, so I want to have some special prizes ready. Even if Alise has some already planned, I want to add to the pot of things.”
“Money is too easy,” Tresk said. “We need cool prizes. Rare prizes.”
“We could do potions, of course. If Elrin agrees to take us into some underground dungeons, we can gather some powerful items.”
“Oh, what about Soul potions?” Tresk asked. “Those would be crazy valuable.”
“I’ll add that to my list,” Theo said with a nod. “Anything else aside from money?”
“Potions or items is all I got,” Tresk said. “Well, we have a bunch of boats in the harbor. Too many boats. Maybe you could give them a boat.”
Theo mimed writing the item down onto a list. “Boat… check. Items, money, potions, boats. I think that’s a decent starting place.”
“Right. And once we see the full list of events, we can make a better decision.”
Theo hadn’t been eager before to either make a list of items to get out to actually get them, but he was starting to get into the spirit. It had been difficult to get started on the project, but like all the other locals he was finally feeling it. When it was time for the Dreamwalk to end, Theo took his time going down the stairs, taking a seat at the large dining table. Rowan served them this morning, bringing plates of the karatan steak they had for dinner last night.
“Where do you even find cattle nowadays?” Theo asked.
“Miana’s farm,” Rowan said. “I bribed her to give me first dibs. Anyway, eat up!”
Theo looked down at his ill-gotten steak and shrugged.
Food is food.
