The Newt and Demon

Something Theo had learned about other people in his new world was that they didn’t know what they were talking about most of the time. Balkor’s suggestion for him to gain levels to meet that required by this novel potion was useless. Theo was half-way through the night, grinding away random potions for some experience. Thanks to his Shadow Core, he could juice up any random potion to make it more powerful based on his willpower. He was certain that was enough for him to overcome whatever difference in level between the potion he produced and the level required to destroy the pieces of the ascendant.

Tresk practiced her aggressive stealth-based combat style in preparation for the games. Theo wasn’t sure how well she would do as a judge, but he knew she would go far in the combat portion. If they didn’t limit her ability to draw on the alchemist’s power, she would dominate everything. Otherwise, there were people like Fenian who would give her trouble.

“I’m not so sure about me participating,” Theo said, watching as Tresk fought between three smaller dragons. “Wouldn’t that look bad if I won?”

“How about an exhibition match, instead?” Tresk asked. “Don’t give anyone prizes, just hold some fights for the entertainment of the masses.”

“Not a bad idea,” Theo said, watching as Tresk did a pretty cool backflip before stabbing a mini-dragon.

Theo simply watched as his companion trained for the fights. His mind was occupied, as it often was, by the spinning plates he had to keep going. He couldn’t decide if Balkor was a problem or not. While he spoke words of admiration to the dronon about what he had done for the world, he wasn’t so sure anyone could be that selfless. It might’ve all been an act, but the alchemist couldn’t be sure. For now, he was locked down on Tero’gal, which would limit the harm he could inflict.

At least the middle realms were segmented, if only thanks to the bridge. If Uz’Xulven kept her word, there wouldn’t be a single problem. But if she let someone slip through, Theo could see problems cropping up in the future. All he could do to keep the realms in order was to keep an eye on everyone, ensuring nothing got out of hand. Then again, Tero’gal itself was a balancing force, and likely wouldn’t let Balkor get away with anything while on the world.

Of the Middle Realms, Khahak was the most developed. But that world also provided less autonomy than Tero’gal. On Khahar’s world, everything seemed about order. Theo didn’t remember Yuri as a guy obsessed with the rules. The opposite was boundaries until they no longer existed. But now he followed everything to the letter. If someone like Balkor could flee to Fenian’s world, there might be some troublemakers on Tresk’s moon.

When dawn finally came in the real world, Theo was all too eager to get back to it. But of course, Sarisa and Rowan threw a curveball. Theo, Tresk, Sarisa, Rowan, and Fenian’s gang had dinner at the Marsh Wolf tavern rather than making food at the manor. Xam’s food was amazing as always, but that left them free to focus on some breakfast foods for once. Along with their regular moss tea, an impressive spread had been placed out on the table.

As was tradition, Tresk got her own plate piled with everything Sarisa and Rowan knew she would eat. That’s when she tipped the plate back and ate as much as she could. Only this time, she couldn’t fit it all in her mouth at once, causing the frustrated marshling to make several attempts at the effort. When she finally got it all down, her belly was bulging out from under her armor. Only undoing her belt helped.

“I hope you’re not planning to do anything today,” Theo said, slapping her belly.

“Ugh! Don’t do that. I’m gonna puke.”

“How can something so small and filled with so much hate have any room for food?” Sarisa asked.

“She has a second stomach dedicated to hate,” Rowan said.

“Laugh it up. You guys overfilled my plate on purpose,” Tresk said, her eyes rolling back. “I’m coming, Marshy. Save a seat in your hallowed realm for me.”

“Funny, there’s a small part of her that realizes it's her fault,” Theo said, patting Tresk on the shoulder. “And she’s going to be better in the future.”

“A very small part,” Tresk objected. “I can’t help it when the food is so good.”

While Tresk’s skin was normally a pale pink color, it had now taken on a faintly green hue. She shambled from the dinner table, heading out to walk off her meal before starting the day. Theo hadn’t put much thought into what he’d do today. Aside from checking on the pieces of Balkor, he had to brew a few potions from the new reagents he had collected. A quick check on those chunks of ascendant revealed everything was going as well as it could. Nothing strange had happened, anyway.

Theo’s next stop was the lab, where he found Salire working hard. As always, the half-ogre woman took her job seriously. But as the alchemist stepped into his own lab, he paused. Something was amiss. There was another person within the lab. A shy-looking woman with raven-black hair cut short stood near his apprentice, looking over her shoulder as she brewed some potions. When the woman turned to see who had entered the lab, red flushed over her mousy features.

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“Theo!” Salire shouted, turning and bouncing with excitement. “Look what I found!”

“A half-elven woman?” Theo asked, raising a single brow. “I’m not here to judge the company you keep.”

“No, this is my new apprentice, Eleanor,” Salire said, placing her hands on the woman’s shoulders and shoving her forward. “She’s a genius-level alchemist. Well, she will be.”

“Hi… uh… Archduke Theo,” the woman said.

Theo wasn’t sure if the woman’s features could take on a darker shade of red, but it appeared she was doing her best to achieve the goal. When the alchemist shared a look with Salire, she gave an encouraging nod. “Nice to meet you,” Theo said, holding a hand out for Eleanor to shake. She took it reluctantly and averted her gaze to the ground.

“Thanks,” she managed.

“Yeah, she’s a bit shy. She barely made it here from Veosta and had been hiding out in Rivers for a while. One chance encounter later and bam! Now she works here,” Salire said.

“If Salire says you’re good with potions, you’re good with potions,” Theo said. “You’re running her through all the safety stuff, right?”

“Don’t get all mother hen on me now, Theo,” Salire warned. “I’m making sure she’s going through all the proper stuff. She’s only shadowing me for now. Also you need to align her cores.”

“Alchemy and Herbalist?” Theo asked.

“And Loremaster, but that’s unrelated. Still, she wants to get them all aligned with Tero’gal.”

Theo turned, watching as the mousy girl kept her gaze to the ground. Someone could be unconfident socially while still being confident with their alchemy. He just hoped this wasn’t a reflection of her performance in the lab. He passed his senses over her, getting the impression she wasn’t that high. Perhaps as low as Level 20 with her personal level, and lower than 10 in the relevant cores. Before she spent too much more time in the lab, he needed to make sure her cores were aligned so she wouldn’t blow anything up.

“Shouldn’t take long,” Theo said, holding his hand out and focusing. His aura spread out over the room, filling it with both the energy of Tero’gal and the shadowy mix provided by Shadow. He focused on infusing her cores with that familiar energy, then watched as they blossomed. It was a process he had performed many times before, leaving him feeling confident in his ability to get it done fast. Ten minutes later, and she had all her cores aligned with Tero’gal. “There ya go.”

“Thank you,” Eleanor said, bowing her head.

“This place really is getting cramped, isn’t it?” Theo asked, looking around with a frown. “I’m just going to sit in this corner and observe, if you don’t mind.”

Theo had a few reagents he wanted to test, but this was important. Salire thought Eleanor was a good fit, and he wouldn’t doubt her say on the matter, but he wanted to see for himself. He had already observed her hands, and determined they were steady enough to brew potions. Back on Earth, he always had shaky hands and would’ve been horrible at this job. But Eleanor was pretty good. The next thing he checked was the look in her eyes. When the social anxiety faded away, she had that peerless look he wanted to see in prospective alchemists. Like she listened to what he said, but had thoughts of her own.

No one should attempt alchemy without a mind to question.

Fortunately, Salire was working on a few very simple potions today. Theo figured out she had designed the day around teaching a new student. She had a bunch of notes for the poor woman to go over and a list of rules. The tier 1 potions wouldn’t be a challenge for anyone with a Tero’gal Alchemy Core, so he didn’t foresee any problems. If only he had his future sight…

Salire had Eleanor perform some simple brewing tasks. Theo expected her to screw those up. Measuring exact quantities of an essence was hard without the right ability, and he was pretty sure she didn’t have it. But when adding a Lesser Healing Essence to a vial and mixing it with some Enchanted Water, she did so without adding too much of either thing. There was a margin of error she stuck to, resulting in a potion with a 70% purity.

“That was your first attempt?” Theo asked, butting in like some old master. He had to draw on some pride sometimes, after all. “Seventy percent…”

“Is that bad?” Eleanor asked.

“If it was bad, the potion would have exploded,” Theo said, swirling the contents and giving it a sniff. “How did you measure it by eye?”

“I worked for an alchemist back home,” Eleanor said, brimming with confidence out of nowhere. Theo was almost taken aback by the shift in her personality. “He specialized in transmutation, which meant I had to measure a lot of things. I just got used to eyeballing the liquid ingredients by the unit… uh… sir.”

“Just call me Theo. That’s a valuable skill to have,” Theo said. “But there’s a lot more to alchemy than just measuring things.”

“Get your own apprentice!” Salire said, hip-checking Theo and sending him stumbling across the room. Somehow, he didn’t spill the potion.

Eleanor flinched out of the way, finding a safe place behind a table. Theo often forgot how big he was. Since dronon and half-ogre were about seven-feet-tall, compared to the five-foot-something of humans and elves, both he and Salire towered over the poor girl.

“Try not to scare your apprentice off before her first full day is done,” Theo warned, straightening his coat. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some potions to brew on the second floor. Even though this is my lab, and I should get the third floor.”

“Dream on, Theo. Our unspoken agreement is that I do all the dirty work, so I get the better lab,” Salire said, striking a powerful pose.

Theo sighed dramatically, but stopped himself from joking around. He didn’t want to scare Eleanor off, even if she had to get used to half-ogre banter if she wanted to work here. “Listen to Salire,” he said, nodding to his own apprentice. “No one on the planet understands the fine details of Tero’gal’s alchemy quite like her. And I know she’ll be a wonderful teacher if she puts her mind to it.”

It was Salire’s turn to flush. She turned away. “Thanks. Now get outta here,” she muttered.