The Newt and Demon

Walking the streets of Broken Tusk was less taxing than crafting, even with the [Refreshing Ring]. Theo walked through the streets, poking his head in on the activities of his citizens and smiling to himself. The new settlers were adjusting to their new homes, but Gridgen Dev was already scouting out the southern hills for ore. The alchemist didn’t know how the man intended to find the ore, and he didn’t care. It was the level of determination his town needed more than ever.

Theo invited every new citizen into his lab for dinner, although space was tight. He’d need to upgrade the building if he wanted to host dinner parties. The three human brothers ate like adventurers did, barely using utensils to slurp up a massive pot of wolf meat stew. Gridgen, Sarna, and Gasem all ate politely, the young boy happily with the lizard-person Ger’s child. The alchemist still had learned little about the man’s people, and he seemed reluctant to talk about it.

Introducing new citizens to Broken Tusk this way seemed like a splendid idea. They got to see what the town was made of outside of the lab, but they needed to see true southlands hospitality. This wasn’t a completely selfless act by Theo, though. He certainly cared about the wellbeing of his citizens, but he needed them to have a good impression of the town. Most people were just hungry for a new start, or just plain hungry. They needed a place to call their own, where their actions mattered.

Theo ruminated on that for most of the night, even after the guests left. His actions mattered in Broke Tusk, even more than back on Earth, but he wasn’t certain they were his own. A hand laid over his with every action, steering him to the right answer. He accepted the unseen will of Drogramath combined with his high [Wisdom] as a positive thing, embracing them both. He was certain his [Tara’hek Core] would balance them out.

The alchemist rose the next morning with a mind for automation. He didn’t want to give up his duties as mayor, but he favored putting most of his time into alchemy. This left him with a single, logical option. He would automate the last piece of his process that could be automated, the collection of essence after a run.

Theo had breakfast with Tresk, slowly sipping his moss tea as he ran the items of the day through his mind. The weekly tax collection came up soon, but he wasn’t interested in collecting taxes every week. He’d flag everyone as completed and collect it at the end of the month, which seemed more efficient until he got his [Governance Core]. On that front, he’d heard nothing from Fenian. The Elf trader should have already reported back to him, but then again, the man was eccentric at the best of times.

“What are our goals?” Tresk asked in a rare moment of foresight. Normally, the woman was all over the place, or focusing on only doing dungeons.

Theo shrugged. “Increase potion production, for one. We also need to increase the population of the town.”

“Good idea,” Tresk nodded. “How about Qavell?”

“Well, we gotta be ready,” Tresk said. “How much are we getting in subsidies?”

Theo opened his mayor screen, not willing to question Tresk further. She had a good intuition for native concerns, something he was still catching up on. There was a standing bounty on every wolf’s head, but it was a pittance. 2 copper per head, paid through their adventurer society. There was also an adventurer relocation bonus, which provided a similar amount of money. Something like a living wage in the town, which struck him as odd. He explained the amount of money they were getting, or rather the amount the adventurers were getting.

“So, we’re not getting anything,” Tresk said.

“Not to mention it's a drop in the bucket,” Theo said, reclining in his chair. “I could have paid for every monster’s head during the siege with little effort. Even if 1,000 monsters assaulted the gates, I could pay.”

“Kinda seems like they’re stringing you along for something,” Tresk said.

Theo waved her off. That seemed to reach too far, considering the dynamic between Broken Tusk and Qavell. The alchemist saw his town as an outpost, or a colony. That’s how the capital treated them, anyway.

“Someone is stringing me along, but I don’t know if it's Qavell,” Theo said. “It won’t matter once I have my trade routes established. What are the chances they think we’ll trade with the east?”

“They might have thought of it,” Tresk said. “Hard to say what anyone in that city is thinking, though.”

“Well, to answer your question. We build power as quickly as we can,” Theo said. “Power for us is not money. It’s defense and production.”

Tresk nodded excitedly. “Agreed! Well, you need to tax the adventurers.”

Theo leveled his gaze at the Marshling. “What?”

“Yeah. Everyone uses the dungeon for free, but you own it. Well, Broken Tusk owns it.”

Theo let out a heavy sigh. He considered his current streams of revenue for a moment before responding. The monster waves were worth an absurd amount of money—they hadn’t even finished counting their coin from the last wave and another was fast approaching. Alchemy was second, strictly in the sense that Fenian’s requests often brought in tens of gold at once. Next was his investments, namely Perg’s tannery and Ziz’s quarry. Each of them brought in a trickle of silver, but it was far more than he made in taxes. Taxes owed to the town slipped through his fingers, directly to Qavell. It might be nice to have another stream of revenue for the town.

“How would the adventurers take that?” Theo asked.

“Talk to Aarok about it,” Tresk said. “Figure something out with him. I think the adventurers would love it—most of them are rich beyond their wildest dreams already.”

Theo nodded, and they fell back into the relative silence of their meal. When they finished, Tresk scampered off to do whatever it was she did all day. The alchemist met with Azrug downstairs to straighten out some plans regarding the piles of loot he bought. The shopkeeper claimed to have made his investment back on every item he had, which seemed doubtful.

“The wider I go with my items, the more the adventurers buy,” Azrug said, rubbing his hands together. “Especially since you’re letting me play with all this money. This wouldn’t be possible without that, Theo.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job,” Theo said sheepishly.

Theo left before the boy could tell him more about his scheme, preferring to get his order in at Throk’s and discuss a tax on the adventurers with Aarok. The alchemist would have preferred to create the new system of taxation after he got his new core to create a binding agreement, but verbally accepting the concept would be enough for now. As he moved up the road to the square, he saw that the adventurer’s guild was finally done growing. It was a massive, 2 story building made of wooden slats. The sloped roof was made of individual shingles painted blue. He bypassed the imposing guild for now, finding his way to the blacksmith.

“My best customer,” Throk said, looking up from a mechanism. “What can I do for you today?”

Theo explained an idea he’d been sitting on for a few days. He wanted a series of tubes that could collect and sort his essences into large vats, removing his need to sit and watch the stills. He also requested a [Flame Artifice] that shut itself off after a set time.

“Automatically sorting? I can’t do that,” Throk said, shaking his head. “I can do the [Flame Artifice] easily and give you something with a valve to switch between collection tanks. How many tanks and what capacity?”

The exchanges between Theo and Throk had become smooth recently. Once the blacksmith had done enough of the alchemist’s orders, he learned what he wanted.

“Up to 10 1,000 capacity tanks,” Theo said, smiling.

Throk gawked for a moment, shaking his head. “How many input ports? 3? You have 3 stills right now, right?”

“3 is fine,” Theo said.

“Alright. Pipes are easy—I can do pipes without my [Artificer’s Core], but the splitter and valves need to be magic. I’d want to have the extraction ports magic, too,” Throk said, thinking for a long moment. He pressed his finger into his chin and hummed. “Well, I keep enough copper in my inventory for an army, thanks to you, so I can do 3 or 4 tanks. It’ll take a day. I assume you want this to be a rush order.”

“Always,” Theo said, smiling.

“Blah, blah. I won’t bore you with the cost,” Throk said. “A few gold, no doubt. I know you’re good for it, now get out of my shop. I might need to get Sledge in on this job. To run the pipes through your walls.”

“Thanks,” Theo said, waving and departing immediately.

With his day so busy, he didn’t want to inquire about Sledge. He also didn’t want to check on her. The independent streak that ran through everyone in Broken Tusk was especially clear on her. It was more than just the regular rebuking of authority. She sat on the edge of anarchy with her attitude.

Theo arrived at the new adventurer’s guild hall, passing by a group of adventurers on his way in. Directly inside was a massive foyer, mostly devoid of furniture. The interior was done in a tasteful wood-paneled wall with wooden slat floors. A small rug sat at the entrance and a fire burned on the far side of the room, nestled between two swooping staircases that led to the balcony above. Aarok was standing in front of the fireplace, casting Theo a devious grin as he entered.

“Too hot for a fire, yeah?” Theo asked, laughing.

“It is for ambiance,” Aarok said.

“Is there some place we can discuss things privately?” Theo asked.

Aarok nodded, gesturing to the staircase on the left. They ascended, pushing through a heavy wooden door and into a place that must have been the man’s office. It was sparsely decorated, weapons hanging from racks on the wall while a wide window gave an excellent view of the square outside.

“I’m here to float an idea. Testing the waters, nothing more,” Theo said, sitting down in a hard wooden chair. It was quite uncomfortable.

“Oh, great,” Aarok said, laughing as he sat down behind his desk. “Talks like these always end well.”

Theo smiled, casting his eyes out the window with a longing expression. He’d rather be working his stills, but things like these needed to be done. Planning for the future was more important.

“I want to tax the adventurers,” Theo said.

“Ah, that’s a popular opinion,” Aarok said, his face brightening. “They’ve been talking about that for a while.”

“Really? Well, that’s what Tresk said, but I didn’t believe it,” Theo said. “I’m not interested in robbing them, just taking some of the wealth of the dungeon back for Broken Tusk.”

“No one would object,” Aarok said. “Perhaps when we first established the guild, they would have. But now, after the attack, they’ll throw their coin at you.”

“What’s the best play?” Theo asked.

The alchemist had a basic understanding of how the guild worked. Anyone could post a contract with Aarok and offer a reward. He’d done it several times in the past to collect more of his reagents. An amount of that reward went to the guild and the rest was paid out to the adventurer who completed the contract.

“Membership fee, dungeon access fee, or straight off the top,” Aarok said.

A dungeon access fee fell under the umbrella of a membership fee, so that was out of the question. Theo didn’t like the idea of taking from the contracts themselves, either. That money should go to the guild or the adventurers, not the town. The only option that made sense to him was a membership fee, but he had a few changes in mind.

“Membership fee,” Theo said. “Everyone can sign up for free, but we charge dues. Perhaps we should create a ranking system and levy the fee based on that.”

“We already have a ranking system,” Aarok said, gesturing to the only piece of furniture in the room that wasn’t either a weapon rank, chair, or desk. A large scroll had been nailed directly into the wall, containing a list of names. Tresk’s was on top.

Theo knit his brow. “Why didn’t Tresk tell me she was the best adventurer in Broken Tusk?”

“She doesn’t like for you to worry,” Aarok said.

Theo nodded. He didn’t want to think about that one too much.

“Can you run the numbers? Come up with something sensible to charge them based on their rank?” Theo asked. “Every single coin will go to the town, not my personal use.”

“I assumed as much. I can run the numbers, don’t worry. The adventurers clear an absurd number of contracts, so I expect the town will see a few gold a week,” Aarok said.

Theo stood up and reached a hand out for the guildmaster to shake. “This is a boon.”

Aarok shook his hand. “More than you know. Since we’re independent, the town gets the money. If we belonged to the United Adventuring Guilds, we would owe them a large percentage of our extra money.”

Theo engaged in as little small talk as was socially acceptable. It was easy with Aarok, though. The man had few words to say that weren’t about business, giving the alchemist a chance to get out of there and back to his lab. Once there, he organized his stills for a few simple runs, keeping another idea in the back of his mind. For now, he was satisfied running his 3 stills with the 3 basic reagents for restoration potions. He used his [Alchemical Grinder] to make a mash of [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root], [Manashrooms], and [Thistle Moss] before kicking each into action.

With a vial of [Alchemic Soil Enhancer] in his inventory, he left the lab for the area behind the building. With the pressure vessel sorted with another run of refined essence, he went searching for swamp thistle. Digging them up to the root was easy with his gloves, allowing him to grasp the plant at the base without worrying about the spines. Theo arrived back at his building with 10 full plants in his inventory, and got to work doing something he’d thought of since he first arrived.

Unlike the Banu and his farmers, Theo had no experience in farming. He dug into the ground with his bare hands, cursing under his breath as he hit more rocks and roots than soil. It took a long time to figure out the best place to plant the thistle, finding a section next to the gravel yard that could fit all 10 of his new plants. A rush of excitement filled his body as he dripped the [Alchemic Soil Enhancer] in each hole and on the loose soil. Ribbons of light flowed through the dirt, instantly changing it from useless soil to [Enhanced Arable Soil]. The alchemist then planted each of his thistles, covering them with the new dirt.

Where they had wilted slightly from being uprooted, the plants perked up immediately. If Theo sat there for longer, he could even see them growing slightly. The leaves waggled in the air, turning to search the sunlight as he watched. But the simple experiment wasn’t enough, he wanted to see the full power of his alchemy and he retreated to the lab.

Using his existing [Growth Essence], at excellent quality, he performed a simple reaction. 1 unit of [Purified Water], 1 unit of [Growth Essence], and a single [Copper Shaving] saw an immediate reaction. It put off a smell like an oncoming storm, filling the air with a green smoke that felt like inhaling a rain cloud. He inspected the result.

[Lesser Potion of Growth]

[Potion]

Uncommon

Created by: Belgar

Grade: Excellent Quality

Drink to grow 1.25 your current size. May age the imbiber of the potion by an unknown quantity of time.

Effect:

Affect the [Growth] property on any living thing.

That wasn’t a good thing. The potion claimed that anyone drinking it would age an unknown amount of time. It didn’t seem worth it to take a few years off his life to grow to such a small amount. It also didn’t detail how long he would be larger, or if it would fade. The good part about the potion was the effect description. It would work on any living thing. He presumed this meant it would also work on plants, not just people.

Theo bolted back out into the yard, potion in hand and excitement in his eyes. He selected the plant furthest to the right before dripping the smallest amount onto the soil. Nothing happened, and he stood there, watching as the leaves sought the sun. He shrugged, dumping the entire potion on the plant and waiting. Faint light shone from under the dirt and the plant wiggled. The plant suddenly grew larger, increasing its size by a quarter before flailing its leafy limbs. The alchemist stumbled back as the thing continued to flail, letting out a horrible shrieking noise.

Theo stammered, withdrawing his alchemy knife from his inventory and holding it in front of him. A crude bulb-shaped face formed at the top of the plant, complete with gnashing teeth. It flailed its limbs more, slapping at the ground and growling at the alchemist.

Tresk! Help! I created a monster! Theo shouted into Tresk’s mind.

You WHAT?

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