The Newt and Demon

5.20 - The Tunnel to Nowhere

The twin mountain ranges of Gronro-Dir stretched in either direction. Theo stood on the imagined walls with Tresk and Alex, gazing off into the distance. The alchemist had even rendered the bubble surrounding the town, protecting it from the lingering corruption. It shimmered in the early morning air, battling against the concept of necromantic power.

Well, it looks a lot better, Tresk said with a nod. Alex honked with agreement. That was a lot of potion, though.

Theo nodded, gazing off into the distance. The area around Gronro-Dir had consumed almost all the [Hallow the Soil] potion he had created. One solution was never the answer. Between my potions, golems, wards, and Sulvan well have a fighting chance.

Yes, Alex said, honking in agreement. But according to history, didnt it take Glantheir himself to purge the continent before?

A small wrinkle, Theo said. If Glantheir approved of Sulvan, then the god has a plan.

Hmmm. God or patron? Tresk asked, laughing.

Glantheir was the first god I met that actually acts like one. I wish he was the one that made me champion.

Tresk and Alex remained silent. They didnt have as strong opinions on the gods as Theo did, and he could feel their minds wrapping around the problem. Things were getting complicated in the heavens and no one knew Fenians true purpose, yet. As one, the Taraheks thoughts centered on the lost elven trader.

Maybe we could look for him, Tresk suggested. You know. Probe the other realms.

Thats the problem. Can your mind reach Balkors realm?

His place is a steel box. No way Im getting my little brain in there.

We cant search every realm. But we can ask around, Alex said.

That was as good a plan as any. The group discussed it further, but didnt draw any conclusions. The Dreamwalk was its own steel box. Only Tresk could send her mind outside of this place, and it wasnt far. She had a limited view of the area around their sleeping bodies, but no more. They couldnt reach out to probe the realms until they were out on the mortal plane. Until then, Theo decided to casually grind experience and relax.

Like Terogal, the Dreamwalk had become a place where he preferred to mentally rest. Despite that desire to relax, the alchemist still gained considerable bursts of experience. During the business of brewing potions with Salire, he had hit Level 26 in alchemy core, herbalist core, and his personal level. Those three things were synced perfectly, and he made the decision to place a point into Intelligence. Thanks to his busy schedule, he hardly noticed getting the levels and was well on his way to Level 27.

There were no new secrets for Theo to discover in the Dreamwalk. He was certain that the key to getting past Level 30 had to do with his distillation methods. Adding alcohol to the mix had been the key for his alchemy core, and he had a feeling that the key to his herbalist core rested with grafting plants. Either that, or something related to cultivation methods. It was always impossible to tell what the system wanted him to do for advancement.

Perhaps that lack of information was something that Fenian and Khahar wanted to fix. While they claimed their goal was to remove the destructive cycles brought by the system, they seemed eager to change other things. And Khahar was eager to make sweeping changes. Theo just hoped he was considering the repercussions.

Dawn came quicker than Theo expected. His eyes snapped open and his fingers instinctively grasped at the air. He had just been holding a vial of essence when Tresk abruptly shut the Dreamwalk off. She was already jumping out of bed to teleport down to breakfast. Both the alchemist and Alex were left there in their respective beds, looking off through the window to greet the rising sun. The alchemist eventually rose, cracking his knuckles and resting there on the bed. He took a moment, considering all the good graces he had been given before starting the day.

Sarisa had cooked breakfast herself. Instead of buying meals from Xam, she had created a spread of Whispers sausages, eggs from Mianas pozwa, and little fried dumplings made from Earth-style wheat. Theo was feeling oddly peckish and sat down to enjoy the meal. He waited for everyone to take a seat, including his two assistants, before digging in. While Sarisa wasnt as good at making moss tea as Xam, it was still great.

Id rather not remember the old days, Theo said, taking a bite of one sausage. The exterior crunched, as Sarisa had over-fried it in the pan. The alchemist loved it.

This is kinda better than Xams cooking, Tresk said, dumping another plateful of sausages and eggs into her mouth.

Sarisa cackled from the far side of the table. Rowan buried his face in his hands.

Shes been leveling a [Cooks Core].

Damn! Tresk shouted. Damn! I should have known it! You sneaky little ogre.

Heh heh heh.

Theo had expected both Sarisa and Rowan to take service cores earlier. As Tresk danced around the table, making up an off-key song about their new cook, he thought about the [Service Competence] upgrade he got for the manor. The upgrade would give all workers in the manor increased experience for servant cores. Whatever their reasons, he was happy if they were happy. And judging by the way Sarisa and Rowan smiled at the marshlings dance, they were happy.

There wasnt much going on inside the administration interface today. Alise had an interesting report on something Ziz was working on, so Theo planned to investigate that. Throk had submitted a report about his floating platform project. It had hit a slight snag, but would move forward soon enough. Duke Grot Stormfist also had a delightful report praising the efforts of Broken Tusk. He swore a thousand generations of loyalty to the alliance and offered to marry off his next child to whomever Theo wished.

Theo made a note in Grots overly excited report regarding the importance of keeping the corruption at bay. He also refused the dukes generous offer of marriage. After eating breakfast, the alchemist made his way over to the lab to store their latest batch of [Hallow the Soil] potions. While he didnt enjoy the burning sensation that filled his eyes when Salire was around, he appreciated the lack of frogs.

That really worked, huh? Theo asked, entering the lab at the same time as his assistant.

It sure does burn the eyes but you cant argue with the results.

Of course, Bilgrob didnt have a clue how long it would take for the frogs to stop chasing after her. Theo just hoped that Sulvan could fill the role of town healer before long. The alchemist pulled his thoughts away from pepper bombing the entire town, focusing on the stills. With each run of a new essence, he and Salire got a little better at managing the process. She couldnt handle some of the unstable materials, but knowing which ones she could touch went a long way to help.

Lets hold this batch back, Theo said, patting the filled barrels. Well leave the three for you to work for and do another run.

It was effective. Right?

Theo explained the problems he faced as they worked. He used the buildings internal storage to dispense infused alcohol into the stills, then drew from his golems stocks to grind and process the reagents. Once the fires were lit, the alchemist turned his attention to his golem network. The farm was back in working order, and the new [Plant Golems] were doing an excellent job at the greenhouses. A thread of will spread through the realms, reaching him with a foggy sense of actions. The golem working in Gronro was wandering the countryside, using his ward to clean it up.

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The bell rang downstairs, and Salire dashed off to greet the customer. She had plans to grind out first tier healing potions for the day, using Theos stock of [Spiny Swamp Thistle Root]. After only a few moments, she came back upstairs with a confused expression. Sulvan said he could have free mana potions.

Yeah, Theo said, turning to check his stills one last time. Hell be healing people, so he gets mana potions for free.

Theo joined Salire downstairs, finding the newly christened Cleric of Glantheir standing there. He wore threadbare robes and a calm expression. Good morning, Theo.

Hows it going?

Im well. Thank you.

And that was that. Sulvan got his mana potions and headed off to heal some people. With no exciting alchemy projects to work on, Theo headed off to the next interesting thing. Ziz had made some progress on the bridge to the lizard-folk. According to the administrative report, it came from a very Earth-like technique. The alchemist stopped and chatted with a few people as he went. They were mostly people visiting from Gronro, showing their appreciation for the purged corruption. They had families and loved ones still in the town, so all efforts to heal the land were appreciated.

Passing through Stabby Grove, and climbing the hill to the Quarry, Theo spotted massive marble pillars laying on their sides. Ziz spotted him approaching from a distance and placed his hands on his hips. He had a big, stupid grin on his face.

Do you like my giant, silly marble pillars? Ziz asked, slapping the side of one.

They were indeed silly. Far too massive to move by any means the town had. The new constructions seemed to be an incredible waste of precious stone. But Theo reserved his judgment. Ziz didnt do things just because he wanted to.

Youll need to explain this to me, Theo said, gesturing at the lone pillar.

Ziz raised a single eyebrow, leaning against the pillar. Watch this.

With a resounding pop, the pillar disappeared. Ziz turned, waving his hands through the air for a moment. The pillar popped back into existence, now resting vertically on the uneven landscape. It began tilting to one side, but came to settle on the gravel below. Theo stared up at the massive pillar for long moments. It was taller than the Newt and Demon was. And far too heavy for anyone in town to have moved.

Thats the reaction I was expecting! Ziz shouted. Complete awe!

How did you do that?

New ability. I can stuff anything I build into an inventory and realign it in the real world.

Theo had read the administrative report on this, but seeing it was another thing entirely. It reminded him of prefabricated parts of bridges back on Earth. They would build structures on land, then use heavy machinery to put them in place. This technique would absolutely work to build a bridge over the water. Assuming one thing.

Can you place the structure underwater?

Yep. Already tested it.

How many will you need?

Ziz laughed. A few hundred. At least. This is an old design. I made the base larger, which requires more stone. Which means Ive had to import stone for the first time.

Theo scoffed. Youre exceeding the generation speed of the quarry?

Yep. And this entire plan only works because we can weld the stones together. Weve worked it so the structures are strong. Far stronger than anything weve made before.

Theo had a lot of questions about how this would work. But creating something like this was the first step. Ziz could now take a boat south of the alliance and drop pillars into the ocean. The alchemists mind reeled as he realized how hard that would be. Ziz needed different depths for different parts of the ocean. He also needed to connect each pillar. Those pillars needed to be a certain height from the ocean, and he needed to account for the tides. It was a dizzying array of problems that needed to be solved for this to work. But if he learned anything about bored half-ogres, it was that theyd do anything to avoid being bored.

You have my full support, Theo said, marveling at the support standing upright. Financial, if you need it.

Actually, we need potions. Those digging potions? You know?

The [Tunneling Potions]? Theo asked.

Those are the ones. We started digging a tunnel through the southern mountain ranges. Just off from Dead Dog Mine.

Theo checked his administration interface one last time. There were no surprise meetings, or emergencies that had popped up since he read it last. What are you guys doing today?

Digging a tunnel, I guess, Ziz laughed. Just me and you. The boys are building more pillars.

Theo and Ziz departed the quarry, heading down the angled path toward the adventurer housing. You already measured the depth of the ocean? the alchemist asked, putting things together.

Just out to the barrier islands. Ten-thousand halms out.

The people of Broken Tusk needed to adopt freedom units. Ten-thousand halms was somewhere between a mile and five miles. Depending on who was measuring the distance. No one seemed to agree on the exact length of a halm.

Youre a craft man.

Theo had enough [Tunneling Potion] to last quite a while. The recent spat of monster waves had also given him enough [Living River Water] to make as much as he wanted. He even had to buy more storage crates to stow the frozen water away. On their way to the mine, Theo stopped by the smelter to check on Nira. She was dutifully working the sweltering furnaces, so he settled for a hearty wave from the road. The uncomfortable heat was too much for his coat.

Just off the beaten path, Ziz said, pushing through the sparse underbrush.

Ziz and his boys had done almost nothing to the side of the mountain. They had cleared away some topsoil, and scratched at the face of the rock with little to show for it. Theo shook his head, withdrawing a [Tunneling Potion] from his inventory. How far is it?

I really dont know, Ziz said with a defeated shrug. No one has surveyed this area. And we dont have instruments good enough to get a read.

Naturally, Theo said, tipping the contents of the potion onto the wall. He felt the familiar wash of a foreign will enter his mind. With a simple command, he ordered the potion to proceed forward.

This would cause problems in the future. Of course. The mountains were a natural barrier, preventing any attacks from this direction. It only made sense to install defenses at both sides of the entrance. Theo was drawn out of his thoughts when Ziz produced a glowing crystal from nowhere. It lit the darkened tunnel, revealing glittering gray rocks in all directions. The tunnel they were cutting out of the mountain had to be larger than most tunnels they dug with the potion. That required more potion to dig the tunnel.

Several hours later, the pair sat in the darkened tunnel. They had to run back to the lab to get more of the potion, only to return to the tunnel without a break. The crystal Ziz held cast long shadows on the wall, flickering slightly.

I dont think this mountain ends, Theo said, letting out a sigh.

We should have hit the other side by now, Ziz grumbled.

Magical space, maybe? Did we intersect the mine by accident?

I dont think so.

This is going to be a lot of track to build. Then weve gotta cross the sea.

It was your idea!

Theo cleared his throat, producing more of the potion and fording on. Several full vials of the potion later, and a pinprick of light shone through the far wall.

Light! Ziz shouted.

Theo pressed his face against the cold rock, earning himself a sight of the ocean below. Far below. This thing is gonna be a roller coaster.

A what?

One last potion and the wall gave way. Air rushed into the tunnel, almost pushing the two men back on their butts. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they looked down to the ocean below. It wasnt a sheer drop, but the angle was aggressive.

Dang. The mountain looked smaller from the sea.

From his vantage point, Theo could see the barrier islands in the distance. They were facing directly south, meaning that Broken Tusks port was to their left. Neither of them could spot the port, but there was a speck on the horizon. Either a trader coming in to the town, or the Cork fishing near the barrier islands. Either way, this was a massive move in the right direction.

Well need support pillars here, too, Ziz said, looking down below. Then its a straight shot to the lizard islands.

Did we clear that project with Squeak?

I think so. Maybe. I dont know.

Theo shrugged. The lizard-folk seemed passive enough not to care. He and Ziz walked back to town, laughing the entire way. Carving the tunnel out took a lot of time, but walking through it was a breeze. They joked about the roller coaster, and the implications of safety.

Imagine going over the edge, Ziz chuckled.

Id rather not.

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