The Newt and Demon-7.45 - Spiked ConChapter Shell

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Theo used his time in the Dreamwalk to simulate how the bay would get destroyed if he went through with his plan. According to it, the best way to avoid disaster was to ensure water could come in from either side of the bay. Which meant he could completely pave the outer islands, so long as he left room for water to flow in between them. While that seemed easy enough, it took him longer than he had expected to get it working properly.

Tresk thought it was a boring way to spend his time in the dream realm. But to the alchemist, this was the best use for their ability. It could simulate not only events as they happened on a one-to-one timescale, but also things that happened over months and years. While he didn’t expect them to stick around for that long, he couldn’t bring himself to do the project ‘wrong’. Instead, he watched as water flowed in and out of the bay without end. Only when he had all the flows of water right was he satisfied.

“Come on, can’t we summon another hurricane?” Tresk groaned.

“Oh! That’s actually a great idea,” Theo said, imagining a Hurricane Potion. “We can test the current foundation’s ability to withstand storms.”

“Boring. Let’s add a dragon.”

“Two dragons!” Alex countered.

Theo quaffed the potion and watched as the storm formed above his head. He stood at the pier and the towers, looking out over the bay. In this imagined version of Broken Tusk, the far side of the bay was seeded with a stone foundation. The dragons that appeared overhead a moment later dove, shooting fireballs and doing flips in the air. Tresk always had a flair for the dramatic.

Something the alchemist didn’t expect was the way the hurricane affected the flow of water. The storm started inland and worked its way out to the open ocean, dragging all the water with it. This overloaded the draining channels the alchemist had created, resulting in a redesign. While the dragons didn’t help matters, it was funny watching them dive bomb his causeways and rip the stone apart.

“I don’t know if we learned anything,” Tresk shouted above the sound of the storm. “But that was cool!”

“Indeed, it was,” Theo agreed.

Theo spent the rest of his time in the Dreamwalk experimenting with more designs. It was a decent break from alchemy. Civil projects were always fun to work on, especially when they were silly like this one. But, as always, the Dreamwalk came to a close. The alchemist rose in his bed a moment after the connection with the dream world was closed, feeling a sense of confidence for his current project.

The pair had breakfast together downstairs with Sarisa and Rowan, and as the alchemist was making his way back to the bay to continue his project, Tresk stopped him.

"I get a good feeling about this one," she said, beckoning him down to her level.

Tresk pressed her forehead against Theo's, and he felt a sense of warmth spread through his body. A moment later, a system message appeared, and he chuckled.

[Tara’hek Core] received experience (0.01%).

[Tara’hek Core] leveled up! Level 40!

[Tara’hek Core] gained an additional effect: [????]

“Hah!” Tresk shouted, pumping her fist. “I knew it. We were so close to getting that level. It just needed a nudge.”

“Interesting… But what is that ability?” Theo asked, digging into his interface. “That’s new.”

[????]

Unknown Skill

Unknown description.

"That's disappointing," Tresk said. "I expected an overpowered ability, but instead we got a bunch of question marks."

"I've seen errors in skill messages before, but nothing like this. It seems like everything is undefined." Theo tapped his chin as he thought about what this could mean. "Do you feel any different?"

"Not really, but normally, to use a skill, focus on it, and when I focus on this one, I feel absolutely nothing."

When the system messed up like this, Theo was always unsure what to think. It could mean that the system had an error processing what the ability was supposed to be. He had seen this when he was given a special core from one ascendant, but this also could be something else entirely. He wasn't sure how high other bonds like this had gotten, so it was impossible to say.

"Best we can do is keep an eye on it," Theo said, unsure of what else to say. "At least we finally hit level 40."

"Yeah, that's been a long time coming, hasn't it?" Tresk asked, puffing her chest out with pride. "I'm going to experiment with this today."

That was as good a plan as any. When Tresk left, Theo made a slow path to the Barrier Islands. Along the way, he focused his will inward, probing at the Core and the skill it now held. The Tara’hek Core functioned differently than the others. He had no control over what skills slotted into it, so it always felt slightly more distant than his other cores. But the way this skill felt in his mind differed from anything he had experienced so far.

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“You waste no time, do you!?” Ziz asked, jogging up behind Theo as he crossed the causeway.

Theo turned, offering a sly smile. Gentle waves lapped against the causeway’s edge, some water flooding over it. Despite his efforts, the bay could still rise above his plans. The entire base of the arena would need to be raised a bit to prevent flooding.

“Any thoughts on this project?” Theo asked.

“I think it’ll come together well,” Ziz said. “Might need help from you, but we have an effective, modular way of building things now. We can put up a dorm for the refugees in a few hours, so long as we have the materials.”

“And are materials going to be an issue?” Theo asked.

“Shouldn’t be. I’ve got a team gathering the stone for this project. Another team is fabricating the sections. And the last time will work with you to get the dimensions of the foundation set.”

Theo could see the excitement on Ziz’s face. They walked together, touring the construction area. Although the alchemist had done some work, there was a lot left to do. But with the master builder at his side, they hashed out some better dimensions for both the arena and the fortifications. He wasn’t even mad about doing more work. The view of the ocean sprawling helped ease fraying nerves.

Poking around near the far side of the barrier island, something pulled in the alchemist’s senses. Theo brushed his hand over the wet sand, feeling his fingers getting caught on the sharp edge of a shell. He withdrew his hand, sucking the spot where he was poked and withdrawing the offending shell from the sand.

“Hello, little reagent,” Theo said, rolling the shell over. It was roughly the size of his hand, covered in several spikes. Although it wasn’t occupied, the shell itself was alchemically reactive. The alchemist inspected it.

[Spiked Conch Shell]

[Alchemy Ingredient]

Uncommon

The shell of a spiked conch. Useful for all kinds of things like horns, tossing at people, or skewering your hand. Seriously, these things are spiky.

Properties:

[????] [????] [????]

“Guess I’ve never really been this far out,” Theo said, holding the shell high for Ziz to see.

“Looks like a nasty creature,” Ziz said. “And you already stuck yourself.”

“Yeah, but the spikes will make it easier to find,” Theo said, digging through the sand again. He stopped, brows knitting as he thought better. A stick appeared in his hand a moment later, and he poked at the soft sand. After a few moments of poking, he found another shell. “The beach is lousy with these things.”

“So, uh… About the construction…”

Theo allowed himself to be distracted by the shells for a bit before getting back to work. The work was tedious, of course. He had to walk over the causeway with large rocks over his head. But on his first trip back to the mainland, he broke on conch down using his Reagent Deconstruction skill. The shell refused to reveal its fourth property right away, marking it in the alchemist’s mind as a decent reagent.

The three properties he revealed were Sharpen, Poke, and Call of the Sea. Sharpen was obvious enough, and he felt it would produce a potion which worked like a salve for a weapon. Poke was curious, and gave the feeling as though it would create a bomb-like potion. That one was the hardest one to tell, though. Call of the Sea might have felt weird, but it was clearly a standard potion.

After sacrificing another shell, Theo uncovered the fourth property. It was called Bolstering Horn and gave him the impression of a powerful buffing property. This property would create another standard potion. It wasn’t the worst reagent he had experimented with and held all unique properties. No duplicates!

Theo cut into the mountain again, smiling to himself as he thought about getting back to the lab to test his new reagents. He was too excited for them to wait, so he contacted Tresk. He shoved the shells into their shared inventory, and instructed her to drop them off at the lab. Salire could start them for him, so long as she wasn’t too busy.

“Yeah, she says no problem,” Tresk said through their connection. “But she can’t get the fourth property to do the thing or whatever.”

“No problem,” Theo said. “Thanks for the help.”

“I’m just doing boring patrols today,” Tresk said. “Can you see me?Straight above you.”

Theo looked up, squinting against the sun. He saw a tiny dot that could have been a marshling riding a dragon-goose. It could have also been a bird…

“Yeah, I think so,” Theo said, squinting harder. Alex shot a jet of fire from her mouth. “Oh, yep. That’s you.”

Tresk cackled into his mind.

Theo shook his head as he split another section of the mountain off. He strained under the weight, popping another Aura Potion before adding more rocks to the load. Half-way across the causeway, he felt a familiar presence approaching him from behind. Some of his hair had fallen into his face, plastered to his forehead with the sweat already forming there.

“Perg,” Theo said, managing a weak smile as he juggled the rock. “Been a long time.”

“Hah. And how far you’ve come,” Perg said in a sing-song tone. “I had to come check out the bridge everyone was talking about.”

“Word gets around, huh?” Theo asked. “If nothing else, at least people are having fun crossing the causeway.”

Perg snapped her fingers, jogging up alongside Theo. She elbowed him in the side gently. “That’s what it was. Causeway. Looks like you’re having about as much fun as a snapper in a storeroom.”

“Something like that, anyway,” Theo said, pressing on along the path. “How about you? Still tanning hides?”

Perg shrugged, stretching as they walked along the path. “Fewer than before. More than I care to do. I’ve got no motivation. Just been napping all day.”

“Yet that’s a perfectly normal response to the end of the world,” Theo said. “Honestly, I’m shocked that anyone is working.”

“I’ve seen a few people slacking. I ain’t telling who it was, though,” Perg said with a wink. “We’re bringing all of this with us, right?”

“Yep. As long as I win over the other gods…”

“Good. That’s why people work so hard. They trust you to bring it all with us.”

Yet Theo didn’t know exactly what would happen once they left. As long as they didn’t end up like the space elves, everything would be fine.

“Hey, wanna see me lift some more heavy rocks?” Theo asked.

“Duh.”