The Newt and Demon-8.8 - Unranked Tournament

Having a theory about King Leon was one thing, but this was proof. He now had proof that the once-king of an elven empire had not only broken free from his bonds in that hill dimension, but had also left the system's governable area. What exactly that meant, the alchemist couldn't say, but the rest of his conversation with Balkor was interesting. Instead of departing from the site right away, they remained, ordering another round of drinks and discussing what exactly had happened.

Neither man could concoct an entire picture for the scenario, but they had many theories. The best they could figure was that the entire world they knew was currently confined for some reason. They could hope that once the change occurred, they would be placed back into the wider universe, but that was no guarantee.

“We need to bring this to Toru’aun,” Theo said, rubbing his chin. “Wait, was this whole island getaway a ruse? Are there any necromancers here?”

“There are,” Balkor said. “I wasn’t lying about that.”

“There’s no way I can convince Toru’aun to move here,” Theo said. “The chances that Uz’Xulven leaves the bridge again are slim… This is tricky.”

“Or you could leave it to me,” Balkor said. “As long as this planet allows me to weave my spells, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Theo narrowed his eyes at Balkor. “I still don’t trust you.”

“I wouldn’t,” Balkor said with a shrug.

This entire affair left Theo in an awkward position. It was unfortunate that Balkor was the only one who had seen the same truth that he had. Now they had to work together to figure out what to do about it. But what exactly would they do? It wasn't as though they could defy the system. There was nothing he could do to keep the system from prying into his affairs at the same time. As long as he operated within the rules of that system, it shouldn't have been a problem. And he had more authority than most, thanks to his position as a throne holder.

“This might work,” Theo said, going back and forth on the problem in his mind. “Yet I’m still concerned.”

“Leave it to me,” Balkor said.

Theo nodded, giving the man a few parting words before heading out. He didn’t return to the mortal world right away. Instead, he headed to Tresk’s moon to talk to Toru’aun. The woman was in her swap hut, doing whatever weird swamp witch stuff she did. As always, she didn’t appreciate the company. But she still answered his questions about celestial-rank magic. She even got a spark in her eye as they got into the details of it.

This was the last bit of information Theo needed to believe what Balkor had claimed. Despite what the Demon God of Undeath said, Toru’aun had a good amount of knowledge on the subject. She confirmed the spell he had witnessed and its function. She also agreed that it was entirely possible that King Leon had vacated the local area, although she was less forthcoming about what she thought was on the other side. Still, it was all the alchemists needed to consider the theory mostly true.

It had been a whirlwind of activity within the Middle Realms, and Theo grew tired of it. When he was done with his chat, he folded the space in on himself and teleported back to the mortal plane. He found himself among the familiar streets of Broken Tusk, the crowds there seeming to grow thicker by the moment. Throngs of people from different nations were crossing the sea to take part in the games in the arena before getting into anything else in town. The Alchemist made his way to the area outside of town to ensure the path he had created was sturdy enough to handle so many people.

As he walked the path, Theo ran over the events that had just happened in his mind, splitting his concentration between the two. After widening the causeway a bit, which gained quite a lot of attention from passersby, he realized that he was now free to allocate points into the intelligence attribute if he wanted to. It might not be of much use since he now relied mostly on his willpower to enhance his spells, but why not?

To Theo’s surprise, there was a buzz of activity around the arena on the artificial island. Vendors had set up in the space around there, and the area had generally been cleaned up. There were scattered planters here and there, covered areas for people to sit, and even interior spaces designed to give everyone a break from the heat with air conditioning. It might have been the season of death, but it was still hot.

The closer he drew to the arena itself, the more he heard the roar of the crowd within as he made his way through the vomitorium. He ascended to the first-floor seating, where he saw a scattering of people attending some impromptu event. Below, on the arena floor, people were engaging in mock battles. Two armies of about twenty people each clashed in the center, smacking each other with wooden swords and shouting their battle cries. When one elven man took a nasty hit to the head—tumbling to the ground—the crowd voiced their excitement. A ripple of cheers worked its way through the stands, the echo carrying far outside of the arena’s grounds.

“You have a seat, you know.” Ziz’s voice came from behind Theo.

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The alchemist spun, finding the half-ogre standing there with a big stupid smile on his face. “I’m aware,” Theo said. “Just got back from the middle realms. I didn’t think we had games planned yet.”

“We don’t. But everyone was itching for something to happen, so Alise started the unranked stuff early,” Ziz said. “We’ve been having some fun today.”

“I can see that,” Theo said, turning his gaze back to the arena floor. “Small team fights, huh? How are these going?”

“Very well. No live weapons. If you get bonked three times, you’re out. Everything is on the honor system, so they’re just having fun.”

Watching the people below smack one another in the head with wooden sticks was fairly entertaining. The one thing Theo appreciated most was that everyone fighting was within a certain power range. And they were all playing fair. He watched as a half-ogre took one too many bonks. The man performed a dramatic mock-death, writhing on the ground and gaining cheers and laughter from the audience. Perhaps this was exactly what the city needed to take their mind off the coming events of the world.

"Do they have a schedule for when the real games are going to start?" Theo asked, looking around to assess the occupancy of the stadium.

"Not that I know of," Ziz said with a shrug.

"I don't know about the stability of the causeway leading here. I added some more stones to it, but it might not be enough if there's a big rush."

"You don't have to worry about that," Ziz said, waving the concerns away. "We'll do a stability test on it to ensure everything is just right. I'm sure you have bigger things to worry about."

“More than you know,” Theo said, shaking his head. “But the arena project has been a very welcome distraction.”

Ziz saw the smaller arena games as the perfect opportunity to test the capacity and stability of the structure, along with the adjoining roads. Theo headed off with him to carry out some maintenance and planning efforts to ensure nobody was injured, more than anything. The many entrances of the arena would help with that, but the pair worked on staking off open areas outside of the north and east exits that could use some more designated roads.

The builders of Broken Tusk had spent the last few days fixing up a few issues that had been discovered with the temporary houses. As with all things, they never knew the stress people would put on those structures until they were occupied. Reinforcement and expansion were both needed to ensure everything went well. For now, it appeared everyone would run smoother. But Ziz was always on the case, ready to jump in at a moment’s notice.

After checking out his administration interface and finding that Alise was organizing just about everything related to the games, Theo found himself with some time. He was waiting on Elrin to call him to move some more shards, and Fenian to join him to Slagrot. The two jobs were connected, and the alchemist wasn’t eager to destroy Balkor’s phylacteries until a few more shards were placed to absorb the released energy. Even with Leon on his mind, the alchemist settled in at a seat in the arena and worked on his new alchemy.

The new system still held many mysteries, but Theo could make some statements about how it worked at a base level. The skill allowed him to break the reagents into pure essence, similar to the way the Reagent Deconstruction skill worked, and generate ultra-potent essences. Mixing those essences was easy as all produced essence appeared to be of the highest purity. The only problem was that the goop he created was too pure. It had to be cut with Enchanted Water, otherwise it messed with whoever drank it.

Even understanding that, Theo had a lot of questions about how to create second and third tier potions. The games below shifted, the warriors who had fought swapping out for people running a race. He marveled for a moment as a team rearranged the arena itself, creating lanes along the outside of the oval arena floor. Before long, folks were racing along, all to the booming sound of an announcer’s voice.

Theo pulled another reagent apart, fusing it with his mana and will to create more goop. He repeated the process, getting a better sense for how these essences worked until reaching a conclusion. There was no difference between tiers 1, 2, and 3 with this new skill. Instead, he controlled that by diluting the resulting essence. Tier 4 was another matter he wasn’t sure of. Instead, he focused on the side-grades he was already familiar with.

Modifiers presented a way to take a potion and change the base function. Theo held a clump of Marshlight Spider Silk in his palm, pressing his senses into it to explore the magical makeup of the object. This was the reagent he used often to get the Web modifier. It was an excellent way to take a potion and add area effects, even if that modifier was unreliable. The alchemist sensed he could break it into regular essence, but his familiarity with it revealed something resting on the edge of his thoughts. He knew he could pull out the modifier version of the essence.

Nearby patrons of the arena watched as Theo held his hand over an open flask, light bathing anyone close enough. Those people scooted away, used to the alchemist’s nonsense enough not to panic, but not willing to be too close. When the reagent melted in with his mana, Theo could sense the modifying potential of the essence. He rose from his seat in the arena, leaving before mixing the modifier with anything else.

Mixing the Web modifier with a Healing Potion should result in a healing potion that linked multiple people. After Theo mixed the modifier with a Healing Potion, he ensured it didn’t explode before diluting it down and regarding the opaque liquid in the flask.

“Why not?” Theo asked, tipping the flask back and swallowing the potion. The effects were immediate. A rush of something flooded through him, the restorative qualities of the potion filling him with a sense of energy. It was standard for a restorative potion at first, until something else rushed out. Sticky webs formed on his skin, strands lashed out at anyone who stood nearby.

They yelled at first, but of course nothing happened. To Theo, it was the amount of strands that had appeared that gave him cause for concern. He would expect maybe two strands, but he counted about 50. Those with minor injuries were healed instantly, even if they were shouting in fear.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Theo said.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺