The Newt and Demon

6.43 - Evolution

“Sweet. Now we have a juiced up super detective from Earth roaming the northern wastes. What could go wrong?” Theo asked.

“We don’t know what his plans are.”

“Is it a coincidence that I cast Twist from Death’s realm at the same time Jan went rogue?” Theo asked. “He’s going after Twist. They knew each other, and the relationship didn’t seem friendly.”

Aarok’s brow furrowed as he steepled his fingers. “Twist was a snake. If he dies, he dies.”

Theo sighed, rolling his shoulders. Aarok wasn’t wrong to assume Twist had an agenda, but was it malicious? He wanted something in the northlands back in the day, so he must have found it. That was likely how he got to the true heavens… But Twist had been a big help with information. He had warned them about the underground area, especially after Pogo and the Russian rock people stopped defending the area. No, the masked elf’s motives were too mercurial for even the alchemist’s high Wisdom and his Soul messages.

“We’ll let them fight, if only to keep our people out of it.” Theo leaned against a bare wall, allowing his intuition to search all possible outcomes. “Unless we feel like trudging north. Which I don’t.”

“I don’t like rogue adventurers under my watch.”

“Then go find him. But be warned. If the system gave him access to what he had before, I don’t think you’ll fare well. The more I learn about Earth before my time, the more I’m convinced I know nothing.”

Aarok folded his arms, gazing up at Theo with a grumpy look on his face. “Bah.”

Aarok sighed, but eventually nodded.

“Anyway, I’m faster than hell now. If Jan wants to start something with us, I’ll wrestle him.”

Aarok looked up from his desk, raising an eyebrow. “Are you serious? Do you need to see a healer?”

“Yeah, I’m serious. Come on, try and hit me. I’m fast now.”

132 Dexterity was a lot of Dexterity. But that wasn’t the only reason Theo was so fast. He watched as the ghostly image of Aarok stood from his desk, withdrawing a bow from nowhere. He knocked an arrow, pulled the string back, and released an arrow. The arrow would have slammed into the space next to the alchemist’s head. When the real arrow flew, he snatched it from the air and sent it spinning back at Aarok. The arrow thumped into the desk.

“Okay.” Aarok said, looking between the arrow and Theo. “I’m a bit impressed. How did you do that?”

“I’m fast. Faster than I should be—and I’m only going to get stronger.”

“I should put you in the militia.”

“No, thanks. But if Jan shows up, I’ll have something for him.” Theo thought about any other topics they could cover. That seemed to sum the problem up well enough. Twist was gone and Jan was gone. Unless either returned, there was no reason for them to act. Jan had only even got away because he was working on the railroad project to the north. The only person who could have chased him was Aarok, but he wasn’t built for combat.

“We’ll leave it where it is for now. I guess.” Aarok dismissed the conversation just like that. Theo found his way out of the office, but knew the leader of the guild would establish more patrols. More night watches. Anything to keep the town safe with another loose end out in the world.

Theo had other things to worry about. Glantheir might have given him some time with his Drogramath cores, but that time would run out soon enough. It was better to get it over with now, transitioning to the Tero’gal cores while he had a moment to take a breath. The only cores he wanted to worry about today were his alchemy, herbalism, and governance cores. The power in his Toru’aun core was fading slower than the others. He could delay it by a few days.

Making his way to the temple, Theo passed a few people along the way. Most were those who had visited the temple to get their cores changed, so it was an interesting contrast to the task he had before him. Considering his Drogramath Governance Core as a stepping stone to this moment, the whole thing seemed cyclical. The Drogramath Dedication ability had set him on the path of changing cores, and now here he was. Ready to switch away from devolution to a pretender god.

Theo sat on the steps to the raised platform in the temple, focusing on the power of Tero’gal. Becoming a conduit for that power had become second nature. He allowed it to flow into his alchemy core, feeling it fill with renewed energy. The change it produced was strange. There was an invisible connection he used to feel. Something that linked him to Drogramath. With that god gone, he was left feeling a vague sense of emptiness that only his Tara’hek Core and Tero’gal filled.

The change didn’t take long. Theo felt the essence of his core changing. He felt his connection to Tero’gal grow, as though he was standing right there. A flash of recognition moved over him, giving some unseen nod to his actions. A moment later, he was on the floor, looking up at the high ceiling of the temple. He read the message that appeared in his vision.

[Core Evolution]

Your [Drogramath Alchemy Core] has evolved into a [Tero’gal Alchemy Core]. The following abilities have also evolved:

[Drogramath Distillery Specialty], [Drogramath Inventory], [Drogramath Dedication]

It made sense those abilities would evolve. They were specific to Drogramath, after all. He went through the list of abilities, checking for changes.

[Tero’gal Distillery Specialty]

Alchemy Skill

Legendary

You embody the perfection of distillation. Distillation produces potent forms of extract, although these extracts are considered extremely volatile.

Effect:

Allows the user to operate specialized distillery equipment at near-perfect efficiency. Tero’gal distillation equipment focuses on the production of potent potions, distilled from magical reagents.

Allows the user to gauge, by eye, the exact quantity of mixtures in units.

+12 Wisdom

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The changes here were subtle. The increased wisdom—from 2 to 12—was welcome. But the text of the description had changed, along with the first line of the effects. It mentioned Tero’gal distillation specifically, which was interesting. This must have been the thing Salire wrote in her notes. The mention of potent potions was concerning, but they would push through that like everything else. Drogramath Inventory had changed, but only by calling it Tero’gal Inventory. It had no changed effects, granting the same 32-slot inventory as the one before.

Theo suspected Drogramath Dedication to be the ability most impacted by this change and inspected it. He wasn’t wrong.

[Tero’gal Beacon]

Alchemy and Herbalism Skill

Unique

The holder of this skill is a beacon that reflects the ideals of Tero’gal. They are either held in esteem or are one of the creators of that world.

Effect:

Removes the meta barrier between the core user’s soul and all Tero’gal cores.

Two Tero’gal cores may be selected, never again to be removed.

All other cores will be considered sub-cores, and may no longer add to your personal level.

All other cores will be capped at the average level between your two main cores.

Once per day, you may infuse any skill, spell, ability, crafted item, etc with the power of Tero’gal, increasing their effect significantly, depending on the power of Tero’gal.

The skill still provided the base for what made Drogramath Dedication an excellent skill. Theo was happy to see he hadn’t lost that advantage. But it also removed some restrictions, and added an effect similar to his Zaul core. Could he Tero’gal-wrap something now? That required testing. He inspected the core itself before moving on.

[Tero’gal Alchemy Core]

Legendary

Alchemy Core

Bound

5 Slots

Level 33 (25%)

[Alchemy Core] given to the followers of Tero’gal

Effect:

Increases the synergy of [Alchemy] abilities.

+12 Wisdom

[Unstable Material Handling]

[Tero’gal Distillery Specialty]

[High Pressure Refining]

[Reagent Deconstruction]

[Tero’gal Beacon]

No surprises there. It had taken the Drogramath Alchemy Core and made it slightly different. Theo focused on evolving his herbalist core next. It was much like the first process. The core drank the power up as though dying of thirst, evolving just as quickly as the last one. Theo got a similar message when it evolved, once again sending him to his ass.

[Core Evolution]

Your [Drogramath Herbalist Core] has evolved into a [Tero’gal Herbalist Core]. The following abilities have also evolved:

[Drogramath Herbalism], [Drogramath Fermentation]

Theo cracked his knuckles, inspecting the first skill on the list.

[Tero’gal Herbalism]

Herbalism Skill

Rare

Denizens of Tero’gal inherit their creator’s knack for identifying reagents. This skill allows you to identify the properties of reagents by tasting or decomposing them.

Effect:

You have a sense whether something will produce alchemical ingredients.

+6 Intelligence

This was the most plain change for his skills. It was clearer on what he could do to find properties on reagents, but only added another three points for his intelligence. He moved on to inspect the next skill on his list.

[Tero’gal Fermentation]

Herbalism Skill

Epic

Fermentation allows an herbalist to extract even more from reagents. Accepting this skill allows you to understand the fine workings of reagents, pulling even more from the already useful plants.

Effect:

Fermentations you perform happen rapidly, compared to those without this skill.

Allows the modification of reagents to produce special modifier essences.

+12 Wisdom

The skill had switched from Intelligence to Wisdom, which was strange. But it was effectively the same thing. Theo read through the text a few times before he was satisfied. His most important cores had evolved into something he could use without worrying about if Drogramath died or not. He sat in the temple for a long time, looking up at the ceiling.

When Theo entered this world, he viewed Drogramath as an antagonistic figure in his life. As he thought back on it, he realized he was right. No matter how a person looked at it, the false gods of the world had tried to use him for their purposes. From the first time Drogramath tried to interdict him, to the placating tone he used when the end was near. Mortals were puppets for the ascendants to use, and the alchemist couldn’t be happier after they had been cast from their false thrones.

Bowing to Void, Death, and the others seemed like a fine thing to do. Because those gods had not interfered with the mortal world. Yes, Void had visited the mortal world, but only for a moment. After he teleported way, he joined the heavens and never returned. So long as those gods kept to themselves, he would be happy. Whatever the new system of divinity was, it would be better than the old one.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Tresk asked, coming to sit beside him. She had avoided him, trying not to get her cores evolved until the last moment. A Wisdom of the Soul message appeared.

[Wisdom of the Soul]

Check the new pantheon. You have a bad feeling that a shadowy dude not only evaded the wrath of the new gods, but found himself a seat at the table. You know this because the power in your Zaul core hasn’t faded. Neither has the power in Tresk’s cores.

“We might have a problem,” Theo said, patting Tresk on the head. “You’ve never met Zaul, have you?”

“Nope. He whispers stuff to me sometimes, but I can’t ever understand him.”

“You know what?” Theo asked, dusting his butt off after leaving the dirty floor of the temple. “Sounds a lot like not my problem. Just expect your cores to evolve soon. I think Zaul ascended to true godhood.”

“That nutty buddy?” Tresk asked, snorting. “You sure?”

“I’m almost positive. Come on. I want to check out this new alchemy Salire is working on.”

Theo headed off from the temple, Tresk following close behind. He paused outside of the temple, turning his head slowly to gaze at Alex. He blinked a few times before he could understand what he was looking at. A pair of lizard feet were poking out of her chest, and her normal webbed feet were looking more like that of a dragon. He swallowed, turned, and walked toward the Newt and Demon. Stranger things had happened.

Tresk hopped up the stairs first, screaming as she threw open the third floor’s door and scaring Salire. Theo was up soon after, finding his assistant panting for breath and hurling curses at the marshling. She had moved all the equipment around, placing them into sections of the lab.

“How is it looking?” Theo asked.

“Bad.” Salire said, pausing to make a rude gesture at Tresk. The marshling returned the favor. “I’m questioning the stability of essences when they come out of the stills. I’ve got a sample over there I don’t wanna touch.”

Theo spotted the sample she was talking about. Moving to inspect—without touching—he found it was a first tier Healing Essence. Nothing fancy. But silver globs of something rested atop the mixture, dancing and sizzling. It was a different kind of reaction than he was used to. Impurities had snuck into the mix, but instead of creating an unusable essence, they had risen to the top after distillation.

“This is very weird,” Theo said, looking closer. He planned on grabbing it, but watched as a phantom version of himself hoisted it only to explode. “Yeah, no one touch it. Actually…”

Theo took the essence into his inventory. “There. Well this is a big problem. Theories?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a still coming that should help. Unfortunately, our production is going to be much slower.”

That sounded fine to Theo. The frantic way they treated potions now always annoyed him. It was a constant grind to get more. As interesting as the industrialization of potion making was, it was exciting to see another way. The alchemist withdrew the book he and Salire had written, thumping it on the table.

“I hope you’re ready. We gotta write a new book.”

“Boo. Books are boring,” Tresk complained.

“Books are not boring. You’re boring.” Salire glared at her again.

Tresk could be abrasive at times. She had drifted far from the times where she would watch Theo perform alchemy in his lab. But she had her own life which usually involved stabbing things. “Let’s get to it,” Theo said, clapping his hands. “Maybe we can cobble together something that will work.”