of course, the new infused potion would be a hit among the adventurers, and tresk was eager to test it out. before heading to bed, she tested the effects of the potion. upon drinking it, she was teleported backward about 50 paces. afterward, she seemed like a toddler who had been given a foot-long pixie stick. all her movements were sped up, including her speaking. the inane babble was almost impossible to understand, but at least the effects didn’t last that long.

    instead of making several thousand potions, as tresk had requested, they went to bed. of course, in the dreamwalk, she reproduced as many of those potions as she wanted and darted around the countryside like a psychopath. waking up the next morning, theo took his time at breakfast. there were many things to consider for the day, and he had a mental checklist of the things he wanted to accomplish.

    “you should just make potions all day.” tresk said. she had lingered near the breakfast table, although there was dungeon work for her to do.

    the high-level monster course she had brought him would be very helpful for upgrading some key buildings in town. as theo faced the prospect of welcoming more guests, he felt it was necessary, but all those plans he had building in his mind were shattered when a few sharp knocks came at the door.

    alise strode in alone, as usual, holding an item in her hand. theo recognized it from a distance as a seed core, though he couldn’t identify the type.

    “i’m going to need you to do something,” alise said, holding her core out and smiling a placating smile at him. “i’m kind of busy today, and i finally got my hands on something that will be useful for our space elves.”

    theo walked over and inspected the items. they were a specialized type of house seed core. when alise withdrew several more of them from her inventory, he realized how helpful they would be. “how did you find a dormitory seed core?” he asked.

    “some luck. also i put in a request with an elven trader. they cost quite a bit, but i’ve been told you can follow an upgrade path that will allow you to add vastly more space.”

    “well, i’ll get working on this right away,” theo said, turning to narrow his eyes at tresk, “rather than brewing more potions.”

    tresk went nuts, but her shouting didn’t last long. she had a busy day, head-in-the-dungeon. so she departed right then. alise also had a stock of monster cores he could use to upgrade the buildings. but the first task would be finding a place to put them.

    there were several open areas within the town walls that would be perfect for them. theo had been experimenting with drawing new roads in the town for a while, and there was a large area of open land to the west of his shop. it was around the area where he had placed the weaver’s building and zarali’s enchanting workshop. once breakfast was cleared away, he got to work, heading out and praying that his abilities would work in conjunction with a fabricator that hadn’t worked in a month.

    sledge was still tending to his clutch of eggs. he was reluctant to visit her since, apparently, she only hissed at people when they came. after finding a suitable spot for a crossroads, theo forked off the main road just south of the weavers building. he drove west for a while, created another intersection, and then drove north along that road until it ran alongside whisper’s butcher. that way, the roads would seem somewhat planned. and it provided a new route from the westernmost gate to the south.

    back at the tea junction he had created, theo planted the first seed, watering it with moats to watch it grow. the building that sprang up was fairly large to start with. it was a two-story structure with a row of windows on every side. it was of local construction, consisting more of a mix of stone, timber, and a bit of plastic. he was happy to see that it held the signature blue roof.

    theo headed inside, not bothering to inspect the building right away. instead, he found a very pleasant entryway with a hall on either side and a staircase leading up to the second floor. there were twelve rooms on either side on the first floor, and the same amount on the second. each room was no bigger than a large closet, but they all had a small dresser and a bed. it was more than anyone could hope for, and he had three of them to his name. forty-eight rooms in total, which wasn’t nearly enough to house all the elves, even if they doubled up in the rooms. with three buildings at his disposal, he had a potential of 144 rooms, but he didn’t want to place the other buildings yet—not until he leveled this one up to see how large he could make it.

    exiting the building, the alchemist looked up at it and appreciated the general style. it was pleasant enough to look at and represented a very real way he could house many people. he wondered how difficult it was for alise to acquire it.

    “time to shove cores into a building, i guess,” theo said, smiling to himself as he got to work.

    using low-level monster cores, theo quickly leveled up a building to level 5. he was then given a list of three options to choose from. he reviewed each one, selecting those that would enlarge the building.

    [decent comfort]

    the rooms within this dormitory are slightly more comfortable.

    something slightly more comfortable was questionable. the elves aren’t sold on this one, but if the other two options were unsatisfactory, you could certainly make it so the elves were at least decently comfortable.

    [expanded rooms]

    increases the size of each room slightly. this increases the overall size of the building.

    that wasn’t exactly the upgrade theo was looking for, but it certainly beat the first one. he would likely pick this one unless the last one was incredible.

    [clean walkways]

    the spaces between rooms are cleaned automatically at midnight.

    expansions:

    [expanded rooms]

    [decent comfort]

    [clean walkways]

    [third floor]

    [new wing]

    looking up at the buildings, i felt a sense of pride and considered how monumental this would be for the town. he heard the fluttering of a bird’s wings overhead and focused his gaze before scoffing. he then folded his arms and waited for what happened next. a cloaked figure dropped from the sky, landing in front of him, with its giant, menacing halberd.

    “elrin,” theo said, shaking his head. “nice of you to drop by. and you need a place to stay. i’ve got a few hundred rooms available.”

    “that won’t be necessary,” elrin said, looking over the buildings. “i’ve only recently become aware of the seed core system, and i’ve got to say this would have been useful back in my day.”

    “yeah, it’s an interesting bit of magic, isn’t it?” theo asked. “are you stopping by for any particular reason?”

    “my plans stretch far,” elrin said, “but i’m waiting for the return of the shards, as your wizard has made any progress.”

    “i think he’s ready to go. we’re just waiting for the elves to heal. unfortunately, they’ve come with a fair amount of void magic, which has caused some issues in the world.”

    “yes, those issues are stretching far and wide. although i doubt it’s as bad as it is here,” elrin said, looking around as though he saw the invisible sheen of power overlaying the town. “i’ve relocated one shard to its proper place, which should have helped with the void magic issue.”

    “really?” theo asked. he tapped his chin and smiled. “you know, we did actually notice a fairly large change in the way the void energy was being absorbed, but i didn’t know that was you.”

    “indeed, i’m also aware of your half-baked plan to kill death,” elrin said, “and i must say that i don’t approve.”

    “that’s not my plan,” theo said, shaking his head and holding his hands up. “that’s fenian’s plan, and it really isn’t going to work, is it?”

    “back in my time, when the gods rose to power, their thrones could be challenged. but the throne of death was a particularly difficult one to crack,” elrin said, his eyes going slightly glossy as though he were visiting the past. he shook his head as though casting off the stupor. “death’s true realm is an endless sheet of black, with a single portal. all souls in the world pass through the portal and await judgment. unfortunately, in my time, death was powered by those souls.”

    “do you have an alternative for dealing with him? i’m not sure we can trust kuzan with such power.”

    “you never knew the true man. he’s changed quite a lot,” elrin said. “are you aware of his origins?”

    “just bits and pieces,” theo said. “the stuff you let slip.”

    “he was a devious man. well, not really a man at all, but a shade. his soul was trapped in the system of our ancient history, and he lingered across the land for untold thousands of years. when the change happened, he was deeply integrated into the system, and given a purpose—that purpose was to destroy everything. including your world.”

    “sounds like a real ass.”

    he led armies against the civilized world, raising beastmen, hordes that ravaged the land. “we were part of a defense alliance that held him at bay for the most part until he figured out how to get into your world,” elrin explained. “the few times i spoke to him, i felt as though there was some reason behind the madness. when i gathered, so far as that when everyone was transported here, he regained much of his sanity. i fear he’s not the same insane man i knew back then.”

    “well, i have a plan that you might not like,” theo said. “if kuzan is as reasonable as you say, this might make fenian and the others angry, but it might just solve our problem.”

    “let’s hear your plan.”