The world was a swirl of confusing emotions. Although Theo had lost consciousness, he felt the familiar pull of an interdiction event after he went under. The angry entity dragging him through the void didn’t care that he had fallen, smashing his head on a table. It also didn’t care about the dagger-wielding marshling clinging to his unconscious form. When he finally came to, he watched the events that had unfurled while he was out.

“I’ll kill ya!” Tresk shouted, daggers flashing out.

Tresk stood over Theo’s body, her daggers seething with deadly poison. She wasn’t sure if the venom was potent enough to kill a god. But she was willing to give it a shot.

“Calm yourself, marshling,” Hallow said, his soothing voice rumbling through the icy landscape.

“No, I think she should try her luck,” Silver said, her laugh echoing like a bell. “Go for Death first.”

Tresk looked between the members of the godly council, sizing them up. She was certain she could get a hit on one of them. But which one would she pick? Yeah, Death was a dick, but he had been kinda chill lately. Shadow was awesome and so was Hallow. She settled on the weakest one she could find.

“You!” Tresk shouted, pointing a finger at Omen. The young elven boy’s face went ashen. “Time to die!”

“I didn’t do a thing!” Omen shouted back, looking to his sister for support.

Tresk’s dagger flew through the air, cutting to Omen’s heart. It stopped right before impacting his chest, hovering there and vibrating with a keening tune.

“That’s enough,” the system said, appearing in the center of the formation and hovering there. “No one dies today.”

Omen swallowed hard, looking down at the dagger near his heart. “Do something about this, system. I have enough stress as it is.”

Tresk’s eyes darted between the young elf and the system, calculating the best way to make her move. Horns sprouted from her forehead as she gained a few feet in height. Her tail thinned out as an impossibly powerful aura washed over the area. Omen and silver took a knee while the other gods maintained dignified, if not strained, stances. The marshling pushed against the will of the gods, finding it easy enough to overcome. But the system was another matter. She was driven to her knees, growling as she draped herself over Theo.

“That’s enough of that,” the system said. “Not everything is an attempt on your life, Tresk.”

“Ya sure about that!?” Tresk strained to even speak, drawing on every last drop of power she could get from Theo. But even then, it wasn’t enough.

“I’m certain,” the system said, forcing her will onto Tresk, rendering her helpless. She released a heavy sigh. “Whatever Theo did, it set off more alarms in the sector than I thought possible.”

“I don’t even know what the potion does!” Tresk objected.

“Yeah you do,” Death said with a laugh. “You can view his memories.”

“Okay. Maybe I can. But what’s the problem with 250 Intelligence? He’s just really smart.”

“The problem isn’t the amount of attributes he gained. I don’t care about that,” the system said. “Any person’s potential with attributes is finite. If he wasn’t able to gain them, he wouldn’t get them. The issue is that he is creating a new system of progression before I’m ready.”

“Oh. Really?” Tresk asked. “So wait, why the violent interdiction?”

Another sigh from the system. “It wasn’t violent. You’re violent. I only need to place a seal on his soul to prevent his system from developing further.”

“So, why all the gods?” Tresk asked.

The system looked between all the gathered gods.

Death shrugged. “We were already gathered here for a meeting. Just normal god things.”

“Yeah, I don’t even want to be here,” Hallow said.

“Cool. So… Do the thing, maybe?” Tresk asked. “And let us leave before I kill you all.”

The system sighed. “I’ll awaken him. But you need to work on that attitude.”

Tresk stuck her tongue out as the system revived Theo.

***

A sudden jump in attributes was never fun. This had been a problem going way back to the first batch of powerful attribute potions. Going up 10 points wasn’t so bad. But 20 to 50 got sketchy. Jumping up 250 at once had resulted in a feeling like being hit by a truck. Truth was, Theo hadn’t expected to wake up after taking the potion. He might’ve done everything that lined up with his experience and intuition, but that was rough.

Theo awoke to the sound of a heated conversation. Tresk was screaming, and a few other familiar voices were arguing against her shrill noises.

“Silence, lizard,” Theo grumbled, pushing himself to a seated position. His head still swam with the power of his new attributes. Viewing the events of the past few minutes in a blink was even more dizzying, but at least he was up to speed.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“My precious baby!” Tresk shouted, cradling Theo’s head. “Do you feel weird? Does it feel like someone put an iron brand on your soul and held it there for a little too long?”

“No… why?” Theo asked.

“Because that’s what I did,” the system said.

Theo looked up to see the crystal-lady looking down at him. He wasn’t sure of the expression on her face. If he looked too long, it appeared to be concern, rather than anger. Death opened his mouth to say something and a moment later, he was silenced. Then the system’s face changed and she waved her hands. All the gods vanished.

“Mom is mad,” Tresk said.

“Furious,” the system said. “Yet oddly, not at you two. I’m angry at the immature behavior of the gods. They’re beyond disappointing.”

“Agreed,” Theo said, not knowing what he thought about it. Gaining the Intelligence attribute in such great quantities at once had disorientated him. Perhaps the gods wanted to see his downfall, but it was more likely that they were simply trying to gain more advantages over their peers. Or they were bored and wanted to participate in gossip. “What’s the deal, though?”

“I know you know. There’s a unique system forming within you.”

“But what does that mean?” Tresk asked. “I understand the words, but put them together and I need details.”

“There is more to the universe than you know,” the system said. “Yet this isn’t the time to talk about that. Just know that I’ve blocked something from happening. It will happen on its own when the reset happens. You’ll understand that what we’ve done here is for the betterment of the sector.”

“That’s ominously vague,” Tresk said.

“And yet, that’s all I can tell you,” the system said. “Be content with this information for now, and know that you’re on the front line when we switch. As fun as this visit has been, you may now leave.”

Theo couldn’t resist the command, no matter how much he wanted to. Both he and Tresk were sent sailing back toward the mortal plane, slamming with force into the ground somewhere near Broken Tusk. The alchemist groaned, pushing himself to his feet and wincing in pain.

“I broke something,” he said, fishing in his inventory for a healing potion. After drinking it to relieve his pain, he turned to spot Tresk face-first in the dirt. He pulled her out and dusted the poor marshling off. “You good?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tresk said, coughing to clear some dirt from her lungs. “We’re alive! That’s a win.”

“Right?” Theo asked. “Hold on, let me check my attributes to see if that stuck.”

The alchemist opened his attribute screen, smiling to himself as he read it over.

Theo Spencer

Drogramath Dronon

Level 38

Alchemist

Core Slots: 7

Stats:

Health: 625

Mana: 2730

Stamina: 635

Strength: 21 (+11)

Dexterity: 132 (+8)

Vigor: 124 (+8)

Intelligence: 280 (+9)

Wisdom: 342 (+7)

Points: 0

The plan was now fairly simple. Theo considered the text of the message he saw when he drank the potion… right before he blacked out. Four more of the potions could be consumed within the ‘sector’ and he couldn’t be the one to drink it. Thanks to the specific wording, he suspected he could drink potions for the other attributes. Combined with the time dilation effect from Kuzan’s realm, the alchemist planned to make a potion for each attribute, drinking one for himself and giving another to Tresk.

That left 3 potions of each attribute for the sector.

“Here’s the plan,” Theo said, detailing what they were going to do in detail. “Me, you, and Fenian. We’re all gonna be overpowered beasts.”

“5 times 250? That’s a thousand!” Tresk shouted. Imagine being Level 1000.”

“5 times 250 is 1250,” Theo said. “But, yeah. That’s a lot of levels. And I think I can get it even higher. I shouldn’t have consumed that Intelligence Potion, but whatever. We live, we learn.”

“We’re gonna be super strong, which I’m all for… But why?” Tresk asked. “Why the sudden grab for power?”

“Because we’re in charge of something big now. Maybe more as custodians, but it doesn’t hurt to have a big stick,” Theo said. “I’ll figure out what to do with the leftover potions. But a few will go to the people winning the arena games.”

“Ah, yeah. Dexterity for the athletics game and Strength or Vigor for the combat game. What about the crafting and cooking game?”

“I’m thinking about a similar potion.” Theo wasn’t sure exactly what he would make for those two. But there were a lot of properties he hadn’t tested the full extent of. “But let’s focus on the other potions first. And let’s keep it from Fenian for now. Last thing he needs to know is that he’ll be even more overpowered than he already is.”

“Okay, okay, cool.” Tresk rubbed her hands together and Theo could feel her thinking about their next move. “Make more potions. Watch the games. Get the shards back. Reset. Bingo, bango, bongo.”

“That’s just about it,” Theo said. “I’d also like to hit Level 40, but you know. Kinda busy.”

Tresk giggled, shaking her head in agreement. “Maybe mess around with some of those reagents you found in Drogramath’s realm. Those will give you some experience for sure.” The marshling paused for a few long moments as she smiled to herself. “I have a request, though.”

“What?”

“Let’s wait a day before we go back to the paper place. As fun as it was to spend a year counting my fingers and toes, I’d rather not,” Tresk said. “Doesn’t help that I can’t get any experience in there.”

“Noted. We’ll go tomorrow.”

“Thanks, tiger,” Tresk said with a wink. “I’m gonna go get up to some trouble. Smell ya later.”

Theo watched as the marshling went, realizing finally that they were on the outskirts of Broken Tusk, along the river and tram track. Tresk made a crow-like noise as Alex came to pick her up, and the both soared away into the sky. For the alchemist, this was a tipping point. A point in his time at Broken Tusk where he had to make a choice. Doing the bare minimum for the system and the reset was possible. But that same old feeling came rushing back.

From the time the first monster wave hit the town, Theo had fallen into a cycle of paranoid preparation. It wasn’t a negative memory in his mind, but one that stuck out. All his over-prepared nature had seen them through a lot of problems. And it wasn’t just his own tendency toward those behaviors that had brought success. Half-ogres were independent and skeptical on their own. Perhaps he had just fed off of their nature, but he found his foot on that path once again.

Theo could never beat the system. That was the true ‘god’ of this place. But he wouldn’t allow the gods of this sector to determine how he would save his people. Placing a foot firmly on that path, the alchemist moved forward, fully intent on making his dream a reality.

With or without the approval of the gods.