Two children stood side by side, before a kindly old priest.

 

The young boy wore a tux. He had dirty blonde hair, and brown eyes, a loving look on his face.

 

By his side was a young girl with horns, and a dancing tail. She wore a flowing white wedding dress.

 

The priest smiled happily at the two, before proclaiming to the room.

 

“You may now, kiss the bride.” He smiled at the two.

 

On the pews filled with succubi, all of them clapped. Starring at this moment intensely.

 

The boy's face began rapidly changing as if he was undergoing some monumental internal struggle. His body approached smoothly though, reaching up, and lifting her veil.

 

Her face was radiant, happy, and expectant. She closed her orange eyes and puckered her lips.

 

The boy's face began to change even faster, twitching and shaking, unnaturally. Cycling through various expressions.

 

The priest seemed to be getting fed up waiting.

 

“Come on, heretic! Hurry up!” He shouted.

 

The boy placed his hands on her shoulder and her hip. Leaning her back and supporting her.

 

He leaned forward... and heard the sound of a vacuum cleaner...

 

Rex jerked awake, still curled in his corner of the room. Looking around quickly, he saw the snoring little girl. He smiled happily at her as he felt like he had escaped.

 

“It was just a nightmare.” Rex said stretching, as he stood up. “That was almost as bad, as dreaming of falling off a cliff.”

 

Now that he had woken up, his heartbeat had finally calmed. Waking up in a panic was never good for anyone. His poor diet was already sure to stunt his growth, and adding additional stress wouldn't help.

 

I don't want to be short, and bald again!

 

He walked outside of the little girl's room, and out the recently installed wooden door, walking quickly to a hole 3 Rex's deep. It was currently filled with water, it had rained heavily for 3 days. Looking down closely, he examined his eye.

 

A month ago, when they were collecting the books, Kira had hit him in the face. At the time he just thought that it had hurt. He had been tired at the time, and since he was crying, he didn't realize it had been swelling fiercely. When he woke up, he couldn't open his eye and began to panic. Using a knife to drain the blood out of the wound, was something Kira had to help him do.

 

She was so happy she could help him, she even forgot to sterilize the blade. He had been carefully paying attention to this wound for the last month, and it had finally healed. Every morning he had been checking it for infection and trying to keep it clean. The other issue was that he was allergic to sulfa drugs, so those weren't an option, even though they were easy to make.

 

He found out about this allergy because the drugs were easy to make. He had made some as a kid and nearly poisoned himself. Since then, he was given other antibiotics, which is what Rex was trying to grow.

 

Rex tied an old burlap rag over his face like a mask, he had cleaned several of these rags. Walking over to an abandoned house, he began opening the wooden door. This home and 5 others were converted to have proper doors, and windows with glass. Inside the room was he had been carefully cultivating mold. He had bread everywhere in the room. He would have Kira bake some in the mornings, then get it wet, and let it rot.

 

Aside from small walkways, everything was covered in molding bread. Selecting 4 houses as primary grow rooms and a fifth house for potentials. What he was looking for was a mold that targeted other molds, without harming the bread. He had had no luck so far, which is why this was a worse method than sulfa drugs. This would also require testing, but he had monsters for lab rats.

 

In 1926, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. Rex was hoping to channel this man's spirit and delve into this world. Within the bacterial world, they had given us ways to fight infection with infection. He was very familiar with the manufacturing of penicillin, for engineers, it was often in textbooks. It was a major achievement for mankind.

 

Engineers to Rex were the researchers closest to the people. When you think of Astronauts, Doctors, and Soldiers, you probably think of the brave men providing a service. But no one thinks of the army of engineers, constantly struggling to give these people the equipment they need. We came from a very thankless job, we were able to understand all of the people who are the true backbone of the industries. It was never the CEO that gave a good product experience, but the people who answer the phones when they have a problem.

 

With no luck in the mold rooms, he was forced to give up. In a few days, he would replace all of the bread, and toss the mold in his composting pit. Now that he had water, he had to strike while the iron was hot, he had begun using it to bathe, and farm. He had felt like he had been in heaven the last few days. He was mostly growing berries, even though he had a feeling most of the seeds would produce trees. Tree's were a problem, as they would take a long time to grow. He prayed they would be ground fruits.

 

Kira, for the most part, tried her hardest to get what he asked for. The issue is that she doesn't understand. Eating food was foreign to her, but explaining what seemed common, was quite hard.

 

It was like trying to help your dog bury his bone for him, but he can't go outside. All you can do is talk to each other, but how you explain how you see the world to another. Our sense of sight and smell were very different, I had discovered, she could differentiate smells easy, and locate them quickly. This is how she found all the fruits, she just sniffed around for anything sweet. Since this was one of the few senses they shared, this is how he had been training Kira to find him food. By having her remember the smells of the raw forms.

 

“The recipe for the succubus bread was probably an undertaking of decades.” Rex said to himself.

 

His habit of talking to himself was getting worse. The sense of isolation was really bad,

 

“I have to keep my guard up constantly, I can never truly be at ease.” This is what he had discovered.

 

Most people are afraid of what they don't understand. Anyone who works in a technical field will have to throw this fear away. The internet was the tool that eliminated the fear of the unknown. Racism, Classism, Sexism, and nationalism, were all things that started to fade away. It connected people in ways you would never know. You couldn't hate other countries when you played games with people who lived there. If it hadn't been for some blocky, boring, building game in high school. He would never have become an engineer. It was the first place he got to build giant machines.

 

“I sleep much better though, now that we have all the weapons!” Kira must have woken up, and followed him.

 

Rex had gotten used to her behavior, she could walk almost soundlessly. And you couldn't hear her breathe, he had begun to wonder if she only breathed to talk. She didn't seem to like staying underwater for long periods or very deep.

 

The sun had finally risen. Rex walked into the house, and grabbed the book, he left behind.

 

This book was the first of three, but easily the most important.

 

Symbols can change the properties of mana when they are allowed to pass through them. For it to make a difference, you need to make a material that is conducive to mana. They used silver, nixed with ground-up magic stones. Gold was horrible at conducting mana, and copper had issues with longer enchantments.

 

They had symbols for everything, each with a very specific size. Looking at enchantments he began to realize it was very similar to a chemistry formula. The first section of the book was comparing various symbols, the goal was to reduce the size. In the process, the man had begun to see similarities between them.

 

He had started coming up with an equation to try to calculate what the symbol will look like, based on the energy it will provide. The issue was, he lived in a world that hadn't even thought of the concept of π.

 

His method was completely wrong, and he had gotten lucky with a certain size. His symbols were as large as a dinner plate. The minimum gap you need is the combined radius of the two symbols you are joining.

 

The problem this brought, was that his enchantments could quickly consume a city block. They were also very costly in silver. He needed to be able to experiment to refine his formula, so he took a job with his kingdom.

 

The kingdom wanted a device, that could completely drain the life out of an area. The skaarm had been a threat for everyone. Even if you destroyed a hive, as long as 2 finger-nail-sized eggs survived the purge. The entire thing would just start all over again.

 

They were born hermaphroditic as a larva, and burrow under the ground. After they had consumed enough nutrients they would return to the surface and harden. The worm body would become the cocoon, and split open, and the Skaarm would be revealed. The first would be the queen, and then the hive king. Then, endless types of drones, and guards. The queen can produce 100 eggs in a day, and they take a week to hatch. Then a month to mature, and they live for a whole 5 years.

 

The king wanted to enchant a giant chain using black iron, and truesilver. It would be a monumental cost. His wife's home region had been completely consumed by the skaarm. She had given him all of his children, and the loss of her home was too much for her. She had used poison to commit suicide.

 

They wanted a chain of hatred, capable of strangling the life out of the skaarm.

 

The researcher used the succubi as the base, and carefully calculated all his parts. Dark iron could only easily be destroyed by heat. Once it cooled it was mana resistant and possessed none naturally. He had to engrave it, while it was white-hot. Otherwise, his tools would just break, it was a monumental task.

 

The chain was 8 miles long, with a circumference of a little over 5 miles. It took the enchanter over 60 years to enchant that chain. He had studied the succubi to design the drain effect, targeting the same life energy they do. He thought he would make some breakthrough in his method, and leave the project unfinished. The researcher couldn't in the end, and continued until completion.

 

The king used 50,000 men to drag this chain and surrounded the hive after pushing back its forces. Once it activated the researcher saw the most horrific scene that could be imagined.

 

Everything turned to ashes, and he was left seeing a gray desert.

 

The old king soon died of old age, and the chain was passed on. It was used for one atrocity after another, by this time the man had stopped researching. All he could do was eagerly follow the chain, trying desperately to find a way to destroy his creation.

 

The king's son had been a madman, who killed all of his kin. He would use slaves wielding explosives to drive his enemies into their cities. Then exterminate them all with the chain. He wanted to unify the world under his sub-species of elf.

 

He left giant swathes of wasteland, everywhere he went. The races on the continent came together, and even the skaarm sent a representative. It was the first time in the history of the continent. The King had created so much desert, it was starting to spread to the rest of the continent. If they did not bend the knee to him, he destroyed them.

 

They joined hands and killed the king. It was a large battle, and the kind used an ocean of slaves. It had been a bloody battle. The final part of the covenant was then upheld jointly.

 

The cursed chain was then tossed in a volcano to melt. None of the thousands of witnesses left their spot until the last flake of it had melted away.

 

Then due to the famine, everybody began happily killing each other again. This had been before Carlog had appeared for his brief spree of havoc. After that the demons had killed Carlog and claimed this island, later entrusting it to the succubi.

 

“It was a kingdom, of the elves. It all makes sense. I bet the giant chain, was just them compensating for something.” Rex said an afterthought.

 

He thought this book was something at first, this elf had been convinced of himself. Rex had been working to completely redefine the formula. He had found too many faults with it, and realized he might be able to make something better. It would be a true masterpiece, worthy of a Nobel prize.

 

And then the rain washed it all away...

 

Rex wailed in despair as the rain and lightning, obliterated all of his work. He had written it on the ground since it is all he had. He had vowed on that day, he would never watch something like that happen again.

 

Kira thought he had been afraid, and decided she needed to comfort him. Being hugged and patted on the back, by something that can easily kill you. Wasn't that comforting to him.

 

After the rain had stopped, he had Kira make sheets of glass. These became the windows in their house, Kira didn't need to sleep on the damp floor after all. Rex had also made doors at the same time.

 

These glass panes that were made also served a much more crucial role.

 

Looking at the contraption he had set a good distance away, he walked towards it eagerly. It looked like two shoebox-sized pots with a slanted glass plate over them. The pain was slanted towards the pot in the front.

 

Ocean water would go in, then evaporate, and you are left with salt, and clean water. This water was added to the hole he dug, he was using it as a well. He would never drink anything that wasn't boiled again. The plan was to build a more permanent water treatment method.

 

“With a real toilet installed!” Rex was very happy about this. “I need to calm my excited heart, that is still down the road.”

 

The reason this dream had become so all-consuming, was Kira.

 

“How did she manage to find a plant, with leaves, that acts just like poison ivy!” Rex was still furious about this.

 

At least she only had rashes on her hands, poor Rex wasn't even able to walk after his rashes set in. He had been stuck in that agonizing condition for 2 days. The mama's never made this kind of mistake before. They just grabbed whatever they saw, right as they passed over the trees. Kira thought he would appreciate something that smelled nice.

 

“Does she even know what they are used for?”Rex said and immediately realized no.

 

Finished with gathering the salt, he added it to a burlap bag. He had been steadily collecting this salt, and finally had a decent amount.

 

A large pile of logs had been added to their stockpile. Kira's weapon of choice, for some reason, was the ax. Rex had gripped onto this instantly, telling the little girl; that a true succubus warrior, needs to be able to fell a tree, with a single swing of her battle-ax. Only then could she stand in a tide of enemies, and never fall!

 

The little girl seemed inspired by this idea and immediately began preparing to make her new ax. She was very ambitious, bringing back an ax head weighing 11 pounds. She looked like a valiant warrior, as she flew off the mountain after she attached a pole to it.

 

Since then, she spent about 2 hours a day gathering logs.

 

Rex had started shredding the wood into pulp, the plan was to make paper. Then he can finally start making real headway on research. He realized he could easily trick Kira into helping. Origami would keep her occupied for months.

 

The next step of papermaking needed bleach. Which is why he gathered the salt.

 

The first enchantment Rex had made in this world, was being used to make paper.

 

It was the joint work of man and succubus. It looked like 2 glass jars with a glass tube connecting them. Graphite rods were placed on each side in a jar. The rods connected to a plate, with an opening over one jar. The 2 jars would release hydrogen gas, which was useless to him right now. While the other one released chlorine gas, which he planed to regather in the water. This would make bleach for the paper.

 

Graphite was all around him in the crater. It was the best conductor for this reaction.

 

He walked over to the contraption, and slowly filled it with water. mixing salt on both sides to make a solution, he placed the lid on the top. The enchantment was on top of the thick lid and took multiple attempts. He had to make chisels, and carefully hammer the lines into it.

 

He failed 5 times and had Kira do it. She got it on her second try.

 

Why is she so good with her hands?

 

The water soon equalized between the 2 jars.

 

The enchantment looked like a series of symbols connected with straight lines, forming a small constellation in appearance.

 

It produced a shocking effect on weapons, like a taser. At least that is how it was described, he placed the magic stone, from an unlucky shark, onto the lid. He saw some bubbles forming in the water.

 

“Is that it?” Kira asked disappointed.

 

“That's it.” Rex confirmed.

 

“well, now what?” She asked.

 

“We wait, for an hour.” Res said.

 

“Why does everything involve waiting?!” Kira yelled out exasperated.

 

“Kira, do you know what the goal of industry is?” He asked.

 

“No? What's industry?” She answered.

 

“It is being able to produce things so efficiently, you don't need a person to do it.” Rex explained. “The goal of humanity was to be so industrialized that if every human decided to stop working, everything could be brought to them and nothing would change.”

 

“That sounds terrible though! It would be so boring!” Kira looked appalled, at what she was hearing.

 

“No Kira, you just continue to live on the internet!” Rex said as if he had seen God himself.

 

“What's the internet?” She asked.

 

This was a normal game, it happened when they waited around. Rex was still a malnourished child, he was limited in what he could do physically. He had to come up with the easiest ways to do things. Who cares if it is less showy?

 

“The internet is sadly something that won't be able to exist here.” Rex said sadly.

 

He had found some magnetized iron, and discovered something shocking. This planet did not possess a stable electromagnetic field. Without a stable electromagnetic field, it causes electronics to suffer being emp'd constantly. The compass couldn't stay pointing in any single direction. At first, he thought it was the island, and had Kira fly away for a full day and check it elsewhere. This had turned into a mistake.

 

The mamas have been gone for 3 weeks! I sent her away for 2 days, and had nothing to eat! What the hell was I thinking?!

 

Since he had been reborn he found himself getting so caught up in the moment, he would make mistakes. He felt this was a result of becoming a child again, but he was worried about what would happen when he grows.

 

If I have to keep living in this place, my hairline won't even survive my 20's... Will I go bald even sooner?

 

-

 

The bleach was finished and they had bleached the pulp. It looked like a thick white paste as it dried. He added some calcium carbonate he made from the shells, to add opaqueness. The pulp was nice and shiny. Next, he fed this into a hopper they had cast, as Kira operated a roller. The 2 wheels rolled the paste from the hopper, into a long thin sheet. It would then be dried, and cut into smaller sheets.

 

And once I recycle it, I will have proper 2 ply!

 

“Alright Kira, now that it is drying, it is time to make soap!” Rex was more excited about this.

 

-

 

They were pulling a crucible in a kiln filled with white chunks of powder.

 

When you cooked calcium carbonate, from the seashells, at 950 degrees. It sheds a molecule and becomes calcium oxide. Add water, and you get the strong base called calcium hydroxide. Just gotta be careful as it gets hot.

 

Mix and stir, some oil into this, and it will start to thicken. Then mold it, and cure it into soap for over a month.

 

It took a month, to gather over a gallon of oil. This was the production power of two bored children. They had done this during all the past sessions of waiting. Pressing oil out of various seeds Kira gathered when looking for food.

 

Kira was eagerly stirring the mixture, as it continued to thicken. It became a light yellow and retained some of the palm smell. It wasn't so bad, so they poured it into a long rectangular mold. They would take it out after a day and begin curing it for a few weeks. Once it was fully cured, it would be good to use it.

 

Making lead for a pencil was just graphite powder, water, and clay. He had already baked it into pencil lead and fitted it into wood to make pencils. He wouldn't be able to erase, but that wasn't a major problem for him. By baking some clay beads, he had also made a simple abacus.

 

“I can't leave anyway, I have no idea where the mamas went. They are not running the exchange.” Rex was furious that he was alone with Kira.

 

“What kind of parent leaves their daughter alone with a boy? It's been nearly a month!” Rex had been busy non-stop, otherwise, he felt like he was trapped in a bowl.

 

This was shown by the completed park-styled tables he had built with wood. He had made 3 of them while watching steel melt. After 100 times, it is similar to watching grass grow.

 

Looking over at the smelter, he saw the little girl. She was making a model for a mold, sitting at a table with an open-backed chair. Her tail snaked out the back and wrapped the handle for the bellows. After he realized just how strong her tail was, he decided to put it to work.

 

Rex sat down, after getting his book. Pulling over a dry piece of paper and a pencil, he began making his new equation.

 

While a lot of research fields require an excessive amount of English in college, engineers got the hell called math. Rex had taken almost as many math classes, as he had engineering classes. A lot of it, he never used. But since he dealt with numbers so often, he didn't forget it. Even after all these years.

 

The issue the enchanter ran into, is that he thought you could make everything work with one equation. This caused his symbols to be way off, meaning it only worked when he got to a certain scale. He had partially succeeded, but it was more by a fluke. This is what had caused his work to be so deceiving, at first glance. It looked very plausible until you realize it is full of holes from the start.

 

“Just like Static Theory, poor Einstein.” Rex couldn't help but say.

 

The poor elf had come up with vacuum tubes, but Rex wanted precise transistors.

 

Rex had also learned how the succubus' charm worked. It invaded through mana. The reason he was immune to their charm, was that all his mana was used so he could understand other languages. This book had also revealed all the issues with his ability.

 

If a word didn't exist, and he had no context, it would invent one. It was like one of those bad translation apps. He had no way to know if this was a limitation of his ability, or if it was a limitation of the languages. Some languages didn't translate well, since the meanings didn't translate across. This was seen everywhere in technical manuals, as some of them only existed in one language originally.

 

-

 

The exchange had been closed down for 2 weeks, and the prisoners were celebrating loudly. These were the few, the rest of the prisoners started panicking. This was an island of death where they exiled war prisoners. Almost everything on this island was poisonous.

 

Some old elves who had lived here for a hundred years or more told tales of what it was like before the succubi traded with them.

 

The prisoners were exiled with nothing to do, and food was scarce. The few safe sources were savagely fought over, as fishing in the waters wasn't safe. This entire island was uninhabited, for a reason. Every month it gets hit with a fierce storm. This forces the prisoners underground and lasts a few days to a week. If you are caught without shelter, the fierce winds will blow you away. It was said the succubi only got a bit of rain during them on their mountain.

 

The prisoners celebrating were the ones who survived the storm. The ones panicking were the ones who were running low on food.

 

Battles would soon begin among the prisoners for the last of the succubi bread. The factions had begun expanding, as they accepted new members. They were deciding who would rule, now that they had driven out the succubi, in their minds at least.

 

The beastmen, the elves, and the joint faction were all fighting over territory. It had started to become like the mainland. The ore had become worthless, and the picks were being used as weapons. The tensions had been growing by the day, and a lot of the unaffiliated prisoners were worried it would soon break out in war.