Rex was currently sitting in front of a table in his workshop. It was only 10 months since he had come to this world, but he had been busy none stop. This was one of the few times he didn't have a project to complete, he was waiting on resources from the mainland.

 

“Fractional distillation.” He needed to build a distillation tower.

 

Fractional distillation worked by collecting anything that has a mixture of different chemicals in it. You take this mass of chemicals and begin to slowly heat it. These chemicals will all boil at different temperatures into gas. A distillation tower works by sorting these gasses by weight. Lighter gases rise higher and heavier ones settle lower. This is the basis for distilling almost anything in the modern world. Even air is frozen and fractionally distilled into various gasses. It's how oxygen is gathered for the medical industry and nitrogen for fertilizer.

 

Every single material that could come out of a fractional distillery would be like gold to Rex at the moment. His small-scale one was just too slow, especially to accommodate for war. He could produce a gallon of Paraffin in a day with his current setup, using chemistry equipment. Naphtha, which is the gas used to make plastic, was even more pathetic to get this way. Plus he didn't have the equipment to handle gasses.

 

The succubi had begun making steel plates for him every day. This was the other reason he wanted them making weapons. He was going to build an industrial park in the marsh, currently, he would run it with succubi, but later he would introduce freed slaves to it. He wanted to produce everything at that location from bullets, to clothes. Since linen and cotton were not possible, then he would go straight to polyester.

 

Cotton was very expensive in this world, the beastmen were the only ones who had access to it in good quality. It had very strict requirements to grow, and the elves area was too temperate for it. The beastmen had all kinds of good resources that Rex direly needed. The elves were very similar as their forests had lots of resources hiding in them. Being on an island, he was hitting the boundary of what was locally available. The beastmen just didn't have an economy, the things they valued he didn't care for.

 

In front of him were two flat pieces of metal joined with a weld. The weld was messy and gaps were visible like it didn't apply evenly. His welder looked like a bow with 2 long cables and clamps on the ends of them. Inside the bow was a large enchanted plate, it was just a play on the same electric enchantment he had used countless times. He didn't have time for things that didn't have countless applications.

 

This was a simplified arc welder, but he didn't have proper welding rods, which is what leads to these results. Welding was the basis for building large machinery out of steel, the mining was finally outpacing Rex's ability to use the ore currently.

 

They had changed the plan to expose the succubi, the reason this happened all came down to resources. Cotton was readily available on earth and many wild varieties existed, that wasn't the case here. They had found a single kind of cotton to make nitrocellulose, and it had to be sourced from the beastmen. Rex had never expected to run into this problem, but he could also see why.

 

The environment here was much different than the earth, so of course, the flora and fauna would follow. This is why he did almost nothing with organic materials. He couldn't trust they would work the same way they did on earth. Sawdust could be used in place of cotton but the product was awful, worse than gunpowder.

 

“Am I going to have to use gunpowder weapons? It is so wasteful though...” Rex lamented.

 

Using sodium nitrate in place of nitric acid was incredibly wasteful to the material. It was like using a gold bar as a paperweight.

 

Dunk!

 

Rex was pulled out of the spiral his thoughts had fallen into. Lately, all he could do was think of what he didn't have and spin his wheels. None of this was healthy for him, but if he didn't stay busy all he thought about was his old world.

 

Kira was standing in front of Rex, his eyes were looking at her, but they weren't focused on her. Rex had been like this more and more lately, and she didn't know what to do. After Rex had kissed her, it was like something broke inside of him. Previously everything he built seemed to have so much purpose and a direction. Now it seemed like he was seeing something that was taking him further and further away.

 

Succubi were distant creatures, and she didn't know a lot about other races. She had been studying how unions worked between other races because she was afraid of what was happening to Rex. She wanted the boy she met, who made pots with her back.

 

“Why are you crying?” Rex asked her.

 

“I don't know what to do.” Kira answered him honestly.

 

“What do you mean?” Rex asked her.

 

“I thought that if I was a good wife, you might be like you were when we first met.” Kira began to explain. “I'm really worried about you. You don't laugh, you don't cry. It's like you are not even really here anymore. All you do is talk about this industry and that industry. You are not making sense anymore.”

 

Rex had always patiently explained everything and had a plan, but now she was having to change things around. The succubi now had technology and weapons, they were a threat to the elves and beastmen. Rex wanted to expose them and build this grand country of the industry using slaves. It felt like he was sprinting towards something desperately, but Kira didn't know what it was. He stopped working out, he stopped doing a lot of things.

 

“Anytime I don't have something on my mind to occupy it, all I can think of is everything I have lost. My friends, my family, even my dog Fifi. “ Rex said brokenly, “What's wrong with just wanting to make a warm blanket for yourself to live in?”

 

Kira walked over to him and hugged him. He seemed to try to break away at first but gave up in the end. He obviously couldn't escape from the superior power of the succubi.

 

“My sisters are going to infiltrate the beastmen and elves' cities. This time we are planning on running permanent businesses, we are going to take their resources and slaves without them ever even knowing. My mom told me that I am going to be the youngest leader the succubi have had.” Kira said proudly.

 

For Kira, this was all because of Rex. A succubus could not bring attention to themselves in any way, or their hunting habits would quickly be exposed. Now they were separating from spy work for the first time, and it had opened new avenues for their entire species. They could afford to draw attention to themselves, as they didn't have much to hide. Not needing to eat wasn't that hard to hide, but being a mass murderer was.

 

Rex had done a lot to build a foundation for the succubi, and right now he was hurting. It was her turn to take care of him, this had been the basis for their relationship. He showed her his world, and she showed him hers. He trusted her, and she trusted him. During their kiss, she realized she didn't want to live like a normal succubus, she hated it. She had associated everything new with the boy she spent time with. She didn't want him to die, and so she had to protect him.

 

This is probably why every succubus who married, left the clan. They had enough problems not being able to kiss or sleep together like a normal couple. Being surrounded by creatures that see you like food, doesn't help the situation. Kira had started studying Rex's enchanting notes now that she could read them. She realized the original goal of the plate was supposed to protect him, but it failed. It wasn't that his fear of the succubi was gone, he just didn't care. This scared Kira the most, she doubted he even realized it.

 

“You don't need to worry, let Kira handle all of this. Why don't we go make pots like we used to, can you show me your family with clay?” Kira asked desperately.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Elven City Tristyll, Wyndyllynn's home

 

A large bird resembling a rooster landed, on its back sat a very old elven woman. Her skin resembled tree bark, and her hair had none of its original colors, now just a solid white. Her skin was very fair and she had light green eyes. High elves all had Dark blue eyes that glowed with the mana they contained inside them. It allowed them to see mana like some rare races and made them the greatest magic casters on the continent.

 

Now they were extinct and only the subraces remained. Wyndy was a wood elf and used to have dark brown hair and eyes, but her mana was weakening with age. It was evident with the struggle the woman had climbing off the rooster, she chooses it because it provided the softest landing.

 

Her home as an elven queen was very simple, she didn't want to spoil her beloved granddaughter after all. It was a modest 83 room estate with a pool and a private forest with nothing being allowed to be built within 5 miles of it in all directions. Wendy felt like this was the bare minimum that any elf should strive for to raise a family.

 

After walking through a grand reception hall, a banquet hall, and 15 minutes of the highly decorated hallway she came to a courtyard. This was where her beloved daughter could practice her magical arts without worry. Wyndy had paid to have a barrier built around the courtyard that she couldn't even break easily in her heyday, this was so she could carefully cultivate her magical talents, just like Wyndy had in her youth.

 

Walking into the courtyard through the barrier she was surprised to see her granddaughter... doing push-ups? Wyndy stopped and looked at her granddaughter carefully.

 

She had dark brown hair and eyes, and a very determined look on her face. Looking over her clothes, Wyndy noticed they had changed. She was wearing the equivalent of tight fitted Green silk vest, and leather pants. She also noticed her granddaughter sporting a pair of moccasins and had to pause.

 

This was a shoe King Ivangor had specifically had invented, as most elves used boots with thick leather soles. Ivangor had stated that the leather weakened the impact from his foot. He didn't want his shoe to act as a sheath, for the sword that was his foot. The metal had dented when he used it, so he refused to wear it over his feet. Ivangor paid thousands of silver coins a year designing thinner, stronger moccasins.

 

“Welch, what are you doing, doing push-ups? You don't need that to be a powerful caster, also put your robes back on, look at what you're wearing.” Wyndy began to scold her granddaughter.

 

“Grandma, I don't like magic. I've decided, I want to be like Ivangor! I can just punch the casters!” Welch said excitedly.

 

Wyndy felt like she had been punched in the chest by that statement. She had to take a couple of deep breaths to try to comprehend what she just heard.

 

“Grandma's hearing must not be what it used to be, can you repeat that?” Wyndy asked desperately.

 

Welch stood up and stretched her shoulders, she looked like a young elven teen of about 13 to 14.

 

“Grandma, magic is boring, I want to punch things like Ivangor does!” The young elf explained excitedly. “The robes are stuffy, and I don't like reading dusty old books! I like what I am doing now.”

 

“Welch, no proper elf should want to be like that psychopath, you are still young. You shouldn't make a decision like this!” Wyndy desperately pleaded with her daughter.

 

Oh please, let me just be experiencing dementia!

 

Wyndy was the only wood elf to become a lord, besides Ivangor. The wood elves were the largest sub-species of elf, and Wyndy was the role model of an elven mage. She was horrified when she saw what Ivangor was teaching her people. The elves had always admired the strong, and they were often chosen to be the leaders. This had always been proper, as they had to be able to fight off the beast kings. To Wyndy though it felt like Ivangor had just joined them though, he was not a proper elf.

 

“Master Wyndyllynn, King Dryfys has sent a representative to see you.” an attendant interrupted.

 

“Tell them to fuck off! Can't you see we are having a crisis here?” Wyndy roared at the attendant.

 

She had to convince her granddaughter to leave this path.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Port City Amyllyr, Inside a shop

 

Inside the back of a newly opened shop, a woman was being ambushed by an old lady. The shopkeeper had been opening the store when the old lady came in and asked if she bought raw gems. The elf had agreed as it was a weapons store and they have used ornamentation. The old woman asked to go into the back as she didn't like the wide-open windows, and didn't want to get mugged.

 

“Come on, just go to sleep?” The old woman said as she continued to press a rag over her face.

 

She had opened the door and lead the lady in when the door was shut as she was grabbed. A rag was pressed over her face with a sharp acrid smell. She was going light-headed from it, and she felt herself slipping away.

 

The old woman continued to hold the rag over her face, restraining her tightly until she passed out. The old woman dragged her to the middle of the room with a strength that did not match her frail frame. The old woman then began to remove the young elf's clothing quickly and deftly. Throwing it in a pile on the ground in the corner. The old woman turned her over a couple of times, taking in every inch of her nude flesh.

 

The old woman got on top of the younger woman, sitting on her waist as she leaned forward and pinned the woman's shoulders. She pushed her face forward over the unconscious elf and kissed her deeply. The old woman was aggressively pushing her body down over the unconscious elf. The younger elf's body started twitching as she started trying to struggle weakly, but a change was happening to her.

 

Her skin looked like it was withering as she tried to push the woman off, and her muscles were starting to deflate. She was looking more and more like a skeleton as the kiss continued, until her little bit of struggle ended. Standing up the old woman looked down at a wither dried corpse. The dried leathery skin, and dead hair, was already turning into ashy sand. The old woman brushed her food forward causing the corpse to scatter across the floor.

 

A change began to happen to the old woman's body as her flesh began to smooth out and her hair darkened. She slowly began to remove her clothes as she became a young woman before the last piece of underwear hit the ground.

 

The woman standing naked now was a beauty, with large breasts that stood proudly, and a thin waist with wide hips. Her skin was a flawless white, with only the light pink of her nipple being the only break in her skin color. Aside from her head and eyebrows, her entire body was bare of hair. She walked over to the elf's clothes and held the bra to her chest. Her chest and large breasts began to slowly shrink down and compact until she could put it on.

 

She grabbed a tight pair of bloomers the elf woman used as underwear and began the process of adjusting her legs until she could get the underwear over her hips. She continued to adjust her body dimensions until she was fully clothed in the elf's clothes. Taking out a mirror from her original clothes she began to adjust her hair and face. Becoming a random member of a species was easy for a succubus like Dora, but she had never had to become someone specific.

 

It took Dora over an hour to completely copy the elf's appearance.

 

She walked through the back room until she found a broom, and swept up the “dust” on the floor. Grabbing the original clothes she tossed them into the fireplace. The succubi had chosen this location carefully as their first infiltration. The elf who owned this place was single and was the 3^rd daughter of a merchant family. She was a recluse that bought and sold everything, but mainly the weapons her family made.

 

Walking from the backroom back to the storeroom she saw another female elf waiting for her. Dora knew this was another succubus instantly, to a succubus their own kind had a very distinct life force. This would be her supporter while she worked here selling the succubus goods. Kira wanted to sell various items and equipment. Places like this would become the backbone of the succubi, and this was a new experience for them.

 

Her supporter reached into her purse and pulled out a clay bottle that looked like a wine jug. This would be Dora's rations for the next 6 months.

 

“We are currently setting up a location in the forest to drop off supplies. We have sisters working to infiltrate more businesses as well. We should be able to get stock to you in a few days.” She reported.

 

Dora took the clay jug happily, this was all new and fun to her. The two of them went through the entire store and went through all of the stock. Anything the succubi couldn't identify that was a resource would get sent back. Currently, all of the sisters had to learn as they went, but Kira wanted to turn the island into a location to groom future succubi. They would be carefully trained and raised there.

 

The great ancestor had said that a succubus child should be happy, and they needed to be shielded from the world. Kira was saying that this only hampered their growth, and they needed to be exposed to the world as young as possible. This was the most unified as a race they had ever been. Previously food prevented them from being able to settle or interact very much. They had to always be wary and move from location to location.

 

“What is this weird white rock? It smells like our soap does.” The supporter said.

 

“No clue! Send it back!” Dora chirped.

 

She had trained at the exchange with Mistress Kira and was very familiar with the ore from their island. They rotated sisters in and out of the exchange and began to use it to train. The succubi didn't have a lot of facilities to use after all.

 

-

1 day later...

Succubus Homeland, Rex, and Kira's house.

 

Rex just sat sadly in front of the little figurines Kira had made. She had listened to his entire life story, and about the world, Rex had come from. She was shocked to learn he had come from another world, but he just knew so much that she had never seen. She could also understand why he was having so many issues adapting to this world.

 

“Don't worry Rex, I promise to make you the best hamburger!” Kira said determinedly.

 

“Hahaha! Why are you bringing out the worst things from my country? At least make it steak and eggs.” Rex laughed at her statement.

 

Right now the two of them were just sitting on the floor in their living room. She had insisted on digging this out of him as he would never just bring it up himself. He had tried to make figures of his family but failed. She couldn't bear watching him get upset and helped him make them.

 

Rex seemed a lot happier once he had them in his hands. When they had last played chess, was the last time she was able to get him to stop working. That was only because he became worse when he had nothing to do.

 

He feels completely alone...

 

Kira could understand this feeling, as she was always bored being the only child on the island. She had come up with an answer to help Rex.

 

If he feels alone, I'll just help him make more humans!

 

Kira had begun studying enchanting for this very reason. Kira could see mana naturally, and the math that Rex was teaching her was allowing her to finally understand what she was seeing. It was like finally having a name for the colors of the rainbow.

 

Mana flowed everywhere naturally and in everything. These transformations in nature were a result of the movements of mana changing its properties as it moved. She could also start to see how her body used mana and began to understand it. Kira realized she was capable of being a better enchanter than Rex could ever dream to be. It was the same reason the High Elves became the greatest mages, she didn't need anything to observe the changes in mana.

 

“What do you want to do here?” Kira asked him.

 

This is really what she wanted to know. If she knew she could help him.

 

“I don't know, originally I wanted to find other humans but now I'm not sure.” Rex said honestly. “The worst part about this world is that I can easily see how it became this way. Do I want to change that though? Is that even possible?”

 

Rex looked at her with a tormented look.

 

“I could make weapons of war unlike any seen before. The great weapon of the succubi is nothing compared to what humans have used against each other. We had to set minimum standards because we were always shocked at how low people were willing to go.” Rex explained.

 

Rex stopped as if he was trying to summarize what he was feeling.

 

“I don't want to be some conqueror, but I don't want to be conquered either. If we build this place up, then it will become too valuable to hold onto.” Rex said. “When I first started out, I only wanted to protect myself. I made things that I found comfortable, but now I can't do it all alone anymore.”

 

Kira finally felt like she was given a chance!

 

“You can trust Kira! I am working on figuring out how to make you babies, and once I do you will have lots of little humans to work for you.” Kira told him confidently.

 

Rex looked at Kira with a blank look before it turned to shock, he must have never thought about this. She had all of the sisters she could use to test enchantments until she found the correct one. Kira wanted Rex to rely on her more, after all, she now had control of the succubi. When he saw her flawless cotton operation, he would be truly shocked. Kira wanted to show him just how reliable she was.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Beastman plains, Antarii plains

 

120 wolfmen were running in a large pack across the plains. They kept a good distance between them and were stopping at green plants with white flowers. Each of them carried a basket on their back filled with white fluff they were picking from the plants.

 

They grew everywhere over the flat plains here. This area was the home of the wolfmen, one of the strongest groups that had a beast king. This cotton that grew everywhere in these plains, wasn't used at all by the beastmen. The succubi had had no idea why Kira wanted it until a succubus had fallen onto the large collection pile.

 

This was a divine material that the succubi had never imagined existed, why were they sleeping on scratchy reeds, when they could get this? Rex had yet to be to the mainland and he did not know the space the beastmen occupied was similar to Australia in his world. The succubi had discovered this material after they were sent to collect it and relayed the information through all of them. They set up lookouts in the sky, then turned into beastmen. It was faster to run than fly up and down constantly they discovered.

 

This stuff grew everywhere like a weed, They just found an empty location and collected it as quickly as possible. They had found a set of caves and packed the cotton into it to await transport.

 

A succubus ran up to a cotton plant and began to pull the fluffy kernels of cotton out one by one, tossing them into the basket on her back. She looked at her sisters all around her, joining in the great work. She issued a sharp battle cry to the sky that her sister chorused with her.

 

“For fluffy beds!” They yelled to the sky as one!