Succubus Homeland, Rex's Lab

 

Rex had helped Kira to lay out exactly what he needed to be done to make a valley for the future docks. Concrete was the easiest part as all that needed to be done was to crush the limestone and cook it at 1000 degrees. If the succubi couldn't even do that they should just give up as a species. Rex already had no hope of getting the docks done in time before the slaves arrived.

 

“It's a mixture of the lazy succubi and the unreliable prisoners.” Rex muttered.

 

It was like a match made in hell, for he had been stumped on what to do with this. The succubi were at least getting better, but this only made the prisoners more worthless. Now that they had cotton, even their burlap lost its value.

 

“I am going to teach Kira to make cloth, and then I can have real underwear!” Rex cheered.

 

It was like a caveman, stumbling and bumbling his way towards civilization. With a pair of underwear, a proper shirt, and denim, he would just need proper shoes.

 

“I need to figure out where the prisoners get their leather!” Rex decided.

 

Rex needed to get the prisoners in check, the issue had always been the mines.

 

“Should I just feed them all to the succubi?” Rex murmured.

 

This was the last thing he wanted to do, but he couldn't afford to have an unstable element on the island in the future. The elves wanted to conquer the mainland, and the beastmen would be the first people they have to go through. While the numbers were similar the technology was not. The culture was also completely different between the two, with the elves planning to turn most of them into slaves.

 

They would wipe out all of the violent races of the beastmen that usually become the kings, and take in all of the lower races. Dryfys seemed to have quite the appetite, and they had no idea what the man was planning. Not only the main keep where he stayed but all of the buildings he frequented were also converted to his tastes. Not a single female was allowed into his private all-male gardens, Kira said Dryfys was just being cautious.

 

“No, not at all. I bet he is just like Ivangor, extreme.” Rex concluded.

 

The elves and the beastmen both lived by similar philosophies of might makes right, but with completely different results.

 

“That damn ape sleeps 18 hours a day, and drinks heavily the other 6!” Rex muttered.

 

The beastmen's preparation for the elves? Nothing, the best response. They were going to do nothing at all, Rex was worried they were going to get steamrolled. Rex could only imagine the carnage the elves would unleash. When told the elves were coming, the beastmen all seemed to think this was fine. Let them come, they will show them the fury of beasts!

 

Rex had direly tried to get them to do anything in response.

 

“Nothing I have done has worked! I have been attacking them this whole time!” Rex yelled out angrily as he hit his desk over and over.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Fist City, Middle of the city.

 

A large statue of a gorilla stood tall, beating his chest towards the sky. Many beastmen seemed to pay homage to it. Out of all the beastmen admiring the 60 ft. statue, the strangest was a group of female elves. They walked right up to it, pushing some of the weak beastmen out of the way. One of them was holding a large bag on her shoulders, a fuse stuck out of it.

 

They marched right up to the statue as if they owned it, placing the bag directly between the ape's intricately carved legs. The beastmen stared at the elves in caution as they set flames to the string coming out of the bag before they all started to quickly leave. A large Baboonman came to see what was going on.

 

He watched in confusion as the string reached into the bag.

 

BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!

 

The two legs of the ape were shattered like sticks, and shards of it killed several beastmen. As the upper body of the great ape fell, even more died. It was a truly tragic scene before the Baboonman. Looking around he began to hoot and holler, a call to mean “Drive out all elves.”

 

The baboon stood and waited patiently as the entire city was driven mad, roars and growls could be heard from every corner and direction of the city. It lasted for over half an hour as the Baboonman patiently stood. Finally, he heard a callback.

 

“We drove them all out.”

 

The Baboonman nodded several times, that was the 33^rd time they had successfully driven away all the elves.

 

“Such fine work deserves an extra-large glass of alcohol!” He smiled broadly as he patted his furry back.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Fist City, Ape King's residence.

 

In the middle of a plain room filled with empty barrels, A large mattress lay. Its occupant was a 12-foot Gorilla with a very large beer belly.

 

Bbbbbbboooooooommmmmmmm!!!

 

An explosion was heard and the room lightly shook. A pained look appeared on the giant gorilla's face.

 

BBBBBBBRRRRRRRTTTTTT!!!

 

The pained expression disappeared with the release of the mighty fart, the ape snuggled tighter into his bed. A large smile began to spread over its hairy face.

 

-

Back to Rex...

Succubus Homeland, Rex's Lab

 

The ape king was the overall leader of the entire beastmen race, and without his order, the beastmen would not move as a group. Any single beastking could move as they pleased, but not as a group as that violated the ape king's rule. Rex was worried about a beastking deciding to go sailing and war for their island, as the port was right there. You could see it from the acid island.

 

Then from the acid island, you could vaguely see this island. That was succubus eyes mind you, Rex's eyes weren't nearly that good.

 

“Now I feel like I stirred the shit pot, with no reason to!” Rex tugged his precious hair lightly.

 

He would never allow himself to go bald again, once was more than any man needed.

 

The issue though kept going back to the elves, all 4 of the remaining leaders were insane. Dryfys had probably already killed Alysandri long ago, as he said she suddenly disappeared. Then he revealed magical talents and fought Ivangor to a draw, becoming the elven high king. Then he abolished the king system, and put Ashanda in charge of finances, and made Illisayd the prime minister.

 

This showed he was a highly fascist elf, as he wanted even more! He planned to conquer the continent as the High elves once almost succeeded. The only thing Rex could do is sell them better weapons than the elves after they were slapped silly. Dryfys was truly farsighted, as he wanted an entire Army of Ivangors. Rex could admire this aspect, as who wouldn't want an army of madmen.

 

This leads Rex back to his current situation, the prisoners. What to do with the prisoners.

 

Dunk!

 

Kira walked in and looked at Rex, relief showed soon after on her face. She had refused to look at him for the entire day. Not until the image of her butt had completely and fully faded.

 

A thought suddenly occurred to Rex.

 

“How are the dwarves doing?” Rex asked looking at her closely.

 

“The ones you have mining with the small weapon of the succubi?” Kira asked.

 

“Wait, is that what you are calling TNT?” Rex asked abhorred.

 

Kira looked at him with a confused look, as she carefully explained their reasoning.

 

“TNT is just random letters, you have really bad naming sense. The small weapon of the succubi tells everyone clearly what it is!” Kira declared proudly.

 

Something that had long troubled him, was beginning to suddenly make sense.

 

“Hold on! Are you the one who named the great weapon of the succubi?!” Rex asked his greatest fears.

 

Kira looked at him for a minute as if he wasn't making sense.

 

“Of course I am.” She said flatly.

 

This had confirmed all of his worst fears, because if she was naming everything, as his wife, what could he do? If your wife drove your truck on occasion and called it little dick when she did, could you stop her?

 

“Please, let's come up with new names for everything, we can do it together.” Rex begged Kira.

 

Kira looked at him offended for a second.

 

“But these are all the weapons you have made to express your love for me and the succubi. We must name them as such!” Kira ended the discussion right there.

 

She walked out of Rex's lab with her little tail held high, as she established her dominance. Rex reached towards her but she was already gone.

 

“You never answered about the dwarves...” Rex called out to the empty room.

 

Rex would have to check it out himself, he hoped he could use the dwarves. The dwarven alliance had the best miners and was the 3^rd largest faction. Rex wanted to arm them with TNT and chase the rest of the prisoners out. He would then sell it to the dwarves using the exchange, as they would need it to mine and hold the tunnels.

 

This would be mutually beneficial to both sides and give the future dwarven slaves somewhere to go. If the prisoners had nowhere to run they would have to come into line. There was nowhere on the surface they could hide from the succubi. This was the best plan he could feasibly come up with using the current pieces he had.

 

“I can only wait till she comes back, then go out tomorrow when it is light out.” Rex muttered.

 

-

1 day later...

Imperial Elven Training Camp, Camp Ivangor

 

The 4 days of acid baths and 3 days of digging through broken glass had a profound transformation on the beautiful woodland creatures. Their once fair white skin, was now a green decayed hue, making them all look extremely vicious.

 

The club hand and sword foot had started to form, but it was the opposite of what Ivangor promised them. The tempering of their hands formed sharp blades that were incapable of bending, and in some cases, they lost them completely. Ivangor said this wasn't a problem, just temper your wrists.

 

Kicking rocks to sharpen their feet sounded good in theory. All they had to show for it was hardened clubs, as their toes just kept breaking and deforming. Many couldn't walk normally and were forced to hobble now. Ivangor had kept special healers he trained, who just sped up the natural recovery of their injuries. It didn't feel like healing at all and made everything irreversible.

 

They looked like really tall deformed goblins or diseased orcs. They had no choice but to get stronger as the training got more and more severe. Right now they were watching the only normal-looking elf standing firmly between two trees.

 

He seemed even more firm than the trees around him, as he floated in the air. His two legs split wide open, and his toes pressed firmly into the bark. On his shoulders were two large stones as he seemed to just be perfectly suspended there.

 

“Now pay attention, you never know when you will need to carry a body between two trees.” Ivangor explained in his monotone. This was what he was like out of combat. “I often use this maneuver when I want to suplex someone into the ground.”

 

A bizarre scene appeared, as his toes seemed to curl and straighten one by one. This happened on both feet and allowed him to ascend between the two trees as if he was being lifted by a rope. The elves all looked at this in shock.

 

“And down.” Ivangor stated.

 

His toes did the same movement in reverse bending completely against the joint. Causing him to ascend rapidly, stopping right before his nuts could touch the ground. The entire movement up and down had been completely silent, and his upper body didn't budge in the slightest. The scene of him flying up and down a mine shaft carrying more ore than a conventional lift appeared in their heads.

 

“Now, it is your turn. Don't waste my time or I will be forced to kill you.” Ivangor stated flatly from between the trees.

 

The green elves began looking at their deformed toes, then at the forest of trees. Over 10,000 had started this training and less than 3,000 remained. How many would survive this hellish training?

 

-

Meanwhile...

Succubus Homeland, Special Mining Area

 

Rex and Kira had been dropped off at the special mining area. Rex hadn't been here since the demonstration. The dwarves and gnome had dug an open-air pit and placed branches across. This was to create a shade for them to work under. As they got paid more, they had it good, and not one of them looked to be doing badly.

 

They made caves to live in and were even doing limited smelting. The smelting appeared to be just to repair their pickaxes. They even had a root cellar to store alcohol carved into the rocks. The 4 dwarves had already hauled what they needed out for the day and seemed to be relaxing. They had made wooden tables and chairs and were playing a type of game, using a cup and balls.

 

It was a small leather ball they used, and it appeared to be a drinking game. Rex was confused about where they got the leather from.

 

This going to be a hard sales pitch...

 

“Excuse me!” Rex called to get their attention. “I'd like to talk to you about another job.”

 

Rex walked up to the group. The gnome looked at him hatefully, but a red-haired dwarf held him back. The leader of the group had dark tanned skin and a black beard. The tan was strange for an underground race. This dwarf was also fairly grayed and seemed to be past his prime.

 

“What do ye want?” He asked Rex flatly.

 

The dwarves were fairly direct to the point of seeming rude. Rex had learned this fairly quickly.

 

“I want the dwarves to take over the mines using explosives, and force all the other prisoners out.” Rex stated flatly.

 

The dwarf looked at him in shock at what he suggested.

 

“And what has made ye think of that?” The dwarf asked him with caution in his eyes.

 

Many had mistaken him for a gnome or dwarf. It had to do with his short height since he was a child.

 

“You are the best miners, and you are the most likely to trade. I can't do anything else with the other prisoners as long as they are in the mines.” Rex decided to be honest. “I plan to bring slaves here of all races, and I imagine dwarves will be among them. While I can't promise to return them to their homelands, at least here they can be free. I plan to build a city on this island.”

 

“And why would ye do that?” The dwarf was looking at him like he was crazier and crazier.

 

“Do you know that the elves plan to conquer the continent? Do you think they will leave us alone if they find us here?” Rex asked the Dwarf back.

 

The dwarf looked stunned by this information.

 

“I'll tell you what, this is good for both of us. I'll have the succubi sell you TNT, you can just trade for it. If you agree I want them out in a week.” Rex said it was better to just end it here.

 

Rex wasn't in the mood to play 50 questions with the dwarf. Turning around he began to leave but the dwarf called out to him.

 

“Were ye the one who made that blasting stick?” The dwarf called out to him.

 

“Yeah, but pretty much any of the succubi can now.” Rex said to the dwarf.

 

“It's much stronger than the cracking powder we use.” The dwarf responded turning back to his drink.

 

Cracking powder?

 

A thought suddenly occurred to him. An underground race would have a much stronger need for explosives as sealing a tunnel is life and death. This would make gunpowder extremely precious. This was something he never considered as someone on the surface, as saltpeter was very abundant. Underground it would be a pain to produce, as the fumes would make the tunnels a disease factory. Rex didn't care about selling TNT too much, as it was fairly useless against the succubi.

 

Rex began to walk towards the exchange as he began to carefully ponder the situation. This was just like Canabus, and he could only hope the dwarves were better. This would be the 19^th attempt at using prisoners to control the prisoners. Rex didn't have much hope at this point.

 

If the beastmen got their asses kicked, he would begin to supply it to them. The port the beastmen had was close enough to get to the island, and while the elves had better ships, they mostly sailed between their islands. There weren't any convenient islands between the succubi and the elves.

 

“I shouldn't have fucked with the elves!” Rex was kicking himself.

 

It felt like he kicked a sleeping dragon, he had no way to confirm Dryfys was behind the death of the divine tree, but he gained too much from it. If you put all the pieces together, it connected too well. This was the conclusion he kept coming to.

 

“But why? Does he hate the beastmen that much?” Rex muttered.

 

It felt like he had kicked an iron plate, it was much easier dealing with a sane person, than to try to understand someone insane. Dryfys' entire backstory screamed abuse, there was no way he was normal. While Ashanda was now the weakest she was still fairly powerful. Dryfys was also instituting much harsher training for mages and had started training more fighters like Ivangor.

 

His only real hope was that Ivangor was such a genius he would be unable to explain the proper process to the regular elf. When you try to mimic true genius you can only be mired in disappointment. They can just see things the average person can't, and they can't explain what it is they see differently. Everyone thought Einstein was a retard, they even called him crazy. It wasn't until relativity that all his other theories suddenly made sense.

 

“He put into words, what he had seen all along.” Rex murmured.

 

Rex felt like Einstein would now. After teaching Kira what he had painstakingly gained in enchanting he was now useless. She was so much better than him it was disgusting. Right now she was working on creating a magic-powered light bulb. If Einstein found himself in the modern world would he suddenly feel stupid? Rex wasn't able to help her with anything but the mechanical design.

 

Fortunately, he doubted she could possibly close that gap between them, as she just didn't have the time. Her eyes spun when he began explaining the elements and how they react. It was clear she didn't have the faintest clue, and mechanical interactions were even worse for her. The succubus was just too straightforward of a creature.

 

Seeing the exchange coming into sight Rex hurried his steps. The sooner he got back to his lab the sooner he could make a loom.

 

-

 

Rex was looking at his blueprint, and even he was shocked with what he came up with.

 

Cleaning the cotton was over half the work; it was dirty, it was tiring, and it was bullshit to do by hand. Rex would happily leave this to the succubi, while this machine did the easy part. When the cotton is clean and puffy, you mix it and feed it through a spindle. All this does is stretch and spin the cotton into yarn. The more you stretch and spin it the finer it gets until it is as thin as thread.

 

Rex already had an engine that could be controlled, why wouldn't automate this process? Rex was going to build a succubus sweatshop to pay them back for all the humiliation they caused him. It would make his future underwear that much more comfortable. Seashells contained great sources for dyes if extracted, and Rex planned to sell this useless stuff to the elves.

 

The goal was to give the beastmen better sticks to match up with the elves better preparations.

 

“Brightly colored body bags, they can use the soap to wash the blood off them.” Rex muttered.

 

While Dora was very upset her cash flow would be dwindling for a while, he just didn't care. The number of weapons she managed to sell was staggering. He had no idea what drove her to such an extent, she didn't slack on the slaves at all either. Per her estimates, since she couldn't count very well yet, it should be over 200 slaves sent.

 

Dora was also rising in elven society and had started being invited to all kinds of parties. She sent back a massive stream of completely useless information. Rex was certain she sent back the sizes of every influential elven male's penis. This was information he was shocked that she had found, not for the usefulness of it, but the fact that she could.

 

They were up to 30 guns, and Kira was training the succubi diligently. She also insisted on making a new firearm for herself and insisted he shows her how to make gun cotton. She made it seem like it was some sacred process, but he just took cotton, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and started stirring over an ice bath. It's that easy, it just takes 24 hours for the cotton to change.

 

After it has soaked for 24 hours, you just toss in a few more chemicals that cause it to harden. It will look like a black, thick, tar-like plastic, that you just grind into powder. The acid bath causes the cotton to change and have the same chemical property as gunpowder, but it burns completely in the reaction. This is how all modern gunpowder is made, whether small arms or cannons. The grain is just how finely you grind it, and how much you use.

 

Most of the human-technology is just improvements on existing forms. All that matters is whether you understand the principles behind it. Why pick a stupider way to do something when you can just make it the best that you can? The loom technology was merely to prepare the succubi for what came next, which was synthetic fibers. He wouldn't want to shock the poor things when he is making plastics into fibers.

 

The other issue he was running into was designing a city. Dora had told him nothing of the types of slaves she purchased, just a rough count of how many. The engineer in Rex immediately wanted to build up and correct humans' useless mistakes. Build everything tightly and use every last inch of space. Efficiency brings its own beauty and he was convinced he could prove it to others.

 

Kira had ripped his blueprints into pieces though, saying no one wants to live in a puzzle box. Rex merely ran his head through the succubi's spread-out box village, with no planning whatsoever. Was she really one to talk to? They argued for hours and got nowhere finally deciding they would build the foundation and let the future slaves decide. Rex was convinced this would fail right out of the box, he was already counting his losses.

 

“Oh yeah, we finally found mercury.” Rex muttered.

 

The elves used it for decoration, the liquid metal was so cool. They had no idea how poisonous it was. It was just like in the early medieval days. Rex could just imagine them swirling it in flasks like crackpots, with no idea what they had. They called it vanishing silver, as it fused into rocks. This was how the elves entertained themselves with such a useful element. Rex had wanted to bash his head through the table when Dora casually mentioned this party trick in her reports.

 

If Rex was lucky, he would have a jar of it in a few days. Mercury was pretty rare and was only found in deposits mixed with other rocks. The moment he started messing with mana he had a thought that hadn't left his mind even to this day.

 

Can I make my own dark iron?

 

If it can be formed naturally then it can be formed synthetically, as long as you can figure out how. Rex was very excited to begin playing with this. The main limiting factor in enchanting was material, and if he could replace electricity with magic they could begin machining their steel. This would kick start the glorious succubus industrial revolution, skipping centuries of hard work.

 

“I am one step closer to a working toilet!” Rex said proudly.

 

Everything was with this goal in mind.