1 day since the last chapter...

Succubus Homeland, Rex's Lab

 

Rex had gotten some incredible news when the exchange had opened up. The dwarves had driven the bulk of the prisoners out of the mines, and only kept the ones they found useful to them. The succubi had found close to 200 prisoners in front of the exchange, they wanted to buy weapons to teach the dwarves a lesson. The succubi instantly put those prisoners in their places, they were not going to take shit from what used to be their food!

 

What Rex had failed to realize was that the succubi were all incredibly well-armed. They had weapons everywhere, and since they cut back on cold weapons, the succubi had all started playing with guns. They had a built-in packing rod by wrapping a rag around the end of their tail. When Kira took 10 of her sisters to train it made the rest of the succubi jealous. Rex would be appalled to know how much gunpowder they used.

 

The succubi had realized that what Kira's husband doesn't know about, he can't possibly complain to Kira about. They didn't need him to make themselves beautiful weapons, and they control when he can leave the mountain!

 

Currently, there were over 300 succubi on the island. This was quite a force, and many of them were very adept at bombing. The prisoners had mistakenly thought the dwarves were the ones who were scary, they had completely forgotten who owned this island.

 

After the succubi had thoroughly reminded the prisoners by removing about 30 of them. They had then come back in triumph to tell Rex all about it. Then thoroughly complained that the succubi needed better weapons. These little one-handed things did not represent the true fury of an angry succubus. Rex was convinced that only artillery would satisfy such greedy creatures, and his newfound respect was only to get more things out of him.

 

Rex felt like he had gained hundreds of greedy in-laws. The succubi were all closely related, this meant they were extremely unified. This also meant that the entire race had become his family through Kira.

 

The more Rex thought about it the more horrified Rex become.

 

“Dora sold out one of her friends instantly when she heard we needed a boat. I could see the excitement in the way she wrote the letter, she couldn't wait to kill her.” Rex muttered.

 

Kira had taken her elite team to carry out the plan to capture the ship. Rex had faith that she would be able to do it. Dora had said it was a cruise ship filled with the wives of wealthy elven politicians. Dora said that she would take some survivors, and blame everything on the beastmen! Dora already had several conspirators on the ship, this caused Rex to have a realization.

 

Evil women are friends with other evil women! It all makes sense!

 

His ex-wife would go on trips with her friends, and they would spend his account dry in a couple of days. Rex had always wondered how, until he realized just now they were probably the same kind of people. Rex had no idea what Dora had promised them to betray their species, it was the most incredible thing Rex had ever heard of.

 

She is too good to just be some spy, she should be causing havoc inside the elves' society! Why have I not been supporting such a capable succubus!

 

There were so few capable succubi, with even half a brain, he needed to encourage them in any way possible. This was the only way Rex would turn them into a functional race, right now they felt like a bunch of winged thugs. This was much better than them being lazy, but he was truly worried about the future of their species. What would happen if they all turned into gun-wielding psychos?

 

They had always been ridiculously proud of themselves, but now they could back it up. Rex could only imagine what they would be like when they had weapons bigger than their mouths, and modern explosives. They would begin to become the succubi's biggest problem, Rex was praying they would have an enlightenment soon. Then they could move forward as a species.

 

“Alright, Kira is working hard, now it is my turn.” Rex said as he stood up.

 

Her job was to capture the boat and get it to the slaves, Rex needed to prepare to receive them. Rex felt confident enough that the succubi would listen to him without Kira around. Looking at the innocuous blue bracelet he wore, he reached down and stroked it lightly.

 

“Blue, I am counting on you buddy.” Res said as he reached down and stroked it.

 

Rex could feel Blue vibrate a few times in response. The little creature seemed to have its own way of thinking, and Rex was certain he had created a new kind of life. Blue had surpassed the mold into a new type of organism. The mold had evolved in the broth, then it had evolved again after fighting all the solvents.

 

It was the only possible explanation. The filters Rex used were not amazing, as he had to use paper. Rex imagined that a large portion of the mold had survived and gotten through the filter. Rex had been out of his mind with fever and was just thankful to be alive. Due to a portion of the original strain living in his body, Blue seemed to think he was family.

 

“Alright, it is time to put the prisoners to work. If you don't work, you don't eat.” Rex muttered as he tried to psyche himself up.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Imperial Elven Training Camp, Camp Ivangor

 

The elves had truly understood the hell of this training, several had killed themselves. They had finally lost all hope of a normal existence because of Ivangor, and they had to endure so much pain. It just wasn't worth it anymore, no matter how much their friends encouraged them.

 

The elves managed to eat the wood through sheer determination, then their true nightmare slowly began. They got to feel the wood move through their entire bodies, ripping it up from the inside! They had to direly use the mana circulation method taught to them by Ivangor, it was the only way to survive.

 

“This isn't training, it is a concentration camp!” One of the elves yelled.

 

Invangor had snapped his precious blades off during combat, and broken one of his clubs. This elf was currently being “healed” by one of Ivangor's menders. The healing was even more painful than when it was broken off. He didn't even want to imagine the pain he would go through fixing his shattered club.

 

“I changed my mind! I don't want to be like Ivangor! Change me back, I can't wipe my ass anymore!” Another elf screamed as he started breaking down.

 

Some of the elves nodded in pity as they looked at their blade-like hands. These things were so inconvenient to use.

 

“Attention! General Ivangor has called an assembly!” A lieutenant had entered the barracks and called.

 

“What?! But we just finished training! Are you saying there is more today!” An elf called in abject horror.

 

Some of the elves began to break down, there were less than 500 left now. They couldn't possibly take much more of this.

 

“You have less than a minute left, or the General will kill you!” The lieutenant told the deformed elves.

 

“Why the fuck didn't you just start with that?!” An elf said angrily as he began to hobble on his clubs.

 

All of the elves swallowed their hatred as they shambled out of the barracks. They made their way to the center of the camp, where an elf was sitting on the ground.

 

This elf had on moccasins and baggy leather pants that were reinforced with strips of leather and rivets. His vest was the same, and his beard had recently started to grow back. He bound this beard with a chain that wrapped around his head to hold his topknot in place. He had a very severe expression on his face as he sat cross-legged on the ground.

 

The scene of the deformed elves assembling around their overlord resembled an elf being surrounded by monsters. Ivangor looked around at the surrounding elves proudly, as he waited for them to finish gathering. He had really big news to share with all of them.

 

Soon all of the elves gathered, they had done it in under a minute. Ivangor looked around and nodded at the elves.

 

“I need to thank all of you, as, during our time training, I was able to realize every mistake you all made. This was very enlightening for me, and I feel the bottleneck holding me back is loosening.” Ivangor began to explain. “I will need to enter closed-door cultivation while I attack this bottleneck.”

 

All of the elves reacted with shock to this statement, some even went weak at the knees.

 

Does this mean we are free?!

 

Every one of them decided to reign in these feelings of elation, as they waited for Ivangor to finish.

 

“I am unsure of how long it will take for me to successfully break through the bottleneck, but I am convinced all of your failures will light up the path for me,” Ivangor explained.

 

This news was getting better and better for the elves. Some had begun to cheer and try to dance, it looked horrific to all around.

 

“That is why I am convinced you can present Fang city to me as a gift when I succeed.” Ivangor said flatly as if it was only natural.

 

This statement caused all of the gathered elves to freeze, some in mid cheer. The feeling was quickly turned into strong dread.

 

“Isn't there 2 beast kings there?!” one of the elves yelled.

 

“Yes, it will be excellent training for you all.” Ivangor answered flatly. “I admire those who only aim for the top. A giant will fall if you shatter its skull, chopping at its legs is what woodcutters do.”

 

The elf who made the statement looked at Ivangor in shock, before it quickly turned into hate. He didn't point it out because he wanted to fight them, he pointed it out because he was afraid.

 

“Alright, I don't like questions.” Ivangor stated as he stood. “Remember, I will kill all of you if you embarrass me. Oh, right, I guess you can borrow my armies...”

 

Ivangor added this last part as if it was an afterthought like they wouldn't be needed. This nearly drove the deformed elves crazy! If they didn't know it was pointless, they would all band together to attack. Several times the soldiers had revolted and Ivangor just killed them all with an excited expression, their general was sad when they were done.

 

Watching the elf walking towards his tent some of the gathered elves began to break down and cry. They ignored the wounds to their faces, as they buried their faces into their bladed hands. Their clubbed feet had failed to support their shaking legs, as they collapsed to the ground.

 

“Why the fuck did I ever want to be like Ivangor!?!” An elf cried in sorrow...

 

-

Meanwhile...

Succubus Homeland, The Exchange

 

The prisoners were staring in horror at the blonde-haired boy, as he stood before them with a confident smile. This seemed like the smile of a demon king as they watched the elf before them being liquefied. This elf had questioned the boy's authority and attempted to attack him. Then he quickly started on the path to becoming goo.

 

A blue creature seemed to erupt from the boy's arm, as it bubbled and hissed in rage. They watched as the water-like substance entered the elf's body through his mouth, eyes, ears, nose, and even his skin. He then started melting from the inside out, as the creature seemed to angrily devour him.

 

Looking at the liquid monster, it was hard to tell exactly how large it was. Sometimes it seemed the size of a large cup, and at other times it would grow large enough to fill several buckets. The fluid could also move incredibly quickly, as if under its own propulsion system. The one clear thing was that attacking the boy really pissed it off.

 

This also seemed like a much worse way to die than the succubi could ever offer. If he wasn't drowning in goo they could only imagine the elf's screams! The fact that they couldn't hear anything only made it eerier, the only sound was the sizzling and hissing, followed by lots of bubbling.

 

“Is there anyone else who would like to attack me?” Rex asked confidently.

 

This was all his body talking after all. Right now Rex was desperately trying to hold in his lunch, and he was pale. Rex didn't even notice this elf who attacked him, not until Blue exploded onto him. The little creature was incredibly sensitive, and sometimes even the succubi showing scorn would cause him to get angry.

 

The temper it possessed was explosive, and the more chemicals it ate the stronger it seemed to get. Breaking down corpses like this also seemed to cause it to get bigger. Rex had noticed the weight increased slightly after it ate the catman. Blue didn't seem to pursue this growth by itself, it seemed so much happier drinking in pure chemicals.

 

Whenever Rex made anything new, this little blue slime was always his first customer.

 

Seeing the prisoners had all stood down, Rex looked around at all of them.

 

“The dwarves will be doing all of the mining from now on, so you have 2 choices in front of you. The succubi are done with you doing as you please on their island. If you want to eat, then you will work as we want you to.” Rex said to the gathered prisoners.

 

Looking around at the various people, he noticed it was now just mostly beastmen and elves. The dwarves had kept most of the mixed races as they weren't as big of a problem. These prisoners though were a real issue.

 

“The dwarves will eliminate anyone that isn't allowed into the mines, so you won't be able to hide there. If you want to keep eating and earning credits then you will need to work. On a brighter note, I plan to turn the exchange into a real store soon, and we will import things from the mainland besides just flour.” Rex explained to the prisoners but he was stopped.

 

“And if we choose not to go along with your rule? Then what? Will you kill us?!” A beastman roared at the boy.

 

“Yes.” Rex answered simply.

 

This wasn't his choice, this wasn't even his decision. Kira didn't want to deal with the prisoners who would not help them. How does someone convince a tiger not to eat meat that has no value besides being meat? Rex realized this was something he was going to have to come to grips with if he wanted to work with other species.

 

Humans got a host of diseases from cannibalism, but many races didn't. Beastmen often ate each other with usually the loser being on the menu. They felt more like animals in human form, and he wasn't as surprised by their behavior when put in this context. Physically they were much stronger than the elves, but they didn't have the society to back them up. It put them on a very different developmental scale than humans as their physical strength was much larger than humanity.

 

The beastmen had an advantage that was starting with the steam engine, but this made their development slower. The reason they were able to match up to the elves was the individual difference in power. It was like special athletes trying to compete against Olympic gold medalists. A baby beastman could lift over 150 lbs! Rex couldn't even begin to imagine this concept when applied to society. These power differences were also very apparent by sub-race.

 

The elves had the opposite problem. The high elves were an incredibly powerful race that was said to have fled here long ago. They had the inherent ability to see mana, and they were all-powerful casters. They were later exterminated by the elves and other races under their heels. The problem was that the elves tried to emulate them but in a less harsh form. They were all pompous and wanted everything under the collective elves' heels. It was just slightly more inclusive racism, and the beastmen were learning from them.

 

Rex hadn't even begun to think about races like the skaarm, who would be completely alien to him. Or the dwarves, who he could kind of understand.

 

“I'm not going to lie to any of you, if you don't obey, the succubi will certainly kill you.” Rex said this with a refreshed breeze added to his confident smile.

 

Why did he need to lie to anybody?

 

Thank you, Kira, for taking responsibility!

 

Right now hundreds of slaves were on their way, and Kira would soon have a ship for them. He was certain she would make it to the island to his completed dock.

 

“And what would the succubi have us do then? Mining wasn-” Rex didn't care what he had to say.

 

“You will mix mud, and pour it on the ground then walk over it...” Rex had learned from the succubi.

 

Why should he tell them that they are mixing concrete and using rollers to flatten a ramp? The succubi didn't listen to a damn word he said. None of them had a single clue how nitroglycerin worked, it's just like how they couldn't taste the succubus bread. Rex would start to go bald again if he pulled any more of his precious hair out. These precious golden locks were more valuable than pure gold!

 

No one will ever truly understand the pain of a bald person!

 

Looking at the beastman who he cut off, he told them plainly.

 

“It's probably better than what you were doing. As you can see, I don't live much better than you...”

 

Rex was still wasted from his fight with the infection. He looked like he was still on the mend, he had also become fairly pale. The lack of protein on the island was affecting his growth, and he looked a bit sickly.

 

The mold makes me feel incredible though! I just have a sweet tooth from hell...

 

Sugar was like cocaine to Rex currently, he feared the mold was altering his biology slowly. Rex had recently started looking for sugarcane.

 

“The other thing I need you to do is wash dirt, and dig holes...” Rex explained simply again.

 

Rex needed to build a simple desalinization system. This would supply the island with water, the other thing he needed to do was prepare the soil.

 

The island's soil had a high salt content, which made it unsuitable to farm. Rex assumed it was why such poisonous plants were everywhere had to do with the soil content. To farm, they needed to prepare the soil, and they needed to remove the salt from it. The best way to do this was to use boiling water and slowly filter it out. The water would dissolve the salt and help filter it out.

 

Every time the storms hit the island it spread seawater everywhere, this spread salt. Rex wanted to build greenhouses for food, then retaining walls to keep the water from settling near the crops. They would need to import food from the elves, but that wouldn't last for long. Right now they were basically like a tumor that the elves weren't sure how to remove.

 

“So those are your only options, you can listen and play along, or... well... die.” Rex didn't feel comfortable doing this, but damn was he good at not showing it.

 

Blue having finished turning the elf into nothing, had regained his clear blue color. It slowly lifted itself onto Rex's wrist and compressed into a blue bracelet. Rex could feel it had grown slightly heavier again. This had brought him a strange sense of excitement, the slime suit in his head would be getting even bigger. Now he would finally get to show it off.

 

-

2 days later...

Succubus Homeland, The Docks

 

Rex stood facing the ocean, on the bottom of the completed ramp. The ramp looked like a giant cut that separated the cliff's face as if a knife was used to carve it out. The cliff was over 200 feet tall and stood straight against the waves of the ocean.

 

Blood and meat from a massive harvest of sharks had dyed the waters red with blood and pieces of sharks. Succubi could be seen in the air, using palm-leaf baskets to dump more gore into the water. The sharks weren't the only thing to have been attracted to this harvest, as even large snake-like creatures sprang from the water, consuming the sharks whole. Bigger dinosaur-like creatures could also occasionally be seen, and various other sized predators.

 

Other succubi flew with similar baskets, they carried concrete in the baskets and began applying it to the cracks in the cliff face. They were balancing it out and flattening the rock. Prisoners stood behind him in an orderly fashion, digging channels for steel rollers. Several dwarves worked in full cloth suits, as they drilled holes in the rocks to insert TNT to carve the cliff. A steel track was being inserted into the walls of the cliffs, and large steel rollers were being pushed out one by one to be inserted into the ground.

 

Rex had a confident look on his face, as the blue plastic wristband began to slowly bubble on his right arm. It began to turn into a blue thick fluid as it crawled up his arm to his shoulder. The less viscous it became, the more violently it seemed to bubble and hiss. At a certain point, it was like the fluid went critical, as it began to suddenly shift through a variety of different colors.

 

The colors seemed to appear in the fluid at random at various parts along his arm, red, blue, green, silver, black, then they started mixing to form various other colors. Vapors and gasses of various colors began to form some raising and some lowering in the air. Sparks were issued in waves as violent puffs of smoke were released, flames even shot out of the fluid in some areas.

 

Rex stood before the waters, and raised his right arm, and began to shake it rapidly. He had not anticipated the reactions would produce so much heat. The skin was even starting to burn in some areas on his arm, and the hairs were melting off. The issue was that Blue hadn't fully liquefied yet and was still partially stuck to his wrist. He couldn't get it off!

 

Most chemical reactions are exothermic, why the fuck didn't I think of that!

 

Looking around with no way to cool Blue down, Rex was regretting this decision. Finally, he looked at the waters in front of him and jumped into them.

 

The effect was near-instant as the water began to bubble and hiss where Rex had jumped in, and a bright sheen of colors began to rapidly spread over the water. The monsters began to react almost immediately as they began to start thrashing in the water. Blue's entire chemical payload was being released into the waters right now.

 

90% of production was all chemical, and Rex was well aware of this. Machines produce friction, and this requires chemical lubricants that have solvents mixed in. Steam engines are worthless without the proper lubricants, this was the case with almost any machine. Oil needed to be refined to produce chemical lubricants, it's why he planned to spend 3 years making a refinery. Modern guns, artillery, engines, and heavy machinery all require a variety of lubricants to even work properly.

 

Blue had eaten all kinds of different chemicals as a result of Rex always needing them. The newest addition being cyanide! Cyanide could be found in all kinds of plants, and also in fungi. When Rex was reducing the mushroom after he had collected the spores, Blue had gotten a hold of some of the cyanide that was produced as a byproduct. Blue really, really liked it. Cyanide was another solvent that was commonly used in mining.

 

Fish breathe water that then passes oxygen to their bloodstream via their gills. They were experiencing all kinds of wonderful chemicals most people couldn't even pronounce. The fun was spreading rapidly as the foam began to build upon the water as it spread out all kinds of chemicals. The weaker monsters like the sharks began to go belly up quickly, as they were the first to get a taste.

 

The bigger monsters were violently writhing around and trying to escape, as they had started sucking in the chemicals. The water had based out the acids enough that things wouldn't burn, but it left all kinds of poisonous byproducts. The damage was more extensive than an oil spill, as these were all banned modern substances. They were all incredibly toxic, and most were never found in pure forms in nature.

 

Rex couldn't be bothered with any of this, as he was clutching his burned arm in the water. This had been the worst idea he had ever had, and he couldn't even swim properly. He had no idea of the sheer amount of death he had caused around him. Right now he was struggling to get back to shore as his arm had been rendered useless.

 

I hope Kira's part is going better...