3 days since the last chapter...

Succubus Homeland, Abandoned Succubus House

 

Once upon a time, all of the succubi used to live in small houses made of clay, they were fairly modest. Modesty was no longer a word that could be used to describe them anymore, as their home on top of the mountain had quickly grown over the last 6 years. Textiles, firearms, soap, and paper were all products that they produced. They could be seen flying around from building to building, as they carried various resources and supplies.

 

The reason Rex was inside this house was simple, he was sweating profusely. This was a result of all of the toxic compounds floating in the air. Ever since he had drunk the mutant mold, it had colonized in his entire body and even replaced his immune system. Mold and bacteria had been enemies since the beginning of evolution. The mold in his body had taken the approach of assimilating these bacteria and taking them into their colony to live in harmony. This is certainly how he hoped it happened, and that it wasn't some horrific ability to enslave other microorganisms.

 

Rex was certainly no microbiologist...yet. It was amazing what fear could drive a person to learn.

 

All of the seeds that the mousemen had spent the last few days gathering had gone through a solvent process, it was very similar to what someone collecting penicillin would do. The first step had been to grind these seeds into a fine powder and gather it into water. This mess had soaked for an entire night before Rex began subjecting it to acids and solvents.

 

Wearing gloves that stretched to his shoulders made of a clear blue material, gave him a strange look. This was the living biological weapon that usually stayed in bracelet form. This was to act as gloves, to keep the contaminants coming from Rex's body from entering his toxins. A lot of bacteria could only survive in fluids, and they were trapped in Rex's sweat. Blue could easily remove these little pests that came out of Rex's body. Rex would be very sad if he accidentally caused the mousemen to get sick.

 

“Alright, I just need to wait for this to finish reacting. Time to go back to trying to figure out the issue with dark iron.” Rex muttered, as he reached back and popped his neck.

 

Rex had a very strong theory on how the elves might have made their dark iron. Rex had been steadily making a list of resources they had available to them, and he came up with some ideas. This hypothesis came about when he realized the current site that the elves had built their port city was where the high elves first settled. The high elves also could produce the metal when they were on the continent. Rex was strongly thinking they transferred the mana into the metal by first moving the mana into borax.

 

While Rex was using solvents to break down the seeds he had been slowly heating and evaporating the mana-rich water from the borax. This left a gray paste that was slowly hardening on the bottom of the metal pan. Rex turned the heat off of the pan and transferred the hard gray crust into a mortar. Using the pestle on the table, he crushed the dried borax back into a powder. Borax was a salt that was often used as a flux in forging, Rex was just worried that the mana would evaporate off with the borax.

 

This process would be handled by Kira, or whoever she assigned it to. The succubi could see mana if it was concentrated enough, Rex wanted a firm report of what happened when the borax was introduced. Rex was hoping this was the secret the high elves used to produce dark iron.

 

“I wonder how Bob is doing with my new lab?” Rex muttered.

 

-

3 days ago...

Succubus Homeland, Rex's lab

 

The beaverman walked up to the building that was missing the front of it, looking around at the remnants of the building a wild plan began to form in the beaver's mind. Looking at the blueprint in his hand covered in pencil marks, he smiled at it with his two filled-down front teeth. His bloodshot eyes made him look like he was suffering from some form of rabies.

 

Bringing the blueprint up to his mouth, he happily took a large bite out of the sheet of paper. Doug watched his boss eating the blueprints, a mad smile on his beaver face. Soon Bob had finished eating the entire paper.

 

“Destroy the rest of the building, we are making a new one.” Bob said flatly.

 

Doug looked shocked at the beaver.

 

“But boss, we were told to just fix it?” Doug questioned the beaver.

 

Bob looked back at the pug dogman with a fanatical gleam in his bloodshot eyes.

 

“Beavermen have a terrible memory, it was 4 days ago that I built this hut. I have slept several times since then.” Bob said in his defense before he continued. “If there were no remnants of the building and I couldn't remember what it had looked like, then that means I can build it how I want!”

 

Bob began laughing madly at his brilliance, but these words made Doug break out in cold sweat. Doug was well aware of the plans that went through this beaver's mind. They were supposed to finish this building in a week, then begin building ships down at the docks. Doug was worried they would be stuck here for weeks and upset the big boss. When he thought of the big boss, a big white polar bear beastman appeared in his mind.

 

“As long as we forgo useless things like restroom breaks and sleep, this will be very reasonable to finish in time.” Bob declared loudly for all of the workers to hear.

 

Bob heard many gasps of terror at this thought, but he wasn't finished yet.

 

“We will also need more men. Doug, go to Simbad and see if you can borrow some. They all lift weights, and should be the perfect workers.” Bob ordered the pugman.

 

Doug felt a chill down his spine as if he was being offered to the guillotine.

 

“Boss, what if he wants somethin' strange?” Doug asked in fear.

Bob looked at the dogman in annoyance, as if he hated being questioned.

 

“Just agree to it, I don't care as long as it doesn't concern me!” Bob told off the pug.

 

Looking at the remains of the lab that were swiftly being destroyed, Bob was trying to get inspiration as he anxiously picked at his fur.

 

“Do I make a warehouse? Maybe a temple? Hmm, choices...”Bob pondered as he scratched some of the furs off his chin.

 

“I got it! Why not all of them!” Bob announced as he took excited breaths, his pupils rapidly expanding and contracting.

 

-

Back to the present...

Succubus Homeland, Abandoned Succubus House

 

Rex was looking at a clear yellow fluid that looked just like watered-down urine. This was what was left over after the seeds and all of the unwanted fluid were solved out. The fluid was enough to fill a 5-gallon bucket. Rex didn't need any kind of device to know how deadly the fluid was in the bucket. When he had been running solvents like ethanol through it, it had evaporated and exposed him to plenty of it.

 

Even with the mold in his body destroying the proteins, he still found himself feeling miserable. He had a headache, a runny nose, dizziness, and nausea, but when he thought of all the adorable little mousemen that were counting on him, he just couldn't allow himself to stop working. Rex constantly battled depression since he came to this world, this was due to being human.

 

Rex often tried to associate human qualities with whatever he met. When Rex was having problems dealing with his depression some days, he would find one of the beastmen he was friends with and just pet them. This treatment was extended to the mousemen, as they didn't seem to mind it much. Most of the beastmen could sense that it wasn't something meant to harm or demean them. Some of the beastmen who were sensitive could feel the crushing loneliness that the young man battled.

 

Rex hated the idea of killing others, but if he was going to make weapons then he would go all out. Being kind to an enemy was the same as being hateful to yourself. Rex had made countless weapons in his last life, many of them were sent to battlefields. If there was one thing Rex was good at, it was making weapons from virtually nothing.

 

When they had made the great weapon of the succubi, to flood the room with nitrogen, he had used sodium azide. Sodium azide can be synthesized using hydrazine sulfate, Rex had synthesized it using bleach and urea from urine. The sodium azide would be synthesized with lead nitrate. This would lead to the creation of lead azide.

 

When it comes to explosives, just look at the amount of nitrogen in them. Nitrogen hates being bound with other elements, it just wants to be left alone. Lead azide will rapidly decompose into lead and nitrogen when heat or sufficient force is applied. This will release a lot of energy, resulting in detonation. Lead azide served as a primary explosive due to its sensitivity being high.

 

Modern explosives can be split into two different categories based on their properties. Primary explosives and secondary explosives. Primary explosives only needed a flame or a shock to set them off, lead azide was exactly one of these compounds. Secondary explosives took a lot of heat or force to set off, but the explosion was usually much stronger as a result.

 

Most people will say that the nuke is what ended world war II, but if there was a close second, then it would be the sheer amount of RDX America had used. RDX had a much more common name that people will know it by, which was Compound 4, or C4. Chemically it was known as cyclonite.

 

Hexamine was produced by reacting ammonia and formaldehyde together. The hexamine was then reacted with nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, and acetic anhydride. This process was the same one that was used in the modern world to produce the cleanest C4.

 

Rex planned to create real explosives that used lead azide as a blasting cap to set off C4. He could also use it to set off thermite reactions. To destroy boats explosives only went so far, but thermite was nearly impossible to deal with. The temperature should allow it to burn a hole straight through and sink the ship. Water was useless against a thermite reaction, it would continue to burn even as it sunk in the ocean.

 

These should keep the succubi very happy, and leave the gas grenades for the mousemen. This was Rex's hope in preparing so many different grenade types.

 

Rex looked over at the barrels of chemicals he had prepared, these would be what he used to start making explosives. First Rex had a few things to take care of, as a lot of the processes couldn't be interrupted. Blue would also liquefy during the process and cover his clothes like a second skin. This was so that Blue could act as a bomb suit in case of any accidents. Blue's protective goo was incredible at dispersing any kind of impact, or forces, it also had really good heat insulation.

 

Looking at the two blue bracelets he wore, he reached down and stroked them. Out of everything he had ever made, Blue was probably his proudest creation. That was because it was the best comfort animal in existence. Blue was a stress ball, a pillow, and a bomb suit, all in one convenient creature. It could also somewhat understand his thoughts, he figured this was some connection between Blue and the mold in his brain.

 

Walking over he grabbed the tray filled with mana-infused borax and dumped it into a plastic bag. He used this opportunity to stretch out his stiff muscles from being hunched over a bucket for several hours.

 

Spreading his legs and his arms, he called to the bracelets.

 

“Blue?” Rex asked.

 

The bracelets quickly flowed into a clear fluid, and he felt it start scrubbing over his skin. It started at his arms and worked up his shoulders before making its way into his clothes. It felt less like a fluid and more like a cool gel that seemed to flow over him. Blue was scrubbing away the deadly bacteria that he produced whenever he was exposed to toxic chemicals. Rex had gotten so used to this that he didn't even react when it made its way to his crotch, then down his legs. The most uncomfortable place was his face, Blue would go into his mouth, nose, ears, and even his tear ducts.

 

This was far better than any bath, as he would not smell like anything afterwords. Blue could clean between cells, and even inside the pores. As proof, Rex had very fair and well-maintained skin. No chemist should ever be like this, it was impossible to completely avoid exposure to the chemicals. Most chemists had some kind of health problems from it. Even Rex had developed some respiratory issues from the chemicals used in the arms plant back on Earth. Rex didn't even work with them very often, he just maintained the machines.

 

Rex breathed out a sigh of relief when Blue pulled away from his head. It was possible to breathe through it without causing any issues, but it just felt weird to do it. Rex didn't want to get into the habit of breathing in fluids. This would only be a problem when he had a real bathtub that he could stretch out in. His current bathtub was a small metal barrel that he had to beg the succubi to fill for him.

 

The other main reason for improving the explosives was to increase the speed of mining. Rex wanted a tunnel made through the mountain, and a shaft to reach the top. This would make it easier to pump water to the top of the mountain. Running a pipe up the mountain would require a lot more piping, and it would need to be resistant to weather. Sunlight will damage plastics and make them brittle over time, this was due to the UV light breaking down the bonds in the plastic.

 

While Rex had never liked the idea of public bathing, a bathhouse was going to be built similar to the dwarven one. As the only male on the mountain, he would have his own private room. This would make it much more tolerable for him. Rex was a traditionalist, even though this small body was already packing a much more impressive tool than his last one. He still found himself being very shy around others.

 

Reaching over to his table, he pulled out some papers that were stored in a plastic envelope. Inside were the blueprints for the new grenade designs. They looked like an aerosol can with a pointed bottom, this was so it would fall straight down. That was because the cone-shaped bottom would act as a second detonator when the grenade was dropped from the air. It would have lead azide placed in it to act as a high-pressure primer similar to a gun. This was how some of the earliest bombs were made in World War 2.

 

Walking over to the door of the succubus house, clear plastic was installed around the door to provide a seal. Next to it was what looked like an oil lamp that was used to raise the temperature in the room. Rex would turn it on when he left to eat up the oxygen and raise the temperature, this was to kill any bacteria left in the room. It would create a warm and dry environment that the bacteria were unable to survive in.

 

Turning on the lamp with a metal striker, Rex adjusted the wick to control the flame, and once satisfied he ripped open the plastic and walked out the door. Closing it tightly around him, he looked around at his surroundings.

 

The mountain was just getting dark, and the tall cliff walls caused the city to darken faster than outside of the crater. That would be the case if the succubi had not installed lights in various places to brighten up the area. Magic oil could be added to the top to provide energy to the magical light. Shaya was the one who handled this as the youngest succubus, Rex wanted the younger succubi to learn responsibility early.

 

Rex was making his way to the Weapons plant that the succubi ran, it was one of the largest structures in the crater, and took up a 1/10^th of the space. Originally Rex never wanted it up here, but the succubi insisted on it. The large building was 3 stories and made of concrete and steel with very few windows. The building didn't take up a lot of space, but the yard filled with various pouring equipment to make different parts did. It had a second large building on the other side of the yard where the succubi dealt with chemicals.

 

After Rex was finished making C4, he would turn this process over to the succubi. While they weren't as careful as him, they were very hardy creatures. Rex was expecting some accidents, but they hadn't had any casualties. Rex wanted to retire the crappy TNT they had, as soon as possible. This was because it wasn't perfectly stable and over time the Nitroglycerin would separate and leak. This process was called sweating, and it made old TNT very unsafe to handle. The new C4 was also twice as powerful as the current explosive in equal weights.

 

Walking into the large metal doors guarded by succubi holding firearms, he didn't see a small furry creature that was flying through the air.

 

Up close it looked like a small bat with crimson eyes. It had started flying as soon as it had turned dark, and had just arrived at the island a few hours ago. Right now it was overlooking all of the changes that had happened to the island with shock. When the slaves had been making their way to the pickup location, the demons had intercepted some of those slaves. They weren't the only ones, as the elves and beastmen had as well.

 

Rex was well aware that some of these slaves would be caught, it was why he never told them where they were going. Only the demon forces knew where the succubus homeland was, most of the forces assumed it was just an abandoned island.

 

The demons had chosen to abandon the docks to the beastmen and center their forces to the north. This lead to a break between the forces, and the succubi left the demon army. The demons assumed the succubi would eventually come scurrying back to them, and then the demons could put more pressure on them. This was over 7 years ago, and the succubi hadn't even so much as sent a message to their old comrades-in-arms. This lead to them sending a spy to get information on what was happening, and Anna Corvollin was sent to get that information, she also had another purpose.

 

Looking around the island now, she wasn't even sure how to describe what had happened to the island. She was selected as she had been to the island 10 years prior during a prisoner drop-off, and she was familiar with the leader, Kera. Anna knew that Kera was certainly not capable of doing any of this.

 

When she saw a giant town made of metal structures and all of the workers who were controlling various machines, she realized it was like looking at another world. She could only call it a town as she had no idea what the different structures were used for, they had no doors anywhere on them. This was only what she saw leading to the mountain, and the top of the mountain was even more striking. Metal and colorful stone made up all of the buildings, as well as large glass windows that were used as doors in some houses.

 

While the city was scattered, and it didn't make sense from a planning perspective, the overall wealth showed that the succubi were probably doing even better than the elves were. All of the succubi were wearing fine clothes, and they had very nice colors to them. Colorful beads were very popular, and the succubi liked to wear them as jewelry. She also saw that they were carrying what appeared to be Dwarven boomsticks.

 

Looking towards the south of the settlement, she could see a large stone structure being created. Looking closely at the 3 story building, she could see intense light coming from a machine that a beaverman was using. It looked like a metal box with thick black cables coming out, and he was pushing a gray rod against the metal feature he was creating. This would cause the light to appear, then she saw something incredible. The metal seemed to turn into a liquid and join the two pieces together.

 

The beaver was constantly moving around chunks of metal that looked like scrap, but he was incredibly particular about its placement. Sometimes he would spend several minutes taking the scrap apart before carefully re-stacking it. Below him, she watched some dogmen who were mixing water into a gray power with some gravel. She quickly realized that this was the stone that all of the buildings seemed to be made of.

 

Looking carefully at the shape of the building, it resembled some kind of temple. The ceiling was sharp, but it was supported along the outside with large pillars made of gray material with metal inside of them. In front of the building a large pedestal was placed, and it was obvious a statue would be placed in front of the large temple. This was very strange, as the succubi did not have a god. They all believed in the great ancestor of the succubi. It was similar to how the vampires worshiped the first vampire.

 

I need more information, if I approach the succubi now and try to make them kneel, I will seem like a fool!

 

The demons wanted the succubi to help make their information network larger. While doppelgangers could replace the succubi, they were very rare. This lead to a major information shortage for the demons. Vampires needed to eat more regularly than a succubus did. They weren't as good of spies, and they were easier to root out. The elves had recently begun to heavily root out any of the demon's spies, they just had to look for disappearances. Somehow, the succubi had managed to circumvent their searches and were still hiding among the elves.

 

The demons desperately needed this flow of information, they wanted to lead a raid on the Elves as soon as they finished off the beastmen. Most of the demon's various factions saw this as their chance to take control of the mainland once the elves were weakened. They could then turn it into a farm to provide constant living creatures to build up the ranks of the undead in the demon army. A lot of the demons also had races that needed to consume life force from living creatures. Vampires and doppelgangers both needed to feed on living creatures, the problem she saw was that the math did not add up.

 

With so few prisoners on the island, she saw no way that over 700 succubi could all live here. They would run out of food in less than half a month at most, then they would starve. These also did not seem like the farm animals that the demons raised who wore rags and were not educated. All of the stock on this island were well dressed and clean, she had even seen a large group of different male species all using equipment designed to train. All of the well-dressed men had incredibly well-defined muscles, and they seemed very close to each other.

 

They looked nothing like the misery-filled farm stock we keep!

 

There was also another island half a day away with a lot of succubi stationed. Anna could not travel in the daylight, but she could fly faster than the larger succubi could. It only took a few hours from the island to here, but she had been in constant shock from the moment she arrived. She had seen several statues of a strange creature, it looked like some mix between a dwarf and an elf. It was taller than a dwarf but much less stocky. The creature looked almost dainty like an elf, but he had many rounder features, including his ears.

 

She had just seen this creature walk out of one of the original succubi houses that they used to use. She then saw him enter a large building that was full of succubi. She was able to hide from the succubi's ability to see mana, but she had to be very careful to not be spotted physically. The succubi revered this creature, and she planned to take him hostage. She was even thinking of following him once he left the building and attempting to turn him into one of her minions.

 

Turning another creature into a vampire involved injecting some of their blood into the wounds when they were feeding on a victim. The vampire could control this blood once it assimilated into the victim, and this would be the case after their transformation. Anna was the daughter of one of the leaders of the vampire clans, and she was fairly high ranked. It would also be the first time she has designed to create a minion from her blood. Currently, she felt like it was the best plan to get information, as the creature looked incredibly weak.

 

Finding a tall house with an overhanging roof, she attached her small claws on her feet to grip the edge of the metal. She pressed her small furry body against the edge and watched the large building the creature walked into. From this moment on, she would be stalking her prey.