A few hours since the last chapter...

Succubus Homeland, Weapons Manufacturing Yard

 

Rex was holding a thin rod made of gray steel. Pulling out a thick magnifying glass he placed the metal under the lens, so he could see its make-up. It looked like thousands of tiny ice crystals formed of gray metal with a bright luster. It was a fascinating structure with a beauty Rex could get lost in for hours.

 

“Steel will never form with a structure like this, nor will it have any of these properties.” Rex muttered to himself in shock.

 

The metal in his hand felt ice-cold, and it refused to take on any of his body heat. It instead felt like an ice cube that was constantly stealing the heat from his hand. Looking over at the furnace next to the worktable, a short-haired succubus was tirelessly loading coal into a forge. Inside was the remnants of the first run of metal they had made, they were trying to melt it down again.

 

“8 hours, and it isn't even getting the slightest bit red!” Rex announced in wonder, as he focused his attention back on the piece of metal in his hand.

 

It was harder than regular steel but softer than dark iron. It would take on heat incredibly slowly, and dissipate it near instantly. It was a property that he had never thought possible, as dark iron's bane was high temperatures. Already countless images were flashing through his mind, engine parts, gun barrels, heat sinks, radiators, countless things.

 

If a magic caster was limited based on their knowledge of spells and mana, then an engineer like Rex was limited by two things. Manpower and the materials available to him to create new things.

 

Rex had been pacing back and forth in his excitement, this gave him an evil look with his angry, bushy white eyebrows and a large braided white wig. He perfectly represented a greedy tea merchant from 18^th century London.

 

The succubus who was working the smelter looked at the man secretly in annoyance, looking into the sky, the moon was high in its orbit. Casting a playful white light onto the yard of the forge, as if mocking the tired succubus. She had been shoveling coal for over 8 hours now, she felt filthy and wanted a bath.

 

How could he do this to such a beautiful and young succubus? I am only a minuscule 5,533 this year!

 

Tears formed in her eyes that she quickly wiped away, as she shoveled in another bucket full of coal into the smelter.

 

“Guards, take me to the mine! I need to consult with Guffrey right away.” Rex announced to the 10 of his guards who remained.

 

Kira had shown up and been quite angry with them, she had taken some of them to create a new guard squad. She was training them right at this very moment, this could be confirmed by the sound of muted gunfire on the south of the island.

 

-

Meanwhile...

The Pride of Men, A large white tent

 

An old gray lion with a grizzled look had a steady expression as he pats the head of his partner Mallard. Mallard was a goose Beastman with a very toned body, they were culture partners. The sound of constant gunfire rained throughout the night. Looking at the roof of his tent, he could see a large patched hole. Below this patch was the former remnants of his large bed, the two men were currently sleeping on the floor.

 

“I heard that a vampire attacked Rexy boy, it sounds like the succubi are all pissed!” Mallard said as the sound of an explosion ripped through the air.

 

Simbad was recalling the events of the night before when he heard Borscht's angry roar. This was followed by the ceiling of his tent ripping open, then a giant clay slab had exploded next to his bed. This sent the two occupants flying across the room in states of undress.

 

“You know that she is like an angry cat when it comes to that boy, let's just try and get some rest.” Simbad told the goose he was holding.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Succubus Homeland, Dwarven underground city

 

Rex was always amazed at how clean this city was, it was a testament to the industrious nature of the dwarves. Rex had often heard that living underground would present all kinds of difficulties, but they had found solutions to almost all of it. Piping brought air from the surface down to the mines, and into the city. While not as busy at night, some dwarves and their sub-species could be seen walking the streets.

 

Rex was being led to a small house that was painted in the same rust color as much of the underground city. The only difference between this house, and all of the others, was the 2 dwarven guards holding firearms. The dwarf who was acting as his guide immediately ran forward and began talking to these two in hushed whispers. The guide was soon allowed to pass into the house, and Rex was left alone with his small group of guards.

 

Rex looked over his small group of guards and noticed that none of them seemed very surprised about the sights in the dwarven city. He had even seen a couple of succubi carrying goods to trade with some of the dwarven shops. One of the main reasons that they were forming a constitution, was to create a new currency. As trade continued to grow between the various members of the different groups, clay coins were no longer cutting it.

 

The Pride of Men gathered most of the limestone from the ocean that was the foundation of the concrete industry on the island. They also collected seashells and other varied resources. They were also going to be in charge of the farms on the island in the future.

 

The dwarves handled most of the steel production, this was due to the enchanted converters that Kira and Rex designed that didn't need to use fire. This was a resource they used to harden most of their structures, it was to prevent anything crawling in from below.

 

The succubi were acting as middlewomen that facilitated trade between the three groups, they also provided a lot of finished products. It was an evolution of the exchange and a result of giving the dwarves control of the underground. It was a balance that had carefully developed over the last 6 years while the refinery was being constructed. This was how any early nation developed that was comprised of various small groups.

 

Kingdoms formed when strong human rulers decided to band together various small villages to form small nations. They then assigned titles to people who would help them manage these settlements. These then slowly evolved into a variety of different governments, but only a few never had a set ruler. Rex wanted to avoid a presidential position in his future government because it would cause many problems.

 

This was because no beastman would follow a person who was weaker than them, so an election would be pointless. The only way to avoid any contention with the leadership was to present it in a way that made more sense. This is why the ruling senate would be selected randomly from willing citizens who represented the larger voting body. They only had the power to set the order of what would be voted on, and they had an entire three months to steer political efforts.

 

The original purpose was to keep it as small as possible initially, then slowly grow it as necessary. Rex couldn't ever see this island ever supporting a larger population than a few thousand anyway. They would quickly run into problems providing enough food to the residents if it grew further. This was because island nations were always incredibly dependent on being able to source supplies from other locations.

 

The door to Guffrey's house opened and showed a sleepy bald dwarf, it was clear he had just woken up by the state of his red cotton pajamas.

 

“I heard you got attacked by a vampire! Are you alright?” Guffrey asked, causing Rex to halt.

 

Oh yeah, that did happen to me...

 

“That doesn't matter right now, I am fine. I need you to take a look at this.” Rex said excitedly, as he pulled the iron rod out of his pocket.

 

Guffrey had a look of confusion, as he tried to process what Rex wanted in the middle of the night. Reaching forward he took the metal in his hand. Guffrey was shocked as he instantly recognized this metal, it sometimes formed under the lakes in the elven lands.

 

“This is cold iron! Did you steal some from the elves?!” The dwarf called out in shock.

 

This caused Rex to pause, but it confirmed the guess that had been slowly forming in his mind.

 

“Does it form under the seasonal lake beds to the north of the elven forest?” Rex asked with a serious expression.

 

“That's right, we used it to make hammers for smithing when we ran into it.” Guffrey confirmed.

 

“Around the dark iron, did you find a type of dark red ore, do you know what cinnabar is? It is like a red or brick red stone, it can also form in black.” Rex asked the dwarf carefully.

 

Guffrey paused as he thought it over, his sleepy brain having to process it.

 

“That's right, it is usually around the iron ore.” Guffrey confirmed.

 

Mercury was only ever found in its pure form in areas hot enough that the mercury melted out. It was usually found in its ore form as a heavy metal salt. Cinnabar was the ore form of mercury sulfide. It would form in a vibrant red crystal, or as a shiny black crystal. You could also form it by combining sulfur and mercury as a gas in a reaction.

 

An image appeared in his head of his middle school days.

 

A boy with dark brown hair watched as several gasses mixed inside a large glass enclosure in a fume hood. His teacher was an old man with gray hair and a gentle smile. His name tag read Mr. Woodard and he stood before his class as they watched a red gas form from the mixtures in the enclosure.

 

“Right now the mercury and sulfur are reacting, watch carefully as it will soon start to crystallize.” The old man told the class as he looked around at the class. “Reginald, why are we doing this in the fume hood?”

 

The old man was calling on the young Rex, who stood watching the reaction in the back of the class. To his left and to his right were his two friends he stopped talking to after he went to college.

 

“Because both mercury and sulfur gas are incredibly toxic.” Rex answered back.

 

“That's right, but isn't it beautiful?” The old man said.

 

Inside of the enclose many bright red crystals had formed all over the enclosure. They continued to grow steadily as the red gas continued to react.

 

“It has always amazed me how everything in nature always connects. In the right circumstances, you can find all kinds of incredible structures that can be created.” The old man said in wonder. “We took a yellow powder and a liquid metal that is highly toxic, and we created a safe and beautiful crystal.”

 

The man looked around with a gentle expression before his stern gaze landed on Rex.

 

“And you Reginald! Chemistry is so much more than just acids and explosives! You tried to take a pound of refined potassium nitrate, do you think I don't know what you were planning?!” The old man said with gritted teeth. “I expect you to solve 400 chemical reaction formulas and explain to me exactly what I will be left with! One question for every gram you tried to take home with you!”

 

This had been happening a lot to Rex lately, he figured it was probably since he was reaching middle age. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he reached up to adjust his white wig.

 

“I made the metal you are holding, I can make more of it too.” Rex smiled at the dwarf as he tossed a bag filled with gray powder to him. “I can get you more of it, all that you could ever want.”

 

An evil smile flashed across the boy's face.

 

Guffrey looked at the clear bag filled with gray powder, he opened it and gave the contents a sniff.

 

“Do you know what chemistry seeks to do?” Rex asked the dwarf with a serious expression.

 

The old dwarf was quite confused, and his mind was very jumbled. First Rex had decided to wear this ridiculous wig, although it had given the bald dwarf some ideas, and then he showed a piece of metal and a bag of powder in his face. Now he was rambling about alchemy, but he couldn't pronounce it right.

 

“No, I don't.” The dwarf said.

 

“A chemist seeks to understand the connections between the elements and how they form. It is only by understanding these complex relationships that we can seek to replicate them.” Rex said confidently, flashing his signature smile. With his newfound eyebrows, it was quite domineering. “I bet if we carefully researched all of the magical metals, we could eventually reproduce all of them.”

 

The dwarf's mind had finally had time to process everything he was hearing, as he added one piece together. He felt the cold metal in his hand, then took a deeper sniff of the gray powder. The dwarf instantly recognized it as Borax, they used it in their forges. A question instantly appeared in his mind.

 

“How did you get the mana into the metal though?” Guffrey asked in shock, the ramifications finally dawning on him.

 

“It is infused in the Borax.” Rex said confidently. “I have a theory for you, I would like you to hear me out. Can we go inside and sit?”

 

Guffrey was still in shock, as he suddenly realized the two men were standing in front of his house. The guards and the guide were all standing around, only the guide had an expression of shock and awe. He was the only one who truly understood what Rex was saying when he went through everything. How could a blacksmith not know what the ramifications of producing magical metals would mean?

 

Dark iron was a rare production of the High Elves, and it alone had given them a frightening edge when it came to warfare. It led to the 14 clans becoming the current 13 when one of the clans had defected to serve the high elves. It was a black mark on all of the dwarven clan's history.

 

Rex was lead into the house and away from the spectators, it was quite a sparsely decorated place. There was just a table and chairs, and some basic furniture. The walls were also completely bare, it looked nothing like the crowded and busy workshop. You could tell a lot about the occupant from the way they decorated their workspaces and homes.

 

Rex's workshop was very cluttered, and papers detailing failed designs littered the trash cans. Blue took care of any chemical spills, but his concrete floor had been heavily corroded in spots. Completed blueprints sat on his walls that he would stare at and dissect when he was bored, sometimes he could find ways to improve them. It's why he hadn't been rushing in completing the new engine yet, he still had time to make tweaks to it.

 

His side of the bedroom was even more of a mitigated disaster, filled with half-completed books and documents. Rex had started it as a way to compile all of the information in his head at night when he was trying to sleep, but now it had become a hobby. As a naturally curious person, he felt a need to understand the world around him. The information from his world had slowly started to overlap with this current one.

 

“Alright, Rex. What's on your mind?” Guffrey asked as he led him to a table and chairs.

 

Rex took a seat at a metal chair with a cotton pad, it was quite comfortable.

 

“Let me give you a brief rundown of what I have discovered researching mana.” Rex began as he began to become excited. “I think it might be a new element, one that reacts in ways that I have never seen before.”

 

Pointing at the metal rod in the dwarf's hand he began to explain.

 

“What I smelted should have just given me iron, the borax should have completely dissolved off into a gas, but it didn't.” Rex said as his mind turned.

 

He was instantly brought back to when he made the great weapon of the succubi, and everything kept trying to react with each other. This is what first gave him the idea that elements were bonding and reacting in ways that weren't normally possible, but he was seeing it with his own eyes. This made him think that mana was somehow interfering in a way that he wasn't able to observe under a microscope. No matter how much mana he put into water, he was unable to see it, but he could see signs of it.

 

Just like Blue had come to life from his obsession with the bizarre substance, so had many different microorganisms in the water. Under a microscope, it all looked like some frightening microscopic war zone filled with predatory creatures. They all fell victim to the mold that was in his blood when he introduced it.

 

“Mana is always drawn into heavier substances before it will choose to bond with something smaller. This is a very important thing to note, where is the densest part of a planet?” Rex asked the dwarf.

 

The dwarf wasn't sure what the boy was getting at, the look of confusion grew on his face.

 

“Do you know how you can tell if a planet is round?” Rex asked the dwarf. “You only need to jump.”

 

Rex held his hand up and formed a fist. He then brought his other hand over and pointed at it with his finger.

 

“Gravity will always pull you towards the center of an object, jumping is directly opposing that force. If you aren't pulled straight down then the planet is not round.” Rex explained simply. “The center of the planet is always under the greatest force, it is usually reduced to nothing but metals as a result of all the friction and pressure. I bet the majority of mana on the planet is stored there, then it gets vented to the surface.”

 

If mana was able to accelerate evolution in living creatures, it made sense that the strongest ones came from closest to the core. Rex imagined that the oceans were the opposite of Earths, they got more populated the deeper you went. This was probably the same as the deeper underground you went to. It also explained why there were so many different sentient lifeforms. They each evolved to interact with mana in a slightly different way.

 

Rex kept going back to Blue in his mind, that was because he had tried to replicate it many times and failed. Rex realized it had to have been an incredibly specific strain of the mold that had formed and evolved during the solving process. This made him marvel even more at the sheer chance that brought the two of them together. Blue was like the first homo-sapien that spawned among homo-erectus.

 

“I wouldn't be surprised if the core of this planet is a humongous type of mega magical metal, something that has been incredibly saturated with mana. I bet it is why compasses don't work, yet we can have a stable atmosphere. I think the movements of it cause the planet to spin erratically, like an imbalanced top.” Rex explained to the dwarf. “This is the only explanation I can come up with for the weird rotation of the planet. This is of course only hypothesis at the moment, I will need to verify some more of my theories to confirm this speculation.”

 

Guffrey was having to perform some mental gymnastics to follow the boy, but he wasn't able to in the end. He wasn't an alchemist or a user of magic after, his skill set was similar to Rex's in his last life. He was very interested in magical metals though, they had a ton of different uses.

 

“And what importance does this have to us? What did you want to talk about?” Guffrey asked him.

 

“I want to be friends, and I want to explore these metals together. When your sister comes, you are planning to abdicate your position as the leader of the dwarves on the island. This might affect our future partnerships, and I want to avoid that.” Rex told the dwarf sincerely. “I want to start a partnership between the succubi and the dwarves to build a new manufacturing plant. I want to produce every kind of magical metal in this world, and I want to be able to produce any kind of part with it.”

 

When Rex had thought of a giant underground factory, he had almost written it off, but then he thought about it more.

 

Wouldn't that be an awesome place to retire?

 

Rex had to live in this world that he found himself in, and every day it was getting better. Someday he would be an old man again, and he would need to think of the important things. His father had been a military engineer in Vietnam, and his grandfather had been a world war, two veterans. Rex had asthma and couldn't join the military, so he became an engineer instead.

 

A scene of an old man began to play in his head.

 

A bald old man was rocking back and forth on a hospital bed, he was receipting the announcement that the war had ended and that president Hoover was in control of the white house. This was when Rex was still a young kid holding his father's hand. His brother and sister were outside playing.

 

“Daddy, what's wrong with grandpa?” The boy asked his father with worry.

 

His father smiled at the boy and pat his head.

 

“They used to use mercury in a lot of the explosives and primers in world war 2, a lot of the people who were heavily exposed to it around that time turned out like him.” The man said. “Your grandfather paid a heavy price for this country, it is one they don't like to talk about.”

 

“Why did he do it, if he knew he was going to end up like this?” little Rex asked.

 

“He didn't, the effects of mercury weren't well known at the time.” The man told his son sadly. “War is often where the biggest advances to medicine are found, it comes from treating the wounded soldiers.”

 

The man looked at his father with sympathy and pride.

 

“This is why it is so important that weapons of war must be as safe as possible for the soldier using them, and deadly to the enemy.” The man told his son, the badge on his shirt was for a weapons maker. “Failure is not an option when you are supporting the troops. They rely on those weapons as they rely on their lives to be there at the end of the war.”

 

“Aren't you just poisoning them with lead?” His older brother yelled at the pair from outside.

 

“Ask god why all the heavy metals are always the most explosive! At least lead won't destroy your brain like it did your grandfathers!” Rex could hear his mother yell at the two kids outside.

 

Rex looked up and noticed his father had gone pale and was shaking at his wife's remark. This was because she had carefully trained him to get a perverse sense of pleasure out of what should be painful to him. Rex had to admire his father's ability to take pleasure in insults made about his grandfather, directly to his face. His father was trying to catch his rising breath as his heart rapidly beat in his chest.

 

'If you take pleasure from it, nothing is painful' young Rex had thought at the time.

 

Rex suddenly realized this memory, it was telling him something. He suddenly realized why he had put up with his wife's shit for so long! Rex had thought that it was only natural after being corrupted by his parents for so long. As it stood, Kira had already assumed the pants in their relationship, and she liked them cut very short.

 

“You want to create a joint factory? One that makes magic metal?” Guffrey asked in shock.

 

He had already seen the lathe and the cap that the dwarven smith had made using it in a few minutes. This was incredibly beneficial to the dwarves, their need for powerful tools came from the constant threats they faced from the deeps. He was even sure it would become a problem on this island sooner or later, but the high concentration of dark iron made it hard for the monsters to break through.

 

“More than metal, I want to be able to make parts with it. It will be the birthplace of everything that is made of magical metals.” Rex said simply. “I also want to research the formation of natural sources of magical metals, so that we can try to synthesize them.”

 

If nature could create something, then it was also possible using science. Rex was a firm believer of this concept, and he had already placed his fingers at the entrance of this door. Rex was building a nation to try to bring his ideals to life, why shouldn't he invite his friends along? Rex felt a lot of sympathy for this depressed dwarf who missed his family.

 

“Also magical gems, I hear these can all be used in enchanting, but they haven't been heavily researched.” Rex began as he got comfortable. “We are competing against the elves and the beastmen, and now even the demons will be interested in us. We need to build up every single advantage we can, it's also the reason I proposed joining forces in the first place.”

 

“Do you think that can work? I think it's going to fail, there are way too many different opinions on this island. It will be better to be unified under a leader.” Guffrey argued.

 

“I don't think it is possible, it will just lead to contention. We either build an oligarchy as we have currently, or we go the way of democracy. The current system we have will just get in the way.” Rex explained.

 

“Then what will happen with this factory we're building, how do we keep control of it?” The dwarf asked.

 

“It is property, it will still be owned by the group who built it. The only purpose of the government will be for decisions that require the entire island, most of the other things will all stay the same. It will save us a lot of problems when the island begins to grow.” Rex explained.

 

Rex realized he would need to reconcile this dwarf's concerns on his political structure. Rex also realized this would become a very good test for him when it came time to debate it between the group of people involved.

 

Rex settled in for a long discussion with the dwarf.

 

-

Meanwhile...

Beastmen plains, a random cave

 

A bat landed on the floor of a cave and soon transformed into a blonde elven girl without any clothes. She was currently grinding her teeth with a look of rage on her dainty face. The image of everything she had seen on the mountaintop was replaying, again and again, especially the scene of the female succubus chasing her down.

 

The vampire began to pound her fist violently against the wall of the cave, she had never felt so angry in her life. Right now the sun was just beginning to rise, it would take her another two days to make her way back to the vampire's ancestral homeland.

 

Inside of her body, a different scene was beginning to play out though.

 

-

Meanwhile...

A city representing the body of the vampire...

 

A city that was eternally shrouded in darkness, the buildings were all tall stone and wooden structures arranged in various styles. They all had tall lofty roofs with holes large enough for a bat to squeeze through. No light could be seen from any source, but the residents didn't need it. A large lake of blood sat in the center of the city surrounded by these buildings.

 

At the edge of the lake, a pale figure with blonde hair and blood-red eyes had a happy expression on, his pants around his ankles. In his hands was his prized tool, issuing a mighty stream into the giant lake of blood.

 

“What are you doing? We all drink from there!” A female voice nagged the man, but he didn't care.

 

“I am adding some flavoring to it!” He declared slovenly.

 

All of a sudden the sound of his stream changed as if it was suddenly hitting something.

 

“WHAT IS THAT?!” The female voice called in horror, prompting the man to open his eyes.

 

The man saw a black armored chest and slowly followed it up to a metal helmet with a red visor. His stream was currently hitting the metal creature's leg...

 

A red V was etched into what looked like a modern gas mask built into the helmet. The sound of pained breathing could be heard coming from the metal ominously. The metal man stood several feet taller than the vampire.

 

The pool of blood began to violently churn, as long black barrels slowly emerged. These long barrels were connected onto large black tanks that had heavy metal tracks on the sides. Then a large vehicle appeared in the center of them. It was also on tracks, but it did not have the main cannon. It looked like a mobile garage that was large enough for one of the tanks to drive into. The front of this vehicle was comprised of heavy rollers that were covered in sharp metal teeth for destroying solid matter. Several large exhaust pipes could be seen coming out the back of the large vehicle.

 

A man wearing purple robes came walking out of the blood, a frantic look on his face as he violently looked around in distress.

 

“NO! It's ALL wrong! Destroy it all! I can't survive here!” In his arms was a ball of blue goo that seemed almost lifeless.”Brother! Don't worry, I will make this a place that we can grow, I promise you!”

 

The black metal man's hand shot forward like lightning, grabbing the vampire by the head. He had just opened his mouth to scream when a sudden pressure turned his head into mush. The man's body fell lifelessly before a large metal foot was raised and violently slammed down onto the corpse, turning it into liquid.

 

The team of tanks began to rumble forward into formation, making an arrowhead around the large metal vehicle. Inside one of the tanks a team of men wearing the black metal suits all rode around silently. One of them reached to his side where the rounds were kept and pulled out a long black metal box. On the side was a symbol often used to denote things as hazardous, and he pulled it open to reveal a tank round with a red tip.

 

He pulled this round out and positioned it into the auto-loader watching the round get pulled up into the breach. This same scene happened in the dozens of tanks, as each one aimed their main cannon at a different building before they all fired together in a deafening salvo that left behind a thick smog.

 

Behind these tanks sprinting as fast as cars were the black-armored men who all stood at over 8ft tall in their black armor. They carried weapons like chainguns, flamethrowers, and mobile artillery. They carved a path of destruction through any unlucky vampires they ran across.

 

The large armored vehicle without any cannon sped forward to a building, as the metal rollers began to spin the giant metal teeth. The building was soon ripped into pieces wherever it was touched by these rollers. These pieces were ground into a fine powder, as they were pulled into the machine, and reconstructed into metal that came out inside as parts. These were the pieces of new tanks that were being moved around by robotic parts.

 

Deeper inside the large metal vehicle was a row of glass tanks that were filled with a thick black fluid. As the giant metal behemoth got done consuming the giant stone and wood building, a new tank was finished inside of its metal body. The tanks also seemed to come to life, as the fluid drained revealing a team of the black-armored men.

 

The tanks soon sprung open when all of the liquid was drained, allowing the men to walk out and towards the tank. They all had slight differences in their armors as if they were slightly different every time. They all noiselessly climbed into the tank and sealed the hatch, this was soon followed by the sound of the tank's engine firing up. This tank backed up quickly, pulling out of the large metal vehicle, before stopping in place.

 

It surveyed the battlefield for a moment before it soon joined its comrades. The vehicles continued to destroy as quickly as they could, but everything was miraculously repairing itself time and again. Thus started an endless cycle inside the body, until something would be forced to change.