Chapter 38: The Mainland War – Chapter 3

3 Days since the last chapter

Succubus Homeland, Oil Refinery

 

With his lab on top of the mountain destroyed, Rex had moved his operations to the refinery. The refinery was a large structure comprised of many steel structures. The largest was a tower that stood several hundred feet high. Multiple pipes ran out of it to various structures in the facility. The oil was hauled out of the ground from the tar pit and moved over to the first stage of refining.

 

A large steel tub that was half opened and was slowly being filled with the large bucket on the end of the crane. This batch of thick oil was getting a chemical treatment by Blue, the steel on the tub was slightly discolored in areas. This showed the corrosion happening from the superacids. This was the first stage in making their high-quality plastics.

 

Succubi and various workers could be seen walking around to various control structures. This was how they controlled the various pumps and enchantments to move the liquids and gasses. When cracking ethane you were reacting it using heat, and it formed polymer dust. This was the source of all plastics.

 

This dust would be hardened into a sheet, then broken into pellets. A cracking unit was essentially a giant furnace that you pumped the gas mixture into. They had to create many of these cracking machines for the various mixtures of plastics. Rex wanted to completely do away with rubber, as its uses were limited before the king of synthetic materials.

 

Rex had a large sheet of paper stretched over the table, many types of rulers and straight edges surrounded him. Right now he was trying to design a new engine. This one would use liquid mana fuel. The concept was quite simple, and that was using repulsion force.

 

A conventional gas engine worked by compressing a mixture of fuel and air that was vented into the chamber through an intake. The engine would then compress this mixture and ignite it. The force would push the engine as it opened the vent and exhausted the spent fuel. Then the engine would push new fuel in and the cycle would continue.

 

Engines like this could work because they were precise to a ten-thousandth of an inch, they were measured using thin feeler gauges. Rex was designing an engine that used a force spell that created a strong repulsion force. The goal was to drive a piston just like a conventional engine, but with much more force.

 

This engine would be run in a pair with a second engine, and they would be used to drive a steel ship. This was going to be their pirate vessel.

 

Pirate ships had many forms, and Rex was going right to their modern form. These were not large wooden vessels waving around a flag, they were small steel and very maneuverable. Ideal vessels for running away, with a very large cannon on board. Rex wasn't the kind of person to want some idealistic shootout with his enemies, that was how you lost troops.

 

If the situation is not favorable you should prioritize running away! The goal of piracy was not to protect anything, it was simply to annoy your enemies. The real goal of the pirate ship was to carry the succubi and their explosives, these could be dropped from the sky. If the enemy had flying forces the succubi could use their rifles and hide under the anti-air fire.

 

The plan for the anti-air weapons was to use buckshot in canister form. The plan was to load tin soda-can-shaped charges filled with pellets and propelled with large amounts of gun cotton. The main reason to do this was to slow down the elves and to try to capture useful goods. This was the best way to cut off their supply lines, they would also be responsible for moving goods to the island.

 

Rex wanted to transition the succubi to laborers and producers. This was due to their interests, weapons, and fashion. Plastics were easy to convince them into making, so many parts of their weapons came from this material. Polyester was also a fabric that he had started introducing, this was to reduce their usage of cotton.

 

Looking over he could see a mouse beastman running across the ground on all fours. On his back was a small clear plastic backpack filled with white powder. He looked over at Rex and smiled with a toothy grin as he sprinted past. Rex smiled at waved at the giant mouse as he watched it head to a large steel building. Succubi could be seen carrying slabs of ice from the air and dropping them through a hole in the roof.

 

This was the acid production plant where the succubi made gun cotton. That mouse beastman was delivering a load of saltpeter from his soil extraction.

 

Many beastmen were adapted to swamp life like the nimble mousemen, and their relatives the ratmen. Rex also had a lizardman who was a part of the profession. They spent every day collecting nitrate-rich soil and extracting the nitrates out. These were then delivered to the succubi and they were handsomely paid. Rex's goal was to slowly disseminate the information down to the islanders, and create more professions.

 

Rex only knew how humans did things, and this didn't always work for other races. Mousemen could smell the difference in nitrates, they had very sensitive noses. They often dived right into the filth and dragged it in front of their faces, and picked the nitrates out. They had incredibly small and nimble fingers that worked better than tweezers. This was something that no human could ever do.

 

Rex had heard they were very common in the wetlands of the Beastmen Plains, and Rex direly wanted more of them. Currently, he only had 5 of them and one ratman. The 6 of them were able to bring in over 90% of Rex's potassium nitrate. It was both disgusting and shocking to see.

 

Rex had just finished the pans when he heard footsteps approaching him. Looking over he could see a short figure wearing heavy robes. The robes were coated in a plastic resin, keeping the sunlight out.

 

Looking into the hood of the Black robe, he could see a pale face and a bright red beard. The dwarves had wanted Rex to visit, and he wanted to visit them. The issue was that there wasn't a proper tunnel exit on this side of the mountain, so this representative had to walk here from the old exchange.

 

“Hello.” Rex greeted the dwarf with a confident smile on his young face.

 

“Greetings, Brewmaster!” The dwarf said and bowed slightly.

 

Rex never thought that the alcohol he used as a solvent would sell so well to the dwarves. This was due to their tastes, they liked to use lots of different things to spice their alcohol. Things like roots, fungus, mold, and all kinds of things are found underground. They used his pure alcohol to make better dwarven wines for themselves. Rex was very interested in their ability to grow fungus, it was part of why he wanted to meet with them.

 

“Are you the one taking me to Guffrey?” Rex asked the red-bearded dwarf.

 

“Yes, I will be taking you to see the clan head.” The dwarf said and nodded.

 

“That's good, I had something I wanted to talk to him about as well.” Rex said with a smile as he grabbed a sealed plastic box.

 

Kira was with her mother on the acid island, and Welch was currently at the beach doing some training. This meant Rex's protection was of the furry white source.

 

“Are we go to caves?” Borscht asked Rex from the pile he was laying in.

 

Rex watched as a large furry head slowly pushed itself out of its bulk, and lazily stretched open his large jaws.

 

When well-fed this polar bear beastman liked to sleep at least 12 hours a day. Don't mistake him for being some pushover though, he trained for half the time he was awake. Borscht could easily bend thin steel plates with his bare hands, all the way up to 1/5 of an inch thick. A lot of the refinery's metal structures were bent into shape by the big white bear.

 

“That's right Borscht, are you ready?” Rex asked the giant ball of fuzz.

 

“Yep, all set.” The bear said as he got up and began stretching.

 

Rex walked over to the large white bear and hopped on its back. This would be his ride to the exchange. Looking at the black-coated dwarf he had a confident smile. Feeling something crawling up his sleeves, he saw his bracelets forming from goo. This meant Blue had finished his acid treatments, Rex reached down and stroked the plastic at his wrist with a smile on his face.

 

“Lead the way.” Rex announced.

 

-

 

The dwarves had installed a large cast-iron door over the entrance to the commons. The dwarf who was guiding them hammered on the door with a fist as they reached it.

 

“Oi, open up. I brought the Brewmaster back.” The dwarf guide roared at the door.

 

The door was soon slid open noiselessly, this was due to grease on the hinges. Rex was soon lead into the commons from the back of the white bear.

 

The commons had changed substantially under the dwarves, and dim magic lights shone a dull light over the commons. Alcohol could be seen fermenting in glazed clay drums. The tables and furniture were replaced with metal and stone works, turning the commons into an actual bar. Dwarves, goblins, and gnomes could be seen everywhere, chatting and eating their food.

 

Rex took in this sight with some surprise, but it did not show on his confident expression. All of the dishes were glazed clay or ceramics, this was information he had traded them. They also had many types of fine metal tableware. Their tables and chairs were a combination of steel and chiseled stone.

 

What's going on here... They live better than I do...

 

The entire floor and walls had been carved out, making this a very fine hall. The ceiling was tiled off with steel sheets that reflected the dim yellow lighting. All of the occupants were incredibly clean, and wearing different forms of denim pants and shirts.

 

Currently, denim was the most loved fabric on the island. It was softer than burlap but just as durable. It could be dyed in a variety of different colors, with black being the most popular among the dwarves. Currently, the succubi used this as their main form of trade with other species. They designed most of the islander's clothes, in exchange they got resources they could trade to Kira and Rex.

 

This was how the succubi currently earned all of their things, it was a rewards system.

 

Looking around, Rex suddenly realized the dwarves had it much better than he ever thought. Borscht didn't seem to notice as he looked around as if he was a regular.

 

“Bernie, wait till later. Bear show you what real drinking look like.” The bear called out seriously to one of the dwarves in the back.

 

That dwarf had long black hair tied in a ponytail and a braided beard.

 

“Yer on, ye airy bastard! I will 'see you here again tonight!” The dwarf called as he pounded on his chest.

 

“Borscht is gonna put the wee lad under the table again boys!” A dwarf called out and laughed.

 

Rex suddenly realized something from this casual encounter.

 

“Do you come here often?” He asked the bear he was riding.

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“A Dwarf digs, and bear drinks.” The bear said as if this answered his question.

 

Rex just sighed as he continued to ride the bear through the commons.

 

Rex thought he was going to be lead through a network of tunnels, instead, he was brought to the other side of the commons and lead through a fine hallway.

 

The smell of sulfur and the sound of running water assaulted his senses. The room was also filled with thick steam. Rex realized they were passing by the entrance of the dwarven baths, they must have found an underground hot spring. Rex suddenly realized all of the dwarves had been very clean, and their beards and hair well maintained. Rex could also smell the scent of the soaps they produced on the mountaintop filling the air.

 

Stone, concrete, glass, and stainless steel were used everywhere and were on full display. Magical lights and stained glass offered a nice reflective shine.

 

What happened to the dwarves! They didn't live like this before!

 

They were in an entirely new section of the mines, this was something that was never here before. Looking around he saw that everything was precisely carved. Concrete was used to create a perfectly flat pattern. Looking closely, he noticed it was Bob's handiwork. Bob was the only one he knew who could use concrete so flawlessly, even the corners were perfect.

 

Have they been trading with each other this entire time?!

 

When the factions truly began forming 3 years ago, a time of peace had come to the island. Rex was too busy with the refinery and let the succubi and Kira handle all of it. This was because Rex knew that the oil on the island was the only way they could stand a chance in a fight. Oil was the substance that created the industrial revolution. This was because of how much necessary components for production came from it.

 

Oil and industry were tied together so closely they were inseparable. Your industrial power could be calculated in real-time by your ability to process oil. This was the single property that allowed America's industrial power to outstrip any other nation even with only 4% of the world's population. With that 4% population, they had the power to consume and refine more raw oil than the next 3 countries combined.

 

This was the reason Rex was so dead set on getting an oil refinery running early. The engine that powered his new pirate ships, would also be put to use in the machines that would produce their future war machines. The first few engines would be handmade products, but Rex wanted to build an assembly line. These skilled workers would be producing pirate ships from steel, loaded with gun cotton and lead shot.

 

Reaching the end of the hall that led into the baths, a door was pushed open by a set of guards. Rex realized this was a residential district comprised of many long hallways. These hallways created a lattice of intersections and formed underground blocks like a city. The ground used concrete and flagstones to make patterns. The walls were a combination of stone bricks and concrete with glass windows.

 

Rex was soon lead to an intersection and saw something that nearly drove the air out of his lungs. It was a statue that depicted him as a boy, showing a dwarf how to mix concrete. This was during the project at the docks, and this time the dwarf wasn't wearing his heavy garb.

 

Rex saw that the dwarf was watching the boy with a look of shock and awe, and tears were coming from the dwarf's eyes. The statue had every detail of the confident expression on the boy's face. It perfectly matched the workmanship of the statues in the Succubi Homeland on top of the mountain. On the base of the statue was an inscription that read: “When mixed properly, even stone can flow like water.”

 

I never said that?!

 

Rex suddenly had a feeling that the statues that were in the succubi homeland were from the same craftsman. As they were led to the next intersection he saw another statue, this one depicted the casting process using a pick as an example. It was a statue of the boy when he was making the giant gates, that made up the docks shutter door design.

 

This is all shit I taught them when we were constructing the docks...

 

Looking at the buildings he could see the signs of welding and casting. It was something easy to spot to an engineer's eye. Rex suddenly realized that he hadn't paid too much attention to the dwarves over the years. It was clear they were doing way more than just mining. This place was slowly becoming an underground city! It was even more developed than the surface was, Rex had never seen something so well constructed.

 

What happened to the dwarves over the last 6 years!

 

It seemed less like houses and more like an underground strip mall. Most of the area was fairly sparse, with almost no foot traffic. Soon they reached a large metal door that was guarded by a dwarf with one of the lever-action rifles the succubi used. This one was resized for dwarfs arms, it was succubi made based on the inscription in the magazine.

 

Why is Kira trading the dwarves guns?! We never talked about this!

 

First the statues, now the guns, then all of the fine workmanship... Rex felt like he was about to go insane again, this was too much to process!

 

After passing several more statues of the wonderful technologies that were passed to the dwarves, he was lead to another long hallway filled with pillars. What he saw going on in the room caused him to nearly fall off the bear.

 

A large metal cauldron large enough to fit several cars in was being brought to temperature by an enchanted band that wrapped the entire cauldron. A large thick steel rod acted to suspend this cauldron, and a team of dwarves was pulling a wench that was slowly causing the liquid metal in the cauldron to pour into a giant sheet mold. This would then be pushed into a rolling mill to stretch and thin it.

 

This rolling mill was comprised of a row of large thick rollers as thick as a human. These rollers ran along the top and bottom of the track and the metal was pushed back and forth through this machine to get uniform plates. Rex immediately realized these were the steel plates they used at the refinery. The mill ran the entire length of the hallway. It was easily half a mile long.

 

Suddenly an image appeared in his mind, it was of a succubus who got tired of making steel plates all day. They decided to outsource this annoying work to the dwarves. They would trade things they liked, like clothes, soaps, and firearms. They also produced all of the dwarves' explosives. Suddenly, Rex realized that the succubi might be very close to the dwarves.

 

The dwarves liked a bronze-red color, and it was used on all of their decorative cloth. It looked kind of like rust, and they used it on their curtains. They also had banners that said “Ironblood” on the walls in ceremonial form. Their insignia is of a silver gauntlet wrapped in a thick black chain. Blood dripped down this gauntlet and left streaks of blood on it. This gauntlet was facing the ground and was dwarven in make.

 

Kira just said the dwarves were very nice, they complimented her guns! This is so much more than I ever expected! No wonder she wasn't worried about me coming in here!

 

When it came to Simbad or Charlice, she adamantly refused to let him go alone. She even bared her little teeth at him as if she was going to attack him at any second. Rex had never seen her so panicked before when he brought something up. Kira had gone to the Acid Island to get reinforcements. Most of the succubi on this island were the ones more interested in crafting. Kira had been using the Acid Island to train what she called her future handmaidens, whatever that meant.

 

She went there once a week to oversee their training. It meant he had the house to himself once a week, it was kind of nice. He would spend time writing down the mechanical theory into books. It also gave him time to reconsider all of the concepts that he knew.

 

Looking around, it was clear the dwarves had also read some of these books, these were blueprints taken right from out of them. Rolling steel using rolling tracks was how modern steel was made. This process allowed you to control the thickness of the metal to within a ten-thousandth of an inch. Rex suddenly realized he never saw any kind of steel mill in the succubi homeland. This thought nearly caused his breath to stop.

 

Do we have an advantage over the dwarves now?

 

This city looked like something right out of the 1800s, all of the dwarves were very clean and well-groomed. The gnomes and goblins walked around with a spring in their steps. Rex even saw restrooms and water fountains. They used the same currency from the exchange, he saw them doing business in small stores.

 

No wonder they sealed their tunnels to keep out the nonsense! I want to live here too!

 

Rex suddenly felt like he was living on the wrong side of the island, as he hugged the plastic box at his chest. He was having to fight bitter tears from leaking from his eyes.

 

They even have toilets! I still shit in a pot!

 

Rex was soon lead to the front of a large building carved into the stone. The front of it said “Guffrey Ironblood” in bold letters made of steel. The windows were stained to a bronze-red color that was very striking against the dark gray stone. Rex envisioned some young kingly type as he was lead into the building. A pair of guards stood with guns at their shoulders and saluted the dwarf leading Rex into the building.

 

“Brewmaster!” The guards greeted and saluted in unison.

 

Rex had been called this title for a while, and he never thought it meant anything. He was starting to seriously reconsider this when he saw the respect he had been treated with so far.

 

Rex had his signature confident smile as he nodded at the dwarven guards. The number of guns was shocking, they also wore a type of plate mail armor. They looked like some kind of half-modern knight.

 

Rex was soon lead into the building and realized this was not some kind of house like he thought. This was a city hall complete with maps of the mines engraved in steel sheets. Everything was detailed from the water lines to the sewer collection. Many dwarves were taking notes from the steel plates, these dwarves were all older men wearing robes. He could also see craftsmen wearing tool belts collecting their notes.

 

They were a mix of the old prisoners and the young dwarves they had recently bought. Looking at the map it was designed for a city to hold thousands... maybe even tens of thousands...

 

One statue, in particular, caught his attention in the corner of the room. It showed a boy sitting on a stump with one leg crossed over the other. This one had to be done recently as this was his teenage self. He had his confident expression and was staring off in the distance. The oil refinery was carved in the background behind him. It was a joint work done with Bob, as he could see his workmanship all over it.

 

The dwarves had even shaped the steel behind the statue so that the refinery seemed to come into focus in the background of the statue. Rex could see his frail limbs in bright focus with the giant image of the refinery in the background. Looking from a different angle caused the background image to change in the steel. It was an effect that took a real master to create. It almost felt like he was looking at a holographic image. As they were passing the statue the image changed from a refinery and showered a deep valley carved into a cliff.

 

Images of succubi could be seen dropping fireballs from the sky, and he knew immediately this was the carving of the docks. Looking back at the statue he saw one of his hands holding a book, his other hand was reaching off into the distance making a closed fist. An inscription was also carved into the base of this statue.

 

It was the recipe for TNT that he had made. It was trinitrotricellulose and not the more modern trinitrotoluene that he wanted to introduce to replace it. The part that shocked him was the inscription that was added underneath it. “Industry will make us all equal.”

 

Rex could all of a sudden feel an odd pressure on him as the scene changed again in the background of the statue. The final image was blank and hadn't been set yet. The background of this statue was set to have three different background images based on the angle. Rex began to realize the path they had taken to get here was all planned from the beginning.

 

Looking around he could see that all of the dwarves were looking at him with expectation in their eyes. It was a heavy pressure, and looking at the map of the large city, he instantly figured it out.

 

That final depiction should be me leading a boat fulls of dwarven women to the entrance of the mines...

 

Looking around at the mix of old and young dwarves he nodded as he came to this conclusion.

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