Imperial Attention 5 – The Pumping Heart

They crossed an internal dividing wall and stepped into another district.

It was of an entirely different character. Whereas the Church fought to stay beneath the sun of Tenour, the Imperial Alchemy Guild was deeply integrated into the layered structure. Gargantuan constructs of segmented glass pipes ran down the middle of open shafts, moving various liquids around the place. The most common of these was water – pure, crystal-clear water, pumped to the surface before following gravity into the distribution system.

It was a highly deliberate choice of those that had conceived of the water renewal system that enabled the capital’s existence. Beneath the floor, humming with the raw quantity of magic channelled, all manner of sewage was divided, treated, gathered, filtered and bit by bit turned into what was shown above. It was a sign to those that visited on why the Imperial Alchemy Guild was provided with such immense resources and a display for those in the towers of the Imperial Palace to see that their investment was still wise.

On a minor, practical note, it also enabled the quick spotting of any impurities that may make it through all the filtration. An event that had not occurred in almost twenty years. All knew that the difference between the end of the water cycle and the end of the city was three days.

The group advanced, walking across bridges of dark stones flanked by enormous pipes the width of ancient trees. Apexus stopped to stare at them in utter befuddlement. He had seen other water pipes elsewhere in the city, but they had been neither this large nor this exposed.

His own alchemy had taught him how labour-intensive it was to build a properly enclosed system. Wax and fat were commonly used to help the seal of glass on glass. That was enough for a home laboratory. On this scale, no thin film of fat could make up for even a 0.1% deviation in the measurements.

Every segment of pipe was its own miracle of crafting. Every brass ring that joined the glass was a master craft of metallurgy. It was repeated hundreds of times across the district.

‘This is the might of civilisation,’ the humanoid chimera thought, awed by the scale of it all. Thousands of masters in their fields had toiled for their entire lifetimes to build, maintain and expand this system, creating the backbone a society of millions depended on.

“What does the bishop intend by sending us here?” Yuzuki thought aloud. “Does he think we can acquire the backing of the alchemists?”

“Would that aid us?” Aclysia asked.

“They control the water,” Yuzuki said very slowly. “Short of the imperial house itself, the Imperial Alchemy Guild is the wealthiest institution in the capital, if not the empire at large. They keep most of their political influence concentrated to the royal domain. That only means they are well consolidated and often have money to spare.”

“Money?” Korith perked up immediately.

“Is money alone worth us getting involved with something this big?” Reysha asked.

“No,” Apexus provided the answer, much to Korith’s disagreeing kobold noises. “However, there is more than money to be gained.” He paused to take a look at Yuzuki. The Yuki-Onna first checked if there was something behind her, then faced his unwavering stare again. “There is a divide between us. It is minor and present all the same. Perhaps I could bridge it.” He pulled the key to the Mobile Estate out of his arm. “Wait here.”

The golden door opened at the side of the street. Apexus walked through the expanse of his home, a vast place compared to what it had once been and yet not even halfway to what his connection with the item could awaken. Swift steps took him to his laboratory.

Apexus was not a notetaker. Alchemy, as the singular book in the room had taught him, was a mixture of art form and science. A being of instinct, Apexus had never taken to the rigidity of math. A chalkboard in the corner was all he needed to keep track of the measurements that the theories of his mind required to be made manifest. His thoughts sat in discipline, flowing with a moving world. That was how he conducted his alchemy.

Notes were not kept – prototypes, however, were.

Apexus lifted the lid on a box that he had acquired on Yukana. It was one of the few upgrades he had made to the equipment of the laboratory on a Leaf largely devoid of alchemical know-how. He had thought replacing instruments and getting modified versions of others to be the utmost he could do. What he had seen outside convinced him otherwise.

A multitude of vials rested in the grid within the box. Two were isolated from the rest. One was a prototype of a brew to intensify his pheromones. It was largely a forgotten project, shelved due to the native aphrodisiac quantities his scent already had, in all of its expanding intensity. An intuition had guided him to keep that project alive for another day.

The other was a remnant of the empowering potion he had made to take advantage of their time fighting the Infestation.

Apexus pulled out the latter. The cold vial rested in his hand, kept insulated by layers of membrane he developed around it. He returned to the outside, then led his party and Yuzuki to the place that the bishop had marked on the map he had given them.

It was a medium-sized building kept almost entirely free of decoration. The words ‘Research Presentation’ were put in grey letters above the entrance, as if to deter anyone from entering. Due to its near monopoly on the craft, the Imperial Alchemy Guild cared very little about outsiders pitching them with ideas. The office was kept around as a way to employ cousins, primarily.

When Apexus entered, the dark elf behind the counter looked up from his book. He barely withheld the urge to click his tongue, closing the trashy romance novel and putting it aside. The party’s steps were lost in the dense, almost regular furniture of the relatively small room. It felt like they had stepped back into a regular degree of luxury.

“What do you think is worth the guild’s time?” the man droned, mentally already done with this whole distraction.

“Run the Test of Concept on this,” Apexus stated and presented the vial.

“….Sure,” the dark elf took the liquid, hissing when he realized how cold it was. All the same, he disappeared in the backroom.

“The Test of Concept?” Reysha asked.

“An alchemical procedure to determine the esoteric intent of a project. It requires large, stationary instruments, the kind I am certain they have here.”

“What did you give them?”

“A prototype for the potion we used to gain strength.”

The party exchanged glances. Yuzuki perked up. “You are going to share the secret of your sudden rise in power with the Sleeping Empire?” the Yuki-Onna asked.

“No,” Apexus denied. “I picked up a saying for this somewhere… I am fishing with appropriate bait?”

“HUH?!” the shout from the backroom reached even Aclysia’s ears. The dark elf came scrambling back into the foyer, only to declare, “Wait here!” and then dart off elsewhere.

“Seems that worked,” Reysha drawled.

“Like a fish chasing a turtle’s tongue,” Apexus agreed.