52 Ch52.A long process.
--Warning: This chapter contains content that may be offensive and make some people feel uncomfortable, I have started preparing for the future and have started to include one of my plans about 'drugs'. I want my novel to have some real world problems and unfortunately with regard to 'gangs' and such, drugs are a major part of their income. I haven't seen this topic touched in many novels and although I understand why, I don't really feel that it should be a problem in a novel of 'pure fantasy'.
I honestly don't know how this will be taken when read, so could those who are enjoying my book PLEASE COMMENT and let me know what you think of the way I am heading as well as if it is fine!! I don't want to destroy my book by taking a path that everyone hates so, PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP! COMMENT on your thoughts!
Sorry about the rant just thought this was needed, Hope you enjoy the chapter!!
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Another five months have passed by and a lot of things have happened within this time, firstly Nafets territory has been completely stabilized and he has somehow, miraculously attracted the majority of Academies Cities drunks and alcoholics to become regular patrons of his territory, the Xrinda area. In the first few months he focused more on creating new types of beer and alcohol than organizing his territory. I kept complaining to him that he was not spending enough time managing the territory for me or spending enough time at the Academy, and that he was wasting all the benefits he could be gaining to increase his strength. His response was, as usual just that he is taking his time and he will concentrate on that later, alcohol is more important to him right now.
Considering that he is comparable to a Circle 2 Mage, I can partially understand his viewpoint, but I don't get why he doesn't take advantage of his advantage and push harder for better and faster improvement, I guess it is just a Dwarf thing and nothing I do or say will be able to change his mindset. As long as he is still spending a few hours a day at the Academy and he is not doing destroying my territory, I guess its fine.
Back to my point, after creating a bunch of new alcohols, he started running out of space to store them all, so he just started releasing them all to all the bars in his territory at an alarming rate, I predicted he would do something like this and that he wouldn't consider the possible profits he could make with all that alcohol. So by that point, I had already bought all of the Bars in his territory as well as many other empty buildings and then when he released all that alcohol. I had my clan members that were helping him manage the territory, reorganize that alcohol and spread it out in a particular manner so that there were multiple bars that each had their own specialty alcohol, I made sure that the alcohol was spread out wide and versatile enough so that each bar can gain a gathering of regulars that enjoy that particular type of alcohol.
I then had my plans put into motion, the bars were modified to attract different people, I had spent the previous months getting everything ready so that I would be ready for the massive alcohol outflow.
The types of bars I has paid special attention to creating, included bars that were in essence 'strip clubs' that were spit into male and female versions to attract all types of people, 'gambling dens' that had a few different types of non- machine based gambling, 'sports bars' with mini boxing rings in the middle where the patrons could box it out with boxing gloves to settle arguments or win free drinks if they could beat the bars local champion and there were a few other types of bars that were more inline with this worlds taste. I had created these as a backup but it turns out that the new bars that were launched were a massive success!
After that many bars were almost instantly changed or opened within the span of a week, it created a massive surge of interest from people of all levels of society, the Xrinda area became a large attraction and almost instantly and was converted from a poor slum area into a hub of social activity, by investing a proportion of the bars profits back into the area to neaten up the streets and fix up all the broken houses, we not only gained the support of the residents and business owners of the are, but also gained a rudimentary form of an intelligence network as anything that was said in the territory would be herd and anything that was important would inevitably find its way to one of the clan members.
The territories sudden success inevitable caused the jealousy of many of the surrounding territories Gang Bosses and very nearly escalated into a full blown war, fortunately with a few large bribes to the powerful Bosses, that we weren't ready to handle yet, in order to buy some time. I then hastily approached three seniors that were close to graduating and hired them as the 'Protectors' of the territory. In essence these students were the weakest of the graduates and had zero future prospects, graduating after only reaching Circle 3 meant that they would find it very difficult to get into any mage organization. Since they were all also drunks and the temptation of money as well as an almost free range on Nafets Territory was more than enough to get them under control. I did try to attract stronger students but anyone who actually performed decently had dreams of their own and were completely unfazed with my offers.
Other than those developments, my own Night Club has been at a standstill as the Alchemists at the Academy are completely useless!! I have been providing them with more than sufficient resources for months now and they have barely managed to produce one half finished drug that still has some unneeded side effects! There were multiple occasions that I was on the verge of strangling them to death, unfortunately I need them and I have not been able to find another source of talented Alchemists. What they have managed to create after I provided them with the base ingredient as well as instructions on exactly what I want it to do, was a type of plant that grants the user a type of Magic High when its fumes were inhaled.
I encountered this plant when I started getting tired of just eating different types of poisonous things in order to improve my Toxin Adaptation. As I was reading up on what to eat next I stumbled upon a plant that has a striking resemblance to a Marijuana bush, the bush had similar buds and everything. This plant is the main ingredient in the creation of a certain Magic Recovery potion, however, what the potion uses in its creation process are the stems of the plant as that part contains the least amount of poison while still obtaining the plant's effects. What I did as soon as I saw the appearance of the plant was, obviously, buy a ready grown plant, harvesting and 'testing' the buds effects.
Now the result that I got was completely unexpected, as soon as I took a puff from a hastily made pipe, I inhaled the smoke, and what hit me was a sensation that made me feel as If I had an unlimited amount of Magical Energy Coursing through my body. I felt as if I had become so powerful that I could defeat anyone or anything by just using the unlimited supply of Magical Energy coursing through me. Fortunately, thanks to my 'Toxin Adaptation' Rune, the effect was drastically suppressed and didn't make me lose control of myself. If anyone else were to inhale this, they would undoubtedly lose their mind and truly believe that they had become that powerful. What would follow would depend on the person, they may either start indiscriminately attacking everyone before actually running out of Magical Energy or they could actually try create more Magic Circles, as in their mind they have more than enough Magical Energy, thereby ruining their Circle, crippling or even killing themselves in the process of their inevitable failure.
After finding this effect, I immediately saw its potential, and as long as I could get the negative side effects under control and prevent the users from actually losing their mind, it should be immensely successful when released to the public. I can just imagine useless young masters without any talent in magic desperately smoking this 'blaze' in order to feel as if they are not useless and to gain some confidence in themselves. Therefore I immediately got some Alchemist students to start experimenting on a way to improve the plant so that it can be used by anyone.
What they have accomplished so far is, in my opinion, a half finished product because in order to avoid the side effects, it can only be consumed in small quantities as smoking more than a certain amount will lead to the poison acting up and the side effects returning. Another issue the Alchemists found with the drug, that I still haven't decided whether it is an actual issue or not, is that after their modification, it has become mildly addictive. When I say mildly, I mean that after experiencing it, you will feel the need to experience it again, but not to the point that you would kill or steal to get some more. Similar to the effect of tobacco just a bit different in that you can't smoke more than one or two pipes a day or you could face disastrous consequences.
I however, have taken quite the liking to what I have named 'blaze' and thanks to my Toxin Adaptation, I am able to have as much as I want, therefore I am often seen with a nice, newly made wooden pipe in my mouth, puffing away as I go about my day.
It has reached the time of the year when all the Academies have returned to the city and have started recruiting students again. I have told my clan to lay low during this time as I don't want to antagonize any truly powerful people, I just hope the Protectors of Nafets Territory will be able to handle all the problems that will come their way with this massive influx of people. I have decided that I will look around to find any individual that is talented in Alchemy and kidnap or scam them into joining Swernoot Academy, that way I will finally have someone that can help me get my nightclub started!
