Aurthor's Corner: First i must thank everyone for the many great ideas for both Nebula and Clockwork. I got lots of inspirations and mixing and matching the ideas made some very interesting ideas to use. Terraforming mission coming next but not this chapter. This chapter i have fun with dwarves as they fight to keep their pride.

Enjoy~!

After several minutes we could unstick Havic from the fighters window and convince her to allow Alex to go pilot the ship and return us to the station.

Now that the Alex could retreat to his seat, and soon after seal the small corridor to it with a bulkhead door making Havic bang on it asking to let her in, we returned to the station where we would think of where to take our course now.

After Havic calmed down she explored the ship and soon ended up in the cargo and soon asked who was the brewer.

Dad went down and I followed curious.

“Hey how much do you sell these four?” She asked.

“Well when we made one batch, it was by grade and not by brand or anything.” Dad said.

“Seems you're putting a brand now.” She said.

“Yeah we got to put that to spread our name.” Dad said proud.

“That is all good but do you expect to sell a lot with so few?” She asked.

“I do quality instead of quantity, besides I make a barrel of wine and beer every 2 days. Those at the corner already have aged a month and can be taste tested.” dad said pointing at both corners on the wall with the entrance to the floor.

“Mind if I taste test?” She asked.

Both of us make a frown.

“Well… it can’t hurt for the wine but I don’t suggest the beer.” I said with a frown.

“Why, is it bad?” She asked.

“No but… dad has a specific formula he uses and if it succeeds with whatever beer he makes it can drop a dwarf to the floor in at max 3 shots.” I said truthfully.

I never saw anyway survive more than 3 shots not matter which ingredients were used.

“Is it 100% fucking alcohol to drop a dwarf!” She shouted.

“That’s the thing, its not, I probably doesn’t pass 60% but the effect and flavor of the drink is beyond compare. If you ask a dwarf after he drinks the first cup he will say it tastes like a flavored drink but a moment later it will heat up like lava inside him.” I said.

“How do you know?” She asked.

“I was his to go guinea pig.” I said with a hint of regret in my expression and eyes.

She looked at dad with a frown.

“Hey, you try making ale without a taste tester.” Dad complained.

“You don’t use your own brat as a guinea pig! What’s wrong with that fucked up head of yours!” She shouted back.

“It’s my son so I had him learn my best trades!” He shouted back.

Sparks were flying between their eyes.

“Hmph, I bet that beer sucks after feeling the taste of regret from using your own son.” Havic said and turned her head from dad and crossed her arms under her impressive rack.

“WHAT WAS THAT!” Dad shouted and instantly raged upstairs.

“Whats with him?” Havic asked.

“You will probably regret what you said just now.” I said and went to the barrel that was already aged past a month.

Moments later dad came down with some cups.

“Come here and I will show you how “Bad” my ale is.” He said.

He went to the beer and turned it slightly filling a small glass for her.

It was a simple shots glass since we don’t have fancy cups or anything.

She takes it takes a sniff and looks at it. The color was a transparent amber color.

After looking a bit she drank it all in one go. Her eyes open wide.

“Wow! The scent isn’t the best but its still refreshing and the flavor is smooth and the aftertaste is… urg!” the next moment her body collapsed and her light red skin on her face turned brights red.

We looked at her expression as she starts to giggle and get up but keep falling over drunk.

Instantly we looked at the barrel.

“It can’t be!” Dad exclaimed.

He took the glass and filled a cup before drinking it and sitting down.

After a moment his face got red.

“Ahahah! This is it! My first barrel of Dwarf Smasher!” he shouted.

He gets up with a huge grin and a fierce eye.

I sigh and shake my head. Seriously my dad is the only guy that can stand up so vigorously after drinking this monster alcohol.

“So dad, what will you do?” I asked.

“The same as always! Heh BAHAHAH!” He shouted laughing like a madman.

”Here it comes… At least it brings in a lot of money when he succeeds.” I thought to myself.

Dad runs upstairs leaving me with the drunk Zastros.

I sigh and get her in a piggyback and take her to her room where she falls flat on her bed already out.

At least alex won’t have much trouble for a while. Still we warned her, this is purely a dwarf only drink.

Well, better explain to the others what will happen in a while.

I called the others and explained.

“So now we have that strange drink of your dads? You going to sell it?” Hilda asked.

“No, 9 out of 10 when we make the first time where people are still underestimating it dad does a bid with all the heaviest drinkers.” I said.

“What kind of bet?” Jessica asked.

I sigh.

“He takes all our money, which at this time is around 45 thousand credits, and bets it against the 20 top drinkers, the bet is always the same. The men sit at the far corner of the room. Those who can drink 3 shots without fainting and last 5 minutes without fainting and get up and walk over to the pot of cash will be the winner. If no one wins dad is the winner.” I explained.

“45k times the 20 drinks would equal 900k credits but if we reduce the bet to 30k which leads to 600k and use the 15k as side bets. Since there are probably reallys strong drinker and you can understand the drinks properties than any of us you can make a public betting where we can profit even more.” Lia’s voice suddenly called from my wrist.

The new communicators are working like a charm and now have a voice box to transfer sound when we chat as well as allow our AI to speak freely.

“Big sis Hilda, big sis Lia said that if you do this we all get bodies! Is that true!” Hilda’s AI appeared as a little boy that have off the rascal feeling.

“Lia~!” I said looking down at her hologram as she smiled.

“Teehee!” She said making a vein bulge on my forehead.

“We don’t know how much it will cost to get a proper body for AI’s also we need the money for a lot of things so we don’t know if we can get your bodies since we don’t even know the benefit of this.” I told them.

The AI looked glum as he vanished.

“Is there really no way to make them something?” Hilda asked.

“Well I heard that bodies are like AI’s prison, if we put them in then we lose our aid AI. I truthfully don’t want to make androids because once they reach a level where they don’t need to depend on us they may leave. If I ever make anything it will be a small drone or something that has utility functions.” I said.

“Don’t be a scroudge Noah, at least get us something humanoid!” Lia complained.

“Did I ever say a Drone wasn’t humanoid. Maybe a head big and like a small doll it possible but I still haven’t found a use for it.” I said.

“Madam Lisa.” Called a gentle voice from Lisa’s direction.

Looking her way she held her wrist up and what appeared was a defacto Elven Maid full with the knee long black and white dress. Not only that she hits every dream of otaku as a Busty Elf.

“Tris did you need anything?” Lisa asked.

“Yes madam, about what sir Noah said, whenever we are connected to the station I looked through the net at least where I can enter and I have found that there are a few shops for Aide AI drones. They are basic spherical models but as basic models they hold similar capacities to these wrist communicators as well as being capable of undergoing upgrades.” She said.

I cringe as even the most upright looking AI wanted a body.

“What is the price range?” I asked regretfully.

“Most basic model is 30,000 credits as they come with an inbuilt scanner and identification program.” She said.

There are 7 members of our crew now and each one has their own AI, 30,000 would be in every shape or form taking the more than one third of the money we would gain from the bet just to buy the crappiest model drone.

“No way, we could use the money we would use from your drone bodies to upgrade the shuttle. We seriously lack fire power for our ship at the moment. First we need to build a turret so that Jessica can put her sniper skills in space to the max while also improving the hull, shield generator, and the laser weapons we have to better stuff. We never know when we will be in a fight and having so little fire power isn’t a good thing.” I said.

“Scrooge!” Lia said

“Jerk!” Hilda’s AI shouted and started pouting while “sitting” down hunched over as a hologram.

I massage my head.

“Lets first deal with my father’s annoying performance as he will definitely make a contest out of this.” I said with a sigh.

Everyone nodded and we left the area near the cockpit where Alex had been listening.

“Hey Noah, what happened to the demon?” Alex shouted.

“We discovered the Dwarf smasher because dad wanted to prove his drink was good. It ended up with her on the floor drunk with no control over herself. She is in bed at the moment and will probably wake up with a killer headache.” I said.

Alex laughs like a giddy girl as he hears of Havic’s run with misfortune.

Soon enough we reach the station and while keeping a rein on my dad so that he doesn’t run off we transport the barrel inside.

We then head for the Dwarf fighters airfield with everyone, besides the knocked out Havic, with dad walking in big strides.

As we enter the field a few people look our ways before their eyes light up.

Soon enough everyone was looking and Colonel came our way.

“Oh so another barrel is ready! How much, i’ll buy it here!” Colonel said.

“Bahahahah! This isn’t for sell, this is the first barrel of my own Dwarf Smasher! Today I have brought to you the drink that will put all your dwarfs under the table.” dad proudly announced.

“Dwarf…OH it’s that unrealistic beer Noah spoke of.” Colonel says a bit uninterested.

“Of course, but I won’t sell the barrel, I propose a bet. A bet between me and the top dwarf drinkers in this airfield!” Dad said.

“A drinking bet, your joking with us right, we are dwarfs, you want to bet that we will fall under the table against you?” Colonel said.

“Of course, the bet is rather simply, all the mo...UFF!” He said but I elbow his gut.

“The bet conditions we already decided before coming here without you dad!” I announce. “The bet is as followed, the top 20 dwarf drinks will sit in the center of the room on a table. Our current capital for the bet is 30k credits, should those who wish to join this bet they would also bet 30k.

The bet is simple, the 20 drinkers will drink 3 shots of this ale, you must drink 3 shots and stay awake for 2 minutes after each shot and 5 minutes after the last shot. After the three shots and 5 minutes you must walk to the table that the money will be placed on which will be at 20 meters away. Should anyone reach the table they win the bet but if no one reaches it our side will win. Besides that there are bets on the side that our crew will also be hosting such as how many will not survive one shot or two shots.” I explained.

There was a clamour among the people in the airfield.

Suddenly a human walked up.

“I’ll take your bet!” He said proudly.

“Sorry but this is a dwarf only contest.” I instantly shot him down.

“What!” He said with a scowl.

“Let me explain, a dwarf can easily handle more than five times the alcohol any other race that hasn’t lived drinking alcohol for thousands of years doing so. The drink behind me can leave a heavy drinker of any other race on the floor with one shot and can even kill a weak drinker of any other race so this be is purely for dwarfs. As stated by the regulations when making drinks, you must put caution and regulations for all drinks as such…” I said and turn to dad he puts the barrel down and turns to show the words on the back.

[Dwarf Only drink! Other races will die!] Was written boldly on the back.

The dwarves looked at the words before they started laughing at how blunt the words were.

“Oh this is a real good joke for sure!” Colonel said looking at the words.

“So you won’t bet?” I asked with a smile trying to provoke him.

“Kid, I know you're trying to provoke me.” He said.

“Well you’re the leader of everyone here so you should be a strong drinker as well right.” I said.

“I am, no one has ever beat me.” He replied.

“Then are you actually cautious of a simple drink you don’t believe can drop you to the ground.” I said.

“Brat, I can take someone insulting my robot if they have the power to back it but no one insults my drinking ability!” He shouts.

“Then put your money where you mouth is and gather your strongest and bravest men to fight us.” I said with a smile.

A good fisherman uses the right bait and it’s just what I did. A perfect cast, hook line and sink.

Colonel storms out and starts to pull out 19 other men. The go and bring several small tables and chairs which was put in a clear area and a another table put 20 meters away where our 30 thousand was placed as well as each participant's money.

“Now the other bets we are hosting are public ones for the viewers. The first bet is that in the first shot between 5 to 8 men will drop out either by forfeit or by fainting. The second bet is that between 13 to 16 men will drop out either by forfeit or by fainting and the last bet is that only Colonel will be able to last the five minutes but won’t reach 10 meters of the table.

Each bet we will host with a bet of 5 thousand credits and our bet is for these conditions to happen. The betting will take place for 10 minutes and you can bet through the AI’s. Our own AI are already keeping tabs and there are three tables behind the main one where you can place the money for the bet. It can be whatever value unlike the main bet.” I said.

The eyes of the viewers were burning as they start to move towards the crew mates who were already there.

After 10 minutes the chances were like this.

For bet one there was a 1:4 against our bet. About 40 men bet all of them bet against it while there were some elves that bet with us. The total gathered for this bet was around 15k for the bet and 75k against it

Bet two was more even with a 1:2 since we had confidence in our drink so there was a more even. 20k to 40k

As for the last bet it was 1:10 with everyone betting that Colonel would get closer than 10 meters but most of the bets were only 1k but one man did bet 10k that Colonel will get as close as 5 meters from the table. For this it was us against the rest summing 50k

With the bets done we have some of the men of the airfield bring their own shots glass so that they can’t say we cheated and they come and fill the cups for the participants.

With the cups were placed and when everyone had one I walked forward.

“Alright, all bets placed and participants ready. Then first shot, I will clock the two minutes. Anyone that forfeit should simply stand and leave, don’t try to act tough.” I tell them and lift my arm.

“Alright, first shot go!” I said and all twenty men drink and Lia started the counter.

After they all drank they let out a sigh and began to talk about the drink similar to Havic but as the counter hit 20 seconds the alcoholic effect hit them like a truck and all of them started to turn red.

“Fuck!” One said as he closed his eyes and shook his head and began to breath more ragged. “This is a bitch of a drink!” He said.

“Aye!” Colonel says better of than the others like I had expected. “The boy was truthful when he said this drink could kill other races.” Colonel said making everyone shocked.

“Urg, I’m out! This thing hits like a bitch.” One dwarf said and got up and took two steps before his legs gave way and he couldn’t get up. Another one forfeits as well but the next moment really scared everyone as four dwarfs tilt backwards and fall off their chairs crashing onto the ground or forward with their heads on the table completely unconscious.

The entire area was silent as the heaviest drinkers they know fell like flies.

Just before the end of the first two minutes another three forfeit making the first bet invalid as nine people had lost.

“Nine people gave up so the bet has been invalidated as no one won. Those who bet can retrieve their money after the contest is over.” I announced. “Shot two” I say as they glasses were filled. “Go” I say and the remaining 11 dwarfs drank the second shot.

Like before after 20 seconds the effects started to kick in and after a moment almost simultaneously 4 people fell unconscious making the number of losers 13 already within my calculations.

The rest hold up until the one minute thirty second mark where another two forfeit and the rest survive the two minutes.

“Bet two, those that gambled on the 13 to 16 forfeiting, you are winners along with us. We will count the number of winners and evenly distribute the money among winners after the contest.” I said making those who won cheer.

“My god, what the fuck did I get into.” One drinker said as he supports his head with an arm.

“Don gib up, tis bat ill win if wah gibe up so old on! (Don’t give up, this brat will win if we give up so hold on!)” Colonel said talking like drunk.

With five men left the third shot was left and when the men saw that small cup being placed three took a look. “Urg…” one suddenly turned and fell of his chair on all fours as he vomited.

“Oh! A lucky one, he is disqualified since the ale was ejected!” Dad said.

He knows well enough that vomiting will remove the drink already inside.

Some of the men went to help the poor dwarf. The others looked at the poor man and now it was 16 down before the third shot.

“Leb da tis! (Let’s do this!)” Colonel said and as one they four remaining men drank at once.

They took a long time before it all went down and they put the cups down and the clock for five minutes started.

All their faces were beet red, I’m sure none of these ever felt what being smashed drunk was like. I’ve felt it so many times i’m sure that I built tolerance that even transfer from game to game.

They all survive the impact of the alcohol at 20 seconds all the way to two minutes where the first man dropped unconscious. At three minutes another fell and the last one at three minutes third seconds.

Now only Colonel was left and the third public bet was burning through everyone’s heart and pocket. If Colonel survived the 5 minutes the bet was in effect but if he didn’t they everyone was safe.

Unfortunately Colonel, being a dwarf as he is, was a stubborn as they come and lasted all five minutes.

“Alright, five minutes waiting time is finished. Now Colonel if you can pass 10 meters we lose the public bet but if you lose before that we will win both bets.” I said.

“Urg!” Colonel muttered as he looked around as he forces his eyes open. His vision was probably blurred already. He looks around slowly as he tries to focus and when he finally focuses enough to find the table with money he supports himself on the table and slowly crawls off it while supporting himself like a newborn learning to walk.

As he aims himself towards the table he lets go and stretches his arms out.

The crowd was quiet as they watch. Because of the stocky figure of the dwarf he could balance himself well since he was much more compact than I am after reducing the muscle mass and increasing my size.

He takes one step with shaky legs and everyone is holding their breath.

One step at a time he slowly and wobbly walks towards the table.

With each step he closes his eyes and shakes his head waking himself up.

After a suspenseful three minutes he had covered eight meters to the table when his legs gave way and he finally fainted and smashed into the ground completely unconscious.

Everyone drew in a cold breath as they watch the top drinker of the station on the ground.

“Colonel has lost and calculated by all the AI’s he had reached eight meters, that being said, the contest goes in favor of my crew as well as the last bet going in favor of us as well.” I say out loud. “Those of the first bet can retrieve their money, those of the second bet who won can speak with the elf who took care of that bet and she will distribute the money for those who won as for the last bet, it was everyone against us so we win undisputed.” I proclaimed with a smile.

At once the airfield was a buzz as some men rushed to Colonel and tried to wake him up. They even took out a special smelling salt and shook it near his nose making him somewhat wake up before his vision faded.

“Move men!” One of the elves said and put his hand on Colonels head.

Then from his head a green colored Psi flowed out and soon entered into Colonel's body. Soon a kind of dark fog began to pulse out of Colonel for a moment before it stopped. He retracted his hand and took the smelling salt and put it next to Colonel’s nose.

“Urg… ARGAHHH!” Colonel started and yelled from the smell of the salts.

He sat up and moved away quickly from the elf.

As he looked around he looked at the elf with the smelling salts before looking around.

“What?” He said and blinked a bit and then slowly remembered what just happened.

“Bloody hell! I was dropped!” He shouted.

“Bahahaha! Definitely! You fell face first and ate dirt!” Dad said massively proud of his monster.

“This… this isn’t a fucking beer, it’s a bloody demon in liquid form!” Colonel shouted.

“One that I love with all my heart. To make one barrel of this beauty there is a 1:50 chance of it successfully make a single barrel.” Dad said.

“1:50!” Colonel exclaimed.

“If I had a large factory and make the beer in large production it's possible only one barrel from it could achieve this result after aging. It’s by complete coincidence and I have no control on this natural part of the brewing. There is truly no way to increase the 1:50 part but as you saw the result.” Dad said.

“No way…” Colonel said.

He looked at the barrel.

“This is a priceless barrel that I would rank 10 but that isn’t for me to decide.” Dad said.

“This drink doesn’t fit into the ranking of 1-10. For us dwarves it tramples on our pride!” Colonel said.

“You should be proud you drank 3 shots and could still walk so far. We have only seen 7 others like you and only 1 man could still remain sane after drinking three shots and talk relatively normal.” Dad said.

This shook every dwarf to the core. There was actually someone that could remain sane after drinking this.

What they don’t know is that this man was actually one of the gods of the VR games we played in the past. He had brought both me and dad when we had a barrel in our possession and wanted to drink the Dwarf smasher. The dwarf god is also the god of alcohol so he doesn’t get drunk easily and was able to take three shots and said that they left him drunk as if he had drunk three barrels of one of his best beers.

For the god of alcohol it took 30 shots for him to reach the state of 2 shots on a regular dwarf. That gods resistance was amazing but even so he loved the Dwarf smasher and said the name is well deserved without a doubt. It even hurt his pride to get to such a state with so little beer.

As a reward for making something like this we gained an artifact that made divine wine and beer depending which side of the goblet that you inject mana into. Strangely the divine ales were weaker than the dwarf smasher but then again the Dwarf Smasher was had an effect that is hard to replicate. Also it’s not addictive but in all games we show dwarves to this drink becomes legendary to them. Some say it was something the dwarf god had bestowed on them but some take it differently and it turns into a tradition to become an adult. I wonder how this game will react.

“This…” Colonel was to shocked to reply.

“Well, I doubt we could sell an open barrel anymore even with a few shots taken already.” Dad said.

“No way! I have plans for this drink already! Please if you make more I will buy them for 100k each!” Colonel said.

“What are you gonna use it for? Its not like you can drink it all alone?” Jessica asked.

“No, I thought about it, this drink hurts my pride as a dwarf since I lost to an alcohol but it made me realize that this galaxy is huge. I want to use it as an initiation item where new dwarves would drink and those that can keep awake after two shots could have true pride as dwarves and dwarf fighters!” He said with his eyes holding a flame of determination.

So it’s like this! Pride as a dwarf and dwarf fighter. Yeah that seems just right for this type of setting.

Dad looked at me.

“We will do it for 75k but you don’t need to buy alone and could probably divide it up between everyone.” I said.

He looked at everyone and saw they agreed with his decision.

“Alright, for 75k we have a deal.” He said. “But all you guys…” He turned to the others. “Everyone will have to taste this beast and then work hard so we can get another barrel after he makes another one.” Colonel said.

“Yes Sir!” Everyone shouted and and started laughing.

From there they pooled together more money giving us the grand total of 600k from the contest, 75 from selling the DS, 50k from the last bet and after retrieving the 5k from the second bet we split the 40k from the other side with the 15 others that bet 1k each giving my crew 4k since we had the biggest bid and leaving them with 2,400 credits of profit.

In total we got 729k credits from this single contest. It goes without saying this is a huge profit that can buy us a second shuttle completely outfitted with weapons. For us right now, this will allow us to completely renovate the shuttle and outfit it with a lot of weapons and protective gear. Not only that we got this message.

For aiding in the creation of an alcoholic beverage that could only be considered mythological as it can make a dwarf, a race of extremely heavy drinkers, faint in under three alcohol shots, your entire crew gains 3,000 fame and your name will forever be engraved into history as the creators of a legend. All dwarves on Kelha II will know your name and the brand of your drink. As the Station expands it will also spread your name and brand through word of mouth.

All Dwarf Fighters from Kelha II will respect your crew for making this Beverage.

Dad even gained a title.

Brewer of LegendsA brewer with unparalleled perception in the art of brewing alcoholic beverages. The perception is to such a degree that any ingredient that touches his hand can be used. Such perception has finally given birth to a legend among Alcoholic Beverages. One that even the top alcohol drinkers, the dwarves, would fear to drink more than three shot cups for fear of losing their own lives to the alcohol.

Fame of the brand of the wielder of this Title will spread out faster.

In the status screen the title bar appeared under dad’s name after it appeared. I wonder why it didn’t show before. Maybe stuff that have no use don’t appear. Makes sense I guess.

Still this title, it will definitely make us much more money since the fame of his Brand will be carried by this title. At least in Kelha system we will be able to easily sell the Alcohol. Works for us at least we won’t have trouble and the Dwarf Smasher already guarantee us 75k each barrel.

This is a very good day, lets see about some upgrades and then see what we can do about that pile of weapons we gathered.