After that first outburst, Callum half smirked before panicking.

"We got screwed over out there, man! There were too many. They'll come for us, and...wha- WHAT THE FUCK!" Panic rapidly became hysteria as Callum saw the mound of corpses in the corner of the room.

Already irritated at Callum again, James took charge of the situation.

“Doesn't matter. What happened to May? She's alive, right?"

Dom wordlessly nodded and slowly let her down into a lying position, taking care not to let any of the glass get crushed beneath his feet, speaking as he did so.

"She's just exhausted, from using all her Mana again."

"Why though?"

"She had to. It was the only way to let us escape."

Deciding to wait to hear the whole story, James helped Dom put another bundle of cloths under her head, and remove the belt and cooler from her, so she could sleep comfortably. He also found a cloth that could be used as a bandage and moved to throw it at Dom before thinking

Walking back over to his workbench, and ushering the others over, James turned off all the idle machinery, and forge. He then pulled out a stack of small stools and arranged them around a smaller, clear workbench.

"Come on. Tell me what happened."

The other three joined him at the table, and Dom and Callum told James and Dana what had happened in the hour and a half that had passed since they left the labs.

(Dom)

After handing James the paper filled with his – Genius! – designs and seeing them off, Dom switched his mind back to the Chemistry at hand. It had been a good idea for May to let him work with her. He had a feeling that Callum would have just tried to flirt with her.

Besides, Callum was shit at chemistry.

Dom thought about everything harmful and dangerous he could think of that they had learnt about in classes over the last few years. Acids, of course, were his first thought, but the college had been pretty set at not getting particularly dangerous concentrations. Some metals – the alkali ones - were pretty dangerous, and would explode or combust on contact with water or an acid. There might even be some dry ice left that he could use to make an explosive if pressurized and mixed with water.

But he was getting ahead of himself. May practically lived for chemicals, and especially since she had this Arcane Alchemist occupation, she would be taking the lead.

"What're we making, oh great Alchemist?", was Dom’s more than slightly sarcastic remark.

"Gimme a second to think, Asshole."

Mays reaction was hilarious, but Dom kept quiet. This was a life and death situation they were all in, he supposed. Maybe it wasn't best to just joke about all the time.

"I think I'll start with making some stronger Acids, and maybe some alcohol for molotovs and explosives."

"Explosives?!"

"'Course. Just need to make TNT."

" Shit, you can do that?"

"Sure. Just nitrate toluene and/or glycerol with a mixture of acid catalysts over a low flame. Easy. But if I want any solids out of It, it'll take a while to remove the water."

"So what did... all of that mean?"

Dom was good at chemistry, but not this good. Clearly, May was something of a chemistry but.

"Ugh. Ummm… I get these", she said, pulling out two bottles from a cooler cupboard, which was slowly heating up again.

"And mix them together with acids while heating It. Then get rid of impurities with more heat, and either keep it as a safer solution that is kind of flammable and explosive or keep heating and dry the powder I get to make a much more volatile powder."

Her explanation got more erratic as it continued, but Dom got a general idea at least.

"Can any of the alchemist skills help us speed it up?"

"Oh shit. I completely forgot about them... probably?"

"Fucks sake May, it's been five minutes."

"Shut up, I'm reading them, shut up."

May went through the skills the occupation had given her and explained them to Dom. Even though they might not be relevant now, he insisted it was better that he knew for any situation.

Purify (Skill):

Removing impurities from a solid compound is accelerated when one focuses on the desired product(s).

Cost: 4 Stamina per compound

Enhance© (Skill):

Contact with ones created chemicals, and activation will enhance their effects by 10%.

Cost: 10 Stamina per litre enhanced

Suspended Reaction (Skill):

Suspend the reaction of a substance or between two substances by focusing of the mind. Temporarily suspends entropy.

Cost: 8 Stamina per second

Bunsen's Flame (Skill):

A skill that brings ones will into reality in the form of a small but concentrated flame. Temperature can be altered at will.

Cost: 4 stamina per minute

Arcane Formation (+Spell):

Use Alchemical Essence and Mana to make chemicals, improve chemicals or form objects. Arcane factor allows for magical properties to be added to completed chemicals.

Cost: Mana and Essence dependent on chemical and enhancement.

Arcane Extraction (+Skill):

Extract Alchemical Essence from compounds for formation. Arcane factor gives bonus essence.

Cost: 10 Mana per item

"Damn." Dom was nearly speechless. Those class abilities were OP.

"Yup. These skills are gonna help this process so much, so let's get started."

Dom and May spent an hour mixing, making and accidentally setting fire to Dom’s shirt.

At the end of this, they had enough pure alcohol for a dozen Molotov cocktails, but as they were in a chemistry lab, they used boiling tubes with stoppers in them instead of bottles. All the created compounds were being kept safely In a fridge behind them.

They also had over a litre of a volatile TNT solution in small conical flasks and were drying the first flasks worth of powder which, using Mays skills, ended up being quite a lot.

"Ugh. I wish it would dry faster." May complained for the fiftieth time.

"Then use a bigger flame!" Dom nearly yelled. There seemed to be a simple solution here that she refused to execute.

"This flame is as big as it's going to get, and it's hotter than all the goddamn flames in here anyway!"

This (annoyingly, logical) argument drew Callum’s attention once again. He had been doing nothing in the last hour besides pissing about with the teacher’s desk and eat all the snacks they had brought from the classroom.

"Just make a bigger fire with your mana. You made a wave of mana right? Just make a flame of Mana."

Callum’s solution seemed too easy, but Dom couldn't think of anything that could go wrong.

"Good idea. Gimme a few minutes. I'll work on it."

May sat down with no hesitation and got into her meditating position. She activated her Bunsen’s flame and stilled her body. Dom was confused at the action and broke her focus purposely to inquire about it.

"Why are you using the Flame? You'll run out of Stamina."

"Not for a long while. Anyway, Bunsen’s Flame uses my Will to shape the Mana in the air, so it's not very strong. I can copy it using my Mana."

As she said this, the flame got larger and brighter before she frowned and scrunched up he face.

The flame extended massively, scorching the ceiling while maintaining its narrow shape.

"SHIT"

Dom swore loudly as the stream of fire dripped liquid flames on the table, and nearly onto his shoes. Before he was thrown to his side, the table lit up and his vision blurred. He flew into the wall, pain racking up his arm and the side of his face.

As he landed, the worktable was alight with flames, and Callum was running over with a fire extinguisher. But despite Callum’s mouth moving, Dom could only hear a ringing in his ears.

White smoke poured across the table, and the heat from the flames that Dom had barely felt was eliminated. Noticing yet being unable to fully comprehend the status effects put on him.

Status effects:

Dazed (1:13)

Stunned (0:19)

Deafened (5:12)

Dom slowly watched the stunned counter drop until it disappeared, and suddenly his head felt clearer, which unfortunately for him also applied to the pain. He still couldn't hear, and the dazed effect was stopping him from moving, but he evaluated his injuries and the damage dealt. As far as he could tell, the fire had dripped onto the powdered TNT, and it had blown up. He was close to it, and so was in the blast radius, but as it was only a loose powder, it was not as powerful as it could have been.

Especially as May hadn’t tried to enhance it yet.

Thinking of May, he struggled to roll his head to the side and saw May slowly standing. There were no visible injuries aside from a few cuts and burns, but as she was close, she was likely dazed too.

Callum pulled him into a sitting position and, looking concerned, started talking.

Dom still couldn't hear any more than a dull drone when Callum spoke, over the thumping of his heart.

The dazed effect wore off, and he stood to see May and Callum pushing against the door that was being hit repeatedly from the other side. But without his hearing, there was no point asking what it was.

He ran over to see a very large lizard’s head pushed up against the glass of the door, and a few more heads pushing it. It was more like a gecko than a standard lizard though, as it had wet red skin, and appeared to have suckered feet instead of claws.

With no apparent method of dealing damage, Dom wasn't sure why the others were even trying to keep them out before he noticed the shadow of rows of black teeth beneath their translucent mouths. But still. With a soft body, there couldn’t be more than four or five of them. Surely between their weapons and May’s fire, they handle a few overgrown geckos?

But as soon as Dom’s hearing finally returned, he could hear the faint sizzling coming from the door and, inspecting it closer, saw that the surface of the door was melting on contact with the slimy bodies.

‘Corrosive geckos’ thought Dom, and felt a mix of excitement and fear. This was the first real monster they had encountered, making this RPG adventure that much more exciting, but at this rate, it would soon be over.

"Dom, what the fuck are you waiting for?! Get over here and hold the goddamn door!"

May was being loud and assertive, and honestly, it unnerved Dom. He was used to her being quiet, and this sudden change in character made him question some other things he had assumed about her. Nevertheless, he did what she said and took her place holding the door.

"The fuck are you going to do?!"

Callum vocalised Dom’s thoughts as May began rooting through the supply cupboards again.

"Got to find some Alkali Metals!"

May shouted across the room. But this brought up more questions than it answered. For Callum. Dom was already onto her plan, but he was busy holding the door, so let her explain.

"What do you need them for!?"

"Alkali metals combust in water and explode on contact with acid. Those things are acidic right?"

"Oh, so we should stand back when the door dissolves?"

"Wha...? Of course you idiot!"

May paused a moment to properly chastise Callum before triumphantly looking at the bottle in her hand, and ripping a lab coat off the wall at the same time. She ripped apart the coat into large rough patches, and a belt-shaped piece that had dozens of pockets that were that would likely fit test tubes.

Opening the bottle, she poured out a liquid with large grey chunks in it and began to dry them off.

Holding the dried and now shinier pieces on a cloth in one hand, she focused on them and said:

"Purify"

The pieces glowed white for a second before dimming again, only much shinier than before.

May then laid the cloth on the table, away from the liquid from the bottle and ran into the supply room.

Callum looked helplessly over to Dom, and Dom returned the look. While the metals would do a lot of damage to the corrosive geckos, they had maybe less than a minute before the door started to give away, and May had just hidden in a small room.

But then May emerged, with a large thermal box on a strap that she brought over to the fridge full of their alcohol and TNT solutions before placing all the flasks in the box, and all the small Molotov cocktails into her new test tube belt, before slinging them both over her body.

"I'm ready. Open the door whenever!"

The two ran away from the door, Dom seizing his club on the way. There was a moment of silence before the light slimy and sticky movement noises became louder, and the entire bottom half of the door exploded in wet, smoking splinters.

May reacted without hesitation and threw the cloth full of metal at the small group. When the metal made contact with the slimy skin, it stuck before flaring up and exploding in a small ball of fire. Windows with damage counters appeared in the crowd, too many to read all of them.

-79

-120 (critical hit)

-69

-30

-67

-50

-13

-46

Every last lizard got at least a little metal on them, and all of them were burning. Only one solitary gecko didn't die instantly, and a window appeared above its head with a status effect.

Status effect applied: (burning)

(1:24)

-4hp

-4hp

The lizard lost 4hp every second, and it barely took 10 seconds for it too, to finally die.

"Oh shit, my Alchemist occupation levelled up, and so did Purify. But where did all the experience go? "

Mays triumphant cries and confused whines were cut off by the sound footsteps approaching.

Dom was the first to react. Grabbing a bottle of TNT out of Mays cooler, and a roll of tape from his own bag, he taped the flasks to his club before holding it out to May.

"We're leaving. Set fire to this when We're in the hallway and try to wait until they're in range. If they keep coming, you're going to have to use your... what was the spell called? The fire stream one?"

"Fire Stream."

May confirmed as she grabbed the club and marched out the door after Callum before running out towards the workshops. Dom quickly exited as Well and risked a look over to the approaching sound.

Dozens of lizards scrambled over their charred kin towards them. And not even on the floor. The corrosive geckos with their suckered feet were running along the walls. The floor was mostly taken up by similarly sized, but noticeable clawed lizards with dark, leathery skin.

Then it was a mad rush down the hallway. Callum hadn't noticed, but May was way slower than them, and Dom easily caught up.

"Get on my back. I'll be faster than you."

May nodded, already out of breath, and swung up onto his broad back, careful not to break any of the glass on her belt. Looking back, she could see the hard was steadily catching up, so she used her Bunsen’s flame to set the wood of the club on fire. Once it was properly burning, she motioned to throw it back only to see a dark lizard to jump for it. Dom had noticed it too and swung his arm back to punch it away, marking a nice small,

-5hp

To appear as the lizard flew away. But they were too close now.

" May, I you use mana wave, how much mana will you have left?"

"Thirteen, no. Fourteen."

"Use it. Aim it at us."

So May activated Mana Wave, and Dom felt a little strength enter his body. The darker lizards, obviously the faster of the two types, slowed down a little, so Dom was now gaining a lead.

"Now use your fire-stream-thing on them. Use it as much as you can, I'll carry you if you pass out. Just give me the club."

May passed the club over his head, and he grabbed it carefully, avoiding the still burning end. Thankfully, the glass was close to the metal handle, so the fire was not close enough to set it off.

Dom felt a great heat emerge from behind him, and heard loud hisses emerge from what he suspected were the lizards.

"DOM!! THEY'RE NOT GETTING HURT! THE DARK ONE's AREN'T GETTING HURT!"

While he didn't appreciate the screaming, he understood her fear and gave here the only idea he had.

"Shoot the floor! Try and melt their path!"

Dom’s plan appeared to be working as the sound of claws grew quieter, but the heat of the flame lessened, then he felt May lean forwards in his back. She was completely spent.

Looking back for just a moment to aim, Dom made the mistake of slowing down, as one of the darker lizards lunged for him and chomped on his leg.

Not wanting to use his explosive club, he pulled Mays spare one out from his belt and swung it towards the lizards head. At the same time, he threw the explosive club as hard as he could at the floor of the centre of mass of the lizard horde. The one attached to his leg let go just in time to catch the club in its mouth, and ripped it out of his grasp.

A hard blast emerged from down the hallway, and Dom was knocked back a few steps, almost dropping May, before hastily grabbing one of her legs and an arm.

Dozens of windows appeared in his vision, but he just willed them away and kicked the lizard in front of him as hard as he could towards the now flaming section of the hall.

[ALL OUT]

The lizard flew back down the hall with his last weapon, and a few more windows appearing above it. Not caring enough to read them, Dom turned again to his destination and started running there again.

"So that takes us to now."

Dom finished his story, and James leant back. Amazed.

Just as he was about to interrogate Dom with a multitude of questions, Dom beat him to the punch.

"So, uh… Where's the gear I asked for?"