The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “I hate using other people’s strength to look after ourselves,” Blaze said, cutting to the crux of their issue. “But as you said, this is the Ten Realms. Unless we’re people from the Divine Realm, people will still want what we have, but they will just be scared shitless to try to take it from us.”

  Silence fell over the room. Erik and Rugrat had awkward expressions on their faces but looked at each other, sharing a thought with a glance.

  Egbert even broke away from his book for a few moments.

  “It makes sense. Doesn’t feel right, but with everything we’re doing, someone is sure to find out eventually,” Erik said.

  “Yeah,” Rugrat agreed.

  The moment stretched before Glosil cleared his throat and continued. “We have different associations and groups that are interested in purchasing weaponry from us. So that is something to think on.”

  “Elise, would you take a look at that? Use Elan’s resources when he gets things going. We’ll need agreements with them to make sure that they don’t use them against us. Only the repeaters and armor at this time. Everything else, we keep to ourselves,” Erik asked.

  “I’ll add it to the list,” Elise said, making a note.

  Jia Feng smiled and Delilah coughed lightly.

  “Our population has increased. We’re reaching nearly sixty percent of the dungeon’s floor capacity. We are recruiting more people than before from across the realms. As Egbert talked about, we are looking to expand this floor. With more people arriving, we need more space for them. We have a large population that moves between the realms. It is hard to contact them at any given time, but many of them own some kind of property in Alva. Working with the blueprint office and Matt, we are planning for the expansion of Alva. With everything, unless we are able to reach other floors, we will be able to hold fifteen thousand people at our current size. With the expansions, we will be able to support forty to sixty thousand people.

  “Though the farmers won’t be pleased with those numbers because they don’t have anywhere to grow their crops. The iron deposits that we found in the area have been depleted. We have a greater need for administrators and people to assist with the running of Alva, and it seems that the same can be said of Vuzgal. I would like to ask to recruit people from those in Vuzgal to assist us here. Also, a school to help teach administrators: simple management skills, understanding of more complex ideas like loans, mathematics, and general use information.”

  “Could we add that to the basic education?” Erik asked.

  “We could, but why?” Jia Feng asked, confused.

  “Well, we might know how loans work, how investments work, but the people of Alva might not. It is useful information that can help them in later years. The banking system is new and can be confusing to many,” Erik said.

  “Yeah, numbers can be a pain in the ass. Don’t know how many times I went to the bank and came out cross-eyed.” Rugrat shook his head.

  “Comes from the guy who can hit a nickel from what, two klicks out?”

  “I’ve been practicing, and that math is just simple: air, gravity, bit of heat—pain in the butt with the different planet sizes and gravity differential.” Rugrat’s words sounded as if they belonged to a different language.

  “We could add it,” Jia Feng agreed.

  Erik looked to Delilah. She nodded.

  “I also have some other problems,” Delilah said.

  Erik indicated for her to continue.

  “We have a number of people who are barely paying their loans and they are looking to get items from the people of Alva. They had the bank extend the duration of their loan as well.” Delilah’s voice hardened.

  “What do you think that we should do?” Erik asked.

  “I think it is time that they remembered that they are living on someone else’s land and while we want them to increase their strength, we aren’t pushovers,” Delilah said.

  “How?”

  “We don’t increase the period of time to pay back the loans for them anymore; we treat them the same as everyone else. If their loan defaults, then they become serfs of Alva Dungeon and will be forced to carry out labor in the farms, the Alchemy gardens, or for other jobs that people who don’t need an education are needed for. They will work five days a week there. Their food and lodging will come out of their pay, with the remaining money being used to pay back their loans.”

  “What if they can’t pay for their loan because their house is too big?” Jia Feng asked. Most of the people who went to the academy had a loan of one kind or another to pay for their school up front.

  “Then we will sell their house and put them in the cheapest housing available,” Delilah said.

  “What if they have a family?” Rugrat asked.

  “The adults will be put to work and anyone who is seventeen years of age; anyone under that age has to attend the mandatory education anyway. If the child is under five years of age, then one of the adults will be allowed to stay home to take care of them. This was all written out in the loan contract. They either work off their debt, or someone else can pay it off for them, with their own agreement between them,” Delilah said.

  “When they’re done paying back the loan?” Jia Feng asked.

  “Then they will no longer be forced to work and the agreement will be torn up,” Delilah said.

  “Also, the people of Alva have started a project in the central park. They are building a monument from donated funds to remember the fallen.”

  Jia Feng knew about the project but most of the others in the room looked a bit stunned.

  “From their own funds? We made the Wall of Remembrance.” Erik didn’t sound offended, just confused.

  “Alva Army went out there to become stronger to protect them. The military is still protecting us. Even with high levels, people are taking advantage; they’re helping others. Alva has come pretty far. This is a way for the community to come together and show their support for one another and show their gratitude.”

  Alva is not just a group of people thrust into the unknown. It’s become a community. A place for people to raise a family, to call home from their long journeys, where they learn, and are taught. Thinking on it, Jia Feng didn’t know another place like Alva in the First Realm. Nor did she know a group of people who acted in the same manner.

  “They would like someone from the military to attend the ceremony,” Delilah asked.

  “Glosil?” Erik asked, deferring the question.

  “For something like this, if it is okay, I would like to bring back some of the friends of those who were lost and attend myself,” Glosil said.

  Delilah showed some surprise in her eyes and smiled at Glosil. “That would work perfectly.”

  The atmosphere of the room had chilled with everyone thinking on those lost.

  “Is there anything else?” Erik looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything.

  “Egbert, you get those formations all set up?” Rugrat asked.

  “One more chapter,” Egbert said, completely trapped in the book’s pages.

  “You always say that, come on, help us or else I’ll only let you get one book a week,” Erik said. One book a month was just cruel and unusual punishment.

  “Whaa-aat?” Egbert’s jaw opened to a comical size as he looked at Erik and Rugrat.

  “Fun having a minion at times.” Rugrat grinned.

  “Highly decorated and respected marine recon sniper, and you still love damn kids’ movies.”

  “Wholesome entertainment,” Rugrat defended.

  “They’re pretty good.” Erik nodded and focused on Egbert. “Formation, fire it up. Connect the Metal floor.”

  “Fine, fine.” Egbert waved his hand.

  The table was a circle; underneath, there was a clear floor. One could see the dungeon core below. The refined mana from the dungeon core was directed up into the formation that split it outward. It ran through the walls into the floor so that it could power the entire dungeon. Then it ran
through the walls of the headquarters building and up into the formations that sent it up to the mana gathering formation on the ceiling of the dungeon’s floor.

  A display of the Alvan floor was displayed above the table. It rose up, showing a floor below. Unlike the times previously, now the map was of much higher quality. One could see what the floor looked like with the different features. There were even moving objects that had to be the creatures on the floor.

  A few of them had seen the detailed version of the Metal floor; the others had all seen it before.

  They took time to study it. Egbert showed off as he made it come to rest in the middle of the table.

  “Unlocking the separating doors,” Egbert said.

  Doors that were underneath the dungeon core, covered by the mist of mana that was being pulled in by the mana gathering formations and drawn in by the dungeon core, opened. On the display, a thin tube started to appear, going down through the ground, reaching toward the Metal floor.

  “There are formations that run down the length of the tunnel. Each of the floors are blocked off from one another through multiple doors. These sections are largely untouched and have formations to repair themselves. Now that they have power, we can open the doors and we can start to rebuild the different formations.”

  “So what will happen once we open all of the gates to the Metal floor? Will we be able to close them again?” Blaze asked.

  “Well, think of these as the backup lines. There are other formations that run through the ground that connect the floors. Once we can use this backup way to connect to the Metal floor, we can direct power into the secondary formations, allowing them to repair themselves. Those that are badly damaged will need to be repaired by our teams. Once we have the floor under our control and the formations are restored, then we can close the main tube again. The tubes were how we built the other floors,” Egbert added.

  “Built them?” Delilah asked.

  “We—the gnomes, that is—built these tunnels to move higher. We used the dungeon core to excavate out the floors. They were just camps, a way out of the Water dungeon that we found ourselves in.

  “Once we got to the surface, well, our population was high and we didn’t want to go out there. Our base was much stronger than the gnome nations and there were people who were coming from other places and changing the Ten Realms. So, using the dungeon core, they created blueprints, and with our help, we created floor by floor, building our own safe haven underground.”

  “Just the scale of it all is impressive. They had to be amazing builders,” Erik said.

  Jia Feng looked at the floor as the tunnels continued to open. She had only ever seen the Alva floor. The fact that there were another five floors underneath them and all of them were larger than the floor she was on excited her, eager to see what would happen as they came under the control of Alva.

  “The last door is ready to be opened,” Egbert said.

  Jia Feng saw that there were other formations that were also tracing down toward the Metal floor. Some of them went farther than others; some were growing, and others were just lit up.

  “I have a preliminary connection with the main command formation. Do you want me to establish contact?” Egbert looked at Erik and Rugrat, turning serious.

  “Connect them.” Rugrat’s face split into a smile.

  Power from the dungeon core to the mana storing formation reduced. Instead of going into the formations that would power the floor, they went into the tunnel. One could see the formations lighting up as the power traveled down.

  “Okay, opening this bottom floor is going to let a lot of mana that has a Metal attribute back up.” Egbert warned, “Opening the last door.”

  The door opened and the floors were opened up to one another for the first time in centuries. A beam of power descended from the ceiling and traveled through the air, down to the command formation that was waiting for it. The formation started to activate as power and formations that were across the floor started to come online.

  A wave of Metal-attribute mana rushed up into the dungeon core.

  Lightning flashed around and rumbled within the closed area. There was too much mana for the mana gathering formation or the dungeon core to handle, so the mana started to spread through the floor.

  “Increase the density of the mana on the floor. Turn off the mana gathering formation on the floor and clear up that Metal-attribute mana,” Rugrat ordered as he and Erik pulled up their dungeon interfaces.

  “Formations are off. Metal mana being refined,” Erik reported.

  “All right, I’ll try to direct the power into the formation, use it to add to the repairs. Egbert, can you stop that power from feeding back into here? We can adjust the mana flow of the floor later,” Rugrat said.

  “Working on the control formation on the Metal floor. There are some flaws. It is repairing. I am re-routing some of the formation so that it will function. We will need some more work later.” Egbert looked down, seeing something that the others couldn’t. “Okay, we have some basic control. The mana gathering formations are now working, so that should make sure that we don’t take as much Metal-attribute mana. We are only sending mana down there, not pulling it up anymore. We will still have a higher ambient mana, just with the mana gathering formations up here and the dungeon core. Only a portion as much as what it was before. That was a bit intense.” Egbert laughed.

  “The secondary control formations are starting to come online—that’s good. Okay, so there are some routing issues. Looks like there are formations that were destroyed over time. Not as bad as I thought, though. The links will take some time to rebuild.”

  “The formations are growing between floors. It’s starting to repair itself,” Elise said as everyone started to refocus on the display.

  “Looks kind of like a tree growing roots down and another spreading branches above,” Delilah said.

  “When can we close the doors between the floors again?” Glosil asked.

  “We can close them as soon as we have some of the linking formations connected. It should take a day or two to complete. I am focusing on rebuilding those formations now. If I can draw more power, then it would be faster,” Egbert said.

  “Well, we’re not using it for anything,” Rugrat said.

  “All power that is not being used to sustain the floor is to be used to rebuild the formations to connect us to the Metal floor, then the formations,” Erik said.

  “Very well,” Egbert said.

  The pillar of light reaching up into the ceiling disappeared. The dungeon core headquarters continued to glow with power but all of it was now being diverted down below.

  Jia Feng was a little stunned. “So we’re connected to the Metal floor now?”

  “That’s correct.” Egbert smiled.

  “Well then, Glosil, when are you free to talk about allowing people down to visit?”

  The council grinned and smiled. Even Glosil cracked a smile.

  “I have one more meeting, but I’ll pay a visit this afternoon to discuss?”

  “Works for me.” Jia smiled. She looked at the display showing the two floors.

  A dungeon with two floors, a city, an academy—and for some reason, it just feels like we’re getting warmed up. What else will the Ten Realms have in store for us?

  Chapter: Undercurrents in the City

  Matt looked around Vuzgal. He was one of the few non-military people from Alva who were a high enough level to reach the city. The others were traders or adventurers, with only a few crafters who studied multiple crafts and had been able to increase their Experience with monster cores or by paying people to level them by adding them to a party and killing monsters.

  Most of the city is run with people we have oath-bound but are originally from the Fourth Realm or higher and are looking for stability. We’ve only got a few of our own people in key positions. Which is why I’m running around playing so many roles! Wayside Inn manager, Sky Reaching Restaurant architect and
manager again!

  He rubbed his head as he felt a headache coming on.

  “Hey Matt!” Yui called as Matt walked up to the castle.

  Matt raised his hand in greeting. “I need a coffee.”

  “Don’t you have a storage ring?”

  “Hmm.” Matt pulled out a coffee. “Holy Satan’s guch! Shit, that’s hot! Fuck, burnt my tongue.” Matt blew on his tongue and the coffee at the same time. He hadn’t spilled a drop even as he moved around in tongue-induced third-degree coffee-burn pain.

  “Forget things stay the same temperature in there?”

  Matt’s eye twitched as he stared at Yui.

  “Blow on it, makes it cooler,” Yui added.

  “Blow me. Why the hell are you so damn awake?”

  “Been up for like five hours and got my dose already.” Yui gestured at the coffee cup vaguely.

  Matt grunted as he felt his tongue recovering. “Body Cultivation—burnt tongue gone like that,” Matt said. His coffee had cooled enough to make it only mildly scalding. He let out a hot breath. “That’s it. You still training?”

  “Every day, all day.” Yui stood at the doorway into the castle. “Let me know if you head out into the city. I can send some people with you.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Matt laughed.

  “Dude, this might be our city, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t people looking to take advantage of us,” Yui said.

  Matt’s easy smile dimmed before he shrugged. “Yeah, makes sense. Hey, have you heard of anyone selling summoning spells?”

  “There’s Abil’s place, down Twelve and Baker Street, I heard.”

  “Thanks.” Matt perked up. It’s been some time since I added another creature to my collection. Just spending my time working on blueprints and dating. What’s a single guy gonna do?

  “All right.” Matt noticed a group of Alva soldiers on panthers off to the side. “Where you off to? Aren’t you training?”