Aditya touched his hand to the letter that was inside his jacket.
“You called?” A woman’s voice came from behind Aditya.
He turned to see one of his “guards.” She didn’t look special, rather unremarkable, which was the best for her position. She was the person in charge of the information collected from Vermire and its sources.
“Miss Evernight, I was wondering if I could pass this to you.” Aditya took out the letter from inside his jacket and passed it to her.
She frowned and then opened the letter. Her expression changed. It was the only time that Aditya had seen that happen and took it as a small victory.
“Well, this explains why you have opened lines of communication with the other outposts. We knew something was going on.”
Aditya smiled. If they didn’t trust me, then they would already know the contents of our meetings. They must trust me more to not keep me under complete observation.
Aditya straightened up a bit. “If we can unite the outposts and create an outpost or even a camp in the middle of the Beast Mountain Range, it would consolidate our power. It would allow us greater access to the other outposts. Over a period of time, it would be possible to make their strength ours.”
“You don’t think that they will fight back?”
“Some might, but our strength is much higher now,” Aditya said simply.
Evernight smiled. It was a cold thing.
“Seems that you have been putting the cultivation resources and weapons to good use. I will have to pass this information to my leaders for confirmation. What resources will you require?”
“Information on the different outposts would be helpful so we know what we’re dealing with—who are backed by which powers, which will come to our side, what it will require for others to join us. For the military side of things, we should have that covered at this time. The guards have tripled in size and strength. Unlike most people in the Ten Realms, they have created their foundations and gained Body of Stone and cultivated their mana into Vapor.”
The woman studied Aditya and then nodded. “I will pass your request on. Is there anything else?”
“No,” Aditya said.
She bowed her head to him and left without a backward glance.
Aditya had a bitter smile on his face. He was looking to impress these people but he didn’t know whether it even registered to them. There was a time that I wondered whether they were using the dark arts on those people, until I saw them working in the healing house. To go from simple farmers and people without anything, to healers capable of dealing with the worst wounds in just a few months...what kind of monsters are they?
Instead of feeling scared when thinking about them, he could only smile as he tapped his foot against the floor.
He might call them monsters but they had taken him down a path he never thought he would be able to step upon.
I wonder what their plan is for me.
***
Erik turned in his chair, cracking his back. Rugrat was down in the Metal floor still, working with the different smiths and crafters checking over the different resources on the Metal floor. From alchemists and tailors to smiths and formation masters, everyone wanted to see the new floor.
“Looks like we’ll have to build some more infrastructure down there. The lighting situation is a bit of a pain. We’ll need to add in a day and night cycle like with the first floor if there are going to be people living down there.” Erik read the report from a team of people from the academy and the council who were sent down to assess the floor. The military was down there too, but they had different priorities. “Sounds like a job for the blueprint office.”
Erik smiled and shook his head. I never thought that I would have a city’s worth of resources at my beck and call.
He wrote on light-paper, sending a message to the blueprint office.
He checked the pile of reports and picked up the next one on his desk. “No wonder Rugrat stayed down on the Metal floor to assess it. He didn’t want to do all of the paperwork.”
There was a knock at his door, interrupting his line of thought.
He looked up and put the folder down. “Come in.”
The door opened and Delilah smiled to him, shutting the door behind her.
“Delilah, what can I help you with?” Erik smiled. He felt bad for having dropped her off in Alva, and then when he returned, he’d had Egbert make her the head of the entire dungeon.
Though that kind of was Elise’s idea, he reasoned with himself.
“Teacher, I think we need to talk about roles.” Delilah’s smile slipped and her expression turned serious.
“Okay.” Erik sat up. She might be his student but she had stepped into her role as the council leader well.
“You need to leave more things to the rest of us,” Delilah said.
Erik made to open his mouth but she stopped him with a look.
“You and Rugrat have been so concentrated on different parts of Alva, you have not been able to develop yourselves,” Delilah said.
Erik opened his mouth and closed it.
I want to increase my strength; I have new ideas for how to increase the speed that I work on concoctions. I have a good amount of medical knowledge, but that doesn’t mean I am an amazing healer. I need to take my time and check what I know from Earth to what works in the Ten Realms. Then there is cultivation. I have my Body Cultivation but now I am using firearms—should I increase my Mana Gathering Cultivation instead? Though Vuzgal is undeveloped, there is so much loot, information, and resources that has just been added to Alva. Everything is growing.
“You and Rugrat are the leaders of Alva and you will always be. But that doesn’t mean that you need to be here all the time and it doesn’t mean that you need to manage everything all of the time. You have us here for that. We are the people who take your ideas and turn them into reality. Will we mess up? Probably. Though we need your strength to advance, the military can train people up. Once you have laid down the foundations, then they can grow. With you two, if you can go to the higher realms and bring back more information and more resources, then Alva will grow off that.”
“I never thought that I would be leading a city or that I would have a dungeon under my command. It kind of just happened. I feel like we’re just dropping this all on to you—the council, the people of Alva—and it doesn’t feel right,” Erik said.
“It might not feel right, but you are Alva’s strength. The stronger that you get, the further that you go, the further you can pull all of us along. We need you and Rugrat to be our guiding lights. You lead and we will follow. Does that mean you should go off right now and try to ascend all of the realms in a mad sprint? No. It means that you shouldn’t be worried about us when you are out there looking to increase your strength. We need time to consolidate. We have made a lot of gains, but it shouldn’t hold you and Rugrat back. What is the use of the academy of having all of these people around you if you don’t use us?”
Erik frowned and let out a breath through his nose. Delilah started to fidget nervously before Erik spoke again.
“I can’t say that I like it, but I can understand it. Rugrat and I weren’t high-ranking officers or leaders; we were just basic soldiers. We’re used to being hands-on with those under our command. We know how to train people to be soldiers, but we need the leadership to grow themselves.” Erik let out a heavy breath and laughed, feeling tired and also as if a big weight had dropped from his shoulders. But it was replaced with a new worry.
Delilah seemed to deflate. It seemed as though asking Erik all of this had taken a lot out of her.
He smiled, knowing that she was looking out for him and for the future of Alva.
“You’ve grown a lot while I’ve been gone,” Erik said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Delilah smiled beautifully as Erik’s now relaxed mind started to work.
“We’ll do as you say.”
Delilah nodded. “So what will you
do then?”
“Now that I’m not commanding the Earth floor operation, you’re already trying to find things for me to do?” Erik asked with a smile.
Delilah rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You know what I mean!”
Erik chuckled and picked up a pen, letting it slide through his fingers and the base hit the desk before he picked it up and repeated the process.
“My mana pool is currently too small right now for me to open my final mana gate. Though, with tempering my body, I can increase my durability; then, using different pills, mana stones, and the dungeon core, I should be able to open my fourteenth mana gate.
“To temper my body and reach Body Like Iron level, I need to temper myself with the Earth element. So I need to wait until the Earth floor is open, or go and find some pills and concoctions to complete it. I fight with my fists but the more I do, the more I’m realizing that I can’t match the people in the Ten Realms.
“So, that means I need a combat instructor and I need to increase my Alchemy abilities.
“Elan Silaz needs time to work on developing information sources, see if we can find any more people from Earth. I feel like I’m saying Earth a lot. Then there’s also the factor of increasing our number of crafters and the level of people in Alva. Which also falls to Elan Silaz to act as our purchaser of monster cores so people have access to cores they can use to increase their levels. The military have a lot of short-term gains with fighting and killing creatures, but the crafters have a lot of long-term gains working on their craft. It will take them longer, but breaking through certain crafting bottlenecks, they’ll be able to increase their level dramatically. We can use the Trader’s Guild and the Adventurer’s Guild in the different realms to also help the crafters increase their levels, take them out on level-grinding parties.”
“It will cost us a lot,” Delilah said.
“We make the options available to them—it is up to them whether they take them or not. Private companies can add it into their recruitment. Say they need a trader for the Fourth Realm. They just say that they must be at least level twenty and they will boost them the rest of the way. It’s like how someone joining the Alva military doesn’t have a level requirement, but we will increase their Mana Gathering and Body Cultivation so that they can deal with the training and so that they will all be pushed up to the same level when they begin training. Before, that cost was high, but as we have learned more, most basic medics can do the cultivation increases. We’ve grown Alva—now it’s time we let our people spread out and solidify their gains.”
“What about the Fifth Realm?” Delilah asked.
“It will be there at the end of the day, but we have time on our side. We can wait and see what Elan can learn before we challenge it,” Erik said.
“Okay,” Delilah said.
“How has your Alchemy been going?”
“It’s progressed. With the access to resources and the rooms, I use it to relax. The systems of Alva are improving to take the load off one person and spread it out a bit more,” Delilah said with a wry smile.
“What level have you reached now in your Alchemy?”
“Level sixty-seven,” Delilah said modestly, but Erik didn’t miss the pride in her eyes.
I’m still level seventy. I’ve been making concoctions that work instead of trying to expand my abilities. Old Hei said that with assisting him in making that concoction, I needed to work much harder to increase in level once again. After all, Expert is only five levels away.
Erik called up his own skill.
==========
Skill: Alchemy
==========
Level: 70 (Journeyman)
==========
Able to identify 1 effect of the ingredient.
Ingredients are 5% more potent.
==========
I have been stagnant for too long. I need to work on my skills. If I can achieve Expert, who knows what I might get for a reward. The concoctions that I could make!
Erik laughed. “It looks like you’re right. I haven’t been focusing on my skills and personal strength—my student is able to kick my ass already!”
He gave Delilah a wink. “So, would you be interested in meeting your grand teacher?”
“Grand teacher?” Delilah asked, confused.
“He’s much more powerful than me in Alchemy, but he’ll take any excuse to get away from his duties and work on new concoctions and Alchemy!” Erik smiled.
***
Blaze looked at the men and women in front of him, studying them all and being studied by them. Each of them were a higher level than him, but there was no disrespect or disdain in their eyes as other high-level people in the Ten Realms might look down on him.
Some of them were stationed in Vuzgal, some in Alva. With the totem, they were able to come down to complete training.
“You have all been selected to participate in the leadership course. I will be overseeing the course, but your teachers will be Acting Lieutenant Blaze, First Sergeant Rugrat, and Major West. An officer in the Alva military is different than the role that officers play in other militaries. They are not only the overruling power and leader—they are the teacher of the unit. You will all be acting officers until you complete your training to be scouts, mortar operators, mages, engineers, medics, and members of the close protection detail. If you do not perform as needed in your training for these different roles, you will be stripped of your officer ranking, dropped down to a noncommissioned ranking in line with what you have been taught so far, and only when you have completed your courses will you be able to apply to become an officer once again.
“You are being given one hell of an opportunity here. If you complete all of your training and there are no major screw-ups, then you will become officers, with a probationary period of six months, where you will be reviewed and checked to make sure you can carry out the duties of your rank. All others will need to claw their way through training to gain the rank of sergeant. Then, as they reach first sergeant, they will go to officer school to train to be an officer. You’re jumping several steps so the slightest screw-up, the slightest issue, you will be busted back down and will need to redo.” Glosil looked at the men and women there. All of them stood straighter, brimming with fighting spirit.
He’s become more of a leader, certainly more of a hard-ass, but if they screw up, there are lives on the line. Blaze hid a smile, impressed with Glosil’s growth.
He nodded to the people in the ranks and then marched around and joined the formation, creating a stir.
“Looks like everyone is here for the course,” Blaze said in a loud voice, pulling their attention back onto him. “It is my job to make sure that you are ready to lead troops. I will teach you basic tactics, how to position your forces, how to create a battle plan, and pull your shit together when you actually meet the enemy and have to adjust everything on the fly. How to work with them and be a leader. Captain Glosil will be assisting me in teaching you combat tactics based upon your new weaponry and skills. First Sergeant Rugrat and Major West will work with you to incorporate all of the assets within your units. You will be training here in Alva and in Vuzgal. Once we have completed training, you will be tested, commanding real troops in battlefield simulated situations, defensive and offensive. Once you have all been tested, you may be qualified to become an officer or dropped back down to noncommissioned officers to retest.”
Blaze looked at them.
“Okay, gather around. The first class will be on positioning. Positioning yourself and those under your command is key to winning the battle. Knowing where one another is prevents you from attacking your own people and can allow you to react faster and more effectively when you are in combat.”
***
Delilah sat in her office, looking over an urgent message.
There was a knock at the door.
“Elan Silaz to see you, Council Leader,” her secretary reported.
“Allow him in,” Delilah said
. She didn’t get up from her desk as Elan walked into the room.
She had met him in a perfunctory sense, but that meeting had been hosted by Erik. Now Elan was reporting to her. He was nearly three times older than her but she was the senior. It was an odd feeling as she knew his daughter and sons all held high positions as well.
It doesn’t matter the person’s position; their character and their ability matter more. She remembered Erik’s words, made bolder by the faith that he, Rugrat, the council, and the people of Alva placed in her. She sat up and looked at Elan.
Her aura was peaceful and calming. She had only opened ten of her mana gates, but she had formed her core as well, slowly compressing more mana. It gave her something to do when she was working as the council leader. It gave her an otherworldly air.
Elan stepped into the room and bowed to her.
“Please, take a seat.” She held out a piece of paper.
Elan took it and then sat down.
She waited for him to read the letter completely.
“Lord Aditya, while not completely trusted at this time, has proved his loyalty time and time again. He has tied his outpost to our Alva, acting as our agent. The relationship was rocky to start but it has grown stronger with time. Are you up to date with the information in the First Realm?”
“I might be lacking in some respects, but I have a good understanding,” Elan said.
“Very well. I do not. What do you think will happen if we act out this plan?” Delilah didn’t want to appear as if she did know what was going on, or else she might miss a key part.
“He wants to gather all of the outpost leaders together and then form this city in the middle of the Beast Mountain Range. It will stir things up. There will be those for it, against it, and neutral. It will give us a more complete understanding of the outposts around the Beast Mountain Range. Then, with clearing out the Beast Mountain Range, people might come together or they might fall out—same when forming the central outpost. People are greedy. There will be a lot of interests involved. Some of the outposts are part of nations, or other groups. Some of them are independent. Whoever controls the outpost city will become the leader of the connected outposts, in a large way. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, a lot of subterfuge that can happen.” Elan held his chin. “Which I think is the reason that he has asked for our help.”
The Fifth Realm Page 12
