The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Glosil smiled and nodded. I must prove to Erik and Rugrat that I deserve this position. They’ve given me a chance to prove myself and I can’t let it go to waste, for them or for the future of the military and the soldiers who obey my orders.

  ***

  Miguel was sitting down and having tea, studying a piece of cloth in his hand. The finely woven piece had two small and colorful birds circling a small tree, playfully chasing each other.

  Miguel smiled as he let the cloth glide through his fingers. The two birds seemed to let out excited chirps as they moved through the cloth, circling the tree that swayed lightly in the summer breeze. Its leaves danced with a shimmering light, capturing one’s interest.

  Miguel had a light smile on his face as he moved the cloth in his hands while he drank his tea.

  There was a knock at the door to his private tea room.

  Miguel grimaced, his reverie broken. “What is it?” He stuffed the cloth back into his storage ring.

  “There is a man here. He wishes to talk to you about joining his crafting academy,” the woman on the other side of the door said. The woman paused. “He says that he has Linor worm silk.”

  Miguel’s body shook as he stood, nearly knocking over his tea. “Bring them to me!”

  Linor worm silk? Do they know the significance behind it? Are they brave to go up against that witch Zhen Fu or do they simply not know about her threat?

  The door opened and a young man appeared. He cupped his fists and bowed his head.

  “Expert Tailor Miguel, it was hard to find you. My name is Hiao Xen. I am the acting city administrator for the city Vuzgal. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining our crafting academy?”

  “Vuzgal.” Miguel repeated the word slowly. He had been following what had happened there. There was no crafter in the Fourth Realm who hadn’t heard about what was being called the crafting city. He had also laughed and drank for two days and two nights, outside of his normal character, when he had heard of the punishment that they had landed on Zhen Fu—the way that they had kicked her and any who supported her schemes out of the city, including Expert crafters.

  He had lamented that the city might die due to this, but it had flourished. Its mana density increased and the city lords had revealed some of their crafting strength.

  “I have some fine tea that I was able to procure from the Sky Reaching Restaurant. Would you allow me to pour you a cup?” Hiao Xen said.

  “Please,” Miguel said, realizing that he had kept the acting administrator standing at the doorway to his room.

  The doors closed behind Hiao Xen. He took a seat and took out two glasses, pouring one for Miguel and one for himself.

  “To good health and to a prosperous future—without Zhen Fu around.” Hiao Xen let a grin slip out as he drank the tea.

  Miguel let out a slight chuckle, raising his cup a bit higher in salute to the toast before he took a sip.

  The flavors spread over his tongue and filled his mouth. The rich aroma turned into flavor as he took his time tasting it before he consumed it. The warmth spread through his body.

  He felt his mana reacting, causing it to circulate faster, increasing the mana that he drew into his body.

  This is tea? It could be called a Mana Gathering Cultivation tool by others! It brings clarity to the mind with the increased mana and the mix of invigorating herbs and leaves.

  “Good tea,” Miguel couldn’t help but say. He took another sip, sighing and closing his eyes to take it in more.

  His mind was calmed and his spirit rejuvenated. He opened his eyes, laughing awkwardly as he realized he had made Hiao Xen wait again as he had enjoyed the tea, feeling thankful for the other not ruining the moment.

  “I was carried away,” Miguel said.

  “I can understand. Good tea like this would be wasted on those who didn’t take time to fully enjoy it!” Hiao Xen filled up Miguel’s cup more and then his own.

  “As the lady said, here are two cases of Linor worm silk thread.” Hiao Xen took out two specially made boxes.

  Miguel took the boxes, trying to control his agitation as he looked inside the boxes. The mana density of these threads is of the high grade, with little mana lost in their handling. With this, I will be finally able to finish my Sparrows Flight masterpiece. He unconsciously rubbed the storage ring he had put the finely sowed piece of cloth away in. The cost of this must have been several Earth-grade cornerstones and he’s just giving it to me?

  “We talked about the silk—using it as a ploy to draw you to work for the Vuzgal crafter’s academy would be taking advantage. I hope you can accept these as a gift of our sincerity and a show that we want to work with you,” Hiao Xen said.

  “Thank you. These will be of a great help.” Miguel put them away, knowing it would be rude of him to refuse and that Hiao Xen made it clear that there were no strings attached. This was just meant as a thank-you for meeting with him.

  “The crafter’s academy, what is involved with it?”

  “It is a place where people pay to learn, or join by becoming a member of Vuzgal. You would be required to teach others, but then you would also get materials and a residence and the ability to access other resources that others wouldn’t. This is a contract that is viable for five years. At the end of the five years, you can choose to stay and renegotiate your contract, or go on to other pursuits.” Hiao Xen pulled out a contract and placed it in front of Miguel.

  Miguel raised an eyebrow. “Most groups and sects like to work with verbal contracts enforced by the ten realms, allowing them to hide a number of terms and clauses within that would tie a person up. Being able to read a written contract clears up many of those hidden pitfalls.”

  “Most of them are trying to make you part of their sect. We only want to employ you. You can become a person of Vuzgal if you want, but that is your choice later on,” Hiao Xen said.

  “Why wouldn’t you try to make me a person of Vuzgal right away?”

  “You don’t know us and we don’t know you. This gives us an opportunity to get to know one another better and see if it would be a good fit. If we just hired people in directly all the time, then we would get people who didn’t want to be part of Vuzgal, whose work would start to decline because they got comfortable or because they didn’t like working with us or got stuck into a lifetime contract. Also, once the contract is up, it’s not like you will be kicked from Vuzgal. As long as you have a residence, you can stay there as long as you want. You would have to pay to use the crafting workshops and the materials, but we won’t stop you,” Hiao Xen said.

  “I’m impressed.” Miguel took another sip of the tea and turned to the contract. He read through it. It was straightforward, without most of the clauses that other contracts contained: he had to teach people and in return he would be able to get supplies and use the different channels of the Vuzgal city.

  If he wanted to, he could just sit in an Expert-level workshop and create goods, passing them to the people of Vuzgal and having them sell it for him so that he could focus on crafting, instead of having to deal with all the extra bits that took him away from crafting.

  He started to feel excited for the first time in a long time as it was opening a new opportunity for him. He had been stagnant for so long, so focused on his masterpiece, but he had been denied at the last step by Zhen Fu, who had thrown up barriers to stop his rise.

  It had been years since then but he had faded into obscurity.

  With Vuzgal aiding me, I can make a comeback and step onto the highest stage of the Fourth Realm and the possibility of joining one of the academies from the higher realms isn’t out of my reach. There is even a clause here that they will help me join the meeting of crafters that they host so that people who have gone to their school can meet and talk with associations and sects to give them more opportunities.

  “If you need more time to review it, that is fine,” Hiao Xen said, his voice calm and unrushed.

  Miguel held onto
the contract tighter. Miguel pulled out a knife and cut his finger, pressing it to the contract.

  The power of the contract activated as it wrapped around Miguel.

  “I agree!” Miguel said.

  Hiao Xen was a little stunned with how resolute he was. He laughed. “Welcome to Vuzgal’s crafting academy, Expert Miguel!” Hiao Xen raised his cup and the two of them drank their tea together.

  “So I have most of the items you will need. Please place a drop of your blood on to this. This is a token that will allow you to enter the different crafting rooms as per your rank and give you access to the academy and Vuzgal and allow others to identify you and your craft.” Hiao Xen passed him an emblem and then pulled out different books. “These are maps for Vuzgal with your residence marked on it, as well as the names of the rest of the staff. There is an administrator for each department that you will talk to. They coordinate the different classes and create the schedules, leaving you to teach and to craft instead of worrying about the operation of it all. I think that should be it.”

  Miguel took it all with a smile.

  “I will be heading back to Vuzgal in three days, if you wish to come with me. Otherwise, you can head there at any time,” Hiao Xen said.

  “Very well. Thank you, City Administrator Hiao Xen, for this opportunity!”

  The two of them once again touched glasses and took a measured sip from their cups, letting out sighs, both of them with wide smiles on their faces.

  ***

  Erik went to the Sky Reaching Restaurant, but instead of heading up to one of the dining rooms, he headed to the hidden lower levels.

  There were a few farmers still around checking up on their crops or on the animals that they had raised there.

  I don’t want to think what Old Hei might say about this. The mana density is high here and it is good to raise Alchemy plants, but, the fact is that the Alchemy garden in Alva is much more potent than the patch we have here.

  Erik moved deeper into the growing area. There were vertical gardens on the walls and the floor had been turned into a series of rearing and growing areas, every inch utilized for maximum efficiency. One area had been cleared of crops, but there were farmers going through with machines and concoctions, using machines to stir up the soil and the concoctions to increase the nutrients in the soil so the next crop would grow even faster.

  Erik found a bare patch of ground and looked around. The mana in here was much denser than the mana outside.

  Still, he put down a mana gathering formation and took out some mana stones, breaking them to increase the ambient mana.

  He closed his eyes and focused his mind, circulating the mana within his body. He drew in a massive amount of mana, compressing and refining, circulating it through his mana channels and pushing it towards his dantian.

  The mana density increased in his dantian but he stored up his power, he wanted to breakthrough all in one shot.

  He let out a refreshed breath he opened his hand an Earth tempering pill appearing between his fingers.

  “Well, I feel that this won’t be enough, but I should get an idea of how much power I will need to temper my body.” He threw it back before he could think about it too much. The pill dissolved, its power reaching throughout his body.

  Erik drew in mana from the surrounding area and focused it on his bones; it drew the power of the Earth pill with it.

  His body started to crack and break underneath the waves of pressure released by the Earth tempering pill.

  He gritted his teeth against the screams as his body started to collapse. His body tempering tried to fight against it, so as he was broken, he was repaired.

  Erik cast Hallowed Ground and increased its potency, channeling all of his mana into it as it sped up the process of breakdown and rebuilding.

  Slowly, Erik’s size started to decrease and he started to return to his normal size.

  He finished the first pill, still a half foot taller than he had been before.

  He stared at the second pill, allowing his body to recover as he mentally prepared himself.

  “Round two!” He took the pill and laid back down. He once again fought against the pain. Embrace it! Get used to it! The more pain, the greater the result! Come on—you’ve got this!

  Erik chanted inside his head, fighting against the part of his brain that just wanted to give in, that wanted to just pass out, or stop the process.

  Erik came up from round two and studied his body. The effectiveness of the pills are starting to decrease. I’ll need to make more powerful pills with a greater efficacy, or make different pills that are stronger.

  “Round three.” Dull-eyed, Erik took the third pill and laid back down.

  He took on the pain as he once again decreased in size. Once he reached his original size, he stopped shrinking but his body continued to break down and be rebuilt.

  Erik was panting at the end of his third pill.

  “Notifications,” Erik said in a hoarse voice but nothing greeted him.

  He looked down at himself. “Going to need new clothes.” He was covered in sweat and a thick black slime that smelled bad.

  He used his Clean spell, barely feeling any mana loss as he looked up at his notifications.

  There was nothing there. He felt stronger, but it seemed that his tempering had not gone far enough, hitting a bottleneck.

  Seeing he hadn’t been able to increase his Body Cultivation, he collapsed into a dreamless sleep.

  His foundation was stronger than most others, using the methods that other people used in the ten realms to increase his cultivation weren’t able to reach his bottlenecks. He’d have to use more drastic methods to increase his Body Cultivation.

  ***

  Viggo was escorted into the court. The building had been where many had taken their oaths of allegiance to Alva, where people were sentenced for small crimes, and to settle disputes before they got out of hand.

  Now the room was filled with people all who were murmuring under their breath as Viggo and his group were brought out to the stand. They all sat down behind the desk. A scribe acted as their counsel, fighting for their case. On the other side, there was another scribe and two police officers who were part of the raid on the bandits.

  Egbert walked in the back of the courtroom and sat down in the main judge’s chair. He pulled out a quill and a parchment paper. “All right, let’s get started, will we? For this case, we will be calling up people to the stand to talk about items pertaining to the case. You will be bound under oath to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, or else you will feel a great amount of pain. Let’s get started.”

  A police officer was called up to the stage first.

  “When we arrived, there were close to one hundred people living in cages and deplorable conditions, no access to food or water. They had been traders or people who were getting a ride across the desert and they had been attacked, beaten, stripped, and tossed in these cages. Many were suffering from broken bones, dysentery, and infections. Meanwhile, the bandits treated them as goods, preparing to sell them off as slaves to other groups that they knew. We have reports from those in the cages that the bandits would use them as they wanted, create fights between the prisoners and watch for enjoyment, turning their pain into sport.”

  “What were they doing with the goods and other items?” Egbert asked.

  “They would take the items and they would sell them to our own traders where they could. They were using the funds that they gained to return to Alva and purchase more items to fight with and increase the power of their bandit group.”

  “Okay. I think that will be all of the questions that I have for you,” Egbert said.

  “Bring up Viggo,” Egbert said.

  Viggo was picked up by two police officers and taken over to where the police officer had sat.

  “Do you agree to tell the truth, all the truth and nothing but the truth so sworn on the Ten Realms, with punishment of severe pain, akin to being struck
in the face?” the police officer said.

  “I do,” Viggo said, feeling confident. He had been able to skirt his oath to Alva before; he had confidence in this.

  “Viggo, did you kill people for your own profit?”

  “No!” he said, thinking that it was all for Alva. But he cried out in pain as his face hurt.

  “Still thinking that you can skirt oaths?” Egbert looked over to the man.

  Alarmed, Viggo’s eyes widened as the pain started to fade away.

  “This oath is ingrained into you, not placed on Alva, so you can’t skirt it with just thinking that you were doing it for someone else. Thank you for letting us know about that loophole as we’ll be changing the oath of allegiance. Did you harm others for sport?”

  “No.” Again, Viggo yelled in pain as he felt as though he’d been punched in the face. So it went on: Egbert asked exact questions that only left yes or no answers and either Viggo told the truth or he lied. And from the pain and him crying out, he wasn’t able to lie anymore.

  “Do you have anything else to say?” Egbert asked.

  I’ll kill you! I’ll get free of this and I’ll tear you apart! Viggo shook on his chair, his rage clear to all.

  “Next, Otto,” Egbert said.

  Otto was taken up to the seat. He agreed to the oath, his face pale and scared.

  “We started out being traders, but we weren’t too good at it. We didn’t make much money. Though then we got into a fight with someone and we had all of their goods. So we sold them off, you know. The oath didn’t work on us. It was ’cause we were defending ourselves and the people we were killing must be bad for the oath to not work,” Otto said.

  “Who told you this?”

  “Viggo.” Otto lowered his head, not daring to look at his old leader.

  “So you killed the merchant and then took his goods. You sold them off?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you did it again?”

  “Well, we were living well, bragging to others about how we were good traders, but then we ran out of money again. So we picked out a trader and then we followed them. Using the gear we had, it was easy to take them down. Then we hit more caravans. We found others who were willing to listen to us. Who were down on their luck like us. We just killed them in the beginning but then we found we could sell the people—more profit and less blood on our hands. We did it.” Otto let out a cry of pain as his Alva oath took effect and he crumpled to the ground. His scream turned into grunts and whimpers.