The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  Erik’s search continued on.

  He got to one stall, finding that it was actually selling items that could be used by tailors. There was a leather there that smelled like crispy chicken skin.

  “What animal is this from?” Erik asked the stall owner.

  “It’s from the Skaiso beast,” the man said.

  Erik sniffed it, getting close enough to touch his nose to it. “Do you know if anyone cooks it around here?”

  “There is a store down that way, three streets—take the left and then the first right.” The man looked at Erik as if he were odd.

  Erik started walking and he realized he had left Rugrat behind. He grabbed Rugrat, who was still writing down stuff in his notepad from in front of the stall and started walking.

  Erik sniffed the air as he followed the man’s directions. It wasn’t long until they reached a small little place. There was a butcher shop in front and a tannery must’ve been out back from the smell of it. Even with isolating formations and spells, the smell of curing hides was potent.

  “Done.” Rugrat looked over the pages of the notebook and looked around to find where they were.

  “Glad you could join me.”

  “Where are we? What are we doing here?”

  “Chicken.” Erik walked toward the butcher shop. There weren’t many people there; most must have been driven off by the smell of the tannery. It wasn’t the worst thing that Erik had smelled, so he could easily ignore it.

  “Skaiso, do you have any?” Erik asked.

  “Yeah.” The butcher pulled out two lumps of yellow meat.

  “I’ll take it.”

  “Three hundred Mortal stones,” the man said.

  Erik looked at the other meat prices along the wall.

  “If done in a soup, it can cure most ailments and when cooked up, then there are few people who don’t like it and can increase the speed at which your body recovers Stamina and from injuries without needing a health or Stamina potion.”

  Maybe it was the drinking. Maybe it was the fact that he had now been thinking about this for nearly two hours. But he was getting that damn chicken/lizard.

  “Okay.” Erik put the money on the counter.

  Rugrat looked at the lizard. “You want to eat that?”

  “We want to eat that,” Erik corrected.

  “Why?”

  “Chicken!” Erik said. As the man passed him the meat, he put it into his storage ring. “Where is the nearest park?” Erik asked the man.

  He gave them a way point and they headed out of the butcher shop.

  It didn’t take them long to get to the park.

  Erik pulled out a table from his storage ring and Rugrat looked at him.

  “I’m not the Southern one—you prep the chicken. I’ll heat the oil,” Erik said as he put the meat on the table.

  Rugrat shrugged and started to work as Erik got out his cauldron. He cleaned it out with some flames and then poured in oil, his Journeyman-level cauldron being turned into a deep fryer.

  Rugrat finished off the Skaiso and then dropped it into the cauldron. “You sure that this is going to work?” Rugrat asked as the lizard was already cooking away.

  “Nope, but I damn well hope that it does.”

  “Don’t worry—I got as close as Momma makes as I could,” Rugrat said proudly.

  “You mean those hot as hell ones that have the spicy skin?”

  “Yeah,” Rugrat said.

  “Well, hell yes,” Erik said, “your mom could cook.”

  “That she could.” Rugrat smiled.

  “So what were you working on that was so important?”

  “A reactive protection system. It should work against projectiles, but need to do more testing to see if it can defend against other threats like magical spells and the like,” Rugrat replied with a sound transmission.

  “How?”

  “Those puppets, they must use some kind of system that allows them to find their target. Take that system, pair it with an effective formation to destroy other attacks, and then bingo. I don’t know if people have thought about it already or not. It would take a lot of materials to make and would need to be affixed to something, but it would require less power than a shield, as it’s only using power to disrupt the attack that is coming in. Cost less power that way,” Rugrat said.

  “Makes sense really.” Erik sighed. “Do you think that the chicken is done yet?” Erik looked at the cauldron.

  “Give it another minute or so,” Rugrat said with another look, pulling out a spatula.

  “Why do you have a spatula?”

  “Hey man, I’ve got like a dozen storage devices and most of them are massive. Why don’t you have a spatula?” Rugrat asked.

  Erik waved him off as he went to go and find some more drinks.

  “So spicy!” Rugrat let out a gasp as he looked at the meat in his hands, his eyes glowing. “And so tasty! Like spicy deep fried chicken!”

  Erik grabbed water and threw some back as his eyes were watering and his nose was running. “Damn, we need to get this recipe to Jia Feng.”

  The two of them were silent other than the sounds of eating, devouring the spicy food.

  Erik coughed a few times and the two of them had tears in their eyes, whether from the emotions or the park clearing spiciness that covered the area around them.

  Erik patted his stomach. “Damn! I love good food!”

  Rugrat stopped eating and put down the chicken piece.

  “What is it?” Erik asked, looking at Rugrat.

  “You know all of that stuff that we took from Vermire? How many books did we collect from all of the leaders, from the different clans that were in Vermire and the royal family?”

  “I don’t know. There must have been hundreds of books.” Erik shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

  “And out of them, how many did we look through?”

  “Well, we were worrying more about the Blood Demon sect. Just say what you’re trying to lead me to.” Erik sighed.

  “Those books, among them there should be crafting and fighting techniques, right? It was an empire that was able to control a vast amount of land and powerful dungeons. They must have had Masters and Elites who were able to go into the higher realms. Techniques are expensive but they had to have a few,” Rugrat said.

  The two of them looked at each other before they scrambled up to their feet and threw everything in their storage rings. They ran for the totem.

  “How could we be so dumb?” Erik yelled.

  “You said it! We were busy with other things and we didn’t know what they were at the time!”

  They ran through the city. People watched them as they tossed the guard an Earth mana stone before they reached the totem. Then Alva appeared in front of them.

  People didn’t have time to salute as they ran toward the academy, where all of the written works from Vuzgal were stored.

  ***

  “So Erik and Rugrat came back from the Fifth Realm and went right to the library? What are they doing there?” Glosil asked, perplexed by their actions.

  “They’re going through the information collected in Vermire, collecting up all of the boxes of books and scrolls that we have. They’re reviewing the items that have already been sorted out by the library staff.” The messenger shrugged. He looked like a merchant and he was most days. His other role was that as an Alvan messenger, taking signed orders back and forth between the different members of the council who were spread over the realms.

  “I bet Egbert is loving that.” Glosil grinned.

  The aide had to force their smile down as the corners of their mouth twitched.

  “Did you get the latest report from Delilah?” Glosil asked.

  “Yes, sir.” The aide pulled out a letter and gave it to Glosil. He then pulled out several crates and stacked them up.

  Here are the current concoctions that we have been able to finish. We should have another shipment completed in a day and sent to you via special cour
ier.

  Glosil moved to the boxes, opened one of the crates and looked inside to see several potion bottles that had been carefully packaged.

  He picked one up and examined it. His appraisal ability was high enough that he could directly look through the potion’s information.

  ==========

  Potion of Everlasting Flames

  ==========

  Highly flammable. Once ignited, the potion will not stop burning until all is consumed.

  ==========

  “Is that all of it?” Glosil looked at the twenty crates, with forty potion bottles in each of them.

  “Yes, sir,” the messenger said.

  “Very well.” Glosil nodded.

  The messenger bowed slightly and retreated from the room as Glosil used his sound transmission device.

  “Captain?” Han Wu answered the message.

  “Report to my office. I have a job for you,” Glosil said.

  ***

  Glosil was studying the plans for the Earth floor when there was a knock at his door. “Come in.”

  Han Wu entered the office and saluted. “Specialist Han reporting, sir!”

  “At ease.” Glosil returned the salute before waving to the crates in the middle of his office. “Take a look.”

  Han Wu looked in the crates and examined the potions. His hands stilled and his face paled looking at all of the boxes stacked on top of one another.

  “Will this work for the fuel air bombs that you planned?” Glosil asked.

  “I’ll need to do some testing but I think so, based on the description,” Han Wu said.

  “Carry out your tests. I expect a report on my desk by tonight,” Glosil said.

  “Understood.” Han Wu collected all of the crates into his storage ring before saluting and leaving the room.

  We’ve been working on this for a few weeks already. I can’t help but feel like they should be back in Vuzgal, training people there. The barracks here has turned into a specialized training area for fighters, but we need people to fill those spots and Vuzgal’s strength is still too reliant on the undead and the associations for my liking. Glosil was looking at the information on the Battle Arena. The staff who had remained in Vuzgal would finish their initial training at the barracks there. Then they would complete more advanced courses that would teach them different weapon systems or about different classes that people would use when fighting. Then people would enter the arena for friendly spars, or to go to different classes that were being hosted by combat freaks and masters who would hire out a space and then bring in people to fill the empty spots and make some gold.

  These lessons were too expensive for regular people but the Alva military’s budget was massive. Glosil wanted to bring more of these combat masters into the Alva military but few of them were willing to be tied down. Most of them already came from some kind of power. Being in the Alva military would expose them to the secrets of Alva. Training someone up from the ground, they would know more about them than someone who was coming in already at a high rank.

  We are looking to follow the path of the Elite and increase our own power. As long as we can use these people to increase our strength, then it should be good. Glosil rubbed his face, feeling tired. He remembered the reports that Elan had compiled on the different militaries in the Fourth Realm. Although they were a fighting force, their systems were built on growing in power to increase their position. Whereas in the Alva Army it was based on their leadership abilities to increase their rank. And instead of vying for the highest contribution in a battle and trying to stand out, people worked together to complete their objective.

  Competition is still good as long as it doesn’t turn toxic, Glosil thought. Between Tiger and Dragon Platoons, there was a rivalry as the leadership of each of the platoons would talk up the other group, making everyone compete with one another to increase their strength.

  Another purpose for the Battle Arena was to allow the troops to go toe-to-toe in a safe place and increase their combat strength. Glosil couldn’t help but smile as he saw the path forward. He felt the blood rushing through his veins.

  “Come on, Ten Realms—just wait until you meet my Alva Army.” He felt goose bumps up his neck as he laughed. He saw a future of Experts who didn’t care to dominate the spotlight, who would complete their mission and fade into the background, unknown by all.

  He stood and grabbed his armor. Now that his tasks were dealt with, he wanted to get back to the Earth floor as soon as possible.

  Chapter: Quiet in the Library!

  Tanya had been given an office in an isolated corner of the library, right in the middle of all the books that dealt with the magical side of the Ten Realms.

  It was heaven for her. She had been jotting down notes and trying to connect the information in her game master book that she had brought through with her to the Ten Realms. She wrote out the points that she had made and started to look into the questions that had been burning in the back of her mind.

  She noted down her findings and then wrote three signs that she put behind her desk, framing the window that looked out over Alva.

  Mana. Instruction. Reaction.

  Underneath all of these pages, there were notes and scribbles that had started to form the basis of her magical knowledge.

  She had just added a second smaller note underneath it.

  Spells: Mana+elemental attributes

  She sipped on her tea as she scratched Tetsu’s head. He had a space in the corner of the room and she had plenty of monster cores and monster meat to feed him now.

  “People keep thinking of spells linearly, you follow the spell you get a reaction, what they’re not thinking of is how that spell is created. If you combine elemental mana together in just the right combination then you create a spell. Without requiring the cast time, and for much less mana. Kind of like alchemy, mix together the different ingredients and it comes out with a final product.”

  Tanya was silent as she worked over her findings in her head pursing her lips together. She was silent for some time, Tetsu moved, making her return to reality.

  “Never thought that I would be able to get paid to research magic.” She chuckled to herself. Tetsu didn’t seem to mind as he continued to accept her petting, pleased for the attention.

  “All right, let’s review what we know! Mana is a natural power that is in the Ten Realms. It permeates everything around us, another kind of energy that is outside the normal states of energy that were recorded back on Earth. Going with physics, energy cannot be destroyed, only altered, which seems like a good basic rule for mana. It cannot be destroyed but then it can be stored through mana cornerstones into mana stones. If it is used in a spell, or used by different plants and living creatures in the Ten Realms, then the mana is altered. Its polarization changes and it can gain a higher attribute. So kind of like if there were machines that would only work on one kind of energy—construction machines only work on green electricity, or they work better on it.

  “Now, these attributes can be good, if well-suited with the item consuming the energy. A cycle of energy: Earth energy being consumed by Metal-attribute items, creating Metal energy, which then becomes Water energy. When you now insert people, they too are part of this cycle, but we have no mana originally. When we enter the Ten Realms, then the mana enters our bodies in all of its various forms. The different types of mana energy can make it easier for us to cast spells, but we aren’t attribute creatures originally; we need to alter our bodies in order to operate better with different attribute manas.

  “This is why there is a Mana Gathering system. The body has to get used to all of the mana inside it and then try to clean out the impurities. Humans are looking to store energy within their bodies, while the plants and items of the Ten Realms are storing up energy within themselves as a result of their actions. Humans are accelerating the process rapidly by controlling their bodies, where like ingredients become powerful over time, because more of the Ten Realms ener
gy is refined into it, increasing its power. Mana is kind of like gasoline; there are many types that can be refined in different ways and used in different processes, but in the end it is a combustible fuel source.”

  Tanya looked at Tetsu, seeing that he was taking a nap instead of riveted by her talk.

  “Spells, while they look exact on the outside, are more like cooking than chemistry. As spells become more advanced, then it goes further, getting closer to the chemical level than the cooking level.”

  Tanya stood and moved toward the signs.

  “For mana, there are stages that people can change their body to hold more energy and purify it. For the instructions or the spells, there are levels that they go through in demonstrating their power. The higher the level that the spells get to, then the more power that they display and the less impurities they show. When someone has enough mana and has gained a deep enough understanding over how to control it, then they can create a domain. They go from affecting the different energies that are in the Ten Realms to affecting the Ten Realms themselves. This is the pinnacle of spells: being able to wield absolute control over the mana in the area. Which segues into reaction. The reaction of these spells can create impurities. The mana combines with the elements of the Ten Realms to create destructive attribute spells. Earth and Water attribute mana used together can make a healing spell, applied to the right place. Then dungeon cores are the only known thing right now that draw in impurities, consuming them and releasing pure mana.”

  Tanya tapped the instruction sheet and the latest note that was on a bright-green piece of paper that she had stabbed into the wall.

  “But maybe we don’t need to create spells—we just need to communicate better with mana. Instead of combining energies together to create spells, three parts of this attribute mana, two parts of that attribute mana, and one part of the other, what if we were to alter the environment, change the balance of the mana in the area? Use a Water spell to compress an area and then shoot out the concentrated mana in the area and turn it into static electricity that follows the path of least resistance, which is the water, and that hits the person? Boom—lightning spell but instead of needing to create the spell, we just made the spark.