“Compress, lower temperature.”
Erik used his flames and earth spells. The rough, pitted, and bumpy surface of the pill released more tiny gas vapors, smoothing slowly.
He had to keep the compression and heat high enough to purify, but not too high that it would burn the ingredients. Some of the ingredients needed a high temperature over a short period to burn off, while some needed a low temperature over a long time.
He increased the mana flow, but again it was too much, too little, and different amounts. Okay, lower temperature, increase mana flow. That would balance out the Elder Weed so it didn’t evaporate.
Sweat beaded his forehead as he carefully introduced the Elder Weed.
“Condensed.” He sighed in relief, continuing to adjust the temperature, slow and steady with bouts of furious speed.
The bumps on the surface smoothed out, but there was still pitting.
Erik slowly drew away his flames and canceled his spells.
He used mana manipulation to open the cauldron and pull out the pill, storing it in a waiting pill bottle.
“One Expert grade Revival pill.”
==========
Revival Pill (Condensed)
Grade: Mid-Expert
==========
Increases natural regeneration by 450% for 5 minutes.
Increases Stamina regeneration by 800%.
Heals blood vessels.
Heals respiratory system.
Heals bones
==========
==========
Skill: Alchemy
Level: 88 (Expert)
==========
Able to identify 1 effect of the ingredient.
Ingredients are 5% more potent.
When creating concoctions, mana regeneration increases by 20%
==========
He needed to make a lot more of those pills to get to the high Expert ranks, which was more involved than just making a high-level pill. They only increased a level a certain amount. When he had helped Old Hei, it had taken him months to reach the skill he needed to produce pills that would increase his skill level more. Now that he had a higher skill level, he had to prove it again and again to the Ten Realms.
Erik grunted as he shifted, his muscles tight and weary.
“Ah shit.” He let himself drop on his shoulder, stretching out his legs and reaching his arms out, the stretch opening tight places in his body with pops and cracks.
“Quick Heal.”
Erik groaned as the aches fell away.
He canceled the spell and stood up. He stored his gear and used a clean spell on himself. He had lost track of time, but guessed he must’ve been in there for a few days.
He yawned, pulling out a stamina potion. At least he had found some better flavoring for these. “Faster than eating a meal.” Erik drank from the potion and walked to the door. He opened it with his mana manipulation and stepped out into the hall.
His special team had switched again. Special Team Four waited for him.
“Hey, boss.” Han Wu, the second-in-command of Special Team Four, looked up from the card game he and another team member were playing. Two others were watching the hallway of alchemy rooms. Alchemists entered and left the different rooms without a second glance.
“Rugrat told me to tell you that once you’re done, you need to go dungeon raiding.” There was still a great need for dungeon cores to create secure locations for Alvans to hide in and to spread Alva’s influence under the developing Beast Mountain Range and Vuzgal.
“What’s he up to?” Erik asked.
“Been at the range, training in the dungeons, teaching.” Han Wu stored the game away.
“All right. I need a shower first.” Erik started walking, the group moving into place around him.
“Anything change?” Erik sipped from his potion again, letting the others guide him out of the crafter hall.
“You’ve been in there for five days. No change. Domonos came back. Director Silaz has been gathering information on the traders and bandits at Vuzgal.” Han Wu passed Erik an information book.
“Yay.” Erik opened the book.
==========
Information Book: Summary for Lord West
==========
Do you wish to activate this information book? Doing so will destroy this information book.
YES/NO
==========
“Sure.”
“Well, you look like shit,” Rugrat said as Erik wandered into the house, followed by special team four.
Erik flipped him the bird and put it away quickly as he heard a cough. Erik bobbed his head in apology and spared Rugrat’s grin a glare.
“Come on, we’ve got lunch ready. Bring your friends,” Momma said as she turned back for the dining room.
“Momma.” Rugrat moved out of the living room and followed the procession into the kitchen.
“What? I had free time on my hands. What else am I supposed to do? Sleep all day?” She waved people around the table. She’d put out a full spread. The special team members looked at one another.
“Sit your asses down.” Erik rolled his eyes.
They grinned and did so as Rugrat sighed.
“Here is some thick chicken soup and fresh-baked rolls. Eat up!” Momma patted two covered items. “Then we have enchiladas and sides.” She went down the table.
Erik opened his mouth and then closed it.
“You best all eat up. Can’t work properly on an empty stomach.” Momma Rodriguez raised an eyebrow at the special team, pulling out a spread from her storage ring, setting it out.
Rugrat opened his mouth, looking at Erik. They grinned wryly and shrugged. Momma is a force of nature when she sets her sights on something.
“Dig in!” Momma said, sitting at the head of the table. It seemed only natural.
“Who wants soup?” Rugrat said as he picked up bowls and a spoon.
“Bread?” Erik asked.
Everyone passed food and plates around the table.
“Could you pass the guac?”
“Is that sour cream?”
They served one another, settling into chit chat.
These hardened warriors would have fit in perfectly with any family at Thanksgiving, eating and drinking together, relaxing, praising the food.
Rugrat patted his stomach. “I couldn’t eat another thing,” he said as Momma Rodrigeuz watched over them all with a smile; it faltered as the special team members stood up. Rugrat stood as well. “Got a job to do, Momma.” His voice was quiet, but strong.
She put a hand on his arm. “Be safe out there.”
Rugrat covered her hand with his.
“All of you hear me?” She looked at the rest of the group.
“Yes, Momma Rodriguez.”
“Good!”
Almost as quickly as the feast and tables had come together, it disappeared, cleaned, and then stored. Rugrat waved as they headed out, taking the road toward the totem.
“Where is this dungeon?” Erik asked.
“Third Realm.”
“Great. Swamps.”
“Haunted swamp.”
“Even better. Sounds like you’ll be right at home.”
“Call me crazy, but I feel stronger after Momma R’s cooking,” Erik said through the sound transmission device inside his helmet. The team had spread out as they moved through the swamp trees. The ground seemed solid, but it was just dirt that had piled up on roots over the water below for centuries.
“Her skill level is high enough, everything she makes has an effect on it,” Rugrat said.
It was dark, and the air was wet and heavy under the thick canopy of the swamp’s trees. Erik wasn’t affected by the heat, though others were covered in sweat from pushing through the mangrove swamp.
“I think I have something,” Jackie said to everyone on the team’s sound transmission channel. “Trees look different, stronger, and bigger. They make a circle. Think that there might be an entrance at the center.”
“We’re moving to your position,” Gong Jin replied.
They converged on Jackie’s position.
“Yup, definitely a dungeon entrance. I can feel the change in mana,” Rugrat agreed. He used dungeon sense, confirming it.
“Dismount. Han Wu, secure the entrance.”
“Got it.” Han Wu took four people. They walked between the circle of mangrove trees. They were twice as thick as a man. Veins of mana traced up the side of the gargantuan trees, bringing light to the surrounding area.
A low-lying mist covered the ground.
“Got an entrance. Moving in,” Han Wu reported.
Erik checked his repeater and waited.
A wave illuminated all living beings around the entrance to the dungeon and beyond.
“Doesn’t look like there’s anyone in the area.” Gong Jin glanced at Erik and Rugrat.
“Dungeon core is close. It's to the northwest. A hundred, maybe two hundred meters.” Rugrat pointed in the direction he sensed the dungeon core.
“Let’s go conquer a dungeon.” Erik walked toward the circle of giant mangrove trees.
“Contact!” Han Wu yelled.
The ground shook as Erik picked up his pace. The second half of the team pushed ahead.
“Water elemental! Two of them! Focus your Metal and Earth attribute spells!”
Inside the ring of trees, an entrance formed of roots lay in the middle. The special team ran through the entrance with their weapons at the ready, following the tunnel down.
==========
You have entered the dungeon: Black Spring of Souls
==========
Erik heard the sound of rushing water as the tunnel stopped descending and they reached their first room. The entire dungeon from roof to wall and floor was a series of roots crisscrossing one another. It was like a mangrove had grown into the form of the dungeon. Water descended from the ceiling, creating a large pond to the back left of the room. It spilled over into smaller, root-rimmed pools.
Among the pools were dozens of water elementals. Their amorphic shifting bodies formed weapons as they rose and charged Han Wu’s special team.
They were cut down like wheat by the repeaters.
“Fucking big boys!” Rugrat raised his repeater, firing on the two water elementals whose heads almost touched the ceiling of the room twenty meters above. They had more humanoid bodies.
One turned his arm into an ice shard and threw it. The special team members ran away. The spear tore up the tree roots and broke through the floor, revealing the level below.
“Spread out, create a firing line!” Gong Jin ordered.
Erik and Rugrat joined the line.
Erik pulled out one of the metal needles that he had used to temper his body. He activated the formation all the way. “Iron enhance!” The needle shook in his hands, the formation burning with power, distorting from the mana flowing through it.
Erik drew back and threw the metal needle. He hit the spear-thrower in the chest.
It shook as black tendrils spread through its chest, causing it to stumble.
“Focus on the closest one!” Gong Jin yelled.
Arrows struck the elemental. Earth and metal, the water elemental’s weaknesses, spread through its body. It collapsed, leaving a tombstone.
“Shift fire!” Gong Jin ordered.
“I have enemies coming in from the three other entrances!” Han Wu yelled. “Jin, take out the elemental. Simms, Jackie, cover the western doors!”
The second water elemental stomped his foot, shaking the room.
“Duck! Barriers!” Rugrat yelled.
Water from the pools turned into spears that shot out in every direction. They smashed through the roots, leaving splintered wounds.
Erik dismissed his mana barrier.
“Go to rifles!” Gong Jin yelled.
“Thank you.” Rugrat pulled out his rifle, dropping his repeater. Erik formed mana in his ears.
Rugrat sat back and hooked his arm around, resting the rifle in the crook of his elbow.
Erik stored his repeater as Rugrat fired. The water elemental’s body distorted as a massive ripple cut through it. Water sprayed on the wall behind him. It began to shrink as the second round struck.
It penetrated the water elemental before it exploded. The metal shards killed it from the inside, creating another massive tombstone.
Rugrat held his rifle in one hand and took in his repeater with a storage ring on the other.
“We’re moving! Head for the northwestern door. Jackie, Simms, hold your position and cover us!” Gong Jin yelled.
There were creatures and beasts boiling out of the three doors to the western side of the room. Beasts from the floors below were tearing at the holes left behind in the fighting.
“Move it!” Gong Jin yelled.
Erik ran, jumping over the roots and obstacles. He reached Simms and Jackie.
A flesh golem made of beast bodies crowded the middle doorway. Han Wu and his people were pushing for the closest doorway in the direction of where they’d sensed the dungeon core.
Erik fired on the golem with his railgun. “Covering!”
Bits of flesh and bone came off the golem.
Erik switched his point of aim to the water elementals that had survived their entrance; it took a single round to turn them into tombstones.
“Change weapons,” Erik yelled at Simms and Jackie.
They stored their repeaters and pulled out railguns. Erik switched to the furthest door where fire elementals dimmed upon entering the room.
Erik sensed a lot of concentrated fire mana moving toward them through that corridor.
Shooting came from the closest door. “Covering! Simms, Jackie, Erik, get moving!” Gong Jin had established a firebase, firing on the other two doors with Rugrat and Tyrone. The rest of the team was clearing the corridor and pushing ahead.
Erik turned and started running.
The beast golem stood up again, repairing itself. Around it, furred beasts with yellow eyes, duckbills, and powerful claws covered the ground. Their bodies were drawn to the golem as it grew in size and power.
What the fuck!
He thought he had killed that thing! No way should it be standing up. Erik slowed and fired his rifle. The beast golem took the impacts and collapsed, but there was no tombstone.
Erik rushed past the fire-based elementals and pushed into the corridor. It was warm. Burn marks covered the ground, as did tombstones. Erik missed the roots that would have twisted his ankles. The corridor turned to the right. Erik came around the corner with his rifle raised.
Han Wu and his people were in the room beyond.
“We’ve got fire elementals and something big is hitting the damn wall to the west!” Han Wu yelled.
Erik used his Dungeon Sense.
“The core is in here!”
“Find it!” Gong Jin yelled.
Erik ran into the fog-filled room behind the extended line of Han Wu’s five-man team. They were focused on slowing the tide of fire elementals that were contained in the western doorway.
He saw a door in the southern wall parallel with the corridor. In the middle of the room, roots had formed pools, as they had done in the first room. The steaming water covered the room in fog.
Erik used his Earth mana, and the roots shifted to create platforms. He jumped up, using the steps to climb up the pools. The eastern wall exploded, revealing four fire elementals. They pushed through the dirt and roots. Something had started pounding on the second door.
Elementals were spreading out and running across the root floor.
Erik gritted his teeth and reached the top of the pools. The water bubbled and frothed in the center.
“Grow!” The roots grew under his spells, creating a platform above the middle of the pool.
He took a knee and aimed at the large fire elementals. Two had fallen. The third was pushing forward. Under the larger elemental’s feet, smaller fire elementals swarmed. The fog
shifted as Rugrat fired. Erik hadn’t noticed him.
“The wall is going to collapse!” Han Wu yelled.
Erik fired on the smaller elementals coming from the western wall. He cut down dozens, but more poured in from the broken wall. Two more large elementals appeared as Rugrat killed another.
“Reloading!”
“Covering!”
“Grenade!”
“Han Wu, how are things back there?” Gong Jin asked.
“We’re taking them down.”
The southern door and wall exploded. Small fire elementals fell over one another. Two more large fire elementals came with them. Rugrat killed another large elemental at the western wall.
“Reloading!” Erik yelled as he tore out the magazine and replaced it. He glanced at the water. It was bubbling frantically. He could see a light in the depths.
“More coming in from the south! Erik!” Han Wu stood and fired his grenade launcher into the new opening. It stemmed the tide.
Even in this chaos, they were controlling the situation.
“Just need some more time!” Rugrat finished off the last large elemental on the western side. The ground erupted with Earth spikes, stabbing through the smaller elementals. Rugrat’s round spread a southern elemental’s fire across the wall. Fires started here and there among the roots.
Erik reached down into the steaming pool. The metal-melting heat didn’t affect him as he grabbed the dungeon core.
==========
You have come into contact with a dungeon core. With your title, Dungeon Lord, new options are revealed.
==========
Do you wish to:
Take command of the Dungeon
Remodel Dungeon
Destroy the Dungeon
==========
“Take command!”
==========
You have taken over the Black Spring of Souls
==========
Construction ability unlocked
==========
Erik released the dungeon core still in the water, rolling awkwardly to his side. “Stop!” Erik’s voice spread through the entire dungeon. Like puppets on strings, the elementals were pulled up short.
Erik pushed up from his side to see rail gun rounds cut through dozens of the paused elementals.
Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8) Page 19
