The Third Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

  Rugrat went to go and check it, finding Erik on the other side.

  “You register yet?” Rugrat asked, still holding his half-carved ingot.

  “Yeah. What are you working on?” Erik held up a medallion and shut the door.

  “Nice. I’ve got a new idea. You got your pistol?”

  “Yeah.” Erik pulled it out and handed it to Rugrat.

  Rugrat took the pistol and went back to the table in the room. He put the ingot down and started to dismantle the pistol.

  Erik left him to it as he moved to the chimney and put his cauldron in the hearth. Then he pulled out a few diagrams and put them on the table.

  “What’s this?” Rugrat asked as he was taking the slide of the pistol off.

  “Alchemy tools I need. A centrifuge to help separate out the different elements of a solution. A Bunsen burner that can run through monster cores or the like instead of relying on me. An automated stirring system to mix ingredients together.” Erik pointed to the different pieces of equipment.

  Rugrat checked the rough drawings with interest. He had been working on armors and weapons for a long time. “It’ll be interesting to work on some of these, a lot of detailed work. I’ll need to see if there are formations I can find to spin the centrifuge or supply heat to the Bunsen burner. Might need to go old school and use some kind of substance or gas for the Bunsen.”

  “If you make the stand, I can find a fuel,” Erik compromised.

  “The centrifuge—if I have a geared system, say like what you would find on a bike? Then you would have to crank the thing but it would still spin and everything. Stirring system could be something similar. Resources for formations are still slim down here, so that means formations will be expensive.” Rugrat shrugged.

  “We’ll make do. Anything you can get me and it works would be good. Save me hours on preparing everything,” Erik said.

  “Can do. And with this Mana knife, I’ll be able to make them easier.” A knife formed in Rugrat’s hands as he showed it off. “Realized that I had been focusing on beating the ever living hell out of everything I was working, forming it into something, but with this knife I can use the compressed Mortal-grade iron and shape it to an even greater degree.”

  “So what are you doing with my gun?”

  “Going to trace out the slide with pencil, then cut it out of iron, then Mortal-grade iron. What took me days to make the specialized parts in these weapon systems before, will now only take me a few minutes or hours.” Rugrat grinned.

  Rugrat put the slide against a fresh iron ingot and started to trace it out.

  Erik left him to it and went to his cauldron and started to prepare some of the ingredients he had collected today in the market. He chewed on new ingredients he didn’t know of, hoping to imprint them in his mind.

  “Crap, left arm went numb. If I have some of this black root and that eversahe petal…” Erik was consuming so many of them that his body was having a hard time trying to get rid of all the myriad effects in his body naturally.

  He started using other ingredients to offset the effects instead of using healing spells as he was also using a Mana flame to prepare the ingredients in front of him.

  His skin turned different colors; even his eyes changed as he kept on self-medicating. The effects of one offset the other and then led to compounding side effects.

  “Pinch of ground Rafial leaf and stem of Iola bracken. Ugh! That’s horrible. Come on, keep focused. Wait—I didn’t think that the Rafial leaf would—” Erik stopped talking as information appeared in his mind. As he had discovered all of the effects of the ingredients, it was now imprinted on his mind, another success! Mixing it with the others had allowed him to see the hidden effects.

  Some effects could be learned by consuming the item; others when mixing it; others, when it was turned into a concoction, it would be revealed. Trial and error, again and again.

  Chapter: Tier-two Upgrades

  Elise looked out at the academy, at the construction that was being carried out there. Before her eyes, blocks of material appeared and started to be added to the building in front of her.

  They had built most of the structures, but they simply didn’t have the knowledge or the ability to make higher grade facilities.

  Instead of relying on their own ability, they had turned to the dungeon system, allowing them to increase the tier and ability of the specific units. Like going from a shack to a shanty then to a simple house, then a huge house with style and form.

  The Alchemy lab, smithy, cookhouse, tailors, woodworking shop, formation workshop, healing station, and blueprint office: all had been purchased and upgraded to tier two.

  The upgrade cost one thousand gold each to go from tier one to tier two. They had bought the smithy and cookhouse upgrades first; then, as they had enough money, they purchased the others.

  The tier-one facilities were just a place for basic crafting, but with the tier-two upgrade, items made within the facilities had a five percent chance of increased stats.

  Metals that were refined in the smithy yielded more gems to be used by the formation workshop. Their flames had been upgraded, the smithy expanded and enchanting tables added.

  The cookhouse had increased storage areas and an attached herb garden with a growing formation. Regulated temperature controls as well as formation-engraved ovens and heaters allowed the cooks greater control over the cooking temperatures.

  Each of the new facilities also came with new tools. In an interesting twist, those who were learning about formations spent more time in the other areas of the academy, looking at their formations before trialing out their ideas and knowledge in the formation workshop.

  “And so Alva Dungeon begins to grow once more.” Egbert moved over to Elise, his blue flame-like eyes watching the growing Academy with utmost satisfaction.

  Elise looked over to the new houses that were being added in. “Just a few short weeks and we should have some new members added to our town.” She turned her head to Egbert, who was looking through the window beside her. “How is Qin?”

  “She’s adapted surprisingly well to what she saw and experienced on the Metal floor. She’s throwing herself into her work more than ever before, she has such a strong spirit. Her brother comes around more often to check in on her, though. She has also planned to go and see her family in Chonglu with her brother in the coming weeks. With the book from Fizzleuip, she and Julilah have been poring over that information with the other formation apprentices. They’re eighty percent sure that they can fix most of the control formations in the Metal floor now,” Egbert said.

  “I can’t believe that Storbon and Special Team One want to go to the battlefield dungeon already.”

  “Fighting is what they trained to do. It won’t be long until they have the money required to access the dungeon. If we want to clear out the rest of the dungeon, this is one of the safest ways to decrease the number of creatures and train up our people quickly. We don’t advance if we don’t take risks,” Egbert said.

  Elise let out a sigh.

  As the assigned manager of the dungeon, she gained Experience as the dungeon grew. It had allowed her to raise her level twice. Erik and Rugrat might have passed the orders but they didn’t carry out the act of growing the dungeon, meaning that they didn’t get Experience for it.

  “We’ve got to halt building for the time being, at least until the next harvest. We’re low on gold and can’t pay the extra wages right now. We’ve got the automatons working in the iron mine and the fourth trading group should be back soon. With the funds from the traders, the iron, or the grains, we’ll be able to pay for the rest of the upgrades and expansion.”

  “What about the increased fees for the academy?” Egbert asked.

  “Create a tiered system, like we have with materials. Buy the materials, or buy time in the higher level areas, or have it awarded based upon their progress, competitions between th
e different years and ability,” Elise said.

  “I will write up a system and submit it to Taran.” Egbert nodded.

  “Might as well test out my new assistants. Send it to them and see what they think of it. I’ll have another look over it after them and use it as a learning experience,” Elise said.

  ***

  Storbon was working on his armor, the needle and thread moving back and forth through the material. He’d cut it open while sparring. As he’d taken one of his skills in tailoring, he’d brought it over to the workshop while he had time and had begun to repair it.

  As he was working on it, one could hear the noise from the new sewing machines as people were stitching layers of material together, and the row of yarn mills that were creating several types of cloth from modified base materials.

  The newest product was called iron weave. It was from a special Metal-attribute plant that had been treated with an Alchemic concoction to make the material more flexible. It had been then turned into cloth. Its defensive ability was no less than that of a level sixteen beast’s hide while also being lighter and much more flexible.

  The Novices were still working on the beast hide armor. There was still plenty left of it and it sold well on the market. Though the apprentices and few journeymen were now looking at the hybrid cloth types they could come up with.

  People’s old stagnant skill levels had begun to soar again with the help of the new machinery.

  Storbon got a message from Yao Meng as he just finished off his latest repair.

  “We got the funds. Glosil has okayed it, with the stipulation that he be allowed to come as well. He wants to see what happens in the battlefield dungeon so he can better advise others who go in after us,” Yao Meng said.

  “All right, when can we go?” Storbon asked.

  “Two weeks,” Yao Meng said.

  “Okay, let’s make a final list and see that we have everything.” Storbon spoke in a calm voice but nervousness, excitement—both of these emotions conflicted in his stomach, making him wonder whether this was the right thing to do and wish that they were leaving tomorrow. He knew that the feeling would only get worse as time went on.

  ***

  Taran and Tan Xue were talking to each other as they sat at one of the enchanting tables, watching their people working the forges.

  There were now more than enough forges to keep all of the smithing apprentices satisfied.

  “I’ve put out a contract for the alchemists. It might take some time before we get anything useful, but they’re at least looking at making some enhancing powders for us now. I passed on the descriptions that you gave to me of the enhancers you know of and I gave them testers as well. Hopefully they can try to make some for our people to test out.” Taran fell quiet.

  “How is your own smithing going?” Tan Xue asked.

  “I am now able to make low-grade Journeyman weapons. Take a look.” Taran pulled out a two-handed axe and placed it on the table.

  Tan Xue looked it over, lifting it easily. “Passable.” She nodded.

  “I left off the enchantment. I figured that we can transfer these over to the formationers; they can try to find something to put on them. Even if they fail, it would be better than me trying it out.”

  “It’s a complicated art. I only know the formation of might and formation of flame—one to increase the strength of the person using a weapon, and the other to give the weapon a Fire attribute.” Tan Xue pulled out a smithing hammer and gave it to Taran.

  His eyes went wide as he looked at the hammer, seeing the green and red jewels embedded in the weapon and the way they glowed. Power seeped out of them and into the carved formation they were set in. The green jewels’ power seemed to channel into the handle through Taran as the red covered the hammer, making it glow slightly before the faint light disappeared.

  ==========

  Your Strength has increased by 3%

  ==========

  “Have you made it into the Expert level?” Taran asked in a quiet voice.

  Tan Xue laughed. It was a hoarse noise at her own failure. “I haven’t. This is just a half-step Expert tool. I wasn’t able to draw out two innate specialties from the metal and it can’t be bound,” Tan Xue said. “I feel like I am on the cusp but I am just missing a little bit more. If I am unable to make a weapon of Expert grade before I am level thirty, then I will head to the battlefield realm to increase my knowledge. It’s a realm of blood and iron. Weapons always need to be built and maintained. There are a number of legendary smiths who have risen from the battlefield realm.”

  “It would be dangerous,” Taran said.

  “It might be, but I am a smith. If I am unable to progress, can I be called a smith anymore?” Tan Xue asked.

  Taran couldn’t help but think about where he had been when Rugrat found him. How he had sat outside his smithy, smoking instead of pursuing his craft.

  With Tan Xue, his determination had been given direction. Now he was coming to the limit of what she could teach and she had reached a bottleneck in her skill.

  Taran made to hand back the hammer.

  “Keep it. I intend to make some more, rewards for those who show their smithing ability. Hopefully I’ll be able to increase my own ability as well in the process,” Tan Xue said.

  The smithy produced items that the overlords in the First Realm went wild for, items that could only be attainable in the Second Realm. Through the market interface, no one knew who they were and they set the prices.

  Alva Dungeon was adjusting to the changes that came with the second-tier upgrade to their workshops, but there was already plans in place for the next upgrade to third tier. The upgrade from first to second tier was one thousand gold; from second to third, it would cost three thousand gold. When they upgraded, they didn’t know what would happen. It was an exciting and nerve-racking advancement.

  Chapter: Setting a Stage

  Erik walked toward one of the main stages where the competition would be held.

  Girus was a large city and the competition couldn’t be held at just one place.

  The victors from each stage would have their concoctions compared at a main stage before a group of Alchemist Association representatives from the city. Rugrat was with Erik while Erik had been working with his cauldron. Rugrat had made Erik a centrifuge, which was two spinners connected with a piece of string: one with a handle, the other with a tilting rotor that could hold several vials.

  It wasn’t pretty but Erik had tested it and it worked.

  He couldn’t go too fast or else it would start shaking, starting to mix them back up. It wasn’t perfect, but it should work and make things easier for him.

  He had worked all three days, only stopping to rest the night before so he was in peak condition.

  “Better get us those tickets to the next place.” Rugrat yawned and stretched.

  “I’ll do my best.” Erik sighed at Rugrat’s “pep talk.”

  He presented his medallion at the entrance for competitors.

  “You have all of the necessary materials and gear?” a man who checked his medallion asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Proceed.”

  Erik went past the man as he heard a commotion behind him. He had needed to wait in line but there were two people who walked to the front of the line, not worrying about the others. The man who had dealt with him bowed and moved to the side, not even checking their medallions.

  “The twin alchemists of Girus! They’re both children of the city’s lord but from different mothers!” someone said in a low voice.

  Erik looked away from them and proceeded through the corridor that led into the central testing area.

  It was shaped like a stadium, with the alchemists being in the middle and the viewers all around them. The ground had been divided up into workspaces.

  There were a thousand different squares with numbers carved into them.

  Erik presented his medallion again to a person waiting at the e
dge of the Alchemy stage.

  “Three four seven. Don’t go into someone else’s area.” The man passed it back.

  “Understood.” He nodded and went past the man toward the stage. He quickly climbed the steps and went to find his area.

  Finding it, he pulled out the equipment and materials that he would need. All around him, alchemists were talking to their peers, meditating to clear their minds, looking over the notes that they had made, or arranging their stuff.

  Erik laid out his gear and reviewed the powder he would be making in his mind.

  Then he called up his last two notifications.

  ==========

  Skill: Alchemy

  ==========

  Level: 39 (Apprentice)

  ==========

  Able to identify 1 effect of the ingredient.

  ==========

  ==========

  67,789/700,000 EXP till you reach Level 26

  ==========

  He had increased his Alchemy skill by two levels with all of his work at increasing the efficacy of the powders he had, but it was increasingly harder to increase the efficacy and increase his skill level.

  I need one of those formulas and Mana stones to increase my skill.

  He could hear the other alchemists talking about their competitors: Someone who came from this clan or another who was connected to this trading firm. Someone whose cousin’s uncle’s grandfather was this person or that.

  It was all useless to him, he shook his head with a chuckle. He had only been in Girus for three days and he was hoping to be leaving it today if everything went well. If he did not succeed this time, then he would need to wait another six months before he could try again, and he would be able to train in a city that was brimming with ingredients and had plenty of formulas. The reason he wanted to go to the Alchemist Association was to, one, see what he could gain from them. If he was able to learn from them and grow, he didn’t mind wearing their emblem. If he was bound to them in a way that put Alva in danger, then he would leave.