Second Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “Watch forwards!” Erik yelled as he got a new and dangerous idea.

  He needed to release this pressure!

  Erik had compressed his mana as if a piercing round, creating a channel out of Rugrat’s stomach.

  Mana shot out of Rugrat’s body, the pressure quickly falling as the mana in the surrounding area rapidly increased.

  With the pressure dealt with now Rugrat was just injured, critically so.

  "Healing spells healing solution!" Erik yelled as the mana was now draining out of Rugrat's broken body.

  The healers piled on spells as Rugrat was screaming out in pain.

  Erik poured in heals as well, Rugrat passed out from the pain as his body was rapidly being repaired.

  "Stamina regeneration powder!" Erik called out as Rugrat had lost a lot of blood his stomach blown outwards. His body mass was shrinking as the healing spells accelerated his natural healing.

  The alchemist pulled out the powder, nearly missing Erik's hand.

  "Pull yourself together!" Erik yelled as he ripped open the cloth packet and poured it on the wounds, with the stamina regeneration it would help fuel the healing spells.

  "I need blood," Erik said.

  The alchemist checked through his rings before pulling out a blood bag, changing it with the mana regeneration bag.

  "Hold on the heals," Erik said as the other two stopped healing. Erik used focus heal on Rugrat's organs, repairing them and the cardiovascular system first, a large hole still in Rugrat’s lower body.

  Erik laid him down and moved around on the floor to his side now he was stabilized.

  It wasn't ideal, but his organs and the bleeding were killing him, having an open stomach might look bad but it wouldn't lead to him dying.

  Erik sat back on his ankles as he wiped his face.

  "Okay he's stable, we need to watch him, once he was more stamina then we can look into healing his mana channels and then seal him back up. Things to keep him alive and speed the recovery first, everything else comes second," Erik looked at the staff he had picked, they'd done well but they were covered in blood and looked to be in different states, one of the medics seemed to be okay, the other was visibly shaken, the alchemist couldn't look down at Rugrat and his wounds.

  Shit, just what have you done? Erik thought as he looked at Rugrat, using his simple organic scan to look at Rugrat's mana channels and see the full extent of the damage.

  ***

  Rugrat woke up feeling like a pile of ass.

  Erik stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in.

  "What happened?" Rugrat asked.

  "You've been out for a couple of days. I shot mana through your body, hitting the mana that was rushing up near your organs, they collided, and it was like a bomb went off in your stomach. Healed up your organs, put you back together, but your mana channels are in a bad way. You combined three of the drops together, leaving two more to be compressed together, but your mana channels are stressed and not in a way that can be simply healed. It looks like there was a Sequela left behind, basically a condition left behind from blowing up your mana channels. All kinds of crap are in your mana channels and you need to clean it out. Also, if you use too much mana then its possible they could burst. Think of it like they've lost their elasticity, like a rubber band been left out in the sun too long," Erik said. holding nothing back.

  "Is there a way to fix it?" Rugrat asked.

  "I'm not sure. There probably is but I don't know what it would be. I need to find out more. Maybe I can make a concoction to help, or maybe if we find a way to compress the other two mana drops you could go through a mana rebirth and your mana channels would be fixed. I'm not sure what happens in a mana rebirth and I asked Egbert about it. It's rare, something only talked about in legend, but someone is more in touch with the mana around them. I don't know what that means or if you go through a rebirth that with your mana channels the way they are you might explode.” Rugrat fell silent, looking at his hands touching his stomach. He'd been so determined but if Erik hadn't stopped him he might be dead.

  "Fuck."

  Erik pressed his lips together and slapped Rugrat's shoulder, squeezing it to reassure him.

  "Well fix this," Erik promised.

  Rugrat looked up into Erik's eyes seeing the determination there, it was nice knowing that he wouldn't be walking this path alone.

  He hung his head, unable to see that pity that also lay in Erik's eyes.

  "Thanks."

  "We're brothers, I'll always have your back, just next time, listen to me," Erik said, his voice firmer.

  "Will do," Rugrat said.

  Erik smacked his shoulder a few more times.

  '"Let’s see how you are for walking, need to get you over to the cookhouse get some food in you to bolster your stamina regeneration."

  Chapter: Third Realm Awaits

  The week went quickly. People heard about what had happened on the Metal floor but they continued to go about their day. Some people made plans to head to the Second Realm. Parties were organized to go and use the teleportation points across the First Realm near to big hubs.

  Storbon and his people got settled into the academy.

  The third special team would be deployed in another two months, after one-on-one lessons from Special Team One.

  Although there looked to be a monster in the basement and a few people were a bit freaked out, the simple fact was that they controlled the entrance and nothing was coming out of the basement unless they left the door open.

  Erik and Rugrat worked to make everything that they would need for their trip. Rugrat made rounds and grenades. Erik made gunpowder, explosives, and healing, Mana, and Stamina restoration concoctions, as well as poison that could be used on their weapons.

  Erik and Rugrat left with little fanfare. Alva Dungeon was growing all by itself. They might be the ones who owned the dungeon but that didn’t mean they wanted to remain in the dungeon for the rest of their life.

  Erik and Rugrat were once again walking through the forest of the Beast Mountain Range as Erik repeated something that had been on his mind.

  “The foundation tempered, the soul grounded, mind forged, bones reformed, muscles that flow and blood with the power of the realms,” Erik said slowly, a thoughtful look on his face.

  “What are you talking about? You trying to take up smithing as well?” Rugrat asked as they walked.

  “Hmm? No. I’ve reached a bottleneck with my Body Cultivation. I have Body Like Stone and I was able to improve on it, but I can’t reach Body Like Iron.” Erik sighed.

  “Well, tempering with smithing can mean heating the metal up and then letting it cool. It reduces the brittle aspect of the metal, increasing its strength. Grounded? Well, I don’t know what you’re going to do, crush yourself? Well, you can work metal—maybe you need to manipulate your body with some kind of tool?” Rugrat let out a laugh and looked back over to Erik, who was frozen in the forest.

  “That’s it!” Erik quickly pulled out some notes before pulling out a page with five different circles.

  “Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood! The next stages correlate with tempering my body with the different elements of the Ten Realms.”

  “How the hell do you do that?” Rugrat asked.

  “Well, I’m guessing that I use heat for the first.” Erik winced. “I’m not so sure about the others.”

  “Well, glad it’s you and not me. Maybe, you know, you could use pills or concoctions to help you. Jumping into a pool of lava probably isn’t the best bet.”

  “Yeah.” Erik let out a heavy breath. It seemed that he was more agreeing to his future than the actions he would take.

  “Come on. We’ve got awhile to go before we reach Chonglu,” Rugrat said.

  ***

  “Two hundred contribution points in just four short months,” the elder said with some praise as he looked at the young man in front of him.

 
“It was only through the lessons of the Willful Institute I was able to increase my ability.” The man bowed.

  There was a bloody air around him. Although his face was young, there was a hardness to his eyes.

  Many would be fawning over the elder, but this young man had been in too many fights to be scared or in awe of the man in front of him anymore.

  Domonos Silaz had worked tirelessly to increase his personal value.

  Once he had reached the institute, others, hearing that he was a moneybags, started to try to get more items from him.

  The elders who he had passed gifts to turned a blind eye. He was just someone from the First Realm, while the others were from the Second Realm. Their starting point was already much higher and they had greater connections. He had borne it and worked tirelessly.

  In the end, all that mattered was one’s personal strength.

  “Very well. You have reached the required level. You will lose all of your academic credits but you can ascend to the next realm and continue to grow within the Willful Institute’s headquarters,” the elder said after a few moments.

  “Thank you, Elder Hui.” Domonos bowed to the man again.

  “Go and prepare your items and take this time to say good-bye to your peers.”

  Peers? More like penny-pinching jackals who prefer to pick on others, taking on the title of talented genius for their past exploits and the level that they attained before they came to the sect.

  “Yes, Elder.” None of Domonos’s inner thoughts showed on his face as he bowed and then quickly left the elder’s office.

  ***

  “Why don’t you smile some? I can show you a good time.” A drunk man made to grab Roska’s backside, only to be turned around. A blade slammed into his hand, pinning him to the bar.

  Her finger pressed against the man’s neck, a spell formation on the end of her finger.

  The man screamed out in pain as he looked at her in fear. He wanted to pull the blade out, but also paid attention to the spell ready and active at his neck.

  She looked around the bar. Others who had been sending her lecherous looks turned back to what they were doing.

  She ripped the blade out of the man’s hand and kicked him to the side. “Seems that this isn’t my kind of bar,” Roska said.

  She headed out of the bar and used her sound transmission device without any outward actions. “I kicked the hornets’ nest,” she said to the others.

  “A knife to the hand would piss off anyone,” Han Wu said.

  “Sorry, who just said that? Was it ‘Blow Me Up Wu’?” Yang Zan asked.

  “Oh, come on, Doc,” Han Wu complained.

  “If you weren’t such a good Experience pot having to put back together, I don’t know what I would do with you. Maybe just sit there and ask why you suck so hard.”

  “Just a few minor calculation errors,” Han Wu said.

  “I can’t believe that you’ve been able to temper your skin and muscles by blowing yourself up,” Yang Zan said, sounding defeated.

  “Quiet.” Roska’s one word brought silence to the channel.

  “One handsy little criminal ran to the boss man,” Tully said in a singsong voice.

  “I’m tailing him,” Imani said.

  “All right, everyone get ready. If we can get the slave trader, then it’ll help us with the trader’s association,” Roska said, focusing everyone’s minds.

  The Second Realm wasn’t easy, but with the reports and ideas on how to get a reputation and different jobs, Roska and Special Team Two were already establishing a reputation in the imperial city of Triv.

  ***

  Erik and Rugrat moved through Chonglu once again. They had gotten better at hiding their levels, so the guards simply took their gold and let them pass.

  They wandered through the city, waiting for darkness before they headed for the totem.

  Even with everything, Erik was excited to be heading to the Third Realm. Yes, he had been thoroughly clobbered in the Metal floor. If he let that defeat him, he wouldn’t have made it so long in the military.

  They came back, partly completed their mission, and no one was left with lasting injuries.

  So instead of focusing on that, he looked toward the totem as they ascended the steps.

  “Want to do the honors?” Rugrat asked.

  “Sure.” Erik put his hand out, seeing an screen he hadn’t seen in some time.

  ==========

  You have reached Level 20, meeting the requirements to ascend to the Third Realm.

  ==========

  Do you wish to ascend?

  ==========

  YES/NO

  ==========

  To most, it was known as the Third Realm, but to alchemists, it had another name: Alchemist’s Garden. The ingredients that grew there were hard to find in other realms.

  It was the first realm where the Alchemist Association freely recruited potential alchemists into their ranks.

  It was also the last Mortal-grade realm; as one stepped into the Fourth Realm, they would enter the Earth-grade realms.

  Erik tapped the yes button.

  A light enveloped Erik and Rugrat. Chonglu disappeared and a new city appeared in front of them.

  “Damn, more humid than the swamps in Florida,” Rugrat said.

  They looked around at the city. Massive trees grew through the city; their branches weaved above to create different levels of the city. There were spaces between the levels, opening up different areas, making it feel refreshing instead of enclosed.

  There was a board above the guards working the perimeter of the totem.

  Welcome to Girus of the Yechonate Dynasty.