Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7)

by Michael Chatfield

  First Annual Crafter’s Competition

  Delilah and Fehim entered the large hall that had been created as part of the crafter’s competition.

  There were several different areas that people could wander through. Crafters from various ability levels, realms, and disciplines filled the area. They’d brought their friends and families with them. All of Alva seemed to have shown up. People were talking with their friends, meeting with their heroes, and having discussions with peers.

  All while food and drink were supplied.

  Delilah and Fehim were trailed by four members of the close protection details as they met up with Tan Xue, Julilah, and Qin.

  “It looks like things are going well,” Delilah said in greeting.

  “Just wait until tomorrow. The real fight will start in those arenas.” Tan Xue grinned.

  “It’s not fair that we don’t get to compete,” Qin complained.

  “You just want to beat more people with your formations. Did you not have enough fun in the academy?” Julilah asked, looking innocent as she drank from her cup while Qin glared at her.

  Fehim coughed to hide his smile, and Tan Xue elbowed Qin, who lowered her head grumpily.

  Delilah smiled openly.

  “It’s unfair. Why can’t we have the Experts fighting it out?” Qin complained.

  “If we have all the Experts competing, then who will tally up the scores? This is for Alva as well. When we have the competition in Vuzgal, then we will naturally need to show off our ability and position,” Tan Xue said.

  “We can take this time to teach others and share our knowledge. Isn’t that better than fighting it out?” Delilah said.

  “I guess. Just—competing is more fun! I can remember the looks on the faces of those guys still,” Qin said.

  “Next year, you’ll have all the competitors you could want. Think of how the people of Alva will have grown by then and all the people who will come from across the realms to challenge us,” Julilah said.

  “And we have the arena now. We can set up monthly competitions as well as testing our different ideas,” Tan Xue said.

  “It will be an exciting series of matches tomorrow. I am looking forward to them all,” Delilah said.

  “It’s certainly ignited the fighting spirit of the crafters. They want nothing more than to show off their skills. They spend all their time hidden away, and they don’t get the kind of praise or support that fighters or people in the military might get,” Fehim said.

  “All Alvans are the quiet show-offs.” Qin grinned.

  “Quiet show-offs?” Delilah chuckled. “I think that other crafters might die of shock if they heard you!”

  Tan Xue, Julilah, and Qin were all together as they entered the stadium. The interior arena had several towers that one could sit in and look at the other arenas through the glass or formations broadcasting the other crafting competitions. Bars and taverns across the city were showing livestreams of the competitions. They were being shown in the other floors and in the Dungeon Core Headquarters.

  “I don’t think I have seen so many people in Alva,” Qin said as they got drinks and sat, watching over people’s heads.

  “I’m just thankful we are in the teacher’s lounge. There are so many crafters here. If we were in the general seats, we would be getting mobbed with questions,” Julilah said.

  Tan Xue laughed and sipped her drink. “All the students who were learning away from Alva have returned. Some wanted to show off their skills, others wanted a reason to come home, and others just want to see their fellow crafters show off their power. The traders came back, as well, because the crafters who rise in these competitions will get a lot of resources behind them. They could really increase their overall abilities rapidly.”

  “And it is always best to support a crafter when they are younger to build up a greater feeling of familiarity. That way, if they require anything in the future, they will look to you. Also, they’d be happier to sell their goods to you or help you create special items if you ask,” Qin said.

  Julilah played with her glass, frowning.

  “Something on your mind?” Tan Xue asked.

  “I was just thinking about how everyone is coming here. I didn’t realize there were so many Alvans. I never felt that I was connected to the people in Kaeju, but in Alva, I feel like all the people around us are our people. Feels like belonging or something a bit more distant than family, but only barely so.”

  Tan Xue hugged her from the side, and Julilah smiled.

  Julilah had a hard life in Hersht. Her mother had four children from different fathers. Her manager took control of them and had them working in different seedy jobs; anything they earned, he kept. Some of her brothers and sisters were pickpockets; others worked hard jobs at all hours, aiming to get resources to cultivate or increase their level. Born at level zero, they had to fight for every level in a realm where the majority were over level ten. A casual slap could leave them bruised and battered or with broken bones.

  Tan Xue thought back to the day she had been walking back to her smithy with a supply of iron ore and had seen a young girl. Her little body shook as she squatted on a stoop. It looked like she was sleeping, except for the occasional jerkiness as she cried silently into her clothes.

  Tan Xue checked around, making sure it wasn’t a scheme. She mulled it over in her head, debating whether to talk to the girl or walk on by.

  She cleared her throat and the girl flinched, observing with wide eyes and ready to run in a moment. Her clothes were haggard, and she looked malnourished.

  “Are you okay?” Tan Xue asked, not sure how to talk to her.

  “I, uh-uh, I didn’t steal anything!” the girl said. That fear in her eyes, that flightiness and tension in her body, made Tan Xue feel vulnerable herself.

  “I didn’t say that. This is my shop.” Tan Xue pointed at the door behind the girl.

  The girl got up and skittered to the side, watching her the entire time as if she might rush out and grab her.

  “I didn’t mean you any harm.” Tan Xue tried to be as non-threatening as possible. “My name is Tan Xue. I’m a smith.”

  The girl seemed to have an internal debate. “I’m Julilah.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Julilah.” Tan Xue moved to the door, opening it and revealing the smithy beyond.

  “Ah—”

  Tan Xue turned at the sudden noise from Julilah and waited patiently.

  “I like your door. It’s warm and the designs are pretty.”

  Tan Xue glanced at her door and the formations carved into them. “Well, feel free to look at the formations whenever you want.”

  “Can I really? Most businesses chase me away.” Julilah looked down, her eyes growing heavy.

  “Ah, I’m just a smith. Not many people come here to find me. Just no talking when I’m working. And I better not catch you skipping work to come and find me!”

  “I don’t have a job,” Julilah said.

  “Go talk to Miss Warren on Ling Street. She’s always in need of young helpers to take messages across Hersht.” Tan Xue turned and smiled to herself as she walked into the smithy.

  Too bad it hadn’t lasted. Julilah had gotten a job and some security, but she continued to come around, growing bolder and wanting to become her student. Tan Xue tried to protect her and push her away. She hadn’t wanted others to bully Julilah to get to her.

  Tan Xue mussed up Julilah’s hair some, making her frown.

  “What did you do that for? Aren’t you supposed to be a high-and-mighty principal of Vuzgal Academy? It took me twenty minutes to get my hair sorted!”

  Tan Xue had a devilish smirk on her face as she raised her hand again.

  “No! Not the hair!” Julilah pathetically tried to cower in her seat, sending Qin and Tan Xue into laughter.

  “Mean!” Julilah pouted.

  “Do you miss home?”

  “Alva is our home,” Julilah said without thinking.

  Tan Xue
felt her chest tighten and her eyes itch.

  “Are you okay?” Julilah asked as Tan Xue coughed, her throat feeling tight.

  “Ah, nothing, just a cough.”

  “I told you to get your lungs checked. You’ve been working in the smithy for so long and with all kinds of enhancers.” Julilah’s worry soothed Tan Xue’s heart.

  “I went to see them. I’m fine.” Tan Xue shook her head as she pulled out food.

  “You got breakfast? Look, there are even hash browns.” Qin glanced at the perfectly preserved food that seemed to have just come from the pan.

  “I know you two. You have plenty of materials and tools in your storage rings, but you eat all the food you have stored and forget to get more,” Tan Xue admonished them with her chopsticks.

  The two girls ducked their heads as they readied their chopsticks under the table.

  Do you think I can’t see what you’re doing, food assassins! She would need to be quick. Sudden strike!

  “Hah!” Tan Xue’s chopstick shot out, and she grabbed pancakes, putting them into her bowl and adding some bacon before the other two realized what was going on.

  “You!”

  “Big sister Xue!”

  Like fish and snakes, their chopsticks flashed out, grabbing food and placing it into their own bowls. Some didn’t even make it to the bowl as they dived in.

  The teachers, and others who were watching them, coughed and looked away, as if a food fight wasn’t happening between three of the first generation of Alva crafters.

  They quickly cleared their plates and sat back in their chairs.

  The plates went into Tan Xue’s storage ring, and tea appeared on the table.

  “Thank you for breakfast, big sister Xue!” the two said together.

  “Though I wish I’d had an extra sausage,” Qin said under her breath, just so they could hear.

  Julilah stuck out her tongue and grinned before taking the teapot and filling their cups. Qin and Tan Xue drank first, and Qin served Julilah.

  The three of them sat there, satiated.

  “So, I don’t get why we are doing this in Alva and not in Vuzgal,” Julilah asked.

  “Confidence,” Tan Xue said. “Most of our crafters have learned crafting through Alva, and they have not tested their skills against anyone outside of Alva. Here, they can go against one another and gain confidence in their own abilities. They might even not focus on what others can do, as long as they can do better than they did this year and place better according to their fellow Alvans.”

  “Everyone here, although they don’t come from the same place, have gotten the same teaching and training. Anyone outside, they have different teachers, different techniques. Confidence doesn’t sound like such a big thing, but if you are nervous and if you have never done something before, you’ll be more likely to make mistakes, and you couldn’t put your full effort forward,” Julilah surmised.

  “There is another hidden benefit. The stadium and arenas are another way of training. We have the crafter dungeon, classes, recordings from other crafters, the library, and multiple workshops. With the arenas, people can fight one another. Maybe people are motivated if they are competing against one another?”

  “They can see how strong they have become, how strong everyone else is, as well, to build confidence in what they’re learning and show off to Alvans as a whole. We have a large crafting population, but we have people from all walks of life. As we’ve said before, getting to show off our abilities to others is a rare opportunity. Confidence, fighting will, fame, and pride—all of those can raise people up.” Tan Xue smiled.

  “What if they lose?” Julilah asked.

  “If they lose, well, what have we been teaching? It doesn’t matter your background or your ability in the past. With hard work and putting one foot after another, you can succeed. Constructive criticism is just that,” Tan Xue said.

  “If you can find your weaknesses, then you can address them and turn them into strengths,” Qin finished off. “It is very different from the other realms and the academies. Any failure or loss there is taken so personal, as if it is someone else’s fault that you are doing bad.”

  “There can be blood feuds and jealousy. They’re just using their family or group’s power to attack those who bested them in some way. It’s pretty stupid,” Julilah said. “Erik and Rugrat’s lives were on the line just because they did well and created a type of cloth in the competition!”

  “Well, no one said the world had to make sense. The law of Strength rules the Ten Realms. If you are strong, you can do as you want. The Alchemist Association crushed those chasing Erik and Rugrat because Erik was capable and was the student of Zen Hei, one of the Third Realm heads.”

  “The first matches are about to begin! There are so many people watching. Traders, people from the Adventurer’s Guild, crafters, farmers, and librarians. Look, aren’t there a lot of people from the military?” Julilah said.

  “Aren’t there a lot of crafters among the army as well? The crafters make their gear, and we go to their events. This is a way for them to support us and see new crafters who they will rely on to make their gear,” Tan Xue said. “A lot of them still commission private weapons to be made, and they also have a lot of ideas for new gear that they share with us.”

  They looked over the arenas filled with people. Those who couldn’t make it to the stadium or the separate arenas were in the different taverns across the dungeon’s floors, watching the events that would go on for the next few days.

  All of Alva had come together. Entire families had entered competitions or had their relatives and friends in the stands cheering them on.

  People came to learn, to be awed, and to support one another.

  Among them, Domonos and Yui were in one of the military booths. The two brothers sat beside each other in the tailor’s arena.

  “I never thought I would be so interested in clothes,” Yui said.

  “From our underwear to our armor, everything is touched and organized by the tailors. Did you hear about the new stealth covers they are working on for the sharpshooting and special teams?”

  “Stealth covers?”

  “It is essentially a large, multi-layered sheet. The layers insulate the person or people underneath, while the external material and formations work together to make you blend into the surroundings. It’s hard for someone to pick you up with sensing spells, even if they know where to look,” Domonos said in approval.

  “The teams will be able to get closer to their targets. If you’re on the run, you can go to ground and hide, let the enemy pass you, then double back and head in a different direction. Will the layers work in the winter and summer?”

  “They are rated for the colds of the Fourth Realm’s north and the sandy wastes of the Second Realm’s deserts,” Zhou Heng said.

  The two brothers stood up and nodded to Zhou Heng.

  “Please, there is no need for those formalities. I’m just a tailor.”

  “You might be ‘just a tailor,’ but we both know how much you and your people have put into everything we wear and have even altered and adjusted future gear based on our feedback. What you and your people have done allows us and our people to do what we can,” Yui said as they made room for Zhou Heng.

  “If it weren’t for your support and highlighting this fact to so many people, I wouldn’t have the number of tailors I have now. Not many people think being a tailor is an exciting job.”

  “One needs to be exact with their actions and no less demanding with their studies. I have long heard and experienced the end results of the tailors, but, today, I’m excited to see how tailors work behind closed doors,” Yui said.

  “I think that fighting techniques and weapons are much more interesting than our meager skills.”

  “Meager? I think you are doing yourself a disservice. While we have many resources to pull from across the realms—information and even materials—most of it comes from the tailor department!” Domo
nos said.

  “The first match is about to begin. Studying diverse materials, is this how smiths pick ores and the right enhancers to use with them to increase the properties of the weapons?” Yui asked.

  “Precisely. The competitors will have to pick out different types of materials to use in different types of clothes. Clothes can have hides that are dried out or treated in special vats. They might need to be weaved together or blended. Each creates different base materials. With smiths, a large portion focuses on smithing the weapon. Forging techniques are incredibly important. With tailoring, making the cloth is the most important part. There are dozens of techniques to create cloth, but there is a truly massive amount of raw materials that one can use and combine through those techniques,” Zhou Heng explained.

  Competitors walked out from the entrances into the arena. People cheered and some waved to the crowd; others walked to the different examination rooms that were closed off from one another, but their roofs were open so the magical rebroadcasting devices could look in and display the information in the sky above or use their sight spells. There were other competitors who smiled or gritted their teeth, showing all kinds of emotions as they entered the honeycomb of rooms.

  “Once you have created a type of cloth and said how you were able to create it, you can do tests to find out its properties. Hopefully, it will be the kind of material you require. Then, using sewing techniques, one can turn the cloth into clothes.”

  “Formations have to be sown in as well, right?” Domonos asked.

  “That is correct. The power that a piece of clothing can handle is usually very low, but simple formations are best. You were talking about the stealth sheets before?”

  The brothers nodded.

  “We used several layers to reduce the thermal footprint of the person underneath, and the outer layers have properties that make it easier for them to change colors. The formations are on a special layer that has fine metal threads. That way, more power can be fed into the formations. They sense the surrounding area and simulate the exterior cloth. It mimics the ground underneath the soldier. If someone was able to calculate depth, they would see that the area was higher than the others, but it isn’t much of a height increase if it’s one person lying down with a sheet over them.”