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

by Michael Chatfield

  “Are you sure, sir? With the higher mana density, it can take more time to get used to. The lower mana densities are gentler on the body. You can train in them for longer with greater control. Also, they are much cheaper,” the man warned.

  “It shouldn’t take me too long to adjust.” Rugrat smiled.

  “Okay.” The man drew out the word, unsure of Rugrat’s confidence. “It will be one Earth mana stone per hour for unrefined mana, two for refined mana from the dungeon core.”

  Rugrat pulled out his Dungeon Lord emblem. “Unrefined, please.” He wanted to check out the validity of Tanya’s research himself.

  The man eyes widened. “I am sorry.” He made to bow, but Rugrat stopped him.

  “I’m just a dude. No need for all that bowing.”

  “Uh, yes, sir.” The man was shaken up. He quickly grabbed a key and passed it to Rugrat with both hands. “Your key, Lord Rugrat.”

  Rugrat coughed, and his face went red. That sounds so damn ridiculous. “Uh, yes, thank you. Have a good day.” Rugrat grabbed the key, checking the markings on it.

  He passed the front desk and entered the training facility, staring at a map on the wall. They had broken it up into two sectors. On the left, there were the crafting workshops; on the right, there were individual and group training rooms. The two sectors met in the middle where the highest density of mana was. In a big circle, there were rows of training rooms, each sealed and isolated from one another.

  He headed into the training facility. He held up his “key,” which was just a piece of metal with formations engraved inside.

  The door opened, and he stepped inside. It felt like stepping out of the airport in Texas, right into a wall of heat. Instead of heat, though, it was mana. Maybe it wasn’t really like Texas. It was so damn hot.

  Rugrat grimaced as he walked past the different rows of training rooms. People took their pills and concoctions, quickly opening the doors and rushing into the rooms. A green light turned red, showing the rooms as occupied.

  There were formations all over the training rooms. The walls around the facility stopped the mana from leaking out and kept it concentrated. The doors in and out were like air locks, the formations a force field retaining the air.

  It was an impressive feat of engineering, taking the construction crews, formation masters, and Egbert working together to make it a reality.

  People staggered out of training rooms. There was staff on hand to check on them. Some wore expressions of frustration while most were ecstatic.

  He moved through the different rows. He had to use his key on different doors. Each set of doors was like ascending to a different realm. As his body relaxed, his mana gates opened, and the mana within his body started to circulate faster. He stood outside of his training room.

  ==========

  Area of High Mana Density

  ==========

  You have entered an area of high mana density.

  Mana Regeneration is increased by 4.0x

  ==========

  Damn. Was that how people from the Tenth Realm were supposed to be able to cast powerful-ass spells? With that kind of Mana Regeneration buff, they could load up their stat points into a mana pool, and the higher mana density would refill the pool quickly without the need to drop lots of points into Mana Regeneration. Rugrat sank into thought.

  The common thought was that people from the Seventh Realm didn’t dare to come down to the lower realms because they would lose their power. There was something wrong with that. The idea of the internal pressure of one’s mana system and the world around them—that sounded like crap. Rugrat didn’t want to lose mana by going up in the realms. He had focused more on his mana pool than his regeneration due to the availability and increase in mana density.

  That had to be the crux of the issue.

  People in the Seventh Realm and higher were relying on their environment to recover their lost mana. It made sense; humans were born and designed to rely on the forces of gravity to live. Look at our digestion system, he thought. Our inner balance. If they went to higher or lower gravity worlds, after generations, wouldn’t they alter their bodies to get used to the new environment? The thing that would hold someone back in the higher realms wasn’t their lack of Mana Regeneration but their lack of mana pool! When they left the mana-dense areas, their Mana Regeneration dropped, and then they were a big balloon with a tiny pump!

  That is a weird mental image. Like a space hopper and a gnome cranking on a tiny pump. Rugrat snorted and put his key to the door’s lock. It opened with a click, and he walked inside. The room was like a prison cell. There was a chair, a washroom, a desk, and a bed.

  “Hello, cultivator, your rented time has started. On the wall, you will find a health sensor. Please take this off the wall and place it on your chest before you start cultivating. It will send updates to our health staff to make sure that you do not overtrain and lead to injuries upon your body and mana channels.”

  Rugrat winced, thinking of how he had crippled his own mana channels in the past. He spotted the piece of metal as the voice continued.

  “Once you have placed the sensor on your body and it is linked, you can hit the green buttons around the room. These will increase the mana density up to the predicted level of the Seventh Realm. Please refrain from taking training aides before you start your first session for the first hour. You should know your limits after that time.”

  Rugrat put the sensor on his chest and sat in the chair. There was a green button beside him. He pressed it, and all the buttons turned red as runic lines increased in brightness. He took a deep breath as the mana density started to increase rapidly. He used his Organic Scan to look through his body and see what was happening inside.

  His mana core had reached the peak of the Mist Stage. Next, he had to combine the mist and start to fill his core, creating a Liquid Mana Core.

  Rugrat’s face relaxed, becoming emotionless. He breathed, focusing his mind; he felt his fighting will rise from his bones. Around him, the room started to fill with a blue mist.

  Dense, unrefined, attribute-filled mana. Rugrat approved. He started to open his mana gates. It was like a dam opening.

  The mist around him started to shift, drawn to his fifteen mana gates. Rugrat felt his blood boiling, feeling endless power within his body. His mind was clearer than ever.

  Compress! Rugrat ordered his body. His mana veins flexed their strength as he circulated the mist mana.

  Again! Compress it again! I can handle liquid mana! Come on!

  His circulations increased in speed, and the mana density within his mana channels rose. He held back from forcing the mist into his core. It shone brighter as it was forced together.

  Rugrat started to feel himself reaching his limits.

  The mana in the room rushed through his mana gates. His mana veins were outlined in the mist, making him look like a primordial machine covered in runes.

  Rugrat gritted his teeth, but his lips raised in a grin as he opened his eyes. “Refine!” he yelled out, staring at the ceiling.

  It felt like a bomb went off in his body. Instead of being pushed deeper into his innermost core, the mana he had been compressing was refined through his mana veins. It flowed into his bones, through his muscles, his nerves, and his very cells, soaking every part of his being in the elements and mana of the Ten Realms.

  Rugrat felt as if his body had been struck by lightning, crushed by its own weight. He saw visions and illusions, but he persisted. The power ran through his veins, through his soul.

  Staff Sergeant Jimmy Rugrat Rodriguez, Second Reconnaissance Battalion, United States Marine Corps. Staff Sergeant Jimmy Rugrat Rodriguez, Second Reconnaissance Battalion, United States Marine Corps.

  Rugrat recited the mantra over and over again. Steam rose from his body as impurities were expelled from deep within.

  Mana escaped through his body, but most of it passed through and entered his mana veins. The color started to change as the man
a was purified repeatedly.

  Rugrat’s mind went blank as he kept up his mantra. A marine never gives up! Are you a marine or are you an army brat? Come on, Erik has done this dozens of times. Are you going to let him win? Come on!

  His veins were like worms, and he pushed onward. The pure mana passed through his body without issue. He directed it through his inner mana channels, compressing it more. His body fell into a rhythm as the element-dense mana tempered his body and the pure mana compressed further.

  He couldn’t hold it back anymore as the pressure within his body was reaching his peak.

  “Liquid Mana Core, here I come.” Rugrat grinned and gritted his teeth as a mist of pure mana was drawn into his mana core.

  A sound like an emptying sink rose from his stomach. More threads of mana mist reached Rugrat’s core. It was a whirlpool in the middle of his stomach. All his mana channels led to his core as the mist started to condense.

  Then, in a moment, they transformed from mist to liquid. The drops occurred in different places, but they shot into the middle of the core.

  Rugrat continued to cycle the mana within his body to purify and condense.

  He pulled out a Mana Concentration pill and threw it into his mouth. He crushed it with his teeth and drank it down with a Mana Regeneration potion.

  A ripple ran through his mana channels, originating from his mana core. He smiled as a golden glow surrounded him. His body was the tinder, and the mana was the spark as his body changed internally.

  The shifting mist in the room turned into a raging maelstrom as whirlpools appeared around Rugrat’s mana gates. He exercised his full domain, removing all his limitations as the mist became a deeper blue color.

  Through the chaos in the room, everything was orderly within Rugrat’s body. The mana that had been a raging, out-of-control flood was now a tame irrigation system, supplying Rugrat’s body with everything it needed to undergo a complete evolution.

  Rugrat’s body glowed—his gates, veins, and core outlined. One could see a grinning devil through the mist as he stretched his Mana Cultivation muscles.

  “Liquid Mana Core!”

  He laughed into the air as he drew in more mana. But the raging storm that had appeared around him was relaxing. He had a drained look on his face, even while his eyes glowed with power.

  He wouldn’t have been able to condense this much mana if his body weren’t tempered enough. It could take him months or years if he were using the ambient mana in the Earth realms. No wonder the people in the Sky realms never wanted to leave. If they had all that mana, they could easily increase their Mana Cultivation.

  There was a noise from the wall. Rugrat looked over.

  “Ah, crap! Just when it’s getting good, times up. Oh, how I love meetings!”

  Kanoa looked around, searching for Rugrat.

  “Where is he?” Miller scanned the area. They had brought some of the civilians and a quarter of the military members from their group for the meeting.

  “He should be here soon,” Kanoa said, once again glancing at the fully armed men and women on the wall. The heart of the Alvan army was behind the wall. All their supplies, ammunition, weapons, armor, medical supplies, even rations. The main manufacturing facilities were all here.

  “Sorry I’m late!” Rugrat yelled.

  Kanoa turned around. Rugrat looked drawn and tired, but he gave off the feeling that he was full of energy. A wave of power rushed over Kanoa.

  “Whoops, sorry! My domain is a little all over the place. Just made it into Liquid Mana Core stage. I consolidated, but with any title change and cultivation increase, it takes time to get used to. All right, come on then!”

  Rugrat led the group to the gate. They had to hand over their gear; none of them had any storage rings. Then they got bright-yellow badges that showed they were visitors.

  A few more sets of doors, and they were inside the facility.

  Big place, but the different buildings are operational. Kanoa observed the area. Guards patrolled here and there. Wagons came in and dropped off resources, while others headed out. There was a group of recruits going through their kit. The Ten Realms natives were all stunned by their new gear, but the fear of their instructors limited their curiosity.

  “In here, we make the core supplies for our armed forces. We also have a large development group who work on different gear and upgrades that can be used by the army. Right now, everything is done in-house, but I am hoping that in the future, innovators will make their own and try to sell them to the military. We’ve already got some promising projects from different people.” Rugrat reached a warehouse and walked inside. The space was broken up into different areas. There were mechanical-looking creatures in one area, clothes in another, boots in another; ammunition was in its own stored area.

  Then there was an area tucked away in the corner that Rugrat led them to.

  The board had a question mark on it.

  Rugrat sat on a table. “You are all from Earth, from across military branches and civilian jobs. I don’t even know what you all do, though I had asked for people who might know of military projects. I wanted to bring you here and show you what is going on. First, there are people who look into different innovations we can develop in every way we can. Also, while we’re aiming to increase our ability, there is only so much that the four people from Earth can remember.”

  Kanoa felt the others shifting behind him. They had nearly been enslaved for their knowledge by Queen Ikku. They were hesitant to work on anything.

  “Back on Earth, military might was more of a buzzword than a tactical factor. If someone was pushed into a corner and their enemies were coming for them in every direction, you can bet they’re going to use their strongest moves. Bye-bye, so sad. A lot of the governments on Earth cared more about their GDP over the readiness of their fighting forces, which meant they were operating with gear that is twenty, thirty, sometimes forty years old. In the Ten Realms, there are no nukes, but there is military might. How strong you are, or the group you are a part of, is your protection.”

  Rugrat pulled out the two mainstay rifles of the army. “This bolt action rifle is our main weapon. We are in the process of upgrading most of our main-line forces with newer semi and full auto rifles. We have distributed grenade launchers, standalone six-shot systems, and underbarrel versions. We have mortars, armor, and more. All this gear is good, but we have a problem. Advancement. As we reach higher into the realms, these weapons are less effective, which means that we have to be predictive, scaling, and adaptive.

  “We predict the conditions in the higher realms and their abilities. We scale our weapons to defeat enemies on that level. So, we might need to adapt our weapons, or our tactics; we might need all-new weapons—there are too many factors to know for sure. Now, that is hard, but, thankfully, we have a whole other world to draw inspiration from.”

  “What if we don’t want to work on weapons?” someone asked.

  “That’s fine. There are plenty of jobs out there. Think of this as me trying to sell you on the army. If nothing else, you’ll look at us favorably, and if you can give a hand, you won’t be afraid to let us know how we can do better. There are not just weapons in the army. Nutrition, training, cultivation, and tactics are all items we can work on. Heck, even beast taming, beast raising, Alchemy, healing—these crafts directly link to the army and our operations.”

  “So, we don’t have to be part of the military or your crafters?” another asked.

  “You are temporary citizens of Alva. If you take the final oaths, you pay your taxes and adhere to our laws; you are under our protection and a full citizen of Alva. You are free to leave at any time, no matter what. You can stay here for up to six months with that status. If you become a full Alvan and pay your way, you can be here forever. There are a number of people who are still temporary residents. Full citizens can come and go as they please, with no worry about being escorted out.”

  “You kick people out who don�
��t want to be your citizens?” someone asked angrily.

  “This is Alva. If you want to come here, you are welcome, but we have limited resources. If you want to stay, awesome, but we need your help to maintain everything. If you don’t, well, we don’t want freeloaders; we want people who are driven to push onward.”

  “Have you needed to kick out many people?”

  “Not personally, but there have been over two dozen people who were going to be removed. Over half of them decided to join Alva, but they had to get an intern citizenship, meaning they had to pay more taxes and there is zero tolerance with any misdemeanors. It’s crappy, but we want engaged, driven people to join us.”

  “That’s outrageous! You pick and choose your citizens?” another yelled.

  “If they want to join us, that is up to them.” Rugrat shrugged.

  “I heard that you are the lord of all this,” one of the civilians, a teacher, asked.

  “Yeah, Erik and I are the lords of Alva, Vuzgal, and their subsidiaries.”

  “Doesn’t that make you dictators?” the teacher asked.

  “Don’t think of Alva and everything here like a city or a nation or whatever. Think of it like a company. Erik and I are the founders, though there are all kinds of departments that see to the needs of the people, future expansion, and so on.”

  “So, everyone needs to work for you?” The teacher started to get more outraged.

  “Pretty much,” Rugrat said.

  “How can you do that? Putting everyone to work whether they want to or not, forcing them into servitude! How are they better than slaves?”

  “Have you been watching the Ten Realms? This is not Earth. The strongest rule here.”

  “Because you are the strongest, you can make the rules?”

  “No, because I own this place, I can make the rules.” Rugrat raised his hand, and a pillar of stone shot out of the ground. Everyone gasped. He lowered his hand, and the floor flattened.

  “I am a dungeon lord, and this is my and Erik’s dungeon. We control it completely. Same with our subsidiaries. We are a company the size of a small nation. Thankfully, our focus is on helping people and making sure that those under our command are treated in the best possible way.”