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

by Michael Chatfield

  “This will increase and decrease the velocity of the round. We are working on presets for close range, mid-range and long range. This here is a pressure valve.” He tapped a dial at the front of the rifle under the barrel.

  “You crank this to either side, and it will open and close the recoil valve. Meaning you get more or less air into the gas piston system; that will create more recoil, but your rate of fire will increase. All these items are not formation-linked, so we didn’t have to waste formations on them and instead increased the energy directed to shooting. Rate of fire varies as well. We will be modifying as we go to create presets.”

  “How does it operate?” Erik asked.

  “Similar to the firearms we have now, the round is fed into the chamber; a formation pin strikes the back. All the mana stone that is inside the cartridge surges through the gun. A repulsion formation sends it into the barrel, and more formations increase the speed of the round.”

  Rugrat touched a large round. It was similar to a regular round, but the bullet had a little spike on the top. He picked up a round from the weapon that was much smaller.

  “This is the round as it goes into the rifle. This is it in the barrel. The formations on the cover make it so that it doesn’t mess up the barrel. Once it leaves the barrel, it turns into this finned dart till it strikes the target. These darts have formations on them to increase their lethality.”

  “Production time?” Glosil asked.

  “Each weapon right now is assembled in several parts and then pulled together,” Taran said. “It will take a month before we can go into mass production, and then we can create ten rifles in a week.”

  “What about the ammunition?” Yui asked.

  “Ammunition is slower to make and more expensive, but we can create five a minute with one assembly line. We’re hoping to step up five such assembly lines,” Taran answered.

  “Also, this is just the regular service version. The sharpshooter version will have a longer barrel with more heat sinks, and it will have four rows, two up and two down. With the higher heat management capabilities, you can shoot rounds with Mortal mana stones powering them. You can shoot Earth and even Sky-grade rounds. The machine gun version will have that longer barrel and a modified box magazine storage system. We’re aiming to combine the storage devices with magazines, but it is the early stages. Bipods will be standard with the sharpshooter and machine gun versions.”

  The helpers brought over the iron plates. People let out noises of interest and shock as they saw the glaring holes in the plates that got smaller with each pass through.

  “This should bridge the gap that we saw in the Sixth Realm,” Rugrat said.

  “Those orcs would be a lot easier to deal with. Had to dump nearly half a magazine into them,” Storbon agreed.

  “The rail underneath will allow you to hook up any extras you want: foregrips, bipods, grenade launchers, and so on. For the rounds, although they will have a base formation, you can, of course, put your own spells on them to increase their lethality or base it on the situation that you are in.” Rugrat looked over the weapon and shrugged. “That’s about it. Any questions?”

  “I hate this shit.” Rugrat scowled at Erik. The two of them shared a room still. Rugrat sat back in his chair as Erik checked his rifle.

  They were both taking a rare break from their cultivating. They had been pushing their bodies so hard that when they had undergone medical examinations, the medics didn’t know whether they would be able to heal the hidden wounds if they continued. The two men, although determined, weren’t suicidal, and they didn’t want a repeat of what had happened to Rugrat. Now, if their bodies were to break, the power that would be unleashed would be no small thing.

  “What?” Erik checked the metal he was cleaning and then scrubbed it harder with his brush.

  “Sitting here and waiting while people are acting out in the Ten Realms. All the CPD teams of the Dragon Regiment are out there attacking the Willful Institute. There is just a month to go until the fighter’s competition in Vuzgal. We’re sitting back, having to be figureheads and shit, all rear echelon sitting on our damn hands,” Rugrat said.

  “This is our job.” Erik put the brush down and started to assemble the weapon.

  “I hate this job. Can I just be a soldier?”

  “You, just a soldier? Even when we were in, you were never just a soldier. A loud-ass, smart-ass marine maybe?”

  Rugrat threw a scrap of paper at Erik, but he felt better.

  Erik snapped the weapon together and checked the action. “We have to get through the fighter’s competition. Show up, scare the people who think that we’re dead. Once that is over and done with, then we can hide in the darkness and maybe work with some of the special teams if they need our help.”

  “Still, this sitting here and waiting shit sucks.”

  “How do you think the soldiers in the camps feel? All of them want to join in the fight, but it might only be in the last fights that they come out to show some of our strength and scare others. Really, it is kind of like whack-a-mole. Someone shows up, we go over, scare them, and then they leave us alone. Then someone stronger comes over and we do it all over again. With the strength of Vuzgal and the Adventurer’s Guild secured, things should be smoother, and we can focus on increasing everyone’s Strength and returning to the Sixth Realm.”

  “You don’t want to go to the Seventh Realm?”

  “Most of the people who go to the Seventh Realm don’t return. Hell, the only person I know who came down here from the Seventh Realm is that one from the Sha.”

  “Yeah, those people set me on edge. They have something like rudimentary gunpowder weapons. They usually kill off everyone who tries to imitate them, but instead of killing us, they sent us terms and want to meet us when we get stronger.” Lines appeared on Rugrat’s forehead.

  “The Sixth Realm has plenty of dungeons for us to get stronger in. There is plenty to learn there. Once we have power to reach into the Seventh Realm, then we should check it out. I feel there are a lot of secrets about the Seventh Realm and higher. We have vague descriptions of what is going on up there.”

  “First, we take out those Willful Institute dicks.”

  “First, the Institute dicks,” Erik agreed. “Wait a minute…did you…? The mana?” Erik stared at Rugrat.

  “I formed my Liquid Mana Core. I’m resting before I try to create my Solid Mana Core.” Rugrat’s voice was flat.

  “Nice work. That’s a big achievement!”

  “I guess. I wish I were putting it to more work than just sitting here.” Rugrat sighed.

  Erik grunted. He agreed and started to oil up his weapon.

  33

  A United Front

  Cai Bo’s expression was neutral as she marched through the halls of the Willful Institute’s headquarters.

  A sound-cancelling field wrapped her and Elder Kostic in its embrace.

  “Are the preparations in place?”

  “Yes, High Elder, all the cities you command are ready and waiting. They have started to mobilize their fighting forces in secret. Are you sure that a war is coming?”

  “All of the clans are under attack, and we’re summoned by the sect head.”

  She left him to make his own conclusions.

  In the chaos of war, change is inevitable.

  Low Elder Kostic walked quickly behind her, followed by other elders of her faction.

  She reached the doors to the conference room.

  There were six other high elders; each of them had brought their own people with them. Their eyes clashed with one another. They had fought one another in the shadows and within this very room again and again.

  None of them dared to speak as they glanced over to a middle-aged-looking man sitting at the head of the table. He waved his hand, commanding all the elders and their supporters.

  Cai Bo quickly took her seat. Head Foster must have figured out what is happening for him to come out of seclusion.

>   A woman stepped next to the head. “Four weeks ago, a city in the Fourth Realm was attacked and defeated.” The woman’s voice was light and uninterested, as if it had nothing to do with her.

  One of the high elders grit his teeth as people behind him fought to contain their anger. How useless are they to lose a city? Cai Bo sneered internally, showing nothing on her face.

  “Recently, resources gathered in the lower realms and presented to us here in the Fifth have decreased. The head wants to know what is happening.”

  Foster looked around the room. The weight of his gaze made Cai Bo shiver. A cold sweat ran down her back.

  The lady waved to one of the high elders.

  He stood up with a grim look. “We have been seeing rising food prices in the Second Realm, and many of our sects there have had issues with their stored food. They had to purchase more, and it reduced the amount of money they could spend on cultivation resources. Bandits have grown in number and have been bold enough to attack our caravans of food. We have some trade disagreements in the Third Realm, though we are looking for new suppliers.”

  Another stood. “There have been some minor fights with other sects in the Third Realm and the Fourth Realm. It is strange to have fights in the Third Realm.”

  “There were some trade issues with iron ore. The amount they could supply us decreased.”

  “A guild of adventurers is making some noise in the Third Realm. They humiliated our people, and then a group from the Grey Peak sect used the cover of the competition to steal resources from us. We are gathering people to strike back.”

  “We had a decrease in contributions with the contract issues with traders. There were bad crops, and some mines have dried up. We have not lost money, but prices are escalating, so resources will be thinner for some time. Once the prices return to normal, everything will be fine,” Cai Bo said.

  “What the fuck have you idiots been doing while I was in seclusion?” Foster’s words shook the high elders.

  “One by one, these are small incidents. To each of you who only see one part of the whole, maybe you don’t realize what is happening. Tell me this: How many of our locations haven’t had a fight in the last three months?”

  “Uh, just five haven’t.”

  “Two.”

  “Eight.”

  “Nine.”

  “Four.”

  “Sixteen.”

  “Two,” Cai Bo said.

  “Over eighty percent of our locations have fought in one way or another. Now think of how many are supplying us with resources. Think of how many are having trade difficulties. What do you see?”

  Silence fell as the high elders stared at one another. Instead of anger, they communicated with their eyes, and their faces turned pale.

  “Do you understand what is happening now? Staring at everything in parts, it looks like small regional issues. The rest of the Institute is fine. When you look at it as a whole, you see that we are under attack.”

  “Under attack?” a high elder asked.

  “Maybe it is a coincidence. Maybe it isn’t. There are people from various trading groups and sects hitting our weaknesses. It doesn’t matter. We need to treat it like an attack to regain our strength and assert our power, or else the Institute will be pulled apart in chunks!”

  The high elders’ expressions changed.

  Looks like you figured it out, finally.

  Some of them were truly phenomenal actors.

  “What are your orders, Head Foster?” Cai Bo asked.

  “Settle down the Institute. Use our stockpiles and trade among the branches to relieve the resource issues. Send groups from the higher realms to the lower realms. We will secure our positions in the Second Realm, then the Third Realm, and so on. If we do not have the resources of these lower realms, it will be harder for us to fight. Investigate who is attacking us. Call on our allies to assist us where they can. On the outside, nothing must appear different. We will retain our position in Henghou city. If the other sects learn of what is happening in the lower realms, they will call out their Experts and drown us in fighting requests. Our students will come away with injuries and be unable to cultivate properly!”

  “What about the fighter’s competition in Vuzgal in two months?” a high elder asked.

  “The fighter’s competition exists for forces to show their power. We need to show others they shouldn’t overlook the Willful Institute! Make sure that we place as high as possible in the rankings. Take down Expert students to increase our standing. No expense should be spared. High Elder Cai Bo, you will lead the group personally!”

  “Yes, Head Foster.” She stood and bowed, accepting the position.

  Powerful figures from across the Fourth Realm would attend this year’s competition, as well as people from the Fifth and Sixth Realm. This was the perfect opportunity to watch some fighting and represent the sect.

  “If I hear that you are trying to gain rewards instead of fighting for the best interests of the Institute, I will deal with you myself!” Head Foster stood.

  The high elders rushed to their feet, cupping their hands and bowing as the doors opened with a bang ahead of the head.

  Cai Bo looked at the people in the room. Some stared back at her; others tilted their heads.

  She would follow his lead for now, but this sect would be hers—one day.

  “The Willful Institute suffered a loss and are telling their people that we attacked them?” the Grey Peak sect’s Branch Leader Heidi Storgaard roared as the report was read out.

  “It appears that way. They say that the people who robbed their treasury were ours.”

  “What would we want from the useless Willful Institute?” Storgaard slammed her fist into her chair, cracking the stone.

  “What will we do now, Branch Head?” one of her captains asked.

  “Send word to the other branches and the higher-ups; send them these reports. Tell them we are preparing for an attack and await their instructions. If the Willful Institute dare to attack, we will call on our people to reinforce us.”

  “We’re just a Third Realm location. Do you think that they will help us?” another captain asked.

  “You spend too much time training and not enough time fighting!” she bellowed. “On the battlefield, numbers count. But you know what is more powerful than numbers? Their armors, their weapons, the Stamina recovering concoctions that will enable us to fight beyond the enemy’s endurance, and healing concoctions so we don’t lose too many troops and we can recover quickly to win the battle. Losing just one city in the Third Realm, the alchemist’s realm, will rapidly reduce our combat capabilities in the Fourth Realm!”

  The captain clasped his fist and bowed his head. “I was ignorant, Branch Head Storgaard!”

  “If a fight comes, you and your forces will be the vanguard to learn the truths of war! Think of this as a learning experience. If you do well, you could all head to the Fourth Realm. If they dare to come out of their city, do you think the Grey Peak sect will be scared? It is within our rights to attack them head-on if they raise arms against us.”

  “What about this Adventurer’s Guild?” asked the man who had brought the report before the leaders of the city.

  Storgaard held her chin, her deep-brown eyes deep in thought. “They disrupted Elder Mendes and his people to this extent; they could be useful. Send someone to contact them. If we can use their strength against Elder Mendes and his people, it saves us the effort. In fact, isn’t the Red River sect in a minor dispute with the Willful Institute? If we ally with them, wouldn’t that give them a reason to attack the Willful Institute?”

  The members in the room nodded after some minutes of thinking.

  “I am looking forward to the Institute testing out their abilities. It will be a way for us to test our own capabilities as well!” Storgaard laughed, but there was a malicious look in her eyes.

  “The Grey Peak sect wants to talk to us?” Jasper glanced up at the messenger in surprise. Blaze
was busy organizing everything for the competition in Vuzgal. They had to show their strength there to continue expanding. Everyone who was competing was training in the arena’s training rooms and the guild headquarters.

  “I didn’t think they would approach us.” He tapped his pencil on the reports in front of him, thinking. “Accept their invitation. I will head there personally. Send a message to command. Request some of the intelligence agents and military members to come with us.”

  A week after she had sent the message to various sects, mercenary groups, and the Adventurer’s Guild, Branch Hand Storgaard was busy checking her gear. She wore light armor, and her weapons were sharpened and cleaned. She was just missing her final layer of armor.

  “The Adventurer’s Guild representatives are here.”

  “Ah, I am interested to meet their guildmaster. He is bold to march into the Willful Institute and beat them in their own city!”

  “Uh—” The messenger’s face turned awkward. “Branch Head, they sent their vice guildmaster. From what I have learned, he is not much of a fighter. He cares for the administration of the guild. The guildmaster is training his people for a competition.”

  Storgaard frowned. He sent his subordinate? Was he looking down on her? She recalled hearing something about a competition in Vuzgal, but they were just a small guild in the Third Realm. There was no way they would qualify to enter. Still, as long as they agreed to bleed for her sect, it didn’t matter.

  She checked her attire gave off a war-ready vibe without being outwardly aggressive to her guests.

  “Let’s head down.” She walked across the rough stone room. Beast hides were laid down on the floors while beast heads lined the walls.

  Outside the windows, a lush jungle-covered mountain range sprawled into the distance. The city was built into the highest mountain range, protecting the valleys that were broken up into steps where people were growing and cultivating Alchemy ingredients.