Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “Alva has come a long way, there are new changes everyday because of what the people of Alva have figured out.”

  Delilah nodded, a proud look on her face as she looked at the floor. She took it in for a moment and then pointed to the working compound again.

  “Also, all of that raw ore we saw on the Metal floor, it’s sent down here to those massive refineries, they save a lot in materials and mana stones refining the metals down here. Once it’s in ingot form, then it is sold to the smiths of Alva. There are also jewelry workshops where there are a number of precious gems that can be found on the Fire floor. People go searching for them, sell them to the jewelers who then sell them to the school, crafters or traders. There are some formation masters located on the floor that will create formations powered or enhanced by the gems.”

  “Makes sense, a lot of industry down here, well-suited for those working with flames,” Erik saw the larger medical building that was located near the entrance to the compound. He looked over to a small lava pond with formations laid over it, increasing the potency of fire mana. As one reached the lava pond, there were medics nearby as people were walking or crawling forwards, the fire mana entering their bodies. Some medics walked around them, checking on them, all of whom had completed their fire tempering and achieved Fire body in order to assist these fire tempering people.

  “How is the Wood floor?” Erik asked.

  “It’s a bit complicated,”

  They went through the teleportation array and they were surrounded by a tightly-packed forest. There were loggers who were pushing through the forest, but it was growing back quickly. Farmers had carved out a section of land and planted different fruit-bearing trees.

  “The Earth floor was filled with fire mana and it has taken some time to recover. The Wood floor was never tampered with. When the access tunnel to the higher floors was opened up, the Wood attribute mana only increased. The farmers love it though, can harvest in just a few weeks without needing growing spells.” Delilah led Erik down a road where there was a dungeon beast with scythe-like arms cutting down trees at the side of the road. Another beast was burning the stumps with acid and a third was leveling out the ground as they moved.

  They came to the end of the road, a compound rose from the ground that was not made from stone but from trees that had been woven together to make homes .

  “Makes me think about the Elven homes that I read about in books,” Erik said looking at the compound.

  “Elves?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Erik waved.

  “So, there are actually a number of people that are coming to live on the Wood floor for privacy and such, it is the same with the Earth floor. They’re just not well-suited for towns.”

  “Well they’re not far away,” Erik said.

  “We should talk about when we will increase the size of the floors,” Delilah said.

  “I guess that the dungeon core was bigger than when the gnomes controlled this place. What are you thinking?”

  “We need to increase the size of the main floor, it is the smallest. With the dungeon core, doubling its current size shouldn’t be a problem. Our population has exploded and we’re nearing ten thousand people. We’ll start to run into issues sooner rather than later.”

  “Once Egbert is done with using the dungeon core to repair the different floors and returns all of their functionality then you have permission to increase the size of all the floors,” Erik said.

  The two of them found a bench in the compound and sat down.

  “Any other issues?”

  “Vuzgal is getting ready for their competition, but you just came from there so you probably have a better idea of what is happening there than me. Lord Aditya took control over King’s Hill Outpost. He is furiously creating roads to link to the other outposts, his guards are training the different outpost guards, turning them into a neutral army while he builds up King’s Hill Outpost and looks to attract traders. The Trader's Guild has been alerted and a number of them spread over the first three realms are heading towards King’s Hill Outpost to check on the wares that are for sale there. It should show our support, and with a number of goods that are hard to find in the first two realms, the outpost will turn into one of the most visited cities in the First Realm; and it’s close to Alva.”

  “Connecting the outposts of Beast Mountain Range, giving rise to a new nation of traders in one of the most hostile locations of the Ten Realms, he’s become a lot bolder. What do you think of him?” Erik focused on Delilah

  She didn’t answer immediately.

  “When we started to know him, he acted like most other outpost lords. I think that was an act to make sure that people wouldn’t take advantage of him and his people. He is a good leader, he looks after his people even in bad times. He has realized that the people in Vermire are the center of his power. Even now he is expanding Vermire once again to accommodate more people. We have given him powerful tools and trained up his people. He is indebted to us and from the reports I get from Evernight, one of Elan’s agents that manages him, he is about as close to an Alvan one can get without an oath.”

  “I feel like you’re building towards something.”

  “He might have erred in the beginning, but he has listened to us and followed our orders to the letter without fail. I think that we should reward him for his loyalty and what he has done.”

  “How?”

  “We make him an Alvan.” Delilah said, searching Erik’s expression before continuing. “We teach him body cultivation, mana cultivation, open his mana gates, teach him crafting. He has done a lot for us. Give him a place on the council.

  “There are a number of people in Alva that are grateful for him scouting them out and sending them this way. Whole families might have starved if they hadn’t come inside our walls. We owe him at least this much.”

  “You keep surprising me,” Erik smiled. “Okay, once he has stabilized the Beast Mountain Range then I’ll personally take his oath.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You are right, he deserves it. Now, I know we were talking about a competition between the crafters. Is something happening there?”

  “Kind of. So with the fighting competition going on we didn’t think that it would look the best if we started a crafting competition right afterwards. We don’t want the two to compete as there are people that would be part of both competitions. So we’re looking to do the competition six months after the fighting competition. Word seems to have gotten out though,” Delilah said with a wry smile.

  “Any problems I should know about?”

  “Well, not really a problem, one could call it a blessing. The crafters are pushing themselves more than ever in their studies. We are looking at expanding the Kanesh Academy workshops again because we don’t have enough for everyone. It is part of the reason there are so many people on the Fire floor and the other dungeon floors. I think that announcing the competition has made them excited.”

  “Most of them work behind closed doors on their craft, so people within their craft can show off their abilities, but others can’t understand. With the competition they can show off their skills to the public or to one another and while they might succeed, it can drive them harder towards success while seeing others may inspire them to change their ways and methods.”

  “Also the rewards are pretty sweet,” Delilah added.

  “And the rewards are pretty sweet,” Erik grinned. “What about the tier four workshops and the crafter dungeon?”

  “The crafter dungeon is in use, heavy use,” Egbert’s voice came from above.

  “Matt passed along the plans through the blueprint office, Egbert took all but the Water floors of the secondary dungeon to create the crafter’s dungeon. Its facilities have taken a lot of pressure off of the academy. We have multiple Expert level rooms and, well, that kind of brings me to my point. The crafter dungeon shows signs of evolving and gaining higher level facilities. Right now the highest craft
ing room is low-Expert grade, it could evolve and create a mid-Expert grade crafting room. Our tier four workshops at the academy hosts a mid expert grade workshop. We can dump money into the workshops, or let the crafter dungeon evolve. We have some expert level crafters but it isn’t at the point where we’ve run out of space for them in our workshops or dungeon.” Egbert said.

  “Okay, let’s wait, if the dungeon does evolve we can get the plans and create our own high level workshops,” Erik said. “How many Expert crafters do we have that are from Alva?”

  “Seven at this time, Tan Xue, Julilah, Qin, myself, Zhou Heng from tailoring and his student Helen Roth, and Shi Wanshu from woodworking.”

  “How many do you think will make a breakthrough in the next few months?”

  Delilah pulled out a piece of paper.

  “In total there are twenty-one people that are on the cusp of making a breakthrough, though there are other people that might make a surprise advancement in their skill level. Expert isn’t just a solid wall to breakthrough. Some might have inspiration at mid-Journeyman level and then accidentally create their own technique that will allow them to breakthrough or create an item of the Expert grade with their own efforts.”

  Erik worked his jaw. I’m falling behind now. He let out a sigh and then smiled. “Sometimes there are just people who are more capable.”

  “What was that? You’re mumbling.”

  “Don’t mind me,” Erik said.

  “So, Matt is in Vuzgal, he is working on plans with others to make higher grade facilities though most of them are worked to the bone working with building Vuzgal.”

  “Keeps them out of trouble,” Erik smiled.

  Delilah rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t seem to keep you and Rugrat out of trouble.”

  Erik scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

  “So when are you leaving?”

  “Who said anything about leaving?” Erik asked.

  “Well you took time off from tempering,crafting and you’re reviewing everything that has happened. You’re also checking that everything is okay before you leave.”

  “You know me too well,” Erik muttered.

  Delilah smiled brightly.

  Erik sighed and pulled out a piece of paper.

  “Rugrat and I are fighters, we like being in the middle of the fight. If we aren’t in the middle of some kind of fight then we feel like we’re losing our edge, losing a part of us. We’re looking at going to the Sixth Realm. There are academies all over the place, but there are also dungeons. We want to go and clear dungeons, fight something with a challenge and just go to experience the realms. We’re not good with the building and managing things; punch that guy, kick that dude is much easier.” He passed the paper to Delilah.

  “Now I made a promise to someone and I’m not able to complete it currently, so I wanted to ask you for a favor as well.”

  Delilah looked over the piece of paper.

  “This is an Age Rejuvenation pill?”

  “Well hopefully, I came up with this formula, I’m not sure how strong it will be, though my skill isn’t high enough to make it. I’ve tried a few times and it ended in failure every time. I was wondering if you would be able to do it,” Erik looked at her, knowing full well that she could say no since she had a lot to do already.

  Instead, he saw her eyes shining with excitement.

  “I’ll assist you as needed,” Erik said, his words seemed to break her out of her thoughts.

  “Yes, yes! Umm, yeah that should be fine.”

  Delilah kept on studying the formula and closing her eyes, running through the methods and reviewing it.

  Erik settled back on the bench and smiled, he looked around at the Wood floor, the birds and other creatures making noise. People were walking inside the compound while farmers sat out in their swamp monsterhards, sharing lunch and laughing together, planning out their work for the afternoon.

  Delilah finished reviewing the formula, pulled out a notepad and made a few notes before she stood up suddenly.

  “Okay, let’s get started, do you have the Lidel leaves?”

  “Uh, yeah, you sure?”

  “Well, no time like the present and if you’ve already made your decision then you want to leave as soon as possible, no?”

  “How did you get to know me so well?”

  “I manage your dungeon and you taught me alchemy, I think I know you a bit too well for my sanity,” Delilah said.

  “I remember when you became my student, you were all bows and “yes, master” that, “yes, master” this,” Erik sighed ruefully.

  “Are you coming or not, teacher?” Delilah asked, already walking towards the compound entrance.

  “Hey!” Erik jogged over, missing the smile that appeared on Delilah’s face. Still his heart warmed, seeing the young woman had become a confident badass lady.

  ***

  They returned to the alchemist workshop located on the first floor.

  Erik watched from the side as Delilah worked. The Age Rejuvenation concoctions were some of the hardest to complete as they required a high level of skill. The Blue Lotus and Alchemist Association, even with their resources and their people, only produce enough to support their own associations and not enough to sell on the open market.

  If they had known how hard the concoctions were to make, the Blue Lotus wouldn’t have let Erik sell his previous batches, snapping them up for themselves instead.

  They had to have alchemists from a higher grade complete them which increased their price by a steep margin. When Erik had taught Delilah, he had started with the technically difficult concoctions and worked with her to increase the efficacy of her potions instead of the amount she could produce. It had set her up well. The flames in her hands moved with the slightest gesture, they felt alive, an extension of herself.

  Erik sat there, he had readied the ingredients and partially prepared the Lidel leaves, they were still the most time-consuming and demanded the alchemist’s complete concentration. Delilah was using her flames to refine the leaves down while Erik sat beside her, sending in ingredients at different times, balancing out the power of the Lidel leaves as more were prepared.

  Erik waited as Delilah finished the final stages of refining the Lidel leaves. A powerful life force could be felt within the cauldron, just smelling it, one felt revitalized. The beads of sweat on Delilah’s face and the way she set her teeth told a different story as she focused entirely on what was happening within the cauldron.

  Delilah and Erik knew one another’s methods and tells and they worked as two parts of a whole as Erik introduced more ingredients into the cauldron to contain and tame the power within as it belled outward with the pressure inside.

  It was all within Delilah’s control and expectations as she worked to fuse the ingredients together. The tame Lidel leaves had revealed their strength while the other ingredients were like wolves attacking a dragon, slowly overwhelming it and then becoming fused with it. Its strength was increased but it was also less violent.

  The ingredients fused together, there was a powerful suction force as all of the pill haze in the cauldron was drawn into the spinning pill in the middle of the cauldron, a tornado of flames appeared around the spinning pill.

  The pill had reached the newborn stage when it started to make a noise like a heartbeat within the cauldron. Delilah wasn’t satisfied and pushed on, her eyes filled with a competitive light.

  Erik felt proud, silently cheering her on from the side as he saw her pushing past her boundaries, not accepting good enough.

  She let out a gasp as her control faltered, but she recovered her brows pinching together as she maintained the pill, making sure that all of her hard work didn’t fall apart.

  She sat back as the flames died down with a sardonic smile on her face as she opened the cauldron and tossed it into a pill bottle.

  Letting out a satisfied sigh she passed it to Erik.

  “Peak Journeyman Concentrated pill,” Erik co
nfirmed after a few moments. “Impressive, that must’ve been as hard as the best low Expert grade pills. I wonder just how high your skill will be by the time I come back,” Erik laughed.

  “All the way to Master!” Delilah declared and then laughed at her own antics.

  They had been inside the alchemy workshop for several days, they had only left to sleep and eat, with their levels they didn’t require much.

  “Thank you,” Erik said.

  “What are you saying?” Delilah said, pushing her hair back behind her ear, blushing. “Isn’t this what a student should do for her teacher.”

  “You,” Erik felt his heart fill, he reached over and patted her head.

  Delilah smiled as he pulled his hand back.

  “You did well.” Erik said in a deep meaningful voice.

  Delilah’s blush increased as she looked away again.

  Chapter: Trade

  After Delilah finished the concoction, Erik took a short rest and then headed to the Fourth Realm. The light dimmed as he looked around. He was in a massive city, all of the buildings were white and blue, with lotus worked into their architecture. There were ponds and bridges everywhere sporting Blue Lotuses.

  It had been some time since he had last been in the Blue Lotus headquarters. He walked over to the guards that were protecting the totem, it looked more like a reception than a security gate.

  Niemm was scanning the area as the special team moved around Erik.

  The man frowned slightly as Erik walked up, his eyes looking over the special team before widening as Erik stepped up.

  Erik wanted to be able to move by himself, but he knew that the special teams had their orders and if he were in their shoes he would understand.

  “What is the purpose of your visit?”