Chapter: Level Heads
Domonos was riding next to Niemm, mounted beast strolled through the forest, they were calm as scouts spread out in front of them, nothing was getting past them.
"How is the situation in Meokar?" Domonos asked.
"They're pulling everything out, most of the Institute is gone."
"Are they just going to let us take Meokar?"
"They put in some nasty surprises. The actual compound of the Institute is a maze of traps. Better to blow it apart than step in it. They plan to destroy the totem as well. It'll take a week or two to repair."
"What about the people?"
"They're scared, most have fled, there are a few that haven't been able to."
"Blaze passed the word to the guild members, they're not to attack one civilian in Meokar," Domonos said.
"Got it."
"Something on your mind Niemm?"
"I thought that they would hold onto Meokar more."
"Meokar is a small pawn for them. The head came out of seclusion and pulled all of the elders together. If he didn't then they would be fighting us tooth and nail for Meokar. Their focus is on the overall Institute."
"To survive then you have to be willing to cut off the limb to save the body," Niemm said.
"Exactly, this serves our purpose too."
Niemm shifted in his seat.
"How?"
"In the last loss in the Fourth Realm the Institute had few survivors. While it is surprising, it makes things distant. The people from Meokar? There are people from the Third Realm to the Fifth Realm. They all saw the Institute get defeated. Their stories will spread."
"It isn't enough to break them."
"No it isn't, but you have to apply Ten Realms sect logic to the whole situation. Strength is everything. Alliances can shift and change, inside sects and outside. The Sects in the Ten Realms control the land. They are always looking to expand and strengthen their people. One of the fastest ways is through war. They train their people, weed out those 'weaker' and get the spoils."
"Taking repeated losses it can undermine the faith of others."
"Correct."
"Well, this is why you’re a Colonel and I am a glorified Sergeant."
"You and all of your people cling to low ranks, but you have the training to command an entire battalion."
"We like it down here more. Small unit tactics, a few people tilting the balance."
There was a noise off to the east as a mounted force charged forward.
"Stay steady, report!" Domonos called out.
"Captain Fontes here. Looks like the sects are charging ahead."
"Tighten up our lines, be prepared for anything." Domonos said.
"What do you think it is?" Niemm asked.
"Sects being sects, the Grey Peak Sect is a big exception. The other sects now that there is less danger want to show off their power and get the best rewards. Attacking Meokar first they can prove their strength and get the best rewards. They operate on spoils of war to get the best warriors to participate."
"You've been studying the sects a lot."
"One has to know his enemy closely."
Domonos shifted in his saddle.
Slow and steady, we have nothing to prove.
***
Rugrat looked out at Vuzgal, his thoughts a haze.
"Something on your mind?" Erik was wearing light clothes as he sat down opposite Rugrat.
"I'm thinking about retiring."
"Well, I'm not sure about the state of our pension plans anymore, don't think you can redeem them here."
"No, I mean as the city lord, dungeon lord all that."
Erik sat there waiting for him to speak as he organized his thoughts.
"Sitting there at the arena, watching the fighting competition. I didn't care for the fights at all. The fake smiles, the mixing and talking to everyone. I wanted to be down in the Third Realm. I'm a damn grunt. I'm no lord and all this crap. We created the council and picked out the leaders to lead all of this. I'm saying we let them do their jobs and we do what we're best at."
"You've been thinking on this a while," Erik said.
Rugrat leaned forward in his chair. "We have a responsibility to the people who follow us. We used to be the only sources of information from Earth. Now we've recorded nearly everything we have down. We have Tanya, Matt, Kanoa and all of the people he brought with him. We led the people in crafting, highest level Journeyman crafters. Now there are hundreds of Expert crafters in Alva and we weren't even the first ones. Glosil has excelled at leading the military. We're figure heads right now." Rugrat slapped his leg.
"So, what are you saying? We should get away from this all?"
"No, nothing like that. I just mean, Erik, what we're best at is fighting. We've been doing it all of our lives. As Major Kimber said, 'every job needs the right tool and son, you sure as hell look like a tool to me!"
Erik chuckled and Rugrat grinned.
"Fuck alright! You've got me, though how are we going to be useful?"
"That ain't my job, that's Elan and Glosil's problem," Rugrat sat back in his chair with a happy smile.
"You're totally pushing it all off onto them."
"Yup!"
“Basically just turn into advanced scouts. Leave all the managing crap to the people that need it. We show up from time to time but fade into the background. Get to do what we want to do.”
"You know that they're going to put guards on us, right?"
"Probably. It’s like having the president as a sergeant in the army."
"This is nothing like it! You as a president? Hell man."
"I bet I could win it in my shorts."
"Your poster campaign would be the thing of nightmares."
"Or some ladies beautiful dreams!"
Erik shook his head, sighing.
"Alright, just like with Glosil we need to trust the people that are in place. If we are always over their shoulder then we will never be able to leave and they won’t be able to do anything without our approval. Shit, I’m looking forward to getting out there. Feels like we’re only scratching the surface of this all. What is the ten realms, why the hell did we get sent here. All of that. We’ve even got a quest for it!”
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Quest:
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***
It was two days after the fighting competition had come to a close.
Commander Glosil, Director Elan, Lieutenant Colonel Yui, and Kanoa were in Alva's command center.
"Colonel Domonos reports that the sects charged into Meokar, the Institute fled as soon as the sects appeared. The Adventurers that took part in the attack are returning to their branches. Blaze and Jasper are already coordinating with other groups that are attacking or making plans to attack Willful Institute locations.
“The manufacturing facilities of the military will operate at one hundred percent to create weapons, armor and equipment to support the Adventurer's Guild. We will support from the shadows while Domonos will assist in leading. Yui, Kanoa, I will require members from your close protection detail to assist the Adventurer’s Guild and continue to support their chain of command."
"Yes sir!" Kanoa and Yui replied as one.
"That leaves our three targets," Glosil looked at Elan.
"The Willful Institute spreads across the realms, there are three key locations they hold that few other sects would willingly attack. Two are located in the Fifth Realm and one is located in the Sixth Realm. The two in the Fifth Realm are Ashbourne and Saenora. Ashbourne is a training facility for warriors looking to pass the entrance examinations and enter the academies. Saenora is also a training facility, but for crafters. Ashbourne is located in a mountain range that is nearly impossible to cross by conventional means. Saenora is an island. With their natural advantages in the landscape and the power of the students. There aren't many people bold enough to attack them."
"You said that there was a third?" Kanoa asked.
"Henghou city, the seat of power of the Willful Institute. Well to be more accurate, the dungeon outpost they control in Henghou city. It is a cornerstone of their entire sect. The resources that they gather from that location are massive. Just in fees alone that they collect from adventurers using their outpost they can support themselves and the training facilities in the Fifth Realm. While it is a target for us, it is secondary. While things seem more civilized in the higher realms, they are much colder. As the Willful Institute's power declines then the powers that be in the Sixth Realm might be interested in taking the Willful Institute's outpost from them. There is also the opportunity for us to use it as a bargaining chip with other powers."
Glosil opened his mouth as the entire room shook. A massive wave of mana shot through the room like a wave.
"What the hell was that?" Yui asked.
"Full readiness! Split up!" Glosil barked.
They all ran out of the conference room. Elan was escorted away by his guards. Yui and Kanoa used the tunnels to head to different command centers.
"The work just finished on the water floor formation, mana started to go down instead of up!"
"What?"
"The power surge was too much, we're leaking mana!"
"Keep it contained! Focus all the mana inside Alva, I want every mana gathering formation operating at one hundred percent. Check the area, see how many people noticed it!"
Chapter: Slight Problem
Egbert put his book away as he checked the formation for the water floor.
“Alright, well that looks correct.”
He waved his hand. A mana blade appeared as he finished the last inscriptions off.
The different rings of the formation lit up, water mana drifted towards the formation.
In the distance, secondary formations lit up with power. Light appeared on the ceiling, illuminating the ground below, revealing the rolling seas and islands of the water floor.
Lines of mana power traced through the ice covered mountain Egbert was standing on, entering the outer rings of the massive master formation.
It was sucking in a truly massive amount of power, the dungeon core that rested above, purified it as it entered through the mana gathering formation and powered the formation, altering the floor and linking it with the other floors and with the main dungeon core.
The mountain rumbled, ice broke off in places, dropping into the cold sea below.
“Crap!” Egbert ran backwards and then started to fly away from the center of the formation.
A pillar of mana shot up, the blue-light from the water attribute mana coloring the entire floor as it pierced through the heavens, doorways opened ahead of it as it charged upward.
Egbert viewed the other floors, the water mana reached the Wood floor, blue and green mixed together, the water mana being utilized by the wood formation as plants opened their leaves, growing faster than before as the green and blue pillar disappeared, hitting the Fire floor. The dominating fire mana had to bow to the water and wood as the pillar passed through, reaching the Metal floor black, red, green and blue pierced upward, the Earth floor bloomed anew with the energies passing through. A kaleidoscope of colors filled the pillar, each time refined by the secondary dungeon cores at each level.
Then it hit the dungeon core on the living floor. The power was too much for the dungeon core to handle as mana was leaking out all over the place. Formations activated, draining the different elemental mana out, pushing it to the crafting workshops, utilizing the training dungeon cores to purify the mana.
The ceiling glowed as the mana stones there grew at a rate visible to the eye.
“Wait a second!” Egbert felt something was wrong, the formations on each floor turned and started to rotate, taking a new position.
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Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 1
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Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (0/10)
Repair the Metal Beast controlling formations (0/3)
Repair the containment formation
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (0/12)
Activate KnghTNG mining machines (0/4)
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Rewards:
Up to 200 ore per day
+100 Mana per day
+1,200,000 EXP
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“What the hell is happening?”
The power seemed to reverse and a beam of pure mana shot down through the different floors.
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Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 2
==========
Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation(1/1)
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (10/10)
Repair the Beast controlling formations (3/3)
Repair the containment formation(1/1)
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (12/12)
Repair main control Array (1/1)
Repair secondary control Arrays ( 20/20
==========
Rewards:
+1,200,000 EXP
==========
==========
Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 3
==========
Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation(1/1)
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (10/10)
Repair the Beast controlling formations (3/3)
Repair the containment formation(1/1)
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (12/12)
Repair main control Array (1/1)
Repair secondary control Arrays ( 20/20
==========
Rewards:
+1,200,000 EXP
==========
==========
Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 4
==========
Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation(1/1)
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (10/10)
Repair the Beast controlling formations (3/3)
Repair the containment formation(1/1)
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (12/12)
Repair main control Array (1/1)
Repair secondary control Arrays ( 20/20
==========
Rewards:
+1,200,000 EXP
==========
==========
Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 5
==========
Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation(1/1)
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (10/10)
Repair the Beast controlling formations (3/3)
Repair the containment formation(1/1)
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (12/12)
Repair main control Array (1/1)
Repair secondary control Arrays ( 20/20
==========
Rewards:
+1,200,000 EXP
==========
It descended like god’s hammer, passing through the center of the elemental pillars, it was much smaller but its mana density was much higher.
Egbert watched it descend through the Water floor’s main formation.
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Quest Complete: Restoring Beast Mountains Dungeon Part 6
==========
Congratulations! You have taken control of the Beast Mountains Dungeon. Its condition isn’t the best and it will require work to repair. I hope you brought a hammer! Or crafters.
==========
Requirements:
Repair the main Mana Gathering formation(1/1)
Repair the secondary Mana Gathering formations (10/10)
Repair the Beast controlling formations (3/3)
Repair the containment formation(1/1)
Repair containment formation sub-arrays (12/12)
Repair main control Array (1/1)
Repair secondary control Arrays ( 20/20
==========
Rewards:
+1,200,000 EXP
==========
==========
Quest Completed: Dungeon Master
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Your Masters have returned your dungeon to its former glory. Advancement quests are unlocked. Grow your dungeon’s power!
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Requirements:
Increase your dungeon core’s grade to Sky Grand
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Rewards
60,000,000 EXP
Dungeon Master Title V
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Nothing happened for a few seconds before the entire floor shook violently, ice cracked and the seas shook.
“What?” Egbert yelled.
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Quest: Upgrade the First Realm
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Well it looks like you went the hammer route! For the greatness of the ten realms you are forging ahead! With your contributions we will all become stronger!
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Requirements:
Ten Realms Dukedom.
Receive a Four Star Hero Emblem must be collected from the Tenth Imperium’s Quartermaster
==========
Rewards:
Ten Realms Dukedom.
Receive a Four Star Hero Emblem must be collected from the Tenth Imperium’s Quartermaster
Sixth Realm Page 104
