The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Okay, so what are we working with here?” Erik asked.

  “All of the undead are minions of the dungeon. The entire city and some of the land beyond it, all of it is under the effect of the dungeon. The heavy mist around this place is like captured Mana. Usually the heavy attribute mana is cleaned by the dungeon cores, like a purification system. With this the dungeon core has a domain over the entire area, which draws in mana right. Now, it was part of a spell formation instead of just being allowed to do its own thing. So think of all the mana around here like water in a lake and the dungeon core is a dam. It’s an impassable dam that will never let the water break the banks or go anywhere, just stay there. A pocket of unmoving mana. If we break the spell then the dungeon core will go to work, drag all of that mana in and purify it. It’s a big dungeon core,” Rugrat looked at the ceiling. “Got to be like maybe three times the size of the dungeon core in Alva.”

  “Okay, so what is happening right now?”

  “I guess I’ve just kind of stopped everything. The core doesn’t have orders from me to do anything, so the undead are just dormant. If I use it as a dungeon core instead of part of a formation I think all of the undead would collapse. If we destroy the dungeon then we might get the plans to make undead and then we can use those plans with the bodies to get back the undead.”

  “Let’s hold off on that for the minute, we need to secure our position and make sure that our people are good. Then we can come up with a plan.” “Are we staying here?” Roska asked.

  Erik and Rugrat looked at one another.

  “There is a shit ton of loot here. If we can neutralize the threat of the undead, just the resources alone that we could get from here and ship down to Alva would be worth it,” Rugrat said.

  “We did see a totem here, maybe we can get that working,” Niemm said.

  Glosil came over and joined them now that his people were settled or would be soon.

  “How confident are you, if we’re to hold this position?” Erik asked.

  “If those undead start moving again, we’re fucked,” Glosil said point blank.

  Erik and Rugrat looked at one another.

  “We’ll take a look at the dungeon core and see if we can neutralize the undead threat. Be ready to move in the meantime,” Erik said.

  The others nodded.

  “You want to take some people with you?” Glosil asked.

  “We’ll be fine. If something happens, get our people out of here,” Erik said.

  Rugrat nodded, he didn’t want them to get stuck trying to fight for him and die with them. With that, their meeting came to a close.

  Erik and Rugrat checked their gear and their weapons before they passed the dead and wounded, passing through the blown open doorway into the spire.

  George padded over to them. Rugrat opened his mouth to argue and then thought better of it as he moved to catch up to Erik, George following behind.

  Erik looked up at the broken section and then down at the glowing formation.

  “You good?” Erik looked at Rugrat.

  Rugrat looked at him but didn’t say anything. Erik nodded and then started walking down the stairs, kicking off random armor and weapons through the broken railing, causing the pieces to slam into the undead below.

  “What are you thinking with the dungeon core?” Erik asked.

  “We see what we get for destroying the dungeon, destroy it if we can and then remake it. Otherwise, remain in command and figure out just what the hell is happening with this formation and mess around with it,” Rugrat said.

  “Let’s hope the first option works,” Erik said as they lapsed into silence

  Rugrat’s legs were stiff and a bit painful but he ignored them, taking it like some kind of punishment.

  “I’ll cover,” Erik said as they moved closer.

  “Got it,” Rugrat said.

  They moved over the undead, there were some that were in states of standing up and a few with their weapons at the ready. It was like they were walking through a park filled with statues.

  Erik and George looked outwards, watching Rugrat’s back.

  Rugrat used the dungeon interface and went through the options.

  ==========

  Destroy Dungeon: Corrupted Vuzgal

  ==========

  You will receive:

  1x Common Earth-Grade Dungeon Core

  Undead knight blueprint

  Undead mage blueprint

  Undead aerial beast blueprint

  Undead beast blueprint

  Undead skirmisher blueprint

  ==========

  Do you wish to destroy this Dungeon?

  YES/NO

  ==========

  “That kind of makes sense,” Rugrat muttered to himself.

  “Speak up,” Erik said, scanning the area.

  “The city must have been made before the dungeon core was added. The core only controlled the formation, so we’ll only get the blueprints for the undead,” Rugrat said.

  “Okay, so if we destroy the dungeon that should just destroy the spell formation. Then we can use it to create a new dungeon. We could then use the bones and skeletons here to fill in the blueprints,” Erik said.

  “That’s the idea,” Rugrat responded and looked at Erik.

  “Do it,” Erik commanded, raising his rifle so he would be ready to snap it at anything and shoot in a moment.

  Rugrat tapped on the destroy button.

  He stopped the flow of power to some of the undead. The undead inside the city walls collapsed into piles of bones as Rugrat took the dungeon core. Power was drawn in by the dungeon core in waves. It was much stronger than the one in Alva, creating a vortex of Mana as the released attribute Mana rushed to the dungeon core. It came in, feeling almost like sewage to Rugrat’s senses, before the dungeon core consumed it.

  Gold Ten Realms energy drifted from the undead that had collapsed, it was thick like a river as the whole city lit up. The Experience travelling through the walls and streets of Vuzgal as the Alvan Army members were slammed with Experience.

  The core started to shake in Rugrat’s hand, drawing in that highly impure and stagnant mana.

  It was being drawn in from across the former capital, the pure mana spreading around the dungeon core quickly, only being restrained by the mana gathering formation plate that he had set up earlier, which was helping contain it but also bringing in more mana from the surrounding area.

  “Crap!” Rugrat yelped as he quickly started selecting options on the dungeon core, establishing a dungeon once again with the spire as the focal point. Designating it to spreading over the former capital and the battlefields beyond.

  The dungeon core was drawing in a truly massive amount of mana as it floated in front of Rugrat as he raced through menus.

  The mana gathering formation couldn’t contain all of the mana. The pure mana started to leak out.The Mana rose up through the spire and spread out over the city. It kick started the cycle of mana in a very visible way.

  The clouds above started to clear and the ground around the spire started to show life; the sun looked down on them from above.

  The broken city was revealed to the heavens again but now there was spots of color in the broken fields and open areas as plants started to recover and peek out of the ground.

  The power being released was incredible. The dungeon core had been supporting the thousands of undead for centuries, turning this into an inhospitable land, devoid of life. Now, that power that had been held within the skeletons and lying stagnant over the capital and surrounding area was pouring out of them and being drawn into the dungeon core.

  I need a place to put this power. These kind of mana fluctuations are going to be picked up by someone else otherwise. I need a mana gathering formation and cornerstones, though I’ve only got the undead. I’ll start reviving as many of them as possible so that they consume the pure mana.

  “What’s going on?!” Erik yelled.

  “There was
so much impurities in the mana, it’s like primetime dining for the dungeon core. It’s sucking it all up and then the pure mana is shooting out of the spire like a beacon to any damn mana capable person or beast in miles. Blueprints, undead, there you are!” Rugrat shouted back as his fingers and eyes flickered through menus.

  The undead started to move again as power flowed back into them.

  “Glosil, this is Rugrat. The undead are under my control. I’ll have them move to the barracks,” Rugrat said, mentally kicking himself. He’d wanted to do something and he’d rushed ahead and shot himself in the foot.

  Using the blueprints and the power that was coming through the dungeon core, Rugrat was able to redirect the energy coming in to revive some of the strongest undead. Instead of being powered with Metal, Water and Earth attributed Mana, they were now powered with pure Mana, increasing their Strength. Their brittle and old bones regrew to look like polished ivory; instead of the crazed black and brown eyes, their eyes were clear and blue as Rugrat sent them out to wait in the open areas of the city. He had to work quickly to spend the Mana. To try to contain it, the sheer density of the Mana—if it was released into the realm, it would draw beasts from a large area around and alert other nations.

  “West, get a formation specialist, I need them to put together a mana gathering formation. We need to see if anyone has mana cornerstones. If not, look for them inside the city. We’re leaking pure Mana all over the place and it’s going to start drawing people’s attention. I’m using the pure Mana to improve the undead, trying to find as many ways to burn the power as possible. Take out the Mana gathering formations, all of them, and place them around the city. Charge up everything we have off the formations. Gather all of the impure Mana we can,” as he spoke, Rugrat raised more of the knights. Those in the spire were reassembled, emotionless as they were reborn. The undead moved to their new task of clearing up the city. Rugrat finally contained the power that had been leaking out and stopped himself from reclaiming more power back from the skeletons.

  “What just happened?” Erik asked.

  “Just released a bit too much Mana—wanted to contain it. We’re going to need Mana cornerstones and a Mana storing formation if we want to stay here and not alert people about us being here,” Rugrat explained. “And, well, I guess we killed the undead so we got the Experience for that. They were animated by the dungeon core but it was part of a ritual, not a dungeon core. So now they’re dungeon monsters, they were just regular monsters before.”

  Rugrat peeked at his notifications, taking in a cold breath.

  “Damn.”

  “We can go to the sixth Realm!”

  “Focus,” Erik said while Rugrat could hear people above yelling out. “Do you have a map on that thing?” Erik asked.

  “Yeah,” Rugrat replied as he moved to the side and Erik transferred the map from the dungeon onto his own map, filling in the previous blank areas.

  Rugrat tested a few things out.

  “It looks like I can see much further with the dungeon core being above the ground but I can only remodel the same amount of area that it would be able to affect if it was underground,” Rugrat explained.

  “Huh?” queried Erik.

  “Larger map can only alter things with the dungeon in a smaller area.” “Okay, you good down here? I’m going to have the special teams move out to look for Mana stones. Have the undead drop off their storage rings in front of the castle and we can start going through those to look for what we need to make the Mana storing formations.” “Okay,” Rugrat waved Erik off. “I’ll manage things here and see if I can learn more and divert more power here. I’ll start getting the undead to gather the dead together, see if I can make some more undead or get more storage rings.” “Do it,” Erik said as he was already walking sideways, having to raise his voice as he broke into a jog, taking off like a bullet for the main floor.

  ***

  “Special Teams One and Two on me. Glosil, there will be undead dropping off storage items in front of the castle. I need formation specialists that know how to make a Mana storing formation to go down into the spire and help Rugrat. Collect any Mana cornerstones from among the troops that you can,” Erik said, slowing from a run to a jog as he entered the main hall.

  The Special Teams that had been sitting to the side grabbed their weapons and followed Erik.

  “Cap?” Niemm asked as they ran through the castle. Erik checked his map as he looked for the places that would likely hold cornerstones.

  “We need cornerstones. The dungeon core is purifying a massive amount of mana which could create a storm of Mana that will most definitely alert people to us being here. Unless we can find a way to store it,” Erik explained.

  “Why would it just start purifying the mana if it hadn’t for this long?” Roska asked.

  “That’s what dungeon cores are supposed to do.” Erik slowed his pace and then altered his advance, pointing towards where they were supposed to go, Storbon and Yao Meng taking the lead.

  “They take in impure Mana, clean it all up and push it out. The gnomes of Alva Dungeon were geniuses. Instead of letting that pure Mana escape, they set up formations to use it for their own means. Sometimes, dungeon cores can’t consume all of the impure Mana, so they turn that excess impure Mana into creatures that are naturally more aligned with the various impurities. A dungeon located in an area with high Metal is going to have Metal attribute creatures. Water and Earth area will mean creatures from each type or creatures that are aligned with both. These monsters are created to hold those impurities. However, when used in spells then the Mana gains an attribute and impurities. Dungeons are a mana filtering and impure mana burning center; think of them like the evaporation stage of the water cycle but for mana. The creatures are like Mana stones for the impure energy. Killing them releases that energy to be purified and will allow more impure mana to be dragged in to spawn a new dungeon monster. When the creatures are killed, that Mana is released and the dungeon core consumes it, purifies it and it is returned to nature, where it is once again consumed by everything and anything. Like the cycle of water, there is a cycle of Mana.

  So, when the formation was interrupted, the power that had been stored up in the undead came rushing toward the dungeon core and it carried out what it was meant to do: purify Mana and return it to the Ten Realms,” Erik added.

  “So you put the pure mana into the creatures, turning them into pure Mana stones, so there wasn’t pure Mana shooting off,” Roska said, connecting the dots.

  Erik nodded as he added four different waypoints for potential locations. “Bingo. Niemm head to waypoint alpha, then bravo, Roska, head to charlie and onto delta. Give me two people. We’ll check through the rooms between you to look for anything useful and support if needed.”

  ***

  Several of the soldiers that had an understanding of formations were sent down to Rugrat as well as three smiths.

  “Welcome to the party,” Rugrat said. He had the undead groups clearing the floor, putting skeletons together from different bodies, piling up weapons, armor and storage rings in a pile, allowing Rugrat to animate them and put more Mana power to effective use.

  The formation specialists got to work, taking out a blueprint.

  They activated the blueprint and it turned to motes of light that spread around the dungeon core, overlaying the dead formation.They pulled out their carving tools and got to work at the different edges, tracing out the formation.

  “One second,” Rugrat called as he used the dungeon interface, simply consuming the floor, clearing it of the old formation. The pillar that had been holding the dungeon core disappeared, revealing a Capital Interface underneath the pillar that Rugrat couldn’t destroy with the dungeon core. He ignored it and followed the blueprint with the dungeon core controls, cutting out the ground perfectly.

  “Alright, now it just needs to be filled in,” Rugrat explained.

  Rugrat left the dungeon core as he and the other smit
hs pulled out mobile forges, firing them up and powering them with ambient mana. They melted metals and combined them with the right enhancers, passing them to the formation specialists to pour them into the formation’s grooves.

  They worked quickly, following the formation blueprint. It was much simpler and smaller than the Mana storing formation that was located in Alva, making it easier and faster for them to build as the first mana cornerstones were retrieved and passed back to them.

  Rugrat returned to the dungeon core from time to time, looking up at the air that was clearing above the capital. In his mana sight he could see the pure Mana drifting above like a smoke signal trying to draw attention. The Mana pulse was much smaller than before but the amount of mana being drawn in was still like a raging waterfall.

  Rugrat reached down and touched the Capital Interface as he was waiting for metal to heat.

  ==========

  City interface.

  ==========

  Lord: Jimmy Rodriguez

  Population: 104

  Grade: Imperial City

  Build

  ==========

  Rugrat clicked on Lord and added Erik as well before he dismissed it and continued working.

  ***

  Glosil squatted down next to Domonos, who was checking his map.

  “Problem?” Glosil asked.

  “The castle has three floors. I’m comfortable about holding just the room we’re in, but this place is massive,” Domonos said.