The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  Egbert made a thoughtful noise, but didn’t say anything.

  Rugrat didn’t pay attention. His annoyance and boredom from earlier had relaxed; his hands and body moved in the same familiar motions from before. He practiced his swings, tried out a few different techniques he had been thinking of or heard of. He was only refining metal, after all, so even if he messed up his strike, it didn’t have a lasting impact.

  It was the perfect time for him to practice his hammering techniques.

  Time passed and his stomach seemed to make complaints and his body started to think of other things he needed to do.

  He stopped some time later and put the last refined ingot off to the side. He had dozens of ingots off to the side. Once he had started, everything else had faded away. “Just have to start sometimes and it gets better, or you’ll surprise yourself.”

  He stored the ingots away and headed out of the smithy. He took a look at the order board. People had requested items to be crafted; available smiths took on different jobs with variable skill requirements in the hope of gaining a skill point. The smithing teachers picked out items for the smiths to work on to also increase their skill or the smiths would take on extra jobs to earn some money. There were also smiths who weren’t in school anymore who would take on private jobs or jobs that were left unfilled.

  At all times of the night and day, the smithy was in operation, much like the rest of the academy. No matter the time, there was always at least a few people working, be it in the library or the different workshops.

  “I need to see Rose.” Rugrat let out a defeated sigh as he looked over to the main government office building that reached up towards the ceiling, hiding behind the remaining manor from the gnome’s times.

  It was still early in the day; with the time changes from Vuzgal and Alva, his day had been extended by another eight hours.

  It wasn’t long until he found himself in Rose’s office.

  “Hiya. I’ve come to make a deposit to the treasury,” Rugrat said.

  “In what amount?” Rose asked, sounding professional.

  “About thirty thousand Mortal Mana stones and another thirty Earth Mana stones.” Rugrat pulled out a square-looking storage device and put it on the table. It was unremarkable, only with a few formations on its surface.

  Rose coughed violently, turning red as it kept on. Finally she took some water, coughing some more and wiping her hair out of her face. “Should I ask where this came from?”

  “Well, we recovered thousands of Earth-grade Mana stones from Vuzgal, and thousands of Mortal-grade Mana stones. The former royal family might have used up their Mana stones to power the Mana barrier, but there were plenty of traders and nobles who didn’t get the chance to do so, or kept their wealth hidden. The fight with the Blood Demons took thousands of Earth-grade Mana stones to power the mana barrier—the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association tossed in a bunch of Mana stones for us as well.

  “The dungeon core in Vuzgal is still pouring power into the cornerstones and we’ve got the Mana gathering formations there now too, so it is even faster than before.

  “With time, we’ll recover all of the Mana stones that we used. In the meantime, we’ve got protection from some powerful people. So Erik and I agreed to take ten percent of what we had and put it into the treasury. The Mana stones will grow back with time, but if we give an injection of funds to the treasury, then we’ll be able to upgrade the academy faster and increase the financial power of our traders,” Rugrat confirmed, more trying to convince himself to give up the money than to explain it to Rose.

  “Well, it is enough money to buy a kingdom in the First Realm—maybe a city in the Second.” Her eyes moved to the box and then back to Rugrat.

  “It won’t bite,” Rugrat said. “Though I’m interested—where will it go do you think?”

  “The first thing will be an investment into the Sky Reaching Restaurants. They have turned into places where the cooks of Alva can test their skills and where they can recruit new, interesting talents. They are also information hubs as people from the various larger powers go to the Sky Reaching Restaurant for important meetings. They can also be locations for our traders to stay and get caught up on various messages.

  “The second investment will be into the Adventurer’s Guild. They are growing rapidly. With the increase in funds, they will be able to have others to deal with smaller issues and look to their core issues to become stronger.

  “Then there are the traders. Money is another kind of strength. They can use these funds to overpower the people who are going against them and increase the size of their businesses. They are constantly getting our loans and most companies have several loans with us. They use the money they borrow from us to buy more or better items, selling them for a greater profit and then simply paying us the interest on the loan as they’re earning much higher than before. Many will just increase the size of the loan instead of paying it all back in one go, acting as a large base for them to increase their revenue.”

  “What about the academy?”

  “Well, the academy is kind of difficult. It is not something that we thought we would be upgrading in the near future. We would like to, but for one of the workshops to be upgraded another tier. It will cost ten Earth-grade Mana stones per building.”

  “I know that Erik and I would be willing to take Mana stones from Vuzgal in order to pay for the upgrades to the workshops. If Jia Feng agrees, then we’ll upgrade the smithy to tier four.”

  ***

  Cui Chin looked at the latest information that had come in from Vuzgal.

  He took it and headed to Elder Lu’s office. It wasn’t long until he was allowed in.

  He presented the report and bowed. “The token force from the Alchemist Association isn’t just going because of Expert Zen Hei. They sent along a high-Journeyman-ranked alchemist as the messenger. They were escorted by Erik into the valley just a week ago. They seemed to be close to Erik as he saw them off at the totem. There has since been people coming back and forth from the Alchemist Association and Vuzgal.

  “Originally it looked like they would send a small group there as a sign of respect to Elder Zen Hei and his direct disciple. However it looks like that valley has a great draw for the Alchemist Association. A deal seems to have been agreed upon. The Alchemist Association started to pull out a number of powerful people from their association, including high-level gardeners from different gardener families who tend to Expert-level ingredients. They are building in the same area of Vuzgal as we are, but their building is much larger and the people working on it are some of their best craftsmen.”

  “Why have I not heard anything about this before?”

  “I thought that they were visiting with regards to the fact he is the direct disciple of an Expert-level alchemist and a member of the Alchemist Association. They wouldn’t be going this far if there wasn’t more to it. Erik has also sent word out through the different navigators he invited into the city. He paid their fees to come to the city, housed them in the first Wayside Inns and fed them in the Sky Reaching Restaurants, letting them wander the city and take it in.

  “The navigators are now spread across the Fourth Realm. Most of them want to head back soon, so they’ll guide people heading to Vuzgal to enjoy the city once again. He has also sent messages to the Crafter’s Association, to us, and to the other associations. Some from the Fighter’s Association are already appearing in Vuzgal. Those from the east Chaotic Lands are on the move, with Erik letting them stay in the city for a week without paying a fee. With the normally high fees of the city and removing them for different people, it is gaining their interest. After all, something that was greatly expensive becoming cheaper is much more interesting than something that was cheap becoming free,” Cui Chin said.

  “It looks like he and Hiao Xen have been busy,” Elder Lu observed.

  “There is one more thing. Hiao Xen has been looking for information on different dungeons and places
that have a high Earth content.”

  “High Earth content? He has reached Body Like Mortal Iron—is he trying to go for Body Like Earth Iron?”

  “The information points to it,” Cui Chin confirmed.

  “Do we know where his people are going? Or where his special teams disappeared off to?”

  “Not at this time.” Cui Chin kept his voice neutral, but he was angry with himself for losing them.

  “Increase the speed of transfer and the grade of the Blue Lotus in Vuzgal. We can’t be left behind by the Alchemist Association too badly.”

  “Yes, Elder Lu.” Cui Chin bowed, being dismissed.

  ***

  “I was able to find one.” Hiao Xen entered the room where Erik was working.

  There were various alchemical ingredients around; Erik’s face was purple with green spots. He shivered and managed to get out, “Urggh, feet, urrghh achk!”

  Hiao Xen rushed forward and smacked Erik on the back, forcing him to spit out the ingredients he was chewing on.

  Erik took out a poison recovery concoction and quickly quaffed it. Erik’s hands started to unclench and his body started to relax.

  “Ughh, I was nearly done figuring that one out.” Erik shivered as he looked at the glob of roots on the ground. “I’ll test it out more later on.”

  “You were testing it?” Hiao Xen asked, shaken up from the ordeal.

  “I couldn’t find anything on it in the books that I borrowed from the Alchemist Association here.” Erik waved at the different books around his study. “Though I guess they only just started to move their library over, really. Well, did you have something that you wanted from me?”

  “I—I—well, I was able to get information on a heavy Earth-attribute dungeon. It is a dungeon owned by the Stone Fist Sect. They are a group of several sects and families that focus on body tempering. They focus on dungeons that have to do with the various elements. I guess this is to go through the temperings they need to increase their Body Cultivation.

  “They get into a lot of fights and they focus on fighting others for these dungeons. And there is a lot of infighting in the sect, families within trying to get more power. They also have some special constitutions within their ranks,” Hiao Xen said.

  “What’s the condition of the Earth dungeon? Is it a dungeon I can pay to enter, a dungeon that only opens every so often?”

  “It is one of the core dungeons that they control. You can only be invited in,” Hiao Xen said. “If you were able to use some force politically, you could force their hand. They are a powerful sect, but they are very direct, making them easy to deal with but not the best traders. Using the Alchemist Association to get them to move might be possible.”

  “So again we need Strength to talk to them.” Erik pondered for a second. “It shouldn’t be long until we have the capital to request a visit to their dungeon. How is the plan going with the navigators?”

  “They have all headed out across the Fourth Realm. All of them seemed excited to return, eager to bring more people here. I didn’t think to use them as a way to influence people needing a navigator. It was a powerful move. What did you do to interest the Alchemist Association? I had some of them coming over today to talk about terms of renting out the valley?”

  “I showed them the valley. With its shape, it hasn’t allowed the ambient Mana out much, creating a natural formation. Water and Earth Mana have gathered in the area, turning it into a place that would be ideal for high-level ingredients.” Erik paused for a moment.

  “They rinsed me. I was able to get them to agree to give us better prices on finished products. They will sell us ingredients at market places. They will rent the valley to check the validity for five years. Then they have the first right to purchase. They will put in more guards, but it will be to close off the valley from the paths that will be going to the different dungeons. They will upgrade their headquarters here, mainly to prepare and ship more ingredients. I made the rent immediate, not thinking that they can harvest all of the plants that are in there already. I was able to get them to adhere to the five percent taxation on anything that they sell within Vuzgal.”

  Erik sighed as Hiao Xen patted his shoulder.

  “Their negotiators have been doing it for hundreds of years,” Hiao Xen said. “You did better than I thought, it might be because of your identity as one of the Expert level master’s disciple.”

  “Your pity isn’t making me feel better in anyway,” Erik complained.

  “Well how much will they pay us?”

  “Three Sky Mana stones per year,” Erik looked at Hiao Xen.

  “That’s good right?”

  “We’ve got people to act as guards for the dungeons and another powerful association supporting us,” Hiao Xen.

  “Crap,” Erik deflated.

  “Well my next piece of news isn’t that good either. The Sha people that you sent me to search out. It looks like they are looking for you as well. Information has started to spread about the Blood Demon army being defeated by a group of people using Sha weapons. The Sha were initially proud of the news, but now they’re finding out it’s not someone from their clans. They’re starting to look into it. It won’t be long until they find out about Vuzgal.”

  “But they haven’t yet?”

  “Not yet. But they are a powerful force—it will only be a matter of time.”

  “Do you have a location where the Sha clans live?”

  “Ra-Hie. It is one of the cities under Sha leadership. In the Seventh realm. Otherwise they control a large portion of the fourth realm, they haven’t expanded in generations, maintaining their position and growing their strength in the seventh realm. Also related to weapons and the kind that your two groups use. I have had people asking if they can purchase the blueprints or completed weapons. Such as the repeaters, grenades, explosives, mortars and rifles.”

  Erik let out a heavy breath.

  “Pause them I don’t know if we want to start telling people about all of our military secrets. Hint that we will be willing to trade with the associations thata are allied with us. We will not give them blueprints but repeater weapons aren’t out of the question.

  “They’ll be pleased to know, is there anything else you need from me?”

  “I don’t think so. Next time that someone wants to negotiate with me, can you go instead?”

  Hiao Xen smiled and stood.

  “That I can do. See you later,” Hiao Xen headed out of the room.

  “I hate having to expand my Alchemy Book,” Erik grumbled as he tossed a plant into his mouth. There was a grisly popping noise.

  Hiao Xen’s skin formed goosebumps from the popping noises and Erik’s wordless complaints of the ingredients’ taste.

  ***

  Qin rubbed her head as she let out a hiss.

  “What the hell is happening, why does my skull feel like it’s reversing!” Julilah was on the floor yelling.

  “Shut up! You’re so loud!” Qin shot back, dropping to her knees as she grunted in pain.

  ==========

  Skill: Formation Master

  ==========

  Level: 54 (Journeyman)

  ==========

  When working on formations Stamina loss decreases by 20%. Able to read 15% faster.

  ==========

  ==========

  Upon advancing into the Journeyman level of Hand-to-Hand, you have been rewarded with one randomly selected item related to this skill.

  ==========

  You have received the book: A basic guide to rune design line placement

  +100,000 EXP

  ==========

  She saw the notifications but they were half forgotten as she felt like a wealth of information was at her fingertips.

  “Journeyman skill book,” Qin whispered, Tan Xue and the other Journeymen talked about the mysterious book.

  The book was unlocked when someone was a Journeyman compiled all of the information in their mind into one book. Any info
rmation that they had learned about their craft or skill was held within these books. They weren’t physical creations, just something created within one’s mind.

  It was like a cheat sheet, compiling all of their information together. They could record concepts or ideas, anything that they had learned about materials related to the skill, as well as spells and techniques.

  When she started querying through information in her mind, she felt as if she had crossed a boundary, Alexi’s words linking the runes to language with connected to effects the runes would cause.

  When she thought of a potential action a formation could do, a stream of runes would appear in her mind. They would change and switch as she read and analyzed them, simplifying them down and becoming fewer letters.

  She was left shaking. There were thousands of runes already in her mind. Although she knew that they were a key part of the formation creation process, it was only when Alexi told her of their importance in the language of creation that she was able to connect them directly to different effects.

  There was still a lot she didn’t understand.

  I’ll need to read more books to build up a full rune-based lexicon.

  She dismissed the book, nodding as if understanding what Alexi was talking about as he continued to lecture. The person beside Qin let out a dismissive snort at her actions.

  Qin didn’t even look at them, leaning forward in her seat and focusing on Alexi’s lecture completely.