The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  ***

  “Seems like it must be a boring day,” Julilah said as Qin was jotting down notes. The two of them sat in the dueling arena. It was an oval building with raised seats around it. The stage was an ovaloid, split in the middle.

  “Hmm.” Qin responded as she read over the rules of the arena.

  “Have you found anything useful?” Julilah stopped looking at the people who were coming in from across the school.

  Formation duels weren’t common and in a place where book study was the primary way to increase one’s knowledge, seeing two people clash with formations was an interesting change of pace.

  “Well, there are a few kinds of duels. There are formation quality duels. We have a third party officiate and we make formations in a certain period of time—the highest quality or grade formation wins. There is formation disassembly: the two people look at each other’s formations, saying what they are, what their function is, their strengths and weaknesses. The person who gets the most things correct about their opponents formation wins. The third is fighting formations. The two formation masters use formations to attack each other. They can only use formations that they have made while in the arena. The last one is only used if the problem can’t be resolved in any other way.”

  “Do you know which one Ilyana will choose?” Julilah asked.

  “Nope!” Qin said, a smile on her face.

  “You know, you’re bullying her.”“Didn’t you run around making mischief and trying to peek into Tan Xue’s smithy all the time? Now you’re all adverse to danger?” “One gets more mature with time,” Julilah said with a sniff and upturned nose.

  Qin snorted and shook her head.

  People piled into the stadium, even from the higher classes. There was a great number of Novices from the classes that Qin and Julilah were in. Though there were also low and mid-Apprentice students who showed off their emblems proudly, looking down on the duel area as if adults watching children squabbling.

  “I heard that Ilyana is actually closer to forty years, but with her higher levels she looks like our age,” Julilah said.

  “She must be either a bad or a lazy study—we haven’t made it to twenty yet.” Qin frowned.

  “Remember our standards in Alva are skewed to other places. She might have a number of tricks up her sleeve, so be careful.”

  “Should be exciting, shouldn’t it?” Qin grinned.

  “I was wondering why you didn’t get the teachers to deal with her. You wanted to have a formation duel.”

  “They sound like fun,” Qin defended.

  Julilah smiled a bit. “Yeah, they do. But now I won’t be able to have one because of you. Do you think that I could get one of the higher ranked formation masters to fight me?” Julilah’s calm voice turned excited as she grabbed Qin’s hands.

  “What about being calm, collected and adult-like?”

  “Sod that! I want to have some fun as well. I’ve only been messing around with books all this time. I’m sooo bored and then I was trying to be all cold like I’ve heard of ice princesses in those books, the kind that people don’t get close to. They sound so cool! A beauty like me must protect her character!”

  “I knew you were hiding one of your own trashy books inside the formation books so that the librarians wouldn’t catch you!”

  Julilah shrugged, but didn’t admit nor deny it.

  Ilyana appeared at the other end of the dueling stadium. A few people started to clap. She nodded to them, a determined look on her face, but there was a gloating look in her eyes as she saw Julilah looking as though she were comforting Qin by holding her hands.

  ***

  Ilyana stepped up to the stage.

  “What will you do once she becomes your slave?” one asked.

  “Well, I have been in need of a new seat and there is the fact that I have always needed someone to run various errands across the cities and the realms. Thankfully, she should have some funds to carry out these jobs. Then I should sell her onto the slave traders. I heard the dark market has a number of people interested in young-looking women who have fallen from grace.”

  “For someone who dared to treat our Formation Guild like her own, she should be treated like the bottom feeder she is!” one said, a vicious look in her eyes as she looked over at Qin and Julilah.

  They had been in the Fourth Realm for a long time. There were no means that were seen as too far, only too little. One needed to remove the obstacles in their way through any means necessary.

  A judge appeared some time later, waving Qin and Ilyana forward. “Miss Qin has initiated the challenge, so Miss Mao, you will have to pick the type of duel,” he said.

  “Fighting formations,” she said in a grave voice.

  The judge was stunned for a moment before asking in a deep voice, “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Miss Qin, are you okay with this duel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” He activated protective formations around the arena so that the attacks wouldn’t spill out onto the people in the arena. “You will only be allowed to use formations that you create here to attack each other. Any use of a previously fully prepared formation will mean immediate disqualification and forfeit. The first person to be thrown off the dueling platform, admit defeat, or go unconscious will lose. If the fight ends in a tie, then I will judge the winner based on the formations used. Do you understand these rules?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes.” Qin’s fists opened and closed.

  Ilyana had a look of disdain on her face, but her face froze as she saw the excited smile on Qin’s face.

  She’s probably trying to throw me off. Look at how nervous she is, moving her hands. This contest seems simple from the start—just two people who need to create formations and fighting each other with them. But it is a contest about preparing. If one has formation plates with formations already traced out, then they only need to carve into the pre-traced lines. If they have the reactants ready, someone can save precious minutes, allowing them to attack first. The person who strikes first will be the winner in this match, that will be me!

  She stretched her hands. She had a number of formations traced and ready. With the resources of the Mao clan and her training, she was always prepared for confrontations.

  She had spent the last hour amassing traced formations and preparing reactants to give her that extra edge. She didn’t want to win; she wanted to dominate Qin. It would showcase her power, raising her standing, and it would firm her position in the academy.

  Killing the chickens to warn the monkeys.

  “Ready! Begin!” the judge yelled.

  Ilyana grabbed a formation plate from her storage ring and she pulled out a carving tool. Her hands started to blur as she carved out the formation, following the traced lines.

  A Mana blade appeared on Qin’s boot. She used her hand as a pivot, carving out a circle in the ground. She used her blade to cut out a rudimentary formation in the ground.

  Ilyana was working on her formation and walking around so it would be harder to target her. She saw the formation on the ground. It was as basic as possible: a simple Mana barrier, a tier-one formation, in the Novice level. Ilyana’s confidence soared as she focused on her formation.

  Qin threw out jewels that slotted into the formation, activating it and creating a Mana barrier.

  “A tier-one Mana barrier—it won’t be able to hold out for long with repeated attacks,” a member of the crowd said. “Using the ground and the jewels she has to create the formation, it was quickly done, but it is rough and simple. Ilyana comes from the Mao clan—they have formations that easily surpass other formations of the same grade.”

  “What is she doing now?” another asked as a formation plate was pulled out and then carved into; she slotted gems into it and tossed it down. The formation grew stronger.

  “A tier-two Mana barrier?” someone asked.

  “Tier two? But she made that second sub-formati
on afterward?”

  “It is formation layering.” An Apprentice-level formation master sat forward, his disinterest from before turning into intrigue.

  “Formation layering?”

  “Using a basic, easily made formation and then adding in secondary formations that increase its strength,” he said.

  “Isn’t that cheating?” someone asked.

  “Cheating?” The Apprentice could only shake his head with a wry smile. “Creating a formation as one whole is much easier. You can review everything about the formation before activating it. With the layering, you need to know the first formation perfectly. Then you must place down the following formations so that they perfectly resonate with the first, or else instead of reinforcing the formation, the formation will fail.”

  Qin tossed down another formation. The Mana barrier that had been hazy turned crystal-clear, standing proud as the jewels now shone.

  Ilyana injected power into her formation with a flourish and tossed the formation out. It hit the ground and the wind whistled as the formation’s runes turned green and then blue and white. A tornado of green appeared above the formation plate, sending out air blades that struck Qin’s Mana barrier.

  “A tier-two attack formation,” Qin said with a note of approval, while she worked on her own formation.

  Seeing Qin’s formation wasn’t failing, Ilyana frowned and started to carve another pre-traced formation.

  Qin tossed down another formation and the Mana barrier stabilized as Ilyana was halfway through the second formation.

  Ilyana finished her formation. The formation activated and spun as flames appeared from the runes, wrapping around the formation plate, until a firecloud tiger appeared.

  The tiger roared at the heavens and charged forward. Ilyana nodded in approval and started to carve another formation.

  Qin smiled as the tiger hit her Mana barrier. As a beast of magical power, it couldn’t cross her Mana barrier at all. She finished the formation in her hand, but it didn’t look complete.

  “Is that a third-tier formation?” an Apprentice asked her fellow peer.

  “I’m not sure. I can’t understand it. It looks broken to me,” he replied with a frown.

  “Maybe she was too rushed, being under attack,” the first said.

  Qin grabbed the formation and pulled out a shard from a Mortal Mana stone. Its power filled the formation. She raised it in her hand and pointed it at Ilyana.

  The wind tornado’s power weakened a bit as it continued to thrash against Qin’s barrier. The firecloud tiger fought harder, its power quickly being consumed, making it turn dimmer.

  “This is the end,” Qin said.

  Since the Metal floor, she had realized just how weak she was and reliant she had become on her special mana channels. So she’d looked at using formations to increase her Strength, though this was the first time she had tried it out.

  The formation she held in her hand wasn’t complete. It would have been a tier-four formation if it was completed. As she cast a spell, the wind turned chaotic her hair flying behind her as she looked like a war goddess riding a war chariot as the air in front of her hand shook as a spell formation appeared in sections, snapping together. Her spells were even shaped like formations now. Her spell was like a key for the formation as it trembled, the stage shaking.

  A larger spell formation appeared in front of Qin’s spell, the two spells rotated until they lined up perfectly. Qin cast her spell Mana was turned into crystals shooting out of the large formation, the space between the two mirrored formations was empty.

  The gem like shards of mana struck the tiger and the tornado.

  Explosions rocked the stage as Qin stood there, her face expressionless as the tornadoes and formations were blown away while Ilyana let out a yell and raised her hands to defend herself. The talismans and formations in her clothes and jewelry activated.

  The blasts hit her, weakened by destroying her formations.

  Ilyana was still tossed back from the stage and tumbled across the arena grounds. Dirt stained her clothes and her hair turned ragged. The blast caused the tiles of the arena to shake and the Mana barrier around the arena took the remainder of the impact.

  Qin lowered her hand as the blast dissipated. She nodded, as if everything was to her satisfaction. People looked at the silent arena as Qin started to clean up her formations, putting them away.

  With my mana channels I can compact the mana to a higher degree and purity, even forming attribute crystals of different mana. I should thank Ilyana for giving me a stage to test out part of my strength. Now I know how to use it better. If I combined the crystals say when making a formation then wouldn’t it change the attribute of the formation more, so that it would require less mana to activate?

  The judge coughed, remembering where he was. “For this match, Miss Qin wins!”

  People were still numb, not knowing whether to clap or to boo.

  ***

  “No—no,” Ilyana cried. Her world felt as if it were falling down around her ears as she heard the determination of the judge. “She has to have cheated! How?!”

  “There was no cheating.” The judge’s voice turned heavy, as she was putting his honor into question.

  “I did not mean it that way.” She had the presence of mind to bow to the judge as she clasped her hands to him. “She must have been hiding her age or her abilities!”

  “Well, shouldn’t you have looked that up before you had your flunky pour hot tea on me and the book I was reading?! I was working on a new design! Do you know how precious those books are?!” Qin screamed, starting to get angry again as she remembered the episode.

  “For hiding her age and ability, this should be a draw, no?” a voice called from the stands.

  People turned to the powerful voice.

  “Elder Mao is here!” someone whispered in the crowd.

  “Isn’t Ilyana his granddaughter?”

  “He is the strength of the Mao clan in the academy. The Mao clan will not allow this to stand.” Another sighed.

  “The power of the formation clans is substantial indeed,” another agreed.

  “How did I hide my Strength?” Qin demanded.

  “You have no pin and you are attending a beginner’s class. What other reason would you have to attend other than to humiliate the people of my Formation Guild?” he said calmly.

  The crowd started to nod and looked at Qin and Julilah with eyes of suspicion.

  Qin rolled her eyes. “We don’t have a basic knowledge of formations. We only had some ideas about it. I don’t see why I have to convince you. Also, we don’t have those badges like you do. We’re not part of the Formation Guild.”

  “But hiding your age—shouldn’t you be ashamed?” Elder Mao said. “The older generation fighting the younger generation—isn’t it bullying?”

  “Yes, yes it is. So, are you willing to have a duel?” Julilah asked, doing her best to act innocent. All eyes turned to her. She smiled as she looked at Elder Mao, like a wolf would look at a cornered prey.

  Elder Mao flicked his robe, his agitation showing on his face. “Very well!” he exclaimed. “If I win, you will both leave my Formation Guild!”

  “If I win, I want you both to apologize and Ilyana must, under oath, tell the truth of what happened,” Julilah said sweetly.

  The crowd’s opinion swayed.

  “The truth under oath—if she means that, then could Ilyana really be targeting them?” someone asked.

  “It looks like there is more to be seen here!”

  “Two formation duels and with Elder Mao a mid-Journeyman formation master! I would pay money and lose years off my life for this opportunity!”

  “Wait till I tell my family—they will go green with jealousy, this should be most fun!”

  The crowd’s excitement built up as Elder Mao nodded. With just a few words, she had been able to turn his words and the sentiment of the crowd around.

  He thought it would be a silly
fight. Qin had showed some ability, but it wasn’t earth-shattering. It was bullying for him to go up against Julilah but he had to defeat her completely. This was now a matter of honor for the Mao clan.

  He jumped from where he was and fell into the arena, settling on the ground.

  “Elder Mao.” The judge bowed to him.

  “I thank you for your time and your fair judgements,” Elder Mao said, discreetly acknowledging the judge’s previous call that Mao Ilyana had lost.

  The judge bowed deeper. “It is merely my duty as a member of the Formation Guild.”

  Elder Mao didn’t miss the hidden meaning. These were outsiders and they couldn’t have their faces dragged through the dirt with their actions. Elder Mao would need to redeem their Formation Guild.

  He stepped up to the stage; Qin talked to Julilah before high-fiving her and heading off the stage.

  Julilah stood there as the judge stepped forward as well.

  Qin pulled out a sound transmission talisman and used it on her sound transmission device.

  Elder Mao didn’t pay attention to it. There wasn’t anything that could shake the match.

  “Elder Mao has created the challenge, so Miss Julilah, what kind of duel do you wish to have?”

  “Formation building,” Julilah said without pausing.

  The audience calmed down and quieted.

  “Formation building? She wants to go up against Elder Mao in formation building?”

  “Well, being a Journeyman formation master, he has unlocked his Formation Book. His information is probably vast with his age. Being in the Fourth Realm, he has probably had to face life-and-death trials, meaning the fighting with formations will be difficult,” another thought aloud.

  “Seems she is not taking him lightly!”

  “Do you think she would win in any of the challenges? It just might not be as bad of a result as some of the others.” Another chuckled.

  “Truly, some people are just at the bottom of a well,” someone else said.

  ***

  Yui was running a briefing on the training groups for Erik when he got a call. “Sorry, it’s from Qin.”