Erik and Rugrat spent their time working on projects that they had put off. Erik was in the Alchemy department, using the Expert-level facilities as he worked to create a stronger Age Rejuvenation potion and looked over information on pills and concoctions that would assist one in increasing their Body and Mana Gathering Cultivation.
“There are many aids that can help, but really one needs an environment attuned to the different attribute mana.” Erik let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his strained eyes, the pages of the book giving him a headache.
“Really, the best situation would be to wait for the floors to be clear. Then, like how I did with the Earth tempering stage of Body Cultivation, I go to the floors, take supporting concoctions, and then temper my body with the different forces of the Ten Realms.”
He became quiet. “The one problem—well, not really a problem, but something to consider—is that now with firearms, increasing my Body Cultivation isn’t that high of a priority. The benefits are great, yes, but if I’m at range, then spells to increase the power of the rounds or to increase my accuracy would be more useful. I’d need a trainer in order to properly learn how to fight hand-to-hand.”
He rubbed his face. More than anything, he didn’t want to waste his efforts. If he increased the power of his body and then didn’t use it, it was useless. He could use magic for his healing spells anyway.
A part of Erik just wanted to fight hand-to-hand, so that even if he didn’t have a weapon he would be a fierce opponent.
***
Rugrat was in the military workshop district, a section of Alva Dungeon’s farmland that had been reclaimed to create the compound that made munitions, weapons, armor, and other supplies. It was one of the first things that Glosil had done—consolidating all of the different workshops together and increasing production. With the growth of the military, just with training they would need an increase in supplies. They would also need to build up their reserves of consumables that would be used in a conflict.
Rugrat was touring the facilities. He stopped as Taran guided him through.
“Something wrong?” Taran asked.
“That? What is that?” Rugrat saw someone putting a block of metal into a spinning machine and Rugrat’s stomach dropped.
“That’s a spinning tool. We realized if we used something similar to your centrifuge to spin the metal, then we could round it out easier into a barrel. We have another machine that spins and cuts the inside of the barrel, adding rifling,” Taran said.
“Dammit.” Rugrat groaned.
“What is it?”
“You did good—I messed up. We have machines like that on Earth, called a lathe, and then I guess that the other thing would be similar to a drill. Wow, that was dumb of me. I made it for him, just thinking about separating out blood and solutions, didn’t think of the smithing applications. What other things did I miss? Band saw? Router? Damn, maybe even a simple drill? Dammit! Shit! Dammit!” Rugrat walked over to a workbench and started listing down names and then doing drawings.
Taran looked at the others in the room before he backed away from Rugrat slowly and then walked away, whistling.
***
Jia Feng walked into the dungeon headquarters. Delilah was already there, working on some other paperwork.
“You’re in early,” Jia Feng said.
“Yeah, I had some things to catch up on. When I have spare time, I have been working with Erik on Alchemy. It all kind of piles up. You know, with everything happening across the realms, then in Alva and now in Vuzgal. Going to need a whole lot more administrators.” Delilah sighed and then turned back to her work.
Jia Feng smiled and moved to her chair as she pulled out her own reports from the different departments. She had organized her own notes, filled with her own questions and theirs. She looked at the changes that had happened to the academy since their last meeting. The changes since Erik and Rugrat had left.
The next to arrive was Elise and Blaze. Both of them looked tired as they walked in.
“So good to see you,” Jia Feng said. Delilah got up as well and greeted them.
“The time changes can be rough. Nice having the totem right in the dungeon now, though,” Elise said.
“Makes it easier to get a few home-cooked meals.” Blaze smiled at Jia Feng.
She let out a laugh. “What would the Adventurer’s Guild think if they knew their valiant leader was sneaking off in order to get pastries?”
“I think they’d try to fight me for one if they knew how good they were.” Blaze laughed.
“Well, seems lively in here,” Egbert said as he entered the room.
“Have you sorted those books out yet?” Delilah asked.
“Yes, I sorted out all of my personal collection! Alphabetized by character’s name and by author name!”
“I meant the ones from Vuzgal.” Delilah sighed.
“Good to see that some things never change.” Blaze moved to his seat.
“Do you know what kind of items we have from Vuzgal already?”
“So you just happened to forget what the inside of a machine shop looks like?”
“What? I got your centrifuge thingy done!”
“Taran is definitely making it to Master Smith before you!”
“It’s Expert next, not Master!”
“You know what I mean.”
“Morning,” Erik said as he and Rugrat appeared at the top of the stairs and entered the room.
The duo looked tired but they had that look in their eyes. It didn’t matter how tired they were; there was still work to be done and not enough time in the day to get it all done.
Jia Feng shook her head at them all and pulled out some food, setting it on the side. “If I know you all, then none of you have eaten anything yet and most of you barely slept!” She moved out of the way of the vultures—uh, council leaders.
They moved en masse for the cart, filling up on food and drink, eating as they got to the table.
Glosil was the last in. He looked around, moving to the cart and downing coffee, taking a second cup and then piling a plate with food before moving to the table.
“Having fun with training?” Blaze grinned.
“Ah, good, you’re here. I need someone to take over training the officers. Here is the information.” Glosil stuffed a sandwich in his face and dropped a report onto the table in front of Blaze.
“I’m not in the military now!”
“That’s nice.” Glosil smiled and went back to his seat.
“How am I supposed to train leaders?”
“You’re the most qualified. We’ve got some information on it, but you’ll have to build as you go.” Erik cleared his throat. “This meeting is to get to see how everything is going, what you need, what can you supply, then overview of changes. Then we’ll open up a connection to the Metal floor.
“First we’ll talk on Vuzgal, the changes and such there. Then Egbert, Jia, Glosil, Blaze, Elise, and Delilah.” Erik scanned the room as people continued to eat.
“Okay, so we got one city, various gems, miscellaneous items, weapons and armor, tools for different crafting professions, as well as raw materials. Anything monetary—mana stones, copper, silver, and gold—has been turned over to the treasury or will be soon, which should mean more loans available for people. The other items will need to be checked. We would like to enlist the help of the academy for this. Then we can pull out any items that are useful for the academy—tools, special weapons, and so on.
“The lower-grade weapons will be sold in auction to the traders of Alva. These trades will happen two months apart so that they can clear the first group of items out, sell them and have funds to buy more. Some will be sold by our stores and auction house that is being built in Vuzgal. Same goes for the gems. Some will be retained to be used by the formation department,” Erik said.
“We were able to save a number of spell scrolls that we can use in further operations carried out by the military. All materials that can be used by the military have been turned over to them. Still, we were able to find a number of tools and kits such as this.” Rugrat pulled out a set of formation inscription equipment, cooking equipment, and woodworking equipment.
Jia Feng’s eyes lit up, looking at the equipment.
“We were able to get some of this appraised. These kits will be retained by the academy, but overall, their effects increase one’s ability to create a complete item. They increase the speed that one can work as well. For now, these kits should be lent out to those who are performing the best within their different departments.
“There are also formations and clothing we were able to loot. Though our biggest wins are the manuals and books that Egbert is looking through. With these materials, the tools, and the books, Alva’s standard should be at least the mid Journeyman level. It is our hope that in the coming days we can grow our own Experts. It is time that we recruited more people. We have plenty of tasks and jobs. Vuzgal has only increased this need.”
“What are your plans for the city? Is it focused on crafting, on mercantile dungeons?” Delilah asked.
“All of the above?” Rugrat asked.
Delilah’s eye twitched before she talked through her teeth. “For all of our sanities, please pick one thing to focus on at a time.”
Jia Feng couldn’t help but smile at the boys’ awkward expressions.
“Okay, well, first, we need to build up the military, but then we’re going to be clearing the lower floors, so we need to work around that. We need to have a force to control Vuzgal. Which means that we restrict how much land we sell. We build up our defenses, which won’t take long. While that is happening, the dungeons will naturally develop on their own and the Alchemist Association will basically take over the running of that so people don’t mess up their gardens. What about the traders? Can we start taking a chunk of the market?” Erik asked.
Elise had a pained look on her face. It was a great opportunity, but just beyond reach.
“Not yet.” She coughed and took a drink from her coffee. “So we have a lot of traders, but most of them already have their trading routes. I have looked into some of the information on the Fourth Realm. Trading is not so kind as it is in the lower realms. Traders are likely to kill one another so that they can get an advantage, or steal the other’s goods. We would be opening our traders up to that. We don’t have people we can trust with protecting them. So most traders will need to move through the totems. That is a lot of cash to move from place to place and they will need massive loans in order to make a return. So, in the short-term it is not quite possible.
“That said, we can do things kind of behind the scenes: Open an auction house, sell items from the academy there. Open up stores that can sell off excess goods at cheap prices and purchase raw materials. Open markets and trading areas—imposing a light tax will be good for conducting business. These places will need to be regulated. Our system here in Alva is simple but effective and we can use it as a sample and scale it up to what we need in the Fourth Realm.
“I have looked at the terrain. To the west, it is still a battlefield, so there is not much trade to be had there. The east and the Chaotic lands should have plenty of people looking to trade. If we can clear the road to the north, we can possibly get people through there if we keep our tolls at the totem low. We don’t want to reduce our prices too much or when we increase them, people will be displeased. If we can bring the people and the traders, then the associations are going to increase the quality of the products they sell. As long as there is demand, they’ll try to take advantage.”
“So regulate the market, build stores, and build an auction house. Will that piss off the Blue Lotus, though?” Erik asked.
“It shouldn’t. In fact, they might like it. There are a lot of useless goods that people bring to them. With another auction house, the Blue Lotus will get to show off how they are a step above. Might be an idea to talk to them and make sure you don’t step on toes there.” Elise shrugged.
“How long do you think that it will be before we have Alva-based traders in the city?” Rugrat asked.
“Months.” Elise shook her head. “It might be easier to make ties with merchants in the Fourth Realm. The amount of wealth that these traders have access to is high. Also, our traders have established their own trade routes—to suddenly leave for the Fourth Realm? They’ll want to, don’t get me wrong, but they’ll want to finish what they’ve already built. Be easier to bring in merchant administrators and run it from above, and the Alva traders can enter the marketplace when they’re ready instead of rushing in and failing.”
“Okay.” Erik and Rugrat nodded.
I never thought that deep into traders, just thought of them as selling our goods, but they have to build up a network of people who they work with. It takes a lot of time and work in order for them to succeed. Jia Feng thought to herself.
“Okay, so we’ll need some help setting that up. We can get Hiao Xen, who is someone from the Blue Lotus we met in the Second Realm, to set up most of it, but best if we have some of our people review it and make sure we don’t miss anything. Then, I guess our plans are to move into crafting more,” Rugrat said.
“Well, more being that it would be the main objective we have,” Erik added.
Jia Feng raised her hand.
“Jia Feng?” Rugrat stated.
“I have heard that you plan to make Expert-grade facilities in Vuzgal? Will students from the academy have access to these?”
“Well, actually there’s a lot involved,” Erik said. Rugrat indicated for him to go on. “Okay, so we know one of our biggest weaknesses is not having that many Expert-level crafters, which means we have a lot of crafters at the high Journeyman level but they have an issue with becoming Expert-level crafters as they don’t have guidance. Tan Xue has become an Expert but she has trouble as well.”
“Yes.” Jia Feng frowned. When Tan Xue explained it to her, it made sense but it was also complicated. “She says that being an Expert is like finding the beginning of one’s path?” Jia Feng found all focus was on her as she fell into her teacher mode.
“So in the Journeyman level, people gain access to their skill book. This allows them to assimilate and remember information quickly. Now, that acts as a basis for people to expand their knowledge. When advancing into Expert, it looks like people don’t just use that information that they gather. They figure out a truth from it…a theory. This theory is backed by the information that they have gathered, and by pursuing this theory and applying it to their crafting, one is able to create higher level items.
“Though there are right and wrong theories. Our people have been compiling different theories, proving and disproving them, testing them out. But there has to be others who have tried out these theories or have a higher level of understanding of the craft who could come along and tell us which theories are wrong and why. They can tell us what theories do work and we can build upon and expand from those. Instead of just throwing out theories into the dark and seeing if they work or not, we have a larger foundation to build upon.”
“Okay, so if we were able to learn of Expert-level theories, then we could advance the strength of crafters?” Rugrat said.
“Yes, and no.” Jia Feng had a complicated expression. “While we can figure out which theories are right or not through testing, knowing which theories are correct and applying that knowledge are two different things. I can tell you the recipe for a cake, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll make it the same way as someone else with the exact same recipe, or that it will be the same quality. There is a difference of applying the recipe as well as knowledge, tools, ingredients. This is part of why knowledge propagates slowly through the Ten Realms and that most of the information is passed from teacher to student. When the teacher dies and doesn’t have a student, then that information is wiped out.”
“Our aim with Vuzgal for crafting has several points: To use the dungeon to attract Expert-level crafters. To build up the academy there to draw in students as well as teachers and support the academy here. Draw in crafters who want to build items. With the Crafting trial attached to the main Vuzgal Dungeon, we can observe their actions, create recordings, understand what the participating crafters are doing and learn from it. The academy will have Expert-level training facilities, high-level ingredients, tools, and resources. Then we will have external crafting workshops that we own so that crafters, even if they are unable to go to the Crafting trial dungeon, can still work in high-level facilities for a fee. We get money, sell them materials, and hopefully, they will sell their products within Vuzgal. Even if they don’t, if we can make Vuzgal a holy land for crafters, we’ll reap the benefits many times over,” Erik said.
“Another academy?” Jia Feng looked at Erik and Rugrat.
“It would be like an outer feeder academy. We screen people through it, pull them to our side and to Kanesh Academy, or let them go. We send people up there to break through to Expert and they spread that information in Kanesh,” Rugrat said.
“Okay, but for students, for staff, what are the requirements? There are a lot of people who are going to want to go. They’ve built up savings, resources, and skills. Down here, they’re just another student, but up there, they have position, power, can show off to others. If a lot of them leave, well, Kanesh might become the weaker academy of the two,” Jia Feng warned.
“For teachers and the internal running of the academy, we will need your assistance. As for students, they will have to rely on their own means if they want to reach the Fourth Realm. I see Kanesh as our main academy. We will always improve the conditions here first before anywhere else. The mana density is nearly two times stronger than that in Vuzgal, the prices are cheaper here, there are more books and less competition for the higher level workshops. The academies will need to adapt to the changing environment,” Erik said.
Jia fell silent for a few moments before nodding. “If they truly want to go to the Fourth Realm, having them pay their own way will make them more motivated. We cannot take on everyone’s fees.”
Rugrat leaned forward. “With the teachers, we will be recruiting them to join the Vuzgal Academy, but we will need to evaluate them. Those who pass our tests, we should look at inviting them down to Kanesh Academy and making them Alva residents. All information from Vuzgal will be relayed and held in the library. Still, we’re going to need some books, tools, and items for the academy.”
“We’ll need items to bring people to the Vuzgal Academy,” Jia Feng said, showing she understood. “We can get the scribes to copy a number of books and send them over to Vuzgal to entice people to join. With the tools and resources, we will need to find out what they need, compile everything that we have. I’ll have the department heads coordinate who they want to send: resources, tools, and other items. It will take some time to organize. While I think that the students should pay, will there be some aid for the staff to move?”
“Do we have ways to reduce the costs on the teachers and staff?” Erik asked Delilah.
“We can purchase monster cores from the traders at a set rate. Elise should be able to take care of that.” Delilah looked at Elise, who tilted her head in acknowledgement.
“Instead of needing to pay immediately, we take the money from their wages until they pay it off, with no extra interest—would that be enough?”
“I think so.” Jia Feng looked to Delilah, who turned to Erik and Rugrat.
“Okay, so that is pretty much the summary of Vuzgal, right?” Erik looked at Rugrat.
“Sounds right to me.”
“All right. Egbert, anything to report?”
“The library has had to start using storage devices for all of the books. We need to expand the facilities soon. We are going through the books and items from Vuzgal but it will take some time to do so. I have worked with Delilah and the blueprint office to look at the development of the dungeon. We can actually increase the size of the floor now that we have the higher grade dungeon core. I have a few suggestions for this. If we can cut the rock into bricks with the dungeon core, we can use them later and it takes less time as we’re removing less material. It will allow us to expand the amount of area for the Alchemy garden and farmland. Though I am being asked by most people about the lower floors. Now that we have cleared the Metal floor, people from every department are interested in heading down there,” Egbert said.
“Glosil, what are your thoughts on allowing people on the Metal floor?” Erik asked.
“We have control over the beasts now—at least, it appears that way. I still would like it if Egbert is always watching over them and we have some of our military members on the floor as others are working there. At least for a few months until we’re sure we control everything.”
“Once we confirm all of the beasts are under our control, would that make you feel better?” Delilah asked.
“Yes, but a part of it is we just don’t know those beasts.” Glosil shrugged.
“It’s your job to be paranoid. We’ll have a rifle squad at least on the floor where others are. Have the military coordinate visits. In a month, Egbert and Glosil, I want you to meet together, assess the threat of the floor,” Erik said.
“I ask that the people on the floor are no more than two per soldier I send down there,” Glosil said.
“That’s going to slow down anything that they do,” Jia Feng rebutted.
“Slow and steady—better to be safe than dead,” Rugrat said.
Jia Feng sighed and made a note.
“Anything else?” Erik asked Egbert.
“The dungeon in the Third Realm has reached peak efficiency. The only way they can grow more now is if they get new plants. The Sky Reaching Restaurant has gained fame in the Third Realm and Elise is running negotiations to expand into the other headquarter cities. We have finished filling the mana storing formation above us with Mortal mana cornerstones. With time, we will start to replace these with Earth-grade mana cornerstones. Removing the Mortal mana cornerstones, we can send them to Vuzgal to be used there. Though we might start running out of places to use them,” Egbert said.
“Nice problem to have.” Rugrat laughed.
“Well, we don’t want to waste them. I don’t think selling them would be the best idea. We just need to find a way to use them and not waste them,” Erik said.
“Well, if anything, we can have people go back to those Crafting trial dungeons, plant a mana storing formation underneath, and then just mine out the mana stones that are created because of it,” Blaze said.
“Mana stone mines—sounds pretty cool,” Rugrat said.
“We’re still far from that. We need tens or hundreds of them in Vuzgal still,” Egbert warned. “That’s all I’ve got!” He sat back and pulled out his newest novel. Bending forward, he was half in the book as he read.
The others in the room smirked, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads.
Erik didn’t even bat an eye and he looked to Jia Feng.
“We’ve increased our student population. Right now, the issue is we have a lot of people in continuing studies. Though I think this will thin out some as people head to the Fourth Realm. The student grant system has gone well. Everyone below the age of sixteen has got a full education and those from sixteen to eighteen get two years of schooling for free, with the remaining years needing to be paid for by them. The Sky Reaching Restaurant and the healing house in Vermire have been great locations for people to apply their skills in real world situations. Though we have run into a small issue that Vuzgal could assist with.
“We have the largest number of high Journeyman healers and cooks. They are improving all the time but they need people to take that next step. If we can get Expert teachers, this would help. The main issue is not advancement—it’s money. They earn good amounts for the First and the Third Realm, but if they were healing people who were in the higher realms, or cooking for higher level people, then they could make more money. With the Sky Reaching Restaurant in Vuzgal, we can adjust to allow them to earn more. Can we do the same with healing?”
Erik frowned and Rugrat pressed his lips together.
“I really don’t want to charge people more for healthcare. For food, that is different; it’s a luxury.” Erik cleared his throat, clearly having some difficulty.
“Why don’t we treat them according to their rank, kind of like the military?” Rugrat said.
Erik gestured for Rugrat to explain.
“Well, like a private, a corporal, and a sergeant have different pay grades. Can we have the same for Apprentice, Journeyman, then like the low, mid, and high level? Keeps it competitive but fair. Money is one thing but some people just like proving their skill and ability, being recognized for it. They show ability; they gain rewards and recognition. Nothing monetary, but can get more time with a teacher, access to greater tools or time in a high grade workshop,” Rugrat said.
Erik looked to Jia Feng.
She thought on the people in the academy.
“How would we decide the pay across the different crafts?”
“The pay would remain the same, one pay for having a Journeyman-level skill and being employed for it by Alva.”
“If they work two jobs with different crafting skills?” Jia Feng asked.
“I might be able to help you with that,” Elise said.
Jia Feng winced internally. It was her job to try to remove problems for Erik and Rugrat, not add more work.
“Thanks.” Jia Feng cleared her throat. “Also, we have found that people who trained in Kanesh Academy are looking for information on Vuzgal. I’m expecting that a number of our alumni will head to Vuzgal or return now that there are more opportunities of upward progression in all crafting areas. That’s all I’ve really got.”
“All right, Blaze, you’re up.” Rugrat drummed his fingers on the desk.
“Well, apparently I am being used to help the military in some way?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yup.” Erik smiled slyly.
Blaze had a nonplussed look on his face as the corners of his mouth were raised in amusement.
“Okay, well, the Adventurer’s Guild has continued to expand. We have been testing and watching them throughout. The first batch of Alva recruits are ready to be sent over, which should help increase numbers in Alva. Most of them are people who are from the military, crave to be in the military, or those who are interested in a craft but make their money fighting. We selected these people to bolster the strength of the army with veterans while giving people a way to work on their crafting skills. Even if they continue on with the Adventurer’s Guild, they will be stronger and be able to take on higher level positions.
“We have been able to create deals with people in the Third Realm to protect trading caravans that cross between realms. They’re high-paying jobs but send our people across the realms now. We’re looking to expand more, picking out key cities that are along trading routes or in high-traffic areas. We have not expanded into the Fourth Realm. Protecting goods and traders there—most of the traders are allied or part of one sect or another. Through some research, that will need to be validated. Most guard forces have people who are at least level forty-five, up to level sixty. That is a big gap.
“I have put out contracts to farm more monster cores and have running buy orders with the Trader’s Guild. We have set up contracts with traders and the academy for consumables and items, generating a nice little income. As I was told, I have been using everything that the association earns to improve our locations and find new ones. We have had some friction, a few fights here and there—bidding wars on different contracts. I don’t think that much changes with Vuzgal, though it sounds like I should increase our recruitment speed and testing people.”
“Actually, one thing that might really help you is Elan,” Rugrat said.
“Yeah, good point,” Erik agreed.
“You might have heard of Elan Silaz. He’s Qin, Yui, and Domonos’s dad. He ran a trading company down here in the First Realm.” Rugrat’s eyes scanned over to Delilah, who seemed to know what he was talking about. “He has since been recruited into our ranks. He has taken over running our information networks and expanding them. We should have probably invited him to this briefing, but he’s training with the special teams to power level him. Elise, uh, actually, it might be an idea for the three of you to meet, share resources. The informants among the traders and the specialists in the different Adventurer’s Guild have been great at helping us understand what is happening in the realms. Now we want to not only know what’s going on, but affect what happens. He can consolidate our information networks, giving us greater reach. Instead of us all having our own information networks, we have one and it just becomes easier to manage.
“Anyway, getting back to the point.” Rugrat looked up, trying to figure out where he had left off. “Ah! Information, moving places, gotcha! Okay, so, with his help, it might be easier to get contracts. They can help with recruiting, finding out the background of people. They can streamline things for us. So, everything is taken care of and we just need to set up shop and reap the rewards.”
Elise and Blaze looked deeply interested.
“It would be nice to have it all in one place. It is kind of hard to know who is the right person to talk to about different information. Then there are the agents in the Adventurer’s Guild who take over admin and deal with secrets with Alva, while informants just pass along information that they’ve heard on their travels,” Elise said.
Jia Feng wasn’t that interested, but she could see the possibilities. “Would it be possible to use his information networks to find more students and teachers?”
“With time, yes,” Rugrat said.
“May I ask about this whole military training thing?” Blaze asked.
“I have it as part of my report,” Glosil said.
Blaze nodded and sat back as eyes shifted to Elise.
“We’re selling more than ever. With our controls in place, there are very few people defaulting on their payments. Looking forward to moving into Vuzgal and seeing how things are there. Vermire is under our control. Having some problems with the economy of the First Realm. We’re starting to create a reporting system of different prices for different items in the cities. It has led to a massive amount of returns. We are now affecting the First Realm on a regional scale. I have been talking to the traders. We will need to add in controls to make sure we don’t screw up the entire First Realm economy.
“Second Realm—we’re expanding into lots of industry. Third Realm is hard to break into. We basically have people shifting materials for Alva for the Sky Reaching Restaurant, selling ingredients, and finished concoctions. Will take time to expand into Vuzgal—again, harder market to enter, but with time we should be good.” Elise pursed her lips and looked up. “Yeah, that’s about it.” She looked to see whether there were questions before she turned to Glosil.
Glosil checked the pad of paper in front of him.
“The military is undergoing a complete change from the ground up. Basic soldiers will have training in melee and ranged combat, with a small focus on fighting with melee weapons and magic, and a heavy focus on fighting with their weapon system. There will be support elements such as those needed to build, upgrade, and advance equipment. Any upgrades that crafters can create in the academy can be applied to the military to earn compensation. So, new spell scrolls, defensive equipment, offensive equipment, clothing, pills, and concoctions—we will give rewards based upon these different items. We are recruiting personnel from the Fourth Realm, the Adventurer’s Guild, and Alva.
“Vuzgal’s defenses are being built up. The entrance into Alva has been sealed now that we have the teleportation arrays and the totem. Basic training will be carried out in Vuzgal; advanced training will occur in Alva. It is my aim to raise our military strength to fifteen hundred, a battalion strength force. With that, we can have one company in Alva, and three companies in Vuzgal. The next aim will be to create a regiment, which will have close to six thousand soldiers.”
“That is more soldiers than we have residents.” Delilah looked at them.
“We have enough room in Vuzgal to hold at least one hundred, maybe one hundred and fifty thousand people. Most Alvans come from Vermire currently, and they have a population of a few thousand. Vuzgal will be like the floodgates,” Erik said.
“That is a lot of people to deal with. If we expand too fast, then we could lose control over Alva. There is a lot to deal with: housing, food, the academy, trading, and loans,” Delilah said.
“A lot of people will probably remain in Vuzgal and while the soldiers are bound to us, there is a process before they and their family can go to Alva,” Rugrat said.
“With Vuzgal out in the open, it is much easier for us to recruit people there,” Erik said.
“Why are we keeping Alva a secret? Would it be so bad if others knew about us?” Jia Feng asked.
Erik took a deep breath before blowing out his cheeks, but Rugrat beat him to speaking.
“We haven’t run into other dungeon masters. We don’t know if they would care about us or not. What we do know is that we’ve got a lot of resources. In the Ten Realms, it doesn’t matter how people got their power; it’s just the fact that they have power. The Ten Realms is a war zone, and announcing that we are going to build Expert-level workshops has drawn the interest of people who are level sixty. What do you think a sect will do if they find out about Kanesh Academy? With Vuzgal, we have an opportunity to bolster our strength.”
“Well, that kind of doesn’t make much sense,” Blaze added.
“How so?” Rugrat frowned.
“Well, we clearly expect Alva and its people to increase in strength with time. As it does so, then others will of course want to take it from us. At what point do we say that we have enough strength that if we reveal Alva there won’t be an issue?”
Rugrat was stumped and Erik leaned forward.
“Okay, so when would it be okay to reveal Alva?”
“Well, we don’t ever need to purposefully announce it. Though we can allude to the fact we know a secret place to train. Once we have complete control over Vuzgal, we should have a force that can defend and attack. We should have deep ties with the other associations at that time. Being open with them, allowing people to move back and forth between the associations and Alva, that would solidify our ties and using their position, not many people would think about challenging us,” Blaze said.
“I hate using other people’s strength to look after ourselves,” Blaze said, cutting to the crux of their issue. “But as you said, this is the Ten Realms. Unless we’re people from the Divine Realm, people will still want what we have, but they will just be scared shitless to try to take it from us.”
Silence fell over the room. Erik and Rugrat had awkward expressions on their faces but looked at each other, sharing a thought with a glance.
Egbert even broke away from his book for a few moments.
“It makes sense. Doesn’t feel right, but with everything we’re doing, someone is sure to find out eventually,” Erik said.
“Yeah,” Rugrat agreed.
The moment stretched before Glosil cleared his throat and continued. “We have different associations and groups that are interested in purchasing weaponry from us. So that is something to think on.”
“Elise, would you take a look at that? Use Elan’s resources when he gets things going. We’ll need agreements with them to make sure that they don’t use them against us. Only the repeaters and armor at this time. Everything else, we keep to ourselves,” Erik asked.
“I’ll add it to the list,” Elise said, making a note.
Jia Feng smiled and Delilah coughed lightly.
“Our population has increased. We’re reaching nearly sixty percent of the dungeon’s floor capacity. We are recruiting more people than before from across the realms. As Egbert talked about, we are looking to expand this floor. With more people arriving, we need more space for them. We have a large population that moves between the realms. It is hard to contact them at any given time, but many of them own some kind of property in Alva. Working with the blueprint office and Matt, we are planning for the expansion of Alva. With everything, unless we are able to reach other floors, we will be able to hold fifteen thousand people at our current size. With the expansions, we will be able to support forty to sixty thousand people.
“Though the farmers won’t be pleased with those numbers because they don’t have anywhere to grow their crops. The iron deposits that we found in the area have been depleted. We have a greater need for administrators and people to assist with the running of Alva, and it seems that the same can be said of Vuzgal. I would like to ask to recruit people from those in Vuzgal to assist us here. Also, a school to help teach administrators: simple management skills, understanding of more complex ideas like loans, mathematics, and general use information.”
“Could we add that to the basic education?” Erik asked.
“We could, but why?” Jia Feng asked, confused.
“Well, we might know how loans work, how investments work, but the people of Alva might not. It is useful information that can help them in later years. The banking system is new and can be confusing to many,” Erik said.
“Yeah, numbers can be a pain in the ass. Don’t know how many times I went to the bank and came out cross-eyed.” Rugrat shook his head.
“Comes from the guy who can hit a nickel from what, two klicks out?”
“I’ve been practicing, and that math is just simple: air, gravity, bit of heat—pain in the butt with the different planet sizes and gravity differential.” Rugrat’s words sounded as if they belonged to a different language.
“We could add it,” Jia Feng agreed.
Erik looked to Delilah. She nodded.
“I also have some other problems,” Delilah said.
Erik indicated for her to continue.
“We have a number of people who are barely paying their loans and they are looking to get items from the people of Alva. They had the bank extend the duration of their loan as well.” Delilah’s voice hardened.
“What do you think that we should do?” Erik asked.
“I think it is time that they remembered that they are living on someone else’s land and while we want them to increase their strength, we aren’t pushovers,” Delilah said.
“How?”
“We don’t increase the period of time to pay back the loans for them anymore; we treat them the same as everyone else. If their loan defaults, then they become serfs of Alva Dungeon and will be forced to carry out labor in the farms, the Alchemy gardens, or for other jobs that people who don’t need an education are needed for. They will work five days a week there. Their food and lodging will come out of their pay, with the remaining money being used to pay back their loans.”
“What if they can’t pay for their loan because their house is too big?” Jia Feng asked. Most of the people who went to the academy had a loan of one kind or another to pay for their school up front.
“Then we will sell their house and put them in the cheapest housing available,” Delilah said.
“What if they have a family?” Rugrat asked.
“The adults will be put to work and anyone who is seventeen years of age; anyone under that age has to attend the mandatory education anyway. If the child is under five years of age, then one of the adults will be allowed to stay home to take care of them. This was all written out in the loan contract. They either work off their debt, or someone else can pay it off for them, with their own agreement between them,” Delilah said.
“When they’re done paying back the loan?” Jia Feng asked.
“Then they will no longer be forced to work and the agreement will be torn up,” Delilah said.
“Also, the people of Alva have started a project in the central park. They are building a monument from donated funds to remember the fallen.”
Jia Feng knew about the project but most of the others in the room looked a bit stunned.
“From their own funds? We made the Wall of Remembrance.” Erik didn’t sound offended, just confused.
“Alva Army went out there to become stronger to protect them. The military is still protecting us. Even with high levels, people are taking advantage; they’re helping others. Alva has come pretty far. This is a way for the community to come together and show their support for one another and show their gratitude.”
Alva is not just a group of people thrust into the unknown. It’s become a community. A place for people to raise a family, to call home from their long journeys, where they learn, and are taught. Thinking on it, Jia Feng didn’t know another place like Alva in the First Realm. Nor did she know a group of people who acted in the same manner.
“They would like someone from the military to attend the ceremony,” Delilah asked.
“Glosil?” Erik asked, deferring the question.
“For something like this, if it is okay, I would like to bring back some of the friends of those who were lost and attend myself,” Glosil said.
Delilah showed some surprise in her eyes and smiled at Glosil. “That would work perfectly.”
The atmosphere of the room had chilled with everyone thinking on those lost.
“Is there anything else?” Erik looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything.
“Egbert, you get those formations all set up?” Rugrat asked.
“One more chapter,” Egbert said, completely trapped in the book’s pages.
“You always say that, come on, help us or else I’ll only let you get one book a week,” Erik said. One book a month was just cruel and unusual punishment.
“Whaa-aat?” Egbert’s jaw opened to a comical size as he looked at Erik and Rugrat.
“Fun having a minion at times.” Rugrat grinned.
“Highly decorated and respected marine recon sniper, and you still love damn kids’ movies.”
“Wholesome entertainment,” Rugrat defended.
“They’re pretty good.” Erik nodded and focused on Egbert. “Formation, fire it up. Connect the Metal floor.”
“Fine, fine.” Egbert waved his hand.
The table was a circle; underneath, there was a clear floor. One could see the dungeon core below. The refined mana from the dungeon core was directed up into the formation that split it outward. It ran through the walls into the floor so that it could power the entire dungeon. Then it ran through the walls of the headquarters building and up into the formations that sent it up to the mana gathering formation on the ceiling of the dungeon’s floor.
A display of the Alvan floor was displayed above the table. It rose up, showing a floor below. Unlike the times previously, now the map was of much higher quality. One could see what the floor looked like with the different features. There were even moving objects that had to be the creatures on the floor.
A few of them had seen the detailed version of the Metal floor; the others had all seen it before.
They took time to study it. Egbert showed off as he made it come to rest in the middle of the table.
“Unlocking the separating doors,” Egbert said.
Doors that were underneath the dungeon core, covered by the mist of mana that was being pulled in by the mana gathering formations and drawn in by the dungeon core, opened. On the display, a thin tube started to appear, going down through the ground, reaching toward the Metal floor.
“There are formations that run down the length of the tunnel. Each of the floors are blocked off from one another through multiple doors. These sections are largely untouched and have formations to repair themselves. Now that they have power, we can open the doors and we can start to rebuild the different formations.”
“So what will happen once we open all of the gates to the Metal floor? Will we be able to close them again?” Blaze asked.
“Well, think of these as the backup lines. There are other formations that run through the ground that connect the floors. Once we can use this backup way to connect to the Metal floor, we can direct power into the secondary formations, allowing them to repair themselves. Those that are badly damaged will need to be repaired by our teams. Once we have the floor under our control and the formations are restored, then we can close the main tube again. The tubes were how we built the other floors,” Egbert added.
“Built them?” Delilah asked.
“We—the gnomes, that is—built these tunnels to move higher. We used the dungeon core to excavate out the floors. They were just camps, a way out of the Water dungeon that we found ourselves in.
“Once we got to the surface, well, our population was high and we didn’t want to go out there. Our base was much stronger than the gnome nations and there were people who were coming from other places and changing the Ten Realms. So, using the dungeon core, they created blueprints, and with our help, we created floor by floor, building our own safe haven underground.”
“Just the scale of it all is impressive. They had to be amazing builders,” Erik said.
Jia Feng looked at the floor as the tunnels continued to open. She had only ever seen the Alva floor. The fact that there were another five floors underneath them and all of them were larger than the floor she was on excited her, eager to see what would happen as they came under the control of Alva.
“The last door is ready to be opened,” Egbert said.
Jia Feng saw that there were other formations that were also tracing down toward the Metal floor. Some of them went farther than others; some were growing, and others were just lit up.
“I have a preliminary connection with the main command formation. Do you want me to establish contact?” Egbert looked at Erik and Rugrat, turning serious.
“Connect them.” Rugrat’s face split into a smile.
Power from the dungeon core to the mana storing formation reduced. Instead of going into the formations that would power the floor, they went into the tunnel. One could see the formations lighting up as the power traveled down.
“Okay, opening this bottom floor is going to let a lot of mana that has a Metal attribute back up.” Egbert warned, “Opening the last door.”
The door opened and the floors were opened up to one another for the first time in centuries. A beam of power descended from the ceiling and traveled through the air, down to the command formation that was waiting for it. The formation started to activate as power and formations that were across the floor started to come online.
A wave of Metal-attribute mana rushed up into the dungeon core.
Lightning flashed around and rumbled within the closed area. There was too much mana for the mana gathering formation or the dungeon core to handle, so the mana started to spread through the floor.
“Increase the density of the mana on the floor. Turn off the mana gathering formation on the floor and clear up that Metal-attribute mana,” Rugrat ordered as he and Erik pulled up their dungeon interfaces.
“Formations are off. Metal mana being refined,” Erik reported.
“All right, I’ll try to direct the power into the formation, use it to add to the repairs. Egbert, can you stop that power from feeding back into here? We can adjust the mana flow of the floor later,” Rugrat said.
“Working on the control formation on the Metal floor. There are some flaws. It is repairing. I am re-routing some of the formation so that it will function. We will need some more work later.” Egbert looked down, seeing something that the others couldn’t. “Okay, we have some basic control. The mana gathering formations are now working, so that should make sure that we don’t take as much Metal-attribute mana. We are only sending mana down there, not pulling it up anymore. We will still have a higher ambient mana, just with the mana gathering formations up here and the dungeon core. Only a portion as much as what it was before. That was a bit intense.” Egbert laughed.
“The secondary control formations are starting to come online—that’s good. Okay, so there are some routing issues. Looks like there are formations that were destroyed over time. Not as bad as I thought, though. The links will take some time to rebuild.”
“The formations are growing between floors. It’s starting to repair itself,” Elise said as everyone started to refocus on the display.
“Looks kind of like a tree growing roots down and another spreading branches above,” Delilah said.
“When can we close the doors between the floors again?” Glosil asked.
“We can close them as soon as we have some of the linking formations connected. It should take a day or two to complete. I am focusing on rebuilding those formations now. If I can draw more power, then it would be faster,” Egbert said.
“Well, we’re not using it for anything,” Rugrat said.
“All power that is not being used to sustain the floor is to be used to rebuild the formations to connect us to the Metal floor, then the formations,” Erik said.
“Very well,” Egbert said.
The pillar of light reaching up into the ceiling disappeared. The dungeon core headquarters continued to glow with power but all of it was now being diverted down below.
Jia Feng was a little stunned. “So we’re connected to the Metal floor now?”
“That’s correct.” Egbert smiled.
“Well then, Glosil, when are you free to talk about allowing people down to visit?”
The council grinned and smiled. Even Glosil cracked a smile.
“I have one more meeting, but I’ll pay a visit this afternoon to discuss?”
“Works for me.” Jia smiled. She looked at the display showing the two floors.
A dungeon with two floors, a city, an academy—and for some reason, it just feels like we’re getting warmed up. What else will the Ten Realms have in store for us?