Rugrat and Erik were underneath the pillar again. Rugrat was lying down, a grimace on his face. Erik had purchased tempering pills for him from the Division Headquarters and made those that weren’t available for sale.
It was uncomfortable, but it was made to temper Rugrat’s body without putting him in danger. Erik using poison to temper his body was much more painful and stressful. If he didn’t have enough healing concoctions, or if he couldn’t cast a healing spell, he could have died. These pills took care of breaking down Rugrat’s body and rebuilding it.
Erik was on the other side of the room, located next to the formation that brought in all of the mana filled with all kinds of impurities.
Erik had read the manual on increasing the size of his mana core and reviewed it once again.
“Draw in mana through your mana gates; circulate and compress them before guiding them through your mana veins, compressing them from vapor, to mist to drops that when combined together will create your mana core,” Erik let out a breath and shook his head, trying to relax and get comfortable.
He closed his eyes and started to concentrate, focusing on his mana system. With a thought, the mana resting in his mana veins was stirred up. It started to compress and flow toward his dantian. He compressed it as it went, combining the mana together.
Sweat started to appear on his head as he concentrated on keeping drops together, the energy held within his mana veins, within those few drops.
Erik smiled, thrilled by the challenge, by the power he felt within his body.
“Come on!” He pushed forward. The mana around him was stirred up, following the circulation path he had created.
It’s like negative air pressure or when you siphon liquid from one tank to another—because I’ve pulled mana through here, it is pulling more mana through my mana gates and along my circulation path.
Erik focused his mind again and he continued to circle his mana drops and the small feeding streams of mana through his dantian. He used the liquid mana creating threads like yarn with them and he looped them around one of his mana drops and the three combined drops, he increased the power of the mana yarn exerting his own control over the drops as he forced them closer.
Sweat started to appear on his brow from the strain, it was harder each time to combine the drops.
Erik circulated the mana within his body, compressing through his mana veins, which was doing part of the work for him. Streams of mana could be seen entering his body.
It took all of his concentration to make sure that all of the mana was utilized, to make sure that it didn’t become stagnant making him run out of mana.
It’s like I’m manually having to control my entire circulatory system.
Erik continued for nearly two hours, finally the drop met up with the three combined drops.
There was a rush of mana through his body as more mana was drawn in, as the four mana drops were fused together, the fifth and final mana drop retreated as far as it could from the four combined drops. Erik felt a wave of fatigue rush over him, he released his control over his mana system and laid back. Holding his head, he let out a groan.
“Damn, that was about as fun as holding a damn plank for ten hours,” Erik complained.
“Nrrghhff!” Rugrat grunted in the corner, staring at Erik.
“Oh, what are you complaining about? I did that already!” Erik said but he rolled over and went to Rugrat, checking that everything was okay.
“See, you’re fine, ya big wuss.” Erik turned his sight back to his mana veins and his mana core. The mana in his veins had calmed down but his mana core was darker, filled with impurities.
Erik paid attention to his mana core and felt the Fire-attribute mana slowly leaving his mana core and entering his body, tempering it.
He let out a cough as he compared how big his mana core was from before to how big it was now. It had barely increased in size and was actually reducing in size as the Fire-attribute energy entered his body.
It purifies my mana and makes my core denser. But losing even a little bit, even if it is for a good reason, hurts. I’ll need to take some time to allow my four drops to stabilize and then attempt to combine my last mana drop, going to take a lot of power.
“It’s not a battle—it’s a war.” Erik pulled out a pill bottle that contained the stronger version of the tempering pills. He held the bottle up and tapped one pill out. It rolled in his hand, looking like a small gumball.
Erik moved to a formation plate embedded in the floor and pulled out several pieces of paper.
“Okay, so if I turn this there and then put down this formation plate and then these flags around where I’m sitting, it should isolate the Earth-attribute mana.” Erik read the instructions that Julilah had created and checked the formation plate that she had made.
He put it down and then set out formation flags in a circle. Then he moved to the main mana circle and turned a circular formation.
The mana had been collected and then shot down into the ground to the dungeon core hidden underneath. Now all but the Earth mana was being sent down into the dungeon core to be refined.
It was as though he had diverted a waterfall. When looking at the water falling, one might think that it wasn’t that much water. But a jet of Earth-attribute mana slammed into the formation that he had laid down. It glowed brown as the Earth mana rapidly spread out like a geyser. It shot out everywhere before it reached the formation flags, where it stopped, like hitting an invisible wall, and started growing in density quickly. The air above the formation flags looked like a dust plume.
Erik looked at it, a bit alarmed, and then looked over to the restrained Rugrat, who was sweating and in clear pain, but he was looking at the formation and Erik.
Erik gave an awkward smile, having second thoughts about stepping into the formation.
Well, I can’t bow out now—Rugrat wouldn’t let it go. He’s tempering his body and I already made fun of him.
Gritting his teeth, Erik stepped forward and stepped into the Earth-attribute formation before he could think about it too much.
The Earth-attribute mana started to enter his mana channels.
Erik sat down and pulled out an IV. He hooked himself up before pulling out the pill. The Earth-attribute mana rushed toward the pill, drawn in by it.
“Damn.” Erik cast Hallowed Ground, increasing its strength, taking nearly all of his mana pool to do so.
Erik threw the pill back and swallowed it before he laid down.
His body started to break down and he couldn’t even scream. Before, his body had been broken down; now it was as if it were crushed completely. The Earth attribute all around him was drawn into his body and he healed up, breaking it down further and further—his body, the healing solution in his veins, and his Hallowed Ground rushing to heal him up.
Erik felt the pill wearing off and he took another.
I need to make a breakthrough. If I’m not able to, then it will only be harder next time. Bottlenecks are like elastic bands: it’s easier to break them in one shot, instead of stretching them constantly and then hoping it will break one time.
Erik’s body cracked and broke again, but it was getting stronger each time. More of the Earth-attribute mana around him was drawn in, increasing the effects of the pills.
Erik’s body was covered in blood. His skin cracked; his bones broke and rebuilt; his organs had shifted and every other breath brought blood up with it.
He had nearly passed out several times, but the aids he had laid down before kept him awake and functioning, keeping him alive when most would have died. If he gave in and passed out then he would’ve died.
Erik threw the second-to-last tempering pill into his mouth, scared that he would run out of pills.
Erik looked like hell as he fought the pain, repairing himself.
The pain started to fade as his healing aids helped him to recover.
Erik felt relief wash over him and his eyes rolled back. It didn’t take long for him to recover.
“How do you feel?” Rugrat had finished his own tempering some time ago. Instead of moving on with his remaining temperings, he had stood watch to help Erik if he needed it.
Erik opened his notifications to see nothing.
It looks as if my foundation is stronger than I thought. If I want to temper my body more with the Earth element, I’ll need stronger resources. If I could just heal it all away and grind out my temperings…
“It’s been a long time since I healed anyone,” Erik said to himself as he looked at his healing skill. After the initial race-like increases in his skills, the much slower level gain was a pain.
“There’s nothing stopping us from building a few hospitals in Vuzgal. Even if they come through the totem, we should more than earn back the cost of running the place in sheer taxes.” Erik gave it some more thought.
“It would be best if we didn’t call it the Alva Healing House. The healing house in the First Realm has already created enough troubles. If we just say that they’re Vuzgal healers, part of the crafters, that should deal with any issues.”
Erik sent a sound transmission to Hiao Xen, leaving him a message before he settled down, feeling tired from everything.
And hungry, really hungry.
He pulled out food from his storage ring and started eating. He kept on stuffing food in his face.
“Damn, I’m so hungry! I hope I’m not hungry like this all the time or I’ll spend all my mana stones on food!”
After eating for two hours, Erik pulled out a sleeping bag and rolled over.
“Tomorrow I’ll increase my Mana Gathering Cultivation,” he promised, closing his eyes and passing out in seconds.
***
Erik woke up the next day feeling relaxed.
He got up and saw Rugrat asleep off to the side.
With a few movements, Erik distanced himself and started to go through the new training regimen that Khasar had helped him create. He flowed from one position to the next, using his movement ability combined with his One Finger Beats Fist technique.
Khasar had shown him his own fighting techniques, and impressed on Erik that using someone else’s fighting techniques would improve one’s strength, but it would be limited. Your own created techniques were much stronger.
Techniques are not just a new way to punch or kick, they are a new way to combine your different movements and your knowledge into powerful strikes.
Khasar didn’t teach Erik his techniques, instead he pushed Erik to fight him with his own ability, to push his body to the limit and see how he reacted.
He settled down after some time of training, with a better understanding of his body.
“Now just need to temper my body with Metal and I can reach the Divine Iron stage. With every stage, it becomes harder. With the Earth attribute tempering to reach Body Like Mortal Iron, I tempered myself in small bursts. It increased my overall strength, but it was only a small amount compared to when I made an actual breakthrough. As I go, it will require me tempering my body multiple times before I can make it all the way.”
Erik felt tired from the temperings, from the cultivation, but he knew that it would pay off with time.
He changed the settings on the formation that he had set up and then moved the circle on the main mana gathering formation. The air within the formation flags mixed together into a soup of colors, becoming a deep blue in color.
Erik took a step into it, feeling the density of mana nearly double.
All of the mana collected from across the city was being directed into this formation.
He sat down, crossing his legs.
Once again he pulled on the mana within his body, circulating it and drawing it into his mana core.
Erik flopped down sometime later, and he checked his watch. “Fifteen minutes. I increased and it’s easier to control, a little.” Erik took five minutes and then started to draw more mana into his body again.
He continued to do so until he heard movements from outside the formation. He looked out to see Rugrat setting up his own formation plate and his formation flags.
“Did you finish tempering your body?” Erik asked.
“Body Like Stone, baby.” Rugrat grinned, before it turned into a frown. “Fricking sucked to do, though. Mana Gathering Cultivation is much nicer.”
“Yeah, but the two of them working together—”
“Make them both harder, but yeah, it does increase your power,” Rugrat said.
“How is your mana core?”
“I’m about to breakthrough to Mist Mana Core stage soon though!” Rugrat activated his formation and the area within the formation flags he had laid out filled with mana.
Hearing that, Erik was invigorated again. He was two stages ahead of Rugrat with the body temperings but he was still severely lacking in Mana Gathering Cultivation. His mana domain was only a quarter of Rugrat’s. Erik had the same number of open mana gates, but as Rugrat had been increasing the Mana Regeneration and the size of his mana pool their entire time, his Mana Gathering Cultivation was leaps and bounds ahead of Erik’s.
Rugrat turned to ask Erik a question, but the latter was already sitting up in his formation, drawing in mana from around him, trying to increase the size of his mana core.
“Good luck!” Rugrat jumped into his formation and started to compress mana into his mana core. The two of them waged a silent cultivation battle.
***
Erik and Rugrat got a sound transmission at the same time from Elan.
“I have been able to find you a guide to the city Arman. He will arrive in two hours.”
“How many mana stones do you have?” Erik asked Rugrat.
“I don’t know—a few dozen Earth grade and then a few hundred Mortal. I left most of them with the treasury,” Rugrat said.
Erik looked in his storage rings. Everything he had amounted to five Earth stones and a handful of Mortal stones.
“We should collect as many as possible so that we have enough to compete in the auctions.” Panic rose in Erik’s chest. The funds of the bank were lent out most of the time, with them only holding a reserve on hand for the simplest of transactions.
Erik’s eyes moved to the mana stones that were growing along the walls. “You contact the bank. I’ll contact Hiao Xen.”
Rugrat grunted as they left their cultivation areas. Erik put the mana gathering formation back to the way it had been. The mana in the formation flags was sucked into the mana gathering formation and sent down to the Vuzgal dungeon core.
Erik’s sound transmission reached Hiao Xen.
“Erik, what can I do for you?” Hiao Xen asked.
“How many mana stones do we have extra that I could get?” Erik asked.
“Well, we don’t keep much in the way of reserves. The mana stones are used to pay the people of Vuzgal, from military to admin, to the crafting school and building operations. Though the Battle Arena will have probably accrued funds at this time and I believe that Elise owes us a large amount in taxes,” Hiao Xen said.
“Ah, thank you!” Erik said. He cut the sound transmission and sent one to Elise.
“Erik? Sorry, I’m doing a deal right now,” she said.
“Taxes—have you paid them?”
“I…well, it was included in the price of the formation.”
“Do you know where those mana stones go?” Erik asked.
“Straight to the treasury, I believe. Why?”
“No worries. Talk later!” Erik looked over to Rugrat.
“They have about fifty Earth stones that they can spare,” Rugrat said.
“Crap. One more place.” Erik sent a sound transmission to Chonglu.
“Chong—Chonglu, how has the Battle Arena been doing?”
“Mister West, it is so good to hear from you! The response has been incredible! We have sold out the ten thousand membership cards out already and we have thirty thousand applicants to fight in the Battle Arena. There are some people coming over from other cities just to fight!”
“Did you collect their fees?” Erik asked.
“First and last month up front, with the people entering the tournament paying an entrance fee,” Chonglu said.
“Good! Have you sent it to the treasury yet?”
“Not yet. I was supposed to send it all over at the end of the month. The betting has already been fierce. We’ve made some good profit on that and the material goods and training items. The Fighter’s Association came and saw me. They will be getting a membership package for one hundred memberships.”
“Wow, okay, that’s impressive,” Erik said. This Battle Arena is a real money-making machine! “I’ll be over soon to get the funds from you.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare them.”
Erik looked to Rugrat.
“I just talked to the Blue Lotus. They were able to sell my items, so we have another few dozen Earth mana stones waiting for me there,” Rugrat said.
“Well, I haven’t collected my mana stones from them, and I already used the mana stones from the Alchemist Association from them making the Age Rejuvenation concoctions. With the Battle Arena money, we should have quite a few Earth-grade mana stones.”
“Do you think that it will be enough?” Rugrat asked.
“I’m not sure, but where can we get more from?” Erik asked.
Rugrat pulled out a pickaxe and put it on his shoulder. “We’re in a mana stone mine, and with how rare these things are, we need to get as many as possible.”
“But the mana barrier,” Erik said.
“We get the people in the undercity to take mana stones from the other dungeons and bring them here,” Rugrat said.
Erik felt conflicted about it before he nodded. “All right.”
“Okay! I’ve always wanted to mine for mana stones!”
“Use your mana blade. If you break them off all irregular, then we could get short-changed!” Erik said.
“Fine!” Rugrat sighed and created a mana blade in his hand.
Erik headed up into Vuzgal, sending a mental message to Gilly. Gilly, who had been roaming the Castle District, made her way over.
Erik jumped on her back and patted her neck as she took off, running through the streets and toward the Battle Arena.
The space around the Battle Arena was now as busy as the crafting districts. There were stalls everywhere, with people selling food and drink and people talked about the matches that they had seen or about their training.
There were people looking for sparring partners in a square outside the Battle Arena.
“Looking for a Journeyman-level archer to train, offering five hours in a C-grade training room!”
“Selling Stamina recovery potions and pills!”
“Want to make most of your training time? We have cultivation aids of all kinds!”
“Looking for fighting partners? Trust Vuzgal’s premium sparring partner matching service!”
Erik passed them all and dismounted Gilly. They walked into the actual arena. It was packed with people at the different counters trying to join in on the new fights that were coming up.
Others browsed the goods within the arena. Only members and contestants were allowed to buy from the arena. The goods were of high quality and good prices so it drew a lot of attention. People who were training could have these items delivered to their rooms so they didn’t need to waste any time.
“I am sorry but we have sold out of memberships!” someone yelled at the counter as a sign was put up.
“Sold out of memberships! How can this be?”
“We want to provide the best service to our members, so selling more memberships would only decrease the quality of the service. We are sorry!” the person said.
“Quality over quantity.” Someone who had just bought a membership nodded.
“I was scared thinking that they might chase the gold instead of keeping their standards,” another member said.
“I wonder how much we could get for lending out our membership,” another said.
“Didn’t you read the agreements? Only we can use our memberships unless we got them in some group deal,” another said.
“How will they know?” the first shot back.
“You can try it, but don’t come crying to me if it doesn’t work!”
The ticket and betting counters didn’t decrease in size at all, with people heading up to see the fights and putting their money on their chosen fighters.
Erik walked up to one of the guards. After the fiasco at the totem, Hiao Xen made sure that everyone in Vuzgal knew what Erik and Rugrat looked like.
The guard put his fist to his chest and bowed in greeting. “City Lord!”
“I’m here to see Chonglu. Could you take me to him?” Erik asked.
“This way.” The guard guided Erik through doors into a VIP area and past others who were waiting, right to the elevator.
Erik stored Gilly away in her crate.
The guards all saluted and bowed to Erik as he stepped into the elevator.
As they rose up, Erik could see the arenas.
“Looks like the qualifiers have already started,” Erik said as he saw the one hundred arenas filled with people sparring one another and putting on shows.
People were cheering and getting into the spirit as bets were being placed down on every fight.
There was a mage and a ranger going up against each other. The mage erected a frost barrier in front of themselves and they threw out sand golems that chased the ranger, who was dodging and rolling across the arena, firing their bow at the mage’s barrier. It shook and broke in places, forcing the mage to concentrate on just his two initial attacks.
The ranger got to the mage’s side and shot out an arrow.
The mage’s worn-down mana wasn’t enough to stop the arrow and it hit a barrier that appeared around them. The match ended, the referee stepping out as the mage dismissed their mana constructs.
They moved to the second floor. A few arenas had been blocked off with isolation formations as the people inside didn’t want to reveal their fights to anyone. The fights that Erik could see were on a different level from those below. There were people running classes here and members who were testing out their newfound strength with one another.
Two people shot across the floor, sword and saber clashing with one another. The fighters—one man and one woman—smiled as they pushed back and forth. Their movements churned up the air and the ground shook with their attacks.
They must be in the high level forties to create that kind of disturbance in the arenas. Maybe we should look into beefing up the arena’s strength again so it can deal with their power. With the new training floor that is being built, we could even entice Masters who are in the fifties.
The remaining two floors were clear, with no one allowed into them yet. The builders were still working diligently to complete them as quickly as possible.
Erik arrived in Chonglu’s office.
“City Lord West,” Chonglu said.
“Erik will do fine with me. Thank you for guiding me,” Erik said to the guard.
They saluted and bowed, taking the elevator down, leaving Erik and Chonglu alone.
“Have there been any problems?” Erik asked.
“We haven’t had any so far. With the Fighter’s Association backing us and my own connection to them, I think that things should be relatively stable,” Chonglu said with a smile, indicating to a chair.
“Good. Are you and the children settling in well?” Erik asked, as they moved to the chairs looking over Vuzgal.
“They’re doing well with their classes. Felicity has become interested in woodworking. Feng still wants to fight, but all young boys want to be like the valiant heroes. I think that access to the Battle Arena’s stands will only make that desire stronger.” Chonglu laughed.
Erik smiled and nodded. “While I was working with the Alchemist Association, I came across a pill that I believe will be able to increase the strength of their bloodline. I’m not sure if it will work for your wife as well because I haven’t examined her. It is a low Journeyman-level pill and it is called Winter’s Rage. It is a berserk type of pill to increase one’s strength in an emergency setting. It uses a combination of fire and ice type mana to increase one’s power, with Felicity and Feng having their Ice Phoenix constitution it will have a different effect and should increase the power of their constitution. Your wife only has the Ice Empress constitution so the fire mana would hurt more than help her. Remember that they will need to temper themselves with ice and fire, the more the better.”
Chonglu’s eyes lit up as he stood and clasped his fists. “Thank you, City Lord West. We have brought you nothing but trouble but you have saved my children and myself, and given me this position. If you command it, my life is yours,” Chonglu said solemnly.
Erik coughed awkwardly. “Please, sit down. I only did what I thought was right. We needed a manager here and you were a good choice for the position.”
Chonglu let out a light laugh and moved to his chair.
“Have you been training as well?” Erik asked.
“I have been working with the training staff in the combat training rooms,” Chonglu said.
“How are they?”
“They would be S-grade training rooms here at the Battle Arena. If not for having people rotate in and out, I think that most would still be down there. The focus one is able to achieve is unparalleled.”
“Good.” Erik nodded.
We’ve got the mana to burn. On the outside, we have them train in our weakest rooms and use their impure mana. The wasted mana turns into power for the formations and the dungeon core to consume, with the purest mana being channeled into the Vuzgal forces, from the academy to the military and the Alva residents. We can’t give visitors all the benefits and not claim our own.
“I collected all of the available mana stones. I have the stones that I was going to use to pay back the bank for the startup funds.”
“Best to return those to the bank and allow them back into circulation so that the Battle Arena can stand on its own two feet and turn into a new revenue source for the city,” Erik said. “How many mana stones were you able to collect?”
“I was able to get one Sky mana stone and four hundred and seventy-three Earth mana stones and forty-nine Mortal mana stones.”
Erik had a hard time containing his surprise. He had left Vuzgal and the different parts of Alva and their businesses to operate on their own. Most of the funds were liquid, moving from the businesses into the bank to be turned into loans and investments, keeping the money moving and growing the economic power of Alva.
I knew that we were making some money, but damn!
“Impressive,” Erik managed to choke out.
Chonglu seemed a little daunted by the amount of money represented. “I have them secured away.” He moved to his desk.
Erik stood and followed him.
Chonglu deactivated a number of formations, having to use his own blood and then Erik needed to use his talisman as well. The safe was made so that funds could only go in and not be brought out unless Chonglu, Hiao Xen, and the Vuzgal treasury director were there to do so. Otherwise it would require Erik or Rugrat to withdraw the funds.
There was a box inside. Erik looked inside. He could feel the powerful mana coming off a tower of mana stones piled on top of one another. There was no single Sky-level mana stone, but it was just the value of all the Earth and Mortal mana stones equaled one Sky-level mana stone.
Erik had a bracelet storage item and put the mana stones in there, adding them to the piles of other mana stones. The bracelet let him know just how many stones he had, creating organized stacks of them.
“Okay, keep up the good work. I’ll see you later,” Erik said.
Chonglu saw him out to the elevator and Erik descended.
He felt as though everyone was already conspiring to take his wealth from him.
He reached the bottom floor and called Gilly out again. They left the Battle Arena; he jumped on her back and took off toward the Associations’ Circle.
He wore a doupeng to hide his identity.
Soon, his next destination appeared.
He dismounted in front of the Blue Lotus location. He felt mixed emotions looking at the building as he stored Gilly away. He had heard about the stunts that their Expert had tried pulling, how their leader had disrespected Hiao Xen.
They really put Hiao Xen in a bad position. Rugrat did the right thing, being ruthless with those who are ruthless.
Erik didn’t hide how he was displeased as he walked into the Blue Lotus. The guards bowed to him but Erik didn’t look at them, feeling cold to it all.
The air around him seemed to become cooler and the mana moved like a snake moving through grass—slow and condensed, as if ready to strike out at any moment.
People distanced themselves from him as he walked up to the VIP counter.
He put down his token. “Hurry up,” Erik said.
The man at the desk gave a weak smile as he quickly took the token and checked it. “The branch head—”
“Too busy, hurry up,” Erik said, not willing to see the replacement Blue Lotus head. He just saw the Blue Lotus as a cash cow, a professional relationship, with his only close ties being Hiao Xen.
“I don’t think—” the man started.
Erik tilted his head and the mana twisted around him. He tapped his finger on the counter.
The man swallowed as his face paled. “I can take you to a private room and bring the items there?”
“Good,” Erik said.
The man came around the counter and took Erik to a luxurious room.
Someone entered with tea but Erik waved them off.
The man quickly returned with an official-looking man.
Erik took the storage item the man was holding, dumping it out and then storing the contents in his bracelet.
“City Lord—”
“Good day.” Erik turned and left the official and the man from the counter with sour expressions.
He left the Blue Lotus and walked across the road to the Alchemist Association. He felt the darkness from the Blue Lotus fade away as he saw the guards there.
He nodded to them in greeting as he walked in.
The Alchemist Association was filled with people wearing Alchemy badges. Erik’s face relaxed and he smiled at the younger alchemist students walking around, talking to one another.
“I heard from my teacher that the ingredients grown in the Vuzgal gardens are up to twenty percent stronger than those grown elsewhere in the Fourth Realm!” an Apprentice alchemist said.
“We really lucked out. One can only find these growing conditions in the Sixth Realm!” a low Journeyman alchemist said.
“With the higher potency, my concoctions have become stronger,” another low Journeyman alchemist bragged.
“Well, that’s because you suck at concocting. Stop wasting such precious ingredients and give them to me!” the Apprentice alchemist complained.
“Become a Journeyman alchemist and you can get the same treatment as me!”
“Bah! So unfair!”
“Look, didn’t we become Journeyman alchemists after coming here? It’s not too hard!”
The Apprentice alchemist friend muttered dark words under her breath as the other two laughed.
Erik went to the counter and presented a token.
“The Alchemist Association head would like to invite you for tea if you have the time,” the man at the counter said with a smile.
Erik thought about it for a moment before he nodded.
“Please follow me.” The man came around and led Erik away.
The people in the Alchemist Association are arrogant, but they are all alchemists. Even with their infighting, they band together. The people from the Blue Lotus are no different, but they are all traders or people from different crafts, which creates more rifts and issues. Alva is made from a large mixture of people as well. We try to foster working together, which makes everyone stronger. Though there have been rifts and drama in different departments and among different people in Alva.
Erik let out a tired sigh. He wanted Alva to succeed so badly. Although he and Rugrat could guide it, it was too big for them to change individual parts.
Like what happened with the bandits. As times go on, we’ll need to change our plans to make Alva the best it can be.
They reached the office of the branch head. He was waiting for them with tea.
The man from the counter departed.
“City Lord West, it is good to finally meet you. I am Isaac Paiva, the head of this Alchemist Association.” The man smiled.
Erik took off his doupeng and gave a quick smile.
“Here are the mana stones that we have accumulated because of our deal. I have also included our payment for the next six months for renting out the valley gardens.”
Erik took the storage box and started to transfer the contents.
“For your contributions and your ability with Alchemy, I also have an invitation for you to attend the Alchemist Association competitions within the Fifth Realm.” He took out a letter and passed it to Erik.
Erik opened it and read the contents. He scanned the information. Part of this is because of me being the lord of Vuzgal and giving the Alchemist Association concessions, but they still wouldn’t let me into their academies if my skills weren’t good enough. Old Hei has increased my skill to the point where I can head to the higher realms to learn, but then he is still in the Third Realm, working to increase his ability so that he can become a teacher in one of these academies.
Erik gripped his fist in agitation, interested in heading to the academy to increase his ability. I will make sure that Old Hei comes with me. Once I get the manuals from the Fifth Realm, then I can share them with him and hopefully he can break through his bottleneck and become accepted as a teacher in the Fifth or Sixth Realm!
“Is there a time limit on this?” Erik asked.
“There is not, but this is only an invitation to a selection. You will need to pass that before you can be admitted into the academies in the Sixth Realm,” Isaac said with a smile.
“What if I went directly to the Sixth Realm?”
“There are attendance examinations there. This letter would allow you to test there, but the people competing will be stronger.”
“Makes sense—they need to check out my skill for real and then make sure that only the strongest are accepted. What happens within the academies?” Erik asked.
“You have a set amount of credits per semester. You can use those for classes. Then, as you contribute to the academy, you can get more of these credits to use on classes and even use them on manuals and ingredients, or other Alchemy related items.”
Okay, so just as Elan reported.
“I have business to attend to today, but I will think on it. Is there a time I need to apply?”
“There is a selection every three months and the invitation is good for one year.” Isaac smiled.
“Thank you for passing this along.” Erik stood and the two of them said their good-byes.
***
Rugrat looked at the mana stones in his ring. It was only a portion of the money that was going through Vuzgal every day. He had gone to the treasury and asked them to keep back what they could instead of issuing them to new loans, even for a couple of hours. He’d been able to get a few hundred Earth-grade mana stones.
He sat in Elan’s office. The man was using his sound transmissions, calling in and sending out messengers, reading through pieces of information across his desk.
Instead of looking tired, he looked energized.
“You enjoy this, don’t you?” Rugrat asked.
“Enjoy what?” Elan said as he continued to read. He knew that Rugrat wouldn’t mind.
“The information, being in the know, in the middle of the web,” Rugrat said.
“It is rather fun.” Elan smiled slightly and kept on reading. “Information is power. With money, there is power as well, but with this, just a few changes, words in the right ears then it could mean a lifetime of wealth without having to deal with the issues that come with being a trader.” Elan smiled. “It has been a long time since I have felt any real challenge. It has gotten my blood flowing again, being able to get to this stage. I feel like I am in my youth again and that anything is possible and I do not need to sit back and just hope for the world to stay the same, watching my children surpass me. Now we are all working together in different areas, competing with one another!”
Rugrat nodded, understanding his sentiment.
Erik opened the door to the office and came in. “George and Gilly are playing in the yard again,” Erik said.
“Those two really are good friends for each other. Have you been able to find any pills to increase their strength?”
“One thing at a time. Once we have these arts, then we still have plenty to do. Elan, would you be able to look up academies that would be willing to take in paying students? I am thinking we support some people, like we did with Julilah and Qin, send them to the academies, increase their knowledge and then have them use their insights to teach our people,” Erik said.
“There are a few places, but the cost is high and a paying student is only an outer disciple, so they get the least amount of access to the academy’s resources.”
“Failing that, we hire teachers and people from the higher realms.”
“I can add it to the list.” Elan sighed.
“Were you able to collect a lot of mana stones?” Rugrat asked.
“Take a look.” Erik held out his wrist.
Rugrat looked inside, his eyes widening as he pulled back. “Damn.”
“Right,” Erik said.
Rugrat held up his necklace and storage item. He had trimmed the mana stones down in the pillar back pretty far. Instead of cutting them into stone by stone, he’d just carved out massive blocks the size of a person.
“I think that it should be enough,” Erik said.
Rugrat nodded as he did some mental calculations. Three Sky stones and 467 Earth, with 891 Mortal in total?
“I hope so,” Rugrat said.
“Your guide is a woman called Oilella. She should be able to take you to Arman. I have organized her through a trading contact, telling her that you’re traders looking to go and see the sights. One-way trip. She’ll cost eight Earth mana stones. When you meet her, say it’s a nice day for a stroll in the rain. She will reply, I hear Arman is nice this time of year.”
“Damn codewords,” Rugrat complained.
Elan pushed a picture forward of the woman and the two of them memorized her features.
“They work,” Erik said.
“What’s the situation in Arman?”
“Arman is a competition ground. The city is tiny most of the time, but when the different sects in the area want to compete, they go to Arman to do so. The population of the city is about four hundred to five hundred thousand. With the competitions, the number of people in the city doubles to a million or more. This is a map of the city.”
He pulled out a map; they took it and added it to their own maps.
“I have highlighted the different trading areas. Each sect takes over an area, with the traders who are allied with them setting up in there and neutral traders having a few other locations. These can be people who found a rare item but don’t have anywhere to sell it, or they’re not big enough to interest the sects, and so on.
“Then there are the auction houses. The Blue Lotus has locations within the academies and sect’s headquarters as well as their own cities for trading. At Arman, it will be all local grown auctions. The sects may host their own, or the people of Arman will. The biggest auctions are held by the Black Willow auction house. It is an anonymous trading house. Everyone’s identities are hidden unless they choose to reveal them. All kinds of objects are on sale there. The main competitions will involve formations, woodworking, tailoring, and fighting, but the main attractions will be healing, smithing, and beast husbandry.”
“Beast husbandry?” Erik asked.
“Rearing animals, strengthening them, making them your own mounts—it is the beast tamer skill,” Elan said.
“All of that is under beast tamer?” Erik asked.
“Don’t you have the skill with Gilly and George?”
Erik and Rugrat looked at each other and shook their heads.
“I guess that makes sense. You didn’t tame them; they willingly became your contracted beasts. If you were able to get a beast to submit to you, then you would get the skill. Having a beast bound to you and you bound to them with a soul contract means that you can raise other beasts but you won’t be able to make a soul contract with any other beast unless yours dies.”
“Where did you get all of this information from?” Erik asked.
“When I was younger, we raised animals and I learned about it. Just a passing interest—learned more of it as I got older.”
“So there should be more manuals on animal husbandry and smithing and healing?” Rugrat asked.
“Yes, but it means that the competition for these items will be fiercer. I would suggest getting items not related to these three disciplines. They’ll be cheaper. Then head to another competition with different main skill competitions and then get the books there,” Elan said.
“Who are the groups there?”
“There is the Divine Sunset sect, who specialize in destroying everything. They’re largely assassins, but they use formations in their attacks and beasts to increase their fighting strength. Golden Path sect is one of the sects that focus on crafting, or following the golden path, as they say. They have links to the associations. They’re arrogant as hell, but they have the strength behind them to be so. The Agate Sword sect—formations, smithing, and swords are their main crafts. They’re a sect of sword users. They also have a lot of healers and a few alchemists to help temper their fighters and make sure they don’t die in training.
“The Soul Hammer sect: they cultivate the mind and heart. They’re weapon making demons, woodworking and smiths. They’re usually the winners of these competitions. Rarely talk to others or even one another. And the women of the Silver Garnet sect, the smallest of all the sects at this fight—they take women in and teach them the arts of crafting. They focus on beast tamer and tailoring skills to augment their illusion spells. Their strength comes from working together. It’s said that they all have a similar constitution and look similar. Some say that they’re all just twins of the original sect leader, created through some forbidden art. They’ve got formidable fighting formations, their clothes serving to enhance their magical power and the beasts to give them close range support. Pissing off one is pissing them all off.
“Well, that can go for them all. If you get into a fight or altercation, end it in a way so that they would look like they’re sullying their reputation to deal with you. These are proud people. Reputation is more important to them than anything. Thankfully, you two are shameless, so you should be fine. Also, although they are arrogant, they put a lot more thought into attacking someone. These are all-powerful figures—they plan out their actions, gather information and plot before they act.”
“So a smile now and a knife in the back later,” Erik said.
“Saying we’re shameless?” Rugrat asked.
“Exactly,” Elan said, apparently answering both of their questions at once.
“Relationships?”
“They all hate one another in degrees. The Soul Hammer and Silver Garnet are close. Same for Divine Sunset and Golden Path. These two groups also hate one another: Soul Hammer against Golden Path, and Silver Garnet against Divine Sunset. The Agate sect is the strongest sect but they mostly keep to themselves, focus on developing their strength. On the surface, at least. They’re playing a political game underneath: keep the other sects fighting, allowing them to use the competition to increase the strength of their people without getting caught up in costly rivalries, decreasing the strength of the other groups.”
“Smart,” Erik said.
“And dangerous,” Elan reminded them and pulled out folders. “This is the basic information on the sects and a few of the important players.”
Erik and Rugrat looked over the folders as well as the drawn images of the different people. There were elders, crafters who were held in high regard, different star students who were on the rise and had plenty of people looking out for them.
The list was long, so Erik and Rugrat split them up between them.
Elan worked on his own reports and continued to pass his orders and messages to his information network and agents.
“How is your network going?” Erik asked as he was reading.
“As you said, I used some of the people who decided that the military wasn’t for them and others who were looking for a challenge, and had them build up their own networks or placed them into networks that were established but needed someone to maintain them. For other contacts, they don’t even really know who they’re working for. They think that we’re another group and eagerly supply us with information, trying to get at people they don’t like. The Fourth Realm has become our new base of power as there are people going to the Third Realm to get Alchemy products. People from the higher realms come here to fight and crafters from here move between the Earth realms with ease. A word in the right ear, the right pressure in the right places—we’ve extended our reach all the way to the Seventh Realm, where the Sha leadership is located.”
“Oh?” Erik and Rugrat looked up.
“The leader of the sect has a strange interest in buildings and aesthetics. These are images of the buildings he lives in.” Elan put forward an image.
“That looks…” Rugrat said.
“Pretty European. That’s a lot of sandstone-looking building and then there’s gold all over it. And the garden is all made to look pretty. Is there a formation in all of that?”
“There might be, but if it is, then it’s probably buried underground,” Rugrat said.
“Reminds me of that fancy French palace,” Erik said.
“Fancy French palace? When were you in France?”
“Second wife.”
“Ah! The V palace something?” Rugrat said.
“Versailles?”
“Wasn’t that a battle or something from the First World War?”
“I think they made the treaty there to end the First World War,” Erik said.
“So, then this guy might be French?” Rugrat asked.
“Old, old French. They’re still using front loaders and he built a palace instead of apartments or something like it. Maybe they wanted a bit of France?”
“Or maybe they like role-playing period pieces?” Rugrat said.
“Well, it pretty much yells that they’re from Earth,” Erik said.
“And they started to appear nearly three hundred years ago.” Rugrat sat back in his chair. “So this guy had to have come from Earth a long time ago.”
“Maybe coming over here, time gets messed with?” Erik asked.
“That’s pretty weak,” Rugrat drawled.
“Right. Let’s assume he came here a few hundred years ago.”
“Then that would make sense. For them, this is modern. They only had front loaders around then. Also, if people disappeared from Earth, there wasn’t news and internet so it might just be ignored and the information disappear,” Rugrat said.
“Well…” Erik scratched his head and held his chin as he tried to find any flaws in Rugrat’s logic. “Yeah, it makes sense. Though do we want to reach out, or wait?”
“Wait. Just because we’re from the same place doesn’t mean that we’ll agree on everything. If we don’t have the strength and he wants what we have, he could destroy everything we’ve set up in Vuzgal,” Rugrat said.
“Keep them under observation but do nothing for now.”
“Understood,” Elan said.
“You memorized your people?” Erik asked.
“Yeah,” Rugrat said.
“Fifth Realm?” Erik asked.
“Hell yeah.” Rugrat grinned.
Erik and Rugrat stood.
“You’ll find your guide in the Black Boar Wayside Inn,” Elan said, giving them both waypoints.
“Call if you need us,” Rugrat said.
The two of them walked out of the room.
Rugrat shifted his armor around, making sure it was on properly, checking his gear was all ready to go before he let his cloak cover it all again.
“Good?” Erik asked. He had done the same check.
“Yeah, let’s git ’er done,” Rugrat said.
They headed out and walked through the city. In their cloaks, no one paid them much attention—just two more people in Vuzgal.
“Vermire should be making a move soon to create that central range trading city,” Rugrat said, using his sound transmission device so no one would be able to hear them.
“They have the necessary support?” Erik asked.
“Yeah. Jasper has even passed on his recommendation that we hire some of the guards, give them opportunities to go to the higher realms or join the First Army. Their strength is much higher than others in the First Realm and they’re just restrained by the power there,” Rugrat said.
“What’s the plan with Vermire?” Erik asked.
“Make the city?”
“No, like the end plan. Do we want them to control all of the outposts there? Create a country? What?”
Rugrat drew in a breath through his teeth before letting it out slowly. “Have them take over the outposts, put them all under his control, and our control. Turn it into our territory, have them remain neutral on the surface, but underneath they’re our agents.”
“Makes sense. They can be our protection and our sword in the First Realm,” Erik said.
“You talked about the healing houses…anything happening on that front?” Rugrat asked as they wove through people who came together and then spread out as they passed different stalls with intriguing items.
“I had lands set aside for them. Many of them have been busy studying. When we come back, I want to move them into the healing locations across the city and into the Battle Arena.”
“What about the other healing houses or sects that deal in healing?”
“Most of them won’t try to offer their services to people outside of their sect, much like how alchemists won’t look to sell outside of the sect if they can help it, looking to improve their own strength before others. Never know on the Fourth Realm who might be your friend one day and your enemy the next,” Erik said.
“So with us healing them?” Rugrat drawled on.
“With us healing them, then the healing houses will get more people to come over, like how the Healer’s Association have the largest transient populations within the cities they’ve set up in and are one of the largest powers in the Fourth Realm.”
“They didn’t join the Associations’ Circle, though?” Rugrat said.
“No, they didn’t. We are a crafting city and for them, that doesn’t bring as much business. The Battle Arena increases the number of people who are hurt, but still it’s not as much as the big fights that happen all across the realm. They’ve positioned their cities in the middle of the lands that have the most conflicts.”
“If we start healing people and bringing them here, will they get pissed?”
“We’re just doing it because they’re not. Even if they do, then they can create a branch here. They can’t really affect us much. We’ve got alliances with most of the associations anyway and our supplies come from the traders. They would have to lock down the entire realm to try to cut off our supplies; then we could just get them from the higher realms. And we’re a crafting city—we produce items and we’ve got a ton of raw materials coming in from the dungeons and the valley. The alchemists wouldn’t be too happy with having their supplies cut off,” Erik said.
“I guess it pays to have allies,” Rugrat said.
“If we don’t have the power, we need to leverage the people who do have power.”
“That some Sun Tzu quote?”
“Maybe? No idea. Just sounded right.” Erik shrugged.
They were near the Black Boar. There were all kinds of people looking around as they entered the city, taking it all in. Others were leaving or coming in, their expressions and actions showing that they’d done so tens of times before.
Erik moved to the side of the road. Rugrat frowned as he did so as well.
Erik waved to a server. “Two teas please,” he said.
“West?” Rugrat asked.
“She’s not going anywhere.” Erik took a seat.
Rugrat took the seat opposite, looking over the people in the shop and then the people moving along the streets.
Traders were guided out of the totem defenses and sent down the larger transport roads, heading to the warehouses to unload their goods that would be shipped across the city.
There were people of all kinds, with clothes that spanned styles of the Earth realm: The cold-eyed fighters, the open-eyed youngsters. The hopefuls looking at their new future. Scions with money to spend, on top of their powerful mounts or riding in ornate carriages.
Traders called out goods while restaurants filled up with people who had just arrived or were awaiting their time slot to leave the city.
The light around the totem never stopped flashing as people entered and left in a constant stream.
There was a group of the Vuzgal Defense Force patrolling. They held repeaters and the special armor and helmets of the Vuzgal military.
The fighters looked at them with scorn or sized them up for a fight. But under it, there was a respect as they looked at their weapons and the two skeletons that walked behind them, one encased in powerful armor with a high Journeyman-level sword, the other wearing a mage’s robes, rings, and finery.
“Even though we’ve been able to train them up, we’ll need more time to increase their attribute strength,” Rugrat said.
Erik followed his eyes over. “Yes, but we’ve expanded in numbers rapidly over the last couple of months. Once we increase their strength, we need to send them out to real fights. Otherwise, if we need them in a real fight, they’ll only be guards.”
“Who would we fight? We don’t have any real big enemies,” Rugrat said.
“We don’t? What about the Willful Institute and the Stone Fist sect? The Willful Institute don’t know who we are but after what they did to Domonos and they tried to kill us as well…” Erik said.
Rugrat’s eyes chilled.
“Elan is looking into it,” Erik said.
“What do we do if we destroy them?”
“Auction off the cities. We don’t need them—resources we do,” Erik said. “The Stone Fist sect must know that we did something, or that I did something. Mira acted after I met her and then when Chonglu reappeared again, here in Vuzgal, as the Battle Arena manager, with both of his children attending the academy.”
“Will we need to deal with them or will Mira?” Rugrat said.
“If we can work with the Fighter’s Association, even better—bring us closer. They’re a group we want to have on our side. They raise the strongest fighters in the Ten Realms.”
Erik went quiet as the tea arrived.
Erik paid the server and Rugrat took a glass.
“Thanks.” Rugrat then sipped on the tea.
They fell into silence, enjoying the tea and watching the world go by in front of them.
“We were lucky enough to find the right people to manage all of this while we’re gone,” Rugrat said.
“Elise is developing the trade within the city and using the trading interface on behalf of the city to make massive profits. The Sky Reaching Restaurant is controlled by the cooking department. The academy is an arm of the Kanesh Academy in Alva. Yui and Domonos have been able to train up people to take over the training of new recruits, increasing the Vuzgal Defense Force and take in new members in to the First Army,” Erik said.
“Who are able to operate on their own, clearing out the Earth floor. But I heard that they hit a problem?”
“Yeah, the creatures weren’t the threat—the plants were. So they’ve been trying to create a napalm-like concoction with the alchemists to burn down the forests on the floor.” Erik sipped his tea.
“You seem pretty calm about it.”
“I read a report from Fehim. If they burn the floor to the ground, then it can clear it all for new plants to be grown. We’ve been losing farming land to building on the Alva floor. We can turn the entire Earth floor into one big farming area: Alchemy at the center, food on the exterior. The floor is almost twice the size of the Alva floor. Without buildings in the way, it’ll be a lot easier to manage for the farmers and alchemists. Also, it shows that Glosil is thinking outside the box. Instead of fighting his way through, he’s using the resources of Alva to make it easier on him and the First Army.”
Rugrat sipped his tea and looked at the colorful street again. “What a damn life we live.” Rugrat laughed, before his thoughts turned deeper. “What do you think we would have been doing back on Earth?”
Erik’s hand stilled as he was raising his cup to his mouth. He continued the motion, draining most of it in a shot.
“Being a one-armed bandit,” Erik said.
Rugrat grimaced internally, he’d half forgotten the state Erik had been in before they made it to the ten realms.
“My bad,” Rugrat said.
Erik waved off his apology and let out a sigh.
“If I had all my limbs still, fighting for someone else’s war, just trying to keep ourselves and our friends alive. Riding the adrenaline wave, trying to make the world a bit better with our actions, or at least safer for the people we’re protecting. Maybe wasting away in Colorado, catching up on my fishing and hunting, reading a bit here and there. Maybe get a few dogs. Take up a hobby? I doubt it though, always thought that I would die with my boots on.”
“Amen to that brother,” Rugrat said, raising his glass to the other man in salute. He drank from it and the table became silent, each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts.
“We live for this, don’t we?” Rugrat asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The fighting, the challenges, the crushing stress: the fear of failure, running that line of chaos and destruction. Somehow we made it to this point and got to this place but we’re not sitting back, getting comfortable, raking in the mana stones. Instead, we’re heading to the Fifth Realm, to see what’s there, getting art books to increase our strength, our people’s strength and go further. What’re we gonna do at the end of it all?”
“Who knows. We’ll find that out when we get there. There’s still plenty of the realms to see, and I like helping out the little people.” Erik drank his tea and put down the empty glass. “We aren’t even halfway there yet.”
Rugrat chuckled and finished his tea.
They left the tea shop and walked toward the Black Boar.
Rugrat saw Oilella first, nudging Erik as they moved across the tavern to a woman sitting back and sipping a beer. She had tanned skin from being caught out in the sun for too long. Her hair was pulled back into braids, with pieces of metal and jewelry weaved into them.
“It’s a nice day for a stroll in the rain.”
She smiled lazily as she put down her beer. “I hear Arman is nice this time of year.”
“You ready to leave?” Rugrat asked.
“Yes. And the payment?”
Erik pulled out a bag that clinked as he put it on the table.
She looked inside. A glow appeared on her face as the surrounding mana increased slightly. She put it away.
“Shall we?” She smiled, pulling on her worn cloak and then pulling on a small pack with different items hanging off it.
She tossed a few Mortal mana stones on the table and adjusted the goggles on her head.
“After you,” Rugrat said.
She led the way through the inn’s bar and toward the totem.
“So first time to Arman?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Erik said.
“Well, should be some good trading there with the competition, though still not as nice as Vuzgal. This place is the trading mecca of the Earth Realm—neutral, crafters all over the place, food, real food, Battle Arena, and increased mana. Though expensive place to try to get some land. The city lords won’t even open it up, just renting it to people, but everyone is willing to pay it. Even have rent auctions. Those people who came in and got their places first could just rent out their land again—they could make a killing!
“Have you ever seen the southern wilderness? They say it’s wild but there’s just a lot of beasts. It’s warm all year round. Even in the cold months, it’s the same as the northern regions summer months!
“I heard that more of the Sky Reaching Restaurants will be opening soon—say that they had to hire enough cooks for them, but then only one in five people who applied made it through to become chefs. And most of them still aren’t high enough skill level for the restaurants. I had a meal in there once. Took me two hours to eat one meal, just so good!”
Oilella kept on like that, continuing her own conversation for their benefit as Erik and Rugrat nodded and made noises as if they were listening.
Damn, she can talk more than my cousin Samantha!
They got to the totem. Oilella accessed the menu and destination with practiced hands.
Light surrounded them and they were in a new city.
A torrential downpour soaked Erik and Rugrat in moments.
Elan is probably laughing his ass off, Rugrat thought darkly as Oilella led them over to the gates leading into the city.
“Welcome to Arman and to the Fifth Realm!” Oilella smiled, perfectly happy in the rain.
***
Once they went through the gate, they went their separate ways. Erik and Rugrat looked over the streets.
Rain came down everywhere. The sun was still high in the sky.
“Damn. Feels like the Florida swamps,” Rugrat said.
“I hate the humidity.” Erik’s shirt was already sticking to him even though he wore his waterproof cloak.
“Markets?” Rugrat asked.
“Let’s check when the auction halls are open. They’ll have the most valuable items. We hit those up when they’re going on. In the meantime, we go looking for art and art manuals,” Erik said.
“All right.”
The two of them trudged through the rain.
“See those people with the red and yellow glowing crest?”
“The nuclear fallout-looking one?”
“Yeah, those are the Sunset boys. And the girls with the veils who are dry even with all this—they’re the Silver Garnets. Left breast.”
Erik saw the silver garnets that shone brighter than silver as they caught the light.
“I thought garnets were red and green,” Erik said.
“Dude, really? This is the Ten Realms, after all,” Rugrat said.
“Yeah, that was pretty dumb of me,” Erik said.
They reached their first auction house, looking at the sign that told them about the items that would be up for auction and when the auction would be held.
They saw two groups yelling at one another.
“Soul Hammer and the Golden Path sect,” Erik said.
“Seems like some kind of argument,” Rugrat said.
“You came in and stole the Miod sand! We saw you prowling the area and you must’ve crossed the border and come into our territory to steal our sand!”
“Really? Who calls themselves a crafter and doesn’t have tools to harvest some sand?” the other asked, looking down on the other man.
“You!” the Golden Path sect yelled as he drew out a hammer.
“Smith?” Erik asked.
“Ten bucks,” Rugrat said.
“Really, you draw a hammer to fight us?” the Soul Hammer crafter said, his eyes dead and disdain heavy.
“You’re the lowlife here! Repay back our sand and your trespass!”
“What is that saying? Fortune favors the strong? Well, I don’t see anyone who is strong enough for me to give them my fortune.”
“You!” The Golden Path sect group couldn’t take it any longer and rushed the Soul Hammer sect, who drew their weapons as well.
The Golden Path had momentum, but the Soul Hammer looked at them with the same bored eyes. Although the Golden Path sect were filled with emotions, the Soul Hammers were devoid of them.
Mana was stirred up in the air and the rain was tossed back. The strength of the blows was enough to shake the Fifth Realm houses and clear the rain from the sky above.
Erik and Rugrat watched.
“Looks like a hammer art—heats up the hammer. Would be good when smithing,” Rugrat said as the Soul Hammer man struck forward with his glowing hammer, only to have their opponent jump to the side and then send out a kick.
Their face twisted.
“Well, seems that they can still feel pain,” Erik said.
“Who is creating trouble!” A voice called from above as a group arrived on beasts, wearing powerful weapons and armor.
“Shit! It’s the Arman guards,” one of the Golden Path members said as everyone distanced themselves.
“Time we were going?” Rugrat said.
They headed down an alleyway, not wanting to get caught up in whatever was next, making their way to the next auction house.
“Well, with the guards being strong enough to restrain the sects, it helps keep everything running and manageable here,” Erik said.
“Well, I don’t know if anyone that strong is really manageable,” Rugrat said.
“You might have a point.” Erik grinned.
***
“Why do I have to look after it?” Tan Xue asked.
“You’re the highest level person in the academy,” Taran said.
“Come on. But you’re better at this stuff than me!”
“Uh, nope! I’ve got enough to deal with back home,” Taran said.
“You just don’t want to be the leader!”
“Look, Jia Feng is sending you a proper assistant to run things and you just need to be the power behind them. Don’t you already get a ton of resources and aid?” Taran said.
“Yes, but!” Tan Xue wanted to complain more but she couldn’t, making her just pout more.
“That’s what I thought,” Taran said.
Tan Xue groaned. “Why me?”
“We’re not doing this again,” Taran said.
There was a knock at the smithy door.
“Come in!” Taran said before Tan Xue could say anything.
The door opened to reveal Hiao Xen.
“I thought that I might be able to find you here. Experts Karlo Savic and Bai Guo are here. I was wondering if you would greet them with me, Academy Head?”
Tan Xue shot a look at Taran. “I won’t get any smithing done!”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll get the first art technique books!” Taran waved her away as he looked at the item he was working on in the forge.
“Heartless!” Tan Xue said.
Hiao Xen nodded to Taran, who gave him a thumbs up.
“Who are Karlo Savic and Bai Guo?”
“Karlo Savic is a formations master. He fell in love with a girl he wasn’t supposed to and his family turned on him. He has had many offers but he wants to just work and live with his wife. Bai Guo is a smith. He was a powerful figure, focused on his smithing, but there was a girl, a student who liked him, and he didn’t like her back. She wanted to bring them together so she drugged him and said that he took her forcefully.
“Her family was powerful and they took it badly. It had been started and she couldn’t stop it at that point.
“He had never been really liked. He had an odd personality. Those who wanted to see his downfall turned on him.
“His cultivation was destroyed. He was castrated. They used poisons for his wounds so that they’re impossibly hard to heal. They mangled his hands and burned his eyes, scarring and cutting him so he would only hear people screaming in horror as he passes. It’s not a pretty sight,” Hiao Xen said.
“What did the girl do?”
“She disappeared. No one knows where she went. Some accused him of kidnapping her; others said he killed her. It was impossible because he was recovering from his wounds. Elan found him and we brought him here after he agreed to be a teacher.”
“His wounds?”
“I don’t know if they will ever be fixed, but then I have never seen a healer like Erik before,” Hiao Xen said.
Tan Xue let out a sigh. It wasn’t long until they reached a meeting hall for the academy grounds.
Waiting for them was Julilah and Qin.
“I guess that you have heard about the Expert formations master, Karlo Savic?”
“Is he here?” Julilah asked.
“Never interested in boys, but now you’re chasing a married man?” Tan Xue tutted.
“It’s not like that! And who said I’m not interested in men!?” Julilah said.
Immediately, Tan Xue had more questions she wasn’t sure she wanted answers to.
“Don’t hound him too much,” Tan Xue said, leaving her questions unasked.
Karlo Savic stood as the duo entered the room.
“Expert Savic, this is Expert Tan Xue and the head of this academy,” Hiao Xen introduced.
“Your academy is indeed impressive. I am looking forward to looking at it more,” Karlo Savic said with a nod.
“Thank you. I know there are a number of people within the formations department who are eager to learn from you.”
“Oh?” Interest sparked in Karlo’s eyes.
“Our background in formations is not that deep but we have been able to raise a number of Journeyman formation masters who are eager to learn more and make that final step into the realm of Expert, as you have done,” Tan Xue said. “Hiao Xen did inform you of the rewards that come with every person who you are able to assist in becoming an Expert, right?”
“I am sorry. I was in too much of a rush,” Hiao Xen said with a short laugh.
“It is no worry. You are busy running the city,” Tan Xue said. Everything that she was saying was part of a plan, one part to make him feel the competition from others looking to get his spot and then also show him the rewards for helping other people. One would cause him to grow, the other make sure that he wouldn’t stunt the growth of others.
“With every Expert you are able to raise, you would receive six months of your salary as a bonus, including resources. These can be claimed immediately as resources or as supplies, as with all of the resources and mana stones laid down in your contract.”
“Oh,” Karlo said, trying to sound only mildly interested.
But Tan Xue could see the light in his eyes.
“Now, I would be a decent guide but Julilah and Qin are the top two formation experts and they would be more than pleased to show you around the academy and allow you to get to know one another,” Tan Xue offered. Ugh, sounds too much like a date. I don’t want to think of Julilah on a date! Now I can’t not think about her on a date! Who is this boy who she likes?
“Thank you,” Karlo said.
Hiao Xen sent a sound transmission and the two girls appeared.
“It is good to meet you, Expert Savic,” they both said, cupping their hands and bowing.
“I’ll leave you to it. Please let me know if you have any troubles,” Tan Xue said.
“Thank you, Head Tan.” Karlo cupped his fist to her.
She gave him a slight nod and then headed out of the room with Hiao Xen.
He guided her to another room.
Tan Xue opened the door and saw a man wearing red clothes. His face was wrapped, covering his features. His hands were hidden in his sleeves.
“Expert Bai Guo, my name is Expert Tan Xue. I am also a blacksmith Expert and head of this academy. I thank you for accepting our invitation. I believe that there is a lot that the students and I can learn from you,” Tan Xue said.
“Another Expert blacksmith.” Bai Guo nodded. “That will be good. I have lost the skills to smith, but with your ability then you can surpass my ability.”
He sounded unemotional, as if passing on his teachings were a mechanical process.
“I hope that we can assist each other. Though I do not currently have any smithing arts.”
“Currently? Which means that you have a way of obtaining them.”
Tan Xue couldn’t see through his bandages, but from the way they moved, she believed he was smiling.
“I might not be able to increase my smithing skill, but through others I can do so. The teaching, more than the benefits, are what interested me,” Bai Guo said honestly. “I was a high-level Expert for forty years, and a mid-level Expert smith for fifty, a low grade for thirty. Now I don’t have much time. With my cultivation crippled, my body is starting to fail and I have some eighty years left being in a high mana environment like Vuzgal, before the Ten Realms are done with me.”
“Do you want to fight your former sect?” Tan Xue asked.
“There was a time that I wanted to burn them to the ground. I still despise them, but I guess it was because I cared more about smithing than people. I was aloof and arrogant. I kept away from them, aiming to improve. I stepped over people and used them. So when they had the opportunity, they all turned on me. My emotions…are complicated when it comes to them. There are certain people I hate, but this is my situation and I will not be able to change it anytime in the future. Maybe one of my students will be able to go on and make them apologize, but I have no expectations. Taking a step back from smithing, I realize how much I enjoyed it and didn’t fully appreciate the enjoyment and sense of purpose it gave me. Now my new purpose is teaching others. I will not create issues with my old sect without seeking permission.”
“That is good to know. I thank you for joining us,” Tan Xue said, standing to let him go.
“Well, I have nothing that I am doing now, unless you have something else. What were those burning questions?”
“Well…” Tan Xue slid back down into her seat.
Hiao Xen stood and headed out of the room as Tan Xue started.
“I want to make a weapon with a formation in it at one time, just a simple one but I haven’t been able to do it.”
“How are you adding the formation?”
“Using my hammer and chisel.”
“See, there are smithing arts to allow you to add a specific formation to a weapon. I believe them to be a waste of time—flashy practice to make an enchanted weapon in one shot. But there is a reason that the formation master and smithing skill are two different skills. Make the weapon, then add a formation. When you start and when you finish, the product may be very different; use all of your smithing skill, then all of your formation skill. Work the metal in the smithing portion so that it will be better suited for a formation, but do not make that the sole purpose.
“It’s like an ornate sword. A sword is ugly but it functions. A sword can be beautiful, but because it has had so much metal removed, it is weak and prone to breaking.
“Formations augment and increase the power of the sword. The strongest metal, the perfect fire, the right enhancers—pour all of your smithing skill into it. Smith the ever-loving crap out of that weapon, then add in a formation that takes that weapon to the next stage. Some people say that Expert smiths can forge complete blades in one go. Yeah, a crappy one, maybe a Master-level smith or a Star-level smith could.”
Hiao Xen closed the door behind him, leaving them to talk.