The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

21.00/s

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  Skill: Hand-to-Hand

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  Level: 61 (Journeyman)

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  Attacks cost 20% less Stamina. Agility is increased by 10%.

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  “Something bothering you?”

  “My hand-to-hand hasn’t increased. Khasar said that it would only increase if I defeated my opponent, or if I were to display a technique. I guess it is like spells: if you create a powerful spell and use it, then you can get Experience. The same must go for techniques,” Erik said.

  They made it to Old Hei’s training quarters. The guards let them past and they found Old Hei reviewing a formula and checking the various containers in front of him, checking the ingredients contained within.

  He looked over as they came in. “Good morning!” Old Hei said.

  “Excited to be making a new concoction?” Erik asked.

  “Of course! Never mind the administration! I came here for the resources!” Old Hei laughed.

  Delilah rolled her eyes. “And everyone else thinks that you’re alchemist sages.”

  “We’re all still people.” Old Hei winked as he put the items back into his storage ring. “Come on, let’s have breakfast and discuss!”

  They went out of the training room and sat on a balcony, suspended some thirty floors above the ground. It was a small garden with formations placed down so only a slight refreshing breeze rolled across the balcony and it drew in mana to nurture Old Hei’s personal plants.

  They sat down at a table filled with delicacies that had been specially prepared by the Sky Reaching Restaurant.

  Instead of using ingredients to make concoctions, they combined them together to create meals that although they wouldn’t give an immediate boost to one’s stats, the effects lasted much longer and tasted a lot better.

  “So how have your supplemental classes been?” Hei picked up different delicacies from the table and placed them on his plate.

  “I have been attending the information lectures to increase my knowledge as well as purchasing information books and adding them to my skill book. As you said, I tested out the different ingredients to make sure that my own findings matched those of the different ingredients found in the books,” Delilah said, also taking different pieces from the array of food.

  “Good. Then, next, you should work in the gardens, tending to the different plants there and caring for them, to increase your practical knowledge,” Old Hei said.

  Delilah had a sly smile on her face as she nodded.

  What would Old Hei think if he knew the kinds of ingredients we had growing in Alva, or in the dungeon hidden underneath the Sky Reaching Restaurant? Erik’s eyes flitted over to the tower in the distance. It was the second tallest building, shorter than the Alchemist Association buildings.

  “How have your concoctions been going, Erik?”

  Erik grimaced, letting out a strained smile. “Not that good,” Erik admitted as he put down his tea.

  “Oh, why?” Old Hei put down his chopsticks and looked at Erik with a serious expression.

  “I have been focusing on making concoctions to temper my body with Earth mana. My control is good and I can make mid Journeyman-level concoctions with ease. High Journeyman concoctions are harder, but it is when I am making half-step Expert concoctions I find that I am lacking in mana,” Erik said.

  “Lacking in mana? What is your Mana Gathering Cultivation?” Old Hei asked.

  “I am close to forming my mana core,” Erik admitted.

  “Close to—how close?” Old Hei’s tone dropped as his eyes narrowed and he raised one eyebrow.

  “I could break through at any moment but I am suppressing myself.”

  “Why?” Old Hei asked, a bizarre look in his eyes.

  “Like Rugrat, I want to be able to refine out all the kinds of mana that I absorb,” Erik said.

  “You—” Old Hei smacked Erik on the back of the head. “Weren’t you listening to anything I said about body tempering? The Mana Gathering Cultivation system, once reaching the core stages, is not about the elemental attribute mana, but rather removing the impure mana within one’s body and compressing it constantly to increase one’s available power. Which is then released through one’s body in the Mana Heart stage.” Old Hei looked at Erik, who nodded.

  “With the Body Cultivation, after going through the foundational temperings of Body Like Stone, one then tempers their body with high affinity mana, incorporating it into their body, storing it in their body. Mana Gathering, those impurities are a poison; Body Cultivation, they’re a strength. Now most either go down the path of either one. If you want Body Cultivation, the more impurities the better; Mana Gathering, the less impurities the better.

  “Rugrat’s body purifies the mana and allows it to enter his body, increasing his Body Cultivation without him knowing it. But it is at a low rate; most of it is just released from his body. Now, if you were to absorb mana, it would hurt like hell, but it would temper your body, becoming a nourishment, drawing that mana out of your mana channels and your core. Now look into your mana drops and your channels, look for any Fire-attribute mana.”

  Erik turned his gaze into his body. There was no Fire-attribute mana to be found within his mana channels.

  “Now look into your muscles.” Old Hei guided Erik.

  Erik examined his muscles. There in the muscles he could feel a hidden heat, an explosive power within his muscles.

  He had studied the changes in his body, but since the last time he had checked, the power of Fire within his muscles had only increased.

  “What?”

  “Do you remember what part of your Body Cultivation quest said? Look up your title,” Old Hei said.

  Erik did sheepishly, having a bad feeling.

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  Title: Fire Body

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  You have tempered your body with Fire. Fire has become a part of you, making your body take on some of its characteristics.

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  Legendary Fire resistance.

  Increased control over Fire Mana.

  Physical attacks contain Fire attribute.

  Can completely purify the Fire attribute in Mana.

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  “Can completely purify the Fire attribute in mana,” Erik said.

  Old Hei focused on him and blinked a few times as if having trouble digesting just what he had heard.

  Delilah rolled her eyes and poured Old Hei tea before herself as Erik had already served himself.

  “Now, you know most people don’t get a title for getting their Body Like Iron cultivation, only someone who maniacally tempers their body completely is able to do that. You know, I thought that someone who did that might, you know, read everything.”

  “So you’re saying that I should break through?” Erik asked.

  Old Hei took a few moments, looking up to gain strength before he continued.

  “If you will do no less than completely temper your body and get these titles, then you could cultivate any and all mana and it would increase your Mana Gathering Cultivation and increase your Body Cultivation. You could use the concoctions and then also cultivate the Earth-attribute mana, directly injecting it into your bones, and refining the remaining mana into your core. Then, as you reach the next stage of Metal, you can use the Metal element mana in your core to increase your Body Cultivation all the way, so that it then stores that power within your body, instead of in your core. If you do not get the titles, then you should increase your Mana Gathering Cultivation with pure mana. But knowing your insane focus on completing everything, I doubt you’d want to do that,” Old Hei said.

  “So I should compress and form my core, then draw in any kind of mana to compress my core, to use it later to temper my body?”

  “Yes,” Old Hei said, sounding pained at having to explain everything to Erik.

  “Though I think I had a breakt
hrough,” Erik said.

  Old Hei sipped his tea and waved for Erik to continue.

  “I thought that techniques were just ways to create concoctions, and they are, but I didn’t realize that a part of it was actually using the Ten Realms to help, combining physical actions with using the power of the Ten Realms.”

  Old Hei cracked a smile. “Oh?”

  “What are you hiding?” Erik asked.

  “Well, I guess you would find out after getting this far, but if you want to concoct Expert-level concoctions, then you will most likely need to use techniques to control the powerful forces at play,” Old Hei said.

  Erik thought back to when he had assisted Old Hei with the Mana Channel Revitalization pill. When he had been watching, he hadn’t reached a high enough understanding to figure out just what Old Hei was doing. Now, with his new knowledge, thinking back to that scene, he saw discrepancies with the mana he was using, his movements, and the way that the ingredients reacted.

  Erik closed his eyes, using his skill book to recall everything that he had seen that day, comparing it against the other times that he had seen concoctions being made.

  “Techniques are part of using external mana,” Old Hei said.

  “Alchemy blends the movements of the body, the control over one’s own mana and techniques of these both to create alchemical concoctions,” Erik said.

  “Right,” Old Hei said.

  Erik felt as if he had many revelations today. He started to jot down notes on a pad of paper. He had progressed far but he’d been able to surpass a big barrier to his progress.

  Erik put his notes away and calmed his mind. He looked at his mana core. It was on the cusp, the last two mana drops opposite the three other combined mana drops.

  He retracted his senses, a look of excitement on his face. “Thank you, Old Hei,” Erik said.

  Old Hei waved off Erik’s thanks. “Aren’t you helping me in making a high Expert-level pill? If I can make it repeatedly then I can head to the higher Realms!” Hei grinned.

  Erik only smiled. He had long ago accepted that there was no way that he would be able to thank Old Hei for his help and would help out the other man in any way possible.

  “Make sure that you take care Erik, while in the lower realms you have a lot of power, its nothing to those in the higher realms. The Ten realms are unforgiving.”

  “Do you know something about the higher realms?” Erik asked. Information on higher than the seventh realm was limited, what they knew of the seventh realm was spotty by itself.

  “I know only what I’ve seen,” Old Hei said in a deep voice.

  “Old Hei, it sounds like you’re just talking in riddles now.” Erik chuckled, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

  “Maybe I am—I hope I am—but don’t you find it odd how the Ten Realms seem to actively be pitting us against one another so only the strongest make it to the top? The first thing you saw, didn’t it say, ‘Fortune favors the strong’?”

  Erik sunk into thought with that.

  Old Hei let out a sigh and patted his shoulder. “I know that look.”

  “What look?”

  “There are two ways to look after the people you care about. One: have something that everyone wants but can’t get, and Vuzgal isn’t that. If someone took over and the associations liked them more, then they wouldn’t be opposed. The other option is to become strong enough that no one else would dare to touch your people out of fear of retribution. Before that mess with the Blood Demon sect, it was nearly seven hundred years since someone even tried to anger one of the associations.”

  “Do the associations really reach the Tenth Realm?” Erik asked. It hadn’t been spoken but he’d assumed so.

  Old Hei looked at Erik and shrugged. “I’m just a division leader of the Third Realm. There are plenty of Expert-level crafters out there.”

  Someone who controls a third of an entire realm doesn’t really know what happens in the highest realms.

  Erik’s expression was grim. The path so far hadn’t been easy, but that didn’t mean it would be easy in the future either.

  ***

  “Where are we going?” Pegleg Jim—still called that despite the fact he was no longer missing a leg—asked Pan Kun.

  “I just have our orders,” Pan Kun muttered in response.

  Pegleg Jim lapsed into silence as the group moved through the forest.

  “Why all the secrecy?” Jim asked.

  “Did all the questions come back with getting your leg?” Pan Kun complained.

  “Just askin’,” Jim muttered.

  Pan Kun rolled his eyes before letting out a sigh. “You know how the lord has been secretly gathering more people to be guards, train them up a bit to act like us and then send us out? Well, he has a plan for something, and we’re going to learn about it.” Pan Kun stepped forward. The forest fell away and he was in a large clearing, looking at rows of tents. There were already some people lined up, being yelled at by others who Pan Kun had never seen before. But his instincts yelled at him that they were dangerous.

  One of the unknown group headed over. The man looked them over as if he had found a new and unappealing fungus. “Move it! Get into line! Officers to my left, guards to my right! Hurry up about it!”

  The others looked to Pan Kun, whose face paled as he followed the man’s orders. These must be people who had taken command of Vermire.

  Two more of the fearsome people came out, assisting the first in getting everyone into line and assembled, gathering them with the original group. Others were pulled out of the forest. More of the frightening people, these ones on mounts, dragged them into formations. They moved the guards as if they were just children.

  Pan Kun looked around. Lord Aditya had hinted that they would get support. What kind of support is this?

  Everyone was gathered up and everyone was checked. They weren’t missing anyone.

  A woman stepped out in front. She had a cold, dull expression as she looked them all over.

  “We have been hired by your lord to teach you how to fight a true battle. You will be broken down into fighting teams of five people. You will be taught how to fight and coordinate in these groups, how to fight and coordinate in a fighting squad of three fighting teams and a leader. We will form you all the way up to a fighting company, where you can all fight together, executing orders fluidly, and exert your greatest strength. I don’t have time to deal with your complaints, your bitching. You don’t have the time to do it either. Lord Aditya has a plan to unite the outposts and create a central outpost on King’s Hill. Listen to the directions of myself and my people and we will increase your combat capability as a team. About time we got started.”

  She looked to the others with her; they called people over, quickly dispersing and breaking the groups apart.

  Shit, this is going to suck, Pan Kun thought as he heard his name being called.

  Chapter: Alva’s Will

  Glosil sat in the command center of Vuzgal, talking to Domonos and Yui. He had just finished presenting their plan and they looked over the information, asking several questions before they fell silent.

  “Any more thoughts?” Glosil asked.

  “None, Commander,” Domonos said.

  “No, Commander,” Yui followed a half second later.

  “Very good. Then the plan will be for you to finish your current training of the forces here. Once that is complete, we will begin training for the operation. I intend for us to take four sections as well as the special teams in the first wave, with our remaining forces coming in and erecting the camp that will cover the teleportation formation. From there, we will then move into phase two,” Glosil said.

  “We have been able to build up a fighting force numbering close to six hundred in strength. All of them are sworn to Vuzgal and without knowing it, they are sworn to Alva as well. What if we were to bring some of them back to Alva to train there?”

  “What are you proposing?” Glosil asked.

&n
bsp; “A new training program. Those who are training will be part of the reserve army; those who have completed all of their basic training will become part of the Vuzgal Defense Force; those who have not only completed their training but have been accepted as personnel of Alva will form the First Army. They will become people of the Alva Army just like us, get access to the academies and train in Alva for part of the year, or protect our people, operating in the Adventurer’s Guild before being rotated out to operate in the Fourth Realm to temper their strength. Whether that is secretly in the Battle Arena, or by joining in with fights against groups that we see as a possible threat,” Yui said.

  Glosil held his chin in thought.

  “You bring up a problem that I have been thinking on for some time. We will try your method. Each of the current members of the Alva Army, or the new First Army, will select two or three people from the Vuzgal Defense Force to become part of the First Army. While this training session is coming to a close, we will reform the First Army to incorporate these new members. Also, I want a list of names of people who will be staying behind to train up the soldiers here. They will pick from the forces that are left to fill out their training staff,” Glosil said.

  “We want to keep the training going?” Domonos asked.

  “We have more than five thousand applicants who are sitting in apartments that we have built and are eating subsidized food we are giving them. We need to train them and find out who is here just for those benefits and who is here to be part of the military. Already our budget is dwarfing the size of others. We need to prove our worth to the people of Alva and to Erik and Rugrat. We are not the only people who can train these new soldiers.”

  “We were too short-sighted,” Yui said.

  “It is my aim to grow our military force to ten thousand this year and to triple that by the end of the next year, with each of them being the standard that we were when we entered the Fourth Realm and the members of the First Army being as strong as we are right now. I’m going to need your help to complete that goal and we will have to raise up a complete command structure. My aims are high, but I think we can complete them.”

  “Yes, sir!” Domonos and Yui nodded, eager to face the challenges ahead.