Seeing his pitiful eyes and his head cocked to one side, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.
“We’ll get there soon enough and you can get out and run around,” Tanya promised.
He still didn’t seem happy with her explanation.
They headed farther into the city and toward the totem there.
The leading merchant got off; the guards took their payment and opened the gate to the totem.
They circled the totem as the leading merchant selected a destination.
“Won’t the beasts freak out?” Tanya asked. “Tetsu nearly jumped on me when we went through the first time.”
“They’ve seen it so many times that they’re used to it now,” the trader said as light fell over them all.
The light disappeared and they were looking at a modern city with a spider web of crystals on the ceiling. A beam of light reached up into them, illuminating them.
“This is Alva, and those are the recruiters who will take care of your citizenship.” The trader pointed to a booth where a handful of people were lined up, talking to two people who checked their tokens and their identity before getting them to swear an oath.
There were armed police officers nearby, watching everything.
Tanya looked at the city and then back at the recruiters as they moved closer, the traders leaving the area around the totem.
“Oh, okay, that’s it.” The trader talked to his animals as they came to a stop and he got down. Tanya joined him.
“One Tanya Kvist for you, sent down by Rugrat. Here is her information token.” The trader pulled out a token and passed it to one of the police officers.
“Got it. You bring back any of that desert drink?”
“Should have some at the stall tomorrow!” The trader slapped the officer on the back.
“Will do. Welcome home!”
“It’s good to be back,” the trader said with a tired but happy smile. “Got to get back to it!”
The police officer nodded as he got back to his carriage and beasts, and he looked at Tanya.
“Can I take out my beast?”
“Sure,” the man said.
Tanya let Tetsu out. He stood and stretched, giving a big dog yawn before he wagged his tail happily.
Tanya took out some treats, getting him to sit before she fed him.
“Interesting beast. Powerful even though he looks like a cute sucker on the outside,” the officer said. “You’re responsible for him, so if he does wrong, it will be on you. If he attacks others without provocation, then he will have to be put down. Understood?”
“Yes,” Tanya said, moving to protect Tetsu.
“I have a beast of my own, but the rules are to protect everyone. And there are a number of powerful beasts here that could cause a lot of damage and loss of life if they turned aggressive,” the police officer said by way of apology.
“Next!” a recruiter called out.
There was no one left, so the officer walked up with a token and Tanya.
“From the higher realms—information token,” he said.
“Thank you,” the recruiter said with a small smile. She put the token into a formation and information started to appear in front of her eyes.
The totem flashed again as more people left Alva. Those seeing them off headed back to their homes.
“Name?”
“Tanya Kvist.”
“Very good. My name is Helene. To start, you will need to take an oath to Alva, then I can run you through what my job is here as well as opportunities we have here—housing, food, all of that. I am only qualified to recruit people as traders and offer positions as a trader, but I can give you general information on the academy and all other programs, or point you in the direction of those recruiters, a recent change that has happened.”
“Why?” Tanya asked.
“Once you do a job, any job long enough, you get a sense for people who would or wouldn’t be good in your field. Although we can guide people to do jobs that they aren’t suited for, they don’t need to listen to us. I’m a trader most of the time but since I got pregnant, I’ve taken to operating my business at a distance. There was a recruiter position, so it gets me away from the house and stops me from losing my mind,” Helene said with a smile.
“Oh.” Tanya smiled at Helene’s easygoing attitude.
“So, would you like information on the academy or on the traders?”
“I would like some information on the academy. Sorry, I don’t think that I would be that good of a trader,” Tanya said.
“No worries. It’s not for everyone and we prefer that you’re passionate about what you do! Now, there are stipulations for entering into the academy. You can pay to enter and pay for your costs up front, or you can take on debt and pay that off at a later date. There are classes on all of the major crafting skills, as well as classes on defending yourself with the barracks, though you will need to be a resident of Alva for a year at least or be close family of someone who is part of the Alva administration,” Helene outlined. “I’m going to guess you don’t have a place to stay?”
“I don’t,” Tanya said.
“Well, there are the Wayside Inns for those who don’t have houses in Alva. Otherwise, there are a number of homes or apartments up for sale. You can buy these, too, on a loan from the Alva Bank.”
“Could I hold off?” Tanya asked.
“Yes, but you need to have a residence within three days or before you sleep next. If you are found sleeping in a park to avoid paying for a place to stay, then you will have three days to find a job, or leave Alva,” Helene said.
“That sounds a bit harsh,” Tanya said.
Helene looked at Tanya with a quizzical look. “Most city lords simply force people into hard labor if they don’t have money to pay off some kind of debt. We don’t have the space to waste on people who don’t contribute. If you have a skill that others don’t, you can sell it. If you are broken, you can be healed. You can increase your cultivation. Yes, you take on debt, but as long as you pay it off, then the Ten Realms is open to you. This is a chance rarely seen by others.”
“What if you don’t pay your debt?” Tanya asked.
“You will then be given a job that suits your abilities to pay off your debt, then you can leave Alva freely.”
“I guess, seeing the city, I couldn’t help but think of the way things were in Sweden, but that is Earth and this is the Ten Realms. Here I don’t have anything but what’s in my storage rings.”
Even back on Earth I was renting because I didn’t’ have enough money to purchase a place of my own.
Helene sat there, waiting on Tanya.
“I’ll take the information and look on it. I heard that there are a number of factories here. Could I have a look at them, or know who the owners are?” Tanya asked.
“Certainly. I would suggest going to the Trader’s Hollow. It is a tavern where the traders meet up and where records are kept of all the different traders. It is located in the warehouse district with the trading interface.”
“I heard that there was someone from Earth other than Erik and Rugrat, a Matt?” Tanya asked.
“He can be found in the blueprint office, or someone there will know where he is.” Helene smiled as she pulled out a book and placed Tanya’s token on top of it all.
“Okay, thank you,” Tanya said with a smile.
“Now it’s time for the oath,” Helene said.
“Okay,” Tanya said.
***
Tanya walked into Alva. The people were kind and smiled openly. Most of them greeted one another in the street to have a quick conversation and make plans. A trading caravan headed out, with people waving good-bye.
She saw apartment buildings rising into the sky and houses being built on private lots. Farms surrounded the building areas. The building in the middle of the city stood the tallest, with only a large tower on the academy’s grounds reaching its height.
It felt busy, without the p
eople being cold.
“Hello. I was wondering where the factories might be?” Tanya asked.
“Sure. You must be new. Take this street and they’re on the second street to your right.” The man smiled.
“Thank you,” Tanya said.
“No problem!” The man hurried off to his next appointment.
Tanya headed toward the factories. They were a series of long buildings. She couldn’t see what was going on, but she saw their final products being put into storage items and loaded onto carriages.
“Cloth and clothes, though the majority are items for the military, judging by the extra police,” Tanya said.
She headed toward the blueprint office, thinking as she went.
Tetsu was looking around, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as children let out excited noises and people looked at him in interest.
Tetsu wandered off toward a woman sitting on a bench.
“Hello there!” she said, startled.
“Tetsu,” Tanya said with a displeased tone.
Tetsu looked back at her as if saying, I did nothing wrong. Who can deny my power of cuteness!
“May I pet him?” the woman asked.
“Please, go ahead,” Tanya said.
The woman petted the triumphant Tetsu.
Big dog, soft heart.
“Sorry for keeping you!” the woman said, noticing that they were heading somewhere.
“No problem,” Tanya said. “Have a good day. Come on, Tetsu.”
Tetsu looked heart-stricken as Tanya walked a bit more and clicked her fingers.
“Come on, boy.” She raised her voice slightly.
Tetsu padded after her and they continued to the blueprint office. She was nearly hit by a door as a man ran out.
“Sorry!” he yelled as he kept on going, taking off at a run.
“It’s no—” Tanya’s eyes went wide at the man’s speed. What level is he to be that fast!
Tanya checked that there were no more human bullets coming through the door and entered.
There were people coming in, giving their requests to the servers, who were selling blueprints or taking requests to record blueprints or create new ones.
Tanya lined up to talk to the servers.
“What can I help you with today?” the person at the counter asked.
“I was wondering if I could talk to Matt? I’m someone from Earth as well. I just got here,” Tanya said. In this place she didn’t know, she just wanted to see someone who shared some similarities with her.
“Okay.” The server turned and went into the back.
A few minutes later, a man with a hat on backward, a pencil stuck behind his ear, appeared.
“Hey!” Matt’s face opened up into a smile as he came around the counter. Others moved out of the way and he saw Tetsu.
“Oh, who’s a good pup! What’s this handsome guy’s name?” Matt reached down, petting and scratching the pleased Tetsu.
“He’s Tetsu,” Tanya said.
“Rugrat sent me a message saying that you’re Tanya—is that right?”
“Tanya Kvist, Sweden.” She put out her hand.
“Matt Richardson, Canada,” Matt said.
“It’s good to meet you,” Tanya said, feeling relieved.
“Come on, let’s get a drink. I want to hear your story!” Matt said.
They headed out to a bar. Matt got her a drink and they sat in the back corner and Tanya started telling her story.
“Then next thing I know, I’m in the Ten Realms, screens popping up and all of that kind of thing. I wandered for what must’ve been a day, found a road and then I got to a town. Everyone looked at me and Tetsu weird. They wanted to buy him from me, or take him. I could only get some food to eat with the items I had in my pockets, but I had been playing tabletops a lot and I had my game master book with me, so I got what supplies I could and headed out into the forest—felt it was safer there. I lived in a hammock in the trees. Others tried to find us, but I got a handle on some basic magic, learned some basic Alchemy, really just enough to know what to and what not to eat. Then started to hunt, make traps and stuff.
“Trained up Tetsu, who got stronger. He ate a monster core by accident. I thought that he would die, but instead he became much stronger. Defended me and caught our meals. I put all of my points into Stamina Regeneration and mana pool; only had spells over other people and with the higher Stamina, I didn’t need to eat so much. Went to towns here and there without Tetsu. We lived in the forests, increasing our levels through killing animals and I came to understand spells more. Then we reached level ten and headed to the Second Realm. We were there for some time, but guess we got overconfident. I took Tetsu into more places. There were more trained beasts there, but with my low level, people caught on, so we went on the run,” Tanya said.
“That’s one hell of a story,” Matt said.
“Yeah.” Tanya took a drink from her beer, enjoying the cold, refreshing feeling with the slight buzz of alcohol. She patted Tetsu, who gnawed on some bone that Matt had got from the bar owner.
“So spells, huh?” Matt said.
“Kind of like cooking. Now, I’m not saying that I’m a good cook or anything but my grandmother—now that is a woman who can cook.” Tanya smiled. “I found that spells were really just a combination of different affinity mana, combined together and then bound with your will to do something. Take a flame.” Tanya opened her hand as a perfect blue flame appeared.
“Wind, fire, and wood: one part wind, one part fire and wood. Then creating a fireball: three parts air, one part fire, and two parts wood. Now, most would think just fire and most spells are like that, but they’re weaker and more unstable, requiring a higher mana output to sustain them. The extra wind and wood increases the power of the flame and launches it, but it moves according to your will as you are the power, the mana behind it, creating it.”
“That is incredible. But what about if you have pure mana?” Matt asked.
“Well, I don’t have pure mana, but I would think that it’s like a formation. The mana stone or the person is the power and the directions of the person or the formation create action. So instead of having to collect the tinder and then strike flint to create a fire, you would just say fire and it would be created. Spells are like a memorization, like when you are looking for a letter in the alphabet. Rarely do you know what comes before and afterward; instead, you repeat the whole alphabet, just like when you were a kid trying to remember where that damn letter is, even if it is inside your head. A spell, if you repeat it enough, becomes a part of your trained instincts. What I’m trying to do is bridge the gap, to make using mana as instinctive as breathing.”
“That sounds entirely too complicated for my brain.” Matt laughed.
“Well, the first step is to use mana in my spells. Then, from there, it’s figuring out how to cast spells without needing to repeat the spells, whether that is in my brain or out loud, so it’s as natural as walking, running, and as hard to forget as riding a bike.” Tanya took a slug from her beer.
“If you’re interested, there is someone that I would like you to meet,” Matt said.
“Who?”
“Egbert? You there?” Matt asked the open space.
“Egbert?” Tanya asked.
“You’ll like him—made from mana, I guess?” Matt sat back and sipped his beer as the door to the bar opened.
“Administrator Egbert!” the bar owner said with a big smile as people looked over to the skinny man in the doorway.
The man walked in more, revealing his appearance.
Tanya nearly choked on her beer.
“N-necro, lich?” she asked as the people in the bar all greeted Egbert. He didn’t have a face but still, from his eyes and his demeanor, one could feel his emotions as he moved through the bar.
“Just undead, though he still has memories and can think, kind of.” Matt grinned and drank.
It took some time for Egbert to reach the table.
> “Tanya Kvist, the newest resident of Alva, I am Egbert, the resident skeleton of Alva, safeguard of the dungeon core, Erik and Rugrat’s unfortunate lackey as well as the Kanesh Academy Library department head! A very interesting conversation the two of you were having!”
“He is part of the dungeon. Because we’re in it, he hears everything.” Matt shrugged.
“I would be most interested if you studied the books on magic that we have in the library. Ah, sorry, does my appearance—hey, what are you doing?”
Egbert looked down at Tetsu, who stopped his actions and looked up at Egbert and Tanya.
“Tetsu! Stop, uh, chewing on his leg.” Tanya frowned, not sure how to admonish her dog.
Matt snorted in the corner, shaking his head as he eyed his beer, staying out of it.
Tetsu let go of Egbert’s leg slowly and bowed his head, peering up at her with his perfected puppy dog eyes.
“Well, I was wondering if you would be interested in a position with learning the arcane. I find that we are altogether lacking in that area. We are taking the information for granted, following different spells, but as you say, there is a large loss of mana when there shouldn’t be. I like to optimize. So would you like to be the first member of mana studies?” Egbert asked.
“Mana studies?”
“Looking into the core of the arcane and the magical instead of just taking others’ word for it,” Egbert said.
“What would be involved?”
“Well, you would be linked to all of the different schools within the academy. Everyone uses spells, but then you would be the closest to the contract department—they create magical scrolls and the magical contracts—and the formation department, who create formations, though basically you would have free rein to study anything magical,” Egbert said.
“You can make a department like that?” Matt asked.
“I can’t not make a department.” Egbert shrugged. “Also, although we know the basics of Alchemy and smithing and learned the basics on formations not that long ago, we still don’t really know the theories and basis of spells and magic. If we could get to know some of the secrets, decrease the amount of mana that we have to use even...”
The Fifth Realm Page 33