The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “Cards?” Rugrat pulled out a deck.

  “Where did you get cards from?”

  “Well, we have scribes. I talked to some of them and got them to make up a few packs of cards. Did a bit of poker—then euchre and solitaire got them interested.”

  “Solitaire then?” Erik asked.

  “Simple but boring.” Rugrat sat at the table and started to put the cards out.

  They went through a few games.

  “I’m bored,” Davin complained.

  “Shh, I’m reading,” Egbert muttered back.

  “Couldn’t you open the doors between the Earth and the Fire floors and then the Fire mana up there would come back down here?” Davin said in a half-thought.

  “Actually, that would work pretty well. Opening the doors now.”

  Erik looked over to see the main channel opening as it started to descend another floor.

  “So, what’s the plan now?” Erik looked back to the game they had going.

  Rugrat picked up a group of cards and moved them into line. “What do you mean?”

  “The Willful Institute stepped on the Adventurer’s Guild. We need to do something about that. Vuzgal is still developing, as is our military. We’ve been to the Fifth Realm. Vermire is looking to join hands with the other outpost trading towns to make a central outpost and bring the outposts under our command. We have Expert-level crafters for nearly every craft now. What are you going to do?” Erik glanced up.

  Rugrat eyed the cards and then leaned back in his seat, looking at the ceiling.

  “Learn Expert-level smithing techniques and my own path forward to increase my smithing skill level. At the same time, train up my Mana Gathering and Body Cultivation. I want to compete in the Battle Arena, increase my fighting skill. In the higher realms, armies don’t clash so much. Most issues are settled in duels and matches.”

  “Makes sense. It costs a lot to train people up to that level. If they’re just going all-out and killing one another, then the sects and powers would be losing a massive investment.”

  “Need a sparring partner? I think that I’m in the same boat,” Erik said.

  “Don’t worry—I’d kick your ass every day of the week if you needed it!”

  “Pretty confident, huh?”

  “Well, just try to get close to me,” Rugrat said.

  George, who was resting around Rugrat’s neck, let flames out of his nose.

  Gilly opened one eye lazily and spat out a stream of water that doused George’s flames and got on Rugrat, a gloating smile on her face. She closed her eyes, nestling into Erik’s collar more.

  George let out an angry bark as Rugrat wiped water off his face before using his Clean spell to get it all off.

  “Also, we should teach some classes to the people here. See if there is anything that we can pass on to them that might be useful. Tips for going to other realms and so on.” Erik didn’t pay any attention to what had just happened, interrupting Rugrat before he could accuse Gilly of anything.

  “Final shutter is open,” Egbert said, breaking into their conversation as the Earth and Fire floors were reconnected. The dungeon core located in the Earth floor drew in a massive amount of mana, which was being split between the two floors. Mana flooded the formations that lined the main tunnel and was projected out as a single beam that connected with the Fire floor’s command formation. The formation hadn’t been damaged as it had been Davin’s lair.

  The power filled the circular formation and a wave pulsed out of the main formation, resolving the image of the Fire floor and revealing formations over and through the mountain. Lines descended and spread across the land as formations across the floor were powered up and activated. Subsequent waves rippled out from these formations, adding greater detail to the floor plans. The beasts of the floor couldn’t do anything as they were brought under the beast control formation’s power.

  “The two floors are starting to balance one another out,” Egbert said. “A large amount of Earth-attribute mana is rising to the Earth floor and Fire-attribute mana is descending.”

  “Looks like the plants like it. The Fire-attribute refining ones are getting weaker, though.” Erik looked at the plots of plants that had been grown to change the atmosphere and mana attribute situation faster.

  “How long do you think that it will be before we can start going to the Earth floor?” Rugrat asked.

  “I think that in three weeks to a month it should be okay. Maybe the alchemists and the farmers can come up with more plants so that there is more breathable atmosphere down here.”

  “Can we open the Metal floor and Alva floor? Shouldn’t that balance things out?” Erik asked.

  “It could, if we were to close off the aeration tunnels that run to the surface. The beasts that have been living around the tunnels will be annoyed, though,” Egbert said.

  “What would that mean?” Erik asked.

  “We use the crops and plants that are on the different floors to maintain a breathable situation within the dungeon. The housing floor has a lot of plants. If we can cover the Earth floor in those plants and create those growing slime dungeon monsters, then the Earth floor will produce enough air for the other floors,” Egbert said.

  “How were the floors getting air before?” Rugrat asked.

  “Air vents that run through the Beast Mountain Range. They’re small and cover a massive area. Used special boring creatures to make them all.”

  “Okay, let’s open up the Metal floor, close off the housing floor from the outside, and then open up the main channel slightly. If the atmosphere starts to turn for the worse on the housing floor, then we’ll close the shutters and try something else?” Erik looked at Rugrat.

  “Is there anyone on the Metal floor?” Rugrat asked.

  “There isn’t anyone currently,” Egbert said.

  “I’m going to take a nap. Tell me when something happens,” Davin said.

  “He’s always doing that—easily bored if there isn’t some treat to be found.” Egbert sighed.

  “I think that we should open up the Metal floor, see what happens. Then we open up the housing floor just a little, for a few seconds. We see what happens and then we can anticipate what will happen in the future.” Rugrat looked at Erik, who had stopped writing on his hand.

  “Okay, that sounds fine to me. What do we have in the way to understand the air? I feel like we should have asked about this all earlier.”

  “Well, not all of us rely on air. And the place was nice and clean when you moved in. That said, the gnomes built in an air testing system into the formations. Guess they didn’t want to suffocate from bad air or something,” Egbert mused aloud.

  Erik had a defeated look on his face as he sighed.

  Rugrat just shrugged at him. “What do you expect? It’s Egbert.”

  Erik nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

  “I can use those to keep things balanced.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Rugrat said.

  “All right,” Erik said.

  Shutters opened from the Earth floor and the Metal floor, opening all the way.

  “We’ve got mana and air moving between the floors. The unbreathable air is spreading out. Some of the animals might be affected, now that I think of it,” Egbert muttered.

  “Don’t add that as an afterthought!” Erik barked.

  “Well, there is only so much I can do with this big ole brain of mine!”

  “There’s a brain in there?” Rugrat asked.

  “Of course there is!” Egbert said.

  “Open the shutters between the Metal and housing floor—slowly,” Erik emphasized.

  The shutters between the two floors opened until there was only three shutters remaining; they opened only slightly. Erik could hear a whistling through the headquarters. He and Rugrat looked down beneath the table and into the hole extending below, illuminated by the formations that terminated in the light pillar that descended to the Metal floor, through to the Earth and Fir
e floors.

  Brown, noxious-looking air passed around the command room and up through the top of the headquarters. It shot up and reached the roof of the housing floor.

  “Close it,” Erik ordered. The smoky brown clouds stopped passing through the headquarters.

  The mana gathering formation absorbed some of the clouds while the rest of it spread over the housing area, being drawn into the alchemists’ garden and the farmers’ fields. The alchemists’ garden organized the air and drew it in, while the plants in the farmers’ fields consumed the noxious-looking gas clouds and drew in more, hungry for more.

  “Egbert?” Erik asked.

  “The gas isn’t that concentrated—might make people cough some. Though it might be a better idea to run it through the sewage system and then feed it directly into the fields or the alchemist garden.”

  “Organize things. First we need to have a talk with Fehim and Waz the head of the farmers about pumping more of that air into their growing areas,” Erik said.

  Rugrat looked up through the ceiling to the mana gathering formation that, instead of growing, was now slowly being consumed. A small pillar of power dropped down and assisted in powering the dungeon. “How long can we keep up our current power burn?” Rugrat asked.

  “Well, right now the housing floor is mainly sustained with the ambient mana in the area. With the amount of people and ingredients created in the area, the mana density is much higher and the mana gathering formations draw in a massive amount of mana from the surrounding area. Though a portion of that power and that from the mana gathering formation is passing down to the lower floors to repair and control them. We have focused on repairing the command and control formations instead of the mana gathering formations. The mana gathering formations increase the density of the different attribute mana on each floor and can be used as a power source for the formations.

  “The aim of the gnomes was to have one main commanding dungeon core on the upper floors and then smaller subordinate dungeon cores on each floor. Each dungeon core would refine more mana, with people able to go to different mana-attribute floors for whatever they needed. Also, the housing floor being a holy land filled with only pure mana, which was found to rapidly enhance a person’s body, made it easier for them to increase their Mana Gathering Cultivation and Body Cultivation,” Egbert said matter-of-factly.

  “Using pure mana to increase one’s Mana Gathering Cultivation makes sense, but Body Cultivation?” Erik asked.

  “Body Cultivation is tempering one’s body, right? To damage it, you need to repair it. Pure mana makes it much easier to recover. It can be used in any spell and using pure mana instead of elemental mana has the ability to control attribute mana. It is the king when it comes to power that one can use.”

  Erik turned his head to the side.

  “Something wrong?” Rugrat asked.

  “With healing spells, we have been using Earth- and Wood-attribute spells. What if we were to use pure mana spells? Might that remove the Stamina issue?” Erik quickly pulled out a pen and wrote something on his hand as he kept talking. “So should we connect the floors or wait?”

  ***

  Fehim and Waz agreed to having more of the air pumped into their gardens as the plants were flourishing faster than before. The clouds might be bad for humans, but they were great for the plants.

  “Well, couldn’t we make some kinds of masks? Your alchemists use them,” Waz said.

  “Yes, we have to use masks when working with different kinds of plants as they are hazardous to people’s health. We can use either formation masks or Alchemy masks. The first have cleansing formations on them; the second have alchemical compounds soaked into the materials so that they counteract the effect of the different ingredients around the user.”

  “Where did you get that idea from?” Rugrat asked, thinking of gas masks.

  “Well, working with livestock as I used to, sometimes you need a rag to try to cover the smell. If you put some herb that smells nice, then it counteracts the smell,” Fehim said. “Why—is there something wrong with it?”

  “Not at all. I’m just excited by your invention.”

  “Thank you.” Fehim bowed his head to Rugrat, his serious expression broken by a radiant smile.

  Chapter: Strengthening

  “How many do you think will come?” Pan Kun asked his lord as they sat within Lord Aditya’s office.

  “I’m not sure,” Aditya said. There was an amused smile on his face, though, as he grabbed a fruit from the table and ate it happily.

  “Are you nervous?”

  “Nervous? A little. I don’t want to shame our benefactors.” Aditya’s voice turned serious. “I am confident, though. It is hard to not be a little too excited, though, and overconfident.” He seemed to realize how he had been acting as he leaned forward.

  Pan Kun’s sense had been sharpened and raised as he had been trained by the mysterious group in the woods. His eyes shook slightly as he could perceive the mana moving around Aditya according to his will. It didn’t extend far, but Aditya had not been sitting back and relaxing. Pan Kun’s eyes shot to Aditya’s body, assessing him.

  Is this an increase in Body and Mana Gathering Cultivation? I thought that there was something different about our teachers. Though I put that down to their higher levels that I couldn’t see through. No wonder they didn’t need to sleep and could train us at all hours.

  “I’m not sure who will come from the outposts, to be honest. Though I have high hopes. I’ve reached out to many of them through different channels. How has the training gone with the second group?”

  “It is going well. They have completed their training in the training camp. We fitted them with storage rings and communication devices. As you ordered, they are hunting in the Beast Mountain Range to increase their levels and strength while giving them cover to enter the different outposts—”

  “Good. Then everything is going to plan. I have had messages from some of my people in the different outposts. They are performing well. They are new. This will be a test to see how well they operate,” Miss Evernight said.

  Pan Kun nearly jumped for the ceiling and Aditya let out a breath.

  “Did I startle you?” Evernight smiled as she looked at the two big men.

  “Just about,” Aditya said. His relationship with the secretive guard had become more familiar in the past couple of weeks.

  Miss Evernight seemed amused as she sat down at the table. “Everything is going according to plan so far. Still, we need to watch out for the outpost lords who are coming here with different goals.”

  “How will we know which ones are on our side or not?” Aditya asked.

  “That will be up to you. I am just the person to assist,” Miss Evernight said. “I brought some reading materials.”

  She placed down thick bundles of pages. “This is the condensed information I have been able to gather. I heard that you and Lady Sumi have something of a rivalry?” Evernight asked lightly.

  “One could say that.” Aditya’s tone grew colder.

  Pan Kun observed his lord. In the past, he would go into a rage with that woman’s name. She killed his remaining brother and mother over a set of armor when his group left. He was looking to sell it to support his family. He gave her the set of armor but she still killed them because he was too late. He had to grow his outpost in secret so she would not find out who he was.

  “Well, it is always good for the enemy to have a beacon. A clear dividing line between the two of you might make others group toward her. I don’t doubt you would like to get rid of such an eyesore?” Evernight’s smile had a vicious edge to it.

  “What are my orders?” Aditya’s eyes were glowing, locked onto Evernight.

  Pan Kun knew that there was a power behind Aditya; he had seen the fighters against the Zatan Confederation. The trainers with their faces hidden behind masks. Now he realized something new.

  We’re not working for these people—we’re part of th
em. Is that where the refugees and the people looking for work are going? He had felt confused about why they were sending people into the Beast Mountain Range without guards. Now he felt relieved. They might have their plots and be ruthless, but I don’t think that they’re cold-blooded killers. Else they wouldn’t have cared for us during our training.

  Pan Kun’s emotions and thoughts were all over the place. All he did know was that he didn’t completely understand everything that was happening.

  “Remove the cancers around the Beast Mountain Range, create a headquarters for all of the outposts, and have the other lords bend the knee and come under our control.”

  “What if they don’t wish to?”

  “Then I will take action,” Evernight said simply.

  “I will do as commanded.” Aditya bowed his head.

  “Good. Now you have lots of reading to do and I have newly trained soldiers to herd across four dozen outposts.” Evernight looked to Pan Kun and pulled out a bottle with a pill in it. “This is for you. This will allow you to temper your blood. The trainers have high hopes for you and your people.”

  Pan Kun knocked his chair over and kneeled, raising his hands. She dropped the pill bottle into his outstretched hands as he bowed his head.

  “I will carry out my mission to completion.” The pill bottle confirmed that the power behind the trainers and Vermire was possibly greater than what he imagined. He didn’t know how he had the good fortune to reach their eyes but simply gifting him a pill to increase his temperings, seeing through his defects...he could feel that even if he ran, he wouldn’t be able to escape their reach. Why should he run with the possible benefits offered?

  Maybe only children of different royal families would be able to get this kind of resource.

  “Don’t worry, Lord Aditya. There are plans for you. Let’s say good managers are looked upon favorably by my superiors.” Miss Evernight stood and headed out of the room.

  Pan Kun and Aditya recovered.

  “Now you know what’s at stake,” Aditya said.