The Third Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  With the healing house, he might be able to heal his people—recover their lost hearing, sight, or limbs. People from across the Beast Mountain Range would come just to see the healing house instead of traveling days or weeks to the cities that had them.

  Aditya quickly left, seeing that they were busily preparing the healing house.

  He looked at the sign that had been erected outside. He took in a cold breath of air, looking at the prices.

  It wasn’t that they were too high, but they were so low that none of the healing houses he had been to before would have dared to utter them.

  “Two coppers to be checked over and healed if within means; ingredients, solutions, and other items are to be provided or paid for by the affected.” Prices for the listed medicinal items were simple and rather cheap. They could be bought from the healers or other places. The fact that they would allow others to bring in their items to be used was unheard of.

  Some healing houses upped the price on even cotton bandages, which were nothing more than thick cotton cloth.

  People started to leave the healing house, two of them together heading out into the streets.

  Aditya moved, following a group of them. They headed into the area where the mercenaries could be found. There were a number of them there already.

  There was a mercenary who was suffering from a nasty infection of the leg.

  He was yelling out and one of the healers walked up. A healing spell appeared over the wound as the dead and infected flesh was pushed out; the muscle knit together and the skin healed. The man looked at his leg, rubbing where the wound had been.

  He dropped to his knees to thank the people.

  “Two coppers.” The man smiled.

  The other eagerly put it into his hand.

  “We’re from the Alva Healing House. Two coppers for a checkup. Items and medical aid are more,” the healer said and continued on with their partner.

  Aditya looked at Pan Kun beside him, checking that he had seen right.

  “Lord, can they really do that?” Pan Kun asked, his hand unconsciously moving toward his head.

  Aditya took out a gold coin and pressed it into Pan Kun’s hand. “Go and see if they can heal you. I’ll wait at the gates.”

  “Lord?” Pan Kun asked in question.

  “Go,” Aditya said, shooing him on.

  Pan Kun ran to the healing house, where he was greeted and taken in to one of the side rooms to be assessed.

  Aditya and his guards waited at the gate. All of them bore wounds from the Beast Mountain Range. If they could really get their wounds healed, it would give them a new life!

  They waited as people came to the entrance of the healing house. They looked at Lord Aditya waiting there and then the healing house before the people from the healing house came up to them and talked to them. After some time, most of them went inside.

  Some of the people who had gone in to be checked were bowing and thanking the people of the Alva Healing House as they left, their bodies healed.

  Aditya was starting to get antsy. He wanted to know what was happening with Pan Kun. He saw the large man coming out of the healing house.

  He came to the front of the door and kneeled down, putting his head to the floor.

  “Thank you!” he said in clipped words, barely holding in his emotions.

  The people of the healing house rushed to help him up.

  He kowtowed to them three times before he stood up, not to be stopped.

  He turned and walked toward Aditya, who looked at Pan Kun. His scar was gone, and his eye was returned. Tears fell from both of his perfectly healthy eyes.

  He dropped to his knees and then kowtowed to Aditya.

  “Thank you, lord, for your care and bringing the people of the Alva Healing House here!”

  “Come, Pan Kun, have we not gone through a lot together, you and I? There is no need to be in the dirt!” Aditya said, his eyes watery. He pulled Pan Kun up to his feet, seeing the pure joy in the other man’s face.

  “Let us go back to the manor! It’s time I gave out the bonuses! Tell everyone about the Alva Healing House!” Aditya said.

  His people would be healed, bringing them closer to him and helping the Alva Healing House. He couldn’t see any issues with it.

  He hoped that they would use their bonuses to go and get healed instead of wasting it all on partying and drinking!

  Not like there’s much to save them from that.

  He smiled to himself and went back to his manor. It wasn’t long after that guards from the city were moving to the Alva Healing House to be treated.

  A line had started to form as the Alva Healing House cared for people. As the city slept, the Alva Healing House was still caring for people through the night, people coming on and off shift through the night so that they could heal others throughout the night.

  ***

  Jennifer stood as another medic came into the room instead of a patient.

  “William.” She pulled down her mask. It was meant to keep germs down, but it also hid their features so they would be able to switch out medics in the future without anyone in Vermire knowing.

  “We’ve just had our fourth person break through in their skill and level.” William shook his head as he took off his mask as well, revealing a large smile.

  “Good. I will have to return to Alva in a couple of weeks and this will be yours to manage. Remember, this is a place for people to put their studying to work, but it is also a place where people will come in close to death. Reading about medicine is one thing—dealing with the healing, the blood and trauma, or losing a patient is another,” Jen said.

  William’s pleased smile turned serious as he nodded.

  Jen had changed a lot after learning from Erik and seeing that even he couldn’t save everyone. The practical side of being a healer might bring the patient more pain in order to heal them of their affliction.

  “Make way!” a woman yelled, her voice half ordering, half panicked.

  William and Jen pulled on their masks and headed out of the room.

  A woman and four others brought in a wounded girl.

  “She followed us out onto the Beast Mountain and got caught by a red-tipped enar cobra. The solutions didn’t work! You’re the only ones we could come to!” the woman yelled in panic. Her hair color and that of the younger woman’s was the same.

  “Bring her into the emergency ward!” Jen yelled. “I want blood, Stamina ready to go!” she ordered. She pulled on gloves and called the people forward, having them put the young woman on a bed. She was curled up, her muscles so tense that she was hard to the touch. Her eyes were closed; her face was red, turning purple. Her entire body seemed to be squeezing the air out of her as her teeth creaked under the pressure.

  “Get me Touch of Sleep,” she told William, as she touched the woman’s forehead. The Touch of Sleep would knock her out and stop her muscles from clenching so tightly together.

  The others watched on as the healing house moved into action. People gathered supplies and brought them over.

  It was only a team of four people; the others continued on with their jobs, reassuring the other patients.

  Jennifer cast Simple Organic Scan and looked into the girl’s body. The poison was moving through her muscles, tensing them up to the point that they couldn’t do anything. Though it was only the beginning stages of the poison, she could see that the woman’s muscles were suddenly going slack.

  “What does the poison do?” Jen checked the woman’s pulse and indicated for one of the students to insert an IV into the young woman.

  “It kills!” the older woman said.

  Jen’s eyes moved to the men.

  “It makes you tense up real bad then go slack. Muscles turn to mush—can’t breathe no more,” a man said.

  “I need a breathing bag!” Jen yelled out. “Grade-three H injection!”

  Grade one injections were solutions that they had cooked up; they worked but weren’t that po
werful. Grade two were weak Apprentice-grade solutions. Grade three was the real deal. They had several alchemists on site to replenish their different pharmaceuticals if they needed it—hidden away, of course—but it allowed them to tailor solutions for their patients and increased their knowledge of the human body as well.

  A table rolled over, with different medical tools including the Touch of Sleep and the Apprentice-grade healing powder mixed with water in a syringe.

  She took the Touch of Sleep, wiping the salve on the girl’s upper lip. Her eyelids fluttered and she passed out, her body having an easier time of breathing as her muscles started to relax.

  “Get them outside! We need room to work!” Jen said. “Her breathing is going to become a problem. We need to get a breathing bag on her to keep her going as we repair the damage and clear out the poison,” she said to the staff around her.

  The group started to go outside but the older woman shrugged them off and pulled out a sword. “She’s my sister—I won’t leave her alone!”

  “Will?” Jen asked, not paying the woman any attention. She was level seven while the weakest person of Alva Healing House was a level thirteen. One major realm different and much more skills and alterations to their body.

  Will grabbed the woman’s sword and shook it till she let go.

  “No weapons in my healing house!” Will put the sword into his storage ring as he grabbed the woman. She kicked and screamed but it was useless against him as he walked outside with her.

  The poison was moving quickly. Jen used the healing concoction and put it into the line the other healer had set up.

  The healing solution went right into her veins as Jen looked to the others. “All right, Focused Heal on the lungs and brain. I’ve got the lungs.” She looked at the woman with the breathing bag, which was a mask with a bag attached to it that one squeezed, forcing air through the mask and into a person’s lungs.

  “On it.” The healer nodded.

  “The rest of you, use Heal Muscle. The poison only seems to interfere with the muscle so it should save us from wasting energy and her Stamina.”

  “Understood!” the others said.

  “Let’s begin!” Jen looked to her work, casting Simple Organic Scan again.

  The area lit up as the four healers poured in their heals.

  “Down to twenty percent. Be ready on Stamina if we need it.” Jen made sure to look over the entire situation. If the girl didn’t have enough Stamina, then her body would start to go through Stamina fatigue and shut down. Keeping the balance was essential.

  Thankfully, she looked healthy and they weren’t regrowing or restoring anything, so it wouldn’t be too bad; they just needed to give her the power to fight against the poison.

  There was only the noise of the breathing bag and the light of healing spells as they moved across her body. The girl looked lifeless. Her skin appeared black and purple, as if bruised. It continued to spread in front of the healer’s faces.

  “Her heart is failing!” one called out.

  “Start chest compressions. Heal Muscle on just the heart! Come on, we’ve got this!”

  The girl was now wholly reliant on them keeping her alive as her muscles had given up.

  They carried on, not pushing more Mana as they knew it would send them into Mana fatigue and they wouldn’t be of help.

  It was hard mentally knowing that they just had to hold on, that there was a possibility trying to do more would harm more than help.

  “I’ve got good color returning!” one said.

  “I’ve got a heartbeat, weak but steady!” the one who had been doing chest compressions called out.

  “Remain focused on the heart. Come on now!” Jen said, cheering for the young woman.

  Her chest started to rise on its own. The healer with the breathing bag pulled away, checking her breathing.

  “Good airway. Breathing on her own!” The healer quickly put their hands forward, and applied their own healing spells on the woman.

  The bruised look on her skin faded away as a more natural color returned to her skin.

  “Okay, hands off,” Jen said after a few minutes.

  The healers stopped their healing spells as Jen scanned the young woman. She didn’t find anything wrong with her. “Take a look and call an alchemist to check her over for hidden poisons.”

  Another man wearing a mask came in a few minutes later. He did a few swabs and tests, looking into the young woman’s eyes and her throat before he checked her pulse and took a draw of blood.

  He tested it a few times. “I’ll take this to run more tests but it seems that her body has built up the needed resilience to fight the poison. She might be halfway through the muscle tempering stage.”

  Jen took a look at the girl and confirmed that her muscles had indeed become stronger with the poison.

  “Thank you. Get me the test results as soon as possible.” Jen took off her gloves and moved to the door. She opened it to find a group of guards holding back the yelling woman.

  “She’s okay—will need rest, food, and water. You can check on her now,” Jen said.

  The guards looked at her for assurance and she nodded to them.

  The woman rushed past her and into the room as the healers were clearing things up and putting them away.

  William, who had been with the group, turned to her. “First day of the Alva Healing House.”

  “I think we’re going to be rather busy.” Jen walked out of the emergency room, seeing the line of people still waiting to be seen.

  She and William went up to the front door.

  “Next two patients!” the person manning the door said.

  William and Jen said their good-byes as they met with their next patients.

  Chapter: Collecting Loot and Changing Plans

  Erik and the others finally had time to sit down. As they did, Erik saw the notification button blinking at him angrily, trying to demand his attention.

  He opened it, updated with a stream of information.

  ==========

  Event

  ==========

  You have cleared the corruption from Dervin Swamp and returned balance.

  You have gained:

  135,090 EXP

  Event item token!

  ==========

  ==========

  You have reached Level 29

  ==========

  When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 20 points.

  ==========

  ==========

  406,688/980,000 EXP till you reach Level 30

  ==========

  He frowned at seeing that his hand-to-hand skill didn’t increase. He’d fought most of the creatures with his fists but the skill hadn’t increased.

  Being so close to level fifty, where it would become a Journeyman-level skill, Erik took time to consider this.

  It makes sense. I haven’t really improved in my techniques. If I just keep on making the same pill, I would eventually stop increasing my skill from making it too much. If I just punch or kick in the same manner, then my skill isn’t improving.

  How do I improve my fighting, though? Join a martial arts school? There are technique manuals on increasing the ability of fighting, like the Growling Tiger technique that I incorporated into all of my fighting. If I was able to get another kind of technique, I could use that to increase my combat capability.

  Erik was excited. He felt like his fighting skill in hand-to-hand had stagnated. He also knew the inherent weaknesses; unless he was face-to-face with his opponent, he wasn’t able to display his full strength. Sure, he had his Mana bullets and his Mana bolts to try to hit people at range but it wasn’t as strong as when he used Mana Detonation or imbued his body with Mana to increase his power.

  He also needed to temper his body more. Being in close and fighting creatures in the Third Realm, he knew that one wrong move and they would be able to inflict serious injury on him. Even with his Body Like Stone, their
hits were strong enough to leave behind internal bleeding and broken bones.

  “More damn things to train,” Erik muttered. He was not looking forward to going through being tempered with flames. It didn’t sound particularly relaxing, or fun.

  He looked over to Rugrat, who was feeding the firewolf. It was still wounded but under Rugrat’s care, it was rapidly healing.

  He fished out a monster core and tossed it to the firewolf. The wolf looked at the core and then at Rugrat.

  Rugrat nodded and waved toward the core, giving it to him.

  The firewolf took the core and quickly swallowed it.

  Power started to flow into its body, repairing its wounds as its aura also became stronger. Rugrat looked pleased and talked to the firewolf.

  The firewolf took the praise, looking pleased with its advancement.

  The two of them seemed to be forming a bond with Rugrat helping out the firewolf.

  Matt had passed out on the ground, splayed over his sleeping gear.

  He wasn’t a military man and he was strung out. Until now, he might not have had a good night’s rest in the Ten Realms. He had always been around people he didn’t know or weren’t from the same place as him.

  Erik didn’t know what he would have done if it wasn’t for Rugrat pushing him forward.

  Maybe he would have entered the Ten Realms without regrowing his limbs. Or the pressure would have become too much and he would have ended it.

  He pushed those dark thoughts away.

  He was here now, in the Third Realm, and overcoming that darkness gave him a deeper thirst for life.

  “You two keep watch, I’m going to get some sleep.”

  Erik closed his eyes and an old screen greeted him as he did so. Been some time since I last saw you. I wonder how long it will be before I see you again?

  Erik looked at his character sheet and started picking out what to increase.

  He felt as if he were on the cusp of opening another Mana gate. Once he did that, then he could hole another and work on opening that over time. If Rugrat’s backfire had taught him anything, it was that the Body Cultivation and Mana Gathering Cultivation were not things to be rushed. One needed to build up the momentum, resources, and power in order to challenge the cultivation.