With it, the doors to the raid opened and messages could flow once again.
People collapsed on the ground. Others tried to find their party, or their wounded comrades.
Others celebrated or fell into despair.
Loss, victory—it was all swept up into one.
Roska looked to Imani.
“I’m good. Check on Tully.” Han Wu picked her up easily as the group headed over to Yang Zan and Tully.
Yang Zan was using healing spells as Tully had the presence of mind to pour healing powders on her lower torso where her legs had been ripped off.
Roska pulled out a Mana Regeneration potion and fed it to Yang Zan as he worked so he didn’t have to take his hands away.
Tully was in a bad way when Yang Zan looked to Gong Jin and Roska.
“I need you to cauterize the wound. She’s losing a lot of blood. If we can stop the wounds from bleeding, then we can save her and regrow the limbs later,” Yang Zan said.
“Give me your sword,” Roska said.
Gong Jin pulled it out and passed it to her. She pulled out a container of oil and poured it on the blade, lighting it on fire.
Gong Jin moved to Tully’s head, pulling out a bottle of Touch of Sleep and putting it under Tully’s nose.
She passed out as he looked to Roska. With the pain, there was a chance she might wake up from the Touch of Sleep so he held it under her nose, bracing her shoulders.
The metal of the sword turned red-hot as the flames died out.
“I’m starting,” Roska said, bracing herself.
Roska looked at what remained of Tully’s legs and pressed her blade to it. The sizzling sound and smell of burning meat filled the air as she made sure to cauterize the wounds completely.
Apothecaries and healers were wandering around, offering their skills for people with an additional convenience fee. People who were badly wounded were passed over. The apothecaries and healing house members were unable to help them, so they didn’t bother to waste their time.
Some priests and people of different faiths took their words and made out their wills, to be passed back to their families or loved ones.
Yang Zan only looked up after nearly twenty minutes had gone by.
“She’s stable, but the poison is deep. Thankfully, she tempered her body with poison so while it is deep, it isn’t as effective, with healing. I want to focus on clearing the poison, then we can look to regrowing her legs.” Yang Zan wiped the sweat off his head.
“Okay, let’s head back to the city. We’ll rest there until she’s good to go,” Roska promised, her brows pinched together in concern.
Yang Zan nodded as she turned to Han Wu.
“She’s fine. Got a lot of fight in her—a day and Imani will be fine,” he assured her.
Roska looked to Imani, who was pale with gritted teeth. She sure as hell didn’t look fine but she had been through poison tempering of her body and Roska knew that with the right medical treatment, miracles could happen in the Ten Realms.
“We’ll get a caravan. Yang Zan, Han Wu, you look after Imani and Tully. Gong Jin and I will protect you,” Roska said. “Gong Jin, come with me. We’ll go and find a caravan.” She got up.
Gong Jin nodded and followed her.
Roska kept her curled fists hidden from the others.
It had been her call to go into the raid dungeon. She wanted to know what it was so they could report back to Alva Dungeon.
She had heard of the dangers and she understood them. But hearing them and seeing them were very different things.
They were all prepared to lose people or to be killed themselves. At least that’s what they told themselves. But when it was your friend being hit by a massive monster and being poisoned or broken and battered on the ground, those lies that you’ve told yourself hurt like needles jabbing into your stomach.
No one was invincible; people died. Everyone accepted that risk, but one could only be so prepared.
Roska might be cold to others, but her team was her family, her people. They stood beside her, trusted and followed her word as if it were law.
All kinds of people were now arriving in the area outside of the raid dungeon. Roska could barely hold back her anger seeing all of the vultures.
Sure, they would heal people, for as much money as they could get out of them. Who wouldn’t pay it? What was money to your life?
“I need a caravan to the nearest city,” Roska said, moving up to a group of people with carriages.
Their eyes lit up as they looked at her. As Gong Jin showed up in his metal armor, their eyes narrowed. She could see the counters moving behind their eyes as they tried to think of a bid to get her to travel with them.
“I will pay seven gold, who wants it? Six passengers!” For what was just a few hours’ travel, it was a quick profit.
“I’ll do it for seven!” a man called out quickly. He had a couple of horses and instead of a carriage, he had a long cart with a cloth cover.
“Gong Jin, pay him. I’ll be back with the others.” She headed back into the raid dungeon quickly.
The merchants looked for others, calling out their prices to take them back to the city.
After the raid, the earnings wouldn’t be small.
Roska headed back to see that there were specialists from the local Adventurer’s Guild who were studying the demon breeder and figuring out the best way to harvest the different parts of its body.
She made it to the group and pulled Tully into a princess carry. Roska had tempered her body, so it was easy for her to do so. Yang Zan had been healing them and others the entire time and he was drained.
She knew that he was unlikely to sleep or eat much in the future as he looked after Tully and Imani, their lives in his hands now.
It would take time for the loot to be calculated and then split up between those that had joined in on the dungeon raid.
Once they were stabilized and they had their loot Roska had already decided it was time that they headed back to Alva.
Chapter: Coveting a Neighbor’s Goods
“You wish to sell this all to Alva Dungeon?” Elise put down the storage ring and passed it to Jasper.
“That is right,” Storbon said. Instead of seeing an excited smile on her face, there was a deep frown.
Jasper’s expression paled as he passed it over to Taran, who shook in excitement, almost unable to let go before Egbert plucked it from his fingers.
Glosil and Blaze didn’t need to look inside it; they had a look on the trip over from the barracks.
Did we do something wrong? Storbon couldn’t help but think, seeing all of their grim expressions as he looked over to Yuli, who was beside him.
She looked as if she had figured out the reason for their expressions and looked as if she were in pain.
“Elise, we have to have these!” Taran said.
Jasper shot him a look that demanded he shut his mouth before he said something bad.
Taran reeled his head back in, confused at Jasper’s look.
“Do you not know the value of these?” Elise hissed.
“I don’t. There’s just no way to calculate it.” Taran’s words slowed down until they paused.
Elise let out a heavy breath and looked at Storbon and Yuli. “Glosil and Blaze should have told you by now, but with the power returned to the dungeon, there is enough for you to make another trip to the battlefield dungeon without paying. You’ve brought information manuals for several specialties for the departments within the academy, as well as blueprints and resources, some that we can’t even use right now for fear of wasting them. So this is the deal that I will propose: for the materials, those can be traded directly. For the books, Egbert will negotiate a price. For the blueprints and recipes, the first creation from these blueprints or recipes will be given to you without cost; every iteration of the blueprint or recipe that is created, you will get ten percent of the profits for thirty years. Does that sound fair?”
Sto
rbon looked over to Yuli, who had a large smile on her face.
“I accept, though I would ask that the materials, could we auction them off if we want?”
“If you so desire, I don’t see why not.” Elise looked to Taran.
“The academy is a place of learning and a place for one to use the facilities to improve their skills. They get an allotment of resources if they are a student but people can still rent the facilities if they desire and students might want to try to create new items with non traditional materials. If it is their desire, they can do so freely. If the academy was to take on the buying and selling of crafter resources, I think that it would put the academy in a hard position and monopoly later on.” Taran looked over to Egbert.
“Rugrat and Erik were clear that the academy was meant to be a place of academic competition and achievement. Students who continue on and pass skill tests can gain access to more of their teachers’ time and resources, but this access is not unlimited and extra materials must be found by the student already.” Egbert’s voice was firm and clear.
Elise looked to Storbon and Yuli. “We’ll make a contract based on what we’ve said here today to pass back to the rest of your special team to see if they agree.” Elise sighed in relief.
Storbon and Yuli came to attention before Blaze dismissed them.
“What was with their expressions?” Storbon asked as they walked back to the barracks.
“The dungeon is always looking for new things—information materials, blueprints. Though we haven’t been able to find any since we came to the dungeon. Now we’ve got a pipeline of information manuals, blueprints, and more. We can ask pretty much any price we want to.” Yuli’s eyes shone.
“Why didn’t you press for more then?” Storbon asked.
Yuli grimaced. “Although I might be the trader of our group now, first and foremost we’re from Special Team One. We were trained by Erik, Rugrat, Glosil, and Blaze. Alva Dungeon is our home. This deal creates a template for all following deals.
“If we went for twenty percent, we might get it, but then Alva Dungeon is losing on a whole. It becomes too expensive to make the item, so there are less of it around. So we might have taken a small loss, but there will be more made in the future. The more money we make, we get a shot of money from the resources and books we sell. Then, long-term money from the blueprints and recipes. As the strength of the crafters grow and they make more items, then the more they use our items, and bingo, a cycle that gets bigger and bigger, with everyone getting a little something.”
“Huh, I didn’t think of that. It makes sense. Guess what they said is right—mages might know how to use their brains more often than not,” Storbon said.
“Thanks, boss.” Yuli rolled her eyes.
“Come on. Tian Cui said she’d meet us down at the cafeteria and I’ve heard that the cookhouse has come up with new honey-covered short ribs.”
“That’s why you’re the boss.” Yuli grinned as they headed into the expanding Alva Dungeon as more houses were being erected.
***
George could be heard above the trees, flapping his wings to get out of the swamp.
There was only enough room on his back for one rider, so they were forced to walk through the swamp.
Flies circled and bit Matt, Erik, and Rugrat.
All of them were numb to it. They were covered in mud and smelt like the swamp itself.
Erik stepped forward and tapped the ground. It was hard and packed down. He looked to either side. They had found a road!
“Not far now,” Matt said, checking the map.
They turned and followed him as George landed on the ground. It seemed he approved of the clean road and not the swamp.
After a few hours, they saw a trade caravan coming the other way. There were five wagons but nearly one hundred fighters around the caravans.
“The merchants all trade medicinal ingredients. If someone was to rob them, they might live out the rest of their lives comfortably. It is the reason that traders either move with a massive amount of guards or they go through unused paths. That’s why I was passing through the swamp instead of taking the roads. Safer dealing with the local problems than the bandits. The bandits know when anyone is leaving. Off the roads, you’ve got a chance to run into a beast but it isn’t that high,” Matt explained.
Erik and Rugrat looked at the guards. They all wore Journeyman-level armor. They looked on the trio with suspicion. Erik and Rugrat met familiar eyes, those that put their lives on the line regularly.
They nodded to the guards and retracted their gaze.
“Like the African copper run,” Rugrat said.
Erik looked up at the sky and then scanned the area. “Feels like years ago we were doing that security contract.”
Erik and Rugrat went silent. They had made it through that firefight, but not all of their crew was as lucky.
“There she is—Campbellville,” Matt said as a walled structure could be seen in the distance. It was up on a rise, the worn stone walls holding up against the swamp around it.
Buildings could be seen inside, dotting the landscape.
People were moving in fields around the city. Instead of raising regular crops, they were growing ingredients for different versions of Stamina Regeneration concoctions.
“Why are they growing ingredients instead of food?” Erik asked.
“They make more money making the concoctions. They can be sold in the Third Realm or, if taken to the Fourth Realm, they can go for a premium.
“The food for the Fourth Realm usually comes from the First and Second Realm. Cooks are rare to find here and one would have to pay a king’s ransom to get one. Most are hired from the lower realms.
“There are some of them in the Fourth Realm making meals to buff the fighters, but the Fifth Realm is dominated by cooks, apparently. They’ve got food and resources all over the place. Seems that they look down on the fighting in the Fourth Realm, or something.” Matt shrugged. “While the ingredients make more money, they come with their risks,” Matt said in a grim voice as he gestured to the walls. One could see the deep scratches and scars that were left on the walls.
“Beasts?” Rugrat asked.
“Yeah. They grow through consuming ingredients and consuming the ones they kill, as I’m sure you know.” Matt didn’t need to say anything else as they looked from the fields to the walls.
They reached the gate in short order.
“Forty gold to enter, and you’ll need to miniaturize your beast or leave it with the stables,” the guard said as they walked up.
A few of the people who were at the gate looked over, their gazes drawn to George, who was following behind them.
“Miniaturize?” Rugrat asked.
“One can get a special collar or spell to make their beasts smaller so they can stay with them. Only used on rare breeds of beast,” Matt said.
“Must be a new beast. I’ll give you one hundred and fifty gold for it.” The guard leaned forward.
“Not for sale.” Rugrat pat George’s head.
The guard’s lip lifted in displeasure but he accepted the money that Matt passed forward. “Don’t cause trouble.”
The group headed into the city.
“Campbellville is a tier-five city. It is basically used as an outpost for the adventurers who look for ingredients in the area, or farmers who cultivate their crops outside the walls.
“It is also along a number of trading routes, allowing it to prosper. Instead of being large Alchemy families, there are a few training schools here and the majority of the people are part of a different profession or herbalists who focus on raising and tending to medicinal ingredients,” Matt said as they entered the city. “Seeing as we don’t have a collar or a spell to make George smaller, we’ll need to go to the stables in order to register him and get him a place to stay.”
“Lead on. But I have a question. I know that this is called the alchemist’s garden realm, but aren’t there too many
ingredients here?”
“Too many? More like not enough. To raise an alchemist, hundreds or thousands of ingredients will be needed, with many of them being destroyed in the process.
“Also, the Stamina potions aren’t the only things that are sold to the battlefield realm. Healing concoctions, Experience concoctions, Mana Regeneration, pills to increase one’s overall Strength, or enhance their abilities—all these are made in the Third Realm. With the raising of new alchemists and the never-ending need from the Fourth Realm, ingredients’ value only increases with time. It is why none of it bleeds down to the lower realms and why the Alchemist Association rules the Third Realm.
“To be honest, their actions not only bring in new blood to their association—they are the reason that the Alchemy skill has spread so much. While the end goal might be to join the association, many alchemists don’t make it far. That is not to say that they are bad alchemists, but they might have not had the resources or teachings, but with time they can learn. They can increase their skill, allowing the Alchemy skill as a whole to become stronger and gain knowledge. Competition, not mutual assistance, is what makes things grow here in the Ten Realms,” Matt said.
It wasn’t long until he found them a stable and talked to the handler. He negotiated the price down and then finally paid the man.
George didn’t look too pleased but Rugrat snuck him a common Mortal-grade monster core.
George took it and seemed a little less annoyed as he moved forward. The handler made to guide him, but George bared his teeth as he moved into the pen he would be held in.
“I’ll look to see what caravans are moving and look for a collar,” Rugrat said, clearly not happy being separated from George.
“In that case, I can look to try to offload some of our goods,” Matt said.
“What are some stores around here that might sell Alchemy formulas?” Erik didn’t have the funds earlier to buy a Journeyman-level formula, but now with his winnings from the first Alchemy contest, he had more than enough.
The Third Realm Page 17