The Third Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  It’s like Mana dialysis.

  Erik focused his mind. As the Mana in his surrounding started to thin out, he pulled out more Mana stones and added them to the Mana Gathering formation.

  Erik didn’t see it but he felt as the dungeon core grew stronger as it consumed the impurities in the Mana stones.

  The dungeon core seemed to flash with light as it struggled with consuming all of the impurities around it. Then the dungeon core settled down. It had grown from the size of a marble to a golf ball.

  The Mana took another change, increasing in density and purity once again.

  Erik didn’t even notice the changes around him as he focused on circulating Mana through his Mana gate. The small hole through his Mana gate opened up more; as more of the blockages were cleared, more of the detritus was cleared away.

  There was a release of pressure as the last of the blocking material was removed and Mana moved through the gate easily.

  Erik let out a sigh as he took time to stabilize himself.

  He opened his eyes to an old screen he hadn’t seen in some time.

  ==========

  Quest Updated: Opening the Fourteen Gates

  ==========

  Congratulations! You have opened your twelfth Mana gate.

  ==========

  Requirements: Clear all of your fourteen gates (12/14)

  ==========

  Rewards: +1 to Mana Regeneration base stat

  Undergo Mana Body Rebirth

  1,400,000 EXP

  ==========

  ==========

  Title: Mana King

  ==========

  Your Mana control has increased greatly.

  ==========

  The strength of your spells has increased by 30%. Your Mana Regeneration increased by 30%.

  (Replaces Mana Duke)

  ==========

  Erik felt filled with energy as he stood and called a Mana flame to his hand. It ignited immediately as he moved it around. He had already reached the stage where he could guide his Mana flame with just a thought, but now it seemed to be almost alive and the power contained inside was much stronger than before.

  Erik left his room, finding Matt sitting on the couch, looking incredibly bored and drawing out plans on a piece of paper.

  George was in a corner, sleeping.

  “Where’s Rugrat?” Erik asked.

  “Smithy, courtyard,” Matt said, using his pen to point to the courtyard instead of moving.

  Erik went outside to see Rugrat at the workbench in his smithy.

  He’d taken over a table and there were all sorts of components and parts lying around. Some items were half assembled or disassembled, with forging and formations designs laying around.

  Rugrat was working on what looked to be part of a centrifuge with his Mana blade.

  Erik waited as Rugrat finished off the last part of the engraving.

  Rugrat let out a laugh, a big grin on his face. He looked up to see Erik and nearly jumped five feet in the air. His chair fell away as he landed on the ground.

  “Shit!” Rugrat got up, having protected the centrifuge through his fall.

  “Learn anything new?” Erik asked as Rugrat picked himself up off the ground.

  “Gravity still friggin’ works! Also, I just made it to mid-Apprentice rank formations! Been a busy two days since you’ve been out,” Rugrat said.

  “Two days?” Erik’s eyes went wide as he looked in his storage rings.

  He felt his heart turn in his chest as he counted his Mana stones. He had used twenty-two of them to break open his twelfth Mana gate.

  It was worth it but every gold coin could increase the amount of ingredients he could procure to level up his Alchemy skill.

  “Huh, lost sense of time trying to open that Mana gate? Mana King now, huh?” Rugrat said with a smile, sensing the change in Erik’s body.

  “Yeah.” Erik nodded.

  “You’ll be needing that, I’m thinking. I’ve been working on a few things for you too, and bought a few more to study but I guess you can use them.” Rugrat cleared the table with a wave of his hand and a few items appeared. He put down the centrifuge and pulled out the Bunsen burner, a Mana Calming formation plate that he had created, and the mortar and pestle.

  Rugrat went through how to use them all and what they did. “I wanted to make some medical tools as well.” A flash of anger appeared in Rugrat’s eyes as his fist tightened.

  “Dude, this is incredible. And I’ve already got a bunch of medical supplies,” Erik said, trying to make the blow easier on Rugrat.

  “Yeah,” Rugrat said, moving on. “This is a Mana Calming formation.” He showed Erik what the Mana Calming formation could do.

  Erik already felt closer to Mana as his control had increased, but with the Mana Calming formation, it seemed to reach the level where the Mana was an extension of himself. It was faster for him to cast spells; they were more exact, increasing their effectiveness without increasing the Mana cost.

  The centrifuge was no longer hand cranked as Rugrat used the formation from the mill to create a rotating movement, allowing the centrifuge to remain balanced and show consistent results. If one used the old centrifuge too fast, it might become unbalanced and the components in the centrifuge that had been separated out would combine back together, ruining them.

  Rugrat tossed Erik the Mana Calming formation. “Use this with the Mana Gathering formation and the dungeon core—should be able to compress your fourth drop of Mana.”

  Erik could only nod awkwardly. Rugrat’s knowledge of the Mana Gathering Cultivation system was much more vast than his own. He had also opened another Mana gate and he was easily able to tell what was happening within Erik’s Mana system.

  Erik took the formation and returned to his room as Rugrat pulled out the rotating formation design from the mill and looked at Erik’s repeater crossbow and one of his crossbows.

  Erik set up the formation and once again closed his eyes. He circulated his Mana, increasing its density and swelling his Mana channels as he forced it into his dantian. The mist within his dantian started to slowly change, turning to vapor and then combining together. Erik hadn’t put as many attribute points into his Mana pool as Rugrat had.

  Instead of just pushing it all through in one go, he had to compress and move them through in packets, straining his Mana channels, but not going beyond their limits and leaving lasting damage.

  Chapter: Standing Together

  It took Erik two days before he was able to condense his fourth Mana drop.

  Recruiting Rugrat’s help, he was able to pierce his thirteenth Mana gate. Erik didn’t want to know how many Mana stones it would take him to open it.

  What he did know was it wouldn’t be easy for him to do so and he wouldn’t be able to open it before he participated in the Path of Alchemy trial with his current resources and have time to train for the event as well.

  The next day he took off, drinking and eating with Matt, Rugrat, and Domonos. Domonos was still quiet but Erik could piece together some of what happened to him. The next day, they went to the peak of Khusai.

  At the peak of the city, there was a large platform with different kinds of flying creatures. This was the flying transportation network that connected a large number of cities together.

  Traders with their own flying caravans could be seen setting off and landing on the platform. They wore fine clothes and walked with an air of superiority. The goods that they moved had to be valuable items to make up for the costs of flying beasts.

  Even the arrogant traders and the private lords bowed their heads to the party of alchemists as they moved across the platform.

  Journeyman Di and Wu would be accompanying them to Resam Regional Headquarters. Journeyman Rakesh needed to head to another region that was carrying out testing for the Alchemist Association and had left earlier on a flying beast to make it in time.

  There wasn’t just one beast but several. Each had a team of beas
t tamers who looked after their needs and guided them. They were as large as a private jet with a longer wingspan. Along their spines, a specially made long house had been erected to cover the riders from the wind and give them somewhere comfortable to stay. From sleeping quarters, a cookhouse and alchemy workrooms it had everything they needed.

  They were broken up into groups, with each of them getting a member of the Alchemist Association looking over them.

  ***

  Jen walked into her office and sat down to the pile of reports. She had just started to go through them when there was a knock from the office door.

  Never a damn moment of peace in here!

  “Come in.” She put down the report she was looking at.

  “There is someone here from the Zatan Confederation. They’re raising some noise and they want to talk to you,” the healer said. Even with their mask on, they looked annoyed.

  “Okay.” Jen sighed as she stood and followed the other healer to one of the side rooms that they used to meet with people.

  A woman walked around the room, examining the different items.

  “Hello, my name is Yesun. I am a representative from the Zatan Confederation. I’ve been sent here to negotiate to have the Alva Healing House come to assist the Zatan Confederation.” Yesun smiled, taking a seat as Jen continued to stand.

  Jen was a little sleep deprived from dealing with so many patients and frowned at the other woman’s words. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, the Vermire Trading Outpost is a backwater place that few people come to. It’s not a place where the Alva Healing House can come into prominence. We want to give you the stage you deserve to spread your healing house across the growing Zatan Confederation.”

  “I’m not really sure what you’re driving at, but if you have injured people, you can bring them here and we can heal them,” Jen said, confused by all of the word play.

  Yesun’s smile stilled and then dimmed into a cold look. “Vermire is nothing but a backwater. We are willing to offer a prime residence in the Zatan capital for the Alva Healing House to take over and use as a base of their expansion. You would have people applying to become healers from all across the confederation and unlike those old kingdoms and countries, the confederation still has room to grow.”

  “We’re happy here. Again, if you have people who are wounded, you can bring them here and we’ll heal them.” Jen sighed. This woman was keeping her away from her work and not getting the damn message.

  “There is a nice way to do this and a not-so-nice way to do this.” Yesun’s voice turned dangerous.

  “Look, I’ve been up for four days looking after people, so I don’t have much time for this and I’ve got other things to do. Word games are not my thing,” Jen said.

  “To be the leader of this healing house, you are dense. Join the confederation and we will allow you to reach new heights. You are a small healing house with no backing. The lord of the city? Bah! He has no power if the confederation chooses to move.”

  “The Alva Healing House will not be leaving the Vermire Trading Outpost. We don’t really like being threatened, so we will not be going to the confederation—what was it, Zeta-something? Anyway, if that is all, I hope you have a good day.” Jen turned and made to leave the room.

  “If you leave now, I take this as you not agreeing to our terms,” Yesun said. Instead of sounding annoyed, she sounded excited.

  “Sure, take it like that. Now leave my healing house.” Jen headed back to her office, the healer in tow.

  “Go tell Lord Aditya to handle this issue—pass on the information to higher,” Jen said as she returned to her office.

  “Yes, department head.” The healer used their sound transmission device to send messages.

  ***

  “The Zatan Confederation, huh?” Lord Aditya said to himself as the message stopped playing. A look of cold anger appeared on his face.

  “My lord?” Pan Kun asked.

  Lord Aditya moved to a map on a wall; he paid attention to a region where the Zatan Confederation was.

  “Have our doves make contact with the kingdoms Carteia, Barcino, Rahir, the empires Fayeport and Tacolod, as well as the Scormm county. Also, I want a message issued to the Zatan Confederation. Tell them that if they want to take the people of the Alva Healing House, then they will have to go through us,” Aditya said.

  Pan Kun’s face went from confused to angry.

  It had to be known that the guard force of Vermire had all gone to the Alva Healing House to have their bodies repaired. Most were still going in for treatments, but the people of Alva Healing House were honorable. They didn’t take shit and they would treat everyone the same.

  The guard, just by being there for so long and getting back the abilities of their body, had formed a deep bond with them.

  “Put out the word that we’re looking for mercenaries. No need to hide it.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Pan Kun turned to carry out his orders.

  Zatan Confederation, I will thank you for being my stepping stone. Aditya had a cold expression on his face.

  Although the Alva healers were nice people, their guards were the same kinds of elites as the ones who had broken into his home all those months ago.

  He hadn’t seen them go into action but he doubted that the healers were as powerless as they seemed.

  “Seems that things are about to get interesting,” Aditya said. If he played this well, he might gain more of their trust and increase his influence. If he failed, he didn’t want to think of what might happen.

  ***

  With nothing else to do, Erik stuck himself into the Alchemy room and started to work on the two formulas he had. First he worked on the Ice Citadel potion. Being a potion, it was a little easier to handle.

  Still, it wasn’t without its failures. After going through fifteen sets of ingredients, he had only been able to make eight potions.

  He turned to the Defender’s Might pill. So far the only pill he had made was the Mana pill, though he had made it multiple times so that he could have them in case of emergency.

  He had only been able to get two more sets of ingredients in Khusai. Knowing that value of the ingredients and the difficulty of the formula, he took his time, resting between each attempt to keep his mind fresh.

  Others would meet up and talk in the divided sections of the flying house, getting to know those who they might enter the academy with, talking about what they’d heard the test entailed.

  Erik was blind to it all, spending his time on increasing his ability to concoct pills and affirming the information in his Alchemy Book.

  “Is this normal?” Domonos asked Matt, who was playing a game of chess with him.

  “Normal? Probably not, but it’s how Erik and Rugrat are. When they’re not fighting, they’re looking to increase their ability in their craft. They’re both workaholics. Keeps them out of trouble and is probably at least part of the reason that they’ve been able to progress so much in such a limited time.” Matt put down a piece on the board and moved his hand away.

  Domonos looked at his move, thinking on a lot more than just the game.

  Chapter: Lightning-Like Growth

  Qin was wandering through the formations workshop. She’d woken up in the middle of the night and passed the parties headed off to the battlefield dungeon.

  The special teams were mixing with the regular groups to head into the battlefield dungeon to increase their levels and skills. The payout was pretty good as well.

  Qin had greeted and smiled at them and continued on her way. They got out of her way, seeing the determination in her eyes.

  The formation workshop was a number of large lecturing halls and a storage area for materials that remained unused. There were simply too few students that it didn’t make sense to have someone staffing the position if they could go to the general warehouse that was on the academy grounds to assist all crafters get the materials they needed. For items that were not regularly he
ld by the academy warehouse, one would need to go to the markets or use the market interface.

  Then there were isolating rooms. These were rooms that one could put their knowledge to use, trying to create new formations.

  Qin passed a few people who were talking and discussing what they were working on with their peers.

  “I finally did it! I was able to make a spell scroll! Really, formations and spell scrolls are too similar. One uses up a set amount of energy and is destroyed; the other is made to be used repeatedly as long as it has enough power!”

  Qin’s footsteps faltered as she looked over at the person with a proud expression on his face.

  If it was any other day, she would have stopped and gone over to ask them more information.

  She gritted her teeth and balled her fists. I can ask him later! I need to work on the lightning barrier!

  She walked up to one of the working rooms that she had been using for the majority of her time in the formations workshop. All of her working materials were still there, complete with notes sprawled over two workstations and formation plates that were in a covered testing area. A few of them glowed with power while others were burnt out and ruined, failed attempts.

  Qin pulled out the book she had gained from the Metal floor. It was meant to be a guide on how to repair the formations on the floor, but Qin had been using it as her bible to start understanding formations.

  Many of the formations that were left behind in Alva Dungeon were incredibly advanced. She and the other formation crafters had all looked at them, trying to learn more, but it was like looking at a building. If you looked at a building and didn’t have any knowledge of how to build something, then it would be impossible to know how complex it was. A house, an apartment building, a school, or temple: all of them were simply buildings to someone on the outside.