The plants seemed to be moving with an invisible wind, eagerly stretching into the sky. A few showed buds, as others were reaching maturity.
Over the next few hours, Erik stood occasionally, trimming plants here and there, making sure that the growing array was constantly balanced. He would sit in his chair or move through the array.
As time passed, more of the moderators joined the first two as they watched. A few of them were making notes on what they were seeing, the positioning of the different plants.
“He has created a growing array with the plants. While his spell aids them, it is merely a spark compared to the fuel that the plants are creating. As they grow stronger, they will do so together if kept in balance. Also, with their Affinities balanced, they will be brought up in the best of conditions,” the first moderator said with approval.
“But he still hasn’t put down any mutated plants to grow,” another said.
The others made noises of agreement, interested in just what this new applicant would do.
Erik had been studying the growing formation. It was good but not perfect. Trying to aim for perfection was a path to advance, but it was also a path that one would never reach the end of. As long as it was the best one could do, Erik could accept that, and then push to perform ten percent better.
He looked over the growing array. He couldn’t see the types of Affinity Mana moving through the plants but he could feel it.
He opened up his eyes, picking out the areas of weakness in the growing formation.
When he had been back in Alva, he had spent a lot of time walking through the Alchemy gardens, listening, learning, and reading from different books. His thoughts had led him to the books on agriculture, in the many ways the alchemists had consulted with the farmers about how to crossbreed their plants to get the greatest yield. In Alva, no one job was better than another and they were all excited to learn and do more. Alchemy and farming had created a synergy with one another, freely sharing their information, allowing one another to improve faster and become better in their chosen fields.
This kind of working in multiple disciplines and people sharing and working with one another was much like the growing array: their strengths helped one another, cross-pollinating and increasing their strength as a whole.
Erik poured more power into a few plants, allowing them to blossom. He took parts from them and created another, smaller garden. In this one, he took out some solutions, created a tray of the solutions and placed the new plants in them. The solutions were all-powerful in one Affinity or another. On Earth, chemical solutions or radiation were used to accelerate the mutation of plants, finding the ones in a set of experiments that suited their needs and then repeating the process until they got something that they wanted.
It took time to do but with Plant Cultivation, the plants grew in minutes what would have taken weeks. He used the buds and created another variation off that.
He went through several trays before he found just a few of the final products he wanted. He took them and planted them into the growing array.
He took out tools to cross-pollinate the best plants; there were no bugs in the Path of Alchemy trial to do so.
He checked the growing array and then worked with more of the mutated plants. It was one way for him to test out the knowledge that he had gained from the books he had read in the first trial.
A number of the ingredients that were collected were listed in the books he had read.
Watching him work, the moderators were shocked.
The plants’ growth only increased, the new mutations growing up rapidly under the almost perfect conditions.
“Just this ability—I haven’t heard of anyone being able to make a growing array so easily,” one of the moderators said.
“So easily? He is using ingredients that were prepared. He didn’t know what they would be just a day ago; he then had to place them perfectly in order to create a balance between one another. He is using one of the simplest spells, Plant Cultivation, which is a spell that those farming mages use to increase the yield of a farmer’s crops.”
“The way that he used variation breeding to create the mutated plants is something that takes great patience and understanding of plants to not only carry out, but to pick out the plants that will grow and not fail.”
“What were his scores on the first trial?” the first moderator who had been there from the beginning asked.
Another pulled up a scroll and opened it. “H-he got a total of ninety-three percent correct.” The moderator had a look of shock on their face as she looked at her fellows.
“The first trial is meant to not only test one’s ability to study and retain knowledge, it is meant to make them stumble to show that their knowledge might be false. It is why there are ingredients with multiple effects listed. Through this, one will need to pick out what is right and what is wrong with only the knowledge of the books. One needs to get a forty percent on the test in order to pass it.” One of the moderators said what they were all thinking.
“Just what kind of monster is he?” the second moderator called out.
The first held his chin, looking at the young man as he pulled out some water, drinking some and then pouring more on the plants carefully.
“He must have reached the level of Journeyman in order to get access to the Alchemy Book. A Journeyman-level tester can still get about a sixty percent score, though the remaining forty percent is all of their personal knowledge and their ability with ingredients. They might be lucky on a few, knowing what an ingredient’s effects are, but there are over two thousand different ingredients listed in those books.”
The others nodded. It made more sense if they added in the fact that he was able to access his Alchemy Book at that stage. The Ten Realms rewarded one for their perseverance, as knowledge could be gained but never lost.
“With his age, being in the Third Realm, he could be around two hundred years old,” another said.
Many people who looked like young men and women in the Third Realm were under one hundred years in age; someone who looked to be reaching their middle age, they were around two hundred years old, with those old-looking fellows being around three hundred. Those who had passed level thirty were able to live four hundred years. If one made rapid improvements in a short time, they could remain looking the same age for hundreds of years.
Once they added two hundred years to his lifespan, he was one of the older people going against the trial and their interest started to wane.
“Looks like he was only confident when he reached the Journeyman level to challenge the trial,” one of the moderators jeered.
Some of the others agreed. Some would like to see others surpassing them put down so that they felt better about their own achievements.
Those who had thought it was astounding could only smile awkwardly.
“His ability in growing ingredients is powerful, but, with books, if he had read enough in his life, then it is not so hard to get eighty percent on the first trial, and ninety percent with some luck.” Another spoke out, the others agreeing.
“I have some others to watch. That girl with the Earth flame has learned the ability to not only create concoctions with her flames but to use it to grow. It’s a brutish method but she has made a relative forest with her Earth-attribute plants.”
The moderators who were bored went off in search of more entertainment.
The first two moderators were quickly left on the tree.
“What do you think?” the second moderator asked.
“I think that there is more to this Erik West than meets the eye,” he said as Erik stood, going through a stretching routine before he started to throw out a few punches and kicks, causing dust to rise with his actions.
Erik left the plants to grow as he stretched and started to move around, trying to get out some of the energy that felt as though it was locked up in his body.
In the fight with the bandits, I learned just how powerfu
l the finger technique can be when fighting targets I know the anatomy of. Its piercing power is high. If I was to use that with Mana Detonation, strike a creature then detonate my finger? Or if I was to hit them where they are weak?
A sudden thought struck Erik as he paused his movements.
I use Simple Organic Scan to know what is happening in my patient’s body. If I was able to cast a full body scan, assess weakness and then strike?
Erik shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “In a fight, how could I waste time on…” Erik frowned as something seemed to pull on the back of his mind.
“I got access to the Alchemy Book once I reached the Journeyman level, but what about my Journeyman-level healing?”
Erik accessed his Healing Book with a thought and a stream of information filled his mind.
With the Alchemy Book, there had been so much knowledge that he had collapsed and needed to take time for his mind to adjust, but with the Healing Book, there was even more information: information on different creatures that he had examined, on people, on procedures to perform on them. Memories that he had forgotten since training were there.
“Why did one cause me to pass out and the other left me fine?” Erik looked through his book. There were diagrams on bodies with information, structure, ailments, and treatments. Some of the treatments included magical ways, or ways that he could use alchemical means, to treat a person.
Erik was reminded of technique books. When using those, one would have a massive headache, but when learning from an information book, he would be fine.
“Could it be? The information from Alchemy is all basically new, so with that wealth of knowledge being assimilated, my brain shut down. Though with the healing I had the majority of the knowledge down and it was simply adding in a few spells to the book? Healing is easier for me to do than Alchemy; I have the knowledge from my training and from using it. It’s easier to accumulate more information on a subject that you know than one you’re just starting on and grasping at straws to try to increase your ability.”
Erik went to the diagrams. There were multiple pages. He had only examined a few of the creatures, mostly to locate their monster core or any useful ingredients and pull them out, so his information was fragmented.
“If I was facing a nasty opponent, I might be able to use this to find out its weaknesses to target them,” Erik muttered to himself.
In a normal fight, it wouldn’t be that useful but if he was fighting a large beast that was hard to kill then it might come in use. Or if he was fighting the same creatures, with time he would rapidly be able to deal with them faster.
Now, if I was just able to combine my finger technique with my elbow technique, use the One Finger Beats Fist to pierce one’s defenses and then the Growling Tiger Elbow technique to unleash rampant Mana in their body, I could use a Mana blast but that would simply cause the area hit to explode and possibly hurt myself. If I use the growling and finger in combination, then I could cause severe internal injuries, with less risk to myself and less Mana.
Erik moved around the plot as he used his Growling Tiger Elbow technique and the One Finger Beats Fist technique.
One Finger Beats Fist was focusing all of his power into one point; Growling Tiger was using his entire body to unleash powerful attacks, even injuring it in the process. If one was to use it without a Body Cultivation technique, they would be badly hurt or even crippled with the force being transmitted through their body.
***
Rugrat laid down with a pained noise. His Mana channels felt as if they were on fire—and not the good kind of growing and getting stronger fire.
Working at the smithy, he had strained his Mana system, forcing him to stop and rest.
He lay there feeling sorry for himself. He hit the bed in frustration and let out a grunt. This feeling of weakness, of being limited and not able to do what he had done before, built up within him. He had hidden it well from the others but it tore at him.
His thoughts turned back to when they were fighting the bandits, how he’d had to stop using Explosive Shot or any kind of spells as his body was being torn apart.
He felt useless. As he watched Erik fighting on the ground, he hadn’t been able to use Mana bolt or his Mana bullets even as he saw his friend being bled and attacked.
That guilt tore at him yet again. He was the weakness in the team and for a man who strove to be superhuman, it hurt more than any wound could.
Rugrat had turned his attention to formations. He was interested in them but through the Alchemy tools, he could help his friend. He could lie to himself and show he was useful with the formations; they gave him a way to improve his Strength without needing to rely on his Mana system. He had worked hard, so hard to increase the ability of his Mana system. He was happy at Erik’s advancements and although he smiled, he wanted to overcome his issues and increase his Strength so he could help Erik.
He had focused all of his growth around his Mana system. He didn’t realize how much he relied on it until he had lost it.
It was as if he had lost a limb, leaving nothing behind but his useless body, flailing around and having to do three times the work to just complete something simple.
Frustration, anger, self-hatred—it all boiled just below the surface.
It burned—it burned something fierce.
Rugrat got out of bed and started doing push-ups, squats, anything that could hurt his body and make him stronger. This kind of pain turned inward. He looked forward to it; it was a kind of release, as if telling himself that he still had some kind of ability.
He embraced the burn, the pain in his muscles.
Come on, you goddamn weakling, can’t even do another squat! Come on!
He drove himself harder, his pain becoming his motivation.
Chapter: Enemy at the Gates
“Close the gates,” Aditya said to Pan Kun standing beside him.
Pan Kun relayed the message as Aditya looked out at the forces that stretched through the tree line across the main road and the tree line on the other side.
“One hundred and fifty thousand. Really, they don’t disappoint.” Aditya laughed easily.
The guards and the mercenaries around him were nervous looking at such a large force. A few of the mercenaries, upon hearing the numbers of the enemy, had left the outpost, not wanting to clash with such a massive force.
Though, looking at Lord Aditya, instead of looking scared, he seemed to be pleased. Others could not help but look at his armor in jealousy. It was a set of peak-Apprentice armor; combined, they matched the power of a low-Journeyman-level armor.
His closest guards had all been outfitted with Apprentice weapons and gear. With this, the four hundred guard’s strength had surged once again.
With the equipment and their recovery from their injuries, they were stronger than they had ever been before.
Being around them, one could feel the will to fight, the air filled with bloodlust.
They might be guards now but they had all been people who had gone into the Beast Mountain Range to bet their lives against the riches they might earn. It was not an easy life and it had given them the strength to fight powerful beasts and look at the army in front of them with eagerness in their eyes.
“Good.” Chen looked over the different forces arranged. “I will leave this to you,” Chen said as he walked away.
Aditya nodded as the man disappeared into the crowd of people.
***
Tabur looked at the walls of Vermire—the slight rise it rested on, looking over the cleared area around it, the walls scarred from passing beasts.
The Beast Mountain Range rose high behind it.
It wasn’t a kind-looking place and the people inside had fought to survive.
He sighed. Once they defeated the forces on the wall, they shouldn’t have too much of a problem tracking down the healers and capturing them.
Yesun had people watching the healing house and would make sure that none of th
em escaped.
“We’ll need to train up new healers quickly. I wouldn’t trust the ones from the Alva Healing House unless they make an oath to the Ten Realms.”
He sat on his rhino, patting the big beast’s back. He looked over the wall, using a spell on his eyes to zoom in on it. He didn’t take the time to look to his aides.
“Send a messenger. Give them one more chance to hand over the healers. Have our people move out of the forests and ready to attack.”
“Yes, General!” three of them responded as they passed his orders. It wasn’t long until a man on a tall, two-legged lizard charged forward with a white flag.
He got to the wall, yelling at the people there.
The army moved out of the forest and organized themselves on the plains around the outpost that had been cleared to make it easier for the guards to spot attacking beasts.
The messenger turned back after some time. He lowered his white flag, a sign that they hadn’t agreed.
“Very well. Bring out the siege equipment, catapults, and arrow towers! We advance in twenty minutes!” Tabur had allowed his people to rest and eat more this morning so that they were fresh and ready for battle. He didn’t want to give the enemy time to come up with plans and he needed to win this quickly in order to return to the confederation.
Siege weaponry was organized and pulled out from storage items, machines of war appearing in their midst.
***
Pan Kun looked from the weapons of war to Lord Aditya.
“Ready the ranged machines,” Aditya said.
Pan Kun nodded. With his orders, people started to move on the walls, with people heading to defensive structures that would give greater cover from ranged attacks.
Aditya looked over the battlefield, grasping and releasing the war hammer at his side. Although he looked calm on the outside, a grin would appear on his face every so often, an excited look in his eyes.
Pan Kun hid a grin as he looked out at the oncoming enemy. Aditya was his lord; Vermire his home. They might be small, but they were not to be fucked with, come to us little confederate rabble, the fun should start soon.
The Third Realm Page 38