“You’re thinking about leaving us?” Her father’s voice carried a playful tone but there was also a sadness to it as he stood at the door to her study.
“Father!” She put the token away. Her cheeks turned red as she bowed her head slightly.
Elan moved to her with a kind smile on his face. “You might be a genius with magic but you could never lie well.” He pinched her cheek.
Qin pouted and looked away, rubbing her cheek. “I want to learn and get stronger, like Erik and Rugrat.”
“I know, and it looks like they gave you a path to do so,” Elan said.
Qin didn’t say anything. Elan seemed to have seen through her anyway.
“I won’t say that I’m happy, but I also know that if you want to become stronger then you will need to go to somewhere other than Chonglu city. This is why Domonos went to the Second Realm to train with the Willful Institute and your brother Yui goes to Beast Mountain to train up his combat techniques. I don’t want any of you to have to fight, but the Ten Realms respects those who are strong.”
Qin felt stuffy as she heard the care in her father’s voice and she knew how much he loved her. He was a cold man to others, but as he could see through her lies, she could see to his heart.
“Dad.” She sniffled and looked at him.
“It looks like you’ve made a decision.” He couldn’t hide his sadness, or how proud he was.
She hugged him, tears running down her face.
He put his arms on her shoulders. “Your path will not be an easy one, my little Qin’er, but remember you are a Silaz and you will always be welcome back here.”
Her grip only tightened more as she realized she had made a decision and that his words meant much more than comfort to her.
***
Alchemist Nguyen had spent the day talking to many people, offering his services and having things requested from him. This was how he spent most of his time. Wherever he was, it was always the same.
The power of an alchemist was complex, from those who wanted to get something from them to others who wished to call upon their strength when needed.
An alchemist could be there when a person was gravely wounded with a valuable concoction. They could help in breaking through walls in advancing skills or tools to be used to save one’s life or deal with a powerful enemy.
Their strengths couldn’t be quantified by regular means.
Nguyen had a satisfied look on his face as he made it back to the residence he was staying in.
He had come here as a guest of the Jour sect, interested in what the Second Realm looked like. The feeling of power he held as a Journeyman alchemist in this region was as much as a governor who ruled over several cities. Even kings and emperors would have to be respectful to him if he was in their presence.
Nguyen moved to the room he had set up as his own Alchemy workshop. He stepped inside and pulled out the containers that Erik had given him.
The familiar scent was still on them. Nguyen took some time to relax before putting the items down on his work table. He pulled out all kinds of instruments, setting up his workplace.
These were some of the finest Alchemy instruments in the Second Realm. In the First Realm, they would be seen as priceless treasures.
Nguyen used them as a show of his power. Few people were able to take items such as these.
Nguyen pulled out the bottle that he had smelled the Heart Calming elixir in. He slowly opened the bottle, his excitement reaching the peak as he opened the container.
His smile froze as he looked into the bottle. “Where is it? It must’ve been a high-quality complete potion! There are even signs of it being in this bottle recently,” Nguyen yelled as he looked into the potion bottle, as if looking harder would make the potion come back.
Nguyen’s arm tensed as the crystal started to make creaking noises. “He must’ve taken the potion out! Damn him!” Nguyen made to throw the potion bottle but held his hand.
Did they figure out that there was Heart Calming elixir in the bottle? Did he try to dupe me? Nguyen’s anger reached new heights to be played by some common idiot of the Second Realm. It was a hard blow for his ego.
He was seen as a powerful figure in the Third Realm. If people were to learn of how he had been played by Erik, then his reputation would drop.
“Damn it! Damn him!” Nguyen yelled. He took a pill from his storage ring and ground it between his teeth. His mind started to calm with the pill, allowing him to concentrate.
“If I was to approach him then it would make it known that I was playing the Blue Lotus and everyone else, saying that the random concoctions were useless,” Nguyen said. “He must at least have some knowledge of Alchemy to know that there was some kind of useful concoction in the batch.”
Nguyen had made one critical oversight. He thought that like he had played Erik, Erik was playing him. Stuck thinking that everyone was there for their own gain, he had categorized Erik as a threat.
Nguyen could only shake his head. His power base wasn’t located in the Second Realm but rather the Third Realm. Also, the Jour sect that had invited him to the Second Realm were leaving the next day.
“If he is an alchemist, then he will inevitably try to reach the Third Realm at some point. The Second Realm’s resources are too limited to be of help when someone is advancing their Alchemy skill.” Nguyen could only gnash his teeth. The chances of him finding them again were slim.
He slammed his hands on the table and threw a bottle at the wall in anger.
***
The totem in Chonglu city flashed with light as a young woman and a girl appeared from it.
People looked over in interest at the duo.
The woman quickly moved away from the square, taking the little girl with her.
Tan Xue sighed as they left the square and people stopped looking at her and Julilah.
Julilah was looking around at the new city. She had never left Kaeju. Tan Xue hadn’t either, but, being older, she contained her interest.
She moved through the streets, getting directions to the stables around the city.
“Where are you looking to go?” an older man asked as she got to one of the coach stations.
“Wild Reaches Trading Outpost,” she said.
“Oh?” The man perked up. “There’s a convoy heading there in an hour, just over by the Reasi stables. Ticket is forty coppers. Two to three days’ travel.”
“Okay.” Tan Xue looked into the pouch that Rugrat had tossed her. Inside, her magical flame had been collected into its holding crystal. All of her wealth that she had accumulated to pay off Black Eye was there as well. There were also other storage rings and items from the different gang members.
She pulled out a silver coin. The old man’s eyes seemed to shine as she passed it over.
He quickly passed back twenty coppers. “The Reasi stables are three stables down on the left side—got a symbol like this on their carriages.” The old man pointed to an emblem mounted on the wall of his stall as he passed over two tokens, marking them.
“Thanks.” Tan Xue took Julilah and headed for the stables.
It wasn’t long until she found them. She talked to the coach’s leader and passed over her tokens.
He accepted them and pointed them to a carriage.
Tan Xue was about to board when she felt the Mana in the air being constricted. She had felt the same when Rugrat had been fighting or smithing.
Her senses were much higher than people’s from the First Realm. Others didn’t really sense it as she looked over to two cloaked people who were boarding another carriage. One was a man, the other a woman.
“Must have some coin to have robes that high quality,” Tan Xue muttered before she got into the carriage and shut the door.
Chapter: Onward
Tan Xue and Julilah stepped off the carriage. They had interacted little with the team guiding the carriages.
Tan Xue loo
ked around the outpost that they’d entered. Traders were moving to the different teams, gathering their supplies that had been sent to them, seeing what kinds of goods had arrived.
Passersby looked over, more out of seeing something different than their day-to-day.
The outpost was nothing special. Tan Xue started to doubt Rugrat’s words. Well, I’m on this path now. I should at least see where it goes before I back out.
She took Julilah’s hand and headed off into the outpost. It was small and it wasn’t hard to find the Bloody Ram after a few minutes.
Tan Xue rubbed the storage ring on her hand, ready to pull out a weapon if she needed it.
“Stay here and don’t talk to anyone. If I’m not back in a half hour, run back to Chonglu and go to another city,” Tan Xue said.
“But Teacher Tan…” Julilah’s eyes welled up with tears.
“Promise me,” Tan Xue ground out, trying to look out for the little girl.
Julilah lowered her head and nodded slightly.
“What was that, Julilah?” Tan Xue asked.
“Ten minutes and I’ll leave you!” she yelled back, sending a vicious look at Tan Xue.
Tan Xue felt as if she’d taken a direct hit to her heart. She wanted to explain, but she knew that it was better to have the other angry at her instead of staying around and getting potentially hurt.
Tan Xue patted her shoulder and turned for the bar.
She weaved through the streets. The people here lived on the edge. All of them wore their weapons freely; their eyes were hooded, evaluating one another.
Even if they were allies today, there was no telling if they got a big haul tomorrow whether they’d also get a knife in the back from one of these allies.
Tan Xue entered the Bloody Ram. It wasn’t too different from other taverns, maybe a bit cleaner and the people inside were of a higher level. To the level eighteen Tan Xue, it didn’t seem all that different.
People looked over as she entered, appraising her and feeling her strong aura. People nodded in respect and went back to what they were doing.
Tan Xue scanned the room quickly. She saw that there was a person in the back corner of the room reading a book. In front of them, there was a vase with flowers in it. On the vase, there was a symbol identical to the one on the token Rugrat had given Tan Xue.
She didn’t go over directly but sat at the bar and got a drink.
She looked around the room. There didn’t seem to be anything odd about it. The person with the book continued to sit there, flipping through pages and then would periodically note down something on his notepad.
The door to the tavern opened again as one person entered the tavern.
People looked up. The person was covered from head to toe and it was hard to tell who was under the cloak.
Tan Xue’s eyebrows rose a bit. That cloak—it looks like the one that the other person in the caravan was wearing. Wasn’t there two of them though?
The person scanned the room and then walked on over to the man in the corner with the book.
He looked up at the new arrival and put down his book.
It was only because she was paying attention that Tan Xue saw the flash of silver as the cloaked person passed a token to the other.
The man smiled and passed the cloaked person a key.
They nodded and headed off toward the rooms that were a part of the Bloody Ram.
The man in the corner sent off a sound transmission. After a few moments, he picked up the book once again.
Tan Xue waited a few minutes before she got up and walked over to the man. He looked up as she took a seat, pulling out her token and the letter that Rugrat had sent with her.
She put them on the table and pushed them over to the man. “Rugrat said I’d find you here,” she said simply.
The man’s eyebrows rose sharply. As the book disappeared into his storage ring, he checked the tavern. He cast a spell on the token, nodding to himself. He took the letter.
He opened it quickly and checked the contents. At times, he would read; at others, he would look up in alarm at Tan Xue. “My name is Niemm, Miss Tan Xi.”
“It’s Tan Xue,” she replied a bit angrily.
“Sorry, wanted to check,” Niemm said with a sheepish smile.
What secret are they keeping?
“You probably have many questions but I can’t answer them here. Rugrat hopes that you will join us, but if not we will happily support you and hopefully work together in the future if it benefits both parties,” Niemm said.
“What do you mean: join you?” Tan Xue asked.
Niemm had a deep smile as he pulled out the book he was reading and passed it over to her.
She opened it and flipped through some pages. Her boredom turned to shock. It was an Apprentice-grade teaching manual on formations.
She looked up at Niemm. This was something that sects and groups in the Second Realm would fight for. “Are you a sect?”
“Nope, just a group working together to help out one another and defend those we care about,” Niemm said. “It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. You’re welcome to see—and leave—if you want to?”
Tan Xue looked over Niemm. Her brows pinched together. He must be level fourteen but he’s here in a bar on the First Realm with a smile on his face and reading about Apprentice-level formations. What the hell were those two doing before I saw them?
“Okay, let’s do that,” Tan Xue said.
“Here is a key for room five. Take a rest and we will leave tomorrow morning,” Niemm said.
“What time will we meet up tomorrow morning?”
“Eight,” Niemm said.
“Good.” Tan Xue stood and left the tavern.
She checked to see whether she was being followed. Finding no one, she went and picked up Julilah.
“How did it go?” Julilah asked, still annoyed at Tan Xue but her interest overruling her caution.
“We’re going to see just where Erik and Rugrat came from tomorrow,” Tan Xue said.
“Oh!” Julilah turned thoughtful. “Will there be good food there?” she asked seriously as her eyes shone.
Tan Xue let out a heavy breath but she couldn’t help but smile. “Let’s get you some food and washed up. Tomorrow will be a big day.”
They went in search for another tavern. Tan Xue was interested in what would happen tomorrow, but she didn’t want to just stay in the place that they controlled.
“Okay!” Julilah sounded a bit excited. Who wasn’t interested in going on an adventure?
***
Erik groaned as he pulled off his chest rig.
Just being out of it gave him a ton of relief.
Rugrat was spitting over in the corner. As they had run away from Kaeju city, a sandstorm had started up. Thankfully, it covered their tracks, but it also covered them in sand.
They’d entered an area filled with rocks and caves. They quickly found an empty cave and settled in.
“I’ll get some food started.” Erik waved his hand; a few chairs and a table appeared.
Rugrat pulled off his gear as well. “I forgot how much I hate running in the sand.” Rugrat sat down at the table and grabbed some food.
“Yeah, just a little bit of a bitch.” Erik looked around the cave and nodded. “This cave should be good enough.”
“For?” Rugrat said between bites.
“To increase our Strength.” Erik pulled out a vial with a black and red substance.
“Is that—?” Rugrat’s voice turned serious, seeing the poison.
“Yes, this is the poison that affected the Chonglu children, a poison that destroys one’s bones and leeches poison into one’s body. The last tempering—tempering one’s bones.”
“I was wondering when you would pull that thing out.” Rugrat sighed.
“We both know how badly you want to open your remaining Mana gates and compress your Mana core,” Erik said.
“So, time to increase our Strength. What about the dungeon?” Rugrat asked.
“We’re about a week from the area we marked out on the map. We don’t know what’s there. We need to increase our Strength quickly so that we can deal with whatever is there,” Erik said.
“Both of us want to get to the dungeon as soon as possible, but we can’t just charge in. If we do that, then we’re only asking to die,” Erik added.
“All right, I agree with you! I’ve been wanting to open the next Mana gate for too long now!” Rugrat said. “When do you want to start?”
“Tonight. If you can help me, I want to temper my bones tonight,” Erik said.
“Sure we aren’t rushing it?”
“I’ve made a number of healing concoctions that will be able to aid me in going forward. Also, my healing skill has only increased. I don’t think that there will be a problem. Instead of healing my entire body, I’ll be focused on just my bones to aid my body in defeating the poison.”
“Looks like you’ve thought it through.” Rugrat laughed.
“What’s your plan to open your Mana gates?” Erik asked.
Rugrat winced. He had been joking with Erik but he’d flipped the tables too quickly. “Well, umm, I was hoping that I could get your help—do that needle method thing, pierce a hole in the Mana gate, then allow the Mana to circulate through, opening it up more over time. I can tell even if we were to use all of our Mana, then we wouldn’t be able to break down the Mana gates as we did in the past.”
“Okay, if I pierce it with a needle and you attack it from the inside, we should be able to drill through,” Erik said. “Want to help me out afterward?”
“Come on, I did a lot of work!” Rugrat complained.
“I made you a lot of healing and Stamina concoctions and I might be able to make pills and concoctions that will allow you to temper your body as well!”
“Instead of having to use poison to break your body apart?” Rugrat asked.
Second Realm Page 20