Second Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  “Our biggest deficit isn’t in our materials, other than the power supplied to the dungeon core, but rather the number of people we have,” Elise said, voicing her thoughts.

  “We need to protect ourselves but also need more people to support our growth. It’s a bit of a dilemma,” Egbert said in a sympathetic voice.

  Elise nodded as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. “What are you doing?” she asked. Egbert seemed to be hopping away.

  “Nothing. Nothing at all. This is all an illusion!” Egbert said.

  It was clear that he was trying to escape her!

  “Get back to your copying. I’ll take these over to the growing fields.” Elise stood and walked over to Egbert. She grabbed one side of the cloak and yanked on it.

  “Weee! Who put that bookcase there!” Egbert spun like a top before slamming into a bookcase. He sounded like a bowling strike as his bones collapsed into a pile.

  “Need a hand?” Elise said, wincing.

  “I’ll be fine. Nothing to worry about.” Egbert waved one of his hands still attached to his arm, waving her on her way as moving his jaw made his skull move across the ground.

  “Okay,” Elise said.

  Egbert cast a spell on himself and his bones moved back into place. “Hmm, something feels wrong.” Egbert reached his arms out and they went behind him. “Head’s on backward,” Egbert muttered. “What are you doing there, femur!?”

  Elise left him to his re-organization and went out to the growing fields.

  There were farmers moving through the fields, casting growing spells, while others followed to harvest the crops. Their growing process had greatly reduced since coming to Alva Dungeon. The use of different fertilizers, plant growing spells, and plant hybrids had all reduced the time from planting to harvesting.

  Most of them actually had a lot of free time as they could grow crops in about three to four days.

  Two of the fields had been turned over to Alchemy plants to support the Alchemy lab and a testing field.

  Elise went over to the testing field. There were plots where new fertilizer was being used, more that were getting water at different times. Different variants of crops, new planting machines and harvesting machines—any and every idea they had thought of trying out in the past as well as those that they had taken from Egbert, Rugrat, and Erik had been put into practice. Instead of waiting a whole growing season to see their results, they could get them within just four days.

  They were also the strongest group in the dungeon.

  Elise could only smile bitterly as she felt their powerful auras.

  “Minna! I was supposed to put in the new field strawberries here! My little Rupert has been crying all night and only the purple strawberries are able to take his attention!” A burly man complained as he gestured at the growing plot.

  “I talked to head honcho Mister Xuan and he said it was fine for me to plant my beets here! They’re purple in color too. Maybe Rupert will like them! If you really wanted to be a good father, you would have been here early in the morning to plant! We’re farmers—have you forgotten how to wake up properly!” Minna shot back, a strong-looking woman with her hair tied back and her hands on her hips.

  The man looked as if he wanted to argue but also knew that he wouldn’t be the one to win the battle.

  “What kind of beets are they? They look different,” the man asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

  “Sweet beets! They should be refreshing and sweet, perfect for a summer salad!” Minna’s anger dissipated quickly as a smile appeared on her face.

  Elise shook her head. The two of them were Journeyman-level farmers. There were even those approaching the Expert level. Overseer Xuan had reached that stage and spent most of his time managing the fields with his apprentices and workers.

  The farmers had originally been labor focused but as time went on and they saw how spells could affect their plants, with their increase in levels, a number of them had balanced out their character sheets. They might not have the combat power of the people in the Alva parties, but they were all level fourteen or higher. Xuan was level sixteen. None of them cared about their level, but their weekly contests over vegetables was heated, bringing most people over to view their new achievements.

  Farmers—yes, the farmers are the strongest here.

  It made sense. Skills gave a massive amount of Experience when leveling up. They had been farmers all of their lives, but now they were growing as fast as if they had farmed for hundreds of years in just a few months.

  “Excuse me, where is Overseer Xuan?” she asked the two that were now looking over the beets, with the woman telling the man what she had done to change the beets, increase their size, and her want to imbue it with new traits.

  “Field B-four!” the man yelled out, the two not looking up as they continued their discussion.

  “Thank you,” Elise said back and carried on her way.

  In the fields, there weren’t just farmers but those trying to be alchemists. They were tending to plants as well. After all, one of the four main stages in Alchemy was growing and the second, harvesting.

  While they weren’t dealing with crops, most of them still required to be planted and cared for. Their requirements were higher, making many of the alchemists turn to their books and their farmer friends.

  Elise didn’t find Xuan in the farmers’ fields but the alchemist garden that had originally been planted by Erik.

  “Hmm, it’s a confusing one.” Xuan was talking to a man from the Alchemy lab. He didn’t look like some refined alchemist. He wore the same simple clothes as Xuan and had dirt on his clothes and hands as they looked at the odd-looking plants.

  “The Rashil vine is doing well, much better than I thought. But then, the Seha roots that are supposed to like shade are being drained,” the man from the Alchemy lab muttered.

  “Well, maybe it’s like a forest,” Xuan proposed.

  Elise hung back as she listened to them, interested in what they had to say.

  “Forest?” the other man said.

  “Hear me out, Fehim. It sounds odd to me as well,” Xuan said. “A forest isn’t just one tree or whatever. It’s made of all kinds of plants and creatures, the rest of it; with all of them together, they create an ecosystem. The trees that grow faster starve out the smaller ones of light. The Seha roots are being drained while the Rashil vine is flourishing—I would say that the vine is draining the energy from the root. Your balance is off,” Xuan said apologetically.

  “Damn. Well, I can just plant them away from one another, but it means I’ll have less ingredients to use.” Fehim’s shoulders dropped in defeat.

  “Well.” Xuan tapped his lip in thought as he looked at the Alchemy plot. “What if you were to make your own ecosystem? Wouldn’t be easy, but if you made a plot with all the plants balanced out, wouldn’t that just increase the speed that they grow and their strength?”

  Fehim’s shoulders rose up as he looked over the plot with new eyes.

  “An ecosystem that works to strengthen the plants inside,” Fehim said, considering it. “Hell, I think that it’s possible. It will take some time, but I think we can do it! With the speed that we grow at, it could take four or five months to nail down. The distribution is going to be annoying.”

  “Nothing is ever easy!” Xuan laughed and pat Fehim on the back. The hit would have broken a level one human’s back easily. “Also, my little niece Therese is working over at the formations workshop, looks into how to balance power all the time. She might be able to help out with this?”

  “Well, it’s worth a try!” Fehim agreed.

  Elise caught his eye as he moved with a start.

  “Sorry, council head, didn’t notice you there,” Fehim apologized.

  “No worries. Sorry to interrupt. I found it interesting.” Elise smiled as she pulled out a few pieces of folded paper and a scroll.

  “These are
for you two. This letter is from Erik regarding his knowledge of Alchemy.” Elise could see Fehim’s eyes light up. “It’s nothing complicated. What he details are a few concoctions, from growing to formation, then he has added in notes about specific plants that emit Mana. I’m not really sure what it all means but I had Egbert read it and gather relevant information.”

  Fehim took them as if they were holy objects, just looking at them.

  “Plants that emit Mana?” Xuan asked.

  “So, as Mana can be turned into spells to support plants, this takes other energies, like water, sunlight, and nutrients, and turns it into Mana. Most of these plants are used as enhancers in smithing, tailoring, and woodworking. Also, they can be used as conductors in formations and Mana Regeneration concoctions.”

  Fehim looked as if he didn’t know whether to jump in joy or faint from it all.

  Seeing his expression, Elise could only smile, not wanting to hurt his feelings by laughing.

  Fehim let out an awkward laugh and turned bright red.

  “Alchemy nerds.” Xuan snorted, picking up the saying from Rugrat. “Well, you going to share or not?”

  Fehim pulled the paper away from Xuan.

  “See you later. No fighting now, boys.” Elise headed off back toward the academy.

  “Okay, so, if there’s a new school of architecture, then we’ll have to put up a new building. Once the iron mine is complete, there’s the logging camp to complete to clean up the wood for the woodworking people. They’ll have to share for a bit before we can make a new school.” Elise started to talk to herself, getting her thoughts sorted out.

  Even though it sounded like a lot of work, Alva Dungeon was growing.

  “When Erik and Rugrat get back, I’m taking a week-long vacation,” she vowed in a darker voice.

  ***

  “Hello?” A young girl walked up to the table where Tan Xue and Julilah were eating their meal.

  “Hello.” Tan Xue smiled and waved for her to join their table.

  She had lost track of time being in Alva Dungeon, spending her days and nights working at the smithy, teaching and furthering her own skill.

  Julilah had been there, helping out and learning as much as possible.

  Seeing that Qin and Julilah were about the same age, Tan Xue felt it would be good if they could become friends.

  “I was wondering if you could make a formation plate?” the young girl, Qin, asked.

  “A formation plate?” Tan Xue asked, her interest piqued. She was a good smith, but her knowledge on formations was lacking. It was one of the things she needed to improve if she wanted to make a Journeyman-grade item.

  “I have started to learn about formations, though I have only dealt with the theory. I haven’t been able to see or use any of the physical parts. I was wondering if I could commission you to make a formation plate so I would have a better idea of how to work with them,” Qin said in a rush before she looked expectantly at Tan Xue.

  Makes me think of kids who want to get out all of their reasoning in one shot so their parents can’t shoot down their ideas right off the bat.

  Tan Xue smiled. “I can, but I have one request. I have been spending all of my time smithing. I haven’t been able to teach Julilah anything about magical formation. I was wondering if you could share what you know with her?”

  Julilah and Qin looked at each other and then Tan Xue, and then back to each other.

  “I can try.” Qin sounded nervous. “I don’t know that much.”

  “Well then, you can work together to learn more. My knowledge of formations is really slim, so I can tell you all I know and then you can teach me later on,” Tan Xue said.

  She didn’t look down on the other girl because she was young. If she did indeed learn more about formations than Tan Xue, she would be happy to listen and learn from her.

  “Okay!” Qin held out her hand.

  “I’ll make three formation plates, two from regular iron and then one from Mortal-grade iron. I can have them done by tomorrow,” Tan Xue said.

  “Thank you!” Qin said with a smile and looked to Julilah. “I look forward to working with you!”

  “Me too.” Julilah smiled. The both of them looked eager to get started as they started talking to each other, learning more about each other.

  Tan Xue smiled as she saw the start of a friendship between the two.

  Chapter: Do Golems Have Taste Buds?

  “Did you feel a chill?” Rugrat started to get up from where he was sleeping.

  “Nope. Felt my nose hairs burning from that fart, though.” Erik’s voice was muffled as his nose was down inside his shirt.

  “I felt a chill—I was scared,” Rugrat defended, stretching more and letting out a fart that echoed in the cave.

  “And I’m the one with Poison Body?”

  “Damn, that one burned. Guess the food in Kaeju didn’t agree with me,” Rugrat appraised.

  There was a deep bassy noise as the ground started to shake. Rocks started to come down from the ceiling.

  “What in the ever living fuck is going on!” Rugrat yelled as he got out of his sleeping bag, tossing his gear into his storage ring.

  ==========

  Event started! The event area Rock Golem Nest has activated. Clear the area to gain higher Experience and rewards based upon your contribution!

  ==========

  “You’ve got me on that one!” Erik yelled back.

  “Come back here, forge!” Rugrat said. The forge compressed back into its globe and Rugrat tossed it into his storage ring, as he pulled out a crossbow with the other hand.

  As the ground continued to shake and started to rise, the rock that had been resting at the top of the cave fell away, allowing the mid-morning sun from the desert to stream in.

  Erik looked around as he saw that there were rocks that looked like teeth around a semicircle.

  “Shit, I think we’re in something’s mouth!” Erik yelled out.

  Rugrat switched over to his larger weapon, Big Momma, Erik’s old weapon.

  They were at the back of the “mouth.” As such, Erik picked what looked like the throat and aimed downward. He used the Growling Tiger Fist technique while poison coated his fist.

  The Growling Tiger Fist, where he unleashed the power within his body explosively, was his strongest attack.

  Erik could feel the Mana building in the area around him, as if collecting Mana from somewhere. The creature was waking up.

  Erik’s punch landed. The back of the creature’s mouth and down its throat was opened up as Erik got a critical hit.

  He used the three-headed snake’s poison, which stuck to the point of impact. Wisps of smoke appeared as the stone was being melted away.

  A gray, harder stone was revealed as the whole body of the creature shuddered with the impact.

  “Move left!” Rugrat said.

  Erik’s body was in a great amount of pain but with his increased Agility and Body Like Stone, he quickly moved and started to recover.

  Rugrat fired his rifle. The round slammed into the stone that looked like a heart.

  The creature staggered again as it let out a roar.

  ==========

  Rock Golem has used Stone Breath. Your body’s constitution is high enough that you ignore the paralysis effects of Stone Breath.

  ==========

  The screen appeared in front of Erik as Rugrat lost his footing and started to fall down the mouth that was sloping downward now.

  Erik pulled out three of the grenades that he and Rugrat had made. Work! He pulled the tabs and tossed them at the Mana heart as he moved toward Rugrat to catch him.

  Two of the grenades didn’t go off, but the third worked. The Mana heart was cracked, revealing a powerful Mana core.

  The stone creature stumbled backward and opened its mouth.

  Erik was just to Rugrat, who had fought back against the Stone Breath, when the tee
th started to shoot out of its mouth.

  Erik was able to dodge with his Agility and not being affected by Stone Breath. Rugrat was still sluggish as he took a tooth shard in the stomach.

  Erik was hit by different shards forced out of the monster’s mouth as well.

  Erik flipped in midair as he looked at the creature. It looked like a human with a massive Venus flytrap for a head.

  Erik cast Simple Ranged Heal on Rugrat, who was in rough shape. His armor had taken the brunt of the impact but with his weaker body, it still took a toll.

  The Venus flytrap-like mouth started to crumble and fall apart as Rugrat got back to his feet, cradling his rifle.

  Erik could see the golem’s heart and the monster core inside.

  Erik rushed forward. With his Strength and Agility, he easily dodged the falling rocks, jumping up into the sky and pushing off them as Mana rushed toward him. The Mana channels in his arm glowed blue through his skin. He flipped through midair, firing to clear obstacles or hit the golem’s monster core.

  A solid stream of Mana bullets landed on the monster’s heart, cracking it more and revealing more of the monster core.

  Rugrat fired Big Momma. The heavy round slammed into the monster’s heart. He had cast Explosive Shot on the round as well, increasing its striking power. But still the sturdy heart stayed together.

  The golem stumbled back as its face was revealed and the last of its “trap head” fell away in smaller boulders.

  Its movements made it impossible for Erik or Rugrat to get clear shots on its opened chest. The hole was getting wider as the poison burned through it, but the pace that the stone melted was slowing as the poison was consumed.

  Rugrat let out a yell as Erik turned back to see that the parts of the trap head weren’t just rocks.

  The smaller boulders were turning into smaller golem types and charging Erik and Rugrat.

  Rugrat had been hit by one looking like a scorpion. It slammed into his back, injuring him further and aggravating his previous injuries, but not killing him. Rugrat pulled out a crossbow with one hand, enchanting the bolt and firing it in one fluid motion. The rock scorpion exploded as Rugrat stored the crossbow and Big Momma as he pulled out his hammer.