“Everyone has their own secrets,” Arthur said, consoling his boy before he checked behind at Storbon. “Thank you.”
“Maybe our paths will cross in the future. You’ve got one hell of a dad there, Aidan,” Storbon said.
The others talked over one another, thanking them, crying, and bowing their heads. Most of them offered the loot they had as a token of thanks.
“Our job is done. Your life is your own,” Storbon said.
Storbon and the others pulled out their mounts and got on top.
“Live well and help others,” Erik said.
The special team rode away.
“That is the last of them inside Knugrith,” Rugrat said.
They stood on a berm, watching the gates as the last of the people they had saved entered the outpost.
Knugrith was a town made of wood, except for their simple wall. Several guards patrolled with their bound beasts.
“How far is the next place?” Yao Meng asked.
“Three days’ ride,” Erik said to a collective of sighs and groans.
“Use your illusion spell scrolls on your faces and remove any magical traces. Then we’ll get moving,” Rugrat said.
They altered their appearances and made sure there were no magical tracking spells on them.
“Come on, mount up!” Storbon said. His panther appeared, and he jumped on it. The others mounted, with Melika being hauled up by Tian Cui. Storbon and Rugrat led the way; Lucinda sent out her flying beasts to scout the road ahead.
They had been working together so closely for so long they had come to anticipate one another’s orders, proactively acting.
“Wandering Hero,” Yao Meng hummed across the private communication channel as he accessed his notifications.
“What does it say?” Storbon asked.
Yao Meng read it out.
==========
Title: Wandering Hero
==========
When those in need have cried out for help, you have aided them without care of your own safety. As you wander the realms, you leave it a better place.
==========
Rewards: +10% EXP
One Star Hero Emblem
==========
“What the hell is a star hero emblem?” Yao Meng asked.
No one had any answers.
Melika stared at them all talking to one another before she focused on riding.
“Another Ten Realms mystery,” Erik said.
They talked for a little before the conversation died down and kept riding toward Ivaris.
Erik checked his quest rewards as well.
==========
Quest Completed: From Orc Jaws
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Adventurers, lost souls, and villagers have been captured from the lands surrounding the orc territory and sent deeper into orc territory. Find these prisoners, free them, and escape the orc territory.
You have rescued all prisoners, and they have escaped safely.
==========
Requirements:
Free the Prisoners
Lead them out of Orc territory
==========
Rewards:
Wandering Hero Title
+12,500,000 EXP
==========
==========
35,321,860/108,500,000 EXP till you reach Level 61
==========
Lee Perrin thanked the street sweeper with a smile and turned away. His expression turned dark as he walked.
Where are you, Melika?
He had left her at the inn to make sure that everything was ready for her admission into the Faded Scroll Academy.
When he came back, Melika was gone. She had been kidnapped.
The street sweeper had said that the people he was tracking went into the sewers. Not the ones that led to the treatment facility—the ones that lead to the dungeon. Once people were in the dungeon, it was easier for them to disappear.
They’re smart. They must have planned this out. Who knows how far behind them I am? Looking for Melika, he had learned of other low-level people who had disappeared. With no position or friends in high places, the guards took the report and pushed it to the side.
Lee felt bitter as he walked back to the run-down inn they had been lodging in. People talked in hushed tones, slowing down and creating a crowd around the inn.
Lee moved around the crowd toward the inn entrance. He would pay his tab then head into the dungeon. He wasn’t the strongest fighter, but he could never leave a student beh—
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the two people in front of the inn: a woman wearing heavy-plate armor and a man with a bow on his back and daggers on his hips. The waves of pressure they released made it feel as if there were two raging beasts waiting for prey to enter their sights.
Lee Perrin’s heart lightened.
“He’s going up to the tiger and tigress. Does he not fear for his life?” someone said when they saw Lee Perrin in his simple pants and shirt that had been repaired time and time again. His black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his beard reached his chest. Staring at him, one might take him for a beggar or someone down on their luck.
The woman looked over. Her eyes widened, and she stomped toward Lee.
“Would they kill him in broad daylight?”
“What did he do to offend such people?”
The man’s eyes slid over.
While the woman forged her way through the crowd, he flowed past onlookers. His movements made it look like he glided past people.
“Teacher!” the man and woman yelled, arriving at the same time, bowing from the hip.
People around them gasped.
“T-teacher? Just how strong is he to have such students?”
“Teacher, not teacher? Why do you think they say that?”
“There are all kinds of address for Masters. Who knows why they pick their names?”
Lee smiled awkwardly, hearing bystanders call him Master. He sighed. “Wei Shi, weren’t you supposed to be off with the Blood Steel sect developing a new area of your dungeons?” he admonished the armored woman before his sharp gaze turned to the archer. “Rafael, aren’t you doing selections for the Fighter’s Association? Your teacher says he has high hopes for you to use this to enter the elite ranks of the association.”
Lee’s eyes were bright and clear while the powerful duo bit their lips, scared to be turned away.
They paused, holding back their lies.
“Teacher, when we heard that someone dared to attack our junior sister, we had to come,” Wei Shi said into the ground.
“Teacher, you do not accept anything else from us and have guided us to our teachers and onto the right path. You are the force that pushed us forward. Without you, how could we have reached this stage? Our junior sister has disappeared, and you have been slighted. How could we not come?”
“Too well said.” A man entered the courtyard. On his chest, he wore the symbol of an Expert wood crafter. Behind him, there were others with fierce temperaments and powerful gear. There were men and women in their teenage years, those who had reached middle age, and others who looked older, like Lee’s father.
Seeing them all, Lee’s heart swelled.
“Little Tullus, you became an Expert carpenter? By your temperament, it will not be long until you reach the point to challenge Master? Rob, you tamed your fiery temper and became a true mage. Your Mana Cultivation has greatly increased. You are still working on your exercises, right?
“Mo Chi-Hye, don’t hide in the back, you little troublemaker. I heard what happened at the School of the Floating Pen! Focus your mind on your studies instead of your pranks, Little Miss!”
He rattled off names as each person walked over. They had grown so powerful in their time apart; they were like tigers that had been given their wings, soaring high into the sky.
They stepped forward, cupping their fists, and bowed.
“Teacher!” they yelled to him.
He looked over them all and then sighed. “Lift your heads,” he said in a soft voice. How could he be angry with them when they rose with grins and smiles? Glancing to those around them, few of them had met one another, but they were all proud students of Teacher Perrin.
The softness in his eyes faded and turned hard as he thought about Melika.
“I found a good seedling. I brought her here to meet a teacher I thought might suit her. She went out to see the sights and never came back. I have looked for signs of her and have only just found out she was kidnapped.”
The thirty or so people’s eyes focused, and the air stilled, threatening violence and destruction.
“Come, this is no place for us to carry out this conversation,” Lee Perrin said.
“There is a place from the Fighter’s Association nearby that we can use,” Rafael said.
“You are in the Fighter’s Association as well?” one of his other students asked.
“Don’t start using one another to climb the ladder. Rely on your own strength. You can spar with him later, Sam,” Lee said.
The man with a saber scratched his head.
Lee sighed and indicated for him to show the way.
The crowd cleared a path as the group made it to the Fighter’s Association. Upon showing his badge, the flustered attendant quickly readied a room for them all.
Lee looked over them. From all walks of life and with various abilities, they were the children he’d never had.
If anyone could find Melika, it was this group.
“Looks beefier,” Rugrat said as they rode up toward the gates. The walls here were made from a black stone, and formations were carved into it. Five kilometers of land around the small city had been cleared away. Buildings reached dozens of floors up. Elevators could be seen charging up into the rock above and out of the dungeon while others entered the depths. Guards wearing academy sigils manned the walls.
A dangerous air surrounded them, causing the guards’ eyes to sharpen.
“Trade really picks up. Traders come from the smaller supply stations and outposts and use the elevators to sell their supplies in the academies above. This dungeon is massive,” Yuli said.
“Three times the size of the city above,” Erik said.
“A nice hat on a whole bunch of fucked up,” Yao Meng muttered.
“If the academies were to fall, the population inside the dungeons would expand until they could flood out and create a beast tide. Like the one we dealt with at Alva Village,” Storbon said.
“Feels like it was years ago,” Tian Cui said in a small voice.
“Everything changes with time. Come on, I need a shower and a forge!” Rugrat said.
“You think you’ll break through?” Yao Meng perked up as they followed the line to enter Ivaris.
“I don’t know, but I’ll give it my best shot!” Rugrat laughed.
“I could do with just sleeping for four or six days. I know my scouts could eat through a stable’s worth of food,” Lucinda said.
“Without them, we would’ve had a much harder time,” Storbon said.
“Maybe I should start learning to be a beast tamer?” Yao Meng asked.
“You a beast tamer? Well, I guess with how you smell, they would think you’re one of them,” Tian Cui said.
“Hey, that’s offensive to my beasts,” Lucinda said.
They laughed as Yao Meng opened his mouth and then closed it with a frown.
“Just stay with the explosives and your rifle,” Erik consoled Yao Meng and grinned.
“Five Earth mana stones a person,” the guard said as they reached the front of the line.
Rugrat passed over the funds and canceled the communication channel. “Do you have smithies here?”
“Eastern side. There are some workshops there and more in the city above. Ten stones to take the elevator,” the guard said in a bored tone.
“Thanks.” Rugrat nodded.
The group passed through the large, black walls. They looked up at the holes in the ceiling and formations that had been carved into the stone to drop attacks on anyone who made it into the gate.
The tunnel rang with noise. Melika moved in her seat to look ahead. They exited into a large open area where all kinds of beasts were pulling carts. Merchants hawked their wares; inns advertised their unoccupied rooms; others were selling Stamina potions. The group pushed on. After a quick glance, these merchants and sellers could tell that they weren’t interested in their items and tried their tricks on others.
They found an inn away from the main hustle of the city.
“All right, Melika, always go with someone else or stay here. Everyone else, two days of R&R. Do as you want. Only need one person back here at a time. Drinking allowed, but have a detox with you and ready to use,” Storbon said to his team. Storbon broke down tasks for everyone and left it to Yao Meng to figure out watch shifts.
Rugrat and Erik stripped off their gear at their own beds.
Rugrat shook out the cloak, used his Clean spell on it, and put it in his storage ring. He scratched his head. It had pushed down on his hair the entire time, leaving his head and beard almost painfully itchy.
The Ten Realms’s Alvan rip-tape straps on the side of his carrier opened, and he slid out of it. With the feeling of air against his clothes and losing the weight across his upper body, he felt naked.
“Damn, these plates get heavier each time,” Rugrat said.
“They weigh about thirty kilos now.” Erik tapped on the vest and lay it out as he checked the different pouches, refilling them.
“Thirty kilos…damn, doesn’t feel like it,” Rugrat said as he checked his vest too.
“You’re the smith,” Erik said.
“Yeah, but I don’t make most of these items. What a single person does doesn’t change much. Crafters in Alva are just the people who make a blueprint, teach others, and quality test the products that are made in the factory lines. Right now, we can’t make Expert-level gear on an assembly line, but with time, I think we’ll be able to do it. The factories for the military work day and night to make weapons, armor, clothes, rations, and more for the Alvan army. Most armies in the Ten Realms take years to grow. They can only hire so many people because the older generations have died out and can give them their weapons and gear. It’s like the Russians in the Second World War. They have people, but they don’t have the gear and weapons.” Rugrat finished restocking his vest.
“We don’t have people dying all the time, but we have the mass-producing industry of Alva to support the army’s rapid expansion,” Erik said.
“Yes, and our blueprints are shared, so this carrier, the actual carrier, doesn’t change much, but the plates are altered all the time. The plates are simple enough to make. The standard plates are made on an assembly line and cut to size; then, formations are stamped in and filled. We can produce ten carrier plates an hour at that speed. Say someone comes up with a better combination of iron and enhancers, well, we can alter the production line and run off ten prototypes in an hour. A new formation, do it once, prove it works, modify the stamp, and bingo—you have a newly enhanced carrier.” Rugrat sat on his bed and pulled off his blouse. “Heck, you can use the blanks from the carrier to make new formations. Get them from the line instead of bugging a smith. Leads to people innovating instead of making the same old thing. Constantly improving at a rapid rate.”
“So, with the formation sockets?”
“We have a formation tester. They use the old armor plates, put it in, and test it out. Something works, then they can study it more or start producing it on scale in the factories. Leads to more research to make the formation smaller, stronger, and more power efficient, same as technology back on Earth.
“Instead of taking years to create a new formation, it can take months. Testing can take minutes instead of weeks, and implementation, well, it could take months to create the factory line to make the formation. Once it is up and running, it can produce them until the e
nd of time. If it is made by traditional formation masters, they would increase their skill level and then never touch it again. This leaves our formation masters to innovate, and we get shiny, new, badass gear.
“Bonus, we’re recycling-conscious. If a formation fails or when we replace the old ones, we take all of that, refine them back down, and use them for something new. Bingo-bango, technology wonder of the Ten Realms.”
Rugrat frowned.
“Something wrong?” Erik asked.
“Just, well, my theory, the one that I was thinking of using to break through to Expert. I was thinking of how a weapon should work together with a person completely. That it should be an extension of themselves, seamless.” Something nagged at Rugrat, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.
“What are you thinking of doing?” Erik asked.
Rugrat pulled off his boots, releasing his feet from their prison. He grunted as he dropped the shoes to the floor and moved his toes freely.
“A new type of weapon, one that is linked to the user. A kind of amplifier for whoever is shooting. I have been working with Earth rifles, but with a mana rifle, it amplifies the spell you place on the round and uses formations to shoot it out. The more power you have, the greater the power of the rifle.” Rugrat started to get excited. “A mana railgun!”
“A railgun?” Erik said. “But most of those are mounted on tanks.”
“The issues are power supply and heat. Here, the power supply is mana stones, and the heat can be dissipated by the enhanced heating and cooling runes!”
“Sounds feasible,” Erik said.
“What are you going to do?”
“Cultivate my mana. I’m falling behind. I can build up the Metal mana within my mind, then I can passively temper it over time.”
“Well, if you come to the smithy, there is plenty of Metal mana, more than just in any normal place,” Rugrat said.
“Sounds good, though tonight is on me!” Erik raised his voice so everyone could hear him.
There were grins and smiles among the others.
Melika was still quiet, but after being with them for a few days, she wasn’t afraid, though she was still apprehensive.
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Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7) Page 3