“If we could promote them working together, then we might make more useful items, but then it comes to what you said—if people aren’t crafting items that are a higher level, their crafting levels will stagnate. We could have hundreds at the Journeyman stage and not one Expert,” Rugrat said.
“That is the Ten Realms’s problem, not ours,” Erik said. “Though I guess we haven’t tested out one thing. If we have all of those low-end parts put together to create something more, like all the parts in a truck or a weapon, if the end product is a higher level than the sum of all its parts, will one’s skill level increase? For mass producing, the only thing we can reward people with is more money. Entice them with that and have factories built to produce the items they put forward. A thriving business creating and managing factories.”
“Yeah,” Rugrat said, not really listening to Erik. He continued to clean up the rest of the failed experiment, wondering just what the issues were.
What he needed was to check with the formation masters and see what they thought.
Lucinda was the last to arrive.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Erik said.
The group headed out of the inn they had been staying in and headed over to the elevator that would take them out of the dungeon.
After paying the fee, they boarded a large elevator with iron bars. They could see over the entire dungeon as they rose.
“Dungeons for training grounds. The Ten Realms is extreme.” Yuli glanced over to a group of students in one corner. Their armor and gear were badly dented and broken, but they held their heads high. In the depths of the dungeon, there were plenty of ways a person could advance. There were many fights to be found, and powerful beasts and resources were abundant. The dungeon was a land of death, but it was also a land of opportunities.
“In the Fourth Realm, the dungeons are too small, and entire sects are willing to lay waste to one another so that they can claim them and increase their Strength. Here, they’re academy training grounds. Why don’t people fight over them more?” Tian Cui asked.
“They do. Just instead of waging wars, they wage tournaments and use the challenges to take resources and power from one another. Betting is the way that resources and places are taken. If someone is unwilling to bet, unwilling to prove their strength, others will use that weakness and attack them through different means. Academies thrive here. The academies with the strongest cultivators, the largest and most powerful dungeon areas—they win,” Storbon said.
Light came in from above, and they covered their eyes at the brightness. Erik felt a headache coming on as he squinted. It was more sun than he had seen in weeks.
The noise came next as they heard the bustle of the massive city around them.
The elevator bounced and locked. The gates opened in front of them, and the press of people walked off.
They were checked by the guards and allowed past the defenses into the campus of the Arcane Academy army.
People marched into the elevators, classes of fighters who were on a research trip led by a senior or teacher.
“The academy system is similar to a sect. The more missions one completes or the ways they assist the school will gain them credits that can be used to go to classes, to buy equipment, or to access higher-level books and resources. If you earn enough, you can increase your standing, going from the basic to the advanced, elite, and Expert-level classes with increasingly powerful professors. The competition is strong, and people are looking to take the spots of one another all the time,” Lucinda said.
“And I thought hearing about regular college was hard,” Rugrat said.
“All right, we need to head to where Melika’s teacher is,” Erik said.
No one argued. They had left the people at Knugrith for three reasons: They didn’t want them to alert Lord Vinters, or whoever was behind what had happened at the tower. They also didn’t have any kind of debt to these people. If they kept them along longer, they might become more trouble than they were worth. Also, it would be expensive. If they brought them along, they would have to pay for their travel. People in the Ten Realms were always looking for an advantage. Melika’s request had generated a Ten Realms quest; the experience was always useful, and it gained their interest.
They got onto their mounts and headed to where Melika and her teacher had been staying.
Lee Perrin reviewed the information his students had compiled.
“It looks like this has been going on for some time, people being kidnapped and taken down to the dungeon, but we still don’t know who the group is.”
“It has to be the Faded Scroll!” one yelled.
“We don’t know that for sure. The evidence seems to go that way, but we can’t just barge in and demand answers. They are still an academy.” Lee silenced the large man with a look, who meekly sat back down in his chair.
“Now—” Lee was interrupted by his sound transmission device. He held it up and listened.
“Teacher, a group of people showed up to the inn you were staying at. They have a girl matching Melika’s description with them!”
Lee’s chair fell to the floor, and he ran out of the room.
The others looked at one another then ran after him.
Her “teacher” wore simple clothes, his hair swept up in a ponytail, his beard a mix of gray and black that made him appear kind when smiling and a grizzly bear if he were angry.
He knelt, concern covering his face as he caught Melika and studied her. A sound-canceling spell fell over them all. No one else in the street could hear the two groups.
“Be ready for anything—set spell scrolls to stun, then we run down to the dungeons. Easier to lose them down there,” Erik said through his helmet.
“You okay? What happened?” the teacher asked Melika.
Erik and Rugrat looked at each other as they used internal comms.
“Fucking Aussie?” Rugrat asked.
“Sounds like it,” Erik said.
She was crying and explaining to him about being kidnapped, the orcs, the dungeon, and being saved. Her emotions got the best of her, jumbling it all together.
Her teacher hugged her. “This group saved you?” Her teacher checked her eyes.
She took deep breaths, calming down. “Yes, they killed the orcs, destroyed the tower, and got a quest to bring me to you.”
The teacher frowned. “A quest?”
He glanced at one of the people around him. “Calm down.” He waved. “Melika, tell me everything, from the beginning, from when you were in the inn.”
She painted a picture: Bored of staying at the inn, she had gone for a walk. She’d explored the city. At night, she returned to the inn. On her way back, she’d felt sleepy and collapsed. Next, she was in a cart underground with other people, all waking up. They were carted by guards, who replied to their questions with beatings. They were taken to the tower fortress. They met adventurers who had been captured by orcs. Others who had been kidnapped as well.
She talked of Lena, her grotesque appearance; people being carried away; then new orcs coming out of the tower. Suddenly, the orcs went crazy. People jumped out of the tower and fought the beasts. Then it burst into flames as the group fought the orcs around the cages, pushing them back.
The fighting, the orcs running, and then fleeing the orcs tunnels.
“You’re safe now.” The teacher hugged her. Melika’s little frame sagged, relief causing her to melt. He let her cry, getting it all out.
“I need to talk to those who helped bring you back. Go with your senior sister.”
“Okay,” Melika said.
He handed her off to a woman in plate armor who pulled her into a tight hug.
The teacher cupped his hands, bowing his head to Erik and his group. “Thank you for returning my student to me. My name is Lee Perrin. I am in your debt.”
“No debt here, teacher. Just got a quest from the Ten Realms and completed it,” Erik said.
“I have a duty to prote
ct her, but I didn’t do so. Even if it was just for the quest, thank you.”
“No problem. We done here?”
“I have one question. Do you know who did this and why?” Lee asked.
Erik switched to the internal comms. “Should we give him the information linking Vinters?”
“That Vinters mother fucker has a date with a five-five-six through his skull,” Rugrat said.
“This ain’t the First Realm. If we roll on Vinters, there is no knowing what shitstorm we might stir up. Looks like Lee and his people should have enough power to deal with Vinters and not get fucked in the process,” Erik said.
“We’d need months or even years to mount an operation here. Information network, figure out Vinters’s power and backers. I vote we give it to this Lee guy,” Storbon said.
“Shit, if I were him, I’d want Vinters’s head on a plate too,” Rugrat agreed. “Ask him if he knows Australia.”
Erik stepped forward and pulled out a bundle of papers from his storage ring. Lee’s people tensed, and he slowed his movements, holding out the papers, letting them see and relax.
“Person who ran the place kept records. Lord Vinters was her contact. Don’t know if there were others behind him or what. All of it is there.”
Lee took the papers from Erik. “Thank you. May I know the names of my student’s helpers so I might thank you later?”
Erik and the others stiffened, their fingers closer to their triggers.
“No worries, mate. Anonymity is a powerful protection in the Ten Realms. Thank you for what you’ve done. If you hadn’t, then…” Lee’s voice trailed off. “Anyway, I must ask if you will make a move against Lord Vinters. I ask as I know that i and my students would like to pay him a visit as well.”
“He’s all yours,” Erik said.
Vinters’s guards were strong enough to kill them without breaking a sweat, but maybe Perrins could do something with the lineup he had.
“Thank you. If you are ever in trouble or are looking for a teacher, please contact me. The favor I owe you is not small,” Lee said and glanced over to Melika.
Lee took out a token and held it up so they could see it, and then threw it to Erik.
Erik and Rugrat scanned it with their domains before Erik caught it.
“This is my sound transmission device information. Thanks again.”
“The Ten Realms is not as forgiving as Australia,” Erik said.
“Australia?” Lee’s eyes sharpened, and he stood straighter. He turned back to his group and waved them back.
They turned and started to leave the street.
“Mount up!” Storbon said.
The special team got onto their mounts, turned around, and raced off in a new direction.
They reached a totem and paid the fee, disappearing in a flash of light.
The next day peeked over the city as Lee Perrin walked out of the Fighter’s Association with Wei Shi.
“Teacher, why did you let them go?” Wei Shi asked.
Lee Perrin recalled the weapons those people were using, the armor and their masks. It looked like he might not be the only person from Earth here either.
Wei Shi was still staring at him, and he replayed in his mind what she had just said. “They were no threat to us. They helped your junior sister. I wasn’t going to keep them.”
“You had more questions for them, though.”
“Do you think they would appreciate me demanding answers from them when we were staring at one another with possible violence?” Lee asked. “Talking about violence, how are our preparations?”
“Everything is ready. We’re just waiting for you, Teacher Perrin,” Wei Shi said.
Lee stood, and Wei Shi led the way out. The next room had even more people in it, swelling to nearly fifty or so.
They grew silent.
“Let us teach Lord Vinters why no one messes with my students.”
The killing intent in the room grew as their anger boiled over—anger at those who dared to slight their teacher, who dared to attack one of their junior sisters, and who had tried to experiment on her.
“Let’s start.” Lee turned toward the door.
They mounted up on flying beasts, riding out of the Fighter’s Association and up into the sky, toward the private residence of the Vinters clan.
Several people on flying beasts rode in the sky.
Lee Perrin heard students, teachers, and spectators gathering in the street and talking excitedly.
“Just what is going on for such a group to come together?”
“Don’t they know fighting in the streets is not permitted? The professors and deans won’t have to lift a finger to destroy them.”
“Look, there is the disciplinary professor from the Faded Scroll!”
“Ryland Porter is here now. He will teach these people about flying over our heads! This is the territory of the Faded Scroll!”
Lee Perrin saw the man ride over.
Announcing his own arrival. Aren’t people supposed to become humble in their old age?
A man stood upon his beast, followed by several elders with severe expressions.
Ryland brought himself to a stop. He glared at the group. “What is your business?”
“One of your people kidnapped a student of mine for an experiment. I seek answers,” Lee said, using the power of his body to amplify his voice.
People watching the scene muttered among themselves.
Ryland gathered his strength to speak, studying the group flying around Lee.
“You are welcome to come along, Mister Porter. After all, I have some questions I would like the Faded Scroll to answer as well.”
Lee felt the auras around him surge, the flash of association emblems, those from powerful academies, and others.
Ryland paled and bobbed his head. “Please let me know how I can be of assistance.” The proud and upright disciplinary elder looked panicked.
“Well, that will make things easier,” Lee said.
6
Rest and Recuperation
Storbon led the way to the closest totem. Selecting a random target, they teleported.
Three totems later, wandering two cities and changing their appearances twice, they arrived in another Sixth Realm city and finally checked their notifications.
==========
Quest Completed: Mysterious Teacher
==========
Take Melika Nemati to meet with her mysterious teacher.
==========
Requirements:
Lead Melika Nemati to Blue Crystal Palace in the Faded Scroll Campus unharmed.
Give him information about Lena Lindenbaum’s operations.
==========
Rewards:
1,250,000 EXP
==========
==========
36,696,860/108,500,000 EXP till you reach Level 61
==========
The team stepped out onto a main road. Four- and five-story buildings were the norm. Stores filled the ground floors, with more businesses advertised above and living areas above them.
Wide sidewalks accommodated the foot traffic and stalls. Roads catered to carriages, pulled by all manner of strange beasts.
In the middle of the road, large carts were pulled along rails.
The street was filled with movement: people doing quick business, steam rising from food stalls as food was snatched and money rapidly exchanged. Fine cloths were hawked as people were custom fitted with clothes by Journeyman crafters.
Expert crafters rode in their carriages. People watched them with respect and envy, though they were a frequent occurrence. Not a rare sight like in the lower realms.
“It’s like frigging New York here, except with a better transport system, or South Korea with the stores. Damn, there are so many stores.”
The group walked down the street, and people broke around them. Those who tried to pass through the group were met with a glare and thought better than test their luck.
“Well, you’ve got to remember that fighting in these higher realms is forbidden except in matches and down in the dungeons,” Yuli said.
“What does that have to do with the stores?”
“Fighting isn’t how you gain power here. Wealth, your status, crafting level, getting into the academies, and placing well. Just how many crafters are out there? If Experts are no longer rare, then shouldn’t Novices and Apprentices be rather common?”
“You think the general population are all Apprentices?” Lucinda asked. “Remember that Alva is a strange case, even in the Ten Realms.”
“I know. We take the time to teach our younger generations. Look.” Yuli pointed down a street where there was a large building.
“Junior academy?” Lucinda read the name on the building’s gates.
“Unless I miss my mark, the people who have the means send their children into these junior academies. They must train all the time to get entrance into the main academies,” Yuli said.
“Remember when we were in Korea? Actually, you weren’t on that station, were you?”
“Nope, I met you after that,” Erik said as they continued forging a path down the street. They went over a bridge at the intersection, leaving the junior academy behind.
Every square meter had a different sight.
“Makes me think about Korea. Kids had prep school in the morning, regular school in the day, and then more school at night. Just a few hours of sleep, and then do it all over again. Did that, day in and out. All of it was to get better grades to get into university. Depending on the university that the person got into, it could change their whole future,” Rugrat said.
“Just like the academies here,” Storbon said.
“Still, doesn’t make me feel any safer in the streets,” Rugrat said.
You don’t feel safe with enough damn explosives to blow half a damn city apart? Maybe no one should feel safe. It was easy to hide anything in a storage ring, and the fear of repercussions kept everyone from fighting it out.
Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7) Page 7