Sixth Realm Part 2: A litRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 7)

by Michael Chatfield

  “And because they’re awesome,” Rugrat interjected.

  “And because they’re awesome.” Han Wu chuckled with the others. “But, dude, you’re a hero to the people in Alva, the members of the military. You’ve showed us that we can serve the people, not our own interests. What gains might we get in a battle? Fuck the loot. Is that worth more than our brothers and sisters standing beside us? So, when you’re worried about not being around, fuck it. You are there when we need it most. And didn’t you create the council to look after everything so you two could run off to the higher realms? Battle fanatics.”

  “Hey, you do the same thing—all your covert missions, retrieval, and information,” Rugrat said.

  “Dude, I’m just saying to take us along next time!”

  Rugrat laughed. The stress from the last couple of weeks and months relaxed. He felt that there had been a beast on his shoulder, driving him forward to complete the next weapon, make the next thing to increase the power of the military.

  “This is the place.” Simms pointed at the door.

  Rugrat moved to the door’s window. The classroom was filled with people listening attentively: young, old, shabby-looking, or wearing the finest clothes from across the realm and even the higher realms. Julilah stood at the front of the room, waving her hand as she created a formation script on the chalkboard with a clever manipulation of her mana.

  Everyone was captured by her words as she added complexities to the formation.

  A bell sounded, and the classes ended. Students moved, some heading to the front of the room to talk with Julilah.

  Rugrat stepped back as several doors opened and students left the lecture hall, talking to their peers or hurrying to their next classes.

  The flow died down, and Rugrat entered the room.

  Julilah was the center of several people as she cleared up her tools.

  A few of them bobbed their heads in thanks and headed off, talking to one another, their eyes filled with excitement. They looked as if they could barely hold themselves back from jogging to their workshops.

  “Miss Julilah, you are a rare talent. To be wasted in such a place…you could enjoy a life deserving of your beauty and your knowledge as my wife.” A handsome, young man gave her an impish smile.

  Julilah finished cleaning up. “I don’t think being your wife would be the peak of my talents, Lord Venezzio,” Julilah said dryly.

  “As my adored wife, I would be your firm support to hold you up and push you forward. The Fifth, the Sixth Realm, even—you could rise to the peak!”

  “City Lord.” She bowed to Rugrat, showing no signs of being influenced. “Did we have a meeting? I am sorry my class ran longer than I thought it would. Shall we get tea together?” She ignored Lord Venezzio as she smiled at Rugrat.

  He frowned at her, questioning, but Julilah shook her head.

  “Yes, I would enjoy that.” Rugrat graciously raised his arm.

  Julilah showed an amused expression, holding back her laughter by pressing her lips together as she put her hand in the crook of his arm. She pressed on his arm, making him walk away.

  The rest of the special team moved around them like specters as they left the room, scanning everyone.

  “Which city lord are you?” Lord Venezzio asked.

  “This one,” Rugrat said as he left the hall.

  They walked out of the building, and Rugrat used a sound-canceling formation.

  “He’s some silly lord’s son from the Fifth Realm. He came here to ‘broaden his horizons.’ Don’t worry. I get a new proposal every other week. People think because I am young and smart in formations, I must be dumb in the way of the world.”

  “Well, any of these boys catch your eye or should I hit them off with a broom?”

  “They’d be a fool to try anything, and I think they’re largely innocent in it all.”

  “Looks like not everything is so simple on the surface,” Rugrat said.

  “Don’t worry. With my cultivation, he is no problem for me. So, why are you here?”

  Rugrat put his words to the side. He pulled out a shabby blueprint and passed it to Julilah.

  She released him and looked at the plans.

  “Do you really want to go and get tea?” Rugrat asked.

  “Of course not! To the workshop! There is plenty more to be done. We can drink tea and work at the same time, no?”

  “That’s what I thought.” Rugrat laughed in relief.

  “Though this plan, sabot, a covering? How is it supposed to operate?”

  “We have the round in the middle. This sabot around it stabilizes it in the air barrel. Then, upon exiting the barrel, the sabot is discarded, and the round is freed, heading for its target.”

  “A kind of casing, then. The air barrel formations and the sabot work together to create a barrel within the barrel, leaving the round free-floating. As the Metal formations accelerate it out of the barrel, the casing is blown off and the deadly round or payload in the middle is revealed and bang! It smashes the target. This sabot covering will be useless after one use, though,” Julilah said.

  “Yup.” Rugrat nodded.

  “Isn’t that kind of a waste?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, formations, if they are maintained and powered, can last forever. This will only be used once.”

  Rugrat frowned, trying to think of a way to explain it. “Think of it like a spell scroll then.”

  “It creates a massive effect but is burnt out in the process?”

  “Yes, but the difference is that the round is wasted, but the weapon, that remains, and we can load another round and fire it immediately. Actually, you know that heat issue we were looking at? If we needed to, could we create formations that store the heat into metal blocks? We refine metals with an innate ability to contain heat. In rapid firing, they can be changed out in an emergency.”

  “That…it’s wasteful.” Julilah half-closed her eyes, calculating and thinking. She looked as though she had tasted something unpleasant. “We could do it. I was thinking about conditional formations. We line the barrel with high-heat-capacity metal blocks. Along the hot spots, we create formations that bleed the heat off into the blocks. As they reach high temperature, they push out from the heat transference formations to secondary formation plates that dissipate the heat. Once cooled, they drop back into place and start absorbing more heat. Also, you could change modes: fire multiple low-speed rounds and the heat is slowly accumulated, or fire more powerful shots and the heat is ramped up. Quickly.”

  “How many heat sink systems are you thinking?”

  “I was thinking of just the one. But if we had multiple, we could cool or dissipate the heat through multiple to keep a steady rate of fire.” Julilah pulled out a blueprint and passed it to Rugrat.

  There were metal blocks in a row on a slider that went up and down. The formations at the bottom released heat into the metal. The formation controlling the slider turned the heat into motion. Once the capacity was reached on the metal blocks, it would move, driving them up just a centimeter or two, matching the blocks up to three-sided formations that dissipated heat.

  It would look like a metal vertebra along the barrel of the gun.

  “If you did four of them and made an X shape with them, you could easily aim, reload, and attach grips and grenade launchers underneath,” Rugrat said. “For the indirect fire systems like mortars and artillery cannons, we could have nine different cooling systems around the barrel. They’re just calculating off angles; they don’t need weapon sights, and they’ll make a hell of a lot more heat.”

  They reached Julilah’s workshop, and she used a formation to unlock it. Inside, there were more attack formations, and guards roamed the halls. Still, Julilah kept all her items and projects in a special storage ring.

  “The new sabot rounds will need a new magazine system,” she said.

  “It might, but it might not. It depends on what the sabot rounds are like.”


  Julilah continued looking over the plans and then checked some other plans.

  Rugrat studied the plans she had given him. “Where’s Qin?” He looked at the other half of the double workshop.

  “Under the city. She is working on the Conqueror’s line that is going into production. The air force has requested special formations, and she is working on several version twos for the armor. Nearly every Alvan crafter is working on some kind of innovation or working with the military.”

  “How long do you think it will take to make this weapon system?” Rugrat asked.

  “This final version?”

  “A workable version.”

  “Well, we just started to build a test bed for the new system, incorporating the power of Wind and Metal. We can combine that into an upper receiver. We already produce the lower receivers. Those weapons will work, but they will be greatly reduced in effectiveness as they don’t have the heat sink system to allow the weapon to fire repeatedly or to fire rounds at a higher velocity. We could add that in later, so a month of testing on the base weapon design while we finish building the assembly lines. Say six weeks to two months until mass production, as long as there are no testing issues. Three to four months if we run into issues. We should complete the heat sink systems then upgrade the old weapons with them.”

  “Also, we have to look at the manufacture of ammunition and magazines,” Rugrat added.

  “And that. Also, if we want to make different versions, long-range rifles, and machine guns, another few months.”

  “So, what? Four months until we can issue the basic weapons?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Conqueror’s Armor is already being made alongside the new formation-stacking system. Every soldier has their basic weapon loadout, medical supplies, and ammunition.” Rugrat clicked his tongue.

  “You’re overthinking it. We’ve got what we’ve got. When the fight comes, we’ll be ready,” Han Wu said.

  Rugrat nodded. “Well, no matter what, I’ll still worry. The more advantages we can get, the better!”

  26

  Unrest in the Institute

  Grand Elder Mendes of the Willful Institute glared at the elders around him. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated. His anger caused the mana around him to fluctuate, and his eyes focused on Elder Dean.

  “You are telling me that the Adventurer’s Guild—a third-rate, useless band of mercenaries—is behind this?” His voice remained quiet but turned colder as he stared at the elder.

  “Yes, Grand Elder,” Elder Dean said.

  “We need to wipe them out,” Elder Tsi said, hitting the desk.

  Mendes’s eyes cut over to Tsi, silencing her. “I am supposed to meet with the Council of Grand Elders in a few months, and I have to tell them that we are unable to pay our tithe because of a group of mercenaries? A group of mercenaries who were grossly underestimated by us. Who have roots in the first three realms and are closing in on three hundred thousand members. Who have stolen missions and contracts from us, cutting off resources that we require to train and grow our younger generation!” Mendes’s anger reached boiling point.

  “They haven’t attacked us directly. They know that if they did, we would destroy them,” another elder said.

  Mendes stared at the elder; silence taking over as he turned to his own thoughts.

  There had to be someone behind this guild, someone capable of gathering information and learning about their operations. They had struck at several of their ventures, cutting them down. When looking at it all in parts, it wasn’t much to cause alarm. Examining them together, it became apparent that this guild was pulling them down. If they allowed it to continue, their city would falter, and their students’ progress would slow. They needed those resources to raise geniuses. If they didn’t, they would go to other cities in the Institute to gain better opportunities. They needed to draw this group out and destroy them.

  “They’re willing to go this far?” Mendes shook his head. People were expendable at the end of the day, only worth what one could profit from them. He couldn’t see why a group of fighters would motivate the entire guild to take action that could destroy them.

  Subconsciously, he had stopped looking at them as a simple band of fighters but as a power on par with his own city.

  If the roles were reversed and the guild had killed a group from their sect, he wouldn’t hesitate to attack them, threaten them, and take a price from them that would compensate the sect and make sure they could never develop in the future.

  “Send out a challenge to the guild. Make it public. Invite them to a competition. We will put our fighters against theirs. We will put resources and contracts on the line and sign an agreement to that effect. We will have the fight in one week. If they do not appear, we will attack their known locations and wipe them out,” Mendes said.

  If they come to the competition, they are scared of their power, and it will bring their leaders and powerful fighters out into the light. If they do not react, then we can attack, and others won’t look down on us.

  Jasper looked up from the scroll in his hands and to the messenger who had delivered it. “Looks like we have a fight on our hands.” Jasper stood and walked out of the room.

  People moved out of his way as he went through the Khusai Adventurer’s Guild headquarters. It was the first location the association had developed.

  He knocked on a door.

  “Come in,” Blaze said, his voice coming from the other side.

  Jasper walked in and put the scroll on his desk.

  Blaze picked it up and read. “Well, looks like some of them are smart enough to figure out who we are. This all started when they failed to punish their students or even offer an apology. Seems it is only fitting they would be the first faction in the Willful Institute that we officially clash with.”

  “Do you want me to ignore it?” Jasper asked.

  “Pass it higher and see what they say.”

  “It could be a trap.”

  “Oh, it will probably turn into one. But it remains to be seen who will fall into it.” Blaze smiled.

  Erik jogged through the Alva army base in the dungeon. Since the army had increased in size, so had the barracks, transforming it into a complete base. He passed different units’ training areas. Soldiers checked their weapons, carriers, and storage rings. Groups across the Ten Realms and the units on standby had been given notice. Classes and training continued for most of the army, but there were signs of mobilization.

  He passed through armed and armored men and women before reaching the command center. It was a heavily fortified room under the base.

  “Put pants on!” Erik yelled as his first sight was Rugrat in his short shorts, blacksmithing apron, and cowboy hat.

  “I was in a rush!”

  Erik turned to Glosil, nodding for him.

  Captain Kanoa was there as well.

  Colonel Yui came in through the door, followed by Elan.

  “We’re all here,” Glosil said. The room grew quiet. “Director Silaz?”

  “Thank you, Commander.” Elan faced the small crowd in front of him. “A few hours ago, the Adventurer’s Guild received a message from one of the Willful Institute’s branches. This branch is the home location of the group who had attacked the Adventurer’s Guild. They issued a challenge to the guild, inviting them to the branch to have a tournament for resources. It’s highly publicized, so the guild wouldn’t be able to back out.”

  Everyone looked at Erik and Rugrat.

  “Is it a trap?” Rugrat asked.

  “They are looking to assert their dominance and regain their losses. Internally, we have found out that the higher-ups are not pleased about the reduced payouts. They are used to their bribes and now not getting them, so they’re applying more pressure. This reduces the power of the Adventurer’s Guild, and it could recover their resources. It can also elevate their position and reassert their dominance. From their perspective, it is a win-win. No
w, if they don’t win, things could turn into a mess and they might fight back.”

  “Do we have a plan for this?” Erik asked.

  Glosil stood. “Colonel Domonos Silaz has come up with a plan. Special teams will infiltrate the branch location, getting close to the treasury of the city. Once the fighter’s competition is over, the Adventurer’s Guild will provoke the Willful Institute, reinforced with members from the Fourth Realm, and exit the city. We will use our contacts and agents to mess with the branch’s communication and have the branch attack the Adventurer’s Guild. It should drag everyone into the mess. As it happens, the special teams will reveal themselves to be people under the Grey Peak Sect, a local sect with roots in the Fourth Realm who is displeased with the Willful Institute. They will attack the treasury, stealing what they can and destroying what they can’t. They’ll exit the city and run away. Kanoa and his force will be waiting at a rendezvous, where they will transport the special teams to a secure location. We will weaken their fighting force, hit them in their heart, and rip away their resources. Each attack will open them up more.”

  “Follow-up attacks?” Erik asked.

  “Internally, they are more divided than ever,” Elan added.

  “Are we ready for this?” Erik asked.

  “Colonel?” Glosil glanced at Yui.

  Yui stood up at attention. “The Tiger and Dragon Regiments stand ready!”

  “Captains?”

  Niemm and Gong Jin stood up as one at the back of the room.

  “Special Team One stands ready,” Niemm said.

  “Special Team Three stands ready,” Gong Jin finished.

  Kanoa stood. “The Eagle Company stands ready.”

  Erik glanced at Elan.

  “The intelligence department is always ready.”

  “The round’s in the chamber,” Rugrat said.

  “All right. As long as Blaze agrees on the side of the Adventurer’s Guild, begin Operation Black Shadow,” Erik said.

  Domonos’s blade sent sparks flying as it met his opponent’s shield, getting turned to the side. Domonos followed the direction of the blade, his form blurring as he circled around. The shield user yelled as their shield shifted to face him. The two of them increased their speeds and attacks. Each of them used the full power of their bodies and their Mana Cultivation.