Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  He used his Fleet Foot technique and charged her. She increased her speed and the two of them directed their shields to use the impact force to push them to the ground instead of into the air.

  They crashed, the dust from the pillars drifted away as they attacked one another as if they had gone mad, the attacks left dents, scratches, and scars on their armor. Their shields showed gouges and impacts from the fighting.

  The force from their attacks made some of the remaining pillars collapse.

  Yi Yin could see the fatigue in Emilia's attacks. Her mana was starting to dwindle as they were going all out with all of their techniques.

  Yi Yin was sweating under his helmet as they continued to come together, but he still was holding back his trump cards, using the ones he had employed already as they didn't draw too much more energy from him to use.

  He waited, getting her into a rhythm. She swung for an attack, he turned, taking the hit and moved to her side. He kicked out, buckling her leg and hit the flat of his blade on her back and used its enchantment. An explosion went off around his sword, tossing her forward and dropping her to the ground.

  "Yi Yin as winner!" The referee said as he went over to Emilia.

  Emilia groaned and picked herself up.

  All of those attacks from before seemed to be transmitted to her body as she favored her sides and it looked like it was painful for her to hold her head up.

  The referee used healing magic on her.

  "See a healer before you go rest," he said.

  Yi Yin had looked down on the people from the Adventurer's Guild when he had heard of them. He didn't think that they would be able to reach the level of his Silver Dragons. They were just a group of people that had come from the lower realms.

  If they were able to get some more fighting experience in the Fourth Realm, this fight could have turned out differently. She would have held back from using that lightning charge and conserved her attacks to go all out with her power.

  He turned and left the stage feeling his blood pumping, it had been a close fight, if he put a step wrong then he might have failed, she just had too many tricks. In terms of overall strength, he had still been able to keep a few trump cards hidden to use in later fights.

  The fights continued, but there were few that reached the power that was shown between Yi Yin and Emilia.

  At the end of the day, there were just one hundred contestants left out of two thousand.

  "Rest, tonight and tomorrow, the day afterwards the real fights will start!" Chonglu's words got the cheers of the crowd and made the fighters stand taller, looking at the others that were around them. They would have to crawl over them if they wanted to win this competition.

  ***

  "So, in the end, there are eighteen people from the special team recruits and ten from the Adventurer's Guild that made it into the top 100," Roska said.

  "That is more than I thought," Niemm said.

  "Well some had easier fights to get there, in the next matches one will have to rely on skill, not their luck to get higher," Elan said as he got a message. He stepped away and listened to his sound transmission device.

  He frowned slightly, the message ended and Domonos walked over.

  "Do you want to get a meal together tonight?"

  "I have to do some work, I might be free for a late meal. Will your sister be around?"

  "I'm sure that I can lure her out with some of the cooking academy's food," Domonos smiled.

  Elan felt bad. He tried to spend as much time with his children as possible, but they were now spread over other realms and they all had their own tasks. Wren and Yui were in the First Realm while the rest of his family was here in the Fourth Realm.

  "We should return down to the First Realm sometime and have a meal with your younger brother," Elan said, feeling sorry for Wren, his youngest that was controlling his trading company in the First Realm.

  "If we could get him to join Alva that would be the best."

  "I have asked the Alvan recruiters to look into it, who knows what might happen," Elan said.

  "Good, it'll be nice to have us all as Alvans," Domonos smiled as he got a sound transmission. "Got to go deal with this."

  Elan nodded and his son headed off while he thought of the message that Blaze had sent him asking him to look into Gu Chen and the Silver Dragons, looking to see if they could be trusted and see if they were looking to attack the Adventurer's Guild.

  He quietly made his exit and headed down to his offices and towards the talking statue.

  Chapter: Kuldir

  “Welcome to Kuldir Outpost, what’s your business?” The guard standing at the gate asked, his fellows looking over at the unfamiliar faces.

  “We’re just looking for somewhere to stay,” Storbon said.

  “Which outpost did you come from?”

  “We didn’t come from any of the other outposts, we came from Acal.

  “Acal is it, that must’ve been a long walk,” the guard said.

  “You could say that,” Storbon said.

  “You applying to any of the academies here or looking for work?”

  “Not really, just looking around. Do you have a map store around here?”

  “Check out Berk’s mappery, he has the best maps of the area,” the guard looked them over once more.

  “There is no fighting inside these walls keep that for outside. The fee is three mana stones each.”

  Storbon paid the fee and the guard moved to the side.

  “Welcome to Kuldir, on the ass-end of the Dungeon,” he chuckled to himself, the other guards grinning.

  Storbon’s eyes scanned their armor, it was pitted and scarred from use, while it looked dirty, the joints were well cleaned and lubricated and their weapons were in good condition. They were the type of men to look after their equipment first and themselves second.

  They entered the outpost that was as large as some small cities in the First Realm. On the outskirts, there were simple homes. Everything here was made of stone as it was an easier resource to find compared to wood.

  People in the houses closest to the wall had lost limbs or had hidden wounds. Their eyes were dull, dragging themselves forward, no longer looking forward to the next day. There was very little moving wind and these areas of the city.

  The area got better the closer to the center of the outpost. There were large courtyards with several large job boards.

  “Looking for a mining group of ten groups of ten, the greater your mining skill the higher the payout. If you don’t have the skill this is your chance to learn! Danger pay included!”

  “Looking for people to clean out alchemy cauldrons, long term employment is a possibility!”

  “Cleaning out cauldrons, that sounds pretty easy,” Yao Meng said.

  “It does, but who knows what kind of concoctions people are making, or how your cleaning supplies will react with the bits that are left behind on the inside of the cauldron?” Erik asked.

  “That doesn’t sound all too safe,” Lucinda said.

  “Well, money is money. People that come down here can strike it rich in a few years, buying rare resources and becoming strong enough to carve out a place in the realms. That is the hope, but reality is closer to the slums near the walls.” Tian Cui said.

  Things developed quickly as they reached academy grounds. Here there were people wearing crests that denoted which academy they were from. There were many wearing weapons and armor.

  Stores around this area held high-quality goods.

  The group reached Berk’s Mappery and dismounted.

  Storbon lead the way into the store and the door chimed as they looked around the room; there were some maps on display along the walls.

  A young man came out of the back of the map store he had a big smile on his face looking at them.

  “Hello, my name is Berk, welcome to my store! What kind of maps are you looking for? Maps on high resource areas? Trade and travel routes to other outposts? Locati
ons on beast sites to avoid or even dungeon raid entrances?”

  The man’s smile didn’t falter once as he looked at them.

  “Do you have a general map of the surrounding area?” Storbon asked.

  “New to the area, looking for your bearings, that is always a good start!”

  Berk moved along his desk and checked something underneath it.

  “I do have the map you’re interested in, it covers a ten kilometer area around the outpost, including some of the next floor down. It is highly detailed and you will not find another of its quality, I can give it to you for sixty Earth grade mana stones.”

  “Do you have a map that includes raid entrances, resources and a larger area?” Storbon asked.

  “We do! Always better to be more prepared! Our best map covers an area of one hundred kilometers in diameter, and it contains information on the next three floors below us as well! It contains all recorded raid entrances and resource areas. It even has recorded times that it will take these resource areas to recover if you have harvested all of the materials within,” Berk said.

  ”Price?” Storbon asked.

  “Four Earth grade mana cornerstones,” Berk said, licking his lips.

  Storbon looked over to the others.

  “Well, the more we know the better,” Rugrat said through his communicator.

  “Two Earth grade mana cornerstones,” Storbon said.

  “I am running a map making business here, there are many people that had to risk their lives to get these maps! Four!”

  “Most I can do is three,” Storbon pulled out Earth grade stones slowly piling them up. A hundred Earth mana stones made a magnificent sight.

  Cornerstones were a rare resource, most of them were in one of the Alva controlled dungeons attached to a mana gathering formation, sucking up mana and creating mana stones.

  “Fine! Good doing business with you! I also have books on resources and valuable beasts you might find in the area!”

  “I think we should be good for now.” Storbon said as he reached out to the map. Berk held it steady as he kept talking.

  “You might walk past a plant that could increase your body cultivation in one step! Or an ore that would make a master lose his mind.”

  “I’m sure,” Storbon said.

  Berk sighed and released the map.

  “Very well, don’t blame old Berk!” The man said. Storbon didn’t notice when the mana stones had disappeared.

  “I’ll take it,” Storbon said, he pulled out mana stones and started to lay them out on the table, cornerstones were a rare resource and most of them were in one of the Alva controlled dungeons sucking up mana and creating mana stones. So he had to put down four hundred regular Earth mana stones.

  “So, what is the outpost like here?” Erik asked.

  “Kuldir is a gathering outpost. While there is a large group of Orcs out to the West of us, there are plenty of resource areas around us. Unfortunately, this area has a lot of monsters. The two fighting academies use this area as a training ground and a way to make some money. They are the Golden Wolves and the Assorted Legacy Academies. They head out and clear an area while herb collectors and Miners clear the area. At the end of it all, the academies take their cut and the rest is sold to the Kraxius Alchemy Academy or the Dreynas Smithing Academy. They refine the materials, turning some of it into items and ship the rest to the surface via academy carts that come once every month, dropping off supplies and taking away resources.”

  “A resource outpost,” Tian Cui said.

  “Yes, and a raid outpost. The fighters clear out raid dungeons and then take along groups to clean up after them as well. There are several raid locations around us and there are always Orcs to be killed. They’re smart and difficult to fight, but you can get a lot of money for an Orc body. The Alchemists will have a field day with them,” Berk said.

  “Are they affiliated with the Alchemist Association?” Erik asked.

  “They wish! The Alchemist association only picks the best. They raise alchemists in the third realm, groom them over decades. The Kraxius Alchemy Academy has had a number of students joing the association and sell a lot of items to them but they aren’t associated. The associations are on another level compared to the academies. Their true academies are in the seventh realm, the Sky realm!”

  “Where is a good place to stay?” Rugrat asked.

  “You can try over at the Black Stalactite tavern, or you can get a place here for pretty cheap if you’re staying for longer. Most people only come here for a few years to earn their prerequisites, or to make some quick coin. The people that stay, well they have a business like me, or they can’t keep up with the departing convoys and make it to the surface,” Berk took out a large map from a storage item and put it on the desk. Instead of it being a rolled-up scroll, it was a massive tome.

  “Just touch this to your maps and it will transfer all of the information contained within!”

  Storbon took out his map and touched it to the large tome. The tome started to disintegrate, ash and wisps of ink were absorbed into his map, filling it with information as their small path from before was expanded greatly.

  “Thank you for your help,” Storbon said.

  “If you ever have more information that is contained on that map, bring it back here, I’m always looking to expand the range of my maps and their accuracy!”

  Storbon nodded and the group left the mappery and mounted up.

  Storbon passed his map to the others as they updated their own maps, the black area other than the line that they had walked started to fill in. The line from Orc territory remained as there wasn’t any detailed map coverage over the Orc area, only a marker saying it was an Orc controlled zone. There were several raid dungeons, resource points and other areas that were of interest to them.

  “I’m going to have a look around,” Erik said “Thinking about checking out those stalls I saw back a little bit.”

  “I’m gonna go check out the smithing areas, you guys go and check out what you want,” Rugrat said to the others.

  “We’re meant to follow you two,” Storbon said.

  “Yao Meng go with Rugrat, I’ll go with Erik, where do the rest of you want to go?”

  “I’ll check out the stalls,” Yuli said.

  “I’ll go to the smiths,” Tian Cui said.

  “Same here,” Lucinda agreed.

  The group split up like that and Erik headed towards the stalls. Ever since they had passed the outer area, there seemed to be something troubling Erik.

  ***

  Erik looked around the market at the places hidden between the stalls. He saw people working with bad wounds and injuries that stopped them from working their previous jobs, and forced them to work within the outpost, or in many cases, they were unable to do anything. The dungeon was a dangerous place and it caused a great number of injuries.

  Erik looked at all of the people and was struck with an old memory, his feet slowly came to a stop as he chuckled a bit to himself.

  “Two copper coins,” he muttered and a smile appeared on his face.

  “Excuse me, where can I rent a stall?” He asked someone manning a stall. They looked at him with a suspicious eye.

  “Go down that street and on the right, there’s a place with a sign half-connected, in there you’ll want to find Gerry, he’ll get you your permit.

  “Thanks,” Erik said.

  He found the building without issue and walked in to find Gerry.

  “Five Earth mana stones for the stall for three days, eight for a week.”

  “I’ll take a week then,” Erik said and put down the stones. The man looked at the stones and then pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something down before stamping it.

  “This is your writ, present it to the inspectors if they come around.”

  “Thank you,” Erik took the writ and headed back out.

  His stall was closer to the outreaches of the city; it wasn’t in the best condition an
d there were a number of people there, all glassy-eyed. Taking some kind of concoction to dull the pain of the day, or trying to nap here and there to speed up time.

  Yuli and Yao Meng watched as Erik pulled out a board.

  “Healing, two cop- no, two mortal mana stones, can be paid after services rendered.” Erik read out the sign and put it up on the side of the stall, then he took out a cot and laid it down in front of the stall, then took a seat and sat down.

  “So what are we doing?” Yuli asked.

  “You both have your advanced medic courses, right?”

  “Yes,” Yuli and Yao Meng chorused.

  “Well, here we can put what you learned to some use,” Erik said as he looked over to one of the glassy-eyed people near the booth. The man used to be large but now he just had tired sunken cheeks and a beard he had forgotten about.

  “Hello, would you like to be healed?” Erik asked.

  “W-what?” The man asked, covering his leg protectively as his anger started to grow.

  “I only ask for two mana stones or you will need to swear an oath on the Ten Realms if you don’t have them right now,” Erik said.

  “Get away from me!” The man yelled, angry.

  Erik stood up and repeated his words to others, Yuli went with him and Yao Meng stood at the stall.

  It took a dozen or so people before he found a mother who looked up at him with sunken eyes.

  “Please, look at my boy,” she said.

  Her son was just a toddler but he had a wet cough and his color was bad. Everything in his domain was picked up by Erik.

  Small cut on the feet, an infection that has spread throughout the body, high temperature, brain swelling, liquid in the lungs, low stamina from diet. Shows signs of growth issues for lacking nutrition.

  “Let’s go over to the stall,” Erik said.

  “I can carry him,” Yuli said, seeing that she was struggling.

  The woman debated for a bit and shook her head, carrying her boy.

  They struggled over to the stall and the cot.

  She laid the boy down.

  “I’ll need to see what’s wrong with him first of all,” Erik put two fingers on the boy’s arm and used organic scan to check that what he had figured out by using his domain, the extent of the damage to the boy.