Sixth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  "If you can find your weaknesses then you can address them and turn them into strengths," Qin finished off. "It is very different from the other realms and the academies, any failure or loss there is taken so personal. As if it is someone else's fault that you are doing bad."

  "There can be blood feuds and people attacking one another without care for their life because the other person did better. Isn't this just using their power in another way to attack those that are better than them? Its pretty stupid," Julilah said. “Erik and Rugrat were chased in the Third Realm with their lives on the line just because they did well in the competition!”

  "Well no one said that the world had to make sense. The law of strength rules the Ten Realms. If you are strong you can do as you want. The Alchemist Association crushed those chasing Erik and Rugrat because Erik was capable and he was the student of a Third Realm pill head."

  "Look the first matches are about to begin! There are so many people watching. Traders, people from the adventurer's association, crafters, farmers and librarians. Look aren't there a lot of people from the military?" Julilah said.

  "Aren't there a lot of crafters among the army as well? The crafters make their gear and we go to their events, this is a way for them to support us and see who the new crafters that they will have to rely on to make their gear," Tan Xue said. "A lot of them still commision private weapons to be made and they also have a lot of ideas for new gear that they share with us."

  They looked over the arenas, they were filled with people, those that couldn't make it to the stadium or the separate arenas were in the different taverns across the dungeon's floors, watching the different events that would go on for the next few days.

  All of Alva had come together, entire families had entered into the competitions or had their relatives and friends in the stands cheering them on.

  People came to learn, to be awed and to support one another.

  ***

  Among them Domonos and Yui were in one of the military booths, the two brothers sat beside one another. They were in the tailor's arena.

  "I never thought that I would be so interested in clothes," Yui said.

  "From our underwear to our armor everything is touched and organized by the tailors. Did you hear about the new stealth covers that they are working on for the sharpshooting teams and the special teams?"

  "Stealth covers?"

  "It is essentially a large multi-layered sheet, they layers insulate the person or people underneath while the external material and formations work together to make you blend into the surroundings. Its hard for someone to pick you up with sensing spells even if they know where to look," Domonos said in approval.

  "The sharpshooter teams will be able to get closer to their targets, same with the special teams. If you're on the run you can go to ground and hide, let the enemy pass you, then double back and head in a different direction. Will the layers work in the winter and the summer?"

  "They are rated for the colds of the Fourth Realm’s north and the sandy wastes of the Second Realm's deserts," Zhou Heng said.

  The two brothers stood up and nodded to Zhou Heng.

  "Please, there is no need for those formalities, I'm just a tailor."

  "You might be 'just a tailor' but we both know how much you and your people have put into everything that we wear and even altered and adjusted future gear based on our feedback. What you and you people have done, allows us and our people to do what we can," Yui said as they moved to make room for Zhou Heng.

  "If it wasn't for your support and highlighting this fact to so many people then I wouldn't have the number of tailors I have now. Not many people think of being a tailor as an exciting job."

  "One needs to be exact with their actions and no less demanding with their studies, I have long heard and experienced the end results of the tailors, but today I'm really excited to see how tailors work behind closed doors," Yui said excitedly.

  "I think that fighting techniques and weapons are much more interesting than our meager skills."

  "Meager, I think you are doing yourself a disservice. While we have many resources to pull from across the realms. Information and even materials, most of it has come from within the Tailoring department!" Domonos said.

  "The first match is about to begin. Studying different materials, is this like how smiths pick ores and the right enhancers to use with them to increase the properties of the weapons?" Yui asked.

  "Precisely, the competitors will have to pick out different types of materials to be used in different types of clothes. Clothes can had hides that are dried out, or treated in special vats. They might need to be weaved together or blended together. Each creates different base materials. With smiths there is a large portion focused on actually smithing the weapon. Forging techniques are incredibly important, with tailoring the right set of clothes, making the cloth is the most important part. There are dozens of techniques to create cloth but there is a truly massive amount of raw materials that one can use and combined together through those techniques." Zhou Heng explained as competitors walked out from the entrances into the arena, people cheered out as some waved to people in the crowd and others walked to the different examination rooms that were closed off from one another but their roofs were open so that the magical rebroadcasting devices could look in and display the information in the sky above or use their eyesight spells. There were other competitors that smiled, or gritted their teeth, showing all kinds of emotions as they entered the honeycomb of rooms.

  "Once you have created a type of cloth and said how you were able to create it, you can do a number of tests to find out its properties, hopefully it will be the kind of material that you require. Then using sewing techniques, one can turn the cloth into clothes."

  "Formations have to be sown in as well right?" Domonos asked.

  "That is correct. The power that a piece of clothing can handle is usually very low, but simple formations are best. You were talking about the stealth sheets before?"

  The brothers nodded.

  "Using layers we used several layers to reduce the thermal footprint of the person underneath, then the outer layers have properties that make it easier for them to change colors. The formations are on a special layer that has a number of fine metal threads. That way more power can be fed into the formations. They sense the surrounding area and stimulate the exterior cloth to those colors. It mimics the ground underneath the soldier. If someone was able to calculate depth then they would see that the area was higher than the others, but it isn't much of a height increase if it is one person lying down with a sheet over them."

  "Most sensing spells look for disturbances in mana, a peak or a loss, or a difference in the terrain," Yui nodded.

  "Yes, Domonos said," Zhou Heng smiled and Domonos grinned.

  A gong sounded and the competition started.

  Yui and Domonos looked over to watch. The tailors were going through the different materials, they used different kinds of spells, some on their eyes, or on their fingers, or on their noses.

  Their hands moved quickly, separating out the different items, there were some that were stalks, others that seemed to be no more than balls of fluff, different parts from beasts and even pellets of different colors.

  They were organized into piles, sometimes there was just one material, others had four or five. Each of them were organized according to the different pieces of clothing that they were being asked to make. Testers would come in once they were done. They would tell them why they picked the combination of materials they had and how they would process them. The leaders were quick with their assessments, some showed signs of appreciation as they checked the information against the records that Egbert had stored and compiled in the library. Some had even come up with new permutations or materials that they thought might work. They would have to be tested out while other competitions were on going and the results would come out in the night.

  "So many different combinations, there is not just
one answer for every question," Yui said. "That must increase the difficulty greatly."

  "Yes, there is a new line of thinking among the tailors. Using all the best materials for a single piece can be heaven and hell. If it succeeds then you ascend the heavens, if it doesn’t, you lose it all. There is a hidden benefit from failure and repetition. Mastery.”

  “Master level crafting?”

  “No, mastery of one’s current skills. Working on one item again and again, the stitching the first time might have been crooked, you might not have tied it off securely. Your sizing might have been off. If you do it repeatedly your skills grow, instead of needing to rely on outlines and referencing your notes constantly, you can size up the materials with your eyes. You can see where the thread will fray and where the stitching will be hard. If you create more cloth from those fine materials, the material might be a lower quality, but your workmanship will improve and you can try again if you fail.”

  “Teach Zhou’s words are wise,” Domonos cupped his hands.

  “We came from the lower realms. Right now we have a lot of materials, but we want to teach our students to be proud in their work and prudent in creation. There are a number of fantastic designs for dresses and suits, but one can only sell a few dresses or suits. Not everyone needs them, instead it is better to make simple pants and shirts. If one is to make the best pair of pants over the best suit, the person with the best pants will be much more successful. The materials should meet the needs of the user."

  “I have seen many fine clothes from your students though?” Domonos asked.

  “We don’t say that people shouldn’t make great shirts or pants. That they all need to be the camouflage that the army wears. Suit the materials to the user. Jeans will be jeans, will be jeans. Change the sizings and that is it. Shirts are many people’s way of expressing themselves. That is where styles comes into play.”

  “Come, let's keep watching, they are making shoes next.”

  "I have to ask where you came up with your boots, they are more comfortable than the shoes I wore as a young master." Domonos asked.

  "Making shoes is an art, after looking at the shoes that Erik and Rugrat used and their rough outlines and designs from their memories and Rugrat's gun magazines we came up with much more rugged designs. We have the Rand at the base, the lugs, outsole, insole, toecap, upper, collar, tongue and eyelets with different types of string and in some cases tightening formations to secure the shoe. One has to find the best materials for the underside of the shoe, then stitch them together and then stitch the different materials to create the shape of the shoe, paying attention to padding, weather proofing. The form has to fit the foot and then the soles need to be comfortable and long lasting so that the user can use them over an extended period of time without fail."

  Zhou Heng was glowing, in his element and excited to talk about what he spent his days doing.

  Yui and Zhou Heng started talking about shoes and boots, pointing to their own footwear as Yui was enlightened with his insight.

  Domonos looked around the arena, the first competition came to an end, people were leaving the testing rooms, excited or dejected, a myriad of emotions played out over their faces as they headed back to the resting rooms. The arena was switched and changed, quickly prepared for the next competition. Some people in the crowds headed down and others headed in to take their spots.

  People talked to one another, explaining what had happened, showing off their own skills and teaching others.

  Yui was talking about formations and the materials in boots, how they could make a person faster while Zhou Heng was talking about the stability of the shoe, of longer lasting and sturdier, versus the additional formations that could overwhelm the base materials and destroy them.

  There is so much to learn and to craft.

  ***

  "Ah, Tan Xue, good to see you," Glosil said as he saw the smith enter the same booth.

  "Glosil, have you come to see the formation masters and Blueprint drawers in action?"

  "It got my interest, I go through so many information books and there are always new spell scrolls. I realized that I never saw them getting made and I was interested."

  Tan Xue laughed seeing the awkward expression on Glosil's face mixed with excitement.

  The Gong sounded as the mana in the area surged, under the control of so many powerful masters the mana of the Ten Realms was suppressed!

  Glosil's eyes were wide as he watched everything.

  "They take different materials and process them into paper, sometimes using fibrous materials such as wood chippings, or different reeds, sometimes even hides. The materials can be aligned with different attributes, creating a spell scroll from a material that matches the scroll will improve its strength!" Glosil said.

  "Look at how fast they are going through the materials, some of them are coming up with multiple kinds of paper for them to use as a base for their scrolls," Tan Xue said.

  "If you have more options then you can think of the best spell to use on them. Fastest is not the best always. Though it is thrilling to see how their fighting spirit is ignited when they are up against one another and there is a time constraint involved!"

  "Look some have started to work on the formation!"

  "It is so elegant," Glosil said with a breath. "What are they doing with those paints?"

  "Once the materials are picked out for the scroll, the materials and methods to inscribe the spell on the scroll also vary! With formations people are carving the arrays into metals, rock, wood and other solid materials. Carving into the scrolls would ruin them, so the creators must use other tools. They can make formation inks and threads!"

  "Inks and threads? Ah! I see! So like how metals can be inlaid into the carved out formations to increase their power and the conductivity of power?"

  "Exactly commander," Tan Xue said. "Look that person there is combining the blue Utteka Root and Nova Shoot to create an ink."

  The spell scroll creator worked his ink block, combining the juices of the two plants, he mixed creating a deep purple that had flecks of prismatic colors and blue within.

  He drew out a brush and dipped it into the ink wiping it on the ridges of the ink stone removing the excess.

  Gathering himself, one could see the mana in the area gathering, and calming, under his deep control. He closed his eyes before he raised his hand and released the brush.

  It drifted into the air, above the freshly created spell scroll.

  The tip of the brush bent in the air and lines started to appear in mid-air.

  "Air creation! Impressive!" Tan Xue said quietly as if the crafter might be disturbed by her words over two hundred meters away.

  "Air creation?" Glosil's voice was low as well.

  "It is a kind of prototyping. With all crafts many people will work on multiple prototypes before they actually start working on their true project. With air creation one can create the spell formation for the scroll in mid-air, breaking it into components. Then the crafter can press them to the paper, creating the spell formation in one go. The ink is inlaid at the same time, there is a smaller chance for faults as it will all dry at the same rate and there will not be more ink in some places compared to others."

  "Ah, so it is like creating a stamp of the spell formation?" Glosil asked.

  "Yes, just like the spell scroll printing press. The special inks are made, then the stamp soaks in it and stamps the papers. It is insane to think of how many spell scrolls we now make."

  "Ah, there is always a need for stockpiles. Though we have been holding off making more, if we keep making more at this rate then it will take years to use all of the scrolls."

  "Won't they be used against the Willful Institute?"

  "Yes, though we have to look at future expansion. We don't want to waste spell scrolls or leave them sitting in the corner. How many different kinds of spell scrolls will be made next year, how many will we find a use for? We have a large stockpile, but our
printing speed is so damn high it would be a waste. We started a contract with the traders, creating low key useful daily spell scrolls for them to use and sell. Keeps the equipment operating and we know that there will be no issues with it. Passively create an income and if we need to fight we switch back to making our items."

  "I didn't think of that. It is smart and it means that Alva can make more money."

  "I feel like it is an Alvan thing. We'll make money anyway we can and repurpose everything we have, civilian to military, craft to craft. Look at those blueprint drawers!" Glosil pointed to blueprint creators that were sitting back from the spell scroll creators. They were like a silent shadow, it was hard to notice them in the back but once one looked at them, their eyes would bulge out at their drawings.

  Some had papers all around them, the different components of the spell formations had been broken down into components. They noted down the exact specifics that each of the spell scroll crafters had done. Where they laid more ink or thier threads were thicker. If they used different styles of brush strokes or their stitches were laid out in a different manner.

  Even working with them so long with my own creations. The detail and their ability to dissect complex items down. It's shocking.

  "If one talks of the backbone of Alva, it is not our armor, our healers, or our formation masters. It is our farmers, builders, librarians and overall the members of the blueprint office," Glosil said in a solemn voice.

  "If it wasn't for them then we wouldn't have the plans for buildings, we wouldn't be able to create our workshops, or our armors and weapons. Formations would be nebulous and instead of the information sharing we have in Alva, then to learn something then we would have to implement the same disciple and master methodology of those out in the Ten Realms."

  "Everything is recorded in the libraries and open to everyone. Instead of having to create an answer to everything, one can go to the library and research solutions that others have made and even see the break down of spell formations, see how they evolved. People have gained inspiration from all kinds of things."