Sixth Realm
Page 60
Everyone fell quiet for a few minutes.
Rugrat laughed to himself.
“Hell, who knows, we might meet one another along the path and teach each other of different paths one can take. In the Ten Realms the apex is reaching the Star system of crafting. Does it really matter though? If you can make one person a powerful shield, can they defend everyone? Aren’t they too carrying so much weight that they might crumble under it? No, that’s ridiculous and dumb,” Rugrat’s eyes opened wide a fire seemed to have ignited inside them and started to burn brighter.
“What if we are not looking to get to higher mountains? The academies teach people according to different levels, teach them the basics and more complicated information. Now they’re told copy this, do that, and it creates this. Well some people can do that, and some can only go so far. Others, they thrive under greater pressures, they thrive to find an answer to a question that might not have been asked already,” Rugrat snapped his fingers.
“The Ten Realms puts progress above all, that you can do more at a higher crafting level. You could, but that doesn’t mean that a Journeyman or Apprentice level item isn’t useless,” Qin said.
Rugrat turned to her as he saw that she had a troubled look on her face.
Taran was playing with his cup. “This glass is of the Apprentice level, we’re in the Fourth Realm with a massive amount of resources but the glass, the plate, the cutlery, all of them had to be made by crafters, though it doesn’t make sense to create Expert-level glasses and knives and forks. Not many people take up those crafts because they do not progress much further than the Journeyman level, there is no demand.”
“Though take the glass, we can use it for weapon sights, can use it to focus light we could create screens that relay information, insulated doors and houses. Could use it to create telescopes to stare into the stars or microscopes to look at samples!” Rugrat said.
“We can use a formation to create a weapon sight though?” Julilah said.
“What if we had the glass magnifying what is in front of us and then had a formation to increase that zoom, or to create a second mode that allows us to see mana life or heat signatures? Then it would be a Journeyman level piece of equipment instead of an Expert level piece of equipment. Also if the formation ran out of power, the aiming sight would work no matter what.”
“What are you thinking, Rugrat?” Tan Xue asked.
“Instead of crafting mountains, we have questions, ideas, problems let’s say. A rolling problem would be, how can we increase the effectiveness of our military? There are many problems there, we have armor, clothing, food, training, weapons and more. Though with all those efforts together can you create a trained soldier. Qin, Julilah, you’re on the right path, using all of the strengths and abilities that you and Alva have to push forwards. It’s brilliant! You took different problems or ideas and you created solutions that work and can work together, not just increasing their effectiveness like one plus one equals two, but multiplying the effectiveness of both systems together, creating a ten or twenty times increase in power. The people of Alva are great and smart and the limitations of the crafting system are dumb. Crafters can increase the power of a few people, but inventors, what they can come up with can greatly affect the entire world.”
Rugrat sat back in his seat as if the air had fled his lungs.
“Crafting other than Smithing and Formations has hardly been linked together, there are few benefits for them to do so. Other than creating items for one another. That cross-pollination of ideas, just what could happen?” Rugrat seemed to be breathless, as the fire in his eyes had turned into a raging storm as he felt his eyes flickering back and forth, examining Alva, looking at things to improve, ways to push forward, anything and everything that he could exploit.
“That is a good idea, but will crafters go for it? Won’t it hurt their own progression?” Tan Xue said.
“Contracts and patents. Someone comes up with an idea and produces it, for ten years it is their idea and they can create as many as they want of the item, every subsequent item that they create is also covered under a ten-year patent. Now they can hold onto that patent or they can produce it, get a factory to make the item, then traders sell it. The crafter earns a percentage of the product’s value. They work on their different ideas and the item passively brings in income.”
“Though our ranks might drop,” Julilah said.
“The crafting levels only matter for experience, they don’t necessarily mean people can earn more money. Crafters are some of the people with the greatest debt. If you could figure out how to pay your way out of that debt and create your own private workshop and unlimited materials, do whatever you wanted? I think we might need to revise the whole ranking system in the schools. Right now it is only based on the skill level that the ten realms says that you have.”
“What about a whole new department to deal with it? With teachers who know what the hell they’re talking about and have created practical products in mass? Hah, we should call it the applied sciences, taking the knowledge from the academics and turning it into real-world solutions,” Rugrat said.
They all fell silent around the table.
“It could create great instability within the academies and drop the ranks of people as Julilah said,” Tan Xue said.
“Yup, it could,” Rugrat agreed.
“How could we mark the people that are in the academies for these projects?” Qin asked.
“They would have their own academic projects if they create something within that time that is their own creation, then why the hell not?” Rugrat said.
“Use the academies to teach them and create their foundations and leave them the freedom to create their own applications for what they have been taught,” Taran said.
“Is anyone going to want to do it though? People might feel that they are wasting their life away. Trying to make products and not increasing their skill level,” Julilah warned.
“Not everything succeeds, we all know it. While they might only create products of the apprentice level, they could have the knowledge of an expert. That is how one’s skill level doesn’t relate to their potential or true ability.”
“ if we can get more factories going then we have crafters focusing on building the prototypes and an influx of factory jobs to take the original design and mass produce it. Then we don’t have to fear that a crafter will find something new to work on and never make that item again. As they create new items, we can have others reproduce their original creation. Where are we going to find people to do that?” Taran asked.
“You’re thinking too inside the box. The crafters don’t need to, the traders can build the factories and pay the crafters to create the items and the assembly lines. Also there are crafters that like building, but might not like inventing. There are all kinds of people and personalities. Again working with others with different mindsets and skill sets,” Rugrat said.
“They already look for solutions among what the crafters create, but few are willing to work with them, wanting to push ahead more,” Qin said. “But won’t it decrease the competition within the crafting departments?”
Rugrat bit his lip.
“The trade is, do we want people to increase their crafting ability or to focus on inventing new things to increase our overall strength,” Taran said.
“Does it have to be a choice, can’t we do both? You know give incentives for people that are looking to do different jobs?” Rugrat asked.
“If we need something we could have people bid on it with gear they have created,” Qin said. “It would create competition between the crafters, like how traders will have auctions to create competition between the buyers,” Qin said.
“The person with the best item for the job wins,” Julilah nodded.
“It might be like a spoon, the person that can make it the cheapest, in the largest quantities will win, over the person who can make the most finely hand crafted one,” Rugrat said.
“It will make it so that crafters and traders need to work together to make it viable and if they want to make more profit then they need to know other markets or people to sell it to,” Qin said. “Teams of traders could go to crafters paying them to create something for them. Or crafters could go to traders before creating something to get the traders to back them.”
“I forget that your dad was the head of a massive trading company,” Tan Xue said.
“You know what, there are some people that are more inclined to create functional machines over just increase their crafting. Also, there are crafters that have reached a certain stage and are unable to progress further. If they can become people to create factories and know how to adapt the items created by the academics into applications,” Taran shook his head. “I think that creating a system that is based on their inventions instead of their skill level is flawed.”
T“Taran,” Rugrat started.
“Hear me out, I don’t think that people shouldn’t create useful items I just think that it could create a mess in the academies. People can create all kinds of items, some will hit the market well and others will flop. Crafters create things. Some might have a sense of the market and people’s needs, others might not have a clue. The academies should remain a place where people go to learn and increase their overall crafting ability, to study and grow their knowledge. If someone wants to take their time and turn it toward creating new items, they are free to do so, if they can do it at the same time they study, great. If they can’t do it while they’re studying, we have four semesters a year.At the end of a semester, people can put their education on hold. This is already a thing. They can do whatever they want and next year or even decades later, they can go back to the academy to take dedicated classes.”
“Keep them separate. An academic route and an applied route, they can influence one another but the academy only offers one service and then another department offers contracts for crafters to bid on?” Tan Xue asked.
“Exactly, if we try to do too much then it will only adversely affect both systems,” Taran nodded.
“Do you think that will be enough incentive?” Rugrat asked.
“Able to do something for their fellow Alvans, work on their own projects and ideas, can earn a large sum of money out of it. Yeah, I think that by itself will be enough for many people. Remember for every Expert crafter we have we have nearly two hundred Journeyman crafters and that ratio only increases. There are a number of crafters that have turned their hands away from the academy and are pursuing their own knowledge and looking to pay back their loans. This gives them a clear route. Creating the factories and how things will operate together is their own puzzle that I can think of a few crafters who would be interested in it,” Tan Xue said.
“What if the rate that we create Experts decreases?” Julilah asked.
“That is for other groups and people to talk and worry about,” Taran snorted. “What does it matter how many high-level crafters we have if we can have five journeyman level crafters let’s say, creating a master level piece of equipment?”
They all sunk into their own thoughts as the fire in Rugrat’s eyes had dimmed a bit but with their discussion they had a starting point.
“Well, then do skill levels really matter?” Julilah asked.
The table turned quiet.
“The system benefits crafters that work alone or in limited partnerships. It is like medieval industry,” Rugrat saw the confused looks and cleared his throat. “In ancient times there were people called artisanshey were like crafters. They would learn certain crafts and train others to complete them. Due to a lack of resources and the power structure at the time, with Kingdoms the people at the top could purchase crafted items though many couldn’t. There were knights, people that had complete armor. Compared to normal people, they were unkillable and highly trained. With that system a few people could wield power much greater than others and gain greater benefits. Later on, systems changed, spreading power around to others. People could rise and fall easily but there were more people rising and most people had more power than they thought. Instead of making finely-crafted weapons and armor, rifles and firearms were created. The lowest of the low could use a firearm and kill someone that had been trained for decades,” Rugrat said.
“So we are the people with the lowest power but the best weapons?” Qin said.
“Using technology to make up for the gap,” Rugrat nodded.
“You’re forgetting something else,” Taran said in a low serious voice, his eyes falling on Rugrat.
“The way that people from Alva freely share information with one another. Crafters normally work in isolation and want to hide their techniques but show off their wares. Whereas people that tell others their groundbreaking theories and show their data and proofs, will gain greater praise. I still think that academics should be broken up, but maybe we should relax some of the rules so that people can go and check out higher-level classes?”
“We should take it to Jia Feng first and have Elise and the Treasury weigh in on it, they’ll each have their own perspectives and ideas,” Tan Xue said.
“More meetings, love it,” Rugrat said. The others smiled and laughed as there was a knock at the door.
“Come in!” Rugrat yelled with the others.
The doors opened and the waiting staff brought in the food they had prepared.
They quickly put the food out, the aromas the crafter’s chopstick’s shaking in their hands in hunger.
Rugrat looked out over Vuzgal, even now late at night, the Sky Reaching Restaurants glowed, the Battle Arena was lit up. The Totem continued to flash as people arrived and departed.
The crafting district never stopped or rested, the gates out to the dungeons still had foot traffic at this time.
Vuzgal had turned into a city that never slept as people worked at all hours.
“Dig in!” Taran said as the staff cleared their hands from the table, they all set upon the table, their chopsticks fighting for food. Their fine hand control turned it into a true battle as the staff looked on in shock as they quietly left and closed the door.
Rugrat drank his beer as he competed with Julilah, finally getting the gyoza before he tossed it back into his mouth. Julilah pouted and captured two pieces of thinly cut meat before anyone could defend against her attack.
They all grinned, eating their food and then charging back into the battlefield that was the table, using all of their hand coordination skills to try and steal the food from one another.
Chapter: Applying Pressure and Incentives
The brightness of totem teleportation faded as Erik and Rugrat looked around.
“Seems bigger now,” Erik said and let out a whistle.
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Quest Completed: Dungeon Master
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You have returned your dungeon to its former glory. Advancement quests are unlocked. Grow your dungeon’s power!
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Requirements:
Increase your dungeon core’s grade to Sky Common
Increase the Strength of your minions (Complete)
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Rewards
40,000,000 EXP
Dungeon Master Title IV
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Quest: Dungeon Master
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You have returned your dungeon to its former glory. Advancement quests are unlocked. Grow your dungeon’s power!
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Requirements:
Increase your dungeon core’s grade to Sky Grand
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Rewards
60,000,000 EXP
Dungeon Master Title V
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Title: Dungeon Master III
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Control over the Dungeon building interface.
Grade: Sky Common grade (Can be upgraded)
Ability: Dungeon Sense, 1
00km radius. (Can be used 6 times a day
Increase all stats by +1
Able to bestow title Dungeon Hunter (8/13 remaining)
Can create Dungeon Master (Costs 5 Dungeon Hunter spots)
Dungeon Overlord mode. Consume the power of the dungeon. As the power consumes you, you will be unable to unleash immense power.
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1,082,943/1,215,000 EXP till you reach Level 33
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“You were saying?” Rugrat said.
“They expanded the floor again to accommodate more people. Your alchemy garden has taken over what was most of the fields, which moved down into the Earth floor. They now supply food for most of the Beast Mountain Range, all of Alva, Vuzgal and our network of Sky Reaching Restaurants,” Rugrat said as a streak shot toward them.
“Egbert!” Rugrat yelled as the streak dodged around him and appeared in front of Erik.
“Seems you’re excited,” Erik laughed as he pulled out two large crates from his storage ring.
The flames in Egbert’s eyes were dancing as he looked at the crates as if they were filled with the most precious materials.
“Romances from the Sixth Realm,” he said breathlessly before the crates disappeared and he cradled his hand.
He turned but Erik’s hand was on his shoulder.
“Before you disappear, status of the dungeon?”
“Construction on the Water level should take five or six months. We have a lot of projects that are going on. The residential floor is expanding once again. With the dungeon cores, I was able to create new training areas. There is the military training area, it has a horde training area where endless waves of monsters will attack people as they protect a position, if the pillar is broken then they lose and are teleported out, if they break their medallion then they exit. Then there is a small level dungeon, the monsters and walls change. It is up to the team to clear through the dungeon however they desire. Then there is a large scale dungeon that is still being worked on. In it there is a forest and the forces inside must create a base and hold the position against beast hordes. All are being expanded and all give out dungeon points. These can be redeemed at the end of training from one of the dungeon point kiosks. The crafting dungeon is the same size as the crafter dungeon in Vuzgal. I have been feeding pure mana into all of these dungeons to increase the speed that they expand.”