“What if there comes a time when you have to talk to people who aren’t Alvans?” Erik asked.
“Well, then I hope that my teacher is there to back me up,” Delilah grinned.
Erik rolled his eyes and mussed up her hair making her scowl as she pushed away the offending hand.
The door to the house opened as Amelia Ryan, Delilah’s mother stood there.
“Erik! What are you two doing out there?”
“Mrs. Ryan, we were just discussing a few things, how are you? I am sorry I haven’t been around to check in on you and your family,” Erik put on an apologetic expression. He felt that time was constantly slipping through his fingers, he was constantly in meetings, training or off to level up and reach higher realms.
“We’ve got dinner all set out, it would be great to have you join us,” Amelia turned her head into the house.
“Erik will join us for dinner too, add another place at the table!”
“I-“ Erik thought about the training that lay ahead of him, the research he wanted to do in the library. and How he wanted to search out an Earth doctor who was steadily marching his way upward through the skill ranks now that they knew one neded to heal their patients with just mana inorder to increase their skill.
“You don’t have any set meetings come on, you might have great meals in your storage ring, but you can’t have famous Ryan company!” Delilah grabbed his arm and pulled.
“Hey aren’t you supposed to honor your teacher!” Erik complained with a laugh as he was pulled forward.
“Erik!” Joseph, Delilah’s dad and Amelia’s husband appeared behind his wife with a wide smile. He had that hard worked tan of a man that spent his days working in the fields. There was an earthly presence to him as he reached out a hand.
“Joseph, I heard that you were this years winner of the largest watermelon,” Erik said.
“Yes! An the juciest by Rugrat’s opinion,” Joseph chuckled. “That redneck was always complaining about never having watermelon. He was like a book on watermelons, knew everything that there was to be known about them. We held the contest last week, with just four days to grow them. He about collapsed from watermelon coma. I didn’t think it was possible!” They laughed as Amelia got them inside and closed the door behind them.
The Ryan Family were around the house, some in the kitchen, others playing with kids or preparing the table. Delilah was recruited into the kitchen as her mother organized others and picked up the latest addition to the family showing her off proudly as Joseph found a bottle he had been holding onto for a special occasion.
They talked about Alva, what they were doing at their own jobs. The latest gossip from the dungeon. Erik talked to, Jamie, Zhiwei and John about the military. Joanna the last Ryan in the army was serving in Vuzgal and wouldn’t get leave for the next two weeks.
“So there will really be three new units?” Zhiwei said.
“Yeah, one for sea land and air, that is the idea. Be a company sized force for the air based group to start, but the sea force will be commanded by Colonel Yui and take people from the Tiger Battalion.
“Will they change the name of the Battalion?” Jamie asked.
“Changing a unit’s name is bad karma, no they’ll remain the Tiger Battalion.”
“Tiger of the seas!” John waved his hand, Jamie grinned in agreement, the two of them were both from the Tiger Battalion.
“So, how will it work?” Zhiwei asked.
“Well-“ Erik started
Kyle emerged from the kitchen with dishes on each hand.
“Hot dishes coming through!”
“Alright, everyone move to the table!”
“Come on, put it right here, no one needs any right?” John said with a wide grin as he looked up from where he was sitting.
“I think your daughter will have something to say about that!” Zhiwei said as she passed John their daughter before she sat down as well.
“You know I couldn’t take food from you baby, your momma is just making things up!”
Jamie and Rachel were helping Kyle put the food out while Delilah gave out wine.
Suzy was just staring at Erik as if he was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.
Erik winked at her, making her all shocked and confused, raising Joseph’s laughter.
“Stop staring at people Suzy Ryan, be rude staring like that!” Amelia chastised half-heartedly.
“Here try out these potato scallops! Teacher!”
“Do you want some meat?”
“Gravy over here please!”
“Excuse my reach!”
“You’ve already got three bread buns!”
They distributed food around the table, talking and laughing, Erik passed food, serving others and being served.
Drink flowed and food was enjoyed Erik forgot about his research and his training for a night as he was taken in by the Ryan household, feeling his heart open up.
***
Rugrat stared at his plans, rubbing his face and yawning.
“You’re still here?” Taran asked from the workshop’s doorway.
“Just doing a few last minute changes. I’ll catch up with you later,” Rugrat checked the blueprint looking for the flaws that were creating issues with his new weapon system.
“Come on, all work and no play makes a smithing a dull nail.”
“That is a terrible saying,” Rugrat looked at Taran.
“I didn’t make it up, I’m just using it.”
“I’ve just got some alterations to make.”
“Come on, there are chicken wings to be eaten and beers to be drunk,” Taran said.
Rugrat saw the look in Taran’s eyes.
“Alright, alright, I won’t say just one beer because I have a feeling that will be a lie!”
“Good man!”
They left the workshop and found a nearby tavern a number of different shops, restaurants and pubs had appeared in Alva as more people came. Just having one place to eat and devoting the rest of the space to work was sure to make people bored.
Taran talked to the owner and got them a table inside. There was a band playing different tunes, but thankfully their table wasn’t getting blasted by the music.
“Pretty packed in here,” Rugrat looked around.
“Yeah, if you’re single then it’s nice to go out somewhere with people from work or meet up with friends,” Taran said.
“You ever thought about marrying?” Rugrat asked.
“I was once, had a little kiddo too,” Taran pulled his chain out from his shirt, showing a simple worn gold ring. It was at odds with the works that Taran was capable of making.
“I made both of our rings, my wages for four months. worked in the gold with an enhanced iron that shone like silver and looked like a sunset over time,” Taran spoke softly.
The waitress came over and dropped off their drinks.
“What happened?” Rugrat asked as Taran took a big drink.
He let out a gasp of air and wiped his beard with the back of his arm.
“Raiders, fucking scum.”
Rugrat drank his beer, he could see Taran needed to get it out and off of his chesthe just waited as Taran pulled himself together.
“I was working for Lord Salyn. We were fixing the hinges, bars and other metal bits of his city. My wife she worked in the fields outside the city. She looked after out little boy as the loud noises would wake him up and send him bawling. We were hoping to save enough money so that she could look after the little one while I smithed. She was a bit slower, having the baby, sleeping less. She and the others farm hands were bringing in the harvest, they collected it all together on carts and were wheeling it toward the gates. Raiders, attacked from the forests. They cut down everyone in their way captured several carts and fled,” Taran gritted his teeth, his fist turning white from the pressure.
“There was no need for it, no need to kill those folk? Just take the cart and run. None of them would have fought.”
Taran took a drink from his mug.
“Killed my boy and my wife. I stopped smithing, I stopped doing anything. When Blaze came asking if I would like to help him make a village, it was my last hope. Everything I did was touched by her or my boy. I couldn’t go and talk to people without thinking of or seeing her.
With Alva I was able to work as a smith again. I let my days slide by. When you and Erik arrived it lit a fire under my ass, I could do something to help others. What happened here, I’ve been able to get over my past, to become a teacher and push into the Expert realm of smithing. Not something I thought possible,” Taran said.
“Takes a lot for you to stand back up again and keep on going,” Rugrat said.
“I see that same loss, that same drive in you Rugrat,” Taran’s words caught him off balance.
Rugrat saw them, those that didn’t come back from patrol. The moments when he didn’t know it already but his friend had died. Those moments when he knew they weren’t making it back. The countless hours he had spent thinking of just what their family was going through, the part of him that thought of what might happen if he didn’t make it back. How would it hit his mother?
“We all have our weight to carry,” Rugrat said he tapped his beer on the table and drank from it deeply.
“The thing is that we can’t shut people out, just focus on the work, on the next thing that needs to be done. If we did that, then are we really alive, or just someone that is imitating being alive?” Taran said.
“I like working on different projects, I get a satisfaction from it.”
“I know man, I do too, but if you don’t have people to share that satisfaction with? Then is it really worth doing?”
Rugrat frowned before he drank from his beer.
Taran patted his shoulder.
“That was why when I saw how broken up you were about not making it into Expert, I wanted to do everything to help you. Now look at you, you found another path that could lead there. Remember that you can go around obstacles, not just crash into them again and again. Your head isn’t that hard. It’s pretty hard, but not by that much.”
“Thanks,” Rugrat flipped him the bird.
“So, how about that Racquel girl?” Taran asked as the waitress arrived with their wings as Rugrat stared daggers into Taran.
“Want anything with that?” she asked.
“I think we should be good. Oh actually, do you have that ketchup?”
“Tomato sauce? Yeah one second!”
She disappeared.
“She’s in the higher realms, there ain’t nothing to talk about,” Rugrat said.
“Oh, who knows? There are only a few women in your life that might make you feel that way.”
Rugrat rolled his eyes as the waitress returned with Taran’s ketchup.
“All I am saying is that you don’t need to be some weird celibate short-short wearing hobo.”
“Good to know how you feel Taran,” Rugrat snorted with smile as he bit into the wings.
“Mmm damn, I missed you wings.”
“You don’t seem the hang around kind of bachelor guy,” Taran said.
“Appearances can be deceiving. I like to flirt with girls, don’t get me wrong, but any more or being in a relationship, that’s a big leap. My momma taught me to treat women with respect always. Always make sure that both parties know what the other wants and that they’re okay with it. Communication is key. Just because you’re nervous or anxious is not a good reason to keep something from another person that you care for. You should care for them too, people are people, they are no less than you, or more than you, they shouldn’t be your highest priority or your lowest. You know what I never believed in?”
“What?”
“Two parts of the whole. You are your own whole, another person is their own whole, there shouldn’t be some weird symbiotic relationship going on there. You bring yourself and they bring themselves, together you’re not one plus one but one times one.”
“I understand what you mean, once you find that one and you devote yourself to them and they devote themselves to you, that is powerful. Damn powerful and hard to replicate in anyway,” Taran said. “So why aren’t you going on dates and seeing more people?”
“I’m tired and I have too many damn issues right now. I need to work on me, get me sorted out and then I can look into a relationship. Also with this dungeon lord, city lord shtick, it is a bit hard to meet people who are not freaked out by your position.”
“I can get that, I’m just saying, don’t shut yourself in. You feel the weight of all this on your shoulders, it will lead you to an early grave if you don’t share it.”
“I share it with Erik,” Rugrat shrugged.
“I know you two do well making sure the other is okay, you two are closer than brothers with the same blood in their veins. It is one thing to share it with a brother and another to share it with a lover.”
Rugrat ate his wings, feeling a bit lighter than he had in awhile, thinking about a few possibilities he hadn’t before.
“You know what Taran, you might have a point. Though damn if I wouldn’t like to take Racquel out on a real date,” Rugrat chuckled as Taran laughed.
“Well what was she like?”
“A redneck dream, she could destroy beers as if it was nothing but pop, and that body, damn! Her mind was fierce too! One liners here and there, I was under fire man! She could string together a series of jabs so well I was honored to be receiving them!”
***
Erik walked through the streets of Alva, night had arrived inside the Dungeon. People were heading home or out to some event with friends and family.
With this high stamina I won’t need to sleep for a few days still. I kind of miss sleep, but I would hardly have the time for it anyway.
It didn’t take him long to reach the teleportation array.
Gilly where you at girl?
He felt a response to his link with Gilly, smiling Erik pulled out a fresh slab of meat. He threw it casually into the sky, it reached fifty meters high and started to descend again, it had just about reached Erik again when a brown and blue streak appeared, snapping it from the air.
Erik’s smile widened as he saw Gilly chewing on the meat and throwing it back before she rubbed her head on her master’s shoulder.
“You are getting big from all of the beast meat and monster cores,” Erik scratched her head as she stayed there, happy for the attention and the scratches.
He spent a few minutes giving her scratches before he patted her side.
“Come on now, down to the Earth floor,” he walked forward to the teleportation array. Gilly followed him as Erik nodded to the guard.
Light enveloped them.
The smell of freshly churned earth reached his nose as the light dissipated.
“Welcome to the Earth Floor,” The guard on duty said.
“Thank you.”
Looks a lot better than it did, not so much an apocalyptic looking wasteland anymore. Fields have come in, got a small settlement here and they’re raising beasts.
Erik exited the teleportation array and the small walled settlement outside it. Some people were living on the Earth floor. Most of the buildings were related to growing crops and raising different plants, or nursing beasts with an Earth Affinity. There was only one building that was focused on body cultivation.
Erik jumped up onto Gilly’s back.
“Let's head to the center,” Erik said.
Gilly quickly took him out of the settlement and towards the true Earth body cultivation facility.
She picked up speed as they left the settlement, following the road through the Earth floor. On either side there were orchards and fields that spanned for kilometers in each direction. Buildings lay here and there, places for the farmers to rest and work on developing their crops.
Erik had to hold onto his saddle harder as she quickly surpassed the speed of a sports car back on Earth.
“Wooh!�
� Erik yelled, feeling the rush of air as Gilly pushed harder, increasing her speed once again.
Erik saw a number of the automaton crabs, they were few in number the old Gnome’s assistants. Now they were working through the night to turn the dirt path into a road to the center of the Earth floor.
The modified versions for the artillery units are scary as hell. They supersized them and mounted heavy mortar tubes to them. They can move and shoot, without requiring people to carry all the gear and rush to put it together. A crew of four can manage six mortar tubes at the same time. A Single artillery squad can now field four ‘pounders’, that’s some serious firepower.
Gilly jumped over the automatons and rushed down the unfinished dirt road, leaving a trail of dirt behind.
Gilly showed off all her speed, excited by the open space.
It still took them a few minutes to reach the center of the Earth floor. Gilly dug her talons in and raced up the hill in the middle of the floor. A pillar of light shot out from the hill into the roof above. Runes could be faintly seen around where the pillar of light reached. There were more runes across the hill.
As Erik and Gilly climbed higher, reaching a flat plateau that broke the hill in two, Erik looked out, seeing vast areas of the floor that were unused.
“Egbert, have you been increasing the size of the floor?” Erik asked.
“Yes, with the dungeon cores it is much easier to do so. The living floor is slowly increasing at a rate of one meter deeper a week and ten meters wider each day. The other floors that are not so populated and have complicated infrastructure are increasing size to eighty percent of their limits as fast as possible.”
“So it is going to be massive,” Erik said.
“Yes, the individual floor dungeon cores greatly aid in the expansion so I don’t need to keep on moving other dungeon cores around.”
“How are things on the Water floor going?”
“Slowly, but it is a massive floor and there is a lot to be done. I hope that it will be done a month or so after the second annual fighting competition at Vuzgal. Though my motivation is somewhat lacking.”
Sixth Realm Page 75