Ebeneezer smiled and presented the different boxes. “In total, there are eight Earth-grade Mana stones, six Mortal Mana cornerstones, forty-two Mortal Mana stones, six hundred twenty-six gold, and forty-eight silvers.”
Erik accepted the boxes into his storage ring. They said their goodbyes and Erik headed over to the Sky Reaching Restaurant, where he was assigned a room. He looked out at the city and sat on the balcony, then he closed his eyes and circulated the Mana within his body.
He checked on the thirteenth Mana gate in his body. It had been continually weakened over time. Still, it was only open about halfway.
Seems that some things cannot be rushed.
Erik wanted to advance his Body Cultivation and open his remaining Mana gate but he had learned from Rugrat that rushing forward would lead to more issues, instead of gaining anything.
“Either I will need to increase my Mana pool, or I will need more tools to open up my remaining Mana gate.” Erik tapped his storage ring in thought. He couldn’t deny he was tempted to use the Mana stones that were contained within to break through his bottleneck.
“When I return to Alva, I’ll give Rugrat his half and then I’ll use the Mana gathering formation under the dungeon core. Even if I waste the Mana contained within the Mana stones, the formation will gather it and pour it into the dungeon core, allowing it to grow more.”
He wanted to use every resource to the limit, not wasting any of it.
Chapter: Battlefield Trials and Specializations
Rugrat woke up feeling like a bag of ass. He grabbed a stamina and healing potion, drinking from both as they set to work, righting his brain. He had been in the smithing room and on the focusing pills for so long that it had drained his Stamina. He’d kept on going with sheer willpower but paid for it by sleeping for nearly an entire day and waking up with a splitting headache.
George, who had been lying at the end of the bed, let out an annoyed growl. He was bored from being cooped up and not having Rugrat play with him.
“Sorry, boy.” Rugrat pulled out a fresh steak.
George’s annoyed looked turned excited as his tongue hung out of his mouth.
Rugrat laughed and tossed the steak. George snapped it out of the air and tore into it.
As the potions started to clear his head, Rugrat held out his hand. A simple rifle appeared in it. It had a wood grain stock and enhanced Mortal iron that had been covered in an alchemical oil.
“Nothing like gun oil in the morning.” Rugrat pressed a lever under the rifle, releasing the high-capacity curved magazine. The rifle looked like a combination of an SKS body with a removable magazine and the bolt action from a Lee-Enfield. On the body of the weapon on either side, there were formation sockets.
Rugrat removed the magazine as he closed his eyes and opened the bolt action, feeling the action. He opened and closed it a few times, not feeling any grittiness, catching or scraping.
It was smooth. Rugrat nodded, an excited expression on his face as he pulled the bolt to the rear, checking over the weapon.
He closed the bolt, aimed, and fired off the action. He then put the unloaded magazine in and pulled the action back. He tried to push it forward but the unloaded magazine stopped him from ramming it forward. Rugrat pulled out the magazine, pushed the bolt forward and fired.
“Time to do some testing,” Rugrat muttered to himself as he started to get up.
There was an archery range that ran the length of the barracks and a little beyond, running a kilometer in length.
George rose up, wanting to follow.
“You can come but I’ll just be shooting guns,” Rugrat said.
Through their connection, Rugrat could tell that George could understand. He didn’t know human speech but. He could pick up certain things but not complex ideas. It was like when two friends looked at one another across the room and communicated with a series of looks and gestures, they couldn’t communicate anything complex but simple things like ‘grab me a beer jackass’ was pretty easy to understand.
George pouted at Rugruat, his wolf-like muzzle somehow managing to frown.
“You can go to the beast stables as long as you don’t bug anyone,” Rugrat said.
George flapped his wings in interest.
“All right.” Rugrat scratched George’s side and the back of his neck.
Rugrat left his room. George walked off toward the stables before he stretched out his wings and took off.
Rugrat shook his head, passing people going to different courses. Rugrat pulled out a piece of paper that had his courses listed on it.
His first course was on in-field repairs and gear maintenance. He would be doing courses on all weapon systems, showing them how to take them apart, use them and then repair them. This was a mandatory course for everyone. His next course was the marksman course. Trials were being held by range officers, checking how accurate people were with the crossbows and bows that they had.
These scores would then be submitted to Rugrat with everyone’s files. Rugrat wanted to create a marksman program at first, and with time he wanted to add in a further course that would turn marksmen into snipers.
Rugrat had made extended magazines and smaller ten-round magazines. He loaded up rounds that were specially made, based on his previous testing and put together with the loaders he and Erik had brought from Earth.
He found a firing lane and set himself up. He placed down vises, clamped the gun into them, cycled the action and loaded a round. He then stepped behind protective barriers he had put up and pulled a string attached to the trigger.
The rifle fired and Rugrat waited a few seconds before going around the other side. Rugrat gave a relieved smile as his newly designed rifle did not actually blow up.
He cycled the action and returned behind the barrier. He took out all of the rifles, triggering them one after another, firing off all ten rounds and using his Simple Inorganic Scan. All of the rifles operated straightaway, although a few of them needed changes as there was a half millimeter too much metal here, or a sliver too little there.
Rugrat used his Mana blade, modifying the different weapons to bring them to full functionality.Other rifles would take more work, or he replaced the parts with spares he had and tested them again.
Everyone who was there to do their marksman test waited, watching Rugrat carry out his quality checks. The loud noise was enough to throw off their aim and mess up their tests.
Rugrat finished off his tests and cleaned up his equipment. With a pleased smile, he stored the rifles away. The barrels, the bolts and trigger assembly were nearly all made by Alva. The extractor and the bolt head needed Rugrat’s hand and although he had given them plans, they didn’t know how to put the weapons together. For Rugrat, putting the weapons together was too simple, muscle memory of a lifetime’s work was a great thing.
“Okay, time for class.” Rugrat wiped off his hands and walked away from the archery range as the range officer took over and began the next round of testing.
***
Everyone sat upright as Rugrat entered the room.
“At ease.” Rugrat looked to the front of the room that had a repeater bow, ballista,grenades and a sword and shield.
Rugrat pulled out a rifle and put it next to the weapons.
“Okay! So today, we’re going to be visiting the basic weapons of the Alva army and how to keep them operational! Everyone here has used a crossbow. The repeating crossbow is just an upgraded version, with a formation that doesn’t directly enhance the weapon’s attack power but increases its effectiveness.” Rugrat grabbed the repeater, pulling off the magazine, checking it was clear and seeing that there was no bolts loaded.
“Okay! All of these weapons are at least semi-automatic. They are not like magic wands that will just have power in them. You will need to load a round or bolt into them to fire them. So, every time you pick one up, you must remove the magazine! Then, you remove the ammunition that is loaded into the barrel of the weapon, then
you visually inspect that the ammunition has been cleared and then, just to make sure, you fire off the action.” Rugrat aimed into a corner and pulled the trigger. The bow arms snapped forward. “If a weapon is loaded, and you decide in your infinite wisdom that it is a good idea to hand off that weapon to someone else, let that person you are handing it to know that it is a live weapon.. This repeater bow is unloaded.” Rugrat passed it to someone at the front desk, along with the magazine.
“Does anyone not know how to look after a crossbow? Know the signs that you need to replace your bow arms, bow string, or other components?”
Rugrat looked around and no one put up their hands.
“Fan-freaking-tastic. Seems that I taught you well! Everything is the same here—the only difference is the formation.” Rugrat pulled out a blue gem. “This is your power source! When you inspect a weapon, you know what its durability and charge is. When this weapon’s charge reaches zero, the formation will not work anymore, so you will need to use a Mana stone or one of these to charge it back up!”
Rugrat grabbed the repeater, blind firing it, and draining the power some.
He then held the gem against the weapon.
=========
Compatible power source and formation.
Do you wish to charge this formation?
YES/NO
==========
“Yes,” Rugrat said. Energy was transferred from the blue gem to the formation. “Now, that’s how you charge it. Trust me, you want to have your weapon charged at all times. Now, since it creates light, what are you going to do at night?” Rugrat fired out, looking at the class.
“Simmons!” Rugrat pointed at someone who hadn’t raised their hand.
“Put it under something so people don’t see the light!” Simmons replied.
“Good. Now, next time, put up your fucking hand if you have an answer!” Rugrat threw the gem at the man.
Simmons flinched as it hit him in the shoulder and flew off.
“Go get my gem and sit back down.” Rugrat put the repeater on the table.
“Everyone in the Alvan army will be issued one repeater crossbow as well as a minimum supply of twenty magazines, which hold sixty bolts each. Two repeating ballistas will be issued to every section. They have a stronger formation, string and bow arms, as well as a bipod.”
Rugrat grabbed the much larger ballista. It was heavier, made of more metal and had stronger wood components. Rugrat made sure that it was unloaded.
“Instead of sitting on top of the weapon, you are behind and in line with it. This reduces your profile so you are harder to hit. The bipod will now also assist in allowing you to aim. Unlike your old crossbows, these both have aiming devices called sights.” The sights were a simple reinforced ladder sight that went up and down but even this could help increase their accuracy greatly. “Now, you might notice that the magazine is a bit off to the side so that you can use the sights. You will need to look through this circle here and line it up with the post up here.” Rugrat held up the weapon, pointing out the sights.
“Pass these around,” Rugrat pushed the repeater crossbow forward and it started to circulate. “This is just a scaled-up version of the repeater crossbow but much stronger. It also comes with a bipod so that you can rest it on the ground and move it around. Also, it has a capacity of one hundred and twenty bolts so you can lay a lot more power into the enemy.
“Grenades—I’m not sure why these are up here. Keep them in your storage ring and use them as you need to. Remember: once the pin is pulled, Mister Grenade is no longer your friend.
“Your shield and sword, like any metal, scour off the rust and apply the proper oil to the weapon to keep it clean. Don’t put a sword covered in shit back in your scabbard. It’ll be a bitch to clean and you might just have to get a new scabbard. Same with your spears, maces, and whatever.
“Mages! Charge your fucking staffs! You don’t want to be standing there, trying to use your staff and nothing happens. We call that a deadman’s click. You’ve got nothing to do but try to pull out another weapon, charge it up again, or get fucked by the person trying to kill you!”
Rugrat grabbed the rifle and displayed it. “Now this—this is something special.” Rugrat removed the mag and opened the bolt.
“This is a bolt action magazine-fed rifle. It uses rounds like this.” Rugrat pulled out a round. “They contain gunpowder here in the cartridge and this bullet is fired out of the barrel and will hit your enemy with enough force to send them on an early trip to meet their maker! The metal used in this weapon has been enhanced for increased durability, increased heat loss, and to channel formation power.
“These circles here one the sides are formation circuits. You all know about Journeyman weapons and enchantments. Well, these slots can change enchanctment formation plates. Also, you can get enchanted rounds. Want an Explosive Shot? Just get a bullet enchanted with it. Douse a round in poison—now you’re firing out a grenade that will kill a few and poison even more. Add in the enchantment capabilities on the weapons and you can shoot further, penetrate armor or even add fire damage if you want!? Explosive Fire Shot with a poison cloud afterward—imagine that penetrating your enemies armor. Good-bye! All right, everyone gather around and pay attention. I’m going to go over the parts of this rifle, then explain how to take this apart, to clean it and add more parts, then explain on how to put it back together. Then you will be repeating this process after me so pay attention, dipsticks!”
***
Niemm nodded to the sergeant in charge of the half section. For this exercise, he would be under Niemm’s command. Yao Meng and Yuli stood to the rear acting as the other two members of Niemm’s training cadre. The section commander would lead and they would evaluate and assist as needed.
Niemm started off their delve with, “All right, the battlefield dungeon is not some vacation! This is a test and assessment of your skills. Done right, you’ll get to put your training to work. You’ll adapt everything that you’ve learned over the last couple of months into action. Listen to commands and do what you have been trained to do.”
The formation ahead of them flashed as a new section departed for the battlefield dungeon.
“All right, let’s get moving!” Niemm shouted and then led them forward to the teleportation pad.
He signaled to the person in charge of the teleportation pad. A flash of light consumed the squad and they found themselves in the battlefield dungeon lobby.
“Okay, arrowhead formation. Zhong Da and Ye Tai, once inside, cast detection spells to see if the beast is hiding,” Niemm ordered.
They moved into formation and Niemm touched the door. Yao Meng covered him with his repeater crossbow.
The door opened and beyond it was a barren and flat world, with cutting wind slicing over the ground as tornadoes and funnels appeared randomly.
“Detection spells!”
***
Lucinda waited as everyone got into line in front of her. On either side, there were a number of beast tamers, both those who worked exclusively at the beast stables and those who were part of the military.
“Alright, today you will be issued with a mount and a special storage item that you can keep said mount in when you’re not riding them,” Lucinda said as she saw a red streak headed toward the beast stables, chasing Night Terror.
Night Terror let out a shriek in alarm as the streak pursued him.
“George!” Lucinda’s voice cut through the skies. The red streak stopped moving, revealing George flapping his wings. The look on his face seemed to ask whether she was looking for him, as though he had done nothing wrong.
Night Terror landed on Lucinda’s shoulder, squawking, annoyed and angry as Lucinda patted the pissed-off Grand Eagle who’s wingspan was as large as a human’s.
“Down, George,” Lucinda commanded.
George came down, moping.
“Night Terror is not for you to play around with!” Lucinda said as she scowled.
George’s tail curled down as he looked at the ground, not meeting her eyes.
“You will be helping us today,” Lucinda said.
George lifted his head and then turned it to the side in question.
“You’ll make sure that the panthers are all obedient and don’t cause problems for their new riders.”
George let out a mewl of displeasure. Seeing Lucinda’s expression, he lowered his head again, not pleased but agreeing.
“Night Terror, do as you want,” Lucinda said.
Night Terror looked sideways at George once again, before flapping her wings and letting out another squawk. She jumped off Lucinda’s shoulder and flew away again.
“You need to care of your mount but also make sure that they know who is in charge. As beasts increase in level, their intelligence and Strength will increase as well. How soon they develop the ability to think independently will depend on the strength of their bloodline and their species. Night Terror has not reached that stage yet but George can already understand simple sentences.
“Your mounts will be placed in your charge but they are property of the Alvan military, so they can be removed from your care if you mistreat them. They might also be moved around if they are needed for other missions,” Lucinda said. “We will teach you how to ride your mounts, how to ride different kinds of creatures, as well as a bit of their anatomy and their habits. We will also teach you how to care for them including their anatomy so you can assess medical problems in the field and so if you are up against similar beasts, then it may help you to find their weaknesses.
“We’ll then cover how to ride other mounts, as you might need to use a horse, a flying beast or something else in an emergency. We will show you how to care for them as well so that they don’t starve in the field and are kept in good health. We will mainly be working with panthers. These are the main mounts of Alva. With breeding initiatives, using high-leveled beast meat, monster cores and Alchemy concoctions, these panthers have greatly increased Agility, Strength, and Stamina. They can run for days at a decent speed. They have had armor crafted for them and have gained a resistance to the elements and severe temperatures.” With the end of Lucinda’s words, some of the beast tamers from the beast stables brought out some of the panthers.
The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Page 6