George stood to his full height and preened at the panthers, showing his dominance.
Each of the panthers were at least level twenty-five. They were a meter and a half to two meters tall, reaching four to six meters in length. They were nearly twice the size of jaguars back on Earth. Their shoulders were level with the riders’ heads.
Each of them had a glossy black coat with thick corded muscles underneath. They were fast creatures but they were now also built for long distance.
Wearing armor, they looked terrifying. Lucinda watched all of the troops around her; she could see their excitement, anxiety and respect looking at the powerful mounts.
Although the panthers were powerful beasts, none of them were aggressive while in the presence of George. George was already a creature close to level thirty-five, ten levels higher than them. He came from a purer bloodline and was capable of not only physical attacks but magical ones as well.
“Head Tamer Kolick, would you take over please?” Lucinda asked.
Kolick nodded and stepped forward. He was a simple man, wearing tough hide clothes with scratches on them from the different creatures that he worked with.
“Okay, so when meeting your mount, you will need to gain their trust. You might go through a great number of different mounts but the trust you gain between an animal and a person is powerful. A beast will not forget you or your scent and when fighting together, your strength will triple or quadruple if your coordination is good enough,” Kolick explained.
Chapter: Haul
Old Hei watched as Erik disappeared through the totem. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t ask.
“Truly, the young will outgrow the old,” Old Hei said with complicated emotions.
“Do you want us to send someone to protect him?” Khasar asked.
“I think that it will only be more of a hindrance to him and they would be in greater danger than him. You felt it, too, didn’t you?” Old Hei asked as they headed for his carriage.
“Felt what?” Khasar asked.
“His progress to Body Like Iron. He has already entered that realm. Knowing him, once he has a path, he will push forward to reach the pinnacle,” Old Hei said.
“For him to make it this far in Body Cultivation—only relying on himself—it is rare. Though reaching higher will require a lot of willpower and greater resources,” Khasar said.
“I think he has the resources and the willpower secured. What he needs now are the levels and the access to those different items that will allow him to temper his body further. When it comes to the Fourth Realm, I can only support him. Holding him back is impossible. He is a grown man but it’s hard to not worry about him. He is a rare and true friend.”
They reached Old Hei’s carriage. He stepped up into it and Khasar was left with a hard expression.
***
Erik returned to the First Realm with a number of the people who had gone to the Third Realm originally to build the restaurant. He had checked out the dungeon that was below the restaurant as well. It was about one hundred meters wide and five hundred meters long, with a small stream that entered from the dungeon and pooled at the far side.
Dirt had been shipped in and covered the ground as growing arrays were placed and farmers worked to replicate the fields that could be found in Alva Dungeon. If possible, all of the basic foodstuffs needed by the restaurant would be supplied by this garden. The hidden growing grounds would make sure that the restaurant never ran out of cheap but high-grade ingredients.
Erik felt that since he had attempted to temper his body, he had only been dealing with the business side of Alva. Even the weight of his new valuables were burdening him.
He moved with the people from the Third Realm. Some of them decided to go their own way, others came with him to the teleportation array, reaching Alva Dungeon quickly.
“Egbert, I have some things for you,” Erik said as he walked away from the teleport pad.
It wasn’t long until the flying bones appeared before Erik, with an excited expression somehow showing through simple bone.
“Could you place these please,” Erik took out a box of twenty-five Mortal Mana cornerstones and tossed it to Egbert.
Egbert scrambled to catch them and make sure it didn’t fall. “Calm down, will you!” Egbert said in a panic as he opened the box. He quickly closed it and looked at Erik. “Which trader did you rob?!”
“Why did you think that I would go and rob a trader?” Erik asked.
“Well, how else did you do it?”
“Hard work,” Erik said resolutely.
“Gambling?” Egbert tapped his chin in thought.
“Please just go and place them,” Erik muttered.
“Alva Dungeon is a righteous place. Stealing from others is a bad thing,” Egbert said, starting to lecture Erik.
Erik pulled out a book and tossed it to Egbert.
“Cocky Mistress,” Egbert read the book title aloud and then looked around. The book disappeared into his bones. “Understood, boss!” Egbert snapped off a salute and shot into the sky.
“Why did I have to get the broken skeleton?” Erik shook his head as he continued to walk toward the dungeon headquarters. On the way, he sent a message to Delilah and Rugrat, letting them know he was back.
Erik went to the large block building opposite the restaurant. The homes there had been bought and rebuilt into the administration office that Erik now entered.
“Where is the treasury office?” Erik asked the man at the reception.
“Upstairs at the back right.” The man stood, looking flustered.
“Thank you. Signs or posted directions might be useful in the future, like in the healing house,” Erik said. They had used colored lines on the ground like back on Earth, to allow people to quickly navigate to the different areas of the hospital. The idea had expanded to the academy as time passed.
Erik walked through the different halls of the administration office and found a room with a sign on it.
Erik knocked on the door and opened it.
There were three people at desks, that had been pushed together and two more in side office.
Looks like there will be cubicles and offices in any world. Erik thought as the people in the office looked over to the door.
“Mister West!” A man stood up from where he was working.
“I’m looking to make a deposit into the treasury,” Erik said.
“Please, I’m sure the treasurer would be glad to see you.” The man quickly moved to one of the offices. A woman inside that office looked up from what she was working on, and seeing Erik, she jumped up as the man opened the door for Erik.
They looked at odds, Erik wearing his armor covered with his duster and her wearing comfortable business clothes.
“Hello, I am the treasurer, Rose. Can I get you something to drink?” Rose asked rapidly.
Erik could easily tell that she was overwhelmed meeting with him as she wrung her hands, not sure what to do or say. Erik smiled, putting her at ease as the other man closed the door behind him.
“I wanted to make a deposit into the treasury.” Erik indicated to the seats.
“Please! Please take a seat,” Rose replied.
Erik did so and pulled out a heavy wooden box with silver metal inlaid into it.
Even with the box sealed, the Mana in the room seemed to swell. Pressure increased on them both as if they had just plunged underwater. Instead of being a powerful, crushing force, it was relieving as their Mana systems relaxed.
Erik pulled out three more pouches that made noise, then opened the box. A glow filled the room as twenty aquamarine Mana stones were revealed, lined up nicely inside.
“Twenty Earth-grade Mana stones, one thousand ninety-three gold, six silver, and twenty-five coppers.”
Rose looked at it all. It was more money than she had ever seen in her life. “I was just talking about tens of Mortal Mana stones with Delilah and there are Earth grade ones in front of me
, a thousand Mortal Mana stones each,” Rose said absentmindedly, not realizing she was talking out loud.
She took some time to collect herself.Erik cleared his throat, bringing her back to reality.
She blushed and coughed before she looked to Erik. “I can accept these on behalf of the treasury. Do you want them to be used for anything specifically?”
“Just help to develop Alva. Add them to the budget or increase the academy buildings all to tier three. How much will it cost to increase the buildings to tier four?” Erik asked.
Rose coughed again, so stunned that she half choked herself. It took her some time and a glass of water to recover. She still had tears in her eyes when she recovered.
“One tier-four building will cost ten thousand Mortal-grade Mana stones, or ten Earth-grade Mana stones,” she said with a weak smile.
“Okay, use this all to grow our abilities. Use this for the loans and for incentives and support. Then, when we have two Experts in different skills, look into upgrading the academy facilities to tier four.” Erik stood.
Rose stood as well.
“Good work. Keep it up.” Erik might not have met her before but he had paid attention to her reports. It seemed that she had been listening to what Elise had relayed about banks and the banking system, as well as the role of the treasury. Erik and Rugrat never thought their joy about not having loans, a mortgage or to worry about their savings, would have had such an impact.
Rose saw him out and he headed for the dungeon core.
He looked up at the ceiling. Different people were talking to one another, looking at Egbert, who was up on the roof of the dungeon, affixing the twenty-five new Mana cornerstones into the Mana gathering array.
They acted like batteries, which grew like salt crystals across open surfaces—so weird batteries—but they could only accept a certain amount of power from their surroundings before they were full. The dungeon core had been storing a lot of power in the original cornerstone. It sped up the rate that it created Mana stones but there was too much power from the dungeon core and so some of it was lost. But with the Mana gathering formations, it was merely funneled back into the dungeon core and pushed back into the Mana cornerstone. Now, with twenty-five more of them, the power was spread out and all of it was being greedily absorbed by the different cornerstones. The first cornerstone dimmed as the others started to glow. The thick stream of Mana was split into smaller threads, creating a spiderweb with Mana cornerstones located where the Mana threads intersected one another.
Erik entered the dungeon headquarters and reached the room that the dungeon core was held in. It opened up automatically for him. A wave of pure Mana rushed over Erik as he quickly recovered from a stumble.
“Damn,” Erik said. It was like entering a sauna. His body relaxed, the wave of Mana penetrating deep into his body.
He sat down on the ground and started to circulate his Mana. The Mana he let out was pulled toward the dungeon core as it hungrily devoured the impurities contained within.Erik drew in the pure Mana from within the dungeon core. The fresh and pure Mana seemed to scrub his Mana channels, clearing out impurities he hadn’t even known about.
Is this why the people in the higher realms have an easier time increasing their ability with their Mana systems? If there are fewer impurities in the Mana and it is denser, then it would be easier to cast a spell. It would also allow them to be born and grow up with fewer impurities entering their body, giving them a stronger starting point and making it easier for them to open Mana gates and have more of them open from birth.
Erik continued to clear out all of the impurities in his body that he could. The pure Mana circulated through his channels, each time carrying fewer and fewer impurities until there was nothing more that could be cleared from Erik’s body.
Erik felt the power that filled him. His Mana pool had increased with the higher purity and density. Now, with fewer impurities taking up space in his Mana system, removing more was a slow process. Still, with enough time and pure Mana, he felt he could draw out even more impurities from within his Mana channels.
Erik’s Mana flowed easier, like water that had passed through a filter, removing mud and detritus.
His attention turned to his thirteenth Mana gate. It had reduced in size slightly, the opening becoming wider but it had still not yet opened fully.
Erik pulled up the dungeon interface with just a thought. It appeared in front of him as he turned off the Mana storing formation. The power around the dungeon core was no longer being beamed into the cornerstones above and started to gather in the room that the dungeon core was located in. The Mana gathering formation underneath the dungeon core stopped the Mana from leaking out into the surrounding area.
Erik felt the pressure on him only increase. It was as if he had been next to a waterfall before, getting splashed by mist. Now it was like he was inside a valley and the waterfall was still smashing down only now it was filling the entire valley with water.
He hadn’t realized how much power was being channeled into the dungeon core. Ambient Mana from around the Beast Mountain Range: from the people casting spells, circulating their Mana, using ingredients and items, from the battlefield dungeon, from the fields, the academy, everyone was like a small Mana gathering formation. As they cast spells or it was released by the world it became tainted with impurities. The mana gathering formations concentrated it and the Alva dungeon purified it all, providing nutrition to the mana cornerstones to create mana stones.
The Mana density within Alva had increased since they had settled the dungeon. The mana gathering formations only drew mana in, it did not allow any out. Alva Dungeon was still a large space. It took a lot of Mana to increase the overall density. It wasn’t until Erik was drowning in the new Mana that he realized just how much the Mana in Alva Dungeon had grown.
Erik turned off the mana storing array on the roof. The mana gathering array that was under his feet contained the mana that was pouring into the dungeon core room and entering the dungeon core. With all that power being contained and not being channeled everywhere else in the dungeon notifications started to appear in Erik’s eyes. He watched them increase, slowing down with the speed that they appeared as the mana density struggled to increase again.
Erik pulled up the last notification.
==========
You have entered an area with a high Mana content.
While in this area, your Mana Regeneration will increase by +6.
==========
Erik could feel the power at his fingertips. With his Mana King title, the room fell under his domain. The rush, the feel of that much power under his complete control—it was like a drug.
It took some time for Erik to concentrate. As he circulated his Mana, the Mana within the dungeon core room moved. It entered through the Mana gathering formations, was pulled up into the dungeon core and then captured by Erik, pulled in and expelled through his Mana gates with his Mana circulation path, pulsing in sync with his breathing.
Erik could feel his Mana gate growing weaker, and thinning out.
His progress started to slow.
Erik took out a handful of Mortal Mana stones. They dissolved with a thought. The power within the room increased again, the Mana turning chaotic.Erik didn’t pay it any attention as he continued to force more Mana through his Mana gate, widening it even further.
He took out more Mana stones. They turned to dust, adding to the Mana within the dungeon core. Erik felt a cracking sensation.
His entire body relaxed as Mana rushed through him. His tension relaxed as a notification appeared in his vision.
Erik quickly sent commands to the dungeon, the Mana gathering array starting up again.
The stream of power heading to the Mana cornerstones was as thick as a man’s leg and a wave of Mana was released over Alva.
He looked up at the dungeon core and then the Mana gathering formation above. “Well, this is a strange life.”
Erik laughed
to himself before he stood. He pulled up his notifications.
==========
You have opened another Mana gate!
==========
+1 to Mana Regeneration
==========
==========
Quest Updated: Opening the Fourteen Gates
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Congratulations! You have opened your thirteenth Mana gate.
==========
Requirements: Clear all of your fourteen gates (13/14)
==========
Rewards: +1 to Mana Regeneration base stat
Undergo Mana Body Rebirth
1,400,000 EXP
==========
==========
Title: Mana Emperor
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Your Mana control has increased greatly.
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The strength of your spells has increased by 30%. Your Mana Regeneration has increased by 30%.
(Replaces Mana King)
==========
==========
Name: Erik West
==========
Level: 32
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Race: Human
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Titles:
From the Grave II
Mana Emperor
Dungeon Master II
Reverse Alchemist
Poison Body
==========
Strength: (Base 27) +39
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660
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Agility: (Base 20) +41
==========
335
==========
Stamina: (Base 30) +9
The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Page 7