When Erik and Rugrat arrived, he had become used to his routine. They broke him out of it, showing him so much more that he could do and that he could learn. In the defense of Alva against the beasts, he had lost people but he still saw the strength of the people of Alva. Coming to the dungeon, he had done all he could to pass on his knowledge and grow his own techniques, ability and knowledge.
When Alva’s army was formed, Glosil was placed in charge of it all. He pushed its members with all he had. He worked side by side with Erik and Rugrat. Both of them had led men and women across different theatres, fighting across countries. They’d been in a trained military, then mercenaries in foreign lands. For them, fighting was in their very bones.
Their thought processes and their actions had all been optimized to convey information and carry out their mission with precision and brutality as needed.
Glosil was no longer a guard captain. As leader of the army, he took time to listen to everyone but when he gave an order, the others snapped to respond. He worked harder than anyone, was always asking questions and was always there for the hardest training. He’d gained the respect of his soldiers, instead of just being appointed to his position. There was a large difference between the two.
“So, we will be entering the Fourth Realm together without the use of a guide,” Erik said. “We will head from the First Realm in different groups through different totems, rally in Taeman city and then head to the Fourth Realm.
We’re going in blind, so we’ll need to adapt on the ground. Once we exit the totem, we need to assess the city we’re in as fast as possible. Then either gather ourselves there or head for the nearest neutral city as fast as possible. We’ll look for dungeons along the way and then once at the neutral city, we’ll create a base of operations and then advance on possible dungeon locations, intending to occupy or destroy them. It seems like even the dungeons controlled by the different sects are not owned by them as Dungeon Lords, from what I was able to get from Old Hei and these,” Erik tilted his chin toward the papers.
Erik looked over his shoulder, his eye catching something. He beckoned with his hand.
Glosil looked over, seeing Rugrat with a plate loaded with food. The air seemed to move with him as he approached the table.
“How you feeling?” Erik asked.
“Like a million bucks. Just made it to level thirty-three,” Rugrat grinned.
“This fucking guy,” Erik pointed at Rugrat and complained to Glosil.
Rugrat shrugged his big shoulders and set to the task of eating.
“So, Mana rebirth?” Erik asked.
“Basically, merged my Mana systems into the rest of my body,” Rugrat said between mouthfuls. “Greater control and power.”
Seeing they would only get half sentences and a bare minimum understanding of what happened from Rugrat, Erik just continued talking about the Fourth Realm to Glosil.
“Once we’ve all increased our levels and reached level forty, we’ll return to Alva, recuperate, fix up our gear and challenge the metal floor,” Erik said.
“You think we’ll be ready?” Glosil asked.
“Beasts are powerful, much more powerful than their levels say but humans are sneaky fuckers. They draw out all the power that they can possibly summon. If we’re fighting in the dungeons of the Fourth Realm or against veteran forces, it will be a true test of everyone’s abilities. In training, we give people the basic tools but it is only when you’re in the fight do you decide how to use those tools. The highest level we sensed in the metal floor was level thirty-eight. There might be stronger creatures, too. If we play it smart, if we work the formations, re-establish control over the floor piece by piece, I don’t see why we couldn’t slowly but surely take over the floor,” Erik postulated.
“Going to the Fourth Realm with the army kills five birds with one stone. It bonds the army together, bloodies them, exposes them to the higher realms, gives us the strength to deal with the lower floors here, and adds strength to the dungeon as we capture other dungeons and dungeon cores,” Glosil said.
Erik simply smiled.
“The metal floor will have lots of resources,” Rugrat interrupted between mouthfuls. “Maybe replace the iron mine that’s thinning out.
Got maybe another year of production left in it.”As time went on, the methods of mining had improved. The miners’ abilities had all increased and they’d had new technology created to make mining safer, faster and much more profitable. It meant that they were cutting through the iron vein that they had found quickly but they had opened up two more mines on areas where surveyors had sensed metal. They’d left a number of spots untouched, not wanting to draw attention with a massive mining operation above ground, focusing instead on hidden operations in the mountains.
“The Fourth Realm isn’t going to be easy. So for the next two months everyone gets weekends off to see their families. During the week, we’ll press every damn course that might help them down their throats,” Erik said.
“Yeah,” Glosil said, hidden emotions in his voice. He had been in the military and he’d seen iron meet flesh and bone.
Erik could read his mind because he had the same thoughts. Will it be enough to keep them alive?
As well as another thought that neither of them wanted to acknowledge. Who won’t make it back?
***
Specialization courses continued. People learned the new weapons. Their armor was reissued with formation sockets; adding them in wasn’t too hard, just required a smith or a formation master to add in the socket and the effect lines so that the entire armor would be affected.
Formation coins were being produced at an impressive rate.
Rugrat had gone to the formation workshop to work on a few ideas and found another use for his new Mana sense.He was able to see the flaws in the different formations that they had been working on. He didn’t know how to fix most of them but knowing that there were issues allowed the formation apprentices to think of ways to work on solutions.
His formations were also stronger and used less power as they were directly aligned with the formation plate and ambient Mana. Rugrat also created a lecture on formations, which was attended by formation apprentices, architects, smiths and anyone else who was interested.
He made this comparison with formations and the environment they were in. If one was to make a formation that was aligned with the area it was set, then its strength would increase. This would help formations reach the Use External Mana stage. At this point they didn’t rely on their stored power to create an effect. They also used the mana in the surrounding area to increase their effectiveness.
Formations that were just mass-produced still worked but a formation made for a specific weapon would have a greater effect in increasing the weapon’s lethality.
All of Alva was working to prepare for the expedition of its army. The cooks created meals and supplies for the Alvan army. Smiths created and altered armor and weapons for the army and fitted armor to their mounts. The woodworking shop was making more repeater bows, replacement parts and massive quantities of bolts for the repeaters and the ballistas combined with enchanted heads from the smithy and formation workshop. The military workshop located in the barracks gathered and assembled gunpowder and explosives from the alchemists; bullets, cartridges, and the fragmentation shell for the grenades from the smithy. Lines had been set up to create ammunition for all weapon systems in massive quantities.
Raw ingredients and metal would go in, being refined into different shells, cartridges, rounds, powders and explosives.
Rugrat’s testing proved to be invaluable with Erik’s notes on explosives, through testing in the last few months the different formulas for gunpowder, primer charges, explosive charges, propellant charges had been refined. The process for making rounds had improved as well.
People had thought Erik and Rugrat were crazy with how much ammunition they wanted to be made, that was before the army had gone out on exercises. With a section
of mortars with their rate of fire at one every five to seven seconds of sustained fire, they burned through two hundred, to three hundred mortar rounds per minute. Rifles were even worse in an exercise people could go through hundreds of rounds, with the repeaters thousands wasn’t ridiculous if they were in large firefights.
Erik and Rugrat were using these exercises to understand just what their consumption of supplies would be and stocking up so that they would always have ammunition.
They had not stopped production in five months. They had stockpiled enough items to fill up several warehouses, luckily the kick ass storage devices solved that potential problem.
High Mortal-grade storage rings were purchased in large bulk orders. Inside each, equipment and supplies were laid out for combat medics, ballista repeater gunners, repeater gunners, mages, marksmen, leadership and so on.
As the weekend came, the troops in the barracks were released to do what they wanted with their two days of free time.
Erik and Rugrat headed toward the teleportation array.
They passed a group heading back from the dungeon. They looked tired but pleased with their spoils as they went to the trader tables that had been set up to purchase items from the returning soldiers.
Erik pulled out one of Rugrat’s modified rifles—the MK1 bolt action rifle, though most just called it the Mark One.Erik put the magazine in, chambered a round and pulled off the magazine, putting another round on top.
Rugrat had his larger rifle, simply named Big Poppa. Fondly named after the retired Former Big Momma. It was a fine rifle but the rounds he was firing were too hot and the materials that Big Momma was made from were too weak to handle the new power.
Rugrat’s eyes had a faint blue glow to them when he used his magic. If it was large scale or he wasn’t trying to hide it, his Mana veins appeared, his eyes glowed brightly and his Mana gates appeared across his body.
He looked different but he was still the same old idiot.
“One fiery hot crotch of a level coming up!” Rugrat shouted.
George landed on the teleportation array, looking excited.
Erik activated the teleportation pad with his dungeon master controls.They reappeared, looking at a familiar door.
“Two years, huh?” Rugrat asked.
“If I knew about the prize hall, I would have thought about staying in the First Realm for longer,” Erik answered.
Rugrat pointed his rifle up with a smile on his face. “Well, let’s just see how many points we can get.” Rugrat had an excited look on his face.
“You just want to show off your new skills,” Erik muttered.
“I heard that. And don’t you just need a few thousand to level up?”
“Yeah,” Erik said, still annoyed with just how close he was to leveling up, as he pushed on the door.
It opened to an icy tundra.
“Fuck, I hate the cold.” Rugrat cast his Detect Life spell.
He looked up and grabbed his rifle. He moved it around, following something. He changed out the formation socket and cast Direct Shot on his rifle. He and Erik had added a number of spells to their different internal spell books.
The formations increased penetrating power and decreased the effect of wind on the round. Direct Shot sped up the projectile.
Rugrat fired the loud round shot into the sky. Erik continued scanning with his rifle, not seeing anything. The round was enhanced to explode on impact. Erik saw an explosion in the air, hearing it a few moments later as he tracked a bird the size of a man dropping to the ground.
“Fetch,” Rugrat commanded.
George’s tongue hung out as he rushed out over the snow, flapping his wings.
“You have passed the first level of the battlefield dungeon,” Egbert’s voice intoned through the dungeon room.
“Hey, at least this time he’s not annoyed we’re sleeping in the entrance.” Rugrat laughed and kneeled to touch the ground. Using his Simple Inorganic Scan, he was able to see through the ground to scan for items below its surface.
Combined with his new Mana sense, even if he wasn’t sure about something, seeing the density of Mana that was collected inside it allowed Rugrat to pick out the useful items hidden in the ground.
Rugrat pulled out a pick and stored his rifle. He marked some items on his map and shared them with Erik, who pulled out his own pick.
“It’s off to work I go!” Erik yelled.
Rugrat laughed as they headed to the marker positions, clearing the snow and ice, cracking the ground and extracting resources from the floor.
It wasn’t long before they returned to the door. The bird was messed up, so after Erik examined it and Rugrat took the good bits, the rest was left to George to consume, including its monster core.
It had only been a level twenty-five beast but still could have been dangerous had it swooped down from above with its razor-like talons when they weren’t looking.
They exited the battlefield and were teleported to a new one.
The door opened and they found themselves facing a flat field.A large den sat in the middle of the plains.
Rugrat looked to Erik, holding a grenade in his hand.
“Worth a shot,” Erik said as he shrugged.
Rugrat pulled the friction rope and tossed the grenade into the den.
“Nice toss,” Erik complimented.
The den and the ground around it exploded. Dirt, rocks and wood quickly came back to the ground.
Erik looked around but there was no notification.
“Looks like we’re not done,” Rugrat said. The three of them scanned the area.
The ground started to shake and holes appeared in the ground.
Small horns appeared first, followed by the rest of the creatures.
“What kind of crazy bastard makes a unicorn rabbit?” Erik complained as he fired on the rabbits with his rifle. Using Explosive Shot, he could take out a group of them if they were close enough together. The single-horned rabbits turned their beady eyes on Erik, Rugrat, and George and charged toward them.
“Get in the air!” Erik shouted as they rushed closer.
They were taking out handfuls of them with each shot but the bunny tide was still coming in.
Rugrat jumped on George, who then jumped into the sky. Exhaling a powerful fire breath on the rabbits, George killed tens of them in a line and set the plains on fire.
Erik cast Hallowed Ground and quickly increased the range. As the rabbit wave got within ten meters, Erik put his rifle away and began gathering Mana in his fists. He clapped his hands together and lowered himself into a fighting stance.
The rabbits charged forward, valiant one-horned furry missiles.
Erik spread his fingers out and fired Mana bullets from every finger. It wasn’t accurate at all but there were so many of them packed together that it was hard to miss. He jumped to the side; a rabbit sailed past, struggling in the air to try to make contact with its horn.
Erik jumped to the side, right into the path of another that hit him from the side, leaving a cut on his left but cheek as he felt a breeze through his torn pants.
“God dammit!” Erik yelled.
Rugrat was in the air. The rabbits couldn’t get that high, so George was just circling and using his fire breath, leaving burning tracks of ground as the bun-pocalypse continued.
Rugrat switched out his formations and cast Explosive Shot. Each round was like a mortar, destroying anything within a few meters of where it landed.
Erik jumped around, the Hallowed Ground hurting the rabbits, as they charged toward the person who dared to blow up their home.
They hit Erik’s armor, one spearing his shoulder right on. Its horn pierced the armor and stuck in his arm.
“Ow! Little fucker!” Erik loudly complained.
The rabbit kept trying to chew or scratch him but couldn’t, as it hung off Erik’s arm by its horn.
Erik punched the rabbit and it exploded, leaving the horn imbedded and covering Erik in ra
bbit bits.
“Shit!” Erik shouted as he jumped through a line of George’s flames. Some of the rabbits jumped over but others went around. Those that had been blocked off on the other side attacked as Erik used Mana Detonation, clearing a path for him to keep moving. With punches or kicks, he could kill them easily. Yet with their numbers, it wouldn’t be enough, he had to go for large area attacks.
Erik tossed out grenades, opening up pockets and paths for him to advance through the mass of rabbits as they charged him, primarily hitting his armor and bruising him. A few more even pierced his armor with their sharp horns.
Erik laid down more Hallowed Grounds, and started to move through them, weakening the charging horned rabbits and healing himself.
Once he had a system set up and a route to run, with George and Rugrat running interference and supporting from above, it wasn’t long until the last rabbit was killed.
The ground shook. A horn appeared from the ground as a massive rabbit, easily five meters tall, dug its way out of the ground.
“I think that’s their mom!” Rugrat yelled.
“Shoot it!” Erik yipped as he pulled out his rifle.
Rugrat fired a round. It pierced the rabbit’s eye and blew up. The horn was launched, cutting through the ground before it came to a stop.
“You have passed the second level of the battlefield dungeon,” Egbert announced.
Most of the rabbits were left to George, who crunched through them happily. A few were salvageable and their horns all remained.
Erik took a look at his notifications that had updated with the fight.
==========
You have reached Level 33
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When you sleep next, you will be able to increase your attributes by: 5 points.
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14,266/1,300,000 EXP till you reach Level 34
==========
“About time,” Erik muttered.
“You level up?” Rugrat asked.
“Yeah but I’ll input the stats later. Still need to make it to a Fire-based battlefield,” Erik said.
The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Page 10