Innate Effect:
Stores blood energy
Socket One:
Blood drinker—Consume blood from opponents to increase attacking power.
Socket Two:
Transference—Energy stored within can be shared to the user or their items.
Requirements:
Agility 41
Strength 51
==========
“Why Tropic Thunder?” Erik asked, knowing he would regret the question.
“Cradle the balls, stroke the shaft? Don’t you remember?” Rugrat asked.
Erik’s fear was right, he did regret asking. He let out an annoyed groan as he half remembered the long-forgotten scene.
“I hate you so much.” Erik gave Rugrat the middle finger.
Rugrat snorted and shrugged. “Still, that innate effect and the sockets make it one hell of a weapon. If you land five hits with the gloves, then the blood energy increases. The more you hit, the greater the increase in stored blood energy. If you kill someone or get someone powerful’s blood on the gloves, then the blood energy will increase in strength. You can use the blood to increase your physical abilities, including your recovery.
If you had enough power, then you could basically reverse damage done to you and come back at your peak,” Rugrat said.
“How much power do I get for every hit and every person?” Erik asked.
“Depends on their Strength. The stronger they are, the more power in the blood, the more power that you can drain.” Rugrat explained.
“If you said something like that back on Earth, they’d think you were crazy.”
Rugrat looked at Erik. “Dude, we are crazy.” Rugrat grinned and turned to face the direction they were heading.
Erik checked out his weapons.
==========
MK1 Crossbow Repeater (Repeater)
==========
Damage:
Unknown
Weight:
5.8 kg
Charge:
1,000/1,000
Durability:
100/100
Innate Effect:
Increase formation power by 7%
Socket One:
Rotating formation allowing automatic fire.
Range: Medium range
Requires: Crossbow Ammunition
Requirements:
Agility 51
Strength 55
==========
==========
MK1 Heavy Ballista Repeater (Ballista)
==========
Damage:
Unknown
Weight:
15.2 kg
Charge:
1,000/1,000
Durability:
100/100
Innate Effect:
Increase formation power by 7%
Socket One:
Rotating formation allowing automatic fire.
Range: Long range
Requires: Ballista Ammunition
Requirements:
Agility 47
Strength 57
==========
==========
MK1 Bolt Action Marksman Rifle (Marksman Rifle)
==========
Damage:
Unknown
Weight:
4.0 kg
Charge:
1,000/1,000
Durability:
100/100
Innate Effect:
Increase formation power by 7%
Socket One:
Punch Through—Penetration increased by 8%
Socket Two:
Supercharged—Increase bullet’s velocity by 7%
Range: Long range
Requires: 7.62 rounds
Requirements:
Agility 53
Strength 41
==========
Erik looked ahead and moved Mana through his body, storing it in his carrier plates as a familiar city appeared in their vision.
***
Lola prowled at Erik’s feet as George lazed on Rugrat’s shoulders, both of them wearing collars to reduce their size.
They made their way through Chonglu, checking their timepieces.
“Three minutes,” Rugrat said as they walked through the streets. It was around midday.
The city that had once seemed large now looked quaint in their eyes. People knew one another. Traders and farmers came in to sell their wares. Things were simple.
Looking at it, Erik felt a closeness to this place that he had reached when first entering the Ten Realms.
The time continued to run down as they approached the totem. People looked at them.
“More hooded strangers. Been a number of them over the last couple of years. Hear that they might be from the higher level sects that go to the Beast Mountain Range,” one person said.
“I heard that they’re rejects from the higher realms,” another said.
“My cousin’s brother-in-law is a guard and he said that the guards don’t intervene because they’re so strong. And they don’t talk when questioned,” someone else said.
“On my mark.” Rugrat held his timepiece, his hood hiding his face.
Erik held up his hand and a screen appeared.
==========
You have reached Level 30, meeting the requirements to ascend to the Fourth Realm.
==========
Do you wish to ascend?
==========
YES/NO
==========
Erik tapped on the NO and went through the menu, finding Kaeju city located in the Second Realm.
Chapter: Battlefield Realm
Bayar accepted the entrance fee and allowed the trading caravan past. Kaeju was as busy as ever, with traders moving through all the time and the different powerful groups working together or against one another to gain power. Some things never change.
He was thankful that his guard post was at the totem. He didn’t have to deal with the politics and alliances that happened in the places of power.
He looked over as a group of five people appeared in front of the totem. He didn’t know what interested him about the people initially but more appeared in a flash. Suddenly there were over one hundred people around the totem. They all wore the same cloaks that hid their features and Bayar could see armor and weapons underneath their cloaks.
He started to stand up. Some were looking out, covering one another as all of the guards went on alert.
Bayar felt a tremendous pressure weighing down on him. Level suppression. He felt the weight that came from the people that had appeared. It was not merely a few levels but an entire realm’s difference.
“Is everyone here?” a man called.
“Yes, sir,” another replied.
“Good.” The first man turned back to the totem. In a flash of light, they all disappeared. The pressure was removed and the traders who had been frozen in fear looked around.
The guards stared at the totem.
Was that real? A mirage?
***
Alva’s army disappeared from their rally point at Kaeju and Erik made sure everyone was linked as he used the totem again. This time they were all teleported to the Fourth Realm.
They appeared in a random city that looked like it was made from rough rock. The buildings all looked like bunkers with thick walls that rose around the totem, like a castle all on its own.
There were signs of fighting and bodies around the totem.
“Spread out! One Platoon, hold. Second Platoon, special teams—clear the defenses!” Erik called out. Repeaters were revealed as people rushed forward, their cloaks flapping as they moved.
They barged through doors facing the totem. They were tough but the Alva soldiers were stronger and broke through easily.
“Where are we?” Erik turned to Rugrat.
“On it.” Rugrat pulled out his map and checked their location while the sergeants moved the sections of First Platoon, nicknamed Dragon Platoon. Second Platoon was called Tiger Platoon.
“Defenses secured. Captain, you’ll want to see this!” Sergeant Niemm called.
Erik leapt up, grabbing onto an arrow slit and throwing himself up as if he weren’t holding nearly a hundred kilos of gear. He dropped over the parapet, looking at the city beyond.
They were in the midst of a mountain range.
He had declined Old Hei’s offer of a guide. He trusted Old Hei but he didn’t know whether he could trust everyone else in the Alchemist Association.
So they had rolled the dice and it looked like they’d landed right in the middle of a fight.
The city beyond was gray and simple, built to be a fortress.
“What do you see?” He asked Lucinda.
“There is an army out there, people are preparing defenses, it looks like they’re getting ready to fight.”
We were able to get in so this must be a sneak attack and they haven’t declared war, closing off the totem. We can run back to the second realm. Or we try and escape the city.
Erik looked in the opposite direction.
“Even the houses are built like bunkers,” Erik said.
“We’ve got guards coming from the southeast!” Lucinda yelled.
“Time till they get here?” Erik asked.
==========
Event
==========
The city of Aberdeen is under attack! Pick a side!
Defend Aberdeen
Attack Aberdeen
==========
“Lucinda?” Erik asked again, getting her to focus on her job instead of the pop-up.
“Fifteen minutes maybe?” Lucinda shot back.
Rugrat jumped over the wall. “We’re in the city Aberdeen, which is in the northern area of continent seven. It’s a mountainous region and we’re right in a crucial pass. Aberdeen is controlled by the Sanem family, who control twenty-five dungeons, seventeen cities, and forty-three towns. That’s based off of what Old Hei gave us. What’s new is the attackers are the Marceola Sect. They occupy territory in the south. It looks like they’ve taken nearly ten dungeons, four cities, and six towns from the Sanem family to get this far. The Sanem family uses what is called the iron fortress formation: they have heavy infantry, great at defending but attack slowly. The Marceola focus on long-range weapons, using them to starve out a city over the space of months. The siege must have just started for us to be able to make it in. The warfront is facing south but there are exits to the north, back toward Sanem family territory.”
“To the west is the Halberd Sect; to the east is the Chaotic Lands. There are tens of dungeons and even more groups fighting in them so we can’t get a good read on the Chaotic Lands. The closest neutral cities are Pasinidi to the east, Shashi to the southeast and then Tareng to the south,” Rugrat reported, checking the map that Old Hei had given them and they had copied.
“Options?”
“War has just started—things will start to get clamped down. We move to the north, get the hell out of here, head to the east,” Rugrat offered.
Erik and Rugrat looked at one another.
“We try and head back do it again or go for it. With the event being started I’m betting that the totem is locked down. We rolled some one’s on this.” Rugrat said.
Erik made a decision in that moment. We’re here, there is no telling where we’ll be next time.
“Niemm, Roska, Glosil.” Erik used his sound transmission device.
“Glosil, gather our people. Ready them to head to the north. Niemm, Roska, go around the city. Niemm, go east and then move to the south. Roska, do the same in the west and go north. Find out if there is anyone heading northeast or west. East is preferred,” Erik ordered.
“Understood,” the three replied, leaving to carry out their tasks.
The special teams moved out immediately. If they could find traders leaving, then they could get out of the city more easily and learn more about the area, including safe routes away from Aberdeen.
Beast masters released their flying creatures into the sky as the Alva company broke down into their sections, moving for the north wall.
Erik got reports from the special teams and the reconnaissance beasts, allowing the Alvan soldiers to avoid patrols.
Erik took time to assess the Fourth Realm. The skies were gray and looked as if they would start raining at any moment. He watched people moving through the streets. Looking into their eyes, he could tell this was not the first siege that they had been involved in.
There were injured and crippled people moving around, dealing with the feebleness of their bodies, broken by wars and battles past.
The Mana concentration was much thicker. The difference in the Mana density from the Third Realm to the Fourth was equivalent to the jump Erik experienced going from the First to the Third Realm.
Even though it was more concentrated, it was stirred up with all kinds of impurities. Casting would be stronger here but it would be harder to compress and purify the Mana that entered their bodies.
Erik could see the effects of the heavily attributed Mana. The quite young seemed in poor health but the older kids were much stronger. Growing up in harsh conditions, only those whose bodies adapted would thrive, increasing their Body and Mana Gathering Cultivation.
Erik’s eyes hardened. This was not an easy place to live. Even the children had to fight to survive.
The Alvan soldiers moved past the people moving to and fro, who cleared a path for them, offering questioning looks but otherwise leaving them alone.
***
Hadard looked over at the ranged attacks being traded back and forth between the Aberdeen protection force and the Marceola army.
“Shit, weren’t they supposed to attack in a week? We just got here,” one of the traders complained.
“Less to pack!” Hadard exclaimed.
“Bad news,” A trader announced as he ran up to Hadard. He had been sent to bring the mercenaries back. “All of these mercenaries are from the north, so they’ve been called to the wall.”
“Shit, we need more mercenaries.” He had hired them because they were from the north and could ease their passage. The north had recently turned into a war zone after it leaked that there was an item defense dungeon. A party would protect an object in a dungeon; with every wave that they defeated, more power was injected into an artifact. At any time, they could carry the object and run away. Dungeon defense was the easiest as one could set up defenses and defeat many creatures, gaining powerful tools that could increase an entire cities, maybe a ruling bodies, overall strength. Even Expert and Master weapons weren’t out of reach.
The Marceola Sect had allied themselves with the Halberd Sect. The Marceola attacked from long range while the Halberd protected them. It might become a merger of the two forces if they were able to come to an agreement, defeat the Sanem family and take their land. Hadard didn’t care. All he cared about was making his coin so that his family could live well in the neutral trading cities.
A woman holding a spear appeared. She looked over the armored beasts, the heavy carriages that covered their drivers and had arrow slits one could fire from.
“Are you leaving Aberdeen?” she asked.
The traders looked at her. Their own guards held their weapons, ready to fight if they needed to.
“Yes. Why?” Hadard said. Even if she raised the alarm, they could be gone quickly.
“We are looking to leave as well,” she said.
“Deserters? Won’t you be killed by your oath?”
“We’re not from Marceola or the Sanem family,” she said.
She doesn’t know about Marceola allying themselves with Halberd? Could she have just been swept up in this?
“We are looking for fighters but you won’t be enough on your own,” a trader said.
“There are more of us but we need to leave quickly. It looks like the protection force are rounding up people to work for them,” she said.
“How many of you are there?”
“Over
a hundred.”
“Okay, we need to leave now, so we can’t wait around.” “They can meet us on the way to the gate. We have our own mounts—you just lead the way.”
“Can you speak on their behalf?”
“I can’t but I can say that as long as you don’t attack us, we won’t attack you.” Her eyes were clear.
Hadard’s hand glowed behind his back, secretly using a spell to see the truth in her eyes. He didn’t like it but he didn’t have any other choice.
“Fine. Have them meet us on the way. My name is Hadard and I run this convoy.” Hadard looked to the others, “Mount up!”
They all got into the iron box-like carriages. The four tusked beasts that pulled them shifted in their armor and harnesses, ready to move.
The woman waved her hand and a panther appeared.
The convoy moved out of the house they had been staying in and picked up speed as they got into the streets.
The rear gates were open, allowing nobles and other privileged individuals, and those that were too weak to be useful in the upcoming battle, to leave for the other cities.
Out of the surrounding roads, others wearing armor and cloaks like the woman appeared, surrounding the traders.
Hadard looked at them, impressed in their numbers and their ability to ride as the woman guided her mount over to them. Hadard watched them but they moved off to the perimeter and rode behind the convoy.
When they got to the gate, Hadard had a quiet conversation with a guard, passing over a few glowing stones.The guard nodded and then moved to the group following Hadard. A man paid a bribe and they were allowed through as well.
They swept out of the gates and picked up speed.
“Looks like we made it out,” the man sitting beside Hadard said as Hadard scanned the gate behind them with a spyglass.
“Looks—shit.” Hadard saw a group of riders leave the city and head toward them.
“You think that they caught on?” the man asked.
Hadard looked at him and then back at those running out of the city.
Hadard wasn’t just a trader of goods; he had sold the information to the attacking sects weeks ago. He’d made enough to retire and aimed to leave the Sanem-controlled lands before they ever attacked. Yet it looked as though that was no longer possible.
The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Page 13