The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Read online

  It was a right hand gauntlet and it looked like the back of a set of fingerless gloves. Adding the enhancer caused red and black veins to trace through the Mortal-iron metal, making it look similar to damascus steel.

  Rugrat put the gauntlet on a table and clamped it in place with a vise. He formed his mana blade once again and kept focused on his plan for the gauntlet. Directly in the back of the piece, there was a circular space about one inch in diameter.He started carving inside the circular recess. He put the blade away once he finished that step and took out a file to clean up the metal, smoothing and finishing it.

  Rugrat pulled out a notebook that he’d filled with information that he had researched for this project. He found the right page and pulled out a design. He looked it over and checked the metal.

  “Well, never easy,” Rugrat muttered as he took out a fine pointed writing tool and started copying the lines on the piece of paper to the gauntlets.

  It took him a few times to get the lines right. He measured up the lines and traced throughout the metal twice before he took his Mana blade to the lines. He traced them out slowly with fluid movements. Lines flowed back from the fingers and thumb, crossing and weaving through one another before they reached the circular socket.

  Rugrat, made some lines deeper before he pulled out another diagram and started to work within the socket.Then, he cut out a locking mechanism into the socket. He moved to the smithy, where there was a pot of blood-looking liquid.

  “Well, hopefully the enhancer will increase the conductivity,” Rugrat muttered to himself. He had mixed the concoction up earlier. The base was the same enhancer that he had used with the Mortal iron, combined with a few other stabilizing ingredients.

  Rugrat grabbed the gauntlet with tongs. As he held the gauntlet over the blood-red concoction, he scooped up the substance and poured it over the gauntlet. It oozed into the grooves he’d created and dripped down into the bucket below.Rugrat poured a few more times as the mixture started to cool until it filled all of the lines he’d carved out.

  Even when the mixture dried, it still looked like fresh blood with veins running through the metal hand.

  Rugrat set it aside, then picked up the metal he had cut off from the gauntlet and put it into the furnace. He used his tongs to pull out a small piece of metal and repeated the processes all over again, creating the left handed gauntlet.

  He compared the two. They were perfectly identical.

  Rugrat placed them to the side and then took out yet another piece of already enhanced and red-hot metal.

  He hammer tapped this piece out, creating a thin piece of metal. Then, he turned his Mana blade into a circle and, using it like a cookie cutter, he cut down into the metal. He ended up with identical, thin circular coins.

  Rugrat quenched, then smoothed and finished the thincoins. Sitting down at his workbench, he pulled out several sheets from his notebook and placed them in front of him. Once again, he copied out the designs and carved out the lines from the paper onto the metal. He messed up a few times but he had also made extra blank coins.

  It took him some time but once he was finished he gathered up his items and then headed out of the smithing room, rushing toward the formation workshop. He burst in, finding Julilah, Qin and Tan Xue in the same room. All three women looked up as Rugrat moved to the middle of the room and dumped his new gauntlets on a table.

  “I had a thought and before I knew it, I made it. Let me know what you think,” Rugrat blurted. His mind was still under the effects of the calming formation and the pill he had consumed. It gave him laser-like focus but it made him ignore everything else.

  Tan Xue reached the tables first and she picked up one of the gauntlets. “High Journeyman-level workmanship. The enhanced metal is powerful. Is this another blank?” Tan Xue asked as she looked at the coins that the other two were picking up.

  “Sockets, weapon armor, smithing, sockets,” Rugrat said. It seemed as if half of his brain was shut down as he paused and stuttered through the words. “Weapon engraved with necessary components except formation. Formation multi-layered plates lined one over another, fused together into whole.” Rugrat grabbed a glove and a coin.

  “Put formations into slots.” Rugrat stammered as he mimed putting the coin into the circular socket and turning it. “Weapon has formation, can change formation as needed. No longer need to engrave formations into weapons. Two components of one whole. Upgrade formations, or upgrade weapons, increase in power.”

  Through Rugrat’s broken sentences and simple words, the other three’s eyes shone, looking between the gauntlet and the coins.

  Rugrat pulled out his notes of the different drawings and blueprints he had crafted and put them on the table. His notes and images were rough outlines, scrawled across the pages. He opened it up to a page of circles and different diagrams that he had named ‘Sockets’.

  Tan Xue looked at the information, having to squint a few times to read through it.

  She frowned as she stopped reading, digesting the information and unpacking it.

  “If you had a weapon and say two of these sockets, then you could pick and choose the formation plates to place in them. Increased striking speed, cutting strength, Water Affinity attacks, Fire, or Earth,” Tan Xue marveled.

  “The formations or the armor could be changed as needed. Thus allowing one to increase in Strength and without needing to buy new equipment for every situation. Say you go from a desert to an arctic wasteland, simply change out your formations to increase your fighting ability. You could have your high-grade armor, Expert-level smithed, and get Journeyman-level formations, then replace the plates with Expert formation plates at a later date. These could also save you from ruining the armor from a botched formation. Many times, it is the formation master, not the smith, who breaks the armor if they don’t understand it well enough. Doing the formation separately means that you can’t ruin the armor!” Qin squeaked.

  “Need to work on weapons!” Rugrat announced as he turned and departed as quickly as he had arrived. Now that he had completed one task, his mind had moved to the next. Firearms.

  Once Rugrat had made it back to the smithy, he pulled out his M40, Big Momma and his modified rifle.

  With quick actions, he broke them down into their component parts. He pulled out barrels and other components that had been made by the other smiths according to the specifications that he had listed, as well as wood furniture and other components.

  Rugrat checked the parts against one another, making sure that they were all identical. Anything that didn’t meet his standards got a note on them and was put to the side. Well, thrown, with some cursing tossed in.

  Rugrat pulled out some Mortal metal he had already enhanced to increase its durability and ability to dissipate heat. He pulled out notes, checked sizing and used his Mana blade on parts and ingots as he went. He cut the ingots down into the manageable metal blanks, then he started off his rough cuts, stripping off excess materials working the blank into his desired shape.

  He cut all of the blanks down, fifteen of them in total. Then he did his finishing cuts.. The only noises that could be heard were Rugrat working, his Mana blade cutting through metal, shaping small pins, to cocking handles, firing pins and the other components of a bolt action rifle.

  He had no idea of the uproar that he had created in the formation workshop as Julilah and Qin brought in other formation Apprentices to look at what he’d made.

  ***

  The information made sense. The coins were just miniaturized formation plates. He had created two of them that matched the gauntlets to increase their ability.

  Tan Xue looked up from the plans some time later. “Socket weapons.f I was able to create a weapon with two innate abilities and incorporate two sockets in it, would I reach the Expert level in smithing?” she asked herself.

  Without anyone noticing, she slipped out of the formation workshop and headed to the smithy. She pulled out a few ingots of Earth-grade iro
n. With Rugrat’s help and his notes, she and Taran had figured out how to make their own Earth-grade ingots and further refined the process, requiring less Mortal Mana stone dust. They had kept their Earth-grade iron on them; it was too valuable for them to sell.

  Tan Xue stoked the fires in the Expert-level smithy and took one of the focusing pills from the alchemists. She pulled out an array of blueprints, sifting through them before she came to a simple dagger.

  “Requires less materials and it isn’t that big, so it will be easier to add the required lines needed to transmit the power of the socket. I think I can hide the sockets in the pommel too,” Tan Xue muttered to herself. She pulled out a fresh piece of paper and started to draw out a blueprint, first the blade, then the lining that would overlay it, then the lines needed to interface the sockets with the weapon. She worked on her plans a number of times, scrapping them and re-making them, working them until they looked as though they might actually work.

  When she left the formation workshop, it had been late afternoon. By the time that she finished her blueprints, it was starting to brighten in Alva. The few birds that lived in the parks and the farmlands were chirping.

  Tan Xue looked at her finished designs and turned to her furnace. Her eyes saw nothing other than the flames as she increased the temperature and checked through her storage rings before she found the right enhancer which she added into the Earth-grade iron. Unlike Mortal items and below, higher grade materials had very high Mana content. So, a portion of the metal was consumed when enhancing Earth-grade iron. Mana gathering formations did their best to make sure that there wasn’t a large loss but there was always something taken.

  It was another reason that increasing one’s skill became harder in the higher realms. Lower grade ingredients or materials might be salvageable but as the materials got higher grade, once they were used, they would turn to scrap unless the salvager was highly skilled indeed.

  Tan Xue willingly accepted the loss in material as she alloyed the Earth iron.

  Chapter: Specialization

  Rugrat was still working in the smithy. He hadn’t left since entering yesterday after his brief trip to the formation workshop. The smithy and the workshop had gone into an uproar over the new socket type weapons and formations, not that Rugrat noticed a damn thing.

  Erik left them to it as the Alva military came back to the barracks after finishing their two days of leave.

  Glosil stepped forward and then turned to face Erik, who stood at the front of the formation.

  “I, Glosil Bardon, do solemnly swear on the Ten Realms that I will support and defend Alva Dungeon, the dominion of Erik West and Jimmy Rodriguez, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will obey their orders and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and laws created with their assent. That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office to which I am about to enter.”

  The oath was confirmed by the Ten Realms as a golden light fell over the both of them. The glow of the oaths made the barracks light up as the council members and the officers who had been assigned in the military had the light of oath around them

  Behind Glosil, the rest of the soldiers raised their hands and repeated their oaths, inserting their own names. Their families watched as they made their final oath, the one that brought them into the military of Alva, only solidifying what they had already sworn before when they had joined Alva.

  “I accept your oath,” Erik said. The power around him and the others dissipated, his word overriding them all. He and Rugrat held the primary power to directly order the military to do their bidding if they so desired, as long as it assisted Alva.

  Silence fell over the men and women standing there.

  “At ease!” Erik said.

  They relaxed in place, unlocking their necks and looking at him as he stepped forward and nodded to Glosil. He turned and started walking slowly, pacing in front of the formation.

  “For the last three or five months, you have trained. You have left behind your civilian selves and become a true military. It is your mission to protect Alva. To do that, you will need to grow in Strength. It is not a secret that Rugrat and I plan on reaching for the Fourth Realm. What has not been said is that the rest of you will be coming to the Fourth Realm with us to hone your skills, to show you the different realms, to bring you into confrontation with an enemy that is stronger than you. Rugrat and I have gone to the other realms practically alone up to this point but the Fourth Realm is not just another realm. Many of you might have heard of its nickname: the battlefield realm.

  “This is because the Fourth Realm is a land of opportunity, a place where people can gain great Strength or falter and paint the ground in their blood. The Fourth Realm’s strength and allure doesn’t come from mines, or from gardens, from workshops or sects. It comes from dungeons. The Fourth Realm is littered with dungeons that different groups fight over. The more powerful a nation is, the more dungeons they command. There are many kinds of dungeons: some are filled with rare monsters that are reborn over time, others that are filled with rare minerals that can be mined but grow back with time others that are incredible places to cultivate Mana Gathering or Body Cultivation. Finally, they contain dungeon trials like our own battlefield dungeon that allow a person to gain points to use in the prize hall to claim prizes of amazing power.

  “Our mission will be to scout the Fourth Realm, to learn more of its secrets and learn of different dungeons. If possible, we will capture those dungeons. If not, we will destroy them. We will also increase our Strength. Below us there are another five floors. In the Metal floor, there are creatures that might reach level forty. Fighting in the battlefield dungeon will increase our Strength but doesn’t increase our coordination. If we are to operate as a military, we have to work as a whole, not just in smaller parties.” Erik stopped walking and looked at them all.

  “What we have done so far is your basic training. For the next two months, we will gather intelligence on the Fourth Realm and we will continue to train. You will all be issued new weapons and trained with them by the best fighters we have. Erik waved his hand and a repeating crossbow appeared.

  “This is a repeating crossbow mark one. When you pull the trigger, it will continue to fire until the magazine is empty, much like the repeating ballistas. The old pedal-style ballistas will have a new repeating mechanism like this, allowing you to stay in cover when using the weapon system.” Erik put the crossbow away and pulled out his personal rifle.

  “This is a rifle. Rugrat and I will be picking sharpshooters, who will be qualified to use these weapons. They have a much longer range than the ballista and their accuracy is higher. With buffs, their firepower is stronger than the heavy repeater ballista and they can fire at a comparable rate.

  “Everyone has completed their first aid training. Those who have done schooling with the healing house or with the alchemists will be trained as combat medics. Alchemists will be trained to create poisons, gunpowder, and other materials that we will need. You may also train as chefs, sword fighters, spear fighters, trackers—everyone will at least have one specialization. By the end of this training period, everyone will be assigned a mount. You will know how to ride as naturally as they run. You will all be able to use the repeater crossbow, ballista, and the rifles to a passable degree.

  “To reach the Fourth Realm, you will all need to be level thirty, so we will be going to the battlefield dungeon to see what you’ve learned and put your skills to the test. Check the noticeboard to sign up for specialization courses and to see if you have been recommended for a teaching position. Someone who has over three specializations will be allowed to try out to join the special teams.”

  The three special teams had been slimmed down, turning into two special teams with ten members in each. Roska led one and Niemm led
the other. Storbon was a good commander but Niemm was a steadier hand. Storbon, who had been feeling the pressure of leadership, took the position of second-in-command well.

  There was a hope that, in the future, the special teams would reach the point where they were a company-sized unit with four special teams.

  Although they wanted to expand the special teams, they were determined not to sacrifice ability. Earning a position had actually become harder with the new changes in Alva’s military. The current members of the special teams had to work hard to retain their positions.

  The men and women of the Alva military knew that they were strong but the special teams were on a different level. They threw themselves into anything that could increase their strength, whether that was trials, body cultivation, mana cultivation, learning from the academy. That information had then been tempered through handling life and death situations and trusting in one another completely. When working together they became much stronger, they might only be able to fight maybe two or three people of the same level but they could go up against three or four other groups of the same size and level and win. Through using their combined skills they understood, overcame, and destroyed their enemy.

  “Atten-tion!” Erik called out, causing them all to snap upright. “Dis-missed!”

  They turned and marched off before breaking ranks and quickly heading for the information board.

  Erik headed up to the office, ready to receive the pre-selected teachers and specialty trainers to give them their standing orders.

  ***

  Storbon looked at the boards of different specializations. He had been picked as one of the teachers for in-field maintenance because of how he used his smithing and tailor skills in the field to make sure that his and the others’ gear were in the best condition.