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CHAPTER: KAEJU CITY
Erik and Rugrat blinked, getting rid of the dazzling white light.
“Damn! That’s a big ass flashbang,” Rugrat complained.
They could see that they were in a new kind of square, but this one had more people than in Chonglu. The buildings were of a higher quality and the entire place displayed a qualitative difference.
“Do you feel that?” Rugrat took a deep breath in, pulling the denser Mana into his body.
“Yeah,” Erik said, feeling his body relax.
“New arrivals, move forward and pay your fee to enter Kaeju city or be escorted out of the city,” a guard yelled, his tone bored as if he had been yelling the same thing for too long.
“Well, new realm, new world, still same old customs,” Rugrat said as they looked at the tellers who looked not too different compared to the immigration gates one might find in an airport back on Earth.
The two of them looked at each other and let out a snort before they walked forward to pay their dues and enter the sprawling city. An excited look landed in their eyes as they wondered what kind of things they would find in this new realm.
“Fifteen Silver,” the guard said in a bored tone.
Erik and Rugrat winced and pulled out the money.
***
In Alva Dungeon, the dungeon’s department heads were all sitting in the dungeon headquarters. The dungeon core hummed below them.
Even Taran was there. He looked haggard but there was an energy in his eyes and a smell of metal that drew one’s attention.
Elise cleared her throat. With Erik and Rugrat gone, she had unconsciously taken over the leadership position among the department heads.
As the former leader of Alva Village, Blaze could have tried for the position but he was happier leaving all of the major issues to others as he focused on the scouting and fighting that happened outside of the dungeon.
“We’ll go around the room through each department head. Glosil, how are we looking?” she said as everyone looked to the previous city guard captain. He had now been placed as the defense captain. It was his job to settle disputes within Alva, to defend it if need be and he commanded all of the military personnel inside the dungeon.
“Currently we have two sections that are focusing on defending the dungeon, rotating watches on the exterior dungeon entrance, manning defenses, and scouting the surrounding area. They are on week-long rotations between being on watch and training in the barracks. We have three sections that are training within the dungeon. We are looking to create a new training regimen that is located in the barracks for combat mastery. Like the academy that can increase one’s abilities in different crafting and skills, the combat mastery class focuses on fighting. People go through different fighting technique manuals that we have gained and fight among one another to increase their combat ability. It will take up more healing resources as people might get hurt but I think that it will greatly improve combat ability. I also propose that we only have this class for people in the Alva military or militia,” Glosil said. “In the future, people who gain access to this information will have to swear special oaths. Otherwise they can only get access to the basic training information.”
Elise looked around the table. “Does anyone disagree?”
Seeing no one raise any objections, she nodded. “Very well. The combat mastery classes will fall under your purview, Glosil.”
Glosil nodded to everyone before sitting back in his seat.
Next was Blaze. He was in command of the entire military, but the two would rotate between external and internal operations. He was in charge of the external operation currently. That meant he commanded sections and parties that moved beyond Alva Dungeon, hunting down Mana beasts, keeping the area around Alva Dungeon clear, as well as mapping out possible routes to surrounding outposts that they might be able to trade at.
Erik and Rugrat had given them their map information but there was still plenty to be discovered.
“We have a total of forty people, not including the quick reaction party that is moving through the Beast Mountain Range. The QRF party led by Storbon scouted out the Wild Reaches Trading Outpost and is moving toward Chonglu, where they will ascend to the Second Realm. Parties are pushing out toward other outposts to see what missions they might be able to gain. We’re ready to send out our first trading convoy as needed.” Blaze looked to Jasper before continuing. “We have also found an iron vein in our scouting. We do not know what its true size is.”
His words caused a stir in the room. Finding a new resource vein was nothing simple. It could raise a simple village into a town or even city if it contained gems or other rare resources.
“Iron you say?” Taran asked with a smile on his face.
“We’ll go over it later. Blaze, do you have anything else to add?” Elise reprimanded lightly, making sure the meeting didn’t get bogged down.
“That’s it,” Blaze said.
“Good. Taran?”
“’Bout time. Need to get back to my smithy,” Taran complained. The others could only smile faintly. He had always hung out in his smithy, but he had usually been relaxing and smoking his pipe. He had accepted his fate, the fact that he wouldn’t advance again. When Rugrat had entered his smithy, his inferiority complex had been challenged and he was determined to not be outdone by the new guy in his smithy.
It had brought back his motivation and his competitive spirit. To get an edge on Rugrat and increase his own skills, Taran hadn’t even touched his pipe in a while and spent as much time as possible in front of his forge.
His role as the academy head took away his time, but his no-nonsense manner made him surprisingly efficient in either agreeing or chasing people out of his smithy for wasting his damned time!
“We’ve had an influx of thirty-seven students across all disciplines. Not including people from the military. Egbert has taken over the administrative needs of the academy for the large part, but anything that requires my agreement wanders into my damn smithy without a lick of sense.” Taran grumbled out the last part.
“We have added two more disciplines: healing, which will be carried out by the hospital, and farming, which will occur in the greenhouses. We felt that farming, although it is connected to cooking, would not fall under the cookhouse because they’re vastly different disciplines even though their products are interconnected. Also, beast taming and husbandry has been started in the beast stables. Hopefully we’ll have some panthers that are ready for masters in a few months.” The academy had become the core of the dungeon, with nearly everyone being a student or working for the academy directly or indirectly. People were quickly advancing their skills and Alva Dungeon was undergoing an explosive growth. Their population hadn’t increased but with their people able to do more, their future was limitless. “Though we are running into a supply issue. We need to send out a trade convoy as soon as possible to make up for lost or used materials.”
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Taran sat back, finished.
“Jasper?” Elise asked.
“We’ve completed the warehouse district and the market. We have some trading going on but we’re in need of a greater selection and more items from the outside world that we can’t produce yet. We’ve put forward twenty percent of our lowest ranked monster cores to power the automations that are increasing the size of the greenhouses and consumed by the dungeon core to power the city. We are ready to send out three trade convoys to the outposts that have been located. We have got lists from the different department heads and people from within the city. Based on these, we know what to look for.”
“We must not forget the secondary missions of the trade convoys,” Elise said.
“To look for new blood to join Alva Dungeon and to gather in-depth information on the different groups that surround Beast Mountain.” Jasper nodded. “We have not forgotten.”
Elise nodded, reassured by Jasper’s words.
“Our greenhouses have reached a point where they can meet our food requirements. I am told that with some research and time to increase people’s skills that we will soon not only be able to just meet people’s food needs, but surpass them. People in government positions are earning gold from their pursuits. The trade convoys are currently controlled by us but in the future, other groups from Alva Dungeon will also venture out to do their own trade. Taran, I want you to put together a group that will check out the newly discovered iron vein and make up a plan to mine it. In the last week, all of the academy teachers have broken through at least Apprentice level in their main skill. When Rugrat and Erik return with the dungeon core, I want them to see a changed Alva Dungeon. This might be the First Realm, but with the right foundation, we can grow into a city with Expert- and Master-skilled people walking the streets. This is the goal of Alva Dungeon: to grow Experts and build a deep foundation that works together.”
Elise looked at the department heads. She saw the fire in their eyes. Everyone was pursuing their goals with everything they had. She had thought the idea ludicrous and she still thought it was insane.
But what would that future be like if we were able to complete Erik and Rugrat’s vision? To be able to support them instead of having to put all of the weight and troubles on their shoulders?
***
Erik and Rugrat didn’t know the big changes that were going on in Alva Dungeon. Instead, they had sour expressions on their faces as they paid the toll to enter Kaeju city.
“Fifteen silvers. Fifteen silvers!” Rugrat grumbled like an old miser.
Erik could only shake his head.
“Fifteen silvers just to enter the city! If I didn’t see them calling the same out to others, I would think it was highway robbery!” Rugrat complained.
The Ten Realms totem allowed one to ascend. If one paid a price in monster cores or Mana stones, then they could randomly teleport to another totem, or if they had been to a totem previously, they could select it and travel to it again. One could also descend realms to other totems they had been to before or randomize where they would appear.
In the First Realm, it was too expensive to do. In the Second Realm, only powerful people or merchants were willing to pay the cost to move between different locations, but there was still some traffic.
With Erik and Rugrat activating the totem together, they had been recognized as a group and sent to the same location.
“At least we were able to get some information on apothecaries and smithies,” Erik said.
“For ten more silver,” Rugrat muttered. As a profession that ate up money, both Erik and Rugrat were slowly turning into misers who complained at the slightest loss in money.
They looked around before they headed into an alleyway.
A screen appeared in front of Erik as Rugrat kept a look out.
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Skill: Dungeon Sense
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You can sense dungeons within a 5km radius. As you increase the level of your dungeon, your Dungeon Sense’s power will increase.
Can be cast once per day.
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Cooldown: 1 day
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“Yes,” Erik said.
A formless wave seemed to shoot out from him in every direction. It passed through buildings and walls as if they didn’t exist.
Erik and Rugrat could see it but no one else seemed to react even as the wave passed through them.
Erik sensed different things, but nothing that seemed to feel like it was a dungeon. He opened his eyes while Rugrat looked back at him.
“Nothing.” Erik shook his head.
“Oh, well.” Rugrat shrugged. “What’s next?”
Erik took a moment before collecting his thoughts.
“We need to find a dungeon and increase our strength. We might be able to rule the First Realm but in the Second Realm, we’re only mid-range nobodies. We can try to learn more information on dungeons from the Blue Lotus. Then we should head out of the city to increase our strength.”
Erik had a sample of the marrow poison that had infected Chonglu’s children. With the powerful poison, Erik would be able to complete the seven temperings, formally stepping on the first stage of the Body Cultivation path, reaching the Body Like Stone level of body cultivation.
Rugrat, on the other hand, was readying himself to attack his thirteenth Mana gate, the final gate one could “open.” Rugrat wasn’t able to open it by himself, but with what they had learned with opening Qin Silaz’s Mana gate, they could use the same method to open it slowly.
“Blue Lotus it is,” Rugrat said in an excited voice. He had a number of armor pieces that he was interested in getting appraised. Rugrat had made a ton of armor, mostly reforging the limited metal he had over and over again. Though there was just him and Taran to look over the finished products, getting another opinion and seeing how his armor compared to others ignited Rugrat’s competitive spirit. Even if it was terrible, it would allow him to learn from their words.
They left the alleyway and asked for directions. They headed off through the hot and busy Kaeju city toward the Blue Lotus.
***
Disciple Ban Tong stepped out of his carriage wearing a clean white robe. Designs that looked faintly like formations were sewn into his robe with golden thread, making him look elegant and refined.
“That must be Ban Tong from the Kerose Institute that rules over Kaeju city. I heard that his genius was even noticed by the Blue Lotus, who sent a formations Master who accepted him as an apprentice,” someone muttered to their neighbor.
“Not only a person from our Kerose Institute, but someone accepted by the Blue Lotus? Truly, his future will be incredible,” their friend said.
“The Kerose Institute truly raises dragons. They might specialize in formations, but how would they dominate three cities if they weren’t strong?” Another person boasted about Kaeju city’s true rulers.
“If my daughter was able to marry a man as refined as Ban Tong, then my job as a mother would be done!” another said laughingly.
Their words fell into Ban Tong’s ears, increasing the brightness of his smile as his disposition seemed to increase another level.
Ban Tong ascended the stairs slowly. People moved aside for him as he walked up, taking his time and enjoying in the moment.
“I told you that we should have gone left at Su Ran’s tailor shop,” a man complained to his fellow.
“I know, but those dumplings smelled so good,” the other man said as they walked up the stairs. They walked past Ban Tong, who was taking his time going up the steps.
“You think something big is going on? Look at all these people,” the taller one said as they moved up ahead of Ban Tong, not caring for him and ruining his ascent.
Ban Tong’s face twisted. His whole walk toward the Blue Lotus and ascending the stairs, which had looked like a hero ascending the heavens, now looked like some simple-minded fool holding up everyone else trying to get into the Blue Lotus.
It only took a small act, but the sanctity of the moment was ruined completely.
Feeling the mocking smiles and slight laughter that rose on people’s lips, brought on by these two’s actions, Ban Tong’s body shook with anger.
He had held a high position since a young child. Now, at seventeen, when he wanted to show off to everyone about his accomplishments and look good in front of the girls in the square, these two simple-minded idiots had ruined it all!
“What do you think you’re doing!” he yelled out at the two men.
“Going inside,” the tall man said. His words made it seem as if he were talking to an idiot who couldn’t see what was happening right in front of their face. They didn’t even stop their steps.
Ban Tong shook, unable to express his anger. “Clear my path,” he yelled to the guards who had followed him.
They rushed forward up the steps. The two men were almost inside the Blue Lotus now.
The guards rushed forward but as the two men entered into the Blue Lotus, seemingly oblivious of what was happening behind them, two Experts seemed to appear from the sides of the Blue Lotus gate. The guards halted their steps.
The Blue Lotus guard looked at Ban Tong. He seemed to recognize him and lowered his hand. The guards didn’t dare to move.
“Since it is young Ban Tong here, we will let this infraction go. But remember that the Blue Lotus does not allow any fighting inside its halls,” one of the Experts said.
Ban Tong, realizing that he was in the wrong and knowing that the Expert was giving him a lot of respect not throwing his guards out, could only bury his anger and bow slightly to the Expert.
“This one acted too rashly. I am sorry,” Ban Tong said.
The Expert looked him over, giving a slight nod before he and the other Blue Lotus guard moved back to their sentry positions.
Ban Tong continued up the remaining stairs with none of the previous atmosphere. He snapped his fingers and an aide appeared at his side.
“Find out their information immediately,” he hissed. He didn’t know who these two people were, but they didn’t seem too strong. Before acting, he wanted to know whether they had a backing and what his actions might bring.