Chapter: Scouts and Second Phase

Four days had passed since the academy teachers were appointed.

In those four days, Alva Dungeon had been a hive of activity, all of the department heads had posted recruitment posters for farmers, soldiers, traders and more, people were rushing to apply for different jobs by the third day, all the positions had been filled.

The first phase had been completed, now all that was left was to build the academy, workshops, warehouse and the market.

The different teachers were looking forward to having new facilities, they had unlimited access to the information left behind by the gnomes Jia Feng had taken over the Manor’s kitchen, Zhou Heng had taken over an open plot of land, sitting there for hours, studying different fabrics, testing out new ideas with the materials he had.

Shi Wanshu altered between building plans on the construction interface in the dungeon core and whittling down wood, using different techniques to carve out incredibly detailed statues and other items.

All of them shut out the rest of the world, spending their time increasing their abilities. Erik spent his time in the growing areas, using his plant cultivation spell.

They had already gone through one harvest, Erik submersed himself in plants, focusing on the first and second stages, growing and harvesting.

If he focused on just one plant then it was possible for him to bring them to harvest in a few hours, like this he grew multiple kinds of plants, growing his alchemy skill.

Rugrat and Taran did nothing but used the smithy, thankfully with the houses completed people could get away from them.

People also learned about what the Academy offered and went looking for Egbert for reading materials, he had taken up residence in the academy grounds, he exerted his true strength, focusing on building the academy’s library, he made some adjustments, turning the three story structure into a proud hexagonal tower with six stories.

People could only watch in awe as he used spells, carrying hundreds of stones at once, stacking them on top of one another, the tower shot up in the space of a day.

He also commissioned bookshelves from Shi Wanshu.

Egbert was in charge of testing, the library and counseling.

He was blunt with his assessment but it was usually right on the mark, armed with a magic testing crystal he could tell the affinity of one’s magic, based on his knowledge with a few questions he was able to figure out what discipline would best suit those that appeared in front of him.

Taran might be the missing head of the academy but Egbert was its heart. Taran had already handed over the running to Egbert. The skeleton complained but one could tell that he was excited to be around people again.

His character didn’t change much but his demeanor became softer dealing with people, making a genuine effort to advance their strength.

Other than the sounds of construction and work, the academy grounds were silent with people reading all manner of books in the courtyards. If they were stuck on something they would go talk to Egbert, only when they passed a test he put forth would he offer his assistance and guide them forwards, looking to correct the holes in their knowledge.

Erik opened his skill sheet, while his gains hadn’t been massive, with his growing and harvesting he had been able to improve upon his alchemy skill.

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Skill: Alchemy

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Level: 17 (Novice)

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No bonuses at this time. You must prove your skills first.

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He’d even gained some experience. While becoming a higher level would diminish the rewards that one would get from killing creatures of the same or lower level, when increasing one’s skills the experience gain was constant according to levels, but when one reached a higher skill level or if they repeatedly made the same item or concoction again and again then the skill level wouldn’t increase. After all their skill level was adjusted based on their ability, not on the number of times that they replicated the result.

Basically if you wanted to get a higher level you simply couldn’t grind out the same dagger, if you improved the dagger or made it with higher stats and abilities then you would get more experience and your skill level could also increase.

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61,234/195,000 EXP till you reach level 16

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Erik dismissed the screen and bent down to inspect the Blood fruit at his feet, this was a juicy, bulbous looking plant that shone in the light, it slowly moved the reflected light made the fruit look like a beating heart.

Erik felt someone approaching, he dismissed his simple organic scan as he looked up, around him there was a small garden, just a ten meter by two meter space, in it there were all kinds of plants.

Breathing in the air one would feel refreshed by the aromas. Erik had gained these seedlings from Egbert and put his full effort into understanding them.

Erik felt it was ridiculous at first, but with time he came to understand the different ways the plants interacted with one another and even moved their positions so that they benefitted one another.

Plants could have different affinities, putting them in the right positions would allow them to increase one another’s strength, creating a type of planting array.

Erik had been totally focused on improving the speed that the plants grew at, but also the efficacy of the final product.

He had read about all of these different ingredients and absorbed their information through the compendium that had knocked him out, reading about them and then handling them personally was two different things, he had learned the basics but applying that knowledge was no simple matter.

Erik felt like he was learning to be a medic again, when in training it was so simple, but when one had to carry out their job in the field training could only get you so far, the rest was on you.

Rugrat looked around the garden, surprised by the rapid growth.

“I can faintly feel that my mana regeneration has increased,” Rugrat said.

“Most of these plants are geared towards increasing one’s mana flow they can be used in mana recovery concoctions, each of them complement the other, so that the products they excrete benefit the others, come here,” Erik moved to the middle of the plants.

Here one could feel mana moving through their mana channels it was soothing and relaxing, if someone stayed here for months then they might see their mana channels cleared out and the purity of their mana increase.

Rugrat moved forward and let out a satisfied sigh.

After a few seconds he frowned and looked at Erik.

“You, did you recover your lost mana drop?”

“I recovered it and condensed another drop,” Erik smiled, his total mana drops had now reached three, if he could reach four, he would just need to condense them together into a core and he would open his final mana gate.

Being at the focal point in the garden the mana he pulled in was refined by the different plants, making it easier to condense into a single drop.

In this garden Erik’s senses were heightened.

“You opened a new mana gate!” Erik said.

Rugrat laughed and shrugged, he didn’t hide anything as he activated all twelve of his mana gates.

Mana in the surrounding area settled down as if their master had arrived, bowing in difference.

Erik felt that his own mana system was slightly suppressed.

“When using all of your mana gates there’s a faint suppression on others in the same area?” Erik said.

“Yeah, that makes sense with the new title,” Rugrat said.

“New title?” Erik asked.

Rugrat stopped purposefully using his mana gates.

“Well, as one increases the mana gates that they open, every one past your tenth, you get a new title,” Rugrat said, coming clean.

“Little fucker I should have known that you were keeping something from me,” Erik said.

“Well, you ready to check out Beast Mountain?” Rugrat asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Fine, but tell me how you opened your twelfth mana gate,” Erik said, moving away from his garden and heading through the now defined Alva Dungeon, around the dungeon headquarters the different buildings were all done except for the market, that would come with the second phase.

“As I’ve been training with smithing I’ve been improving my control over mana. I took some time not just forming my mana into shapes, but trying to create different items, not just the form of a spear but a true spear, condensed down and with runes.

I studied up on mana manipulation formations that could be used with weapons and added those to the mana formed weapons. It took me a number of days and I needed to do it multiple times with real metal and formation before I could do it with mana formed ones. Then I drove them into my mana gate, the runes on the weapons focused and directed my mana, increasing their strength and blasting through my mana gate. Honestly it was kind of like the mana created weapon was an electric motor plugged right into my mana. I just had to focus on drawing in more mana from around me and it fed into the mana weapon, cracking open my gate,” Rugrat said as they had walked they passed through the center of the village and were passing through the houses, almost reaching the hospital.

“If you can do that internally I wonder if there is a way to do it externally,” Erik said.

“A weapon to channel mana into your body?” Rugrat asked.

“Right, if you hit something from just one direction it’s effective, but if you hit it from opposite sides at staggered intervals you might cause more damage, maybe it would be possible to break through faster. I’ll have to ask Egbert,” Erik resolved. “So, how is your smithing skill coming along?”

“Pretty well. I’m in the late Journeyman stages though I’m running into the problem that without a teacher I have a bunch of ideas and I can try them out, but it’s hard to find what works,” Rugrat said.

It made sense, with his general knowledge from Earth combined with the amount he had spent researching different topics he had surged ahead in his skill, still he had questions, he searched for answers in different books and asked Egbert, but Egbert didn’t know everything and books might have the information but it could be obtuse or hidden away. Smithing was primarily a practical skill, most smithers spent weeks in their smithies trying out new methods and improving on their skills. Rugrat could do the same, grinding away with higher level blueprints, but his growth would be slower than if he had someone to guide him.

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to find anyone like that in the second realm,” Erik said apologetically.

“I’ve already found an answer,” Rugrat said, surprising Erik.

“Oh?” Erik asked as slowing his pace as they reached the barracks.

“The Blue Lotus, you remember that auction house? Well it’s not a simple place, they have many experts working for them and their background isn’t small. They’re supposedly in every realm and there is no one that would be willing to challenge them. Those that have, have been destroyed either by the Blue Lotus, or those looking to carry favor with the Blue Lotus. It is possible to not only get items from them, but to also get information. The hardest thing will be getting their attention, but I have a plan,” Rugrat said.

Seeing that Rugrat wasn’t going to say freely, Erik forced out his next question.

“How will you get their attention?”

“I will take my journeyman level items there to be appraised, they aren’t too interested in strength in these lower levels, but if someone is capable of making high leveled products they are a powerful entity, to keep their strength, they need to bring in new blood.”

“I wouldn’t mind checking it out,” Erik said, the two of them walked into the barracks, they were stunned to see that not only were the soldiers from Alva there, the people of Alva had gathered as well.

All of them had solemn looks on their faces as they looked at Erik and Rugrat.

The two hadn’t noticed how empty the streets seemed as they walked to the barracks, lost in their own discussion.

“Of our own volition we swear upon the ten realms that we will not pass on information about the Alva Dungeon to any outsiders, we swear to protect Alva Dungeon no matter how far we might venture from the Dungeon. We swear to uphold the rule of law within Alva Dungeon and to follow the orders of the Dungeon Masters Erik and Rugrat as long as their orders are reasonable,” their voices rose as one, children, grandparents and residents of Alva all talking as one.

A large golden halo settled over them all before shooting towards Erik and Rugrat. They had thought to organize an oath ceremony but hearing their oath, Erik and Rugrat were touched by their sincerity.

They accepted them as the power disappeared.

“Alright, you lazy bums, get back to work!” Blaze said, but there was no anger in his voice.

The crowd dispersed, smiles on their faces as Erik and Rugrat awkwardly stood there, not sure what to say or do.

“Shall we move forward with the scouting parties?” Blaze asked, rescuing them.

“Yes, let's do that,” Erik said.

“Why do I feel like we just got pranked, haven’t felt that awkward in a long time,” Rugrat said.

The quick reaction force and three of the newly formed parties followed Blaze, Erik and Rugrat.

They went past the beast stables where the panther cubs were playing with soldiers, eating and lazing about. With the right food the panthers were growing quickly, beasts only needed to consume more powerful meats and could continuously eat other monster cores to increase their strength. Already they were reaching teenage creatures. Egbert had plenty of taming contracts that had been placed upon the panthers, this allowed them to be bound to whoever rode them, people needed to purchase them from the beast stables if they wanted to have one, the price was high, but they would gain a loyal follower and increase their own combat strength.

Past the beast stables there was a hole in the wall that circled the village. There was a guard post and alarm formation here so that Egbert would be able to fight back anything that tried to enter.

Now it was manned by Alva’s military.

They passed through the defenses and to the steps beyond, the stairs were only wide enough for two people side by side to walk up.They had to travel for twenty minutes before they reached a large entrance way that ended in smooth stone.

Everyone formed up behind Erik and Rugrat who were searching over the smooth stone, finally Rugrat found a button and pressed it.

A grinding noise could be heard as the massive stone door rolled to the side, light streamed in with fresh air as they could hear the sounds of beasts and wildlife.

“Looks like we’re back,” Rugrat said as they looked out over Beast Mountain Range.