The price of power, p.1
The Price of Power, page 1
part #2 of Infinite Realm Series
INFINITE REALM
VOLUME II
BY IVAN KAL
Copyright © 2021 by Ivan Kal
All rights reserved.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 2 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 3 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 4 – PRESENT – Reyla
CHAPTER 5 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 6 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 7 – PRESENT – - Ryun
Interlude – Nayra I
CHAPTER 8 – PAST – Zach
CHAPTER 9 – PAST – Zach
CHAPTER 10 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 11 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 12 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 13 – PRESENT – Reyla
Interlude – Nayra II
CHAPTER 14 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 15 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 16 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 17 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 18 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 19 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 20 – PRESENT – Anrosh
CHAPTER 21 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 22 – PRESENT – Zach
Interlude – Griss I
Side Story – Lord of Death
CHAPTER 23 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 24 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 25 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 26 – PRESENT – Anrosh
Interlude – Night Horror I
CHAPTER 27 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 28 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 29 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 29 – PAST – ZACH
CHAPTER 30 – PAST – RYUN
CHAPTER 31 – PAST – RYUN
CHAPTER 32 – PAST – LINDA
CHAPTER 33 – PRESENT – Ryun
Side Story – Sovereign of the Seas
CHAPTER 34 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 35 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 36 – PRESENT – Zach
INTERLUDE – NIGHT HORROR II
INTERLUDE - GRISS II
CHAPTER 37 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 38 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 39 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 40 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 41 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 42 – PRESENT – Zach
INTERLUDE – VIPER V
CHAPTER 43 – PRESENT – Anrosh
CHAPTER 44 – PRESENT – Ryun
The Battle
CHAPTER 45 – PRESENT – Viper and Ryun
CHAPTER 46 – PRESENT – Anrosh and Viper
CHAPTER 47 – PRESENT – Ryun
Interlude – Nayra III
CHAPTER 48 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 49– PRESENT – Anrosh and Ryun
CHAPTER 50 – PRESENT – Ryun
CHAPTER 51 – PRESENT – Nayra and Ryun
CHAPTER 52 – PRESENT – Anrosh and Nayra
CHAPTER 53 – PRESENT – THE EMBERHORN
Side Story – A New Arrival
CHAPTER 54 – PRESENT – Reyla
CHAPTER 55 – PRESENT – Reyla
Interlude – The Encounter of Fire
CHAPTER 56 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 57 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 58 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 59 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 60 – PRESENT – Zach
Interlude – The Wandering Drake II
Interlude – The Wandering Drake III
Side Story – The Queen of the Triumphant Hive
CHAPTER 61 – PRESENT – Ryun
Interlude – Mining in the Under
CHAPTER 62 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 63 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 64 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 65 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 66 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 67 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 68 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 69 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 70 – PRESENT – Zach
Interlude – Ritual
CHAPTER 71 – PRESENT – Zach
CHAPTER 72 – PRESENT – Zach
Interlude – The League
CHAPTER 1 – PRESENT – Zach
Paycheck
Zach hit the ground again, his practice sword flying away as his opponent disarmed him. He groaned and got up to his feet, looking at the other warden.
Emerah was a senior warden, a ravzor who looked like a big weretiger, and he was in charge of training other wardens in advanced combat. He usually taught younger wardens, or at least those who were less powerful. On paper, Zach and Emerah were in the same power level class. Emerah was higher in level, but his path wasn’t even in the Foundation Realm, and he had a greater mastery of skills. Their practice fights weren’t all one sided—Zach could hold his own, and his abilities were good enough to give the man problems, but Zach could see the difference in their fighting styles. Emerah was a weapons master, and knew how to fight with almost every weapon. He was even better than Zach at swordplay.
Zach hadn’t had the chance to train and learn the sword as much as he wanted. Even though it was his focus, there had been no great sword masters left on Earth for him to learn from. Those who had survived the Framework were pale shadows of the masters who had lived long ago in a time when knowing the sword was something more. He had tried to teach himself, as much as one could, and follow his skills in order to learn more, but he could see now that there was much for him to learn.
“You still need to work on your ability rotation,” Emerah said as he retrieved Zach’s practice sword and put it on the rack. “Knowing when to use your abilities is crucial for a Classer.”
Zach nodded his head, having come to learn a lot more about the way Classers fought. “Thank you for the extra lesson,” Zach said.
Emerah waved his clawed hand. “I appreciate it when my students want to learn more, although you and Nyathulla are a special case.”
Zach nodded his head. The cthul was his fellow student, someone else who had joined the wardens under special circumstances. Zach had only met her a few days ago, and hadn’t had much chance to really get to know her and her circumstances—although he doubted that they were anything like his situation.
“I still expect you for our regular lessons tomorrow morning,” Emerah said as he gathered his things.
Zach assured the man that he would be there and waved as his instructor left. Zach cleaned up and changed his clothes slowly, taking the time to think a bit about what he needed to do. He still had some Essence saved up from the bounty that he and Griss had received for the miners, and he was thinking about leveling up. Most of what Emerah instructed him in was the general stuff, but he did also recommend some tomes that he could check up in the Citadel’s library. He had been meaning to visit and see if he could learn something more.
Making a decision, after he was finished, he made his way to the library intending to read and learn more before he leveled. He left the training grounds and headed toward one of the Citadel’s towers, but as he was crossing the central courtyard a voice called after him.
“Zach!” someone yelled, and Zach turned around.
Griss was waving at him and rushing to catch up.
“Hey, Griss,” Zach greeted the drake. The two of them hadn’t exactly had a chance for a real conversation since his talk with the Warden Commander.
“Ah, I’ve been searching for you all over,” Griss said with a smile. “I’ve good news!”
“Oh?”
“Yes. The Warden Commander just approved a bonus for us, and we’re cleared to pick it up.”
“A bonus?” Zach asked.
“For the information we brought back? The unidentified group we encountered.”
“I thought that we hadn’t learned enough for it to be useful,” Zach said.
“Apparently the Warden Commander disagrees. I made a full report to her personally, and she seemed to think that just what we knew was valuable.”
Zach nodded. “So, what kind of a bonus are we talking about?”
“Essence, some stat-increasing elixirs, and one-time access to the Citadel’s dungeon,” Griss said excitedly.
Zach blinked at that. He knew already that wardens received Essence through the Framework Interface once per month—it was basically a salary. It was extremely low, a few dozen Greater Essence, which wasn’t enough to live on, but apparently that could be increased based on a person’s contribution, which was in essence a questing system. The more they contributed to their faction, the more Essence they would get. Zach currently had around four thousand Greater Essence, and as long as he stayed in the Citadel he could eat and sleep here for free. He knew that out in the city, however, that little Essence would start drying up. It was why he hadn’t leveled just yet, even though he had enough to reach level 90. “The Citadel has a dungeon?”
“Yeah, the Citadel was built on top of it. It’s a respawning dungeon with several different floors, each with a different difficulty. It makes it perfect for helping wardens level, since there are floors that have low-tier monsters.”
That did sound interesting to Zach. The reason why he had joined the wardens in the first place was in order to get resources that he would have a hard time getting by himself.
“Come, we should go and collect.” Griss led him back to the Citadel’s main structure through the hallways that he hadn’t been through before—or if he had, he didn’t remember. But then again, the inner layout was more akin to a labyrinth, and he was yet to become accustomed to that.
They reached a room deep in the heart of the Citadel, one guarded by several wardens. They were allowed inside and Zach noticed a pillar standing in the middle of the room behind some kind of a counter. It resembled the interfaces that he had seen before, but it was also somehow…more. A spiral of black and white, with the emblem of the wardens, the tower, stamped on its center. Behind it was a massive door, looking as if it were made out of metal, with hinges as long as Zach was tall. The door reminded him of vault doors from Earth.
A man was sitting behind the counter, and as they approached he stood. He was a minotaur, with long black fur and horns that curved like those of a ram.
“Warden Griss and Warden Zacharia, I presume?” the minotaur asked.
Griss nodded his head. “Yes, we are here to receive our bonuses.”
“Of course—the Warden Commander sent word, and everything is ready. Here.” The minotaur bent beneath the counter and then pulled out two baskets. Both were small, but each held the exact same contents: two potions and a blue stone with a symbol on it.
Zach reached out and took one of the potions, immediately seeing that it was an Elixir of Minor Strength. Checking the other, he saw that it was an Elixir of Minor Dexterity. Drinking it would apparently give him a permanent boost of 2 to his stats, which was incredible in itself. He put both potions in his storage after he saw Griss do the same, and then Zach grabbed the blue stone.
Abyssal Deep Keystone (1 charge)
Allows access to the Abyssal Deep Dungeon, floors I-V
He would need to talk to Griss and find out what access to the dungeon really meant.
“Here are the access stones for the Essence transfer,” the minotaur said, bringing Zach’s attention back to him. He put two small stones on the counter, and Zach frowned as he wasn’t familiar with them.
His confusion had to have shown on his face because Griss leaned in and whispered, “Remote access to the Interface, so that you don’t need to touch it. Put one hand on it, while holding your badge in the other.”
Zach nodded in understanding and, watching as Griss did so, he then put his hand on it while he placed his other on the badge tied to his waist.
Immediately he received a notification telling him that he had been allocated ten thousand Greater Essence. He blinked at the number; he hadn’t expected so much Essence, but he suppressed his desire to ask questions. He would wait to ask Griss when they were alone.
Even Griss seemed surprised, however, as he thanked the minotaur and ushered Zach out of the strange room.
Zach waited until they were alone in the corridors of the Citadel before speaking.
“That seems like a lot of Essence. With this added to what I already have, I could probably hit level one hundred,” Zach said.
“It was more generous than what I thought, yes, but it isn’t as much as you think,” Griss told him.
“What do you mean?” Zach asked.
“Don’t get me wrong—this tells me that the leadership sees potential in us and are willing to support us. The potions alone are worth a ton, and access to the dungeon is nearly priceless. The Essence is good, but I would not recommend you to spend it all on your leveling,” Griss said.
“Why not?”
“Because you need to buy things if you are going to be a successful warden: gear, materials, tents, and preferably a mount,” Griss answered.
“I thought that the wardens provide gear for their recruits?”
“They do, for new recruits. And while you are new, you are not as weak as they are. The standardized gear is good for someone who is level twenty, maybe thirty, but beyond that? You need to have your own gear.”
Zach already had gear, but it was from Earth, and he had noticed that there was much better gear in the Infinite Realm.
“Half of what makes a person powerful is their gear. At least you have an awakened sword, which means you won’t have to buy weapons in the future,” Griss told him.
Zach knew that his sword was powerful, but in his opinion, it didn’t match some of the things he had seen here in the Citadel. There had been several awakened weapons on Earth, and he had watched some get completely destroyed by Ryun during their last battle. They didn’t seem all that great to him, even though everyone that had seen it seemed impressed by it.
“You and I are in the middle of the warden forces, as far as power is concerned. Most of the recruits are around level ten up to twenty, with perhaps a bit invested in Cultivation or a skill or two. The great majority is around level forty to around level eighty,” Griss said. “Since the leadership seems interested in investing in us, that means that they want to groom us for leadership positions in the future.”
“Those levels… They seem low to me.”
“That’s because you are a freak,” Griss said. “Just getting your Class evolved once is a great feat. You are thinking like a Ranker, which I guess you are. Your life has been a constant struggle, fighting against monsters and growing, but out of your entire Earth only a few managed to become strong. How many people did your world have before the Framework? And how many survived? It is the same on other worlds from other Iterations, only a few manage to get strong enough to survive, while the others die. The Infinite Realm is the same. Most people live their lives in the core, in civilization, never even seeing a monster. They live on the Essence that they gain as their contribution, they craft and sell their wares and they advance when they manage to save enough Essence to do so. Most don’t even advance past a certain point, when they feel like they have achieved something, choosing instead to save Essence to buy their children a better start.”
Griss shook his head, and then continued speaking. “They just don’t get to live long enough to advance further. And of those who become adventurers? Who go out and hunt monsters? A fraction of them are successful. Yes, there is potential for an incredible rate of advancement, if you can survive the monsters. But not everyone is lucky enough to get ahead or smart enough to know when to slow down. Ordinary people are lucky if they get to evolve their Class twice by the time they die of old age. The average level of most of the regular people in the core is between sixty and one hundred, or Peak Foundation Realm to Early Lord if we are talking Cultivators. Most people spread their advancement a bit so it is hard to tell sometimes, but that is what they achieve by the end of their life. If they were lucky to advance a bit more when they were younger and extend their lifespan a bit, then they might reach higher, but beyond that?”
Zach raised an eyebrow, and Griss went on. “The leaders of the smaller factions, of guilds, organizations, might have two or three evolutions, or they might be led by Peak Lords or Monarchs if we are talking sects. The medium-sized factions have people with four evolutions as their regulars, and the sects might have a Heavenly Realm Cultivators as their leader. Most of the factions are this level. Their people might be slightly higher than average, with their lowest being level one hundred, but their leadership are all greater. And beyond them you have the top of the top, the People with more than five evolutions, the Immortal Realm Cultivators. These people have reached high enough that they can live forever; they are the ones that will in time reach further still. But on the peak? Beyond even them? There are only a handful of people who have reached beyond: the rulers of the most powerful factions, those who are High Rankers. Your view is skewed. You achieved all that you have in barely a handful of years. You are a monster compared to everyone else.”
