54th of Season of Fire, 56th year of the 32nd imperial era

The pterosaur appeared less than thirty seconds after Magmin gave the warning. The behemoth had a wingspan of almost twenty feet, its body taller than Newt.

And yet, despite its imposing size, menacing red eyes, and the aura of terror it emanated, it was identical to the orchard pests Newt slung rocks at when he was a boy.

Magmin shuddered, coiling in fear, but Newt moved. He activated Magmin Scales, dark-red scales enveloping his body, canceling the ambient heat as he stepped forward. He scooped a handful of lava as the giant sharpbeak dived towards them from the other side of the crater.

Despite trying to assure himself that he was calm and that he knew what he was doing, Newt forced a lump down his throat and willed his hand to stop shaking. He failed, but there was no time. The giant avian was before him, and Newt squeezed the glob of lava into a ball, then hurled the glowing orb at the sharpbeak's right wing.

Lava struck the limb, which resembled a massive leather sail. It splattered over the hide, hissing and burning through it. The sharpbeak screeched. It flapped its wings in panic, breaking its dive but struggling to maintain altitude. It fought valiantly, yet plummeted just enough to splash into the pool of molten rock two yards before Newt.

A towering wall of lava surged, spilling over the crater. Newt gasped, keeping his Magmin Scales active while jumping out of the way. The sharpbeak bounced off the blazing red pool, its massive form tumbling above Newt, and the young man tripped as lava drenched him just below the waist, clinging to his legs like tar.

Magmin hissed, abandoning its fear, and pounced at its mortal enemy, but Newt had no attention to spare for their battle. Searing lava ate away at his shield, and the only thing which kept it from incinerating the youth was the improvement he had achieved when he inscribed fire runes throughout his realm.

Earth energy pressed against Newt's will and realm, threatening to overwhelm the fire mana and snuff out Magmin Scales.

Newt focused on his realm, knowing he would die the instant lava reached his skin. Instead of letting the earth mana form a swirling mess inside its vortex, he organized it, following Magmin's instructions; to hell with the headache and how difficult the task was. The pressure decreased, but all Newt had achieved was buying himself several seconds.

Think! Think damn you! Earth energy is just piling up. Can I compress it? No. Can I create something with it? Not with this bit of focus. If only I had a way to exhaust the earth energy or another vent!

The last thought struck him. He had a dualcore, formed from a heartcore and a mindcore. While they were referred to as one organ, they were, in fact, two. If one could serve as a way out of his body, why not the other?

Heat licked at Newt's feet, but he grit his teeth and ignored it. He searched the sky above the volcano of his realm. All he needed was an odd flow, a faint current which shouldn't be there. Newt's legs burned. He smelled charred flesh. He almost screamed in terror, but then his mind snapped to focus under the weight of survival instincts.

There! He had found it. Just as the earth mana was about to erupt and snuff out the fire, he redirected it, and it gushed through his second core. Newt didn't focus on it. He let the wild energy do whatever it wished — he had more pressing problems.

With his shielded hands, he struggled to wipe away the heavy, viscous lava clinging to his legs and abdomen, hurling chunks back into the crater. In Newt's panicked state of mind, the volcano seemed like the right place to deposit unwanted lava. Burned flesh stank while screeches and shrieks came from just a handful of yards behind him, but they were irrelevant. He would die if he could not rid himself of lava before he exhausted his mana reserve.

Suddenly, his arms grew stronger, and the viscous molten rock clinging to his body no longer offered resistance as he swept it away from his bare skin like water. His mana was three quarters spent when he threw off the last bit of lava off himself. The entire process must have taken less than ten seconds, yet the youth panted like he had mined for days.

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"No rest," he muttered and turned around.

Magmin was insignificant compared to his heart demon. The tiny serpent gripped the berserk sharpbeak around its neck, but the saurian clawed and ripped Magmin's scales, even as the entirety of Magmin's body burned.

The foul smell of burned flesh, which terrified Newt moments ago, was coming off the pterosaur, not from his maimed legs. Magmin's blood splattered, its body nearly broken in half, but the serpent sunk its long fangs into its heart demon's neck.

The gigantic sharpbeak's shrieks turned to gurgles and pained whines, its thrashes grew weaker, and it slumped to the ground. The burned beast presented a horrid sight, and Magmin looked no better. It wheezed and uncoiled itself from the sharpbeak's neck. With another gurgle and impotent flap of wings, the sharpbeak went limp.

Then Magmin laughed. Chunks of the serpent's flesh regrew as it healed at an impossible speed. Newt watched the scene, wanting to curse. He wished to act, but he believed that given the severity of the serpent's wounds, he had ample time to regain his spent mana. Unfortunately, Magmin recovered far quicker than Newt did, even though his wounds were incomparably more severe.

"I won!" Magmin declared, its realm shuddering. "I am ready to advance. To advance perfectly and gain the ability to fly!"

It turned towards Newt. "And you have played a major part in my success. I could not have defeated the sharpbeak if it had not fallen into lava and shackled its legs while ruining its wings."

The hair-thin vertical pupils and the evil gaze of avarice in the serpent's eyes terrified Newt, yet there was nothing he could do. He was at Magmin's mercy.

Think! I just survived almost being boiled alive. I can't die like this.

"You." Magmin's greedy glare burrowed into Newt's face. "You did well."

Newt almost fainted at the word, and Magmin continued in a much more relaxed, happy tone. "I thought you were trying to cheat me, to steal from me. Especially when I saw you throw that tiny ball of lava into the lava-lake with a sad plop, but you did good, and your heart seems to be in the right place."

Newt opened his mouth, but could find no words to say.

"I know you probably want an additional reward, but a deal is a deal." Magmin glared at Newt, who still had his mouth open a crack.

"Fine, fine," Magmin continued before Newt gathered his wits. "I could see you were ready to jump into the fight, and since you did not attack me, I take it you wanted to help me. Understanding and communicating with other species is complicated and difficult. Anyway, you have done more than we have agreed on, and I should reward such loyalty. One more gem? What do you think?"

Newt thought a lot of things. He had so many thoughts rampaging through his confused, relieved mind that he had forgotten that his body also needed to do something, not just think. Fortunately for him, Magmin kept talking for the both of them.

"All right, two gems. But that is my last offer. Take it or leave it," the serpent said, still glaring greedy murder at Newt.

"Yes," Newt said, nodding like his soul had decided to take a vacation.

"Excellent, wait here for me to fetch them. After you consume them, I will stop my breakthrough so you can leave." Magmin left, and Newt nodded like a soulless puppet, staring after the friendly snake.

I'm alive. It did not kill me. It even wants to reward me with two manarium crystals. Two manarium crystals, Newt's thoughts lingered on the words. That cheap snake! That heart demon almost killed me! I nearly drowned in lava, and it's giving me two sparkly stones as compensation!

After the initial shock of surviving, Newt focused on what came after.

No. I'm being greedy. I have gained six layers in a matter of days. I now have a dualcore, know three techniques nobody else does, and I think I have an idea on how to support two different elements at the same time. Magmin has done enough for me.

Newt smiled. He was sweaty, his nether region suffering in the warm draft, and he was about to get two crystalline pinecones from the serpent he had just helped defeat its heart demon.

Wait. What happens when Magmin finds out it can't wake up? Will it fly into a rage? Will it try to kill me? To leave a secret realm, you need to kill its guardian, and Magmin is definitely this realm's guardian. But I can't just kill him.

Newt's problem stemmed not just from the fact that he was physically weaker than the serpent, which had the ability to slowly reshape the terrain according to its whims. He had started viewing Magmin as a person, not a beast.

How do I—

"Here we are." Magmin slithered over, carrying two shiny manarium crystals. "Eat these and off with you."

Newt gulped down the energy, hardly aware of the process.

"What if I can't leave?" His voice trembled as he asked the question. "What if I'm stuck in your realm forever?"

"Where is that nonsense coming from? This is my realm, and I now have full control over it. No heart demons, no doubts or weaknesses, a single thought of mine shapes reality. Watch this."

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