77th of Season of Earth, 56th year of the 32nd imperial era

"So, what's the plan?" Newt ignored the guards' confused looks as he and Blackfist passed the Hailstown's gate.

Blackfist handed Newt a booklet. "These are my suggestions for your realm sculpting. It mostly involves the seals already described in the introduction I gave you, but anything outside that scope I described in detail. Based on the books I have read, and assuming you are the top tier talent that I assume you are, you will need around two moons to complete your second realm, once you have fully expanded it. Which brings us to the next order of business."

Blackfist opened his bindle and gave Newt a well-crafted reinforced leather satchel large enough to fit a brick snugly.

"Take these."

Newt opened the pouch and found five sealed vials and a wooden cylinder filling up the final space. "What are they?"

"First, you thank the person giving you a gift, then ask questions." Blackfist rolled his eyes at the uncouth behavior, and Newt's ears burned.

"Thank you for the gift. What are they?" he said with more than a hint of embarrassment.

"I call them energy drinks. They are mana infused potions for realm expansion. As I mentioned before, I dabble in alchemy. Those five should push you from the initial second realm to the peak of the second realm. You must take them at least ten hours apart, and they require no effort or focus to internalize. Your core will handle everything."

"And if I don't want to reach the peak?"

Blackfist eyed Newt carefully, looking for the hints about why the youth would choose not to become more powerful and as soon as possible, but failed to find anything before shrugging.

"Assuming you are at the second layer, and taking into account the resistance you are building to the tonics, three should expand your realm to the ninth layer. Take the rest when you are ready."

Newt was so caught up with the new development, he nearly allowed it to throw him off his question. Nearly.

"What I meant when I asked about the plan was about your plan." He clarified as he secured the satchel to his food-laden backpack.

Blackfist nodded. "There is a hidden cave some ten miles away from here, nobody should be able to find it. I will use that place to seclude myself. Your job will be to guard me for most of winter."

Newt nodded. The season of earth was drawing to a close, less than a fortnight remaining before the season of water began, and the chills, relatively mild closer to the ever-warm Summersweald, were starting to bite Newt's skin.

"Do you really have that much confidence you will rebuild your realm?"

"Naturally." Blackfist flashed a smile. "The thing about statistical probability is that it amounts to simple die-rolls, and with enough dice you can achieve anything."

Newt had no idea what the better-learned man meant, but Blackfist once boasted that he had read a large portion of Hailstown's library, so it was probably due to the difference in education.

Blackfist noticed the blank look, and went on to talk about the matter, bringing up various nonsense, including something Newt should have known in greater detail, but didn't - upon death even manabeast saurians didn't always leave a core.

Apparently there were different odds of an untouched one remaining in the body, depending on how much mana the beast had used before the hunters killed it.

Blackfist shared his knowledge freely for about an hour, while their feet devoured the distance to the cave Blackfist had set his eyes on.

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"Well, here we are." The burly man gestured towards a patch of nondescript bushes with a flourish.

"The bushes conceal a nook with a barely visible crack in the side, which leads into a system of caverns. Like I said, nobody should come after us, and I probably could have managed this alone, but still, someone watching over me will take a load off my chest."

Blackfist entered the shrubbery, pushing branches aside and taking care not to break them. Newt followed, and the former townlord fluffed up the shrubs after their passage.

The nook was shallow and well lit, considering it was in the middle of the forest. Shadows congregated in a corner, and after squeezing past Newt, Blackfist disappeared in them, and Newt followed. Meagre light seeped in through the cracks, making the place dim, but illuminated enough to see. A two turns later, darkness consumed the light and Blackfist fished out another vial from somewhere.

He shook it, and a greenish glow filled the room.

"Bioluminescent fungi." Blackfist explained the strange phenomenon and led the way to a large chamber. "This will be your area for seclusion. You may read, but do not meditate. I think you will have enough ideas and new concepts to mull over."

Blackfist passed Newt a vial and a small packet. "The fungi and their food. Just add a pinch to the vial every day. The light lasts up to two hours, but starts dimming after an hour and a half. Don't shake them more than four times a day and let them rest an hour after feeding them."

"How do you know all these things?"

Blackfist shrugged. "Advanced Herbalism. I gathered them myself in a cave near Thunderbluff. Anyway, I am off. Restarting my realm should take a day, then a few more until I recover from my injuries, then two moons to once more reach the third realm. I may be forced to leave this place once to head for Thunderbluff and handle the aftermath of my abdication. Any questions?"

Newt had plenty, but none seemed appropriate. 'Are you sure? Why do you seem so confident? When should I check whether you're alive? What do I do when you die?'

Such questions, while practical, weren't something you asked a man about to risk his life.

"See you soon." Blackfist broke the awkward silence, then headed deeper into the maze of caves, carrying his light with him.

Newt shook the fungi, sat on the hard stone, and opened his backpack. Blackfist had arranged everything from dry rations to necessities. Enough to last them a moon or so. But Newt wasn't examining their provisions, but fishing out a vial from the satchel.

The thing blazed in his mind's eye, the aura on par with second realm manarium, but somehow denser, like someone had squeezed the mana out of hundreds of crystals and made it liquid.

Newt downed the contents of the vial, which smelled like strawberries and tasted like ginger. Heat spread from his mouth to his stomach, flowing towards his heart and forehead as he tried to seat himself as comfortably as possible on hard rock so he could read the booklet Blackfist had given him.

Sweat beaded on Newt's forehead and his breathing became labored, as if a fever plagued him. Newt gulped, then, instead of reading, closed his eyes and entered the pandemonium which was his realm, momentarily forgetting Blackfist's instructions.

A storm raged in Newt's realm. Savage fiery wind whipping his face where he appeared. In the distance, lava gushed out of the volcano, jumping hundreds of yards into the air while the grooves for leading Magmin Pine pinecones overflowed with crystals. Newt sprinted towards the forest and found the crystalline pinecones falling off the trees like torrential rain. The trees themselves seemed to dance in a haze of their own heat, giving birth to the scalding winds which burst in all directions around the forest.

The scene was apocalyptic, but Newt's realm held, the realm barrier moving further and further away at a visible pace. And in all that chaos, Magmin seemed to be having the time of his life.

The flying serpent screeched with joy zipping through the air, riding the hurricane winds hot enough to roast meat. Magmin's immolated form flashed towards Newt.

"How did you do this?" Newt opened his mouth to answer, but Magmin kept talking. "This is great! I've never seen air so packed with energy."

Newt was about to say he drank a potion, but Magmin flew away, shrieking with laughter.

I guess everything is in order.

Newt left his realm and turned his attention to the manual. The water trickling down his face and back was distracting, but not enough to stop him from reading.

The manual's first page contained a circular map with lava flowing in four cardinal directions through the first realm, but each stream split into three as soon as they entered the second realm, further forking into two every three layers.

"I should've done this in the first realm." Newt immediately realized, but the mistake wasn't so dire, since Magmin Pines took up a lot of space.

There were pathways for pinecones to roll down the hill without disturbing the seals, and then there were the seals themselves. They were simply marked with numbers, with a reference on the next page for all thirty-six different types Blackfist had chosen, and just staring at it, Newt could imagine how grand and beautiful his realm would be.

All that sculpting would take a while, but once done, Newt was certain his realm would be powerful enough to face Magmin's next evolution, deep in the bowels of the Dragon's Rest mountain.

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