58th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd imperial era

Newt wasn't sure what a sub was. In fact, he had no idea what a sub was. He expected some sort of specialized ship, something small, magical, and powered by mana. The vessel before him appeared like a large log made of metal submerged in water.

"Here we are." Lady Alabaster gestured towards the contraption, and Newt was thoroughly unimpressed.

"Oh, come on. Show some appreciation or at least say, 'wow.' This is our order's legacy technology. Nobody else makes these."

Well, it's obvious why nobody wants to ride a large metal log when they can take a large wooden ship. I think I'll feel silly sitting on top of that while everyone else sailing looks down on me.

Newt kept his thoughts to himself and instead uttered a quiet wow.

"So," he continued. "What's a sub, Master?"

Newt was afraid he was sounding dumb, but he had no idea how to ride the metal log, and it was better to sound dumb than to do something dumb when his master told him to board the log.

Lady Alabaster flashed another smile. She seemed satisfied, but Newt could have imagined the emotion.

"Sub is a submerged ship. Think of it as a metal tub-boat which travels below the surface and avoids the rough weather. It's much faster and much more private than a regular ship."

Newt was relieved he wouldn't have to straddle the metal cylinder, but still failed to see the advantage of such a vessel. Powerful awakened could keep their ship afloat even in an impossibly powerful storm, so why hide underwater? Unless there was a need to travel unseen, but why would Lady Alabaster and Newt have to hide?

Newt's thoughts were running in circles until he finally shook his head. "I have never heard of anything like that."

"Little wonder. It needs mana and enchantments to run, unless you have someone to manipulate the water and keep the air fresh personally." Lady Alabaster's voice was chirpy, and Newt was starting to believe it was a permanent feature, unrelated to the topics she covered. "They are very dark and claustrophobic, but it makes little difference if you just work on your realm as you travel. Now hop in."

Newt sensed a bit of mana leak out of the black void which was Lady Alabaster, and a circular hatch opened atop the sub. Newt followed the instruction quite literally and jumped into the sub. Unfortunately, he failed to see his master's amused smile before she followed his lead and entered the sub in a blur of motion.

Newt had just started observing the wooden interior and the soft sitting-cushions when Lady Alabaster entered, and the hatch closed, leaving them in pitch darkness.

The sub lurched, catching Newt by surprise. He rolled back and hit his head against the wall.

"Brace yourself, we are moving." The warning came too late, and Newt guessed it was intentional, judging by the lack of apology in Lady Alabaster's voice. "Feel free to meditate. We'll need a day and a half to reach the Explorer's Island."

"Yes, Master, I shall meditate." Newt paused. "May I ask something?"

"I have no lights in the sub," Lady Alabaster answered, expecting the question.

"No, not that. How do you see where you are going?"

"Ah, a sensible question. By scanning the density of mana and its flows outside. My range is fairly decent if I focus my perception in a single direction. But you should note that subs and most other means of transportation are meant for relatively safe environments. I wouldn't dare traverse the depths of the Northern Ocean like this. For dangerous places, you need fortified ships, whether it's earth-ships, air-ship, or water-ships. Even high realm mounts aren't considered safe, because contact with more ancient specimens of their species might make them feral and attack their rider or just bait another monster into attacking them."

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Lady Alabaster stopped talking and waited for Newt to ask another question.

"Anything else?" she said after two heartbeats of silence.

There were plenty of other things Newt wanted to ask, but he was worried about distracting the driver.

"Can you talk while steering?"

"Sure, I'm mostly infusing the sub with mana and looking out not to smash into something moving slower than us, since there are few things in this sea moving as quickly as we are."

"Can we discuss the earth element techniques?"

Lady Alabaster shook her head, with Newt barely catching a hint of the gesture from the silhouette void of mana.

"Not in a tub made of water aligned aluminum with no contact with soil of any kind." She paused, her tone softening. "Talking without you feeling the energy is pointless."

Dandelion did it just fine when we discussed realm sculpting and magic. But Newt didn't voice that thought, certain it would land either him or Dandelion in trouble.

"Yes, Master." Newt kept his thoughts to himself. "I will meditate, then."

He closed his eyes and entered his realm, heading to place another set of earth-aligned runic formations Dandelion had prepared for him.

Newt understood the general intent, and the reason Dandelion suggested the slight shift in rune choices. He had plenty of spell formations which enhanced the power and durability of his earth techniques, but already rigid earth was made even stiffer, and it needed subtlety, fluidity, and finesse to evolve further and support arts different from pure body reinforcement.

Unexpectedly, a giant winged serpent floated down from the sky.

"What changed?" Magmin asked, drawing Newt's attention.

"What?"

"Something changed just a short while ago. I don't know what, but your realm feels different." Magmin blinked, his eyes larger than Newt's torso sharpening as he looked at Newt, who also frowned, trying to sense the change.

Newt spoke after a minute of silence. "I feel nothing out of the ordinary. Should I inspect my realm?"

In an impressive display, Magmin shrugged. "I would do it if I were you. It's baffling you can't feel the pressure. Did something change in the outside mana?"

"We are underwater?" Newt offered. "Outside mana is water aligned, so perhaps it has something to do with that?"

"Could be." Magmin didn't sound convinced. "Take a look around. See if you find anything strange."

Newt took the friendly hatchling dragon's advice and climbed up all the way to the top. He reached the crater and looked into it. Lava bubbled inside, welling up and flowing into the four identical lava streams. The flow wasn't fast, but considering the outside environment and the lack of both earth and fire mana, it made sense for him not to be drawing as much mana as usual.

Next, he went down and checked out the calcified forest. The trees were just as massive and impressive as ever, even if he had started taking them for granted and as nothing more than just a part of the scenery. The crystal pine cones growing in their branches did so at a rate invisible to Newt's eye, which was normal, considering they should take a year to form without supplemental mana sources.

Newt was on the lookout for signs of damage or any other irregularity, and much to his relief, he found none. If anything got damaged in his first or second realm, it would leave a permanent scar on his realm, since he had no way of fixing it.

Next, he left the calcified forest and entered the open slope where sigils of lava glowed red against the dark landscape. Again, lava flowed as expected, none of the seals and their channels damaged.

As for earth runes, Newt inspected the mounds and carvings formed of them. Not a single blemish, and Newt sighed in relief as he completed his inspection of his first two realms. There were no irregularities, no change. His foundations and stable portions of his realm were as good as when he had made them.

The only problem was that Newt could see room for improvement. It had been mere two moons, but that time was enough of a distance for Newt to spot the signs of his rush after he had explored Magmin's realm and gained a surge of mana for his effort.

The lines could have been better carved, and he realized his mistake. While it was easier, visiting Magmin's realm when he was close to advancement would cause trouble. He needed to get stronger, learn how to fight properly and then visit Magmin's realm as soon as he could, preferably before he expanded his realm to the fifth layer.

Newt nodded, resolving himself to do things properly next time, and continued his inspection. His third realm suffered from the lack of lava. He couldn't split the streams anymore, and if things kept going as they did, Newt would find himself a mostly earth-aligned mageknight with only a bit of fire magic here and there, which was bad. Another problem to fix, and something Dandelion was aware of because the man told him he should progress with fire and earth equally split through the entirety of his third realm.

And Newt agreed. While learning two different elements at the same time would slow him down somewhat, seeing Dandelion's versatility hammered the point home.

Newt explored his third realm. It was barely sculpted, with only some useful runes here and there, but even then it was clear there were no issues.

Was Magmin wrong or am I missing something?

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