We postulate that all saurians came into being as bipedal creatures. Once their mass grows too much to keep a bipedal form, they evolved to use their arms as their legs and walk around on all fours.

  — Excerpt from Notes on Evolution

  Day 245, 3:10 PM

  Yeah, saying that was way too haughty. Newstar and Everlast had awkward faces, while Puresnow glared at me, her arms crossed.

  I considered saying sorry, but in the end just smiled. An awkward moment persisted longer than I would have liked, but fortunately, Everlast acted like a grownup and moved towards the corpse, followed by Puresnow and Newstar.

  “You work on the carapace alone,” Everlast told the youth. “I fear your energy might damage the core or the more sensitive tissues.”

  Before the boy could say anything, Puresnow snarled at me. “Why aren’t you working?”

  I shrugged and looked at my staff. Much like Puresnow, it wasn’t the sharpest of implements around.

  “I lack proper tools, and the three of you are capable of finishing the job even without my meddling. In fact, I might ruin something, and nobody wants that.”

  Puresnow harrumphed, but Everlast gently grabbed her upper arm, and they went back to work, Puresnow pointedly ignoring me. Everlast shot me an apologetic smile and went back to butchering.

  Soon enough, a small pile of usable monster parts accumulated off to the side, including an intact core, which was lucky. It was the first successfully harvested from that frostworm.

  “Is Everfrost Order interested in purchasing this core?” I asked as Everlast stared at it with undisguised greed.

  “We are,” Everlast said with a rare smile. “We can offer a hundred fourth realm crystals to each of you for the core, flesh, and poison. We don’t need the plates, but some blacksmith is bound to be interested in them.”

  I looked at her silently, while Newstar looked like he was about to faint.

  “The price is more than fair,” Everlast started, looking embarrassed. She probably expected us to haggle.

  “I would not doubt you for a moment.” I said, but somehow that made her feel even more uncomfortable.

  “I’m serious.”

  “As am I. I do not doubt your order would reward us for these resources, but how do you plan to transport them?”

  “Master gave me her spatial pouch. We can easily fit five worms like this one.”

  That came as a surprise. I didn’t expect the valiant to part with something so valuable so easily. Then again, how were the girls supposed to carry ice jade marrow.

  “I dearly hope we do not encounter any more of these until we find a deposit of ice jade marrow.” I chuckled. “And remember, we will not delve too deeply. If a fifth realm frostworm appears, our lives are forfeit. We stand no chance of escaping with two realms’ difference.”

  That sobered them up and gave me another chance.

  “Do you want me to scout ahead while you wrap things up here?”

  “Can you do it alone?” Everlast asked, proving I was making at least one good impression.

  “Not a problem. Besides, you might have more work here, so it should all work out nicely.”

  She nodded reluctantly, Newstar and Puresnow not saying anything. I needed to do something to make the youth more proactive.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “In that case, I am off.” I headed down the tunnel, into the network of icy caverns. The thing about the cave was that it was much bigger than it appeared. The holes the original frostworm had dug were mostly sealed in ice, large enough for the fourth realm frostworms to move unobstructed, but even the fifth realm one would have to break some ice to wander about.

  I remembered the entire layout of the maze, along with where individual worms were at this time, so finding one was easier than buying a beer at a local corner-shop.

  Since I was tailoring the encounter for three third-realmers, I went with the high layer third realm frostworm burrowing into the ice twenty bends away. The unfortunate monster was drilling its own den, most of its length stuck inside the frozen rock.

  I looked at it, feeling sorry for a moment, but I had to enrage it and flush it out somehow, and snakes really really hated crawling backwards. I focused on my mana, and a small jet of flame, ten feet long, sprang out of my arm, burning the frostworm’s tail.

  The beast started thrashing, trying to move its body out of the way, but after repeated burns it started crawling out to face its attacker. I ceased the animal cruelty as soon as I was certain the beast would give chase, and I moved away to have enough distance it could close so it would think it was gaining on me.

  The serpent moved painfully slowly, enough for me to consider if repeatedly burning its rear would prompt it to evolve or develop a skill for moving backwards.

  Finally, it freed itself, and the chase was on. I dashed through the tunnels, the frostworm rumbling behind me, until I reached the chamber where the rest of my party awaited.

  “Get ready, everyone!” I shouted while sprinting towards them. “I have brought a little friend!”

  “You can do it,” I mouthed, smiling and winking as I whistled past Newstar, making sure the ladies wouldn’t see me.

  While everyone was confused, the frostworm focused on Newstar, and the ladies and humans focused on it, I jumped. Air and fire allowed me to reach the cavern ceiling, fiery palms digging deep into the thick icicle, before another surge of mana froze the water and created a ledge beneath my feet from which I could observe everything happening on the ground.

  My comrades dispersed just in time as the frostworm lunged at Newstar. Once it drew close, it opened its segmented maw and sprayed a cone of ice at him, and the dumb youth took it head on instead of dodging, but at least he jumped out of the way before the frostworm could smash him against the wall.

  The frostworm met rock with a boom, and Newstar landed on its back, copying my move. Then he thrust his absurdly long sword into its back, even hitting the gap between the thick plates. Perhaps his proficiency with the absurd weapons wasn’t too bad, but in the long run, such unwieldy weapons would cost him.

  Unfortunately, the frostworm reared before he unleashed a spell through the sword, and lashed out at him with its fanged tentacles. He spotted the movement, and let the frostworm throw him off, doing a backflip and landing on his feet a good distance away.

  Newstar’s gaze was locked onto the frostworm’s head, unaware of the monster’s tail. The thick limb smashed into Newstar’s flank, throwing him across the cave. He crashed into the wall of ice head-first with such force I winced.

  The frostworm darted towards him, its jaws open wide. I was about to intervene when I saw the two ladies from the Everfrost Order take action.

  A volley of icicles shattered against the side of the frostworm’s head, but some stabbed into the more delicate flesh of its mouth. It clamped its maw shut with a hiss, and slammed into Newstar, bashing him against the wall.

  The youth struggled for a moment, flaring with mana as he tried to do something, and finally a gout of flame licked the frostworm’s head, enveloping it completely. After a momentary standstill, the ice covering the frostworm’s head shattered, and the monster reared, releasing Newstar, who jumped away and then repeated the trick several times until he was far from the screeching manabeast.

  Everlast and Puresnow used their chance, drawing their blades. Puresnow’s frozen blade bit into the super-heated shell, shattering it and slashing deep into the frostworm’s flesh.

  Everlast stabbed a seemingly random spot on its body, finding the monster’s heart while Puresnow distracted it.

  The frostworm spasmed, then started thrashing in its death throes. The women moved away and circled around towards Newstar.

  “Are you all right?” Everlast asked, going so far as to smile at the youth. “I was afraid the frostworm would flatten you when it smashed into you.”

  “I’m alright.” Newstar said bravely, dropping the rocky defense, but keeping the fiery glow around himself. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be here. You’re not ready yet.” Everlast started, but I floated down towards them. That wasn’t the kind of feedback Newstar needed in his fragile state.

  “He has to be here precisely because he is not ready and should not be here. He needs proper training.” I said.

  “The frostworm could have crushed him.”

  “That is what I said. He needs proper training. That frostworm should be unable to crush a properly trained mageknight of equal realm.”

  “What did you do to anger it so much?” Newstar squeaked.

  “I wonder.” I shrugged, looking towards the ceiling. “When I found that frostworm, it was slowly burrowing into the tunnel wall, struggling with a section of tougher rock. To grab its attention, I lobbed a ball of fire into the tunnel. Then I kept repeating it until the worm got out.”

  Newstar frowned, looking at me incredulously. “You roasted its butt until it came out of the hole?”

  “You said that, not me.” I smiled. “Frostworms seem to have real issues crawling backwards from what I could tell. I hazard that they rarely have to do it.”