Black-shell fortress, dragon, and deepwater devourer are apex evolutions of non-saurian beasts. They make up two-thirds of known exalted beasts, meaning that amongst the tenth realm manabeasts the majority comes from humble origins.

  — Excerpt from Notes on Evolution

  Day 245, 3:40 PM

  As I skulked through the winding tunnels, searching for the next third-realm frostworm, the first change happened. The critter wasn’t where I expected it. When I explored the tunnels stealthily, it peacefully burrowed in its own corner of the frozen cavern, but circumstances had changed.

  The implications of that could be dire. I checked Redo. Naturally, it was red, days left before I could use it again.

  I stopped to think for a moment, my thoughts flashing with the speed of lightning. Worst-case scenario, a fifth realm frostworm appears. While I can’t defeat it, I can certainly keep myself alive while retreating from such an opponent.

  Lady Frostgrave’s wards would die, but I could possibly extract Newstar, and then we try again in the next loop.

  I checked my internal clock, it was around quarter to four. The interactions thus far were more than positive, and certainly not something I would risk losing. So, worst-case scenario, Redo would happen two weeks from now at three-forty-five PM.

  I nodded to myself and continued searching for discrepancies in the cave system, but instead found a frostworm doing what it was supposed to be doing in a place I expected it to, meaning, digging a hole in a random corner.

  The thought of attacking did cross my mind, but instead I snuck off in search of the rest. Only three of the remaining five were doing their thing, while two were missing. Of the four I found, two blocked the way to the next level, while the other two were in the far reaches, and wouldn’t pose a problem whatever we did.

  Five minutes after forming my plan, I was running towards Newstar and Everlast.

  “I baited another one. There’s one more near the entrance to the lower level, then we can go down and hopefully find some ice jade marrow without moving down to the hatchery level.”

  The battle started much like the last one, with Newstar baiting the frostworm into the wall, jumping on its back, and stabbing it with his sword. Unlike last time, he triggered the flames before lunging, but his blade skidded as he hit the plates instead of the gapes between them.

  A tentacle came at him, and Newstar severed it while Everlast watched his back, nailing the other tentacle before it could strike him. Newstar and Everlast made for a decent team, slowly grinding the frostworm with little danger, but little effect.

  “You should switch to your short-sword or just hug the worm to melt its defenses.” I said after the battle had stretched too long with neither side prevailing.

  The youth hesitated, then took my advice, backing away and switching blades. The shorter sword made it easier to deflect and eventually sever the other tentacle, but couldn’t harm the icy bulk of the frostworm’s carapace any more than his old sword.

  Thankfully, Everlast’s blade was made for combat against frost-type monsters, and they defeated it after a boring slog of a battle.

  “Your skill with the short-sword is worse than your skill with the bastard-sword, which in and of itself is horrible.” I said while approaching them through the air.

  “Do you have any advice? And where were you hiding?”

  He’s changing. Newstar now was genuinely open to suggestions, and wasn’t even frustrated with the situation.

  I couldn’t help but smile.

  “I observed you from the ceiling; men and beasts rarely look up. It requires an oddly long period of training to develop the habit. That or a horrible incident which will never leave your mind and haunts you whenever you are in enclosed spaces.” I recalled nearly getting disemboweled by horrors striking from the dark ceiling, but that neither happened in any actual history, nor in the Eternal Light Empire. “I naturally belong to the former group. As for advice about your swordsmanship, I would suggest you learn how to use the weapon first.”

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  Everlast chortled, then covered her mouth. The woman was getting surprisingly cozy with us, considering I had labeled her as a frost queen or at least an ice princess. “Pardon me.”

  Newstar started talking, but I ignored him. A distant rumble was coming from the cave’s depths.

  “Shshsh,” I placed my finger on my lips, straining my ears. I wasn’t imagining it. Something huge was coming after us.

  “We have made too much of a ruckus, let’s go.”

  I moved towards the exit, but they just stared at me as if I was going fifty miles per hour on a dark road and my headlights just hit them.

  “Come on, that thing is bigger than the fourth realm worm we fought. It’s either in the later layers, or it might have already reached the fifth realm.”

  Everlast sprinted like someone had turned on a switch inside her brain, moving with practiced grace. Newstar stayed behind us for a moment, and I slowed down in case I had to carry him out, but he too started rushing towards the exit.

  The closer we came to daylight, the more obvious the noise grew and the icicles started shaking. As we approached the final bend, the rain of icicles was tumbling down from the ceiling like an extremely bad hailstorm.

  “How big is that thing?” Newstar asked.

  “Big,” Everlast and I said. I hadn’t seen the monster in person, but what I had read about them in the bestiary indicated a colossal existence.

  “Lady Everlast,” I said. “Once we are out, we climb up the mountain, and you will make a structure of ice which will block our mana signatures and meld into the surroundings. Can you do that?”

  The woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Great, we wouldn’t have to rely on her master intervening and killing the monster.

  “Newstar,” I continued, “you will have to stop using your ability soon, unless you can fly, but even then, the trail of mana will be recognizable. Unfortunately, my realm is too low to carry you. I hope Lady Everlast will not mind giving you a hand.”

  Everlast grabbed him in a princess carry just as we were about to run outside.

  “Puresnow,” Everlast shouted as we approached her friend. “Run uphill!”

  We dashed out of the cave, Puresnow’s face flashing between confusion and anger at her friend carrying Newstar. While I can’t say I didn’t care for her at all, I really didn’t mind her dying to a giant monster if she insisted on staying in its path. We all flashed past her, and she finally acted, running after us.

  “The frostworm will stop to check what has happened to its spawn. It should buy us enough time for you to make the shelter,” I said while hopping up the steep cliff. “I entrust everything to you.”

  Everlast and Puresnow climbed it, sticking to ice with some technique I didn’t recognize. It definitely wasn’t a public one, meaning it was probably something specific to the Everfrost Order.

  Finally, we stopped at a large-enough ledge, where Everlast dropped Newstar like a sack of carrots, then weaved her hands through the air, her fingers tracing runes, some of which I didn’t recognize.

  Snow and ice drifted from all around, flowing like water. She raised her hands, a smooth wall of ice rising from the gathered material. Puresnow caught up at that moment, jumping over the still-forming barrier and sticking to the icy ground, which looked polished after Everlast drew excess snow and ice with her spell.

  As the circular wall surrounding us rose, it slowly met above our heads, making a dome too small for us to fit comfortably. As we started squeezing in, Puresnow’s body pressed against my own. She grabbed Newstar and switched places with him to keep the maximum distance from me, which was still up and personal.

  “What happened?” she growled, glaring at me, and I shrugged.

  “We took too long to defeat a frostworm. It must have somehow signaled that it was in danger, or maybe the disturbance of the battle caused its ancestor to come up and check what was happening, but I doubt that. We are too high up, and no matter how much fire we unleashed, the ambient energy should have drowned it before it traveled too far down.”

  The ice beneath our feet trembled, the sound of the enraged frostworm’s howls vibrating my bones.

  “It’s furious,” Newstar said, his teeth clattering from the vibrations.

  “At the fifth realm, manabeasts are as intelligent as humans, and most of the frostworms here are this one’s direct descendants.” Everlast glanced at me. “How many fifth realm ones are inside?”

  I shrugged. “Three confirmed, could be more. Rumors said there is even a sixth realm one, but nobody has confirmed that claim.”

  “And why don’t they exterminate them to mine the ice jade?” Newstar asked.

  I glanced at Everfrost, who in turn looked at Puresnow.

  The touchy woman crossed her arms and huffed. “Because battling frostworms is good training, they dislike wandering far from their den, and if you let some of them mature enough to reach the fifth realm, their bones will turn to ice jade. And if you let them live long enough, they might even develop ice jade marrow. Leaving them alone is more profitable in the long run.”

  “Exactly,” I nodded at Puresnow, who blushed. “You are an awakened, Newstar. You will live an extremely long life, and you need to think of the long-term benefits, rather than immediate wins.”

  “Sir Dandelion—” Everlast started, but I interrupted her.

  “Could you please just call me Dandelion? Everyone calls me Dandelion.”

  Everlast nodded, blushing.

  “Only if you call me Everlast,” she squeaked, her words barely audible.

  “Sure, Everlast.” She blushed at the sound of her name, but Puresnow turned crimson at such a level of familiarity.

  “What I wanted to say, Dandelion, was that you seem very comfortable giving pointers. Do you mind sharing some with me?”

  Well, that was a surprise.