Over the ages, powerful organisations have discovered ways of establishing secret realms for training or other similar purposes. While the details are kept secret, many have inferred that using secret realms repeatedly in such a way was not natural. After all, nearly all secret realms disintegrate after a single use.

  — Excerpt from The Secrets of the Secret Realms

  Day 243, 10:40 AM

  Lady Frostgrave chatted with Newstar about his ancestors, and apparently the woman knew of them, even if she had never met them in person.

  The conversation deadened, and at my prodding, Lady Frostgrave continued talking about Newstar’s ancestors and what she recalled about them. Unfortunately, the conversation turned sour as Lady Frostgrave expressed her condolences regarding the state of affairs in the Salamandra family, so I once more intervened, shifting the conversation to more productive subjects.

  “I stumbled across a guild mission your charges might be interested in.”

  Lady Frostgrave gave me an icy glare for my effort at diplomacy. Her reaction had been a surprise the first time, but after that, I just remained stoic, and explained myself to her satisfaction.

  “What kind of mission?” She voiced her displeasure, like she had done all the times before.

  “Nothing epic. Frostworms overwhelmed a nearby deposit of ice jade, apparently a generation of hatchlings has matured, an unusually high number surviving the culling, and they flooded the tunnels. Newstar and I will head out tomorrow, and if any of your charges are interested, they may join us. We could call their help a reward for helping your descendant.”

  The previous times, I set the date for two weeks. I used the time in those loops to explore the caverns a bit and take stock of what we would need and the frostworm layout, but since I already had all the information I needed, I decided to push the timetable.

  Lady Frostgrave harrumphed. “You are offering them training, and probably a fair portion of the reward, and you dare say that is me doing you a favor? How cheap do you think I am?”

  She crossed her arms and shook her head. “No. I shall give you a proper reward once you prove to me you are not an ancient cultist possessing a young man’s body. As for allowing my proteges to venture with you, their decision is their own, but they have my permission.”

  With that, I turned around towards the three ladies. “The mission is simple, if a bit dangerous. The guild has rated it as fourth realm, but that includes knights and mages, meaning they would let two third realm mageknights take it. With the four of us the risk is rather low.”

  “I will sit this one out,” Ray, the fourth-realm ward, said, “but ice jade marrow is never a bad thing to have, and a den of frostworms should have some. I would advise you to go.”

  The other two exchanged glances and nodded before focusing on me. “When do we leave, and where is the den?”

  I gave them the details and asked that we depart at noon so that we would have time for last-minute shopping. Newstar and I had gone through the said shopping trip twice already, and I already had the routine down.

  I had also used the three and a half days before Newstar’s arrival to brew potions and make alchemical tools for us. Healing potions, illumination tinctures, antidotes, and thawing potions. Newstar had suffered no injuries during our previous trips, but we never delved that deeply, and never had the Everfrost Order’s mageknights with us.

  Finally, with everything agreed upon, the two women turned their gazes towards their master.

  Lady Frostgrave stared at me for a long moment before turning towards her wards. “You have my blessing, and I will watch over you until you enter the ice jade quarry. Assuming I remove all my doubts about this young man’s identity.”

  “Naturally, Lady Valiant, I stand at your disposal and will answer any questions you have.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Lady Frostgrave nodded. “Since you are departing tomorrow, and someone might have more questions or requests, I will pay for your stay at the inn tonight.”

  That was another change. During the prior loops, we always left the Noble Dragon and headed for the Stellar Night inn, in which I had already rented a room, since Newstar couldn’t use the guild’s dormitory.

  Lady Frostgrave then continued according to the script. “Dandelion Blackfist, you will join me in my room. I have a lot of questions for you.”

  She rose from her seat, and I followed her up, while her wards handled lodgings for Newstar and myself.

  “Are you really Dandelion Blackfist?” she asked as she closed her door. “The information about the former bandit turned townlord has a moment of drastic change.”

  “I am Dandelion Blackfist in the flesh.” I confirmed. “However, an incident happened some eight moons ago. You see, my half-brother and some of the henchmen tried to poison me…”

  I narrated the story, telling the factual truth and omitting the truth nobody would believe anyway.

  “I am neither a herbalist nor an alchemist, but I don’t believe Mindburst has such an effect.” She said thoughtfully, the conversation slightly different from before, but I couldn’t tell why.

  Lady Frostgrave seemed less defensive towards me, more natural. And since the conversation had turned down an unknown avenue, I in turn acted more genuine.

  “It is called Mindburst. It might be silly, but things expand when they burst. Perhaps all you have to do is stay alive and something miraculous happens.”

  Lady Frostgrave snorted. “You don’t believe that.”

  I smiled. “No, not really, but that doesn’t mean my guess is impossible. And it is a fact that I have memory that cannot compare with that of regular humans, awakened or not.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you have a book? Or some lengthy text?”

  She opened an unassuming sack which hung off her belts, and a miniature book sprang from it, flying towards her hand while getting bigger.

  I took a moment to recognize the item in question as a spatial pouch. An extra-dimensional storage, morbidly expensive for someone of my realm, but possibly affordable for someone at the peak of the sixth.

  Lady Frostgrave gave me a questioning look.

  “Choose a random page full of text, turn it around for me to see for a blink, a third-realmer’s blink, and then flip it back so you can read it.”

  Curious, Lady Valiant did as I asked, and then I started reading aloud from the snapshot made by my photographic memory.

  “One of the best treats I found in the summer kingdoms is made of raptor eggs and honey. The locals call this sweet Meringue, and there’s a premium version using honey left to soak for a century in a mana-rich environment along with eggs of manabeast raptors…”

  I read the entire page, and Lady Frostgrave stared at me dumbfounded.

  “Again.” She flashed me another page, barely turning it towards me before flipping it back, but I caught a glance of it, and that was enough.

  “The Kingdom of Couatl is the one facing the worst tides. In part that’s because their border to the Summersweald is by far the longest out of all the kingdoms, in part it’s because…”

  Her jaw went slack. “Not even a tenth realm exalt can replicate that feat.”

  “I would appreciate it if you could keep it a secret. Thanks to being able to absorb knowledge at such speed, I learned a thing or two.”

  “And your realm?” She asked, no longer thinking anything about me was a fluke, except how it all started.

  “As I have said, I learned a thing or two. The books I read stated that only those without a core can awaken, and I already had one. There are records of experiments that involved removing fractured cores and letting crippled awakened reawaken. Since I learned that my realm was a disaster and that even the fifth realm was beyond it, I decided to gamble. Now, to prepare, I learned medicine, anatomy, and a lot about theory of how realm cores worked. With the information I had gathered…”

  I explained in broad strokes what I had done, but didn’t specify I used my own core to reawaken. I just said core, and she made the reasonable assumption, since human cores disintegrated within moments of leaving their hosts.

  “But why would you go for eight elements, unless…” she mumbled to silence, just staring at me. “You can learn and master techniques and magic faster. Am I correct?”

  “I have not seen anything I failed to comprehend after three weeks, unless physical or magical obstructions are involved. I still cannot use spells of mana I do not wield, but other than that—”

  “But why not just run through the realms? Advance and shape them as fast as possible,” she stopped talking and looked at me. “You don’t have the resources for a headlong rush.”

  “In part,” I admitted. “But only in part. Based on my experience, a headlong rush is a certain path to long-term failure. No, I would prefer to experiment with my realm and its shapes, see which compositions yield the best results, and take it from there. Meanwhile, I can explore my other interests.”

  Her gaze sharpened. “Such as alchemy, blacksmithing, healing, and the rest?”

  I nodded. “I see you have purchased information about me. I should ask for a cut from the rumor-house.”

  She smiled at that. “And do you think this amazing trait of yours is hereditary?”