Make no compromise when it comes to tea and wine. Drinking swill damages the body and the soul alike, not to mention your reputation as a host. Poor wines aren’t properly filtered and they might contain residual poisons, or worse come from inferior grapes or noname regions.

  — Excerpt from On Socialization and Gentlemanly Wellbeing

  Day 254, 12:10 AM

  I had spent little time practicing wielding two abilities of different elements at the same time. My proficiency remained basic, and using them might leak too much mana, so I chose not to, at least not while the burrowing fifth realm frostworm was a thin sheet of stone away from us.

  Instead, I focused on opening the distance between us and the monster, survival being the greatest priority. While the two others shook with fear and physical vibrations of the enclosed space we were trapped in, I remained focused and relaxed.

  Everlast had it the worst. The press of bodies was rather intimate, way past decorum and tactful personal boundaries, but there was little we could do about our situation.

  Suddenly, I noticed she was focused on my face again, deducing or considering anomalies around me. Another intelligent woman. I had a thing for them, but the situation wasn’t right for a multitude of reasons.

  “I have had worse.” I offered an explanation, and while flimsy, it really was the truth. After dying or committing suicide enough times, you grow numb to it.

  Everlast was about to say something when the ground exploded all around us. I immediately stopped channeling mana, and we tumbled like dice in a cup until we formed a sprawl of tangled limbs on the ground. As luck would have it, Newstar, the most fragile amongst us, was on the ground, Everlast pressing on him, while my bulk suffocated them both.

  Everlast and I were face to face, the poor woman turning red like a radish. Newstar opened his mouth to speak, but I sealed it with my hand and shook my head. Once he calmed, I moved to disentangle myself from the other two.

  When I found my feet, I helped Everlast up, then did the same with Newstar. Faint tremors, growing fainter, had replaced the massive explosion, as the frostworm dug its way away from us.

  ‘It took the bait,’ I mouthed in the green light, then returned to moving solid rock like water all around us, careful not to make any vibrations.

  Time passed, and after an hour, the air grew difficult to breathe. I paused the earth-work, replenished the oxygen, then continued digging. I repeated the cycle in silence five times before Everlast tugged at my sleeve.

  “Puresnow is in danger,” she whispered.

  “Your master said she would watch over you outside the cave. She will be safe.” I said without pausing my work. “And that is assuming the fifth realm frostworm leaves the tunnels instead of burrowing through the mountain in search of us.”

  “How deep underground are we?” Newstar asked.

  I considered the question for a split second, but I lacked classes and skills built for underground exploration, so I shrugged.

  “We went down about a thousand feet, maybe twelve hundred, but I have no way of knowing how tall the mountain is beyond that. All I can say is that we are pretty deep. We are ascending at about an inch per minute, or five feet per hour. It will take us at least two hundred hours to leave this place, and that is without accounting for the breaks I will need to replenish my mana.”

  I looked at Everlast. “We will be stuck here for at least ten days if your master does not come to our aid.”

  She shook her head. “Master believes in true honing through life and death. We have silver pendants, which will inform her of how we died, but she gave us no life-saving measures.”

  “What are our odds of defeating the fifth realm frostworm?” Newstar asked after several seconds of silence.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Zero,” I said. Even for me, that battle under such unfavorable circumstances was lost before it even started. “Third realms are easy. We are prepared and have basic tactics; the three of us could handle three at the same time without injury, thanks to our skills and elements. We can take on one fourth realm safely, but we could only slay a fifth realm manabeast through a fluke. That means crossing two realms to fight it. Essentially, it is impossible.”

  “What about spell seals?” Newstar asked a very valid question. Unfortunately, the kind of seal we needed required hundreds of square feet to set up.

  “I have learned a number of useful ones, up to the sixth realm,” I said, “but we lack resources, time, and space to set one up. But yes, spell seals were invented to fight and defeat stronger opponents by substituting personal power with preparation and environmental awareness.”

  Another half an hour passed in silence before Newstar broke it. “How come your mana doesn’t become unbalanced? You clearly have all the elemental types, but you have been using earth mana exclusively.”

  “Newstar,” I barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes at the question, “you are not expecting me to answer such a question without offering equally valuable knowledge, are you?”

  I glanced at him, and he seemed half-offended at the answer. I stopped working on shaping stone and focused all of my attention on Newstar.

  “Let me repeat your question for you. Newstar, could you give me your clan’s ancestral spells and secret forms?”

  The youth clenched his teeth, but I continued before he could open his mouth and utter an obvious no.

  “And yet you expect me to give you the bits of knowledge I have compiled after countless hours of reading and countless resources I have given to the imperial libraries?”

  “Are you not being too greedy?” I asked while getting into his face. “Expecting something you did not earn just because I have a habit of offering pointers?”

  “Newstar,” Everlast interrupted, “the question you asked was very rude. Discussing realm structures is a tentative matter at best. You never know when the other party is lying to you. And directly asking about other’s secrets is taboo. Members of certain orders might attack you outright, regardless of your youth and ignorance.”

  Newstar nodded.

  “I understand. I’m sorry.”

  “I am not angry,” I said, getting back to work. “There is little that can make me angry anymore. However, as Everlast just said, you need to mind your tongue and rein in your curiosity. I have tried to teach you that exchanges of goods and knowledge do not come easily or without consequences—”

  Suddenly, something went wrong in my rock-shaping. I looked up, focusing on the anomaly, and the freshly moved layer of rock revealed a faintly glowing surface overflowing with mana.

  “Is that a—” Newstar started.

  “Do not touch it,” I barely contained a shout, slapping Everlast’s hand away from the core. “That is a core. We are doomed if it pulls us inside a sixth or seventh realm. I will navigate us around it, and we can notify Lady Frostgrave of our discovery once we are out of here. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds great.” Everlast said, completely ignoring my hand-slap, her voice shaking with excitement. Newstar nodded solemnly, but with a lot less enthusiasm than one would expect on seeing a precious natural wonder. That said, I could see manarium crystals in his eyes, and dreams of glory for his clan and family.

  Everlast cleared her throat, making me realize I was also acting out, shocked and surprised by the unexpected wealth. “You needn’t worry about Master. She has a righteous soul, and she will give you a fair reward.”

  “Us. We split everything in four equal shares,” I said without thinking while calculating the value of the core and considering the best way to use that much wealth. Unfortunately, that much wealth in my or Newstar’s hands meant an imminent and very violent death.

  “What is a fair reward for this?” Newstar asked.

  “If it’s a sixth realm core, it should be around ten-twenty sixth realm crystals for each of us. If it’s a seventh—” Everlast gulped. “It should be an equal amount of seventh realm crystals.”

  “Do not even consider it,” I snapped Newstar back to reality. “We cannot own even a single piece of fifth realm manarium without endangering our lives. Lady Frostgrave will keep your funds safe, maybe spend them on your behalf after consulting you. But what is important at this moment is that we survive this danger, leave the caverns without getting discovered, and reach Lady Frostgrave.”

  I calmed my mind, expelling the useless thoughts. The important thing was to memorize the way out exactly, mapping a way to the monster core. After trusting myself enough, I resumed my digging.

  “Remember, Newstar, life is your greatest treasure. Wealth you can amass and lose countless times, but only while your heart is beating.”

  He wanted to argue, but Everlast spoke up.

  “Newstar, listen to Dandelion. Once you join a major order, or sign up as a slave for a ducal or royal house, your wealth, the wealth of your family, and the status of your enemies, they all become irrelevant. Everfrost Order is merely on par with the ten ducal houses, yet after becoming its member and taking an anointed name, all my family’s enemies went quiet, and as I increase my realm, they not only cede the territories they fought over with my family, they are willingly sending more gifts.

  “Trust me, personal greatness is worth more than any amount of wealth. Become powerful, become respected, and others will send manarium and treasures your way without you having to lift a finger.”