Secret realms and realms in general have to exist somewhere. That or we’re hallucinating, sharing hallucinations, and making oddly specific mental images that actually have an effect on reality. That makes no sense.

  — Excerpt from Notes For Newstar

  Day 6469, 10:10 PM

  The Swordpeaks made their offer fifth. A smartly dressed gentleman wearing their colors stood up from his seat when I entered and shook my hand, not giving me enough time to bow.

  “I am Edge Swordpeak, a ninth realm mageknight of the Swordpeak family. A swordmaster and a painter. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Grandmaster Dandelion.”

  Edgelord? Really?

  “The pleasure is mine, Lord Edge. I guess you have read a report on me, so I’ll skip the lengthy introduction that would make me sound pompous. And please call me Dandelion.”

  The man chuckled. “Then feel free to call me Edge.”

  He returned to his seat, and he made his offer. It was good, more than a grandmaster craftsman could expect, with more or less the same facilities the Diamondsouls had offered and a slightly higher monthly stipend, including a marriage offer, though he wasn’t the one interested.

  But like all the rest, it also limited my freedom.

  “Thank you.” I stood and bowed. “Unfortunately, I will have to refuse. My freedom is very important to me.”

  “I don’t mean this as a threat, but as friendly advice, so don’t take me wrong. Freedom is the luxury of the weak and unremarkable. For everyone else, freedom without the power to back it up is no different from death.” He stood, hands moving behind his back. “This is an advice I have given to unaffiliated mageknights before, usually at the sixth realm. You can take it however you will, but know that there are no seventh realm unaffiliated mageknights in the empire save for those retiring near the end of their lifespan.”

  He held my gaze, confirming what I had already suspected. If you grew strong enough to present a shadow of a threat, you joined a side or died.

  For a moment, I wondered about asking him whether anyone would dare assassinate me yet just because I refused them at the fourth realm. After all, I was setting up the board for when I reached the sixth realm of which he had just spoken of.

  But he wasn’t a friend, and he had no reason to answer such questions. The only thing I stood to gain was scorn.

  “Thank you for your advice; I’ll take it to heart.”

  There was one more silent moment in which he weighed me and my words.

  “That would be nice. I have never seen such talent before,” he said and left.

  And that’s what kind of people you send to negotiate! I felt like finding the Firesahuns’ representative and giving him Edgelord’s portrait with a step-by-step guide on how to talk to potential hires.

  The Couatls weren’t much better. They seemed to think that being born a commoner in their kingdom made me their… Well, property was too harsh a word for the way their representative acted, but a natural-born servant wasn’t far from the way he treated me.

  That night, everyone wanted a piece of me. Friends and acquaintances at the table all had something they wanted to discuss, but the royals kept interrupting us.

  As the evening drew to an end, Maelstrom approached. She cleared her throat.

  “Do you want to go someplace private so we can discuss terms?” she asked, fidgeting with her hands.

  “Sure,” I smiled and followed her. She was perfectly sober and just as nervous as she led the way.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I closed the door to the private chamber, and she didn’t even wait for me to sit down.

  “Tidebreaker offers you access to resources on par with those granted to ninth realm grandmaster artisans, and a stipend three realms beyond your current needs until you reach the sixth realm, after which we would renegotiate the terms, based on your results.” Her eyes turned teary. “Please accept any offer, Dandy. You have no idea what would happen if you rejected them all.”

  “I have time.” I chuckled. “From what I’ve managed to dig up, independents have until the seventh realm to find a backer. That’s where we can become a nuisance and can’t run around any longer.”

  Maelstrom swallowed a lump.

  “I’m not so sure. Your success is unprecedented. Maybe you don’t have that much time, so why not make a decision now?”

  “You think your grandfather would have me assassinated if I don’t join some royal family?”

  She shook her head. “Of course not, but not everyone’s my grandfather. I have only basic schooling in politics, enough not to embarrass myself or my family, but the rest comes at the higher realms, when weeks wasted on studying hurt your progress less.”

  Her words were another reminder about how special Newstar’s mana gathering was; it freed months of time in each realm for other pursuits.

  She stared at me as if waiting for something, so I put on a reassuring smile.

  “Don’t worry, Maelstrom, I know what I’m doing.”

  She nodded, a glimmer of doubt still in her eyes.

  The evening ended, and in no mood to study and practice, I went to sculpt my realm. I chose a familiar seal to work on; the effort had already become purely mechanical. It didn’t help me process the questions and budding doubts I was having, which in retrospect was really bad. No, it helped me forget the uncomfortable questions and gave me something else to focus on.

  Soon enough, I was back at the square ready to enter the third event. It was odd and easy. You had a flag. Your job was to gather the flags of others, but half the time, your flag would root itself in place.

  I wandered a much more realistic jungle than the one in the fortress trial when I noticed something. Suddenly, there were smells.

  It’s getting more real.

  I touched a leaf, and what was hard plastic a while ago had grown soft and had a leaf-like texture. Not all the way there, but getting close. I looked up, and the rays of sunlight peeking between the leaves were no longer uniform.

  A sailback lizard lunged at me from the jungle, and I shattered its skull in one blow without thinking. It was a flesh and blood creature. Its bones crunched, then a moment later it vanished.

  Hmmm… People disappear before the blow lands, but saurians after. Are they the fuel for the realm? Or is it something else?

  For a moment, I considered what the odds were the realm’s creator had added some sort of booby trap. Perhaps not to achieve some goal, but to spite the imperials.

  Seems unlikely, but people do crazy things when faced with death.

  I kept walking randomly until I encountered a familiar face.

  “Newstar!” I laughed. “It seems this challenge is favoring you.”

  Before he could respond, I sensed a flash of illusory pain in my eye. I ducked, shocked that Newstar would attack me, when a bolt flew over my head. It was black and matte, and I recognized it as an assassin’s weapon.

  “I see you’re having fun,” I laughed, and the young man shook his head.

  “Could you please handle them? You can keep the flags.”

  I ran into the jungle in the direction from which the bolt had come. The assassin was well hidden, their aura not leaking one bit.

  I tried to sense the flow of air, but they were holding their breath or breathing too shallowly for me to pick it up with all the minute movements going on. While I could blindly search the bushes, I didn’t need to, since the assassin was Newstar’s problem.

  “Can’t find them, sorry.” I came back and flashed him a smile. “Good luck!”

  “Dandelion, wait! I just want to get out.”

  “You’ll manage. I have faith in you.” Meanwhile, I had a bigger problem.

  Can I make heat-vision magic? Or perhaps a sonar? I think there was a spell on Everrain that let you see vital energy, or did I dream that?

  I was deep in thought when the back of my head flared with phantom pain.

  I ducked and looked up, seeing a very familiar black bolt.

  “Really?” I shouted. “You left him for me? What happened to the dogged perseverance of assassins?”

  There was no answer. Not that I had expected one, but still… It would’ve been nice if they were dumb enough to give themselves away.

  Other than the jungle becoming more real over time, I noticed something else that was odd. It was built big enough for thousands, and yet as time passed, the frequency at which I encountered people remained more or less consistent.

  “Hey, Maelstrom!” I waved at the princess, who hesitated for a moment before she waved back.

  “Are you going to take my flags?” she asked.

  “I see no reason to do that. As far as I can tell, we can gang up on others. Just kicked three little sneaks from Firesahun not half an hour ago.”

  We were relaxed, chatting in the middle of the trial, when a soundless bolt struck her straight in the eye, and Maelstrom disappeared.

  Dammit, forgot to warn her.