Carla and Nick walked out of the mansion and headed to the west side of the estate where there were very little trees and a wide expanse of freshly cut grass. Nick asked Carla:
"So what are my choices of realms?"
As if waiting for Nick to ask, Carla answered readily:
"As I mentioned earlier, despite our deal, I am only giving you an option of our two least dangerous realms; they are fairly small and all of their natural resources excluding local fauna have already been harvested for this period. One realm includes a large forest plagued with curse path beasts, the strongest of which are rank 2 and the other realm consists of a small island surrounded by nothing but sea, it is filled with swamps that are the home to many poison path beasts and poisonous insects."
Nick pondered on the choices.
(Curse path magic beasts, huh? Sounds a little interesting. Thinking back on the last swamp I was in, I don't really want to visit another one.)
"I thought you said that you were sending me to a not so dangerous realm, why would you send me to a poisonous swamp?"
Carla replied:
"The magic beasts and insects are only mildly poisonous and the strongest among them are rank 2. The most that their poison can do is give you a stomach ache if you stupidly touch one or let one bite you. All you have to do to explore it is avoid getting ambushed by a large group of beasts or insects and you should be fine, especially considering the capabilities that you have already shown..."
Carla said the last part with deep meaning but Nick ignored it and said:
"I'll explore the realm with the curse path magic beasts. Oh and the last realm that I visited had a different flow of time than Grand Earth. Is it the same with that realm?"
Carla was a little disappointed that Nick ignored her attempt to steer the conversation in a certain direction but she answered his question nonetheless:
"Yes, there is a difference in the flow of time in the realm. Four days in that particular realm should be about one day on Grand Earth."
Nick felt ecstatic.
(Since I have five days left before I have to go back to the academy, I can actually spend twenty days exploring that realm, that's great.)
Nick smiled lightly and continued to follow Carla to a spot where a man dressed in a scarlet colored robe that had a hoodie which covered his head was standing holding a small travel bag. Carla spoke first:
"This is one of my servants within the estate and I had him pack you some food that should last you about two days within the realm. How long were you planning on exploring?"
Nick replied:
"The rest of the five days that I am allowed to be away from the academy."
Carla raised two of her eyebrows in surprise.
"You want to be in there for that long, that is almost a month within the realm. Are you sure that you want to do that?"
Nick replied:
"Yes I am."
Carla sighed.
"Then in that case, you will have to find additional food and water yourself after these supplies are finished."
Carla motioned and her servant handed Nick the travel bag at which point Nick looked inside and there was indeed loaves of bread and packets of dried meat and water inside. Nick closed the bag and asked:
"Can you open the passage now?"
Carla nodded and revealed a wrist watch in her hand.
"This is basically a magic timing device and it will bring you back here once it is time for me to return you to the academy, if you want to return here before then, all you have to do is select the 'alert' option on the device."
Nick took the device from Carla and wrapped it around his wrist. To him, it looked like an old model smart watch with a touch display, not that he could ever afford one.
Carla's servant took out a glowing blue crystal and placed it on the ground. He clasped his hands, seeming to perform a spell and the crystal broke into pieces from which a blue mist spread from. Carla spoke at this time:
"That was a marking crystal with the coordinates of the realm I'm sending you set in it, once you walk through that mist, you will find your way there. Be careful Nick and don't bite off more than you can chew. If you do not return here in five days, I will send out a search party. Goodbye"
Nick nodded silently and walked up to the mist; it has an almost fragrant scent to it and had the consistency of fire smoke. Nick quickly walked through it, continuing forward even though he could not see where he was going. After some time, he finally walked out of the mist after which it dissipated and Nick found himself among many trees with a forest canopy preventing him from seeing the sky so the lighting of the forest floor was fairly dim. Suddenly, Nick heard the sound of 'hooting' above him and he looked up to see a meter tall owl staring down at him, watching him. Nick looked squarely in its eyes and the owl like creature returned his stare.
(What is that magic beast, something about its stare is causing me to feel some unease?)
Slade warned:
[Nick, quickly get away from that magic beast, it is casting some sort of curse on you.]
Slade's warning, however came too late. As Nick looked into the magic beast's eyes, his eyes became unfocused and his vision became dark.
........
When Nick's vision returned to him, he was no longer in a forest, instead he was inside of a boat floating on a body of water that was covered all around in fog. Nick looked around and saw nothing but grey fog in every direction and so he asked, not expecting a reply:
"Where am I?"
Surprisingly, there was a reply to Nick's question.
"Even if you knew where you were, would it make a difference?"
Nick immediately looked for the source of the voice and eventually spotted a stork as it flew down to rest on the edge of his boat. This stork was the size of a ten year old child and had a twenty inch long beak and glistening white feathers. Nick asked:
"Who are you?"
"My name is Years and I was just flying along my usual route when I spotted your boat and answered your stupid question."
Nick became visibly annoyed when he heard Years call his question stupid and retorted:
"What was so stupid about my question?"
"Even if you knew where you were, with this fog all about you, you would not be able to direct yourself so does it matter where you are?"
"It's the obvious thing to ask when you are in an unknown situation."
"You say that but wouldn't a better question have been: 'How do I steer through this fog?'. You have no control over the surrounding circumstances which are unknown to you but you can find a way to steer this boat."
Nick went silent for a second and looked around soon finding an oar on the other side of the boat. Nick picked it up and tried to use it to direct the boat. While he was rowing, he asked the stork:
"You said that you were flying on this route, how long do you think before I can row this boat out of the fog?"
The stork replied:
"Years."
"What?"
"You don't know where you are or the exact direction to take to get out of this fog, you have to expect that it will take years."
Nick swallowed his own saliva.
"I can't think like that, won't I go thirsty if the journey takes that long?"
After Nick asked this question, a small brown pigeon flew down to rest on the side off the boat opposite to Years and replied:
"Not necessarily, you can survive for quite a while by drinking your own urine and seeing how foggy this place is, there might be occasional rain."
Nick asked:
"Who are you?"
The pigeon answered:
"My name is Endurance and I was flying on this route when I heard you ask Years your question and I had to intervene. If you want to escape troublesome circumstances you must have endurance, for who knows how long it will take."
Nick listened to Endurance intently and nodded his head in agreement, continuing to row the boat. Nick rowed for a seemingly long time; occasionally he would have to stop when he was thirsty to urinate on his own shirt then wring the shirt to release the urine into his mouth. he did this a few times over a long period and after each time he would row the boat another great distance.
Soon, rain fell from the sky and Nick drank much of it until his thirst could no longer be felt but now his stomach rumbled frequently because of hunger so he asked Years and Endurance:
"Even if I quench my thirst and keep rowing, how do I cope with this hunger?"
At this moment, a large vulture flew down from the sky and landed on Nick's shoulder and answered his question with a whisper:
"Are you stupid? Years and Endurance are right there, If you can catch them, they will certainly make for a good meal?"
Nick asked the newcomer:
"Who are you?"
The vulture replied:
"My name is Growth. I've already told you how to satisfy your hunger so do what I said."
Nick was reluctant to do as Growth demanded but he soon realized that he was starving to death so he went into action.
"Years, Endurance, I think I found a way to resolve my hunger, could you come closer and listen to my plan?"
Years and Endurance were wary of the newcomer, Growth, because he had a bad reputation but they both approached Nick anyway to hear his plan; Years asked:
"Nick, what plan did that rascal Growth give you, be careful of him, he has a bad reputation among us birds?"
Endurance also had something to say:
"That's right, Growth is known for being unreasonable and ill-mannered."
As they were warning him, Nick grabbed both birds fiercely, immobilizing them and Growth proceeded to bite off the heads of both birds; it was a gruesome sight. With some disgust, Nick asked:
"Why did you bite off their heads?"
Growth replied:
"Don't you know? It is natural for growth to consume both years of time and one's endurance. Those two said that I had a bad reputation and that I was unreasonable but those who desire nothing valuable and remain stagnant always see someone else's growth as offensive to themselves so they spread falsehoods to make themselves feel better. You should eat too if you want to grow."
Nick felt enlightened. He bit into the flesh of both Years and Endurance and said:
"They are both bitter tasting but they fill my stomach and produce a feeling of satisfaction."
Nick finished eating the flesh of Years and Endurance until only their bones and intestines were left. He then got back to rowing the boat with more vigor than before. After an unknown amount of time, Nick had finally rowed the boat out of the fog; he looked back to celebrate with Growth but was surprised to see that Growth had somehow become five times his original size without him noticing.
"Growth, how did you get so big?"
Growth replied with a satisfied expression:
"Years of time and endurance amidst persistent effort produces even greater growth. Do you understand Nick?"
Growth's eyes glowed with a reddish hue as he declared this, staring into Nick's eyes. Nick's eyes also glowed with a reddish hue and he replied:
"Yeah...I understand."
......
Nick suddenly snapped out of his daze and jumped to the side, dodging the owl like magic beast as it tried to swoop down on him.
(Soul Pressure.)
The magic beast's movements became sluggish but it did not stop moving entirely so Nick quickly pointed is right index and middle finger at the creature and cast his offensive spell.
(Rumbling Pillar.)
The magic beast was flying about a meter off of the ground when the space around it twisted and shook madly. In the next ten seconds, the magic beast fell to the ground with all of its bones broken and blood oozing out from its orifices. Nick stood over his victim as he assessed it and himself.
(Rumbling Pillar consumed 2,000 magical units this time just to kill one magic beast. My advantage of having high magic energy reserves won't matter if I have to use so much of it to perform one attack. I need a way to resolve the high expenditure of my spells.)
Nick reflected on his shortcomings and then asked Slade:
"Hey, Slade, is it possible that I can eat this thing without cooking it?"
Slade answered with a weird tone:
[I'm glad that you were able to somehow overcome the curse that this magic beast placed on you, putting you into a daze, but why would you want to eat it while you already have food and water?]
Nick replied:
"To test out a hunch."
Nick opened his backpack and retrieved a knife that he had gotten from invigilator Wong but forgot to return; Nick used his spell, Big, to make it slightly bigger and to strengthen it. He started dissecting the magic beast, creating a bloody mess and after cutting out its liver, Nick bit into it and swallowed a mouthful.
Slade was alarmed.
[What the hell are you doing? Magic beasts also have diseases and parasites. In addition, this magic beast is of the curse path. Its body may naturally have laws related to all sorts of curses. Stop eating its flesh.]
Nick ignored Slade and continued to eat until he felt full. At that point, Nick felt his blood boil and magic energy started to flow towards him in a frenzy. Nick sat down and began to meditate; a whirlpool of magic energy appeared above his head and gradually filled his mindscape with magic energy.
After an hour, the whirlpool of magic dissipated and Nick stood up with loads of energy to burn. Slade remarked with surprise:
[I realized what you did, kid. You ate that magic beast's flesh and somehow the laws that were on its flesh temporarily remained in your body and attracted a torrent of magic energy to you. This place is filled with curse path magic energy but is also mixed with other paths like the rule path magic energy that you need to nurture your mindscape, filling it with rule path laws. How did you discover this method?]
Nick told Slade about the vision he had that involved Years, Endurance and Growth and how he frequently had such visions.
[You are a really strange young man with even stranger luck. No, this sort of feels like something more than luck. Hmmm...never mind, I'm probably just letting my mind wonder.]
[Although your method is reckless and I'm not even sure why it works the way it does, it is beneficial to you so I won't interfere.]
Nick smiled with the blood of the magic beast still around his mouth.
"I'm not leaving this place until I get to rank 2."