59th of Season of Fire, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

  Am I cursed? Newt almost started muttering obscenities as he searched his ninth fourth realm spirit beast and found its core had shattered. Both Dandelion and the books said it’s one in ten, one in five if you kill the spirit beast before it uses significant amounts of spiritual energy. So why zero in nine?

  Ever since realizing how to find and approach spirit beasts in the Valley of the Lost, Newt realized it was infested with them. The sole reason disciples wandered so much without encountering them was because the beasts were just as lost as they were. The visibility was meager, and without it, the odds of them crossing each other’s path were negligible.

  Dumb stego. Newt sliced a thick strip of pure muscle from the dead dinosaur’s tail. His stomach had started complaining shortly before dawn, and Newt had decided he would take a pound of flesh from his kill to sate his hunger.

  Stegosaurus tail was all meat and no fat, a delicacy. The only problem was that Newt lacked the grilling mesh which Obi carried around on his person. Who in their right mind carries a portable grilling kit into a danger zone, and why don’t I have one? But I guess roasting is pretty good too.

  An hour later, Newt had a chunk of meat skewered on his glaive’s head, cutting off a bite-sized chunk with his shortsword. The surreality of the scene drew a smile.

  This time two years ago, I was in a mine, no hope, no future. This time last year, I was in that same mine, cultivating my realm and searching for spirit-stones to advance. Now, I’m sitting in a danger zone for fourth realm cultivators, eating fourth realm spirit beast roast, prepared on my fourth realm weapon, cut by my other fourth realm weapon, all of it while I’m still in the third realm. And the best part, my head doesn’t even hurt!

  Over the course of the previous day’s trial and error, Newt eliminated the feeling of wrongness, or at least reduced it to levels he could no longer notice. He was still mindful, in case the minor damage accumulated into something noticeable, but otherwise his mood was great. As great as it could be, considering he was lost inside a danger zone beyond his realm.

  I can do this. I just have to find the exit. I have the means, the brains, and if I got out of that damned mine, I can get out of anything.

  Newt finished his breakfast and started moving. He had rested the previous evening, he was alone, and despite his newfound sense, wandering in the dark was ill advised. The spirit beasts active in the dark could see in the dark, and no matter how elated with his success, Newt had no intention of fighting his equals or superiors while blinded. Stalking and ambushing them from the behind was much more sensible.

  There. Another hour passed before he sensed the island of safety inside the sea of danger he navigated. He turned and followed the sensation to its source.

  Another pachycephalosaurus? I guess this one’s getting away too.

  Newt just thought that, when he sensed another island of safety appear straight to the left of the helmeted dinosaur. It moved slowly for a second, then zipped through Newt’s perception, careening straight at the pachycephalosaurus. A white blur smashed into the startled dinosaur and knocked it down before it could gather its bearings.

  The shroud deinonychus clamped its jaw around the other dinosaur’s neck, sinking its teeth into the scaly flesh. Hardly any blood escaped the predator’s maw before the pachycephalosaurus started thrashing.

  As soon as the pachycephalosaurus offered resistance, the deinonychus snapped its head back, tearing a mouthful of its victim’s throat. The pachycephalosaurus jumped to its feet, bleeding profusely. It sprinted through the fog, disappearing from Newt’s sight, but the deinonychus shot right after it. The two spots of safety joined, and Newt could imagine the deinonychus smashing into the herbivore’s back, taking another bite, as he sprinted after them.

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  While his body was equivalent of a fourth realm cultivator’s, Newt was chasing after two air-attributed spirit beasts, and the distance they covered in a blink took him a whole ten seconds to cross.

  Just as he expected, the deinonychus stood atop the pachycephalosaurus, its thick, curved leg talons stabbed into the pachycephalosaurus’s back. Deinonychus had its jaw clamped around its victim’s neck, shaking its head left and right. The pachycephalosaurus whined and groaned, then the whining sounds died with a bony pop, as the deinonychus broke its neck.

  There was no triumphant roar. Instead, the deinonychus turned around, its eyes trained on Newt. Spiritual energy surged through Newt’s body, and Granite Crust covered his skin a moment before the white blur smashed bodily into him. Had Newt been cultivating earth alone, that would have been the end of the exchange, but flames burst out of the grayish black scales covering Newt’s body.

  Firewall swallowed Newt’s surroundings, but the agile deinonychus jumped away, leaving the blast unscathed. The beast was air-attributed, adapted to life in the Valley of the Lost, and it used its tactic for preying on hard-shelled prey. It retreated into the mist and vanished.

  Newt could sense safety in the sea of danger sail to his left, circling around him. He was about to turn around, when he stopped himself.

  Fourth realm spirit beasts are intelligent. If it sees me tracking it in the mists, it may retreat, maybe even wait and ambush me at night, if it has some kind of night vision.

  Newt decided it was better to play dumb and keep his shell active. Instead of tracking the deinonychus, Newt slowly turned rightwards, searching for an invisible enemy, despite knowing where the deinonychus was. Newt spun a full circle and stopped. The deinonychus waited.

  While its element was poor at standing still, the spirit beast proved patient, observing Newt for minutes as he slowly advanced to the pachycephalosaurus’s corpse. With Granite Crust in place, Newt butchered the dinosaur, but found no cores.

  Again! That’s zero out of ten, and I didn’t even kill this one. Newt let go of the ribs he had been holding and glanced towards the shroud deinonychus. Why aren’t you attacking? Is it because of Granite Crust? You know you can’t beat it, so you’re waiting for me to drop it and take me by surprise?

  Newt had to admit, it was a sound tactic, and if he left the corpse alone, the deinonychus might choose to feast first and track him later. Leaving a capable enemy on your back was not an option.

  Newt dropped Granite Crust, sending a new surge of spiritual energy to activate it. The deinonychus held. Newt harnessed the energy, forming a trace ending just a step away from Granite Crust activating, ready to summon it at a moment’s thought.

  The deinonychus still remained in place, waiting, observing, unaware that Newt was observing it.

  Wait, if it can’t see me, how does it know whether Granite Crust is active or not? Does it know? What is it waiting for, if it doesn’t?

  Newt looked at the dead pachycephalosaurus before him turned into a slab of meat.

  That’s it. It thinks I’m feasting on its prey. It didn’t know whether I was turning around, it can’t tell whether I’m looking at it. It can estimate my orientation only when I’m moving. And the only reason it has to attack me immediately instead of leaving me for later is if I deny it its meal.

  Newt looked at the meat before him and started cutting it into ribbons, so he could carry it more easily.

  An hour later, the provocation failed. The deinonychus still had not made a move, and Newt had turned the dead pachycephalosaurus into scrap bones, leaving nothing for his prey. He made for a grim, but comical sight, a man wrapped in hundreds of strips of meat. He was a living lure for the carnivorous dinosaurs. That lure, however, concealed a granite hook.

  Finally, with no other choice, Newt moved in a random direction. The deinonychus waited, then moved behind Newt, probably going to check its catch. The deinonychus was disappointed, it abandoned Newt’s leftovers, and sailed the mists of danger, moving to Newt’s left.

  Why left? Is there a specific reason? Newt wondered, then the safe area grew at incredible speed before the deinonychus appeared and jumped atop of him.

  No, it’s not jumping, it’s flying.

  Newt turned, and the deinonychus smashed into his chest, rather than side. Newt fell on his back, feeling the thick, sharp talons stab into the strips of meat decorating his torso.

  Gotcha! Newt snatched the agile dinosaur’s legs and immolated himself, smelling grilled meat. The deinonychus snapped its legs away, but with bodies in the similar realm, Newt’s earthen physique based on resilience overpowered one made from speed and evasion.

  The deinonychus shrieked as it burned. Spiritual energy swirled around it, and Newt felt a powerful tug upwards, strong enough to lift him off the ground for a moment before he came crashing back down.

  I’m not letting go until I roast you alive.