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

  Alabaster listened to Newstar’s teammates’ story with furrowed brows. At first, she took their words at face value that a wandering dinosaur had snatched her disciple, but there were too many holes in that story. The visibility was much greater than the length of rope, they would have heard something, they would have seen the dinosaur. Yet, they saw nothing. There was no blood, and they failed to see Newstar, despite him being a handful of feet away.

  “You said it was the geyser field bordering the fourth realm zone?” She sought confirmation despite having the information.

  “Yes, Honored Elder.”

  That geyser field was not on the border of the third realm zone, or more precisely, it was, but it did not end at the border, it extended beyond it, into the fourth realm zone. Either a fourth realm dinosaur broke through the barrier to snatch Newstar, or he went over himself, crossing the barrier by accident.

  But how did he do that? She sat in silence, the youths squirming as she thought. The only one relaxed was Greenbow, as attentive and collected as ever. His body is supposedly at the fourth realm, that blessing may have become a curse in this situation. Newstar can handle anything in the outermost zone all by himself. But the fourth realm zone…

  Alabaster was uncertain. Physically on par with a fourth realm meant little. After all, a fourth realm cultivator was physically weaker than most fourth realm dinosaurs. Newstar’s techniques were superior in grade, but inferior in realm, and finally, the one area in which he really excelled against beasts was intellect.

  Dinosaurs rarely have well rounded sets of abilities, so he should have a minor advantage there as well, plus his shield is of a higher quality than anything we have for his realm. Alabaster had planned to ask Newstar to share his technique once he outgrew it, but the matter was irrelevant given the circumstances.

  He should be alive. Wait, is this why Sect Master ordered me to send him there?

  “Thank you for reporting this to me. I shall discuss this with several others and see what I can do.”

  Alabaster gazed out the window while waiting for the five disciples to file out of her study.

  Given Sect Master’s sharp mind and experience, he probably guessed something like this would happen. Is it all right for me to interrupt his seclusion because of this?

  Alabaster hesitated, she had never had news urgent enough to intrude upon the sect master’s time. Eventually, she decided that if the sect master was in seclusion or cultivating, he would have guardians, or at least attendants, much like she did.

  She stood and calmly left her residence, heading towards the depths of the jungle. She had been walking for a handful of minutes when the sect master’s voice echoed in her ear.

  He is fine. I’m monitoring his progress through the valley. The odds of him perishing are slim and growing slimmer by the hour.

  Alabaster bowed towards the center of the jungle and headed back home. If Sect Master was keeping an eye on things, it meant the situation was under control. The sect policy was to let disciples risk their lives. Some fell, but the number was small enough considering the gains of those who survived carefully gauged life and death battles.

  If Sect Master thinks he’s gonna be all right, Newstar’s gonna be all right.

  ***

  Newt quietly observed a dinosaur he had never before seen or heard of. The biped had a triceratops-like headdress, but instead of a beak, its mouth had long sharp teeth, with the lower jaw curving and some teeth sticking out like a circular saw. Its short, stubby arms ended in talons thrice the length of the arms.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  It stood about ten feet tall, turning its head left and right, as it slapped the ground with its tail, obviously nervous because of the phantom opponent’s approach.

  What in heaven’s name are you? The teeth and mouth indicated it was a carnivore, the horns adorning it hinted—They probably hinted at something, but even Newt could not figure it out. Horns so close to sharp teeth made no sense and served no purpose.

  Maybe it once belonged to a common species, but its evolution went horribly wrong as it advanced its realm?

  Newt explored that line of thought. His guess meant the dinosaur’s element pushed its evolution in a strange direction. It turned a two-legged, ceratopsian herbivore into a strange carnivore, or it turned a carnivore into whatever the thing was.

  Probably the former. Newt hesitated. On one hand, attacking an unknown spiritual beast with unknown powers seemed suicidal. On the other, he needed that level of threat to advance his skill.

  Carnivores used their claws and teeth, triceratopses gored their enemies with their horns, stegosauruses mauled them to death with their tails… There was next to no chance he could read that alien physique, and all attacks the creature made would be complete surprises to him. That also meant completely relying on his danger sense for survival. Which, in turn, meant risking his life more than he was comfortable with.

  A fraction of Newt’s being shuddered. He was afraid. Unknown qualities were the most feared. From overpowering enemies, you retreated. Your equals or lessers, you defeated.

  It looks like a jumble of random dino parts. It can’t be powerful. Newt considered that thought. If it’s not powerful, why did the sect’s elders bring it here? How did it survive in this environment?

  That’s a stupid line of thought. How did any of the dinos survive here? And I defeated them all, even the deinonychus, and it should be the apex predator in this part of the valley.

  Newt slammed the butt of his glaive against the ground. He had to stop overthinking. He had decided the expedition would be a do or die, and he had no intention of dying. A half-baked dinosaur abomination of nature was mere prey.

  The thing turned around, fixing its gaze on Newt. The exposed teeth of its lower jaw trembled, saliva running down the middle, dripping to the ground.

  Disgusting.

  The staring contest lasted a moment, hunter locking transfixed prey with its baleful glare, then the weird dinosaur shot towards Newt in a blast of scalding air.

  Fire? Green scales could hint at everything save for fire, but it was the last piece of bizarreness, merely added atop the alien physique.

  Magmin Scales and Granite Crust, already waiting as traces, sprang to life, shielding Newt. The creature was fast, but nowhere near as fast as the shroud deinonychus. Newt slashed with his glaive as the dinosaur swiped its massive claws at him.

  Danger sense reported nothing, the dinosaur seemed content with letting the glaive strike it, and it did. Flames burst from its neck at the point of contact, a primitive version of Firewall scorching the air, but dealing no damage to Newt’s glaive. The dinosaur’s scales were tougher than normal, but nowhere nearly tough enough. The weapon bit into its flesh, parted it, then severed the spine before fully decapitating the monster.

  Newt stepped aside to dodge the attack right before the headless body would have smashed into him and gazed at it as it rolled on the ground.

  It had something like Firewall, that means it was a defensive species originally, trying to evolve into a predator. Magmin immediately came to mind. A creature trying to evolve in a direction nature had not intended. Sometimes, such gambles bore fruit. Sometimes, they resulted in conflicted creatures like the one Newt had just effortlessly slain.

  It actually suffered from a cultivation deviation. Instead of following an already existing ancestral path, it tried to blaze its own, kind of like Magmin. The difference is this dino failed. So, what’s the difference between the two attempts?

  Newt considered the question. Even though he did not know it even existed, the matter suddenly became paramount. He was cultivating a deviant technique. Instead of manifesting concepts and symbols within his realm, he was making spell formations. Instead of harnessing spiritual energy the traditional way, he used the technique an ancient dragon, a true spirit beast, once used to reach the top of the cultivation world.

  Would it change him? Would it warp him like it did the ceratopsian he had just slain without effort? Will he reach a higher realm only to find himself a weakling? Someone without a path forward, yet no way of turning back, either.

  Again, Dandelion was in his memories. The man had risked everything to correct his mistake, and faced with the question and a recently deceased warning, Newt understood. He would also risk everything.

  What drove him was not the wish for immortality, for extra years of life. No, it was fear. An abject terror of being helpless again, of being stuck in a mine with no way out.

  He looked at the deceased evolutionary failure, a mix of pity and respect in his eyes. It had a goal, a purpose, and the courage to follow it, but it turned out that its path was a dead end.

  I won’t be a dead end! I will grow strong enough to reunite my family, to keep my friends safe, and to honor my ancestor’s decision, which ruined the clan, but benefitted me.