58th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd imperial era

Newt had entered the Fortunate Sailor a free man but left a slave. The contract he had signed was binding and fair, at least according to Lady Frostgrave. Newt would get resources as stipends on the first of every moon, but also get access to missions which could either reduce his debt or allow him to earn additional resources he can use without generating debt.

At any point, he was free to get into additional debt, up to thrice his usual stipend, to use a service or to gain goods he needed. He was also free to stop taking the stipend and just work off his debt to the best of his ability if he wished to leave the order. And most importantly, he would get to renegotiate his contract upon reaching the sixth realm when he truly became a powerhouse of his order.

Newt considered all the implications as he followed Lady Alabaster towards the distant pier, observing the petite woman. Her neck-long hair was platinum-blonde, nearly white. She was slim and tiny, and from the behind an unsuspecting observer could mistake her for a twelve-year-old girl.

"What do you know about seal scribing? Any experience?" Lady Alabaster asked as she walked, the mass of humanity parting before her.

"I can lay down an alarm seal and several other simple runic arrays, but I do know a large number of runes, and I don't think I would have much trouble setting up anything you show me."

"Your guild status?"

"Independent."

Lady Alabaster whistled. "That's pretty damn impressive for a sixteen-year-old. I have a hands-off approach to teaching. Most of the instructors in our order are the same. As I've said, we don't strive to make copies of ourselves or mythic ancestors, but powerful mageknights who can walk their own path forward. You are free to mimic me or your fire magic master, but in all honesty, that's inferior to what you can achieve yourself with our gentle nudges to help you advance, even if it takes longer."

That means I will owe you more manarium. Newt couldn't help the thought, even if he agreed that letting people learn on their own and make their own choices was much better than forcing them to fit a mold.

Lady Alabaster continued advertising Explorer's Gate, seemingly a futile action, considering Newt had already signed himself over to them. While still listening to propaganda, Newt focused on her frame, or more exactly the way she moved.

The woman was tiny, a black hole in his perception moving much faster than most surrounding pedestrians, but that was the strange thing. Those heading towards them shouldn't be able to see her from the crowd and from how fast she was going, those heading in the same direction couldn't see her unless they had eyes at the back of their heads. And yet. And yet, the mass of humanity parted before her, making way, none barring her path.

The passage closed shortly after her. The unaware crowd would have blocked Newt had he failed to keep up.

"How are you doing this, Lady Alabaster?"

"You will not address me as Lady Alabaster." The valiant's voice was stern and rock-hard, surprisingly so considering the bubbly feeling Newt got from her in the past few hours they had spent interacting before they bade the Everfrost Order's group a goodbye. "From today onward, you are my ward. You may call me Mentor, Teacher, or Master."

"Yes, Master." Newt chose the most flattering and most common title, even if it signified a mageknight of the eighth realm, which Lady Alabaster clearly wasn't. "How are you doing this, Master? If you don't mind sharing the knowledge with me."

"A master's role is to instruct their wards," Lady Alabaster kept walking, looking straight ahead and ignoring the incoming foot traffic. "Some knowledge is harmful, and I will not share it, but this is a trivial matter. I'm not doing anything. Just walking."

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Newt was certain there was a catch and waited for his master to continue, but she remained silent.

"And why is everyone moving out of your way? Even the non-awakened."

"This is more a gimmick and a quality of those around me rather than anything I'm actively doing." Chirpiness returned to Lady Alabaster's voice. "What you see are innate survival instincts. Lower realm mages avoid me even without instincts, they see me for what I am and make way. But even knights, awakened with a heartcore, as well as the non-awakened will move out of my way because their base instincts will warn them of a deadly creature coming their way. They won't cower, since I'm not radiating bloodlust, but they will show respect and make way, even if they are unaware of it."

Lady Alabaster paused, choosing her next words carefully. "This phenomenon occurs when encountering saurians and manabeasts as well. High realm mageknights have a hard time finding beasts more than a realm or two beneath theirs, and awakened rarely stumble upon a manabeasts much beyond their realm. The weaker manabeasts hide, while awakened subconsciously avoid dangerous areas, unless they have some business at that exact location. But even then people who had brushes with death and survived claim they sensed unease, irrational fear, and such shortly before encountering a higher realm manabeast."

Newt considered those words and thought about the frostworm cave. He felt nothing out of the ordinary when the fifth realm frostworm started hounding them, but Dandelion did sense something, something beyond tremors and sounds. Then again, Newt did get a bad feeling when he saw the tunnel leading down, so perhaps that was what Lady Alabaster meant?

I should ask Dandelion about it some day. The thought came naturally, but Dandelion was who knows where, and they might not meet in years, if ever.

"Master," Newt said in the most respectful tone he could muster, afraid he was bothering Lady Alabaster, "is there a way to hone this skill, or to use it in a more active manner?"

Lady Alabaster turned her head around but kept walking forward. She eyed Newt from top to bottom and smiled.

"Well, aren't you a sharp one? You're correct, some people have stronger instincts and greater acuity. They avoid danger more easily than others and making friendships or forming teams with such people will help increase your own survival chances. Sometimes this gift turns extreme and uncanny scouts may even sense a treasure's general direction long before finding actual clues of their existence."

That wasn't what Newt had in mind. He was asking about the use in combat, since getting stabbed or slashed was obviously dangerous, but since his master had praised him, he decided not to press the matter and instead let her think he was wiser than he was.

Soon, the crowd thinned, and the smell of salt grew stronger. A narrow strip of multi-colored stone stretched out for hundreds of yards in front, lined with massive ships gently bobbing up and down. Newt easily saw a hundred, with plenty of space between them, but what drew his attention more than the wooden giants, more than the white strip twenty feet wide, was the greenish-blue expanse encompassing it all.

Newt stopped breathing as he took the sheer enormity of it all. The expanse seemed endless, the sight only made more prominent by the constant faint rustle the likes of which he had never heard.

"Never seen a sea before?" Lady Alabaster asked, and Newt shook his head, his jaw still cracked open.

Newt realized a second later what an unsightly scene he was making, closed his mouth, and spoke. "No, Master. This is my first time seeing such a large amount of water in one place. The Summersweald looks a bit similar when observed from the top of our mountain, but it's still not the same."

Lady Alabaster regarded him with a faint smile, one Newt failed to interpret, before she once more turned towards the sea.

"Come, our sub is this way."

Newt obediently followed, looking at everything and everyone. Non-awakened laborers and sailors loaded and unloaded their vessels, grunting and cursing each other, but the familiar sight was boring. Newt had seen people argue and fault others for their mistakes all his life.

Instead of people, he focused on marvels of architecture, such as the pier itself. The strip of stone was made of massive, multi-ton tiles fitted together like a gigantic three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Each piece was only of a single color, the entire construction red, yellow, and blue.

He kept staring at it, trying to figure out whether any pattern existed, when his master spoke again.

"Great pattern to hide something or to embed hidden features or seals, right?"

Newt nodded in agreement, only realizing a moment later that his master couldn't really see his nod, since she was facing away from him.

"Yes, Master, it really seems to be a great way to hide something in the open, or to make people think you're hiding something in the open."

"Sharp kid. There's our sub over there."

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