Now, you might think, that’s a great way for my kid to get a bunch of elements, the way my brother did. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The issues of balancing mana types notwithstanding, you need to master your techniques, and not everyone has as much time on their hands as I do.

  — Excerpt from Notes For Newstar

  Day 621, 2:55 AM

  It had taken the better part of nine years to complete the design, but once finished I was damn proud of what I had done. The control spell seal, which I used to check the state of mana in the simulated realm, had itself become one giant seal constellation. BSD obviously agreed with me, albeit with less enthusiasm.

  [Ability - Advanced Realm Sculpting acquired]

  “What does a man have to do for the expert level?” I shouted at the ceiling. Fortunately, I was inside the little bubble of my own making, so nobody outside caught those words.

  But really, you turn an entire realm into a giant spell seal, and all you get for it is the advanced skill level.

  I blinked the message away, and three more appeared one after another.

  [Ability - Expert Seal Prototyping acquired]

  [Ability - Expert Seal Deconstruction acquired]

  [Ability - Advanced Time Optimization acquired]

  To be honest, Advanced Time Optimization was an understatement of my proficiency. I had become a grandmaster even before I knew the skill existed, but BSD kept the right to be wrong.

  “Cipher, cipher,” I muttered, walking in circles within my minute bubble, skipping over the lines like an insane court jester from a bygone era.

  Do imperials have jesters? I wonder if there’s an open spot. I could ask the princess, “Just asking for a friend,” I would say.

  I babbled, I spoke to myself and the ceiling and BSD, then the bubble burst.

  “Excuse me, I’m trying to work here.” I bowed like the jester I fancied myself, and the bubble sprang back up.

  So, they were spying on me as I worked. Poor sods. Must have been an awful, boring show.

  “Now, the cipher, and then I can be off.” I was about to go back into my realm, but then stopped. Why did I need to think inside a proto-space when a real tropical beach awaited outside?

  I stepped out of my bubble, and for the nineteenth time repeated the leaving the room dialogue, then headed over to the beach.

  The tide was high, and I was petty, so I sat right at the edge of the waves, took a stick and scribbled random seals as I thought about the cipher. As the waves wiped away my writing, the one monitoring me would have to piece together half-complete seals which were nonsense to begin with.

  The thought of yanking their chain like that was more entertaining than it deserved, childish beyond doubt, but I was in a special place mentally, one which would have gotten me into an insane asylum in a civilized world.

  In the Eternal Light empire, it would see me in the heretic hunters’ custody, probably some torture dungeon. The hand with the stick froze, then I tossed the damn stick into the sea because I couldn’t toss my damn head.

  Ten years of voluntary solitary confinement, looping increasingly monotonous tasks without seeing or hearing another living person was all it took to snap my mind again. Weak. Especially since it wasn’t ten years spent in a room. I went out to the beach eighteen times, with the first four years or so being the longest period of time I had spent cooped up in a room alone.

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  How long can normal humans endure solitary confinement with nothing but mental puzzles?

  A gut feeling told me around a month, but I didn’t feel like torturing people just to find out. So, I took it as a month, or moon, or whatever. If my mind was thirty-odd times tougher, I should’ve lasted three years without going mad.

  Cipher! Cipher! Focus!

  And so, my days passed. Outside loops. I decided that the best way to hide the information was in plain sight. Since I already planned on making a number of books for Newstar to compile my knowledge and leave it for him after I pass, I decided that the first one should be about complex uses of spell seals.

  Newstar would only have to know the starting point, and then follow the arrangements inside his realm. Better yet, since his realm only had a volcano and two elements, he might even have multiple starting positions. As for what to do if someone figured out that the spell seals could be used on a hypothetical ideal volcano in ideal volcanic mana, I didn’t really give a damn.

  The odds of anyone even linking my writing to such a mental exercise were slim, and to make them slimmer, I seeded the book with false leads and discussions on other types of seals, ones absolutely and obviously useless to Newstar.

  I liked the plan. It was elegant in its simplicity and insane in its candid, public approach, which in my book gave it bonus points.

  The writing of the book was a chore. Especially since I had discovered that I could organize my thoughts faster than I could write. It took only two loops to get the text perfect.

  Once I had everything ready save for stationary, I left my room to interact with humans for the first time in a long while.

  “Good day.” I offered a middle-aged second realm man a polite half-bow. “I am Dandelion, I am Newstar Salamandra’s guest, and I would like to purchase some basic supplies from your order. Is that possible?”

  The middle-aged man stared at me, confusion clear in his not so bright eyes.

  “I am guessing you don’t have an answer to my question, but I would appreciate it if you could point me in the direction of a person who could.”

  Pleasant voice, kind words, a relaxed smile without showing teeth, and obvious strength you had no reason to use against them. They got good reactions from wild beasts and humans alike.

  As soon as the random passerby realized I wasn’t actually asking anything of him and that he could get me out of his hair with a couple of words, he directed me to the person in charge of maintaining discipline in the building.

  “Good day,” I greeted the elderly fourth-realm woman, then five minutes later used similar words on her boss, who took me to what the people of Explorer’s Gate called the Chamber of Commerce.

  My high expectations from the name resulted in an inevitable disappointment, but they had paper, ink, and enough scribing utensils for me not only to write the book, but also to bind it in fine leather.

  “Sir,” I addressed the fifth realm man who had brought me to the overly embellished shop, “would it cause any issues if I came alone to this store whenever I need something? If not, I don’t mind summoning you first.”

  A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he stared blankly into the distance.

  “Not a problem,” he said finally, his gaze focusing back on me. “You could also ask any of the order’s lower members to fetch things for you. I will let those in your building know to make themselves available to you should you seek assistance.”

  “Thank you.” I offered another bow, wondering whether the habit will carry over into my next life. “In that case, I bid you a good day.”

  I went back to my room, very much aware that someone capable of telepathically communicating with others was paying attention to me. Not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.

  Penning down my book took a while, but about a moon and a half after I had arrived, I was mostly done with the manuscript.

  That was six weeks for the rest of the world, and a decade for me. The final bit of work left was to draw the seals Newstar might not be familiar with, write down notes regarding them, and the binding process.

  The last one was a new experience. I had never bound a book, so I first found a member of the Explorer’s Gate who knew how to do it. It wasn’t as difficult as I had expected. For some reason, I thought that binding books involved thread, punching tiny holes and then pulling it all together, but no. All you need is glue. Glue, a good eye, steady hands, and patience.

  I had a foreboding feeling as I bound the book in the privacy of my room. I checked my stats, and sure enough.

  [Name - Dandelion Blackfist

  Class - book binder level 0

  Health 35/35, Strength - 35, Agility - 35, Physique - 35, Wisdom - 39, Intellect - 39, Willpower - 39, Presence - 25, Charisma - 25, Composure - 25

  Abilities - See Abilities for more information.

  Attribute points remaining - 2

  To level up, bind ten books

  Statuses - none]

  “Ah, bloody hell, no, no.” And that was a redo. Also, it was the reason why it was so hard to get to a sufficiently high level of a class - the damndest things kept getting in the way.

  A loop later, the book was ready, I was a mageknight, and all I had to do was wait for Newstar to come see me. After all, what were the odds he would forget about me?