“I think I’ve heard some versions of this story before.” Blue nodded and said: “Dorothea Clarkson, she’s a professor at the Grant Academy right? I heard she’s Headmistress of one of the houses now.”

“Yes, Martin House, it’s her own house.” Josephine Wong answered: “And Professor Kapur was also from the Martin House. But she was one of the few professors that was open to take on inter-house teams for research and expedition missions. And the team eventually ended up having quite a mix - I and Glenda were from the Anderson House, Tony Barnes was from the Hellbruck House, and he’s the Headmaster of his house now, just like Dorothea Clarkson.”

“I’ve heard plenty about Headmaster Barnes, he’s quite the legend around my circles” Alexander took a gulp from his flask and said: “Just didn’t know his first name is Tony, I was expecting he would have a more epic or at least a cooler first name. Tony - makes him sound pretty generic.”

“Or he could be a rich guy in a full metal suit of armor, you don’t know.” Pei smiled.

“Well, he is a knight from a wealthy family, so you’re not totally wrong there.” Josephine Wong chuckled.

“And - sorry for the repeated questions, is this the realm later renamed ‘Jade Pit’?” Blue asked: “During my time being a visiting scholar, Professor Clarkson was pretty proud of her accomplishments and contribution in scouting and stabilizing that realm.”

“Yes. And she was not exaggerating. Each member of the team did great things in that realm. The first scouting team did their very best in documenting what they found. But they were not familiar with the best practices in tracing the movements and changes in the environment when it comes to a realm of this level of energy volatility - even our team, we only had theories in our heads and almost no practical experience.”

“Ms. Wong, you’re awake?” just this moment, an agent went into the medical tent: “Just to report that we have everything in order. The material and equipment for the malice containment array are mostly ready, can we proceed when we’re go?”

“Yes, just go ahead.” Josephine Wong nodded.

“Thank you. Ms. Wong.” the agent looked around in the tent and asked: “Hope I won’t disturb you anymore. Just that things are finally on track and totally under control, if ...”

“Out! We’re listening to a story here!” Vivian threw a folded up empty snack bag across the tent.

“Yeah, come back when you have something urgent.” Alexander stared at the agent: “We’re busy here.”

“Okay! Okay! Sure! My apologies...” the agent immediately backed out of the tent.

“So, what happened next?” Vivian laid back and stretched her arms: “I don’t suppose this Mr. Yu was in this realm with you? He’s not a member of the academy right?”

“He’s never been. The closest he’s been was being an audit student, and he didn’t even get to finish his audit program.” Josephine Wong smiled and shook her head: “But that was something for another time, and it’s probably more entertaining hearing it from him.”

“But what was he doing in that realm?” Blue asked: “Also - if he played a part in scouting and stabilizing that realm, wouldn’t he qualify for at least some access rights according to the International Treaty on the Discovery of New and Unexplored Realms?”

“Well yes, technically. And he still has free access rights to it today. He even forged his own realm - he calls it his farm, based partially on the environment properties of that place, and using some material harvested from it.” Josephine Wong checked her phone - she just received a notification from an agent that he would be exchanging shifts of taking care of Jianmen at Xianshi Inn with another agent, everything seemed stable and Jianmen’s condition did not seem to get worse. Also mentioned in the notification was that the healing materials she requested on Jianmen’s behalf were on their way: “But you know how things can go - after his relationship with the academy went a bit unfriendly, it would still be a lot of trouble for him to actually go there. So whenever he needs some material from the place, he would just barter them from me.

“And, as for what happened next -”

--------------------------

“Should we continue?” when the team found an empty cave near the ridge of the mountain, a good and safe distance away from the plain of swamps and tar lakes and pools, Professor Kapur sat down and asked: “That body back there - it gave me a really bad feeling. So I want to take your concerns into account before we go any further - if any of you want to halt this mission and go back for a regroup. It would be okay with me.”

“I think we should continue.” Dorothea Clarkson said: “This is a good chance for all of us, and completing it would serve as a big step for all - either for our careers as researchers, or even our path to professorship.”

“Seconded.” Glenda Grimes nodded: “I mean - I don’t care that much about potential Professorship, but this place, this realm is truly unique, and I would hate it if we just stop here on some potential danger and possibly hand it to somebody else.”

“Fine with me.” Josephine Wong said: “I’m worried, but I believe if we’re careful we could still get a lot out of this realm.”

“And you? Tony? Any objections?” Professor Kapur turned to Tony Barnes.

“I’d say we go slowly.” Tony Barnes thought for a short while and said: “Scout wide and carefully before we proceed. If the volatility of the environment would cause terrain changes in this short a time between us and the first team, then it’s safe to assume other pretty big changes could happen even while we’re here. We could only be more careful.”

“So keep going it is for us.” Professor Kapure smiled: “Let’s rest here for an hour. Then we continued on the general direction of the map.”