“So - are those the same crabs that some of our - less dignified colleagues keep in their underground bunkers from whom they extract the neural toxins?” Blue asked Josephine Wong with a frown: “Forgive me, but I haven’t bothered to look, it’s just that the horrible effects sounded kinda similar.”

“No, I think they might be related, but the deal we ended up making made sure that most of the dangerous creatures and their produce won’t leave Realm Greenrock.” Josephine Wong took a sip of tea served by one of the healers: “But as we later found, the realm had jump points to other realms as well, so they could be related. Definitely not directly from there though.”

“Huh.” Blue stirred his tea and nodded: “But if we go in there and search for it - do you think we’re gonna find things that could serve as an antidote?”

“We tried - but unfortunately we weren't able to.” Josephine Wong shook her head: “It’s definitely not for lack of trying, perhaps you’d be interested in visiting some day?”

“Yeah yeah, definitely.”

“So what happened next?” Vivian opened a bag of chips and started eating them with very loud crunches: “I would imagine you found the now-sorta-famous Professor Dorothea Clarkson and Professor Barnes after you found Professor Kapur - I haven’t heard of Glenda Grimes, but I would say she lived?”

“Yes, all of us lived.” Josephine Wong smiled: “I wouldn’t tell you if there wasn’t a happy ending.”

“But what else is so happy about it?” Pei continued with her knitting: “Besides getting to know Jianmen and having some very flirty dialogues? Don’t get me wrong - I just feel really sorry for Professor Kapur.”

“Well, she’s been slowly healing over the years. We believe she will be able to walk very soon.” Josephine Wong sighed: “It’s a slow process. But we are really confident.”

“So who did you find next?” Alexander asked.

“Dude, the question you need to ask is - what happened next!?” Vivian grabbed a handful of chips and shoved them in her mouth: “I mean why the hell do you wanna know who was rescued next, they’re safe! End of story!”

“Patience, young Vivian.” Pei chuckled: “The best part about a story is the journey.”

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

“So, you want the right to purchase materials from this realm at cost, and be on the priority trading list if there should be a shortage.” while sitting on a makeshift wooden chair carried by Jianmen on his back, Professor Kapur asked: “That’s a really big ask - usually the academy would want to put a maximum quota on how much you could buy.”

“And I wouldn’t expect your academy to do anything less.” Jianmen stopped as they reached the top of the small mountain ridge they were climbing towards: “And I am willing to negotiate, but your academy better be sure they can meet some of my other demands.”

“What kind of demands are you talking about?” Josephine Wong also stopped at the ridge, and she could almost feel a cool breeze from the lake on the lower ground in front of them, surrounded by green trees that were moving from the wind. By her rough estimate, it would take them around twenty minutes of walking to get to the lakeshore.

“This kind of realm is nice and all, but it’s not exactly the kind that suits my immediate needs.” Jianmen extended his hand forward and let Josephine Wong go first: “I would like a smaller realm, preferably a near earth realm somewhat adjacent to civilization and human society. It could be close to your magical world, or it could be close to the civilian world, or it could be somewhere in between but reasonably close to either.”

“Are you looking for somewhere to live? Or are you looking for somewhere to set up shop and do business?” Josephine Wong smiled and started walking down the slope.

“A little bit of both.” Jianmen answered: “I want a place I can call my own and build and decorate myself, stable and upgradable. ”

“I am pretty sure the academy has some of those.” Professor Kapur nodded: “And take this from me - as a token of my gratitude - ask for more and better. The academy has more useless realms than they know what to do with. A lot of realms are just space bubbles with almost nothing valuable inside. They call these realms flavorless real estate.”

“Huh, to think that my application for my own private realm is still pending.” Josephine Wong shook her head and scoffed: “What gives?”

“Realms that are close to the academy are not flavorless real estate.” Professor Kapur said: “They are typically reserved for senior researchers and faculty members who dedicated a lot of their time working for the academy.”

“So, location location location, just like real estate in the civilian world.” Jianmen laughed out loud: “Oh, but I wouldn’t want one that’s close to your academy or any other secret or high value places. Like I said - I just want a simple realm.”

“Oh, and what else?” Josephine Wong looked back at Jianmen and asked: “What else could you possibly want?”

“I want building materials.” Jianmen said: “A lot of them - energy conductive, easy to mold. And I want a lot of materials to craft my protective array.”

“I think that could certainly be arranged, but you gotta bargain with the academy first.” Professor Kapur laid back on the wooden chair so she could get a better view of the sky as Jianmen started following Josephine Wong down the slope.

“What do you wanna do with them?” Josephine Wong asked.

“Nothing too fancy. I wanna build an inn.”