“That’s a bummer,” Tafel said upon reentering the Temple of the Frost Lord. Although there wasn’t a pile of rubble in the center of the building, there also wasn’t another tetrahedron with riddles inscribed on its faces. Instead, there was just a slight crater that the group hadn’t filled in before leaving. As for the rubble, all of it had been placed in Lindyss’ pocket, including the shard that had been embedded in the ceiling.

“Waste of food,” Vur said and nodded. Despite the temple being broken, it still required a month’s worth of food and water to enter. Vur’s eyes narrowed as he looked around. “Where does it go?”

“If I had to take a guess, the food probably maintains the functionality of the temple,” Lindyss said. “Maybe excess food is converted into mana that nurtures a hidden piece. Either way, I doubt you’re getting it back no matter how hard you look.”

“That settles it then,” Tafel said. “We’ll go to the other temples and look for hidden pieces there as well. Hopefully, not all of them require breaking the trial to obtain them. It’d be nice to get all the skills, but I don’t want to spend a whole ninety days here.”

“Excuse me,” Kim Hajun said from the back of the group. “If you do discover more hidden pieces with skills, by any chance, would you be willing to part with them? Rather than monopolizing the skills for yourself, wouldn’t it be more advantageous for you to gather subordinates by using those skills as a reward?”

Lindyss raised an eyebrow before gesturing towards Kax. “I already have a loyal subordinate, and it didn’t cost me anything.” A slight smile appeared on Lindyss’ lips as she stared at Kim Hajun. “Do you think you’re worth a rare skill just because you’ve taken a peek at the future?”

Kim Hajun straightened his back and puffed his chest out, taking a step forward while maintaining eye contact with Lindyss. “Absolutely,” he said. “My prophetic dream didn’t just inform me of the timeline of events; it was extremely realistic. You can say I have a lifetime of experiences under my belt. I’ve fought alongside dragons and gods. I’ve—”

“Been imprisoned by a dragon too,” Stella said, her head popping out of Vur’s chest.

Kim Hajun’s speech faltered, but he cleared his throat and ignored the fairy queen. “I’ve seen the inner workings of the tower; I know how the different factions are aligned. Where I come from, things you can get for free are nowhere near the quality of things you have to pay a premium for. I’m worth paying for.”

“So, you’re saying you’re better than Kax,” Lindyss said, the small smile still on her lips. She turned her head to the side to observe the red-haired man’s expression. “What do you think about that, Kax? Agree? Disagree?”

The red-haired man narrowed his eyes at Kim Hajun. “In Kax home world, weaklings know their place; those who don’t, they lose everything, life included.”

“Ooh, those are fighting words,” Stella said. She retreated into Vur’s chest and reappeared with a handful of sunflower seeds—which, admittedly, wasn’t that many considering how tiny her hands were. “Should we have another bet? Kax Ammer against Kim Hajun, who wants to make the first wager?”

Kim Hajun stared at Kax. The well-dressed man’s eyes narrowed. Wasn’t this the perfect chance to eliminate a future threat? “I don’t engage in petty squabbles,” Kim Hajun said. “If you want to fight me, you’ll have to put your life on the line.”

“You’ve never sparred someone before?” Stella asked, cracking open a sunflower seed with her hands by squeezing it. She took out the seed and nibbled on it, letting the empty hull drop to the ground. “Shows how much experience you have.”

A tiny crack appeared on Kim Hajun’s poker face, his left eye twitching once. If the fairy queen weren’t literally attached to a humanoid dragon, he would’ve thrown a fireball at her. Kim Hajun turned his gaze away from Kax and met Lindyss’ gaze. “If I soundly defeat Kax, will you consider entertaining what I’ve said?”

“Sure,” Lindyss said with a bright smile. “If you can defeat Kax, we’ll consider giving you a hidden piece as an investment, but what if you lose?” She took out a piece of parchment from her pocket. “How about you bet your soul?”

A shiver ran down Kim Hajun’s spine upon seeing the beautiful woman offer him a piece of paper to sign. Every cell in his body shouted at him to refuse the offer, but could he do that? He already missed out on the rudimentary wind magic and Constitution of the Lightning Lord. His future plans had gone far off course. If he wanted to correct them, he needed a skill equivalent to those two abilities to make up for it. Wasn’t it just his soul? If the future he had seen came to pass, he’d wish he only had to give up his soul. Kim Hajun narrowed his eyes. Opportunities only came knocking once. He stepped forward and grabbed the quill that Lindyss offered with the parchment before signing his name on the blank line.

“Quite confident, aren’t you?” Lindyss asked, the smile still on her face. She turned towards Vur. “Will you do me a favor, Vur?”

Vur blinked and tilted his head.

“Would you be a dear and buff Kax for me?”

“Sure,” Vur said, causing Kim Hajun’s eyes to bulge. Vur pointed at Kax, and a stream of silver mist flew out of Vur’s finger, wrapping around Kax before surging into the red-haired man’s temples. The four runes representing the elementals lit up on Vur’s body, and Kax grunted as heat flooded his body, surging from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers and toes. The red-haired man let out a low growl as he hunched over, the veins on his muscular torso enlarging like thick, wriggling worms. With a roar, Kax raised his head, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes with crimson irises. He exhaled through his nostrils, shooting two jets of thick steam towards the ground, and yanked on the bone shaft of the axe hanging from his waist, tearing the leather strap holding it in place as he wielded the weapon.

“W-wait a second,” Kim Hajun said, doing his best to maintain his poker face. “This isn’t what we agreed upon.”

“Go get ‘im, Kax!” Stella said through a mouthful of sunflower seed. “Rip his heart out!”

Vur blinked and looked down at the fairy queen coming out of his chest. He tapped her head, lightly admonishing her. “Don’t speak while chewing.”

Stella swallowed. “Right, sorry. I got too excited.”