Ryan stepped into the safe room, the letter from the Manager burning a mental hole in his pocket. He stepped towards the table in the middle as it held his reward.

  His reward for an S- achievement clear. He checked his notifications.

  The benefits to his body were almost immediate. If a Realm 0 [Rogue] was someone at the peak level of physical talent attainable on Earth, Realm 1 was where he could win a competition against anyone with little practice. Nobody on Earth could beat a Realm 1 [Rogue] in close combat.

  He snapped a knife from his holster and then twirled it around his fingers. Doing tricks he’d forgotten how to do. Then he pushed further. He took out the other knife from his strap and started juggling them.

  He almost couldn’t stop grinning. The best part? This was just the smallest of his rewards.

  His heart beat as he waited for the next-

  It was almost a disappointing reward. One reward in the S grade pool was to get an extra Trial skill point. That would have given him three skills at realm 1 instead of two. That would have really made him stand out.

  At least it wasn’t a guidance session with the Manager. That was a legitimate S-tier reward. It could apparently result in unique build paths and unknown secrets about The Realm. If Ryan had gotten it, he was pretty sure he would have lost his mind.

  He shouldn’t complain. An S-tier achievement for the First Realm was almost impossible these days. The problem was arguably Earth’s greatest resource: the internet. Realm achievements heavily penalized working on prior knowledge, and the First Trial was so standardized that it was nearly impossible for anyone who grew up with the internet to get an S grade. Which was everyone.

  There were stories of people using one arm to clear the First Trial, only to end up getting an A for their grade.

  In a sense, one could say that Ryan had gotten ‘lucky’.

  He shook his head as he looked at his reward. He stripped off his clothes until he was in his boxers and started putting the gear on.

  The underlayer of the outfit was a sleek and somewhat thin black leather. The other pieces of the [Rogue] gear were fastened on top. Thick dark brown leather made up the padding for slightly bulky shoulder pads, bracers and leg pads. It even came with simple black boots that seemed to reflect the light.

  The first part of the chest piece looked like a thin leather jacket. It felt like it had an odd mesh that might give some resistance but nothing like what his thicker leather padding did. His chestpiece came together in the front, buttons instead of a zipper. Eight silvery buttons in two rows, four on each side lined down his chest. The front looked quite similar to what a chef’s outfit did.

  Except in black leather and silver buttons. He wrinkled his nose, silver buttons didn’t make sense for a [Rogue] but it’d do for now. Maybe he’d paint them black later.

  Ryan put on the outer layer pants that came with the outfit. It was a similar material to the jacket.

  Finally, he put up the cowl, the shadowed effect immediately covering his face. He could still see with perfect vision. There was zero hindering of his peripheral vision.

  He really wished he had a mirror. He either looked like the most dangerous realm one [Rogue], or one really edgy cosplayer.

  He fastened his standard knife pack onto his chest and the sword to the belt by his side. They didn’t quite fit right with the rest of his outfit, but that was fine. There was something to be said for an adventurer wearing mismatched gear.

  There was also the Skeleton Lord’s golden crown and broken wand on the table. He grabbed them both.

  Then he took the letter and shoved it into an inner pocket in his jacket.

  This gear gave him options. Ryan could deliver the letter and ditch the outfit, then sign up for the adventurer’s guild later, take the Quest bonus and not suffer the attention it would bring.

  It sounded like a good plan, but he was pretty sure he could think of a better one.

  Normally, this would be when he’d use the [Return To Earth] skill. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for him, Ryan checked out his skill tab.

  Ryan stared at the list, completely in shock.

  Two Rare skill offerings, almost unheard of for a First Realm adventurer. He knew a potential anti-magic skill was coming with how he’d dealt with the skeleton lord-but the descriptor in front? That should have made it a high tier Rare.

  Somehow, [Unrelenting Pressure] was above that. Ryan frowned, unsure if he’d heard of the skill before. There were lots of skills like it.

  A passive skill with an active and a passive that improved presence? This skill was nearly Epic quality. The name, however…

  Ryan contemplated it for a good minute but in the end shook his head. It was too problematic of a skill. He wouldn’t be able to walk around without causing a disturbance. Not until he mastered the skill, and who knew how long that would take. The word ‘Unrelenting’ made him pretty sure it would be one of those pain-in-the-ass skills to learn.

  Double damn.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve this. The zombies were mindless, the soldiers hadn’t seemed afraid of him. The Skeleton Lord? There was no way the boss felt fear from him. Ryan didn't bother thinking too much about it. Sometimes the Trial System did throw skills at people they hadn’t quite deserved. It was called the Trial System after all.

  He moved onto the next skill.

  This was the real crowning jewel of the skill list and something he’d take sooner or later. Antimagic skills could be used to break magical traps and counter mobs that naturally used mana. You could even evolve it to encompass the other energies.

  At a certain point, adventurers would have to stop and try to grind for a chance at an antimagic skill. Even then, most people ended up with an Uncommon rather than a Rare skill. Making a Trial boss explode with its own [Firebolt] had let Ryan skip that particular grind.

  Ryan laughed shakily, remembering that encounter.

  “Maybe I was a little out of my mind trying that.”

  It was clear that the S- achievement score boosted his skill rarities by a significant amount. It just hadn’t been something he expected to happen. So few people achieved even an A grade in the lower Trials these days.

  He continued down his skill list.

  [Reckless Charge]... No, just no. This one was definitely a mistake. Ryan was a perfectly logical and rational person. Everything he’d done had been calculated and was the safest possible decision to take. It was the Trial System offering random skills. It had to be.

  This… This was good. Stacking passives was a slower but much more reliable long term path to power. Plus true speedsters were often unmatched in direct combat. Another skill that became terrifying with increased levels and mastery.

  This one had potential for Ryan to master quicker than any of the other skills. It wasn’t just that it was the lowest rarity in the list, but it was the fact that it was a purely physical active. [Rogues] tended to have an easier time learning those.

  Learning a skill was different from leveling one. When you did, the skill would be removed from the Trial skill slot and be placed under the learned skill list. Considering that most people only had access to four Trial skill slots, picking and choosing easy-to-learn skills along with the ones made you unique was incredibly important.

  Ryan had a few “perfect” builds for himself. It probably made more sense to wait to find a team and see any openings but…

  He had one life left. For now, he was taking all the safety he could get. He jumped into the air and then activated the skill.

  [Instant Dodge]

  It was like he had kicked off from nothing, the activation threw him across the room at high speed and he whooped in joy. It was perfect. Now this was a skill, one which would be far, far more useful than something that just added another stab.

  He took out the letter one last time. Then he opened it to check the contents once again, just to make sure. He swore that if the letter had a single thing off about it he’d throw it away and damn the consequences. Yet everything was there, no trap as he read the sentence once again.

  That was a loaded sentence. Mezhar was the only person to have ever beaten a Tyrant in a one on one. Not only that, he had faced the Chieftain Tyrant, widely argued as the strongest Tyrant of them all.

  Asking Ryan to deliver this to a Guild receptionist was like asking a child to deliver nuclear codes to a local police chief. He had no idea why this message was so important, just that the Manager wanted him to deliver it.

  He was already knee deep in shit considering the soldiers he killed were from his own country. Now the Manager wanted him to send this?

  He shoved the letter back into his pocket and shook his head. He’d figure out a way to deliver it without getting caught. The Realm had quite a few laws that would help him with that.

  Straightening himself out, he took one last look at the room behind him. On the table were the clothes from the Trial and his sneakers. The last thing he had from Earth. He stomped over and looked down at the table.

  Then he kicked it over. Was it childish? Yes. Was it also appropriate? Also yes.

  This time, Ryan walked out. The door in the room having upgraded itself to a slightly more carved door, a representation of his progress in the realms.

  He picked the second option, and the town that was the least developed: Pailos, the frontier town for Sector 1.

  –

  Zedart Kelly did not like his name. For his first name his parents had decided to pick something unique so he would stand out. That hadn’t been too uncommon… in their generation, maybe. The real problem wasn’t with his first name. It was his last name. Zedart was an adventurer's name, a [Swordmaster]’s name. A fine name. His last name? Kelly?

  It kept reminding him of his roots, of his parents' insistence that he grow up like they did. As a regular kid in Australia.

  Not that he ever could. Not with a name like his, not with the fact that he was an elf surrounded by other Australian kids with bad humour, not with dragonslayer parents.

  His mind wandered as he sat at the table, like he did for the past two months. Two months of searching and Zedart had found only one member that met his standards.

  Then again, to only spend two months to find a [Mage] like Gamielle, even with all her… eccentricities. Zedart would have happily waited for another year.

  Maybe his standards were too high. He was getting worried that she would leave if he took too long. Gamielle hadn’t said anything about leaving, but she’d been visiting Earth more and more frequently. What would happen if she found a team on Earth and they didn’t need him?

  Gamielle had even looked disappointed to find out that he had only been offered a regular [Warrior] class and not a [Swordsman] class. Zedart had been disappointed as well.

  As doubt danced in his mind, the stone archway in the middle of the room lit up.

  All conversation in the room halted. Zedart wasn’t the only one looking for a team member. Having someone camp the exit portal was considered standard practice amongst realm one adventurers. Four different groups of varying sizes eyed the portal as the smart ones looked towards the Guild Receptionist.

  The receptionist looked surprised too. That meant that this was an unscheduled Trial completion.

  A Destined.

  Zedart lowered his hopes. As did everyone else. Every single realm one Destined had been disappointments. They were so happy, so content. Like being chosen for the Trial System was all they had ever wanted.

  A sleek black boot was the first thing that appeared from the portal. That was normal, but as the rest of the Destined showed themselves, the room went completely still. A fully kitted out [Rogue] showed up in sleek black and dark brown. Metal studs glimmering in contrast to the dark outfit, almost like the [Rogue] wanted to show off and the dark leathers was just for fashion.

  The whispering started.

  “An S grade?”

  “Th-there’s no way, right? It has to be a trick.”

  The others paid attention to the equipment, but Zedart paid attention to what was missing. One throwing knife was gone from his chest strap. No guns, no potions.

  The new [Rogue] was carrying a broken wand and a cracked golden crown.

  A Destined that hadn’t used [Return To Earth] and soloed a Trial. No emergency gear. Either this was the greatest poser or… Zedart’s hopes rose as he put a hand on his chair and started to rise.

  The Destined looked around, a shadow effect masking the view of his face. His cowl swept around and then seemed to pause on him. For a moment, Zedart felt like he was the one being evaluated. He froze halfway, his hand twitching for his sword.

  Zedart desperately wanted to challenge the [Rogue] in an Adventurer’s duel. Find out if this was who he had been waiting for. But he hesitated. For some reason, Zedart had a feeling he’d lose.

  The Destined looked away from him like he was disappointed. and walked briskly to the counter. All eyes were on the new [Rogue] as the whispering grew louder.

  Countless hours of mastery, of blood sweat and tears and Zedart thought he’d lose?

  The nervous receptionist blinked at the decked out [Rogue].

  “W-welcome, adventurer, would you like to register?”

  Even Sabrina was rattled. How many years had it been since the last S-grade achievement on the First Trial? The room had already moved onto full doubt.

  “It has to be fake.”

  “Could be a spy.”

  The [Rogue] ignored all of it. Like it was beneath him to argue.

  “I’d like to register. The adventurer’s standard please.”

  A fairly normal voice came out from the cowl. It was young, maybe as young as he was. Zedart got more curious as he wanted to challenge the [Rogue] more than ever.

  There was a shift in the [Rogue]'s posture as the receptionist responded.

  “Of course, please state your full name and remove your cowl for the camera.”

  “Hooooooold it!”

  A cheerful voice yelled out, sprinting to the counter. The bouncy figure had started sprinting from before the [Rogue] had tensed. Zedart wondered if the Destined had somehow noticed the [Mage] running at him when nobody else had been paying attention.

  Wait a second, a loud bouncy figure? He knew that voice.

  Oh no.