All three exit portals in the leveled zones of the third sector were locked down. Multiple teams of Thirders were standing around, ready to deal with whatever came out. No matter who came out. When the alert had come in that the system portals were reinstated and that a Realm expansion wasn’t happening, all the third realm adventurers in standby were called.

  Artigan had spat on the Guild’s honor. Along with the sudden unrest of over fifty blacklisted dragonslayers, someone had the bright idea to bring back some faith and unity towards the Guild.

  Make a statement by putting Artigan into the ground.

  There were over thirty adventurers ready to take down one blacklister. By any metrics it was overkill. It didn’t stop there. Every single one of them had experienced [Heroic Challenge] by Latarro. Even some friendly dragonslayers had offered an experience against their Epics.

  The Guild Administrator of leveled zones in Sector Three looked on at the portal. It was more likely that the blacklister would run to Earth and wait until The Realm was in a lesser state of readiness.

  It didn’t really matter, this whole thing was partly a pr stunt. To show that the new generations of adventurers weren’t like the monstrous dragonslayers of old.

  The portal lit up. They all tensed. There was no way.

  “Scouts use your skills! Artifacts on the ready!”

  Half of the groups that were doing a Trial when the portals were locked down had been reported as being wiped out. A third had completed their Trials and the remainder had Trial breaks which unleashed frenzied monsters and armies into the area.

  Two thirds of the teams getting wiped out was a great tragedy. Trials were not predictable nor friendly when the timer extended.

  A big brown boot slammed forward from the portal as everyone flinched. Someone fired a shot as the bullet hit the [Rogue] near the stomach.

  The orc [Rogue] hadn’t been expecting an ambush.

  The Guild admin threw his hands up and started yelling at the other adventurers.

  “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”

  Two other figures came out of the portal as they hurried away from the swirling gateway. The orc captain, Valee put her hand to press down on the bullet wound.

  “Fuck! What the fuck? Don’t fire, I’m Valee Dubois!”

  “Someone check if it’s really her!”

  “Seems to be her, that’s her team too.”

  The [Mage] that seemed more worried about what would come out of the portal instead turned around to look at the ambush, and his injured leader.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  The Guild admin hurriedly walked forward trying to take control of the confusion. He stepped forward to Valee.

  Had they managed to take down the blacklister? That would be good news.

  “Team leader Valee Dubois, report!”

  Unfortunately Valee didn’t quite seem to recognize his position. She pointed at the particularly jumpy [Warrior] that had just shot her.

  “You little whore! What adventurer uses a gun?”

  “Adventurer Dubois! I said, report!”

  “Oh shit, apologies Admin.”

  Valee straightened up, not even wincing at the gutshot.

  “The blacklister known as Artigan invaded our Trial. After an encounter with him we decided to leave instead of risking a team wipe. While attempting to leave all the portals shut down and we mostly stayed out of each others’ way.” Valee looked around and back at the portal, “He’s a lunatic, there’s a good chance he’ll pick an exit portal in Sector Three. He might be coming this way now.”

  Everyone in the room stiffened at that. They put their hands back on their weapons.

  “So she worked with the blacklister?” Someone whispered, not so quietly.

  Valee glared as she pinpointed the person whispering.

  “That bastard knew our skills and callouts. I made the right choice that wasn’t likely to end up in a team wipe.”

  “Coward, we’ve all been preparing for a Realm expansion and -”

  This had not gone the way Guild admin had intended it to. He started barking orders.

  “Enough! Adventurer Dubois, you and your team should get out of the way, there’s been a development that you and your team aren’t aware of. Part of that development is that we are putting this blacklister down. Now.”

  Valee gave a good look at the ambushing team, then signalled to her team. Her team got out of the way of the portal, then she called out to him.

  “Reporting! I’d recommend an increase in the number of the people in direct contact. Tighten the ambush perimeter and knock down the walls. Make it an open battlefield instead of indoors. Don’t hold back.”

  The administrator rankled at the orc suddenly trying to tell him how to do his job, he looked at the twenty adventurers crowded in the building. They had guns, wands and nightvision goggles for that stealth.

  “You think this isn’t enough?”

  Valee looked at the adventurers then peered through the walls like she could hear beyond them, which she could. He remembered her skills.

  “No, expect another Epic at minimum. He dismantled two armies and took down a warrior based [General] and a mage based [Strategist]. If he decides to come out this way then expect the worst. He won’t come here without a plan.”

  Someone laughed. “C’mon that’s ridiculous.”

  Meanwhile the jumpy [Warrior] couldn’t let go of the ‘whore’ comment.

  “Thirty days and you couldn’t find an opportunity to take him down? Pathetic.”

  “Alright, enough! Thank you for the information adventurer Dubois. Get your wound treated. It’ll be paid for by the adventurer who just shot you.”

  Valee nodded at him, then looked at the [Warrior].

  “Good, I think this wound might need a moderate healing potion.” The orc then started poking at the bleeding gutshot, making the wound bigger.

  “You bitch! You’re just like your father.”

  Valee froze, her hands moved away from the wound as they tightened around her gauntlets. The ground trembled slightly as Valee seemed ready to murder the adventurer.

  A new skill? The admin filed it for later.

  “What the fuck did you just say?”

  “Enough! Last warning! Valee, get out of the way. There’s things that’s happened in The Realm that you don’t know about.”

  The orc leader was still glaring at the [Warrior], looking ready to strangle them. Bloodlust radiated from her in waves. In any other situation both of those things would have been impressive and noted down. The admin that had dealt with much higher realm adventurers coughed to try to get her attention.

  Her eyes and ears were darting and listening to the murmurs. She was noting the way everyone else didn’t look her in the eyes. Some were muttering, not knowing she had [Enhanced Senses]. Finally, she turned to the guild admin in concern.

  “Apologies sir, what’s going on?”

  He sighed, she’d probably heard it all by now.

  “Valee Dubois. Ludovic Dubois, your father, has been blacklisted.”

  “What?”

  –

  Once again Ryan felt a surge of power course through his veins. He felt no real desire to practice his sword forms despite the change in realm. Normally people would be incapable of holding back from moving or casting spells when going up a realm.

  Not him, not anymore. His Epic provided more of a rush than this did. He just calmly looked around the realm three saferoom.

  What used to be a bare empty safe room now had an extra table alongside a couch. Some snacks and a burger lay on top. Small rewards for rising up a grade. Ryan went over and started shoveling the food in his mouth. It didn’t taste amazing; these were just realm three rewards. Still, anything was better than unseasoned monster meat at this point.

  The middle table was now carved, still wooden but it looked like someone had taken care to create it. Very unlike the plain tables in the previous saferooms.

  Otherwise it was still a blank white room. As Ryan sat back on the couch, he checked his rewards.

  Maxing out [Double Stab] was expected, now the spectral second stab would take some level of power from his equipment. It would almost be the equivalent of stabbing twice with his soulsword.

  [Instant Dodge] breaking the level 10 milestone wasn’t too important but it would be noticeable in the cooldowns. Similar with [Dangersense].

  Now a level in his Epic he wasn’t sure would happen despite the S+ grade. It had to be noted that this was still a realm two achievement, S+ or not. There were no recorded situations like this in history. Though, plenty of people crossed the threshold at realm four with an Epic with an S grade WITHOUT a level.

  That meant S+ at realm two was worth as much or more than a standard S-grade at realm four. Now that was crazy.

  What those levels actually did? Ryan would have to experiment on his own.

  That was a little disappointing. He hadn’t actually heard of anyone picking something like [Minor Aura Imbue] for an enchantment before. It probably had something to do with his Epic. Everybody preferred something like [Qi Inducement] or [Magical Resonance].

  Then again…

  [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation]

  …The sword glowed red.

  Ryan wasn’t sure what he expected. He swung the sword and nothing felt different, there was no fancy extension of the blade or some secret trick. It just grew a little red. That was all.

  “Damnit.”

  As usual every single randomized option in the Trial System seemed to enjoy screwing him over. He moved on to bigger and better things.

  That first reward was the main reason why Ryan hadn’t cared too much about learning [Instant Dodge]. The S+ achievement naturally improved on all the previous rewards of the standard S grade, except it had three main things. The first being that he got to choose two different rewards from the table. But more importantly…

  He could increase his limited Trial slots. Most dragonslayers wouldn’t walk around with 5 trial slots. The vast majority of people had to work around four Trial skills. Ryan? He would permanently have five.

  The mutation chance was very nice and could help improve a Rare into an Epic. At minimum it could break the skill ceiling of a skill while keeping it the same rarity. Not something he really needed right now.

  These were still crazy options, something that didn’t just put him above everyone else in the same realm but made him someone that would be guaranteed to stand out in every realm, even dragonslayer. From the third Trial. It seemed silly but in truth?

  An S+ achievement rating in any realm was ridiculously rare. You could solo every Trial all the way to the tenth and never get it.

  Yet Ryan still expected it.

  Why?

  Because he’d assaulted Ulverra, he’d kidnapped Jecharim and done something nobody would ever dare in the Archmage Tyrant’s city. Then he had even taken a point off the Witch Tyrant, two if you included truly pissing her off and getting away with it using the excuse of Pinkie.

  Then he’d actually managed to trick Gamielle and probably surprise her too.

  Those alone constituted an S, if not S+.

  If you then included all the other stuff like the bullipede, Latarro and the extended Trial?

  An S+ was the minimum he deserved.

  He made the easy decision first.

  Then he checked the skill list. His accomplishments really showed in the first two skills alone.

  A full ten offerings of Rare or above skills. Two damned Epics he’d never heard of. [A Ruinous Insight] must have been an upgrade to [A Ruinous Thought], the skill he’d experienced as the [Saboteur].

  It was tempting to use his remaining reward on an additional skill choice and take both Epics. He doubted anyone had ever walked around at the third realm with three Epics before.

  Probably not even the Tyrants.

  It was a bad idea. Even if you ignored the possibility of mental influence from the words Ruinous and Fearless, the simple fact was that he’d be stuck with three Epics and only two free skill slots. Even a Rare Trial skill could take years to learn and Ryan wasn’t sure he’d be given that much time.

  Oh, and the chance to learn an Epic?

  Forget about it, the quickest confirmed learned Epic was three years. Many dragonslayers with decades of experience found that learning their Epic was a work that took decades.

  There was another option which was to constantly get S+ grades but that was pretty stupid to bet on. Even for him.

  Ryan moved on to look at the skill descriptions.

  Holy fuck.

  A fifteen day minimum cooldown with a full day’s worth of mental exhaustion. Ryan didn’t recall any other skill with that crazy of a cooldown. This was a fully mental skill, did his little trick forcing the Witch Tyrant to come into conflict with the Archmage Tyrant really deserve something like this?

  Ryan had no idea exactly how much playing ‘interference’ with the Archmage Tyrant had cost the Witch Tyrant. Now he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know. What would happen if he used it on her?

  Then as if the skill was truly suited to him, he doubled down and had a truly ruinous thought. What would happen if I used it on the Manager?

  Ryan shivered, then remembered the answer he’d gotten when the [Saboteur] had used a weaker skill.

  The immediate response was to threaten the Manager with his own life.

  You know what? I don’t think I need help with that.

  Ryan decided to move on.

  This was likely the evolution of [Reckless Charge]. A synergy with his current Epic might be a disaster considering Ryan had just barely felt like he’d gotten control over the mental aspect of ‘Unrelenting’.

  It was an absurd thought, but there was a serious argument for not picking either Epic. Both of them had words in front of their function that were bright red flags. Despite how he acted, he didn’t want to be Ruinous and Fearless in the long run.

  Ryan bled today so his future would be better, that was what he believed in. It was what the Trial System offered.

  That was his logical mind.

  Yet there was that little voice. That little gremlin voice that whispered of power and minmaxing. Of what could be. Of what happened when you gave yourself up to take the Skeleton Lord’s deal.

  His mind skipped ahead before he could stop himself. Synergies.

  [A Ruinous Insight] to raise the stakes, stack them sky high. [Fearless Cutdown] multiplied at sky high stakes, then when he succeeded?

  [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation] would reach its peak.

  His hands started sweating. What would happen if–

  He made his choice without thinking.

  He didn’t need those Epics. Ryan was doing perfectly fine without them. He could already plan ahead and ruin someone’s day. He was already fearless. Those portions would do nothing for him. It’s what he told himself.

  [Volatile Antimagic Throw] was a better choice in the end.

  Even if it wasn’t an Epic, the skill was crucial if he was going to tackle more [Mages]. Having it would have made the [Strategist] fight a joke. It would be incredibly entertaining blowing up barriers in [Mages] faces.

  There are no Epics in my skill offerings. There are no Epics in my skill offerings. There are no Epics in my skill offerings.

  Ryan checked out the next skill in his priority.

  It was the fourth rarest skill in his offering which meant that it was unlikely to improve from this without having evolved it into an Epic.

  Ryan needed this ability to defeat teams. He had been desperately wanting a finisher move for boss battles but he was realizing that it wasn’t a priority. His Trials had fully mutated into handling swarms of humanoid opponents. Speed would help him far more than a strong finisher move.

  His soulsword would do the rest.

  He checked the next two skills

  This skill was good, the more experience he had with different terrain, the quicker he’d travel. This actually included things like doing research and simply paying attention to your surroundings. Its precursor skills were great too, [Double Step] and [Advantageous Terrain] were both insanely useful both in and out of combat.

  If he used his last S grade reward and took this now there wouldn’t be a single team that could ever hope to catch up to him.

  Ryan looked at the other skill he was considering.

  Combat art and combat school skills were a weird classification of skills. It had once been a very important category for all melee combatants to pick it before the sixth realm. Having one used to distinguish you from other bulletproof adventurers and made you deadlier and more competent with whatever weapon you had.

  Now? It was outdated, a realm eight [Rogue] that couldn’t learn a combat school or a combat art on their own were considered failures. Even [Warriors] these days tended to pick up a specialized combat art on their own.

  It was still cool to be offered it. It meant that the Trial System had acknowledged him as being suitable for the skill.

  He ignored the other skills. [Aura of Fear] might help speed up his progress in learning his Epic but he didn’t need it. [Quick Switching] might be good too but it was wasted without some use of magic. Finally, [Enhanced Senses] lacked some punch compared to his other offerings.

  Now, what to do?

  In the end he took the logical choice. Ryan needed a breather and he really needed some people to talk to.

  [Return to Earth]

  He just hadn’t been expecting an ambush.

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