- The Realmnet: where unverified adventurers are Earthers, Leaflegends are elves that take too long getting out of their teen years, and accounts that insult the Witch Tyrant are children. @Lostcrow (Unverified)

  “What the hell?!”

  A giant fortress rose from the mountain. A mountain that was several times larger than Mount Everest. Dragonslayers launched an earth shattering bombardment that lasted for minutes. Ryan’s jaw kept dropping the longer the video went. From beginning till the end, everything had been captured in immaculate detail.

  It then cut to the Dwarven Tyrant’s jolly face.

  “This here is the Crafter’s Hometress. Wait, that's stupid, the Crafter’s Home. For all of ye that want to learn a craft, that want to forge yourselves beyond just war, you are welcome here. I am the Magitech Engineer Tyrant, not Dwarven Tyrant, ya hear me?”

  The video ended there. It was also titled the Rise of the Dwarven Tyrant’s Fortress. Ryan had always thought the Dwarven Tyrant was the silliest of the Tyrants.

  “Man the world really underestimated him huh?”

  Seffara shook her head, unhappy about the whole affair.

  “Seems like he really had a lot of free time.”

  The overengineered fortress could house millions of people and possibly fight off every dragonslayer by itself. From a different point of view it was obvious what the fortress was really for. It was the Tyrants preparing for the next war, not against Earth, but against the upcoming apocalypse.

  Ryan scrolled through the news articles while sipping juice. Most people online were talking about the potential of being able to use that fortress to explore some of the more dangerous Sectors as a Realmer as well as wondering about its full capabilities. Some were already changing their Tyrants tier list, putting the Dwarven Tyrant at the middle if not near the top three of combat capability with an asterisk.

  “Nobody’s really talking about me, huh?”

  Seffara raised an eyebrow at him. She seemed to remember his words with the [Secretary].

  “There’s more than there should be about a new third realm rookie. I checked out what they were preparing for your ambush, thirty adventurers camping each portal and even a few eighth realm squads canvassing the non leveled zones. I’d stay out of The Realm until it cools down.”

  “It’s fine.”

  Barry was sharp as always.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, both of the ‘weakest’ direct combat Tyrants just stomped tens of dragonslayers each right? Why don’t I do the same with my ambush?”

  Seffara looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you joking?”

  “I need to smooth out the edges of my plan but I’m planning on making a statement. I might ask you for help on knowing exactly what kind of mundane defenses they have but for the most part, I think I can do it.”

  Barry didn’t look at him like he was out of his mind, the orc didn’t seem to doubt Ryan’s capability, just his attitude.

  “And you’re fine with killing Realmbound?”

  “I’ll go to the place with the least amount of realmbound. Besides, I highly doubt that they’re going to send realmbound on an assault like this.” Ryan paused as he tried to find the words. “The point is to challenge them and myself, I stack myself up against them and see if I can win. If they can outsmart me then they get the boost in achievements. Achievement boosting each other, that’s it.”

  Seffara hesitated, long enough for Barry to cut in.

  “And why are you so desperate to get stronger? Why don’t you tell us what you’ve been hiding from us? You said the Witch Tyrant doesn’t care about her secrets.”

  Ryan didn’t even blink, he’d been prepared for this one.

  “When were you going to tell us about your encounter with Pinkie the dragonslayer? Communication and secrets work both ways Barry. What was it, lesson three? You both sent me away the moment there’s been danger and haven’t told us about it.”

  The orc had no response to that. Ryan had kept the reason why the Witch Tyrant wanted new Legends a secret. Barry and Seffara had kept the fact that they had encountered Pinkie the dragonslayer a secret from either of them.

  The only reason Ryan knew in the first place was because Pinkie had let it slip.

  Seffara took a huge gulp from her flask, she side-eyed the silent orc.

  “Rookie’s got us there Barry.”

  “Seff, look at him, look at his aura–”

  “No Barry, cool off and take a breather.”

  Ryan changed the topic.

  “What do you think about me attacking adventurers trying to kill me? You’re the one that told me not to hesitate, and you’re supposed to be the heroine here.”

  She rolled her eyes at the word ‘heroine’.

  “Very funny. Frankly, I can’t get past the idea that you think you can take on a thirty person ambush.” Seffara raised a hand before he could speak, “I know, I know, you’ve beaten an army. But Trials are meant to be completable. Adventurer fights get nasty, a single skill at the right moment can kill anyone, anything.”

  “Other than the Tyrants apparently,” Ryan muttered.

  “Are you comparing yourself to the Tyrants?” Barry asked, incredulous.

  “I bet I’m stronger than they were at my Realm.”

  “Congratulations, you’re now the cockiest rookie I’ve ever met. And that means something.”

  Seffara slammed her hand onto the table before the two meatheads could get at it. Then she looked at her hand. She took another swig while shaking her head.

  “I can’t believe I’m the one mediating. It really is like old times.”

  Milock interjected, trying to stop Barry and Ryan from arguing.

  “Ryan, do you really think you can take on thirty adventurers? All of them in an ambush?”

  “I’m not an idiot, I do have a plan.”

  Seffara raised an eyebrow. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

  Ryan explained his plan. He’d had a whole month to work on it.

  Step one: take a random teleport while wearing gear from the Trial. Take off the mask.

  Step two: travel as a thirder looking to grind skills. He added that he could also pretend to be hunting Artigan as well.

  Step three: confirm with Gamielle that she would stop any unfair attacks like a sniper or missile strikes.

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  Step four: ambush the ambushers. Attack the portal camping teams with [Volatile Antimagic Throw]. He had brought a spear from the soldiers in the Trial and he’d throw it while triggering all the mages that were forming barriers.

  Step five: make it a hunting vs hunted situation. Get out of range of radio towers and start picking off adventurers where he could. He’d harass them in the long grass of the Emerald Hills, take the fight to them and see if he’d win or they’d make him flee. Even if he lost he’d be helping the achievements of adventurers he could respect.

  Step six: If he won? He’d post it on realmnet and gloat about it.

  “Well shit.” Seffara muttered, picturing the scene herself, then shook her head, “a single skill, a stray bullet. That’s all it takes. Just because what you’re thinking is possible doesn’t mean it’ll work.”

  Barry spoke up before Ryan could argue, the orc directed his attention at Seffara.

  “Listen to him Seff, really listen to him and check his aura. He’s desperate for another fight. He’s going to kill a lot of people if he goes in now.”

  Ryan remembered his statement to the Witch Tyrant. When he said he’d challenge the world and try to keep everyone alive, he’d half meant it as a performative thing, he’d even been standing over a dead [Mage]! It was an ideal he wanted to keep, but he still needed to challenge the world.

  He’d try his best to keep adventurers alive but he knew challenging the world would never be a clean thing. It would come with costs.

  Costs that he knew Barry had paid before.

  “And you haven’t killed before, Barry? You were an adventurer during the Settler generation right?”

  “Watch it.” Seffara warned.

  But Ryan didn’t stop there, he couldn’t, not when it was clear that the orc himself had also carved his way with blood.

  “You were part of the army right? How many people did you kill to get that aura of yours? Are you really preaching to me right now when I at least know what I stand for?”

  The veteran stood up. He didn’t look at Ryan but walked out of the silence bubble and out the dining room.

  [Lesser Dangersense]

  Ryan ducked under the table as glass shards were thrown at his head. Seffara had thrown a glass pitcher and it had shattered mid-throw. A loud sigh made the hairs on his neck rise.

  “Well now this really is old times.”

  He still hid under the table while trying to appeal to the heroine.

  “Wait Seff. You’re the one that told me to defend myself if they want to kill me. Is attacking them first so horrible?”

  The heroine clicked her tongue. “I can’t judge that.”

  Ryan sighed in relief, then a large crack made both him and Milock jump in surprise. The table he was using to block line of sight from Seffara was no more. Ryan peered between the horizontal split of the Aviela table.

  Seffara had split the table perfectly with her fist.

  “But I do know when someone needs a bit of a beating.”

  The [Knight] picked up half of a table and threw it at the fleeing [Rogue].

  –

  The ninth realm adventurer, Seffara the Sapphire, had been hailed as a hero in times long past. She had been considered an exemplary American who had hailed the way for women to become adventurers.

  She was loud, boisterous, made mistakes but more importantly of all? She was righteous.

  The heroine had conquered another evil. One that had all the makings of becoming a true threat to both worlds. She stood atop her vanquished foe as she took a swig of drink in victory.

  Ryan just felt the boot of a drunk oppressor as a [Warrior] thrice his realm stepped on his back. Seffara sighed in content.

  “Oh man, I missed this.”

  “You mean beating someone that can barely fight back?”

  Ryan squeaked as Seffara stepped harder.

  “Yep. I used to do it all the time. A bit of an argument, then I’d have a scrap that I’d win.”

  There really hadn’t been much of a ‘scrap’. It was mainly just Seffara swinging him around at her own furniture.

  “Just wait, when I get to your realm I’ll be the one throwing you around.”

  “Hah! That just means I should take every chance to beat you up now.”

  For the first time in what felt like awhile, Ryan decided he needed to learn to keep his mouth shut. He kept squirming, trying to slip away with [Partial Acceleration] to make her foot slip off him.

  It didn’t work.

  “Milo stop recording and help me.”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  The traitor had been sitting in the corner recording everything on his laptop. Seffara had been careful to make sure the ordinary human was out of harm’s way. Ryan gave up squirming and sighed.

  “I went too far didn’t I?”

  Seffara shook her head. “Maybe a little. Barry will be fine, he just realized I was pissed off and went out of swinging range. That stupid green hardass still sees me as a clumsy, unacclimatized [Warrior].”

  Then she flexed her bicep, her armor showing incredible flexibility as it expanded to match the sudden increased size.

  “I wasn’t always this good at controlling myself, you know.”

  “Right - ow, okay, okay I’m sorry.”

  Seffara had booted a rib when she heard the sarcasm. Ryan twisted his neck to look up at her.

  “So, were you the one out of control and Barry the cool one?”

  The heroine laughed, “completely wrong again, Barry was the one that went out of control, there’s a reason why he was never famous.”

  Milo perked up, eager for more information about the mysterious orc, “I tried to look up stuff about Barry but there isn’t much other than he got a dishonorable discharge. The few comments I could find from other soldiers were that he was an asshole that everyone hated.”

  Seffara’s grin faded, “Without Barry I wouldn’t have…” the heroine trailed off, her eyes reflecting older darker days.

  Seffara’s story was part of history. She had been a distinguished soldier that had started speaking out against the army’s actions. Even during the peak of the war against the Tyrants, the US government quietly dismissed her from The Realm for those comments.

  Seffara had then worked as a disaster relief superhuman on Earth, doing her best to save lives, wherever she was needed. She had stayed out of sight during the golden generation, quietly working away on Earth, saving lives where she could.

  With that as her background, it wasn’t a wonder that she’d blown up in fame when a few people attempted to jump start a superhero generation. Her story as a quietly disgruntled veteran that had already been doing her best to save lives on Earth gave a genuine background that very few could match with.

  People like Latarro still paid respect to her group by tinting his own armor blue.

  It was only in the past two decades that Seffara’s status had turned into history. Stagnation in the ninth realm and a clear desire to stay out of the spotlight had helped facilitate it.

  Some people had called her washed and afraid. Many more still waited for her to return.

  Ryan saw the truth in Seffara’s eyes. She wouldn’t challenge the dragon, she seemed mostly done with fighting and Earth. Ryan had witnessed the eyes of older dragonslayers like the Witch and Pinkie. They both still had fire, even Barry still raged.

  Seffara didn’t have it.

  Whether subconscious or not, she had refused to push Ryan for the truth he knew.

  The heroine stepped off of Ryan’s back and stared at the mess of broken furniture in the room.

  The weary heroine began picking up the pieces. The dastardly villain dusted himself off and went to help, he signalled to his minion.

  “Oi Milock, come on.”

  “Man, but I didn’t do any of this.”

  “Exactly why you should help.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Milo grumbled.

  “Uh,” Ryan paused, “you know what they say, for evil to triumph good men have to do nothing.”

  “Dunno, it seems like evil never had a chance.”

  Ryan threw a piece of wood at his friend. Milo promptly threw it back as he easily dodged out of the way. Ryan picked up another piece to throw at his friend. He got hit from behind by a particularly large piece of wood.

  “Hey! Help or piss off!”

  –

  “Smells nice.”

  “Yup, the smell of burning smoke infused with mana.”

  Seffara took a deep breath in front of the bonfire made out of the pieces of the Aviela table. The smoke visibly shifted towards Seffara’s face as she greedily took it all in.

  Barry was still nowhere to be found, Seffara had said that the orc was meditating elsewhere. It was a bit of a relief, Ryan still had no idea what to say to Barry. An apology?

  “You should go home for a bit,” Seffara said.

  “Sorry what?”

  “Barry’s normally right about these things.”

  “From their perspective I just left, it’d be weird to go back now. I’m perfectly fine.”

  Seffara shook her head.

  “Just for a week. I should have noticed earlier, you did come back from a war.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. Do you really trust his judgement that much?”

  “You’d trust him too if you knew him.”

  Seffara looked to the fire, her gemstone like irises were gone. They were back to being regular hazel eyes that reflected the light.

  Milo, never the one to notice the mood, interrupted her thoughts.

  “Can you tell us about you and him? Seriously, the internet has nothing.”

  The heroine was silent for a moment, she looked at Milo, then at Ryan. Then she made up her mind.

  “Yeah, fair enough. This is a little personal, but you are right, trust goes both ways. If Barry wants answers from you then we should give you ours too. Listen closely because I don’t like talking about this. It involves me, Barry and the start of the war with the Tyrants.”

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