Chương 207: Chapter 204 - Self-Defeat

You were taught a lot of things when you first became a skill assistant at Raidco's Mastery. Skill mastery was ironically not one of them. After all, if you were getting hired here you were scouted from the best of the best. No, the first and most important thing you learned when you got hired was to deescalate, deescalate, deescalate. While it had been a couple years since the last real adventurer incident in San Kingsgrove, the last thing Grevich wanted was to be caught up in the middle of one.

It was only a matter of time before adventurer Robinson realized—"Oh, you were talking about me. Why am I a prick?" Both Grevich and Raidco's front receptionist had their eyes wide open, their training kicking in. Before Mudriff could stammer a reply, Grevich cleared his throat.

"Ahem, adventurer Mudriff was having a particularly tough session and I believed it best if we took a recess before attempting it again. I had not taken his reply before rushing here to meet you. It is entirely my fault. My apologies." He slightly bowed his head while keeping eye contact with adventurer Robinson. A staple technique against American Adventurers. While it was a bit of a hurried response, it did the trick, Ryan was looking a little awkward about the whole situation.

After all, Grevich had good favor with adventurer Robinson. It was much better to redirect the blame to himself. As a bonus, adventurer Mudriff looked glad for the timely intervention. Ryan was apparently stuck on something else.

"Mudriff? What kind of adventurer's name—anyway, hey Mudriff, you're making Grevich nervous. Be nicer around civilians, alright?"

"Of course. I'm sorry, skill assistant Grevich." It wasn't adventurer Mudriff that made the two civilians nervous. The fourther [Warrior] was a known quantity at Raidco's Mastery. A little short tempered perhaps, but Mudriff would never ever truly get physical with anyone outside of training. No, the problem was adventurer Robinson. Both Grevich and the receptionist had seen Ryan switch from being completely pleasant to irrational fury at the flip of a hat.

Someone that could glare at the Secretary was someone that cared little about social norms or about consequences to his own well-being. And that was dangerous to everyone around them. Though you couldn't see any of that now. Adventurer Robinson looked a little awkward, having dressed down someone who might have been weaker than him but was definitely older than him. He turned to Grevich.

"Are you sure you're free? If you're fully booked, I can just work in a free room on my own." Grevich turned to adventurer Mudriff, who was clearly happy to end their session for today. Grevich turned back around.

"I actually wanted to discuss the method for your skill activation with you. We never actually got to talk and assess because we were interrupted. I was wondering if you could shed some light on what was going on in your mind at the time of activation. For future refinement purposes of course." That got the attention of everyone in the room. The other two adventurers in the lobby were the same as Mudriff. Desperate and stuck with four filled skill slots. Ryan had to think about his answer for a second.

"I was focusing on the meaning of my skill. Breaking them down into different words and thinking about their concepts. I was so focused on the feeling of physical movement I forgot about the dodge part. That was what helped." …You could feel the energy and hope drain out of the room. There were no grand secrets here, just an adventurer with high affinity figuring out all they had to do was focus on the meaning of the words to activate the skill on his own. Still, Grevich had to be professional.

"Ahem, then what do you require help with?" Ryan looked a little awkward with how intensely the room was staring at the two of them.

"Well, I wanted to ask you if you could do a couple recordings for me. Just a couple of keywords related to some of my skills and classes–class." Grevich heard the trip-up on the word 'classes' but that was obviously just a mistake. He tried to understand what adventurer Robinson was asking of him.

"Recordings?"

"You know, how you basically put me in a trance? I was wondering if you could record a couple lines for me so I could play it back on my own and…" Adventurer Robinson trailed off as Grevich's mask of absolute professionalism finally slipped. The most sought after skills assistant in the world was not being requested because of his vast expertise with classes and skills. Grevich was being requested because his voice had been soothing. This time Ryan's awkwardness didn't seem like an act.

He seemed genuinely apologetic when he realized just what he was asking from a foremost expert on Trial skills. Adventurer Robinson started to backtrack.

"You know what, I probably should have shopped around for a voice actor or one of those book narrators. They're probably a lot cheaper than you are so…" Grevich had his professional mask back up. Realistically speaking, it wasn't insulting at all to assist in what was likely to be a promising adventurer… even if Grevich was going to be dropped to the level of a mere narrator. Perhaps it was still possible that he was going to see something he could use later… And he apparently wasn't the only one to think of it.

Surprisingly, Mudriff stepped up. Whatever shame he had felt from the recent encounter completely overridden by desperation.

"Adventurer Robinson—""Please, just Ryan."

"Ryan, is it possible to listen in on your discussion with Grevich? If you are worried about privacy I can swear on a contract or anything else you might need." Ryan turned to Grevich as if asking the assistant if he was the one that needed to be okay with it. Before Grevich could answer, the other two adventurers in the lobby took a glance at each other and stood up and blurred towards them. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"I'd also be happy to swear to keep your secret if I can watch the process." The two extra people seemed to put adventurer Robinson on guard.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with so many people listening in on—" The other fourther in the room, Anjalith, stepped forward first.

"I have a [Smith] working with my family on retainer, you can use my portion of their services, their skills provide long lasting sharpness and durability." The Seventh realm adventurer, Lattick, was a bit more direct.

"One realm five grade emergency teleportation artifact. I'll pay double its value as a bonus if whatever I see ends up helping me learn a Trial skill." Adventurer Robinson froze from the offer. The seventh realm tried to correct his mistake.

"Of course an adventurer of your caliber wouldn't want an emergency escape. I do have a couple other realm equivalent gear or vouchers for services that might be of equivalent value." Adventurer Robinson held out a hand and took a moment to think. Then he cleared his throat.

"I don't want to take your time and services, but I also don't want you guys to feel like you owe me either. What about this? You all can see what I do, then you can pay me for what you think my time is worth? Does that sound fair?" All three adventurers looked to adventurer Robinson like he was the fairest person in the world. Grevich and the receptionist shared a look. They had seen the way Ryan had hesitated at the prices of the facilities here. He had even skipped out on paying a tip.

It was likely that by telling adventurers to pay him what they thought his time was worth he was going to make a lot of money. Of course neither of them were going to say that out loud. —— Ryan's heart was indeed racing as Grevich led four adventurers into the elevator. How much was a realm five grade emergency escape? How much was the value of a [Smith] on retainer? All he knew was that both of that stuff was worth more than the value of his bank account. Which was totally unacceptable.

He had already come up with a plan. Class resonance was always a huge riddle for adventurers in the higher realms. What he would do was let Grevich's guided meditation 'accidentally' made him resonate with his [The Rogue Adventurer] class. He would make it a show and they would have no choice but begrudgingly give him what they thought 'his time was worth'. It was the perfect plan. Ryan was going to swindle the three of them for everything they got.

It wasn't his fault they didn't have a class specializing in concepts. Once they were situated in the control room, Ryan began explaining the words he wanted Grevich to go over. The three of them were clearly curious as to why he was talking about vague concepts of his class over specific skills, but he was happy to keep up the act of 'not quite understanding what he was doing.' Ryan had the golems set up in a similar fashion as last time.

Three slowish golems that could go at speeds just a little below the speed of sound. Not enough speed to be a threat, but enough speed to be a workout. He cracked his neck as he took up the space in the middle, a well-balanced longsword in hand. And he began his sword form routine once more. Grevich's soothing voice talking out into the intercom.

"An adventurer seeks out excitement and danger. You tread where everyone else is scared to. Perhaps for fortune, perhaps for power, or perhaps because you wish to walk on lands that nobody else has before." That was a good line. It made sense, he had come up with it after all. Hopefully it would inspire the three of them with what a real adventurer was. The Trial System promised all of these things, but an adventurer kept going! Ryan was getting pumped as he moved in tandem with the golems.

Grevich's voice calling out once again.

"But you're also a Rogue, you do not care about the establishment. You know the deck is stacked against you so you will cheat, you will rebel, you will charm those you cannot defeat into lowering their guard." That had been a little on the nose… still he couldn't help but think of his own journey reflecting that. There had been nothing he could do against the Witch Tyrant. The only thing he had was his wit, charm and more than a little desperate madness. He felt a thrill go down his spine.

Perhaps Grevich's voice is a little too effective.

"What others might think unites the two is greed and fortune, but there's also rebellion. A change, The Rogue Adventurer wants something else, something more, something that can't be found in the traditional way. Breaking rules and defying the natural order to see something new on the horizon." Had he added that line? His heart was beating in his chest. I want…" Rogue and adventurer, adventurer and rogue. The Rogue Adventurer." And [The Rogue Adventurer] started to resonate. It hadn't been on purpose.

But that was the thing, the line that separated resonance had become paper thin. He was the class and the class was him. And his monotone movements naturally changed on their own. From a strict sword form to spinning the longsword in his grip, tossing it into the air and keeping the rapid rotation. While it spun in the air he parried a blow from a golem with the back of his hand. A wide grin on his face. A twist to dodge another fist, a slide back on his right foot to dodge a kick.

Exaggeratedly leaning forward to dodge another swing and winking at the enchanted windows. The longsword spun downwards and he caught it behind his back, sliding it across the cheek of another golem. He threw it again into the air and decided to start weaving around the golems like he was doing the tango with the three of them—only faster.

"What will The Rogue Adventurer find at the end?" —— In the control room: Lattick was so focused on paying attention to every single detail that he realized he didn't know a key fact about this adventurer Robinson.

"What realm grade is he?" Grevich cleared his throat.

"I'm not sure I can disclose that if it's not public."

"Just tell me if he's higher or lower realm than me."

"You can't tell?" Mudriff was surprised. He knew Lattick was an experienced adventurer that had been stuck in the seventh realm. Someone like that would be able to assess something like physical capability in an instance.

"No. Not unless he's pushing himself to the limit which I don't think he is. Sixth realm?" Anjalith was staring as well, entranced by the fact that she knew something was happening if not what.

"I heard he only became a Destined recently. Must have rushed it if someone like this doesn't have an Epic class. [Rogue Adventurer]? Sounded like an Uncommon class. I can't believe it's a Rare class." Lattick shook his head.

"It's [The Rogue Adventurer]."

"What?"

"You should pay more attention. It's [The Rogue Adventurer]. It's a title styled class."

"Oh." It was well accepted that people with classes that sounded like titles were on average better than adventurers with regular sounding classes. There was a lot of debate as to how and why someone received a class like that but one thing was becoming clear. Lattick nodded, as if things were madking more sense.

"I think we're seeing exactly why a title based class is so important here. He's been resonating with his class for seven and a half minutes.."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. But I've never seen it so close before." Neither the fourthers could tell, but Lattick could. Class resonance happened often enough above the seventh realm, though none had lasted for this long.

"It's only a shame he doesn't have an Epic class." —— Ryan finished off with a pirrouette, spinning with the sword around his head, letting the blade glide a hair's breadth away from the golem's heads. Then he pointed the sword at the control room, signalling the end. When he returned to the rest of the group, there was a heavy atmosphere in the control room. The evolved adventurer, Lattick was deep in contemplation while the other two were completely downcast.

Anjalith just sighed lightly as she blankly stared at her own recordings on one of the screens. Mudriff's shoulders sagged as he looked like he wanted to throw himself on his own greatsword. That wasn't what Ryan had been expecting.

"Everything okay?" Lattick shook his head.

"Don't mind them. They'll pick themselves up and find their own way later." Right, they were fourthers stuck and unable to make progress. For some reason, Ryan was less than happy to take their money. He'd still do it. It just felt like he was taking money from someone that was less fortunate and less intelligent than he was.

"Do you think you could help make a guided meditation for my class as well? I'm happy to pay for your time of course." Lattick, he'd gladly take money from. But Ryan couldn't help but stare at Mudriff. There was an all-familiar self-defeat in the [Warrior's] eyes. Mudriff, noticing his gaze, looked up and gave Ryan a weak grin.

"Lattick is right, don't worry about us. It's not like you can help us resonate with Common rarity classes." Couldn't he?