Chương 230: Chapter 227 - Headhunting

By the time Milo had seen the video it had been out for five hours and it was too late to delete it. Ryan was still in denial about the direction it was going and it showed through their call. Milock shook his head.

"You thought you could interrupt a multi ten billion dollar industry in America alone and there wouldn't be repercussions?"

"You could just say multi-billion Milo."

"Ryan, Do you even understand how much money a billion dollars is? Stop, you don't, this is literally an order of magnitude above that! That means VESTED INTERESTS. What did you think was going to happen!? That they'd all stand and clap while you told them you knew better?!"

"I was in a hurry! It's an emergency!"

"It's always an emergency with you Ryan! You shouldn't have sent me away!"

"At least it's spreading. What would you being here even do anyway?! You're just looking at it in hindsight and being biased." Milock almost burst a blood vessel. He took a moment to stop and think instead of going for a yelling match like he normally did with his friend. The Secretary had told him off plenty of times for blurting out whatever came to his head. It made people less likely to respect and listen to him. It was so difficult to fix that rough habit.

"Milo?" Milo lowered his voice and spoke slowly.

"You mean what have I been doing the entire time? I would have told you you were an idiot and if you still went through with it I would have at least tried to control the initial narrative like I did with the Unwanted elves." This time the silence came from the other side. Once the Secretary had pointed it out, the more he noticed Ryan did it naturally. When his friend needed a moment to think, he did. Not caring about who was waiting or who might interrupt. It made more people listen to him instead.

"That was my plan. Sure the initial reaction here is a little worse than I expected but when I get results it'll work out just like I did with the Unwanted." Milock took a deep breath to pause again. It still felt weird for him to do it.

"Do you have any idea just how much systemic discrimination there was from the original Sector Four Realmers? They literally use skin-shamblers—""Unwanted." Milo's face twitched but once again paused. Trying to remember his line of thought.

"They literally used Unwanted to scare their children into behaving, they used to talk proudly about how they had to navigate in the dark against the Unwanted that would eat you alive while everyone watched. And don't get me started on the elves from other Sectors Ryan. You know why there's a lack of Leafstalkers helping out the Unwanted? It's because most of the elves from any Sector hate the idea that they were some sort of evolution of them.

Ryan, you got lucky because I joined all the social media platforms on realmnet and used the Secretary's botnet to push your narrative first. You got lucky with Sideark's video. He would have done a better job than you did here."" You take that back."

"Make me. Oh wait no, you can't because you sent me away!" Milock hung up on Ryan. It was pretty damned satisfying. It also reminded Milo that Ryan indeed was an idiot. With all the crazy shit he'd done, you forgot that about him sometimes. Ryan was always a well-meaning idiot. One that didn't appreciate half of what Milo had done for him. It wasn't like he expected recognition from Ryan. He knew his friend considered him to be the dumbest of the entire group, Seffara included.

Milo knew that Ryan thought of him as just the dumb friend that was being manipulated by the Secretary. Ryan likely believed that Milo was still that keyboard warrior from when they both wandered the realmnet during downtime at Manaburger. The worst part was that it was sort of true. He was probably the dumbest person in the group. It was hard to disagree with that when it turned out that Clara, Clara of all people was some sort of social [Savant] that even dragonslayer [Witches] wanted to make their apprentice.

Milo, the dumbest and least qualified in the group. The dumb friend that they kept around to banter with. No longer. Like the Secretary had said, there would be a time for him to make his mark in a chaotic group like this. All he had to do was keep getting better in the meanwhile. Eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. He may not have Ryan's crazed tactics or the inborn social manipulation that Clara had, but Milo was willing to work harder than all of them. Studying from one of the greatest minds he knew.

And yes, the Secretary was one of, if not the greatest mind across both worlds. The files she had given him on the thumbdrive had been just the beginning. The more he learned and the more he showed promise, the more she trusted him with new resources. The Secretary never gave him money, but the tools she gave him were worth far, far more. Adventurer accounts, Realmer accounts, even unverified accounts could be used.

Everyone trusted the realmnet's ecosystem better than the internet due to the open source and transparent nature of the verification system. Nobody questioned if he really was an eighth realm adventurer online, they simply assumed he was another of those reclusive Destined that everyone heard about but very few ever met. If you didn't see the power in that, then you were an idiot. If an eighth realm adventurer said something, then everyone listened.

They were near the upper echelons of power and power was respected. If you saw that the top comment in a public post was from an eighth realm endorsing the post? Then it could shift the entire dynamic of the comments. The Secretary had called it 'priming'. That, plus the botnet to add engagement to the post could cement whatever narrative you wanted into people's minds. Milo knew how manipulated and botted the internet was.

He knew the realmnet wasn't immune to it, but he had always assumed it was better than the cesspool that was the internet, and so did everyone else. Did you see the trap? In the seas of the more 'trustworthy' net was where subtle manipulation worked best. Whether they knew they were doing it or not, people would always try to influence opinions online. Ryan had stepped onto that landmine without understanding just what he was up against. Oh Milo could tell you exactly how it was going to go.

He had pointed it out to Ryan. First would come the cursory comments. Then someone would share it around and get it reposted on other sites. Ryan might have been an idiot but he did know how to cause the most amount of controversy. That was where they were at right now. Already the comments sections… were quite bad. - Really? Sample size of three and this guy is acting like he found a secret to the tenth Trial. Dude should have done more studies before wasting everyone's time.

@ Riffbard (Realmer) Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. - Jetson's Mastery mentioned this first link here, dude could have just looked it up and realized this isn't anything new. Competent adventurer my ass. ↪ This guy's that dude that Valee kissed right? Haha he should stick to just being a pretty face while his gf goes to war. ↪ Should've picked to be an elf for that @ Leaflegend321 (Realmer) ↪ Piss off leafytwink.

@ Tremanshow (Unverified) - Dude went off on a crazy tangent with the conceptual stuff. Congratulations, a sixth realm totally found something that no dragonslayer or Tyrant have figured out. @ Sifcele (Realmer) - The dude did help a couple adventurers, maybe we should give him a break, he's like what? Only been an adventurer for a year or so? Though if he's in the sixth realm already he must be boosted to hell. @ Juelee (Verified, R2) At least Ryan wasn't stupid enough to engage with the comments.

It was always a bad idea to engage with a hostile comments section unless you had irrefutable proof and they were reasonable. This was just the first stumble, the next… was going to be worse. He started to text Ryan exactly what was going to happen from now on. Partly to make a point and partly so that he had proof he knew what he was talking about. This was also something the Secretary had told him. Milock was never going to truly be appreciated until he showed he could do something Ryan couldn't do.

Until then, he'd just be a quirky friend. He opened the messaging app and started typing. Milo: What's going to happen next are the middling influencers. They're going to come in like energy draining parasites, they'll see the current consensus and give a 'hot take' that most people agree with. Then, if it's a slow day, big media companies will follow those influencers and take the safe route.

At best they'll humor you like you're a cute little noob, at worst they're going to poison your image and make it worse for what you wanted to do. Milock had always found it easier to be more thoughtful over text. He could fix things and really take his time to articulate what he thought. Ryan: Fuck. Meanwhile Ryan really didn't sound any different in text form. Good old Ryan. At least when you spelled it out to him, he understood his situation immediately.

Milo: The real problem will be those that have actual vested interests in the industry. You know, the ones that actually do the work and have livelihoods dependent on trying to optimize skills for adventurers? They're all going to come and discredit you, except for when it starts to work, then those that have been pushing your methodology are going to say you've copied their ideas and possibly even sue your ass. Ryan: I've checked!

The vast majority of them still recommend going for acting like your Trial class first, even then, the most popular things don't combine actually aligning yourself with your class and using guided meditations. Milo: But that's not how they're going to spin things. Now, even if you succeed, they're going to claim you just copied their work. Guided meditation has rising popularity in China, choosing the class you prefer is more popular in Australia and France. Just you wait. Ryan: Come on, it can't be that bad.

These are professionals. Milo: Ryan, this is a multi-ten billion dollar industry. Hundreds of billions of dollars if you include military and private funding worldwide. Ryan: You've said that already. Milo: Yes, you are going to find out just exactly what that means. You just took a huge steaming shit on a lot of rich peoples' livelihoods. Whether you're right or wrong, they're going to come in and try to ruin you. Ryan: Grevich isn't that rich. Milo: Yeah?

How expensive is that skyscraper you're currently working from? A speech bubble indicated that Ryan was typing, then it disappeared, then it appeared again, then disappeared once more. Milo smirked. Milo: Having trouble finding your words? The words appeared at lightning speed. Ryan: Alright mister 'I'm suddenly an expert in both economics and society'. Tell me how do I fix this, without you going back to your little 'mentor'. Milo: Sure, apologize and promise me that you'll never send me away again.

Was Milock still mad about how Ryan had made him leave so he could deal with whatever crisis was happening? Absolutely. Ryan: Fuck it, I'll solve it myself. Milo: Good luck, you're going to need it. The conversation ended there. If Milo was being honest, he couldn't really think of how to fix this cleanly. At least not without making it obvious to some of the keener eyed people that Ryan had some sort of manipulative backing behind him.

Trying to show off the Secretary's botnet wasn't something that he wanted to do at the moment. Not for this. It wasn't like it had been smooth sailing for Milock to get this far either. He had, and still did, make stupid mistakes that the Secretary had to correct herself. Though he couldn't do that right now. If Milo was being honest he had already asked the Secretary how to fix things… but she hadn't replied. Not since two days ago. He opened up the chat with E. M. The initials of Ella Maizel, the Secretary.

Milo: Hey, do you have any information regarding what's going on in The Realm? Milo: Have you seen the video from my friend? I have a few ideas on how to help course correct but I wanted to run it by you first. The Secretary had been unreachable since the two Tyrants had gone head to head against each other. Her being unreachable for so long had never happened before. She had mindsplit skills that let her monitor dozens of things at a time. She had always had time to answer him and correct his mistakes.

And now she was gone. What did that mean? Now, at the point when Milock could make a difference and show that he wasn't just a 'fun friend to hang around', the Secretary had gone missing. And Milo was realizing he had zero confidence to use the resources given to him without supervision. —— For the most part, the events happened as Milock had predicted. The Secretary had taught him well in that you never messed with peoples' livelihoods.

Whether your argument was logical or sound, humans naturally were inclined towards the biases that benefited them the most. It wasn't like it was all negative of course, there were plenty of adventurers that had been sitting at that dividing line. Where one little epiphany could have pushed them over the edge. A certain [Thief] and a [Blademaster] were in Sector Seven. They had both fled from Sector Thirteen when it became clear that would become the Witch Tyrant's new stomping ground.

The [Thief] poked the [Blademaster] in the side.

"Hah! Did you hear about the new 'methodology' from that guy from the kissing video with Valee the Spider? Dude says you should want to be your class, as if something like that matters." The [Blademaster] turned on their phone to quickly read the 'unified theory'. He did not watch the video or the comments like the [Thief] did. He closed his eyes. And sliced his arm across the sky. [Grand Cut] The clouds split open as the attack split the sky and let the sun rain through into Sector Seven.

The companion looked up at the clouds, then tried to gauge the distance.

"Hah! Wait, was that a little bigger than your normal [Grand Cut]?"

"I just learned learned it."

"What? No way, you're saying that kid's words worked for you? Hah? Maybe I should do it myself. Wait no…" The [Stallmaster Thief] realized that she normally did as she pleased anyway. —— That was perhaps the most exaggerated example of it working immediately. For people like the [Blademaster], any sort of push would have helped them finish learning their skill. For the most part, by the time adventurers caught wind of the video, it had been through hearsay. There was always a tone in the way it was introduced.

Not the 'hey this is something cool you should look at' but more of a 'did you hear about that guy that got kissed by Valee trying to reinvent the wheel?' And just like Milock had predicted, it had caught vested interests. America's Table instantly moved in on the data, taking it and dissecting it so that it could be packaged to their loyal adventurers later. Their interest in Ryan Robinson turned cursory the moment he released his whole methodology.

They believed they could refine it into a better process now that they knew the direction. Very few actually tried to give Ryan Robinson another look. Another Destined adventurer trying to push their fifteen minutes of fame. That was how it started to look to the rest of the world One person however had far, far more information than everyone else. In the head office of Raidco itself, no, not Raidco's Mastery, but Raidco the conglomerate sat the CEO, Ineza.

She was annoyed, not that the methodology would interrupt one of their side businesses but that it had taken so much time for the information to reach her ears. And unlike the others, she did not dismiss it or try to see if it worked. She simply… watched the recordings from one of her top facilities. Yes, Raidco's Mastery was considered a top level institution in terms of trust and privacy, they had dragonslayer tier clients.

They had unsavory individuals coming to work for them, their record had to be absolutely spotless, and if not, they at least showed that they did better than their competitors in terms of privacy. None of that applied to the CEO and director of Raidco itself. She was watching recordings of Ryan Robinson taken from San Kingsgrove's subsidiary, she had already seen him take a stance against the Secretary which was already a plus in her book. That had raised her interests.

But what really caught her attention was when he worked with three adventurers. She played the video at 10x speeds. It was slower than usual so she could focus properly. One skill breakthrough, another skill breakthrough was imminent and a damned class resonance from a seventh realm in one day. In one fucking day.

"Get me a flight to San Kingsgrove right now. Update company protocols, if we see the Secretary anywhere near our facilities I want it to be the first thing I see the next day, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Considering the amateurish release of Ryan's findings, there was absolutely no way the Secretary had her contractual claws dug into him deeply. It was likely that it was an early predatory contract that had soured their relationship. The Secretary clearly regretted it and was trying to patch things up. But it clearly hadn't worked or he would have gone to Ella before releasing something like this. In other words, the perfect stage for Ineza to introduce herself.

The Raidco conglomerate had started off as a group of invested adventurers fighting over the limited number of talented [Smiths] in The Realm. They had since grown rapidly to a monolithic entity that governments had to listen to. Though those humble origins of fighting against dragonslayers for talent had never left her. All of her instincts had told Ineza that this was like finding a [Prodigious Smith] that had been walking around her feet for weeks.