Chương 257: Chapter 254 - Shaking the Pillars of Society

"I'm pretty sure research shows that training during a hangover is pretty damn inefficient."

"You won't always be able to fight at your best. Poisoned, tired or hung over, always be ready for a fight."

"You know, I've been through this before. I wish I could introduce you to some veterans"Less lip and more swinging. Wrong step, kick forward. I've adjusted the forms to your physical level. Swords three-five-eight." Ryan dashed forward as the world still turned around him, he thrust forward at the same speed, activating a [Flurry Stab] and pulled back while taking a guarded stance with his sword at five times its usual size. Ryan peeked through his own condensed aura.

Vedit had adjusted his entire sword routine during the half a day when Ryan had been passed out. Ryan had tried to memorize the routine and was switching between combinations, trying to embed each form into his muscle memory. It really would have been easier if he wasn't hung over.

"There is no way this is efficient, at least give me some water."

"Efficiency? What you need isn't efficiency. Your mind is like a constant churning tide looking for optimizations or a way out. Hm, it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I want you to try to quieten your mind."

"Maybe I'd be able to do that if you hadn't just drugged me… or if I wasn't so hung over." As an example, Ryan bowled over and heaved with an empty stomach. This wouldn't be the first time he had thrown up today. Whatever he had drunk had been stupidly potent, despite his realm grade. I really need to stop ignoring my [Dangersense]. A sword tapped him on the shoulder.

"I can tell you're doing that on purpose. Get back to swinging." Ryan rolled his eyes.

"Great, I was just figuring out how to lie to [Witches] now I gotta figure out how to lie to [Swordsmen] as well." But that was that. Ryan could have said more, but honestly? The sword forms that Vedit had come up with were truly some amazing stuff. It was versatile, powerful where it needed to be, cautious in other areas and integrated his combat skills and equipment perfectly. But most importantly? It left room for growth. It was there and Ryan could— A sword tapped him on the shoulder once again.

"Quieten. Your. Mind." As a response, Ryan decided to show Vedit his other classes and asked for Vedit just said he was "Too sober for this." Five days passed. —— The Realm… There was a lot that happened during these five days. Ryan was not the only one that was growing. If you were not blind and were considered some of the greatest talents in The Realm then you would not be standing still.

You could not look at over sixty thousand souls vanishing in a single night and hope you would be safe, no matter where you were. A certain [Strategist] knew this as he overruled the Witch Tyrant's edicts on a couple blacklisted dragonslayers. Sunstone City was experiencing a mass emigration and needed more dragonslayers to get the people out of Sector Six and into the inner Sectors. After the fiasco, more cities were evacuating—even Vitalia was experiencing emigration. That was how bad things had gotten.

They needed dragonslayers at the minimum to quell the populace and leaving blacklisted dragonslayers roaming made them more likely to break out of civilization and start doing their own thing. So, Kiron offered every single blacklisted dragonslayer a promise. Help evacuate at least one group of migrants and they would stop being blacklisted. He had written it out like it was an edict, like the Tyrants themselves had declared it. And then he waited.

Waited for a hex or to be turned into ashes by the Witch Tyrant herself. When that didn't happen, Kiron sat, sweating and truly wondered if the quarantine on the Witch Tyrant was true. … In another place, in the depths of the Cataclysm Abyss, a certain [Demonic Warrior] stumbled upon the original crumbled city of the Unwanted Elves. He was battered, bruised, and was missing a few fingers after being chased out by Valee.

At first he had given up trying to locate the fourth Trial at the bottom and had been planning on cutting a bloody path through the outpost and into the fourth Trial. What he hadn't expected was for the Unwanted to have detected him before he even reached the top and for Valee the Spider to come rappelling down with tens of stone tentacles ready to kill him. The encounter had cost him his pinky and ring finger and his only emergency artifact.

"You fucking bitch. Just you wait, I'll kill you for sure." He respected none of her. Someone who relied on powerful artifacts for combat would never be as strong as he would be in the long run. If only I can find the damned fourth Trial entrance. … And finally, in another place, another group of talents were attempting a daring escape. A prison break from the greatest of powers. Five of them ran while two were playing decoy. Lars of Fighting Fancy activated his skill.

"[Emergency Retreat]! C'mon! We're almost there." They were so close. Zedart, Fighting Fancy and Mahjit, all sprinting for their lives from— And Donna Kelly appeared in front of all of them. Standing in front of the leveled zone like she had been there all along. She had the two decoys strung up and held over her hand, knocked out. None of them had even seen or noticed her until she stood there, giving them all a flat look. Mahjit groaned as they all came to a stop.

A simple five second dash, that was all it would take for them to get into the leveled zone. She would not be able to enter and they would be free. It didn't matter, even if they were only a couple feet it would be impossible for them to break through. The [Dragonslayer Rogue] tossed the two decoys towards them and crossed her arms.

"It wasn't a bad plan. If you were up against an eighth realm maybe. But you clearly haven't been taught right if you thought this would do the trick against a dragonslayer." Zedart just readied his sword, pointing it at his own mother.

"Let me through, mom. I have a duty to fulfill." Donna stared at her son and sighed.

"I really can't tell who you take after." She shook her head.

"Gotta be the elven genes. I should have known changing my race was a trick." Donna and her husband had originally been human that had chosen to switch to being elves. Donna blamed the genes for Zedart having grown up that way. Gamielle would have said that leaving a talented elf in a sea of aussie kids and hoping he would grow up normally was just silly. High realm adventurers really often were the worst of parents. Zedart looked around, hoping to see if Gamielle was around. She shook her head.

She was content with letting Zedart get stuck in a lower realm like this. The higher he reached, the more likely it was he was going to get caught up in her mother's madness.

"If you believe you owe me, then help me. I have a mission " Donna shifted, her eyes furrowing.

"Who are you talking to?" But Zedart didn't answer his mom. Something like a [Dangersense] was going off in Donna's head, or maybe it was just good instincts. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Gamielle, being guilt-tripped by the [Swordsman], blinked. She sighed.

"Oh very well then. Since this really is an unfair matchup, and since my mom's actually not interfering." From across an entire Sector, Gamielle started casting. Donna moved to grab her son but it was too late. A shimmering veil of mana blocked her fist, then a dagger, then a full forced skill. When the veil lifted, a hundred different Zedarts started sprinting towards the leveled zone. —— The Sixth Trial… Professional teachers, customized training tools, a curriculum that was updating realtime.

As much Fetterue had told him to leave, she was still keeping track of his progress and adjusting timeframes. Moving certain magical studies forward and pushing some back. It was often something that adventurers did have. Especially those with deep pockets. Rich adventurers had analysts, teachers and even high realm consultants. Though Ryan had to admit that having ninth realms dedicate so much time to him was something only the richest of rich adventurers had. He'd even learned a new skill.

[Valmere's Sword School: Copper] Of course it was called Valmere's sword school. Copper ranks were for realm zero and one. It wasn't actually that useful for him, but it was the foundation for the higher ranked sword schools. He was excited to evolve it to bronze and silver ranks and finally make it useful for actual combat. Ryan looked around. Where is my sword coach? ——"I don't care anymore if he burns down the Kingdom. I need a damned break."

Fetterue, Agrinth, Vedit and Rhinestone were back together in Agrinth's office. Their resident swordsman was already drunk. A rarity actually, Vedit did not drink half as much as some other swordsmen they knew. Rhinestone chuckled, the only one amongst the four of them that hadn't suffered from Artigan's presence.

"That bad, huh? I thought you said you'd keep him busy for at least two weeks." Fetterue sniffed, sympathetic to the poor swordsman.

"He argues at every step, and he's stubborn. If he's fixated on a single argument then he won't move on until he's satisfied. He'll derail everyone else until they're all focusing on what he is. It's like he believes the best way to learn is to be confidently incorrect until someone " Vedit just took another swig and wiped his lips with his arm. He pointed a finger at Rhinestone.

"The problem is that he doesn't focus on anything else if you don't answer him. I've never had a student so infuriating in my entire life." Vedit then remembered a conversation they had just yesterday.

"When I told him that, you know what he said?" They all looked at the drunken swordsman.

"He said that I've only taught kiss-asses and maybe teaching students that will challenge me will give some wisdom to my blade." Vedit gripped the pommel of the blade, almost daring anyone to laugh. Rhinestone finally did and raised a barrier as defense. Vedit just shook his head in half-good humor.

"I almost gave him the wisdom of my blade." They all laughed politely at that. Vedit stared at the scrying projecting of Artigan in between them and sighed. Rhinestone swirled his own drink and sniffed.

"Is all of this worth it though?" And he wasn't talking about just the attitude either. Vedit stared into the opening of his bottle and shook his head.

"He is talented. Especially when he uses the right classes. Not necessarily with the sword, I've seen better talents… at least when he's not using that [Assassin] class of his. His decision making though… Gold rank. Higher maybe." And that was a compliment if you remembered that their gold ranks had decades of experience. Rhinestone scratched his beard in amusement.

"Well, that's not that impressive if his claims of being one of the greatest powers at his realm grade is true." Both Vedit and Fetterue turned to him like he was an alien from another civilization.

"What?"

"He's been an adventurer—he was apparently an ordinary mortal only half a year ago."

"Surely that's an empty boast." Vedit scoffed. He took another swig and wiped his lips. An action he would never do in public.

"I can believe it. It's clear he's only learned mortal sword schools and hasn't had time to adapt to his new realm strength. No… he improves too fast for how unadapted his techniques are." For all of their stresses and complaints. If you paid attention, you would realize that neither Fetterue nor Vedit truly talked about quitting. No matter how frustrating it was to train him, both the vaunted and prickly figureheads of Valmere had not talked about stopping.

They could both see it being built—or at least the outline of it. A towering scaffolding that was obscured by the very clouds. Potential. It was just…

"If only he wasn't currently using all of his potential to burn the Kingdom down." Vedit sneered his lips in disgust and turned to Agrinth. All of them turned to the real aggrieved party here. Agrinth was, arguably, the one that was truly suffering the most. There were protests in the streets, in front of the Adventurer's Guild, and in front of the palace. Artigan's words were still the talk of the entire damned Kingdom. It was partly why they were all here.

Rhinestone stared at the ripped out landline in the corner. He looked back at the demon.

"At this rate the entire Council's going to get ousted. Are you sure you don't want to address the crowd publicly?"

"No." The answer from Agrinth was firm. All three of the original Royal Confidants shared a look. It was why they had all gathered. Despite Artigan not having shown up in public since the first time, the fire he had caused was spreading. It was igniting in all corners of the Kingdom and not just the capital. At this point, all three of them would have to move to quell the populace, but Agrinth had given direct orders for them not to interfere. …

actually, Vedit wasn't certain that the three of them could even stop the blaze now. There was really only one person that could fix all of this, even if it got worse, Agrinth could fix it. They knew it, and the people of Valmere knew it. The Son of Valmere, the ascendant Hero Agrinth could come out and quieten all of the population with just a few words. When he talked, people listened, and Agrinth had never been afraid of speaking his mind. At least, not before this.

The fact that their beloved hero was being silent was what was causing the greatest amount of outrage. Vedit, who had been Agrinth's first real teacher, put his feet on the table and kicked at the projection of Artigan.

"So what, you're going to let the Kingdom burn?" Agrinth refused to answer and Vedit just grunted in annoyance. Past teacher or not, it was hard to push the ascendant. Agrinth truly had a royal temper and they weren't all exactly the best of friends. Even Rhinestone had taken decades before dropping his prejudice against demons. Vedit had just treated Agrinth like any other rookie recruit. It helped, but it also meant that they weren't exactly close. A mistake he was trying to not repeat with Artigan.

Vedit knew Agrinth loved the Kingdom of Valmere more than anything, more than any of them. The three of them found this version of Valmere too different from what they used to know. For all it was superior, it wasn't quite their Kingdom anymore. Yet, despite his love for the Kingdom, Agrinth let the unrest rise. Wisdom or pride? Or maybe both? They just sat, watching Artigan arrogantly sit in front of a group of mages. Vedit took another big gulp.

—— Ryan sat next to an amazing structure of magic that didn't exist in The Realm. It was a giant crystal that rose slowly into the air then crashed down quickly. Like one of those drop towers in an amusement park. He had seen it when he first explored the city and had figured out that it was a perfect target for his next appearance. Apparently the entire device was a reward for clearing out some old dwarven relics that had woken during a dig.

It had powered golem-like beings that had adapted over thousands of years and were a gold rank threat. It was now re-established as a magical tool for budding mages to improve and practice with greater core capacity. Ryan had heard of rewards like it. If you completed your Trial early, you'd be able to bask in one of these for the remainder of the Trial. The thing was, it couldn't be a perfectly useful tool with no drawbacks. As he had found out recently, mana had rules and this device did not break them.

It took in ambient mana as it rose and released it all as a concentrated wave when it dropped, letting those nearby have regular experience with greater amounts of unattuned mana than would normally be available to them. Ryan sat in one of the closest designated spots to the magical artifact. When it dropped he made sure to flare his volatile mana and ruin the wave of mana for anyone that was unfortunate enough to be sitting behind him.

After the second wave of mana, the meditating mage sitting behind Ryan had enough. His silver badge glittered as he made his ire known.

"You! I don't care if you're an ascendant. You need to reserve a spot to sit here, and you need to not let your mana taint the ambient wave!" A silver badge meant that they were in the fourth realm. It was actually considered quite high up in ranks. The ranking system more of a pyramid in Valmere than in The Realm. It was impressive that a silver was willing to mouth off at him though. Ryan's lips quirked.

"Why would I do that?"

"Wh-why?! Because it's here for the good of everyone—it's—" A couple other mages saw the commotion and started to drag their friend back and cover his mouth. Ryan grinned wildly, having finally caught his bait. He had chosen his target well. If this hadn't worked, he had been planning on sitting even closer until he was hugging the artifact and ruining it for everyone. He gave the silver ranked mage and arch look.

"It's for the good of everyone, huh? This artifact sucks in the ambient mana from its surroundings. It then releases it all at once and gives those nearby more mana than what they're used to. Good for everyone, hah!" The silver rank that had been mouthing him off stopped struggling with his friends. He looked at Ryan in confusion.

"Did you know that ambient mana helps dwarves be tougher and lets elves live longer? It even has effects on humans and increases the chance of them developing stronger mana channels earlier on in their lives. Every time this artifact goes up, it's taking away the potential from everyone else in the capital."

"I—welll, that's…" The silver rank was not expecting the argument at all. Though someone else had been prepared. A gold rank, the only one in the area stood up, realm six, maybe seven in his estimation. She had a bit of fear in her eyes, yes, but she also had the experience of having stared death in the face multiple times.

"We do that because we take the risks for the populace. It's not a burden we take lightly." Ryan met eyes with the gold ranker for a moment. He would have liked to buy her a drink. No matter how self-righteous she was, there was something there that made him want to sit down and actually talk to her. It was different from [The Knight] Luneia. Experience? Ryan nodded at her, unable to stop himself from giving her some respect. It seemed to surprise her.

"You truly do believe that. But then does it not make more sense for me to hoard this for myself? I am making progress with this and I have both more power and potential than all of you put together. My own progress can mean the Kingdom is protected even better." As an example, Ryan truly unleashed his aura into the surroundings. Everyone paled as they felt a mass suppression on their realms. It wasn't just that, his volatile mana sparked the air and arced around in simplistic patterns.

This whole thing wasn't just to piss off everyone, it was to test out the limits of his new skill. [Volatile Mana Manipulation]. Level one. It wasn't a precursor skill, which explained why it had taken so long for him to learn it in the first place. The Mages paled, reacting worse to the volatile mana than his aura. It was heavy with the concepts with the [Arcane Saboteur] which caused an instinctual aversion to anyone that had mana cores in them. Even the gold ranker paled at that.

Nor was she ready for an argument. She did not have an answer to the question that Ryan had prepared. It was a shame because Ryan had more questions prepared. In the end, he was right though. If you did believe in their ideals, then didn't it make sense to give all of their resources to the very best? If society supported adventurers to protect them then why not give all of it to the best and the most talented? Ryan stood up and shook his head in disappointment. Then he walked away.

The recording of the conversation would be sent to every single news organization in Valmere. They would have no choice but to post it because if they didn't then someone else would. He had already shaken the pillar of the populace, this was targeting the other pillar, the adventurers. And the cracks in the Kingdom widened. It was just a shame that it was this easy.