Chương 42: Chapter 41 - Latarro

Their trip to Seffara's place was far smoother than it had been the other way round. They made their way to the airport where a fancy valet took Milo's beat up car in confusion. Ryan gave the valet a cheeky wink.

"Hey, make sure there isn't a scratch on my friend's car." The valet laughed in good humor.

"Of course sir." Someone else led them forward as they were, once again, given the VIP service. Milock still looked a little uncomfortable, unsure how to act as they were ushered towards the jet. People staring and pointing from the windows of the regular planes. Milock cues from Ryan. Ryan walked with confidence and carelessness. It didn't matter what his clothes or his luggage looked like, all of this was just the beginning. He'd have this for himself soon enough.

They approached Seffara's private jet as the captain and copilot stood waiting for them. Ryan gave him a nod.

"Nice to meet you both again."

"Of course sirs, you all should be arriving at Seffara's compound within two and a half hours. I am delighted to see you again so soon."

"Likewise." – Seffara and Barry stood to greet the two of them as they exited the car that had dropped them off.

"You're back early, how'd it go with your parents?" She asked Ryan.

"So are you, how was your family in The Realm?" Ryan knew that the reason Seffara had suddenly kicked them out wasn't because she wanted to meet her family but because they were concerned about Pinkie. Seffara quickly hid her expression and took an authoritative tone.

"I asked a question first, rookie."

"I'm fine, they do want to meet the adventurer that hired me though."

"And from the sounds of things, I'm guessing you haven't told them it's me?"

"Thought I'd keep it a surprise." Seffara scoffed, then looked at Milock and raised her eyebrow, asking the same question about him.

"Don't look at me, my parents didn't even ask."

"Where's that Clara girl?"

"She has a new job and an interview. I don't think she'll be back much."

"Damn shame. Girl like her needs to learn to run, she's too soft." Ryan laughed.

"Well, if you tell her that, she'll never come back."

"Alright then, should we get back to learning your skill?"

"Actually, I learned [Lesser Dangersense] on my own yesterday. I want to run a plan by you guys and get back into The Realm."

"You what?" – Ryan told him his plan for the bullipede. Seffara was the first to object.

"It's stupid and reckless."

"I feel like I've been hearing that a lot lately, I think I have a decent shot."

"Falling on top of a bullipede's head from the treetops and hoping it doesn't react in time isn't a plan, it's stupidity." Seffara argued.

"I've killed them before, their heads can contract far too quick for a realm two [Rogue]. And this one's a variant. No, you're being too reckless."

"I have a backup -""One you have no idea if you can time, their carapace is tough and each segment will snag your sword, [Sharpness] enchantment or not. It's the equivalent of cutting a moving train as it passes. Again out of question for a [Rogue] at your realm," she shook her head in disbelief.

"What is with this change in attitude? I've heard better plans from Barry." The said orc snorted but didn't comment, instead he asked Ryan a question.

"Why are you so desperate for a finisher move?"

"Some Trial bosses aren't humanoid with easy weaknesses. If a giant skeleton or a stone golem guardian appears. I'm fucked if I need to destroy it directly."

"You can just leave the Trial."

"And get ambushed outside?" Ryan challenged.

"There's always secondary exits," Barry countered.

"On the lower grade Trials there's maybe a fifty percent chance of another exit appearing. I give myself the same odds of killing this bullipede." Milock looked confused.

"Fifty-fifty odds? That's…"

"Stupidly fucking low to gamble on," Seffara grumbled, "I thought you were supposed to be a smartass not a dumbass." Ryan wanted to snap back and call that insult stupid. But he'd learned not to try to banter with the heroine when she was being quiet. She was legitimately contemplating his approach and the benefits it would bring in the long run. He pushed.

"The low odds are why I'm asking you to help me plan this bullipede. Raise the odds, I'll go when I'm confident I can win. But I want to do this." Barry the ex-[Berserker] was somehow consistently acting as the voice of sanity.

"You have fairly strong Rares waiting for you, that [Volatile Antimagic Throw] is no joke-" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Unfortunately for Barry, Ryan had planned this argument too.

"It's only good on exposed magic. It's dangerous too, I've seen some videos. If something highly magical is in my face then I can't use the skill or I'll risk blowing myself up. I need something that can help me push for a finisher. I just need a usable skill to pop up on the offered list. It's best to do this now rather than later." Just like how his Epic had evolved from the Rare [Unrelenting Pressure], the same could be done with a different Rare skill.

The sooner he got a Rare offered the greater the chance for an upgrade. Seffara kept thinking about it.

"Normally everyone stops and grinds for antimagic skills, but here you are looking for the hammer instead. The old skill acquisition conundrum." At a point in all adventurers' careers, they'd learn that having some form of antimagic skill was a necessity. Monsters became more magical, the environment would start producing natural spells and for blacklisters like Ryan, adventurers would start carrying more and more magical scrolls. That plus [Mages] would actually start becoming a huge threat.

So how were anti-magic skills offered? By disrupting magical structures or stopping magical casting. The problem with that was that the easiest way to do that was to actually have an anti-magic skill in the first place. Thus the anti-magic skill acquisition conundrum. The stupid term had been coined by none other than the Witch Tyrant herself and nobody dared to use a better name. In Ryan's case, he was trying to get a useful finisher move by killing a boss monster with the risk dialed to eleven.

Seffara came to a decision.

"I'll have to think about it, but for now, if this is the best plan you've got I'm saying no." Ryan could accept that, whether he was going to listen was another thing entirely. He changed the topic.

"I also have an idea for my next Trial. You know how I had to deal with Trial intrusions? I was thinking of switching it up this time." Seffara and Barry immediately disapproved once they realized what he'd meant.

"I don't like it," Seffara said, "there'll be an opportunity for an instant Trial sooner or later, just wait until one's made public or-" Barry interrupted her.

"You want to intrude on others' Trials like they did for you? Then what? You're going to kill them for just being in the way?"

"No, I'll tell them to quit the Trial," Ryan put his hand up before someone could interrupt him, "just listen to my plan first, I just won't give them the option to think they can beat me." Ryan told them his plan, he did enjoy the begrudging look on Barry's face when Ryan revealed it. The old orc noticed Ryan's smug look and his face twitched. Seffara intervened before the two stubborn male specimens started butting tusks.

"Alright, alright. One crazy plan at a time. Let's go back to the bullipede. I think I have an idea on how to test that backup plan of yours." Seffara beamed down at Ryan. His [Lesser Dangersense] went off. –"I take it back, let's talk about this." Ryan pleaded with the heroine of Sapphire, unlike the glowing rumours about her, she smiled at him with no mercy in her eyes. His [Lesser Dangersense] had activated multiple times just standing here.

"Alright, make sure to stand still." Seffara boomed from hundreds of feet away, "a mature bullipede that's learned to coil can reach up to speeds of two fifty miles an hour. I should be able to throw it at the same speed." Seffara held a red metal shipping container up with two hands. She effortlessly held it over her head as the metal box started making creaking noises.

"It's going to break!" Ryan shouted at her.

"Nonsense! I've done this before!" Of course she had. Ryan stood stock still as he felt sweat start to bead on his forehead. Seffara looked eager to throw the container at him. Now that he was face to face with what he was planning he was having doubts. Barry sure as shit never looked comfortable when Seffara started throwing her weight around. Which was clearly Seffara's point.

"Last chance to back out now!"

"Never!" The heroine threw. The container flew at him at literal breakneck speeds. He tracked it in the air and he felt it barely touch his shirt as his eyes were wide open. The container crashed into the field behind him and shattered open. He could track it, his plan wasn't impossible. Also that had been far, far too close. Milock and Barry just sipped their juice while they watched Ryan yell at a laughing Seffara. – - This Artigan is a menace. Zhenyu's team was experienced too!

@Mezhargod123 (Unverified) ↪Do you think he'll get to the fifth realm? @Milococo2 (Unverified) ↪No way, the teams he'd taken out were all trash, they're nothing like the acclimatized groups in the fourth realm. @Mezhargod123 (Unverified) ↪You're even assuming he gets to the fourth realm. How's he going to do that? All the outposts are fully manned and on alert @oitfelle (Realmer) ↪The Rising Yets aren't trash. Storm Bears absolutely were though. Garbage Garbolt. @Loomeroook (Unverified) …

"Are you still spamming every comment section you can find?" Milock was sitting at Seffara's dining table, he had two laptops out and was furiously switching between VPNs, logins and browsers trying to spark discussion and cause chaos. Ryan looked at one of the browser logins, it was Mezhargod123. He doubled back.

"Wait, are you replying to yourself?"

"Yup, trying to cause outrage and conversation. You know, the usual." The usual? Ryan knew Milock had a history in ragebaiting. His friend would often be on the phone during the slow times at Manaburger, arguing with people over Realmnet. He just hadn't realized how practiced his friend was.

"Is there a reason you're doing this? This seems like a lot of effort." Milock seemed confused he had even asked.

"Make Artigan more famous, you know, outside of Trials?" he looked around the table, "where's that silence box?" Ryan shook his head, "No, I think I got it." Milo was trying to make Artigan more famous to add to the Legend. Now that it was confirmed that a Legend had to be created outside of the Trials, it kind of made sense to make himself more famous. It was a silly idea… but if every little bit counted?

"Alright, thanks Milo." Milo looked a little too proud at his own idea, Ryan couldn't let that stand on its own.

"I always thought Clara was wrong about you being an idiot."

"Yeah fuck you too buddy." Ryan went back to his own research. He wasn't using a laptop but just had his phone and a pen and paper. An hour passed by when Milo looked up from his laptop, "Uh Ryan you might want to see this." He went to stand behind Milo as he showed him a livestream from The Realm. The video started, it was of a press conference with Chief Enforcer Ami. – The general response in Ulverra and the greater realmnet was chaos.

Chief Enforcer Ami and the adventurers in the Guild hall took the brunt of the blame. She didn't care about that, what did get her concerned was the rumours that the Leafstalkers were moving. Having worked at her job for a while she had learned a few things. All of which was more concerning than the last. The last thing Earthers needed to see was an armed force of Realmers methodically tearing down an adventurer. Blacklister or not. Chief Ami stood on the platform, staring out at the flashing lights as she spoke.

"We are coordinating adventurer teams for the takedown. All of his capabilities have been noted and spread out wide for our teams -""But what about the fact that many teams have shied away from exploration, they've been returning from Ulverra and aren't taking responsibility. How are you going to apprehend Artigan with the notice of a stealth skill?" An orc realmer that could yell almost as loud as she could, cut her off. Ami gritted her teeth and stared him down.

"Artigan is a Destined, it is likely that he has returned to Earth and it would be difficult to commit resources to combing such a wide area." She winced as she said it, Ami had blurted out her response without thinking. As expected, the room erupted in a fury. They started shouting over each other, all trying to get their questions out.

"The Leafstalkers-""Does Artigan really have five skills-""How did the Rising Yets team-" The conference room doors burst open as a blonde human man in silver armor with blue highlights walked calmly up to the podium. The room completely turned silent as an eighth realm adventurer walked to the podium. Then the lights started flashing as they took in and recorded the entrance. One of the most popular adventurers in the modern generation took the stage. Dubbed as the next successor to Seffara the Sapphire.

Someone who looked like he was bringing back the superhero generation. He pushed for adventurers to take more responsibility in their actions, in all aspects. Beloved by both Realmers and Earthers alike. Latarro, The Heroic Adventurer. – Back on Earth. Seffara the Sapphire watched the video over their shoulders.

"Ah shit."