The Realm was a land both ancient and new. Ancient because the sectors it composed of had their own history, some of them far older than Earth's. New because each sector was brutally torn from another reality, added to The Realm in a continuous expansion by the Trial System.
It did not exist before 1962. When the pioneers first navigated a land that was only the size of a continent. The First Sector.
Now with twelve different Sectors, The Realm was estimated to be nine times the surface area of Earth. A number which became even more mind-boggling when you realized that, unlike Earth, most of The Realm wasn't water. Some of the higher sectors had ecology so alien that simply breathing in the air would kill most sapient races.
Even in the most tame of sectors, Sector 1, the sky wasn't like Earth's.
The sun was setting, and the twin moons were out. Multi-colored hues painted over the sky. A purplish-red haze with what looked like crystalline glitter floating through vapor clouds. A mana dense sky, a sunset more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen on Earth.
Ryan snapped out of it as he realized both Zedart and Gamielle were just watching him stare at the sky. He walked into the town square, still partially in a daze as the main attraction filled up the view. The [Warrior] and [Mage] gave Ryan a moment to stare, this was part of tradition too.
A truly enormous fountain occupied the town square. Completely out of place for what was a quaint medieval style settlement. Raised on top were seven lifelike statues, all carved with love and care. Not a single blemish in sight.
The Tyrants.
"It was said that when the Tyrants stepped through the first portal, the lost and confused Realmers praised them as heroes, and that's how they got such big heads." Gamielle said wistfully.
Ryan looked around them, wondering if anyone had heard her words. This was tradition too, everything but the 'big heads' bit. Seriously, those were fighting words to Realmers. He cleared his throat and continued the speech before she could say anything else.
"And when the Settlers came afterwards, they realized we were anything but."
Zedart stayed silent.
The area they walked through was medieval in aesthetics only, care had been taken to keep electrical wiring out of sight, and lighting to look natural. There were some shops that were using enchantments to advertise. But nothing overtly so.
Pailos was an exit town in a leveled zone, a place for realm 1 adventurers to socialize and relax as they settled in.
The paved stones were clean, the buildings were well maintained and the regular people that walked around here looked happier and healthier than where he had come from.
Children ran around without a care in the world. A few of them pointing at him in surprise, but no real fear. A few of their parents would smack their hands, telling them it was rude, but there were a few adults that just pointed too. Realmers had no fear here. After sixty years, many of the adventurers had settled down and had families in these lands.
If you hurt a Realmer, being blacklisted could be one of the last things you had to worry about.
A particularly loud kid screamed in delight as he started pulling away from his parents and pointing at them.
"Ooo it's Gamielle! Zedart and Gamielle! Gamielle, did you finally get a new member?"
He squirmed free and ran at them, his parents laughing. Then they froze as they noticed him, looking like they regretted letting their kid loose. Oh right, he still had his cowl on.
Gamielle laughed in delight as she got down to be on level with the boy. She ruffled his head.
"Yes, we did little Timmy!"
"I ain't little, I'm tall for my age!" Little Timmy blustered and tried to stand taller, his hands on his hips. Gamielle laughed, then turned the kid's head towards Ryan.
"This is Artigan! A new [Rogue]. First Trial S-grade. Go tell everybody, okay?"
Little Timmy's eyes widened in surprise.
"No way! Mister! Mister! How did you…"
Little Timmy saw the [Rogue] in full black gear with a shadowed hood. The boy looked up into the darkness and was probably learning for the first time that he shouldn't be so quick to run to strangers.
Timmy stepped back and hurt Ryan's feelings. Gamielle chuckled.
"Now, now, Timmy, go tell everyone Zeddy and Gammy's got a new teammate, okay? S-grade clear!"
The boy nodded rapidly and ran off, not towards his parents but away from them. The parents quickly bowed their heads at them and went to chase after their kid. Realmers bowing to them? He wondered if they weren't from Sector One.
He scratched his head. "Do I really look that scary?"
"You made Zed almost wet himself when you first entered."
"He did not."
"I wonder if I should take off my cowl? I mean if being loud is going to be better…" Ryan wondered out loud.
Gamielle waved him off. "Eh, best to wait until you've joined the team properly. There are benefits for anonymous Destined that you can leverage too."
He knew that. He just wasn't too happy with how people were acting around him.
"I really don't want to be scaring children and Zedarts."
"You didn't scare me. My parents are dragonslayers."
Ryan shook his head, faking disappointment. "The old my parents are scary defense. Very mature Zedart."
"That's not what - Oh."
Eh, maybe this team would be fun after all.
–
The rest of the walk continued until they got near the edge of the leveled zone. Ryan was going through the motions at this point, emotionally exhausted and just wanting to rest. A real city was further away in the unrestricted area, where higher realm adventurers could protect it.
The trio stopped in front of a massive house, still in the leveled zone. It was practically a mansion. His eyes went wide at the implication.
"You're willing to spend like fifty grand a month on rent?"
It wouldn't be nearly as expensive if they were Realmers. Price-gouging adventurers was just standard practice. It was why he'd been planning on finding the cheapest inn he could find.
"It's more like eighty. Rent's been going up lately." Gamielle muttered in annoyance.
"Eighty- I should've asked for more."
"Yup," Gamielle nodded her head happily. "I was willing to go up to three million if you argued for it."
"THREE MILL-Why are you telling me this now?!"
"Why do you think?"
He groaned at the loss of two entire million dollars. "You like tormenting your teammates?"
Gamielle clicked her tongue. "Not this time. Just think on it."
Thinking was the last thing he wanted to do. He refused to play along and stayed silent as he entered the nicest house he'd ever been in. Ryan zoomed in on the couch and flopped himself onto it, uncaring about the dirt he was tracking. He would bet anything that she hired expensive Realmer cleaners. Costing her more money was a pleasant thought as his mind drifted off.
Zedart's voice called out as he was passing out.
"There is a spare bedroom-"
"Let him sleep, c'mon let's get out of here."
–
When Ryan woke up, it was completely dark outside. A beam of light from an outside streetlight was hitting his face perfectly. He groaned as he rubbed his eyes.
He turned around and faced towards the back of a couch. Couch?
Then his mind started throwing at him all the events of the day.
He had gotten shot, become an adventurer, his body was apparently in a coma on Earth and he couldn't use [Return to Earth], he'd gotten an S grade clear, his parents were probably worried sick, and he'd joined an adventuring team that his younger self would have sold his soul to join.
Then he shifted and took out the letter from the Manager and looked it over, it was all real. He still needed to figure out a way to deliver this. This thing here was the only real problem in his life right now. Find a mailbox and deliver the letter in a different outfit. That was his current plan.
No, he should jump into a System portal into another city, leave the city. Wear a disguise and deliver the letter in a different town in a leveled zone and run. He just had to find the opportunity to do it.
That was enough thinking, he shoved it back into his pocket and groaned once again.
"What a fucking day."
There was a deep sigh in response. "Yup."
Ryan jumped in the air and looked around the dark room. Gamielle was behind him, and in the kitchen, she had her head resting on the countertop. Overlooking the lounge.
She couldn't have seen the letter. Even if she had, what were the chances she knew what it was? None of these thoughts made him feel better. That had been far too close. Gamielle just chuckled.
"At least you didn't scream. Still, a [Rogue] getting surprised by a [Mage]. That's just sad."
"Fucking hell, I had a long day, give me a break." He paused. "And how long have you been waiting there?"
The [Mage] grinned at him. "Long enough that it'd make you uncomfortable. I tried to get Zedart in on it, but he called me a weirdo."
"Maybe when a guy that's studied the blade his entire life calls you a weirdo, you should reflect on it."
Gamielle tilted her head. "Are you talking about Zedart or yourself?"
Ryan scoffed, "I gave that up years ago…" he trailed off.
She was still staring at him like his cowl wasn't even there, straight at his eyes. He moved from side to side, and Gamielle's unblinking eyes kept tracking him. He broke the stare-down.
"Well, you know my sob story, who are you?"
"I'm what I said, just a gal with a rich mother."
"And who's that?" Ryan asked. "A thirteenth realm dragonslayer?"
"My, you really think so highly of me." She hopped off the kitchen stool, still staring. "You'll find out if you pass."
Right, he wasn't actually on the team yet. They were supposed to be doing try-outs today. There was still a pretty good chance they were going to get disappointed and leave him alone.
"Why didn't you go back to Earth?" Gamielle asked.
Ryan narrowed his eyes. The only way she could know that for sure was if she'd been watching him the entire night. He considered telling her the truth but then decided against it.
"You'll find out if I pass."
He stood up, stretched, and checked his new phone. It was 3am, which meant it was around 9pm in LA.
"You know you can check the time in your System?"
"Oh yeah, thanks."
Realmtime: 03:12
Ryan then turned to see the [Mage] still staring at him, unblinking.
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Over there, second door to the right."
He walked to the bathroom door, then turned around. Gamielle had gotten closer and he hadn't even heard her move. She was still staring at him unblinkingly. Even for a joke, this went a little too far.
"I swear if I catch you trying to scare me or staring at me in the shower, I'm going to hit you."
The raven-haired human in white robes just continued staring. Ryan's eye twitched and he closed the door behind him.
Then locked it.
He took the fanciest shower he'd ever had. He was tempted to take a bath too but decided not to be so vulnerable with a creep in the house. Putting on his gear and looking at it in the reflection, he understood just how much he stood out.
Everyone in that Guild hall had been in mismatched armor, only wearing things that the Trial System had rewarded them. If he'd gone to a different town he might have seen more kitted out adventurers but Pailos was specifically for those trying to get good achievement scores.
He'd chosen it because it was the least developed, and somehow he had been swept up into the best team here.
The reflection in the mirror was a little too menacing, the shadows extended far past the hood giving it a eerie effect, if only he could reduce it-
The shadow crawled back until his face was revealed. Oh damn, the enchantment was mutable. He spent a few seconds playing around with it. He could choose to draw the shadow back and even select certain parts of his face to show. His eyes alone were creepy and looked straight hostile. His nose floating in the darkness was hilarious.
He settled for keeping the lower half of his face visible.
With the rest of his gear? He already looked like a veteran adventurer.
Once he was satisfied, he prepared himself, took a deep breath and slammed the door open. Gamielle wasn't there, waiting to scare him. She wasn't in the living room either.
He promised himself he'd figure out a way to scare her.
He walked around the house until he found the door that led to the backyard. Just like the house, the backyard was massive. Except where the house was furnished with luxuries, the yard had a bunch of practice dummies and training equipment.
He rolled forward, brandishing his blade.
[Double Stab], stab, jump, roll and then [Instant Dodge].
His mind went back to the encounter with the [Mage] soldier. A flick of the wrist as he stepped back. He didn't need to have gotten kicked, he didn't need to have thrown both his weapons. He'd do better, he had to do better.
[Double Stab], jump, throw a knife and spin.
He was on a team with geniuses, why did he want to even reject them? He should have been the one begging to join.
Light [Double Stab], fill the cooldown with a series of strikes, quicker [Double Stab].
Oh right, one life. He should take it safe and get rich first.
Jump, pick up the knife and throw it, then leap back. Twist his head to dodge the imaginary [Firebolt].
Outplaying both drake soldier and Skeleton Lord. Could he have taken the drake one on one? Maybe. Would it have raised his achievements to S? What could he have done to get a legendary S+?
Focus, practice.
An hour of focused practice was better than three unfocused ones.
He lost himself, he imagined the future Trials. [Instant Dodge] to position himself so he could pick up his knives. He rolled over, pounced, leaping with a [Double Stab] and threw the knife as the invisible enemy–dodged.
His body moved better than he had ever hoped for on Earth. It was fucking exhilarating. He lost himself to training.
The door to the backyard opened. Zedart came out with his gear on. A silvery chest piece with a longsword on his back. Ryan would bet that the chest piece was the [Warrior's] reward for his Trial completion. Zedart gave him a nod and took a corner of the backyard and started warming up.
He stared intently at Ryan.
"Would you like to spar?"