You had to remember that Ryan had become much better at hiding his real thoughts. However he might have acted, however he may have attempted to make Pinkie believe he was an ally, you had to remember that it was all a lie.
When he had used [A Glimpse of Perspective] on her, it had been to figure out a way to save the city, nothing more.
The real truth was that Ryan would be okay with Pinkie staying depressed in that flesh prison forever.
Before the assault on the city of Defiance she had promised him that there would be no deaths. It was partly his fault for believing her but a good dwarf had died that day. The [Lancer of the Ages] would have been here at this table with them, plotting out a way to try and keep everything intact while the Witch Tyrant ran mad.
Ryan had never forgiven Pinkie for that.
So, when he did come up with a possible solution to fixing Pinkie’s problem it wasn’t for her, it was for the city.
To the other adventurers, it was a bit nonsensical. An evolved adventurer saying that he could accomplish a feat that none of the ascendants here could. Yet they were all listening because Grettfield was paying attention, that, and because of the way he dealt with the Lich King.
Everyone knew how invaluable planners could be in a team. Ryan spoke in a room of dragonslayers.
“Grettfield. Am I right in saying that the curse isn’t just on her but the class as a whole?”
With all of their past interactions, Ryan had a feeling that Grettfield could detect concepts better than most. The [Witch] frowned, thinking for a moment.
“Instead of her class, I would say that it is her Legend that has been cursed. Though, from another perspective, it could be said that they are one and the same. When one goes through a legend manifestation for the first time, their classes tend to gain a sort of… baptism from the Legend. Both are changed and become inextricably linked with one another.”
“Bloody hell.” Neil cursed. “She can curse classes?”
“Given the right circumstances, even reality itself can be hexed.”
Ryan eyed Grettfield.
“What would that even look like?”
She shook her head. “All I know is that it’s been done before.”
Honestly, it disturbed them more that classes could be hexed. It was something that was granted by the Trial System and deeply personal to everyone. The idea that Legends could be cursed… well, Ryan hadn’t really thought about that one.
And nobody wanted to think about what the hell would happen if reality itself was cursed.
“That terrifying statement aside, it’s what I felt from Pinkie. Her class is continuously eating her alive and she herself doesn’t want to resist.”
Yomar turned to Grettfield and the [Witch] simply nodded, he turned back to Ryan.
“Your skill told you all of this?”
“Yes.”
Though it was more than just his skill alone. Ryan had combined the natural observation of concepts of his Quasi-Legendary class alongside [A Glimpse of Perspective] to achieve something that was beyond the scope of what the Rare rarity precursor skill should be able to do alone.
Grettfield’s curiosity was piqued.
“So, you do understand the situation at hand. I do wish to know how you plan to solve Pinkie’s predicament.”
“The skill that lets me observe the Legend is a precursor, the actual skill itself is an Epic. I don’t want to say exactly what it is out loud because I can’t really risk the Witch Tyrant finding out. At least for now, she knows I have it but not the specifics.”
[Class Change] was his ace in the hole. That super high rarity Epic skill that stood above everything else even in his stacked Epic offerings. A skill he had very little experience with, understood a little bit of and unfortunately, possibly the perfect tool for this situation.
It was during his three hour run back to San Kingsgrove that Ryan had realized he’d done this before. He had town apart One-Eyed Rick’s class to the point that it had degraded, it was why he’d been offered the [Conceptual Reaver] class.
And the reason why the Manager had set up this path for him.
It was the perfect road, to rip apart Pinkie’s Legend so that she was no longer an [Aberrant Shapeshifter]. If he had the class then perhaps… he could have done something before…
Ryan shook his head, there was no point thinking about what-ifs, he’d picked his path and he refused to believe he couldn’t do better.
So, [Class Change]. That was his idea. Try to use that skill on someone else other than himself and hope it would work out.
The only problem was that he really hadn’t managed to learn a Trial Epic on his own yet.
Though he did have a solution for that.
“I can go up a realm, use a time dilation reward on the Epic and see if I could learn it. Then use that skill on Pinkie.”
Yomar furrowed his eyebrows. The [Aegis Guardian] was quick on the uptake.
“You’re saying you have a skill that can influence people’s classes?”
Everyone in the room looked at him weirdly from there. Ryan scrambled up to clean up the lie.
“It’s uh, a concept thing. I don’t know if I can or can’t do it so it was always more of an emergency thing.”
It wasn’t a lie exactly. He doubted it would fool Grettfield, but the rest? This time it was Seffara’s turn to frown.
“You have a skill based on concepts?”
Ryan was somehow making the hole he was digging deeper.
“It’s the reason why both the Secretary and Ineza were trying to poach me. It’s how I came up with the Unified Theory on Trial skills, classes and resonance.”
“The what?”
Ryan was realizing that nobody else in the room but Grettfield paid attention to the outside world at all. Other than really major news, these older dragonslayers did not really care about the goings on of the fast-moving world around them.
Either way, it was a good distraction from his weird conceptual skill so Ryan pulled up his phone and all of the dragonslayers there huddled up to watch.
…It was a little embarrassing to say the least.
“I made it that way to cause controversy. It was… maybe a little too effective.”
Seffara had her arms crossed. “You’ve been busy.”
“You have no idea.”
Yomar and Neil however, were intent on the video. Neil was understandable as a [Dragonslayer Warrior] but apparently something in the video struck a chord with the [Aegis Guardian] as well. He looked up.
“You’re sure about all of this?”
“Of course. I can use my skill on you and help you with your class if you want. For Grettfield’s team member I can do hmm twenty percent off the price for dragonslayers.”
Ryan flashed a two with his fingers at the [Guardian]. Ryan had zero idea what level of integration Yomar had with his class but he had a feeling the [Aegis Guardian] wished it was higher.
The [Guardian] stared at the [Rogue] who was clearly trying to fleece him for everything he got. Then turned around and marched out the door.
“No need, I’ll figure it out on my own.”
“Wait, if you just got an epiphany from that video you still owe me one! You can’t just—”
But Yomar was already gone. Rudely disappeared with all the knowledge that Ryan had imparted.
Ulhen laughed in good humor.
“Don’t mind him, he’s always been like that since I got my title style class. He’s probably excited that he doesn’t have to act like he’s got a stick up his—”
“I can still hear you.”
“Good luck!”
Neil sidled over to Ryan. “Hey mate, think some of this stuff could work for those of us with uh classes like mine?”
“Dragonslayer classes?”
“Yeah.”
Neil was a little embarrassed at having a class with dragonslayer in it. Which was pretty damn silly, a dragonslayer was still a dragonslayer. A person with enough power to level a city, though he could see how Neil would feel that way if he was standing in a room where everyone had specialized classes of their own.
“I’m not sure, I do want to give it a try though.”
“That’s all a bloke like me can ask for.”
“Bloke or not, hope you don’t mind if I charge for my time.”
Neil just grinned at him.
“I knew you were a [Rogue] the moment I saw you.”
“I’m not just a [Rogue], I’m [The Rogue Adventurer]. Class and all.”
“Really? Now that’s a weird one, can’t say I’ve heard of it before.”
“It’s the best class in the world. Who knows, maybe I can help you with a better suited class too. Maybe shift from dragonslayer to [Adventurer Warrior].”
Ryan turned to Seffara, catching her as she was mid eye-roll.
“And what about you Seffara? Want to get a headstart on understanding your class? I’ll charge a mentor discount, twenty five percent.”
Seffara crossed her arms. Ryan had no idea what her new class was, actually, nobody knew what her class was, she’d kept it on the down low from everyone else.
“You’re really going to charge your mentor?”
“Didn’t you charge me to be a mentor?”
“I was teaching you to be independent. Besides, a million dollars for me teaching you is practically a steal.”
“Yeah, but I was a broke college student that just hit adventurer. I think telling someone like that they owe you a million dollars should be a crime.”
They all looked to Seffara at that. The ninth realm that was probably as rich as most dragonslayers. Seffara huffed.
“That’s not what happened. He’s twisting his words to make himself sound better.”
Grettfield cleared her throat.
“Do you mind if you all leave so I can talk to Ryan alone? I believe I have things to discuss in private.”
The [Witch] gave them all a look that suggested she wasn’t really asking.
——
All the dragonslayers filed outside. When they were out the door Neil gave Seffara the side eye.
“Where’d you pick up someone like that?”
Ryan stood in the presence of five dragonslayers without blinking. It wasn’t like anyone other than Yomar had used their auras on him, but it was still overwhelming for anyone other than the strongest ninth realms to be in the presence of dragonslayers without at least feeling some level of pressure. Not only that, Seffara had little control over her presence at the moment.
That plus the Lich King interrogation and a skill based on concepts?
Neil wasn’t stupid, something was off about the kid.
Seffara shrugged noncommittedly.
“Apparently a Manaburger.”
Ulhen turned to her.
“They sell premade adventurers these days?”
What Ulhen really meant was that he didn’t believe her. Seffara scratched the back of her head, not trusting herself to not big secrets away.
“His first instinct was to dive forward and try to save an old friend of mine from getting shot. The Manager scooped him up afterwards. Push comes to shove, he’ll stand where he needs to be.”
The [Barbarian] just shrugged, pretending like he hadn’t just been probing for information at all.
Only seconds late, calm but slightly hurried steps came forward from down the hallway. [Dragonslayer Warrior] Ineza walked forward, each step taking her multiple feet forward. She greeted them all.
“I didn’t realize all of us were having a meeting.”
Ulhen had moved back in front of the door, his expression vacant of all thoughts.
Seffara turned back to Ineza.
“Wasn’t that important. Just government stuff, got halfway out during the conversation myself. Only came back when it was done.”
“Ah, Seffara! Congratulations on hitting dragonslayer. Soloing a dragon too! You must tell me all about it.”
“What’s there to tell? I hit the dragon and it tried to melt me alive. Then it died before I did.”
“I see. Well if you want upgrades for your gear now that you hit dragonslayer you should contact me directly.”
She handed her business card to Seffara and she accepted it stiffly.
“Will do.
Seffara’s tone cut all conversation there. Ineza didn’t even break her stride, she moved forward to talk to Ulhen.
“May I enter and talk to [Witch] Grettfield?”
“No. She’s tired right now.”
“Well, perhaps Raidco could assist her and alleviate some of her burden?”
Ulhen, the bare-chested [Barbarian] just picked his ear.
——
Grettfield reclined back on a summoned chair as she stared up at the ceiling. Ryan was still standing, watching her as she showed more vulnerability than she ever had before. Grettfield was the friendly neighborhood [Witch] of San Kingsgrove for decades. How many people had died that she knew?
“Whether we make Pinkie into a symbol of danger or we change her back, you understand that this is just a stop-gap, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“Until one of us can sit at the table with the Tyrants, the Witch Tyrant will continue to run amok.” Grettfield laughed in self-deprecation. “Here I thought I might have a chance to do it myself. All of it is gone now.”
“You were close to a Legend?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. It matters not. One masterstroke and I was taken out of the equation. My skill [My Last Chapter] burns away my accumulated achievements for immediate gains. It will be decades yet before I can accumulate the right achievements for the Legend that’s suitable to me.”
“Wait why would she do this? Doesn’t she want stronger adventurers?”
“Yes and no, you forget that she still thinks of me as her friend. Perhaps she thinks of this as a kindness. Forcing me off the board so I am not pushed to participate. Or perhaps she simply did not find a use for another [Witch] with a Legend to compete with. Either way, those lives are lost and will not come back.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
There was nothing more he could say.
“How confident are you in changing Pinkie?”
“Pinkie could reactively just kill me the moment I try it. Or the skill doesn’t work the way I hope it to or it works out… so one out of three chances?”
Grettfield chuckled at the bad calculations.
“But you do not wish to do it.”
“Hell no. I was serious when I said fixing the problem might be worse than leaving her alone. What happens if she decides Gamielle needs to be saved no matter what? What happens if the Passive Tyrants instincts take over and she starts going around looking to pick a fight with every single thing out there?”
“Yet you seem to have a convenient skill that might be able to solve all of our problems. I cannot help but read all of this as intentional.”
“Yeah, blame the Manager on that one. I don’t think the Lich King was supposed to get caught this easily either. The Manager is the one that probably thinks Pinkie should be solved by me not the Witch Tyrant. She doesn’t know what I have.”
“That’s… quite probable, and dangerous to chase after.”
Grettfield reached out and stroked Chester on the spine. The poor book fluttered its pages like it was an injured animal being soothed.
Ryan tried to think of another solution that didn’t involve him having to use a skill he had zero practice with.
“Why can’t we get the Tyrants on this anyway? Do none of the dragonslayers here have no way to contact them?”
“They’ll be having a meeting about it soon. The witch tyrant will always have her away. Just you watch. Nothing will change. And they won’t come and clean up Pinkie for us.”
“Not even the Skillful Tyrant?”
Grettfield considered it for a moment, then shook her head.
“As long as it’s not direct combat, the Witch Tyrant will have her way, you will see.”
——
Outside of a certain cottage in Sector Ten…
The Dwarven Tyrant, or rather Henrik, leaned back as he sat near one end of a relatively large table. It would have sat all seven of them if they had come. That had been his mistake. Xavien, that fake-bearded coward was here as a magical projection. Henrik wished he had done the same.
He was pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing.
Xie Lihua was at one end of the table, sipping at a cup of tea. Meanwhile, the most dangerous apex monster in The Realm was glaring at her from the other side of the table. Ayla kept clenching and unclenching her fists, as if wondering if she should just go for a hit anyway.
As if sensing the inevitable escalation, the Chieftain Tyrant came out of the cottage wearing a big blue apron that clashed with his green skin. He gave his greatest of friends a jolly grin as he carried a large tray of piping hot food to the table.
Everyone relaxed as he sat in the middle of the table.
See? That was how you did it. Bring everyone to the table so they could eat together and remember that they were a family.
The big orc smiled broadly at everyone.
“Help yourselves.”
And the Tyrants’ dinner began.