They all sat around Seffara’s stupidly large dining table, food having been taken out of the heroine’s seemingly endless storage bag. Everyone was in a good mood trying out weird foods they’d never had before.

  Barry carefully took a nibble on an orange mushroom. He nodded his head in satisfaction and threw the whole thing down his gullet

  “So, what are you good at?”

  Ryan paused mid bite and had to think about that, he blinked as the orc shook his head in disbelief.

  Seffara pointed to Milock.

  “Don’t touch that Milock, that’s not safe for regular humans to eat.”

  She plucked a particularly long green string from Milock’s hands and went back to her chair. She put it all in her mouth and started chewing. That particular dish had been in the middle of the table, with all the other food, free for anyone to take. Now both Clara and Milock were hesitating on whether they should be reaching for any more foods or not.

  “Uh,” Ryan said, trying to answer the orc, “adapting on the fly?”

  Barry raised an eyebrow, “yes, and?”

  “I don’t know?”

  “How do you not know your best asset?”

  “I’m good at keeping cool under pressure?”

  Barry shook his head.

  “No, you’re not. There’s a difference between being able to adapt on the fly and keeping cool under pressure. Just because you’re good at one thing doesn’t mean you’re good at the other.”

  “That… that doesn’t sound right.”

  Barry scoffed. “Case in point, you refuse to back down and look for alternative strategies.”

  Ryan opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Barry continued.

  “You’re good at finding a solution to win but you always dig your heels in and commit everything into it. It’d be invaluable if you were a wildcard [Rogue] in a team, not so when you’re by yourself.”

  That was a lot to throw at him. Ryan was trying to come up with a counter but Barry moved on.

  “That’s also not what we’re here to talk about.”

  Barry slammed his fist down onto the table and started shouting, taking the tone of an authoritative drill sergeant.

  “Rookie! What are you good at?!”

  Ryan blinked, completely unphased. He had no idea why Barry thought yelling at him would make him come up with the answer faster. For some hellish reason it seemed to work on Clara instead.

  She excitedly put her hand up.

  “Ooh, oooh I know this one, it’s so obvious he’s–”

  “Nobody answers but him. He needs to answer this himself.”

  Ryan frowned, there was no way Clara had figured it out before he did. “Outsmarting people?”

  “Are you asking me for the answer or telling me?”

  Milock snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know.”

  Ryan just blinked at his friends. Milock, his friend, who couldn’t figure out how to not put his foot in his mouth to save his life. Clara who was often bubbly, talked a lot and too naive for belief.

  Both had figured it out before he did.

  He felt a wave of deja vu.

  “Damn,” Seffara said with a raised eyebrow, “you really have a problem with-”

  “Shush.” Barry cut her off.

  Everyone was looking at him with varying expressions of derision and surprise. Ryan was feeling the pressure to get the answer right. What had he even done that Seffara could have picked up on it? Milo? His friend that had been there from the very start that always had his back. From back when he first started to when he’d admitted he was Artigan. Even during the first time they’d sat down with Barry and–

  “Oh right, I’m good at planning.”

  “Saw the lightbulb?” Seffara asked everyone. They all nodded.

  “Yes,” Barry said, “I don’t know where you got it but you’re great at planning ahead and coming up with dirty schemes. That makes your Epic easier to deal with.”

  “Hah,” Milo laughed, “Ryan would have made an amazing [Mage] for sure!”

  Ryan winced at the words, Barry sighed and threw a piece of bone at Milo

  “Ow, what the hell Barry?”

  “Idiot.” Clara said.

  “I don’t understand, why does that make controlling my Epic easier?”

  This was the main point of the discussion. Barry was an ex-[Berserker], meaning he probably had picked stupid skills like [Stacked Reckless Charge] and [I’m Really Mad]. He was probably the best person to get advice from.

  “Because all you have to do is ask yourself if you’re following a plan you made here on Earth or you’re winging it. The rest is just mindfulness practice. Set a timer to go off every fifteen minutes. That’s when you check if you’re following your plan or not. If you’re not then you reassess and find a place to [Return to Earth]. Habit forming mindfulness. That’s the way I solved my Epic.”

  Probably something like [I’m Even Madder].

  Ryan thought about it for a few seconds. Then he thought about what Gamielle had told him, how everyone’s Epics were different and he’d have to figure out how to solve his one on his own.

  He threw away her advice because it wasn’t actionable at all. At least this was something he could try, even if it didn’t work.

  Ryan was satisfied with Barry’s exercise. It’d be annoying but it seemed like it’d work.

  “It’s a very logical way to do it. I thought you were going to tell me to meditate or something.”

  “Meditation isn’t a bad idea, this is just better for your situation.” Barry said.

  “Huh, thanks Barry.”

  Ryan felt genuine relief with this. The idea that his Epic would influence his own decisions to be more reckless had been such a huge weight on his mind. Barry’s plan seemed very, very reasonable.

  Milock however was not, and he was already too comfortable with the old veterans.

  “Seriously? that’s it? No secret orcish meditation technique or some sort of magical restriction?”

  Ryan threw a half eaten piece of fruit at his friend’s head

  –

  Seffara stood with her arms crossed on the roof of her main warehouse. She watched the kids go off in a car that she had loaned to Milock. They were of course happy to take off in the luxury vehicle. She even told them to take her jet back to their homes.

  She had told them that she wanted some time with her husband in The Realm and didn’t want them in her compound while she was gone.

  That was of course a lie.

  Barry sat by her side to the left. She wished she could have kicked him to the curb. At any other time she would have loved to have her old friend stay in her farmstead. Of course he never would, it would be charity and he didn’t take charity.

  He’d only stay in situations like this, when he was the last person she wanted to be here.

  Her learned Rare skill, [Veteran’s Instinct], was screaming at her.

  “Stubborn old orc.” She said.

  Barry scoffed.

  “You’re still as easy to read as ever. I’m surprised Ryan or Clara didn’t notice.”

  “Are you going to come out?! We’’re getting sick of waiting.”

  “Ooo scary~ who are you yelling at?”

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  Suddenly, next to Seffara, was a third figure, the person was looking out, as if looking for the person Seffara had been yelling at.

  Neither Seffara nor Barry reacted or jumped in surprise. This wasn’t the first time they’d gone through this before.

  The materialized figure was a human woman, she had a black mask that covered her lower face. That contrasted with everything else she wore.

  The [Rogue] had flowing pink hair with glitter in it, painted pink nails and what had to be the worst mockery of a ninja outfit Seffara had ever seen. There was far, far too much skin shown everywhere. The [Rogue]’s eyes held a constant storm of pink thunder that cracked throughout her entire eyes.

  This one was deep into her advancement and flaunting it.

  “Out with it,” Seffara said, “make your threats or do what you came here to do.”

  The [Rogue] raised her arms in celebration, ignoring her words.

  “Seffara the Sapphire! You know, you used to be one of my biggest idols when I was growing up.”

  “Funny because I don’t remember seeing anyone like you.”

  “Well that’s because I’m a [Rogue], see?” the pink girl waved a hand over her face and actually disappeared, even from Seffara’s eyes.

  They were dead if this [Rogue] had come here to kill them. Seffara would bet anything that this one didn’t have [Dragonslayer] as part of their class, that made them deadlier. Not that it mattered, the difference between realm 10 and realm 9 made the realm 4 and 5 gap look like a joke.

  Seffara would still go down swinging.

  The pink haired dragonslayer appeared next to Barry and poked him in the cheek. Seffara threw an [Extended Blow] at the pink dragonslayer. The [Rogue] simply swayed out of the way, dodging her fist and ignoring the attack. She was still staring at Barry.

  “I don’t recognize this one, it’s so old.”

  “Guess you weren’t that big of a fan then.” Barry commented idly.

  The dragonslayer huffed.

  “That’s not fair! Seff had lotsa teammates!” she paused, “wait, you must be before the golden generation. Oh man you must’ve died during the war. Better come back before you crap the bucket old man.”

  Seffara summoned her own soul weapon. A beautifully engraved war axe. Oh she’d managed to hurt dragonslayers before, she was quite willing to try it again.

  “Seff,” Barry started.

  Seffara’s own presence flared, her eyes clouding over into a crystalline blue.

  “My patience is running thin, Miss dragonslayer.”

  The dragonslayer shuddered in delight.

  “mmm, always wanted to hear that from you. Ahem I came here to give you an offer.”

  “What is it?”

  She tilted her head, her pink hair flowing down, throwing bits of pink glitter everywhere. Barry was careful not to let any of it touch him.

  “Would you like to be in the know? Learn the truth of the Trial System that few dragonslayers have been told”

  “And if I said no?”

  “Oh, I bet you’ve been offered this before, become a dragonslayer and learn everything. No, no, I’m offering to tell you everything right now. Special deal for the heroine of Sapphire. Free of charge.”

  “I’m good.”

  Pinkie drew back in surprise, annoyed.

  “Huh, so that Artigan kid really did tell you everything, nasty little blabbermouth.”

  Seffara frowned wondering what the hell this [Rogue] was talking about. Pinkie raised her eyebrows in exaggerated shock..

  “orrrrr he hasn’t told you and I just tattled on him! Whoopsies!”

  Barry looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow, he was judging her for not being able to hide her expressions. Seffara coughed, embarrassed by such a rookie move.

  The pink haired dragonslayer caught the weakness and appeared inches from Seffara’s face. Pink lightning met blue gemstones and the dragonslayer in pink sniffed.

  Then she narrowed her eyes.

  “You don’t even want to know the truth do you?” Her lips curled in disgust. “Here I’d been hoping you were just waiting for the perfect team. Never meet your heroes I guess,” she turned around and threw her hands up, “Seffara the Sapphire just another coward–”

  The [Rogue] dodged the glass thrown at her head and then used a finger to parry a flurry of punches from Barry.

  “Barry stop!” Seffara grabbed her friend and put herself between them.

  Barry was fully blasting his aura now, leaking it out with murderous rage at the pink dragonslayer. Despite it all it felt nostalgic. The orc just huffed.

  “I’m just stopping you from attacking her.”

  “By attacking her? Just admit you lost control you fucking idiot.”

  Seffara straightened and turned to the dragonslayer

  “Is that all?”

  The [Rogue] curled her lips in disgust at the byplay and shrugged.

  “Guess so, blah, blah, keep the little blacklister a secret. If he’s told you stuff then it’s probably a good idea to keep it a secret. You know, the usual.”

  “If that was everything then you didn’t need to come here.” Seffara said.

  The pink dragonslayer sniffed.

  “Actually, I do need to know one thing, how did you get to training a blacklister anyway? You? Training a blacklister? The world's gone bonkers.”

  “I try to do good where I can.”

  “Aw, c’mon don’t make me do detective work for my report.” The dragonslayer whined, “can’t you make my job easier. I do good too, help me!”

  Seffara crossed her arms, she was fairly confident she wasn’t dying today.

  The pink haired monster huffed.

  “Well whatever, send me a message on realmnet if you decide to stop training him.” She tapped her chin with a finger. “I might want to train him myself, he’s not my type but maybe I can get him to wear that Artigan disguise, mmm.”

  The pink dragonslayer jumped off the warehouse and started running in the air, leaving a disgusted Seffara and Barry behind.

  “I should’ve tried to kill her.”

  –

  “Holy crap, that was the quickest amount of time I’ve spent in an airport.”

  “Please sirs and ma’am, this way.”

  All three of them felt out of place in their regular clothing, being given the VIP service. A chauffeur had taken the car keys from Milock and they were quickly processed and brought to the airfield. Ryan had been a bit nervous but then his jaw dropped when he saw the private plane.

  “Right, Seffara is stupid rich. Nine million dollars is nothing for adventurers like her.”

  “I think even for adventurers this is a lot. Hey Ryan…” Milo trailed off as he realized he was about to say something incriminating.

  An alarm went off, his alarm. Ryan took a breath to think about what his next steps were and if he was following a plan.

  Mindfulness practice for his Epic.

  Once they were seated in the spacious plane, the captain came up to them. A middle aged man introducing himself to what was probably the poorest passengers this plane had ever seen.

  “I’ll be your captain today, winds are looking good but it will be an hour and a half until we land in LA, it’s a pleasure to fly for Seffara’s guests.”

  “Uh, pleasure’s all ours.” Ryan said.

  They’d been kicked out of Seffara’s house early in the morning. She had told them to go home and get things in order with their families and friends. Something had felt off about how rushed it all was, but he did have to go back and say something to his family.

  A raven haired stewardess walked in after the captain had left. She had pink streaks on her hair, she bounced in, her tight uniform revealing a little too much of her figure.

  “Hi everyone! I’m Pinkie your stewardess today, just call for me if you want anything. Naturally all costs are sent to Seffara the great Sapphire directly. All of you must be very special guests to be riding in her private jet!”

  Clara had no problem matching the energy of the stewardess.

  “It was a coincidence! It turned out a friend knew a friend and we really wanted to meet the great heroine herself. Do you know her? She’s surprisingly down to Earth and personable. What am I saying? Of course you know her!”

  “Mmm coincidence you say? Well I find that coincidences are the best incidents!” Pinkie the stewardess said. “Oops there’s the sign, make sure you buckle up, or don’t! I’m not your boss.”

  The stewardess bounded away from the room, each bounce in her step at the exact perfect motion.

  Clara raised an eyebrow at his focus. . He just shook his head at her, trying to convey that it wasn’t what she thought. The last time he got distracted by a honeypot he ended up in a deathmatch with a sword prodigy.

  Milock just shrugged, “Man, the rich really have it different huh. Ryan when you’re -”

  “Shh,” Ryan hissed.

  “Oh right, sorry.”

  Ryan cut off most conversation for the next thirty minutes, Clara seemed to catch onto Ryan’s wariness but Milock was… having a harder time.

  “C’mon Ryan, this is plane, we’re up on the air, we can at least talk about the development of you know.”

  “And that means she could be testing us, Milock. Shut up, we’ll talk later.”

  A few scenarios were going through his head. a) he was being paranoid, b) Seffara or Barry set up a bullshit test or c) it was a government spy.

  “Aw, I guess I made it too obvious huh?”

  The waitress materialized next to Ryan and poked him in the cheek.

  “And here I thought you were just a silly brute.”

  Milock jumped up in surprise.

  “Whoa! Where did you come from?”

  “Guys,” Ryan said calmly, “leave the room, now.”

  “Relax, relax!” The now completely pink haired stewardess smiled at them, “I’m a friend! I’m with Gamielle.”

  She then gave a predatory grin at the three of them, her teeth transfigured into rows and rows of sharkteeth.

  “What? But-” Milock started.

  “We don’t know what you’re talking about, adventurer.”

  The ‘stewardess’ licked her tongue across her rows of teeth.

  “That’s how you want to play it huh?” The pink haired stewardess glanced at Milock and pointed. “He looks like a squealer, I bet I can make him squeal.”

  Ryan stood up, he didn’t take out his weapon or do anything useless like that, he just looked at the dragonslayer in the eyes. “And if you did that, I believe kill you.”

  Pinkie blinked, then she slapped her thigh. “You think she’d kill me over you?” The dragonslayer started laughing. “You think because you were used to send a message by the Manager that you’re that important? Hah! I’ve seen plenty of kids like you die. Oh a handful have made it to the top, but want to know how many died in the end?”

  The dragonslayer stood up too, she was a little shorter than he was, but it was like she filled up the room. She tiptoed to match his height.

  “I heard about that little threat you made, it’s a terrible one. You have more than one friend right here. Family too! Want to see if she’ll kill me over one ”

  Ryan didn’t flinch, his keen brown eyes met hers. She had pink irises with streaks of lightning flashing in the white. It was like a bottled storm was looking at him.

  He didn’t care.

  “A single fucking hair and I make good on my promise. My word on it.”

  The dragonslayer’s face went cold. The air charged with static, all his nerves felt shot, he saw in the corner of his eyes that his friends had fainted. He desperately wanted to check on them, but a furious part of his mind refused to back down. He kept his gaze on her as whatever she was doing was burning her senses.

  The only thing he could see was her eyes, someone could have told him he had been standing here for hours or just a few seconds and he would have believed either.

  Ryan sneered. He might not have had his Epic but–

  “The Witch’s three threads felt bigger than this. Are we done?”

  The dragonslayer’s eyebrows furrowed and her irises went completely pink, colorful sparks started flying out of her eyes. Eyes that beheld the death of a dragon met the unflinching eyes of a realm two adventurer and the dragonslayer… blinked first.

  Then she laughed.

  “Hahaha! They don’t make Twos like you anymore!” Pinkie clutched her sides as she laughed, “I thought your teachers were peppy, but you? You’re already as crazy as we are!”

  So she had confronted Seffara and Barry already, He really was an idiot.

  “Oh I you.”

  Pinkie smiled at him with pointy teeth, she grinded her pointy teeth for a bit.

  “Hey, if you want a teacher, you don’t have to go with that cowardly [Knight], I can teach you.”

  Ryan blinked, he was still recovering from whatever she had done with her aura. Pinkie seemed to realize he was out of it as she drew back.

  “Ah shit. You’re not going to accept now. I’ll give you some time.”

  “Sure.”

  “Wait what?”

  “If a dragonslayer wants to teach me, I’m happy to learn.”

  His voice was cold despite the words. He didn’t like her but he’d still learn from her. It’d be foolish not to.

  Pinkie blinked, then looked up like she was thinking, then she coughed, embarrassed,

  “Ah shit, I need to run this by her.”

  Ryan scoffed. “Didn’t know a dragonslayer needed to ask permission from others.”

  A knife flashed and was instantly at his throat.

  “Don’t push it, I’ll fucking kill you.”

  Ryan grinned at the dragonslayer then he leaned into the knife, Pinkie eyes went wide and pulled the knife back in surprise. Then the realized that she was backing down and immediately put the knife back at his throat, smiling with normal, human teeth. Ryan stepped forward as the blade cut into his skin and blood started to drip down his neck.

  They mutually paused.

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