“This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Both ex-[Berserker] and the [Knight] rolled their eyes. Milock was on the side, tapping away on a laptop and somehow uninterested in what was happening.

  Ryan? He was looking at a screen–one showing he was the account manager of an account that belonged to Sara Garcia. That wasn’t the beautiful part, the beautiful part was the number.

  5.3 million dollars.

  5.3 million fucking United States dollars.

  Yes, he had to pay 3.7 million up front for Seffara’s taxes because it was under her name. Yes, he had to give her 1 million extra for everything. Yes another million would have to be reserved for Barry’s teaching fees, but goddamn, now that he had it all in his hands, it was beautiful.

  He had manly tears in his eyes. It was all worth it, all the suffering had been worth it.

  Ryan stood up and turned to the heroine.

  “Seffara, I have to borrow your jet.”

  She had her arms crossed. “50k every time you use it.”

  Ryan turned to Milock, “Milock, we got to book a flight.”

  Milock raised an eyebrow, “Really, Ryan?”

  “No, you’re right. I can’t delay now. C’mon Milock, we’re going .”

  Ryan went to drag his friend along with him, Milock shut the laptop and hugged it close while he was being dragged along. There was no point in resisting.

  “Damnit Ryan, I was busy!”

  Seffara stopped Ryan before he could rush out the door. He practically vibrated in impatience in her grip.

  “Hey, you still need to give us an after-action report.”

  –

  .

  Seffara was into her third drink, wishing she hadn’t asked for that damned report.

  “How many fucking Epic skills–? Three of them I’ve never heard of, [A Ruinous Insight]? What the fuck is that supposed to be Barry?”

  The orc just narrowed his eyes.

  “He said he got that offered last time.” Barry hummed. “I guess it’s better that he told us now.”

  “? We’re supposed to be the ones that went through the shit. How many fucking impossible missions did we do? Didn’t you get six Epics offered when you hit eighth?”

  “Yup.”

  Seffara shook her head as she opened another bottle. “That just ain’t right. That boy ain’t right. The Manager’s playing favorites, it has to be.”

  Barry scratched at a tusk. This time it wasn’t a fake gesture, it was genuine concern.

  “[Resource Overdrive] is dangerous.”

  “[A Ruinous Insight] scares me more. The fact that it’s right below [Resource Overdrive] is worse Barry. [All Against Me!], With just one of those skills he’d be an outstanding dragonslayer. Put it all together? He’ll be in the upper tier of dragonslayer when he hits the tenth realm. ”

  The orc looked out at the excited Ryan dragging his friend into the car that had come to pick them up to the airport.

  “I might need a flight back.”

  “What? You’re leaving already?”

  “Just a hunch, hm maybe you should come with. We should probably meet his parents anyway.”

  “Aw fuck.”

  –

  Ryan and Milock stepped out of the beat-up car in a fancy car dealership. The eyes of the salesmen were like hawks, Ryan noticed them scanning them before they had even left the car. All of them dismissed them, he even saw one of them pointing and laughing at Milock’s car.

  Not a single one came up to them while they went around checking out the cars.

  It didn’t matter, Ryan went up to the front desk and waved someone down. A salesman nudged their friend and they rolled their eyes and sighed.

  The man went up to them, a strained smile on his face.

  “Hi, I have to tell you, but we aren’t currently offering test drives today because we don’t have enough people on hand.”

  They said this while having no customers and three other suited staff members nearby. Ryan chuckled.

  “That’s fine, I’m looking to buy that car.”

  He pointed at a very nice Tempest sedan that had ninety thousand dollars on the sticker. The salesman paused for a split second. It was unnervingly quick how the man changed demeanor, in an instant he had become completely friendly, having decided that Ryan was telling the truth.

  “Well of course, would you like to check out the car and the details. We do have a financing option–”

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  “No thanks. I’m paying in cash.”

  The salesman blinked and seemed surprised. He was still all smiles, but was clearly less happy than before.

  “Ah, well we have some extra options–”

  “No, we're good, and I’d like to negotiate on the price considering I’m happy to pay cash and drive out.”

  “Unfortunately, the price is final. Unless, of course, you're willing to go with the financing option?”

  “What? No, I said I’m paying in cash, isn’t that what you guys want?”

  Milock was there to save him, he nudged Ryan in the side.

  “Nah, these days they don’t value cash as much anymore, Ryan. They do discounts for financing because that’s where they get all the kickbacks.”

  Ryan turned to Milock, incredulous. “What? So they’re incentivised to sell and drive people into debt?”

  Milock shrugged before the salesman could get a word in edgewise.

  “Nah, I mean. Huh, when you say it like that, it really is some scummy vulture like behavior.”

  Ryan shrugged, “I guess if that’s how they make their bread and butter these days, it is what it is.”

  The salesman went back to looking like his smile physically hurt his soul.

  “Well if you gentlemen are done–”

  “I’ll take the car with five thousand off. If you do that deal right now then we’ll buy it and walk out of here.”

  The tonal whiplash made the salesman’s head spin. He ushered them into a room and quickly got their paperwork done. All three of them were eager to be on their way. When it was all said and done, Ryan transferred the money and the salesman almost seemed surprised to see the transaction had gone through.

  Ryan threw the keys of the new Tempest at his friend.

  “All yours buddy.”

  Milock stared at the keys in his hands.

  “What?”

  “You always said you wanted it right?”

  “Holy shit man. No way, I can’t take this.”

  “Nah, you stuck with me through a bunch of dragonshit, besides I don’t really need it you know.”

  “Fucking hell!”

  Milock hugged Ryan hard and Ryan hugged back. At this point, everyone in the dealership was watching the scene, feeling a bit of warmth in their cold greasy hearts. Here was a scene where a guy clearly rose from nothing and knew when to be grateful and pay back those that had helped him. They could only wish for friends like that.

  “C’mon wanna go test out your new car?”

  “Hell yeah!”

  The two best friends drove off into the distance. Probably off to enjoy their new earned wealth. Who knew what adventures they’d get up to next.

  The salesman blinked.

  “Wait, you left your old car!”

  –

  Ryan put out his hand, Milock slapped the hand in a low five. Both of them grinned as they raced off.

  “Did you see their faces?!”

  Milock laughed, “I can’t believe it. They were so confused that they just wanted us out of there as soon as possible.”

  “I can’t believe that all the movies I watched were wrong. Since when do they care about financing over cash?"

  Ryan had told Milock that it'd have been funny if they showed up in his beat up car and bought a brand new one in cash. Milock was the one that had told them that dealers these days cared more about financing over cash and then they’d come up with this idea.

  “Been awhile I think. So what’s next?”

  “You know what’s next. Congratulations on the car Milock.”

  “Wait, you were serious about that?”

  “‘Course I was. I can run faster than this thing.”

  “Man, that is wild.” Milock paused, for some reason he wasn’t as excited about the car as Ryan expected his friend to be. “Sometimes it doesn’t really feel like you’re superhuman you know?”

  “I’ve had some time to work on it.”

  Ryan had accidentally bruised Milock one too many times for his own liking. The thing that really helped dial in his control was the Obsidian Sect and how they had learned to dial in their control.

  Milock tried to move the topic in a different direction.

  “I mean, you know realm fours live as long as elves do in The Realm right?”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “Don’t you think about what that means? You could be relaxing and living for three hundred years, probably longer considering your arm grade. I mean, Seffara’s basically a granny if you think about it.”

  “Better not let her hear you say it.”

  “I’m serious… do you ever think about–you know. What living that long would be like?”

  Ryan went silent for a moment.

  “No.”

  “I’m not saying that to stop you. It’s just… nobody from Earth’s lived past two hundred yet. I’m just wondering what you would do when you succeed at what you want to do.”

  “I gotta get there first. Not really thinking about anything else at the moment.”

  “Yeah… sorry for bringing it up.”

  “No, it’s fine. Wait, where are we going?”

  “Going to pick someone else up first. You told Zedart and Valee we’re a team right? Gotta pick up our last member, she’s going to be really helpful for what we need to do next.”

  –

  “Shopping~ shopping~ shopping~”

  Clara was celebrating/dancing/singing in the backseat.

  “Million dollar clothes, million dollar girl.”

  “That sounds like the motto of a hooker.”

  Clara stuck her tongue out at him.

  –

  Jennifer Stewart was an accountant with a beautiful family that was the joy of her life. Her work was good too, but she’d been working as an accountant for a while now and the job had started to become just a little bit too predictable. Her children however? They grew up so quickly and gave a different lens to the world that sparkled her day.

  Everything was worth it, a beautiful family, a nice house in a great suburb. What more could their family want?

  As the sun started to set there was a knock on his door.

  “Dear, are you expecting someone?”

  “No. Might be the neighbors.”

  Jennifer checked the door camera and saw a well dressed young man outside her door. At first she was of a mind to just tell the young man she was busy but something about him drew the attention. Sharp eyes that darted into the camera like he had noticed her looking. The young man looked up and down around her house entrance.

  He turned on the speaker.

  “Hi, this is Jennifer, can I help you?”

  “Ah yes, Mrs. Stewart. Can we speak face to face? I have an offer for you.”

  “Sorry, we don’t do solicitations.”

  The young man chuckled.

  “Well, this isn’t really a solicitation like that. I’ll cut to the chase. I am willing to offer you one point three million dollars for your house. Thirty percent above the market rate.”

  That made Jennifer get up. Her husband called out from the other room.

  “Who is it honey?”

  “Let me go check, they seem pretty friendly enough.”

  This probably wasn’t a prank and if he at a thirty percent offer they were almost definitely willing to go higher. She went to the front door and opened it. The doorbell camera did not do the young man justice.

  He oozed confidence, no, arrogance of a spoiled young man that had never had a hard day in his life. He had a cream white shirt with far too many buttons undone and showed too much of his chest. Black shorts and navy blue loafers completed the look of a preppy trust fund kid.

  There was chatter nearby. Jennifer noticed two strangers leaning against a brand-new Tempus parked outside of her home. One young woman in a dazzling sundress and oversized sunglasses. Beside her was a young man in a perfectly tailored suit, leaning back against the hood of the luxury car. They were casually chatting away, as if this entire scene were an everyday affair.

  Jennifer’s attention went back to the young man in front of him.

  “My name’s Jennifer Stewart, and you are?”

  The young man smiled and gave her a polite handshake. “Ryan Robinson, and yes, the offer is genuine. I have come across some money recently and I’m looking to buy this house off you.”

  Jennifer internally rolled her eyes. ‘Came into wealth’ probably meant that a relative died or they finally got more access to their trust fund. Still, the offer was good. One million was what the house was valued at a few years ago. But the market had gone down sincet then, One point three million was quite a bit above market price in Jennifer’s mind.

  “Is there a reason why you’re willing to offer so much? You didn’t find gold buried here right?”

  Ryan chuckled. “No, nothing like that. The truth is that this used to be my childhood home. I’d like to buy it off you because I have fond memories here.”

  That threw her off. Ryan took out his phone then started showing her the pictures. There was a young boy version of him practicing a sword in the backyard of his house.

  Jennifer vaguely remembered buying the house off a family that was clearly downsizing. She had felt a little bad about getting the house for a discount like that but had quickly forgotten about it since. The accountant looked into Ryan’s eager shining eyes and hesitated. But only for a moment.

  Her mind thought ahead. The young man was obviously splurging and could afford more, but how desperate was he to buy it?

  “As much as we sympathize, our family’s gotten situated and are quite attached to the home. The market’s not quite the best for buying these days and–”

  “Ah well, we both know that’s not true I have here with me three listings for houses nearby that are equivalent to your house for 900k, 950k and two others for 850k. I bet all of these houses you could lowball them for at least another fifty to a hundred k off. 1.3 million is a generous offer for what is a .”

  What Jennifer had thought was a preppy kid that had come into money and was splurging turned out to be a fake disguise. It wasn’t arrogance before but confident preparation.

  Ryan Robinson rolled over her arguments in what was now a firm professional tone.

  “Take it or leave it. You have three days. I’m not attached to this home. It was something I wanted to give back to my parents, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate a much nicer house just the same.”

  Ryan handed the document, then turned around and walked over to his friends.

  She took one look at the contract with his phone number listed there and turned around.

  “Honey… I’ve got some good news.”

  She failed to spot the high fives between the trio as they entered the Tempus and drove off into the sunset.

  reon is

  23 chapters ahead!

  No breaks until the end of book two, I've written ahead so I only need to spend an hour away from family to edit!