Tyrants of Earth - The Legend of Artigan

Ryan spent a little too long drooling in that cell.

He couldn’t move his body, and neither were the guards willing to go into the cell and put him up in a more dignified position. Instead they believed their optimal location was to huddle outside of his cell, and point their various weapons and shields in his direction.

It took an entire minute of trembling before they realized they really were just pointing at a helpless vegetable that could not defend itself.

Ryan lay there with nothing but a pounding headache, trying to figure out what exactly had gone wrong.

Apparently, [Conceptual Meditation] didn’t mean he could just combine concepts. He could use the Epic to detect others’ concepts and resonate with his own, it didn’t mean he could just interact with them like they were malleable.

Sure, the concepts of [Guide] and [Adventurer] were there with him, but to make them into something new? It had been foolish to believe he could make that happen with just meditation alone.

Even Unity wouldn’t be enough. If anything, trying to force unity might actually end up killing him from the overuse. He hadn’t even come close to being able to combine the two. It was like… trying to change the meaning of reality itself.

Far, far beyond the scope of the skill.

The problem was… Ryan believed he had done it before. He had picked up new classes like they grew on trees.

Or maybe that was exactly what classes were. They embodied what existed in reality, those concepts that had been defined by the world long ago.

But those were classes you took on your own. Hadn’t he come close to doing something like that in the Manager’s Abode?

Back then, he had the [Aura Tyrant], [Aura Crystallization]... and the Trial System class orbs.

Ah. Maybe I need to try it with the class crystals. Or maybe that ends up killing me.

Ryan decided to stop thinking about it. The headache was getting to be too much anyway.

A couple minutes later, the door in his cell opened with a too-loud slamming of metal. The ninth realm adventurer, Werrick, threw down a golden badge alongside a book right in front of his face.

The clattering noise of the badge and the slamming of the book made Ryan wince.

“You’ve been registered as a gold rank adventurer with all the rules and obligations that follow. You will be expected to match the standards of all adventurers or you will be punished accordingly.”

Ryan groaned in response.

“I have a headache, can you read it aloud for me? I do well with a deep and soothing voice. Yours isn’t as good as Grevich’s but it’ll do.”

Werrick considered it for a second.

“We do, actually, have an abbreviated audio version. Just one moment.”

A couple minutes later, Werrick came back and threw down a ring with tiny crystals embedded within. They started to vibrate and filled up the room with a loud shrilling voice that spoke of the major rules and regulations expected of gold ranks.”

At this point, Ryan could move his arms to cover his ears.

“It’s normally used as a light punishment for new adventurers, but since you are in no state to read. I believe this is appropriate.”

“Wait—”

But Werrick was gone, and in his place was a very loud recording.

——

Back in the Adventurer’s Guild.

The watch party was in full force as they toasted another round of the fall of Artigan. Great Marshall Vedit couldn’t help but nod approvingly.

“Your student does good work.”

“As he should.”

Fetters seemed to hold the elf with a little less ill will because she was more interested in actual issues.

“Have we identified the threat yet?”

The Guildmaster shook his head.

“No.”

They put down their glasses then. It wasn’t like this was just an impromptu watch party of their greatest bully. They were officially here because they all knew that when Artigan appeared, it was in a pivotal moment for their kingdom.

What really threw them off was that he had appeared so late… and so weak.

Plus, he appeared in the capital, the most well-defended place in the world. With one of the only two confirmed ascendants in the world.

If you didn’t include that damned dragon.

Rhinestone scratched his chin.

“Maybe the dragon found a way in?”

Vedit nodded.

“It’s possible. I’ll have to double check our security measures.”

Fetters had her hands roaming over a spatial bag. The one that Artigan had so generously donated. The Kingdom of Valmere had never seen anything like it before and it was one enchantment amongst the plethora that Artigan had brought that might change everything once again.

While she did so, she also watched a recording of Artigan. The moment where he had passed out.

“A pivotal moment doesn’t have to mean great strife. Perhaps there’s another reason for it?”

All of them stared at that recording, being played over and over again.

It was tiny but reality seemed to warp for a second. No mana signatures, no qi output, just someone staring into space and making reality shake.

“Are we still doing as King Theskar recommends?”

If it was decades ago, words like that would have gotten Rhinestone censured. Now…

They all turned to the Great Hero Agrinth Deu Jalinmar, the Great Hero. The adopted son of King Theskar of Valmere, and more recently, the Son of Valmere. The ascendant watched the figure who he knew by another name. He thought of his world and its purpose and the nearly century of conflict he had gone through.

Agrinth did not answer immediately.

——

Back in the cell…

It took two hours for that damned screeching recording to finish. Two damned hours about how the world was a dual support system. How society supported adventurers and in return, adventurers stood up for the commonfolk. How they had responsibilities for the resources mined and produced by the citizens of the kingdom.

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Ryan knew propaganda when he heard it. There was zero chance that the adventurers he had met could be as fun as they were and still actually believe in any of the stuff that had been screeched out into his ear.

The headache still hadn’t gone away.

Two hours had been only enough for him to sit up, grab the noisy ring and realize that it was designed for punishment. Ryan couldn’t stop it from playing without breaking the surprisingly sturdy enchantments.

When he squeezed down on it it got louder. He also couldn’t churn his volatile core without throwing up so he had to sit down and suffer through it.

By the time it was all over Ryan checked the timer.