Chapter 268 - [Thunderclap]
Silver rank in Valmere was realm four in strength. Gold was designed around adventurers between the realms of five to six. It was for those that could casually break the sound barrier with a single swing and therefore needed adjustments in their sword patterns.
If Ryan was being honest, he hadn’t actually mastered the golden version of Valmere’s Sword School. At least, not enough for the Trial System to award the skill to him.
If he had, his swings and steps would not break the sound barrier.
But at least he did know the steps and philosophy behind it.
The team of four scattered as Ryan leapt in like a charging bull. More explosive power than finesse.
The [Lightning Elementalist] zapped and zig-zagged through the air. Moving with such speed and brightness that even Ryan found it hard to keep track. She threw a ball of qi-infused lightning at his face.
[Thunderbolt]
Ryan threw a knife, not one of the specialized ones—those were one-time use—but a metallic bronze-colored knife that had been melted from an ancient dwarven golem.
It shot into the ball of lightning and—
[Arcane Volatility]
It exploded in midair, sending the lightning scattering everywhere.
The [Elementalist] blinked in surprise as she was blown backwards from the arcing explosion.
Ryan grinned. It didn’t matter if the lightning was mostly qi-focused. The core structure had been maintained by magic. Ryan had seen what she had done last time and adapted. [Spellweave Perception] and his new foundational knowledge aiding him in identifying it immediately.
He leaned back and parried a spear from the [Warrior] that was still sprinting away at top speed.
The two [Rogues] had run further out. They’d actually increased the gap between them than when he first charged in.
Now, the [Warrior] was trying to be the obvious bait.
“Not bad, but not that good either”
He kicked off, turning off his [Aura of Self Momentum], reducing his strength and speed. He even switched out his strongest titles so he’d be physically weaker.
Learning from each other, not just brute force.
Ryan held the shattersword close to his chest, like a fencer about to thrust—and jumped.
He was still fast enough to close the gap in seconds. The [Artillery Warrior] stopped running backwards and held a large circular shield out in front, a spear held back.
The [Warrior] threw, right at the last moment, right when he would have touched down on the ground.
Ryan ducked while thrusting his sword forwards, despite the distance.
The shattersword telescoped. Like a shooting snake, it flung out, the pieces of the sword being held by aura and its enchantments with all the speed of a thrust. The [Warrior] hadn’t expected that and couldn’t adjust his compromised position in time.
The telescoping sword shot out and went through the [Warrior’s] legguards and cut through half of his left leg. Bone and all.
The [Warrior] grunted in pain as Ryan shook his head.
“Shoddy.”
The shattersword retracted with a flick of his wrist. The swirling sword snapping back in a small whipping motion as he swung around to block the three throwing stars from afar.
[Dangersense]
He had only planned to knock them down quickly and hadn’t put much force into it.
The [Ricochet Throw] made the flying stars bounce off his sword and went for his head and body.
He sidestepped the throwing knives barely at the last moment, completely tight and controlled. He turned back to see that the [Warrior] no longer had a useless leg and was sprinting backwards already. The [Artillery Warrior] threw again.
The throwing stars bounced off the ground behind him and went straight back for him.
Three arcing lightning bolts shot towards him from where the [Elementalist] had been downed.
Ryan was stuck between a three pronged attack and they’d somehow made even greater distance from him.
“Excellent.”
He wrapped his sword with his aura and moved.
The three arcing lightning bolts went wide. The spear he dodged as well and Ryan snatched the three throwing stars that had tried to catch him from behind.
He wrapped the throwing stars with his aura and threw them at the [Elementalist] and went running after the two [Rogues].
The entire battlefield changed. Where before they were harassing them and making a retreat, the moment it was clear Ryan was going after their ‘[Rogue]’ the team shifted.
Because he had figured out their little trick.
It was odd that the [Warrior] had recovered so quickly. It was also odd that the two [Rogues] of the team had been side by side. The answer was simple, they didn’t have two [Rogues]. One of them was a disguised [Healer]. A classic.
“First time I’m dealing with a [Healer].”
You always went after the [Healer] first. Healing potions needed time to work and there were limits to how much you could take in a quick succession. [Healers] were far more efficient and could heal adventurers almost endlessly with their skills. The Witch Tyrant had been the first in recorded history to go after them first in war, and that was still considered good practice today.
The real [Rogue] twisted around to buy their [Healer] time.
He readied more throwing knives but was too slow. Too slow and too unpracticed.
Ryan parried through the throwing knives effortlessly and stabbed right into the [Rogue’s] shoulder.
Ryan shook his head as he kicked the [Rogue] away. Then he spat.
“Unpracticed.”
He finally turned to the only member he hadn’t tested yet. The [Healer’s] eyes went wide in surprise.
“Shit!”
Ryan took a stance and stabbed.
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The sword telescoped as the [Healer] tried to leap out of the way. But Ryan did not need to retract his sword after thrusting. He swept his arm as the connecting aura between the shattersword’s fragments solidified.
It swept—a wide arc with an incredibly extended longsword.
It hit the barrier of the [Healer] and it cracked like glass.
A scream went out from both the [Elementalist] and the [Warrior].
“No!”
Ryan leapt while retracting his sword, dodging both the lightning, the spear and more throwing knives. They were panicking, the [Elementalist] was out of position and the [Rogue] was too weak.
He stabbed while in midair, sword telescoping again.
The [Healer] could not react in time, he had given up trying to defend himself for a last-second heal on the [Rogue].
The cracked barrier shattered like glass and his swordtip went straight through an arm and tapped the [Healer] on the chest.
Then he retracted. Right in time for the [Elementalist] and the [Rogue] to pincer him in midair.
Ryan grinned, smiling at the [Healer] that thought he’d been stabbed through the heart and he—
[Instant Dodge]
Ryan went up into the air as the [Rogue] split away towards the [Healer]. The [Elementalist] did not stop in her fury. She pushed her skills, lightning coursing through her veins. She dodged his stab and was at his side.
Her maneuverability was unmatched in the air.
She had her hands spread widely, an open position that Ryan could have stabbed through but he didn’t. One of her hands held a ball of furiously raging qi-based electricity. The other with a spell circle containing a mass of magical lightning.
All of it was spiking his [Dangersense].
Ryan readied his sword and activated a skill.
[Flurry Stab]
A red rose bloomed out towards the direction of the [Elementalist]. Ryan focused on each stab like Vedit had taught him to do. The max leveled Rare skill shone with his new advancements in his sword school.
And he knew it would not be enough.
The [Elementalist] brought her hands together.
[Rhaasta’s Thunderclap]
Ryan focused on every single stab. The blooming rose of stabs tried to pierce the oncoming tide of qi and magic. A true [Swordmaster] would be able to cut through even this.
But he had not truly mastered Valmere’s Sword School yet.
The white lightning was just too overwhelming. Too much arcing forward in a short period of time. If it was two seconds—no one second more spread out—
Ryan sighed.
[Aura Condensation]
One of the crystals in his belt cracked as a full powered shield of aura enveloped him completely. The uncontrolled lightning hit him as some even arced unnervingly close to his body. He condensed his aura with his shield and tried to get back to form, to use this as practice—
But as with all lightning, it all over too quickly.
Ryan landed on the ground as the smoking body on the [Elementalist] lay in the distance. His contemplation on his own progress froze as he saw her burnt body unmoving on the grass.
That can’t have been a suicidal move, could it?
Ryan sprinted towards them, reaching for his healing potion, but the [Healer] got there first. He uncorked a large bottle and threw it over the burnt body of his team member and activated a skill.
Ryan slowed down, letting the [Warrior] and [Rogue] flank the [Healer] and [Elementalist]. The duo stared him down with death and determination in their eyes.
The [Rogue] had three throwing stars in hand and was about to go for a potshot before the [Healer] interrupted them.
“Don’t bother, if he wanted to kill us, he’d have done it already. Have you had your fun Artigan?”
The [Healer] sounded bitter as he looked over the burnt form of his teammate. The [Elementalist] rasped in pain as the healing took, slowly. Ryan winced. Elemental based magic, especially those that didn’t have a purity of one element was more difficult to treat.
Her skin scabbed over as the [Healer] worked.
He put his sword away.
“Maybe.”
The [Warrior] was incensed.
“You–”
“Captain.”
The [Healer] was warning his own captain. The [Warrior] clenched his teeth and chose the better option of not shouting at a vastly superior foe.
Ryan cleared his throat. He put one arm behind his back and tried to remember the feeling of the [Adventurer’s Guide] class.
“The combination skill at the start was nice but your [Elementalist] is too powerful. [Camouflaging] the spears does nothing if your opponent has even the most basic magical detection. Better to have thrown those ricocheting throwing stars and electrified them at the same time.”
The adventurers blinked.
Ryan nodded at them and continued.
“You should have hid your [Healer] better. What is the point of disguising him if you aren’t going to at least pretend to smash a healing potion on a leg before you heal it?”
He was talking about how the [Warrior] had instantly healed a cut leg and made it very obvious they had a [Healer].
Of course, Ryan didn’t know that the team believed Artigan had researched them already.
The [Rogue] looked around in abject confusion.
“I-is he giving us an after-action report?”
Ryan clasped his hands behind his back and looked at them with a head held high. Like Fetters did when she archly stood over her researchers.
“It’s more of an… assessment from a third party. You should of course do your own after-action report amongst yourselves. I don’t have the full context of your party.”
And Ryan just barrelled on to the bewildered adventurers.
“The biggest problem is that your team is too unbalanced. Hmm actually, you all probably already know this but your [Elementalist] is far more powerful compared to the rest of you. Not an uncommon scenario and well… I’m sure you have armchair experts telling you guys what to do.”
He was analyzing on the fly and realizing that they probably already considered everything he was going to say. The fight could have been better if the [Elementalist] fought him head on while being supported by her team members. But that would have only benefited him and meant a team-wipe if they’d lost.
Their call to attempt a retreating harassment was probably the right one.
The team all watched Artigan in silence, nodding and shaking his head at himself, ignoring their bewildered looks.
“But you should all seriously consider splitting up for the Trials if you haven’t already. That last skill alone would let you solo—what was that skill called?”
That last question was pointed at the [Elementalist].
She had been healed enough to start glaring at him throughout his whole assessment. At least until he asked his last question. Then she blinked.
“You don’t know it?”
“No? Why would I?”
Both Ryan and Thunderous Barrage stared at each other in confusion. Both of them coming to a realization that they had made mistaken assumptions about each other.
Their [Rogue] recovered first.
“I thought you researched us—you research the teams through the realmnet don’t you?”
“Well, I can’t research every single team. Also Sector Six is huge, it’s just impractical at this point.”
There was also the bit that Ryan had the [Strongest in the Sixth Realm] title. He would be careful not to underestimate anyone but… he did understand how strong most sixth realms should be.
The awkward pause continued for a little bit as the Thunderous Barrage team tried to find some sanity in the situation. The [Healer] focused on Ryan’s ring.
“Then how did you know to counter our artifact?”
Ryan lifted up his hand in surprise.
“This thing? It’s just a magically enhanced ring that was used for punishments, repurposed to use in my theme song. Wait, was that bell sound thing a protection charm against my aura?”
Their looks made him realize that he’d countered their protective charm without actually meaning to, leading to them believing that he knew all about their team.
He winced.
“Ooh. Sorry, hope that wasn’t uh… so expensive.”
It almost definitely was… incredibly expensive that was.
Ryan scratched his head and threw away half his analysis for the team. A misunderstanding was fair on their part and well… he now had spent too long standing still and confused to act like an intelligent and wise guide. He nodded towards the team.
“Good day to you all.”
Then Ryan turned and leapt away.
For a good moment, there was silence amongst the team members of Thunderous Barrage. Finally, the [Rogue] looked around.
“Can someone just tell me what happened?”
“I think we just got our asses handed to us and then told we were incompetent.”
——
Ryan stood in a sparse forest with magical plants and curious monsters. He’d figured out a way to curb his presence so that the monsters didn’t just instantly run when they felt it.
“Wasn’t great.”
His attempt at being the [Adventurer’s Guide] without using the class crystal hadn’t really worked. He was trying to figure out where exactly it had gone wrong but well… there were just too many points.
Practicing and trying to teach a team wasn’t the best and lecturing them didn’t feel right either.
He didn’t use [Class Change] to see it from the [Adventurer’s Guide’s] perspective. This class was one he wanted to embody without using the skill.
“I’m missing something.”
Ryan shook his head and decided to think on it later.
He looked around in the sky, for any signs of an invisible flying [Mage] in the air or a brilliant Cerulean Crow.
“They’re still not here, huh?”
He had been hoping Gamielle and Cerul would have found him by now. He’d certainly made enough of a ruckus for it. Unfortunately it seemed the scattered leveled zones in Sector Six was just too much for them to travel in a short period of time. It could be hours, maybe even days before they found him.
[Aura Crystallization]
A close-by sniffing and curious panther-like monster hissed and peed itself, its legs scrambling on the ground—not unfamiliar to a cat suddenly panicking on the kitchen floor.
Ryan chuckled.
Then he kicked up some dirt and put the large crystal in the ground before covering it up.
Hopefully Cerul’s innate tracking ability would be able to find this. After the encounter with Thunderous Barrage, he wanted some actual conversation.
[Return to Earth].
The five minute timer started. A loud deep humming noise emanating from him. The timer for the [Return to Earth] skill never changed. At higher realms five minutes slowly became an agonizingly long time to wait in hostile territory.
Ryan just sat underneath a tree, relaxing.
He was excited to catch up with his friends after all this time.