Chương 163: Chapter 161- The Dumb-Ryan

It was all a manipulation. You had to remember that. This pleasant argument with the Manager was only happening because it wanted something from him. The Manager wanted to tell him something but couldn't say it directly. Possibly because of choices, most likely because it understood that Ryan would do the opposite of what he was told. Arguably he should have stopped watching. Unfortunately, he was too morbidly curious. How much could the death of one stupid old orc change? A lot, apparently.

What he didn't expect was just how much darker things could get. The alternate Ryan sat there, transfixed at the twitching face of a dying orc for what must have been a minute. Then, as if waiting until the image burned into his mind, he was transferred to the Manager's Abode. There the Manager never took a similar face as his coach, there it never took away Ryan's safety life. Despite his life about to become a whole lot better, this alternate Ryan was more muted in his excitement for his dreams come true.

Still clearly haunted by Barry's dead face. He still picked [Rogue], still believing himself not to be talented enough to be a [Warrior]. The one difference was that Ryan chose to be an elf instead. The real Ryan looked away when he saw just how much time his alternative self took to edit his body. In the end, it looked similar to the real Manager's current face. Somewhere of a hybrid between Ryan's old features and an elf's. In the First Trial the alt Ryan didn't even go with plan B.

Plan Burn it to the Ground was dismissed for a more achievement boosting option. This Ryan slaughtered all the zombies on the stairway. Boosted by the confidence of having a safety life, he made quick and efficient work of the zombies with a chair and a sword. The faster zombies having no chance against his coordination and practice. In the end he took his time to change out his clothes. The Manaburger outfit swapped out for a merchant's. Though this time, he swapped out his sneakers too.

Shoes stained by Barry's blood were replaced with much cleaner boots. And that changed everything. Without the shoes, the soldiers saw nothing wrong. Ryan ran away, knowing full well that he wasn't good enough to take any of them on. He took the only option he could think of. Completing the dungeon. It was… mostly the same. The same offer by the Skeleton Lord, the same rejection and battle. Though this time the real Ryan noted that he missed a pretty good chance to showboat over the soldiers.

In the end, the system screen showed this alt-Ryan with a flat S grade achievement. While the real Ryan had gotten an S-.

"Well that's bullshit. He didn't even fight the soldiers." He complained to the Manager, the scene pausing as he did.

"I had to beat the soldiers and the skeleton lord." The Manager naturally had an answer for him"You need to remember that he chose to be an elf while I took that choice away from you. Also your plans being found out counted against you as well." Ryan thought about it for a second.

"I still call bullshit. Don't I also get achievement bonuses for being on one life?"

"Not as much as the Realmnet thinks. You were on the upper end of S- though, I will give you that."

"Wait. If it isn't such a big deal then why'd you take away my safety?" This entire time Ryan had thought his safety life had been taken away to maximize his achievements. It had been noted by statisticians that those without a safety life did indeed get better achievements when you isolated the variables. The Manager shifted slightly.

"I cannot explain why I did so without you watching the rest of this. I believe you'll figure it out." Ryan raised a hand, stopping the scenes from continuing.

"If having safety lives don't penalize your achievements that much then why not give everyone multiple safety lives?" The Manager answered immediately, not even needing the time to think on his question.

"As always, it is a balance of things. In the earlier tests, before the Trial System was instantiated, the creators found that most worlds never managed to produce even a single dragonslayer. What ended up happening was that those at the ninth realm were satisfied to lord over their worlds rather than risk their lives against a dragon that nobody had defeated. Meanwhile civilizations that had too many safety lives ended up far too weak to climb deeper into dragonslayer."

The Manager paused, letting the words sink in. Ryan had no idea there were tests before the Trial System. It really begged the question just how old this Trial System was in the first place. The rest just confirmed that safety lives weren't a kindness from the creators of the Trial System.

"One safety life ended up being even better than the creators had imagined. It caused strife when people came back from the dead for revenge. It got people used to risking more than they should. Balancing out the loss of achievements from having that extra life. And those that lost their safety life and continued to push? Knowing the pain of death? They tended to produce some of the most exceptional individuals, even compared to the most talented of the multiverse."

"Damn, anything to get those exceptional results, huh?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Ryan raised an eyebrow at the Manager. It didn't respond to his provocation, instead, continuing the scene. The alt-Manager congratulated alt-Ryan for a job well done, apologizing for sending him into a trap, but also telling him it was an unfortunate agreement with the Tyrants. It told Ryan that it believed he would succeed.

The gullible idiot took it all gracefully. Then came the offer. The letter. The trap that had gotten him on the Witch Tyrant's radar. The Manager was explicit in that the letter could attract attention and danger. Ryan, with a safety life, didn't even blink, happily taking on a Realm Quest by The Manager itself. The screen having a time limit of twelve hours till delivery. Then the Manager assured alt-Ryan that his body was safe and at his parent's house.

The doctors, realizing that there was nothing wrong with him with no injuries, had correctly guessed that he'd become a Destined. Alt-Ryan happily accepted that answer and was ready to dutifully deliver the letter.

"Come on, I can't be that dumb."

"Remember, I don't lie." The Manager answered. Real Ryan rolled his eyes. Though he did privately agree that this was indeed possible. In the end it was the framing that changed everything. Here the Manager didn't take away his safety life, here the Manager didn't take a face similar to his old coach. Everything was professional and above board. Just like the realmnet spoke of the mysterious all-knowing entity.

Alt-Ryan skipped over the [Tactician] and [Saboteur] class offerings and gladly hopped over to the safe zone. This new adventurer had an important mission to accomplish. One given by the Manager itself. He looked so stupid that Ryan decided to change what he thought of him. Dumb-Ryan didn't have his face covered, when the idiot reached Sabrina the receptionist, he loudly declared he had a letter to deliver from the Manager. It caused a commotion. Nobody believed it, everyone wanted it open as proof.

Sabrina snatched the letter and started swinging her warhammer at the gathering crowd.

"Back! BACK OFF, ANYONE THAT COMES CLOSE OR TOUCHES THE LETTER IS AN INSTANT BLACKLIST AND I CAVE YOUR SKULL IN." Sabrina turned to alt Ryan.

"Are you crazy? Why didn't you give this to me in secret?"

"There was an issue with my first Trial. There were soldiers, and I wanted to make a commotion." The real Ryan slapped his forehead. He could see what Dumb-Ryan was thinking, the idiot was him after all. His body on Earth had already been identified as being a Destined, it wouldn't take that long for the government to figure him out. Get in trouble with a clandestine government operation? Make as much noise as you can and establish yourself as a promising adventurer.

Maybe earn the protection of a stronger adventurer that way. Dumb-Ryan smirked.

"Got an S grade by the way. I'm here to sign up my name's—""HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD IT!" A very voluptuous figure bounded across the room in very tight robes. Dumb-Ryan blinked, his eyes flicking down then back up, locking back onto the newcomer's face. Real-Ryan knew that look, it was when he was trying very hard not to be impolite. Of course Smart-Ryan had no proclivities against staring at a simulation of a fake image of Gamielle. One designed to honeypot respectable young men like him.

Smart-Ryan clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"I can't believe I fell for that." This time, everyone was torn between fighting over him and trying to peer pressure Sabrina into opening the letter. The receptionist finally snapped and shoved Ryan into a room while starting to name people that were going to get a mark next to their name. Then she sprinted out of the Guild with the letter. Only moments later, Gamielle snuck into the room with Zedart. She was far, far less chipper in this encounter than what he remembered.

Probably having seen the letter sooner than she expected. And things indeed were different. Dumb-Ryan accepted the terms, not even needing to be bribed with a million dollar contract. A top tier team like this was his dream and he still had two lives. The main difference was that Gamielle wanted a tryout immediately. Dumb-Ryan hesitated for once, saying that he probably should tell his family first.

Gamielle insisted, saying it would only take half a day, that there was a chance the instant trial would disappear if they waited for too long. Dumb-Ryan was dumb indeed. He agreed to go like an idiot. Unlike his real self, he had been energized by completing the First Trial and getting the Manager's letter. Barry's dead face being completely forgotten as everything was going so right for him for once in his life. Smart-Ryan just stared at Gamielle's expression instead, after all this time he understood her well.

She wasn't happy about what was going to happen next. As much as some things changed, others did not. Half a day later, they fell into a trap, Ryan came across Zedart standing over Gamielle's dead body while the screens flickered up. Though this time Ryan didn't try that hard to reason with Zedart. He had a Rare [Hasten] skill on top of both [Instant Dodge] and [Double Stab] and it showed. Though Zedart's insane talent helped him barely keep up.

That was, until Zedart pulled out his merged skill, cutting off both of Ryan's arms. Ryan barely dodged the blade curving towards his neck. Real-Ryan noticed how Zedart's merged skill wasn't perfect, he couldn't pull back in time. Ryan didn't stop. He pulled close, using the bleeding stump of his arms to both blind and push Zedart's arms to the side. Then used his teeth to rip out Zedart's throat. The real-Ryan was barely watching the fight between the two stupid realm ones.

Instead he was focused on Gamielle's corpse. Her eyes twitched, going a little wide when the dumb Ryan came out victorious. She sat up as Ryan lay dying, bleeding out with two stumps. Dumb-Ryan was laughing at his victory. Gamielle offered him potions and reconnected his arms. Dumb-Ryan just stared at her like an idiot, not figuring out that the Witch Tyrant was behind this. There hadn't been any hints. No weird Realmers bowing to her.

No time to digest that Zedart had said that Gamielle was the most impressive realm one [Mage] he'd ever seen. Gamielle tried to do a mysterious dragonslayer route, threatening him to keep his mouth shut. Then she gave up when it was clear Ryan wasn't going to listen to anything she said. She threw up her arms.

"You do it mom, he's clearly going to go off and try to tell the world." Then she disappeared. Leaving a very confused Dumb-Ryan behind. Then the Witch Tyrant descended, a letter in her hand. She opened it in front of him and spoke the words out loud.

'Either Zedart or Ryan will be the key.' Finally Dumb-Ryan understood what had happened. The idiot never even looked at the message he was supposed to deliver. Like a good little messenger. Things changed once again. Dumb-Ryan returned to Earth. Eyes wide open, the Trial System removing his human body for an elven one as he did. The identity and his face that people didn't know of, not yet. Ryan broke out of his parent's house, terrified, lost and confused. He was still trying to make sense of the situation.

He couldn't stay with his family while getting blacklisted. People would make the connection between him and this elf. It would only be a matter of time. At the very least he needed to look for a safe place to think and [Return to The Realm]. Dumb-Ryan didn't make it far. A shadow loomed over him. A giant armored woman that was silent as the night appeared in front of him, almost a minute after he had left the house. As if she had been camping outside, watching him, trying to figure out what to do.

The giant armored woman grabbed him and disappeared, the scenery blurring until they were under a bridge. She slammed Ryan into a wall. Dumb-Ryan was frozen in panic until he recognized who it was. It was Seffara the Sapphire. Except she wasn't the happy booming woman when Real-Ryan had first met her. Her face was stone, her hands were still wet with someone else's blood.

"Barry had a fucking potion in his pocket, you could have saved him." Seffara the Sapphire was grieving the death of her oldest friend. And she'd probably just killed the kids that had shot Barry.