Chương 25: Chapter 24 - After-action report

*The Olympics Committee has admitted difficulty in vetting out Realm 0 Destined from their selection of athletes. This is in the midst of record low interest in the historic event. - And he still couldn't beat Bolt. WHAT A LOSER! @Rutherfold (Verified, Realm 9) - Honestly, everyone at the highest level of Olympics should get a sponsorship into the Trial System. Then we'll know for sure whether they're cheating or not. @Shimmerstare (unverified) After-action assessments were an adventurer's standard.

They were one of the best ways for higher realm adventurers to get involved in your development without achievement penalties. Hell, if you were feeling particularly ballsy, you could post your actions and videos online and have a hundred little internet gremlins giving you their dissertations and analyses of why you were wrong and why you should feel bad about every decision you made. Of course, Ryan's success in his Trials showed that he was a step above those armchair analysts. …

It was probably karma that his first after-action report was being done in front of Seffara the freaking Sapphire. And his friends were watching. Yeah, this was definitely karma for the stuff he'd typed when he was younger. He looked at Barry. The orc seemed to have a lot of influence over the heroine of old.

"Do Clara and Milock need to be here?"

"Always good to get more opinions." Barry's tone was firm and brooked no argument. Ryan sighed.

"So, in the first Trial, I could have-" Barry interrupted.

"No, go all the way to the start—the Manager. Tell us what could you have done better and how should you have approached it." That was a fair point to start with. Ryan didn't really need to think about the answer, he knew what he'd done wrong.

"I would have… I should have realized he was trying to throw me off balance and should have taken my time to clarify everything. If he forced me out of his abode anyway, then I might have caught on sooner that something was up."

"Good, recognizing when you're off balance is important. Beyond that, I have no comment." Barry looked questioningly at everyone else. Clara shrugged, her posture distinctly giving off the 'I don't know why you're looking at me' vibes. Seffara looked away from Barry, uncomfortable with the idea that the Manager was a manipulative bastard. Milock, somehow seemed the most comfortable out of anyone in the group.

"It's the butterfly effect, right?" He'd clearly been thinking about this for a while.

"The Manager puts its hands on the scales and causes a knock-on effect that leads you into doing exactly what it wanted. Forced you to take on those soldiers and maybe even meet the Witch Tyrant." Ryan had come to a similar conclusion. Except he was wondering how much further it went. Had even this very encounter been foreseen? What were the chances of him meeting Seffara of all people through a connection like Barry? The creeping thought was suffocating him. Barry cleared his throat.

"Let's move on. We don't have time to worry about something like the Manager. Especially when we don't know its motivations and its limits." I bet Gamielle knows exactly what the Manager wants. If he could get the information out of her, then he'd actually be able to understand what his position was. Ryan had been coming up with a plan for his return to The Realm and added it to the list. Ryan shelved that thought and nodded absently.

"Then the First Trial. Any thoughts on how I dealt with the soldiers and the Skeleton Lord?" He looked specifically at Seffara. She raised her eye from her bottle, and her lip twitched in annoyance. The way she looked at him like he was a pest was the worst. She shrugged.

"The soldiers could've been dealt with cleaner. You should have dealt with that soldier one before trying to deal with the Skeleton Lord. Would have saved the villagers too." That… that was a terrible argument. Ryan tilted his head at one of the oldest adventurers alive.

"I almost lost to the [Mage] soldier. I might have been able to turtle against the [Rogue] with the villagers, but then he could go clear the Trial himself. Or he could take the deal with the Skeleton Lord and chase me down."

"Instead, you let the villagers die." She said simply. Barry shook his head, playing the mediator in the discussion.

"Seff, you're being unfair. The rookie's thoughts are good here." Seffara seemed to disagree. She pointed at Ryan while she argued.

"You saw him tear apart an entire team. He even said he beat a sword prodigy, that Zedart kid probably had the [Swordsman] class." She turned to him.

"You really think you couldn't handle a single [Rogue] soldier?" This was ridiculous. This was such a poor argument from someone who was supposed to be so experienced. He countered again.

"Earth soldiers that are given the chance to sneak and steal a spot for the Trial are almost always special forces. They would be the best of the best. Of course, I didn't think I could beat them." Seffara frowned. She was searching for a counterargument, but Milock came to Ryan's defense first. He'd apparently done his research while Ryan was away.

"They were American spec ops. Three people snuck in during a small fight two days ago, and then three trialists were spat out from the same portal a few hours later. Their identities weren't confirmed and the footage was conveniently lost. It has to be spec ops." Ryan tensed at the confirmation. He knew they were American soldiers but hadn't had the time to actually check it out. Seffara took another swig and conceded the point.

"Fine. I was wrong." Ryan took that moment to ask something that had been bothering him.

"Can you do anything about the government going after me? All of them have seen my face. I don't know how long it'll take before they find me." Seffara waved him off.

"The government doesn't do that shit anymore. If they cause an issue, I'll raise hell." That was not the answer Ryan was looking for. Just because the US government had reformed its image in recent decades didn't mean he was confident they wouldn't just sweep him up. The only thing that gave him some assurance was that he was small fry, and that the Witch Tyrant wanted him in The Realm. Ryan thought it over.

"Could you just promise me one thing? Just take care of my parents and Milock and Clara if I disappear or something." The heroine scratched at her neck. She couldn't ignore a request like that.

"Ah fine. Trust me, there's no issue. The government taking loved ones is old news. They don't do that anymore. I'll go looking myself if something happens." That at least gave him some reassurance. Ryan continued with his story. He repeated his meeting of Zedart and Gamielle again, this time with much more detail. Milock laughed.

"Man, they sound so fun. seriously that would have been a dragonslayer team." That cut Ryan hard, more than he would have liked to admit. Zedart was a bastard, but he had been a monstrously talented one. And Gamielle. No, she being a teammate was far too unrealistic. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He continued his story, everything up to and including the fake Instant Trial. Each detail carefully explained along with his reasoning.

In the end, Barry came to a simple conclusion.

"You should have run."

"The walls were closed. There was nothing." Ryan countered.

"No System enforced Trials close themselves off like that. You said it yourself. You could maintain distance at all times. You should have found a switch, should have been touching the walls at the minimum." Milock decided to jump in, unhelpfully.

"Except it was Gamielle, right? They wouldn't just let the walls be illusioned." Surprisingly, Barry was more patient in his answer to Milock than he had been to Seffara or Ryan.

"Except he didn't know that. We're operating with all the information Ryan had. At the time." Ryan groaned. Barry did have a point there. It was almost always better to be situationally oriented than results oriented.

"You're probably right. I should have tried harder." He continued his story, he described his encounter with Gamielle. This was where Seffara had told him to stop talking in the truck. The [Knight] interrupted him again.

"This is where your story becomes a little too absurd. Legends don't just pop out of nowhere. It's much easier to believe that you're lying to cover your ass." It sounded like Seffara was saying it more to reassure herself more than anything. Ryan wished he were lying out of his ass.

"It has to be a Legend. Even an Epic boosted [Fireball] by a dragonslayer reduces to basically nothing if it passes into a levelled zone. Gamielle can create a perfect illusion of herself, with sounds and images from far away. The only thing that explains it is a Legendary skill." That was Ryan's full analysis after all his encounters and a bit more research online. The whole table sat in silence as they took the idea in. Legendary illusion magic, it was hard to contemplate.

Seffara shook her head and took another huge gulp of her drink. Clara put her hand up.

"Uhm, isn't The Realm like ten times bigger than Earth? Why can't a Legend not happen in secret?" Seffara swirled her near empty bottle.

"It's not impossible. It's just very unlikely. A promising rookie can't be kept a secret in modern times. There's too many adventurers around for that. Not only would you have to complete the Trials in secret, but you'd also have to hide your Legend Manifestation. The videos don't do them justice. It's hard to hide something like that with the amount of adventurers around these days." Barry decided to chime in. The orc fully believed everything he had said.

"Though if anyone could do it, it would be a Tyrant."

"I… have another idea. The Witch Tyrant's exact Legend was never confirmed right?" Seffara blinked at her bottle, then raised her head in horror.

"No… hell fucking no." The more Ryan thought about it, the more sense it made. The Witch Tyrant had become a recluse in the past two decades. Before she'd been outspoken, passionate about peace. But one day it had just stopped. People assumed she'd just cast aside the rest of the world to delve further into the higher Sectors.

"It makes sense. Think about it. Maybe she can pawn off her skill onto Gamielle and—""Stop. Talking." The room suddenly got hotter as the hair on his neck raised. Seffara grabbed her enchanted box and turned it over, double checking that all the enchantments were in place. She took a breath and gave them all severe looks.

"We don't talk about Legends outside of this sphere. Actually, it was bad enough that we now know she has a secret daughter. If we're talking about the Legend that she's been keeping a secret this entire time—" That didn't sound right to Ryan. He put his hand up to interrupt Barry.

"No, wait, trust me. Gamielle or the Witch Tyrant are giving out hints. They want me to figure things out…"

"That might apply to you," Seffara said.

"Did you think about us? Or your friends?" Suddenly he felt like the biggest idiot in the world. He looked at his friends in horror and they returned the look. He shook his head.

"She wouldn't. She isn't like that. She's testing me, and she's a Tyrant…" He realized how stupid that statement was out loud. The Tyrants may have been heroes, but not all of them acted or behaved the same. He'd gotten so comfortable with the after-action assessment that he had just said his thoughts without considering the consequences. Barry didn't seem as horrified by the reveal.

"She wouldn't, that's not a line the Witch crosses. She's never involved civilians. Not like this." Wouldn't she? Maybe the Witch Tyrant of old wouldn't have, but this Witch Tyrant was throwing kids like Zedart into deathmatches. Ryan regretted everything. Seffara the Sapphire being here had lowered his guard. But even she didn't seem ready to challenge the Tyrants on this. Ryan turned to his friends.

"Milock, Clara. Sorry for getting you involved. You two should go home."

"No way!" Milo shouted in outrage. He pointed a thumb at Clara.

"Clara should go, but I've known you for years. I'm staying." Seffara seemed to have had enough, she was putting the entire blame on the old orc instead. She looked at the three young adults.

"This isn't up for debate. All three of you, let me talk to Barry. Wait outside the silence bubble." Ryan ignored Seffara.

"Look, Milock, there's nothing you can do here. I wasn't really thinking straight when I let Barry invite you guys. You guys can't do anything here. You're both useless. Take Clara and go." Milock looked the most hurt Ryan had ever seen him. He tried not to flinch. Then he heard the most audible sigh from his other friend. She'd been uncharacteristically silent for most of the conversation, not willing to jump into the discussions or ask too many questions. She seemed willing to stand her ground here.

"Milock, he's just trying to hurt you so you leave. Ryan thinks he's protecting us." Ryan blinked at the very sudden, insightful assessment. Clara rolled her eyes.

"It's pretty obvious what you're doing if you're not Milo. You really are bad at lying, Ryan."

"Hey! And fuck you Ryan. I don't need your protection." The armored [Knight] in the room seemed incredulous that she was getting ignored.

"Kids! This isn't up for debate! This is far, far above what you should be getting involved in." Ryan once again, ignored Seffara. He kept looking at both his friends, stupid and loyal for no reason. He also really needed to stop thinking of Clara as the bubbly idiot newbie. She showed spine by being unflinching despite the fact that Seffara was clearly getting furious. Ryan had to give it to her.

"Alright, fuck it. Clara you sure you want to stay?" Clara shrugged.

"In for a penny, in for a pound. I already promised Barry I'd stick around for another day, and besides." She met Ryan's eyes.

"You wouldn't leave if it were either of us in your position, right?" Ryan blinked. He really did need to stop labeling everyone that was inexperienced as a Clara. A large clap shattered the drama between the three of them. It possibly shattered Milock's and Clara's eardrums too. Everyone covered their ears as a furious voice cut through all of them.

"Do you all think this is a joke!? Get the fuck out, I need to talk to Barry." The old orc just laughed at Seffara, he gave all of them a genuine smile. Seffara hesitated as the orc spoke.

"No, we finish the after-action report first. Then we can talk after Seff." Seffara looked at her friend. For a moment, Ryan thought she'd overrule him and kick them out anyway. Instead, she threw up her hands and sat back down on her chair.

"Argh, fine." What had just happened? He had felt it throughout their entire encounter with the heroine but now it was confirmed. Seffara the Sapphire deferred to Barry. Who the fuck was Barry? And how had he never heard of the orc before? The orc signalled for Ryan to continue. Ryan narrowed his eyes at the orc but continued anyway. Explaining his encounter as he returned to The Realm and stabbed Gamielle in her stupid smug face. The orc grunted.

"You're going to get a good skill from that." He grinned at the compliment.

"Yep, want to hear the list?" Milock perked up. Unfortunately for his friend, the orc shot it down.

"After we finish the report." Ryan explained what happened to Patrick the fourther. And that was when the old orc ambushed him with an argument he'd been planning for.

"So you said given a similar situation you'd retreat, yet with a team full of fourthers you decide to go charging forward and even mock them?"

"I didn't go head to head. Gamielle obviously said they were going to do something. I just…" Ryan paused.

"I just trusted the words of someone who had just put me into a deathmatch. Huh." It sounded really stupid when he said it like that. Ryan continued his story until the end. The orc shook his head.

"So, after you said you'd run from similar situations, you never did."

"What situations were similar? I didn't have a choice."

"The moment you saw the Trial scaled to six, you could have avoided the Trial entirely. Found another escape from the Trial or cause a Trial break instead of challenging everything. You also decided to slay the [General] instead of leaving." This was probably the point the old orc wanted to hammer home. Ryan got it, he was reckless sometimes. Still, he disagreed.

"They have jeeps at the nearby fort. I have no idea if I could have made it back to the forest line and stayed out of sight. They have drones with heat seeking tech. Also that [General] was an easy bonus."

"There are other Trial portals and I checked the maps, there's plenty of terrain to have lost those jeeps in. You could have stolen one if you'd thought about it." Milock decided to argue in Ryan's stead.

"I mean, it worked right? I'm not saying Ryan should keep running headfirst into things, but, uh, could you have done better if you were in his situation?" Barry looked annoyed at the comment, he scratched at a tusk.

"No." Milock looked like he had managed to take a point off a [Swordsman]. Unfortunately, that just made Barry more annoyed.

"But that's why I haven't criticized his actions. Just the mentality, not once when pushed did he attempt or think of a true retreat." Barry pointed a thick green finger at Ryan's chest.

"You said you'd retreat, and you didn't. Each and every time. I was a [Berserker], I would have retreated in half of the situations you were in." The orc seemed annoyed and regretful that he'd had to say it explicitly instead of letting him figure it out on his own. The orc was sharp and knew how to convince people in the right way. Barry really wasn't a typical orc ex-[Berserker]. It put Ryan's guard up.

"So. The after-action report is that I'm a lot more reckless than I thought I was, and I sort of go blind to other options when I think I can win?"

"Seems like you already know it yourself. That's good. We'll try to work on it in the coming days." Barry scratched at a tusk, then stopped the gesture when he saw how carefully Ryan was observing the orc. The orc huffed.

"Alright, let's move on." Milock was confused as to what had just happened.

"Wait, that's it? No comments about the insane dirt strategy or the video?" Barry raised a thick eyebrow.

"And? Do you have anything to add on what he could have done better?"

"I, no?" Milo bit his lip, "but this isn't how after-action reports are done are they?"

"No, but me and Seff were never planners, and you both," the orc looked pointedly at Clara and Milo, "are both too green to be giving advice. Ask questions if you can, but I saw no errors in his plans or adaptations. Ryan's already a better planner than me." Seffara raised an eyebrow at Barry, but she didn't interrupt him. Ryan was taken aback.

"Wait, I'm a better planner than you? And Seffara?" The old orc laughed.

"Yeah. I would have really loved your tactics as a [Berserker]." Ryan hit the dining table with his forehead. He'd fallen for that one. The entire table laughed, Seffara included. Unfortunately for Barry, that comment just solidified what Ryan had to do. Barry hadn't met the Witch Tyrant he'd met. He had to confront Gamielle or the Witch Tyrant. He had to find out what exactly it was that the Manager wanted. Without it, there was no way to know if all of this was still a trap.

And he refused to play along while his friends got involved. He already had the leverage. There was already an outline of a somewhat reckless plan. Now, he just needed some time alone to execute it.