There was a biblical quote Ryan remembered vaguely. Something about needing to shove a camel through the eye of a needle.

  Some might think of it as an impossible task. Something you told people so that they might change their ways for the better.

  Ryan didn’t think like that. Grind up the camel and mince the pieces into miniscule mush, then strain it through. It was a lot of effort, sure but… Actually, he lost that train of thought.

  He was busy mincing the camel.

  The tangible aura of red spanned over a hundred feet. It looked impressive and terrifying but it was also not something he could control at all. Ryan tried to pull it in, cut it up with his sword and squish it. He tried everything and anything, visual, aura sense. He even tried to lick it at one point.

  The confused looks on Zedart and Valee’s faces was almost worth it.

  Slash, step back, stop, throw, slice down. Ryan was still fighting Zedart but he wasn’t really trying to win. They were taking turns, optimizing their movements, speeding up their tempo. Before Ryan knew it, he was in a flow state.

  Just following the moves the [Swordsman] was giving him.

  He skipped a step over where he expected Valee’s terrain Epic to be. Ryan was slightly jealous over the fact that she could finesse her Epic like she did. It must have been because hers was inferior to his.

  His aura at its peak felt like a mountain… no, the Witch’s aura was like a mountain. A cold angry mountain you couldn’t see the top of.

  His was more like a hill in comparison. Ryan followed that train of thought. His aura was densest in the interior and softest in the exterior, just like a hill.

  The aura of red blazed and flickered like fire at the edges. Maybe instead of forcing his aura to change, he could manage the exterior instead.

  Ryan imagined the dirt compacting on one of the Emerald Hills. He stopped swinging at Zedart and closed his eyes.

  Compact, condense. The flickering edges quietened and became just the slightest bit smaller.

  He pushed further.

  There was that time with the bullipede when he had forced a skill to activate. An aura should be easier, Ryan demanded it. Demand that there be some more control at the edges.

  [Aura Control]

  The radius of the aura compressed… by about 10%. He tried to push further.

  15% and he could make no progress. At this point he could taste his aura again, it was mostly blood and ash. It disliked being controlled, being pulled back and condensed was anathema to one of its primary fuels.

  [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation] and the third Trial made his aura into something of just pure war and unassailable victory. Unrelenting in its steps.

  He remembered the press of bodies in his last Trial. How the perimeter of soldiers closed in tighter. Sometimes victory was in condensing the powers that be, it would make the fighting just that much more intense.

  His aura seemed to like that idea. It rushed forward.

  25%

  Now he felt the pressure in his veins and muscles, it was like when he had cracked the portal building, except this time the force was continually pushing into his body. An alert flashed in his mind, it appeared without prompting.

  The alert was dismissed. Ryan wasn’t backing down now.

  30%

  The ground broke under his feet. Valee rolled away, suddenly wary. Zedart stood under the pressure but it was getting harder to see. His condensed aura made everything blurry.

  35%

  “RYAN ST-”

  Gamielle’s voice was cut off.

  –

  “LET ME GO!”

  The cold Tyrant looked at her fake daughter. Gamielle was trying to fight against her control, it was an admirable effort, if a futile one. Breaking a qualitative threshold was rare and unadvised, though it did bring some useful results from time to time.

  “Did you not say that he’d show us something new? Come, let us witness it.”

  “Mom! Not like this, look at Zedart, look at Valee. Even Kenheart and Mahjit, don’t you see? They have the makings of all of you. Isn’t that good enough?”

  “No,

  “You monster.”

  “”

  –

  40%

  Ryan saw Zedart try to step up to him, he was physically slashing at Ryan’s aura to walk forwards. Valee had completely stood up and paled. He heard her mutter something but the sound was muted. Everything was silent but the rush of blood in his ears.

  He kept going, he couldn’t stop now.

  45%

  The new skill alert broke his concentration. Ryan blinked. Everything was mostly a red and gray haze. The only sounds that could be heard was his own heartbeat and the blood in his veins. Zedart was shouting something at him but he couldn’t hear them… What was that Valee had said?

  Something about one of the words kept bringing his mind back to it.

  The aura was condensing by itself now, he was no longer in control. His Epic wanted to keep going.

  48%

  Valee had said something, something about her father; he remembered her lips and tried to read them off of memory.

  And just like that everything came to a screeching halt. Ryan was so offended that even his aura, condensed as it was, recoiled in disgust. Then he really took a look at the red tint around him. It was about himself, and the screams of terror, Valee’s face. He shook his head.

  Ryan had been so overconfident in his control over his Epic that he’d nearly made a fatal error. His fight with his Epic wasn’t a battle to be one and done with. It was an eternal balance of push and pull.

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  That was how he’d managed it so far.

  Gamielle had been right in that sense, Ryan’s Epic was his to figure out. Barry’s methodology of continuous awareness might have worked for the orc’s own Epic, but Ryan had wanted the full boost that [Unrelenting Aura of Intimidation] gave. So he had compromised.

  He pulled his actions towards the path that he wanted, the path that he resonated most with. Then he let his Epic push him towards it.

  It had been working well. The Epic was cooperating, relishing in its own absurd progression. This time Ryan had given too much to it.

  He willed the advancing aura to stop, trying to pull it back.

  Yet it wouldn’t stop.

  50%

  That was the problem with momentum. It could be difficult to build up,

  Ryan got ready to fight till the bitter end. His skill wasn’t the only thing that was unrelenting anymore.

  Then a figure flickered in front of him. Zedart?

  The [Swordsman]was practicing his swings in the air. A perfect kendo Men strike flowing into a longpoint stance. Ryan reacted instinctively to his sparring partner. He moved his sword and pointed forward, taking up a fencer’s stance.

  The condensed aura made every movement impossibly difficult.

  But that was the thing. His skill was no longer the only thing unrelenting. So was he.

  Zedart was using the pressure of his aura to temper himself and Ryan was sure as hell not going to lose to him. He stabbed towards Zedart as the [Swordsman] dodged.

  They weren’t in striking range but they still moved like they were in a melee.

  He felt his aura wrap around the blade, cutting through the distance.

  48%

  Ryan took two steps back and relished in the fact that such a colossal force moved alongside him. It was moving with him wasn’t it? In that sense he was always in control of his aura. Ryan fell into a trance.

  He stopped using his sword and threw two knives with all his might. His Epic latched onto them as they flew outwards.

  His aura wrapped around the knives as they flew forwards.

  The knives disintegrated under the pressure in midair, the particles smashing into a nearby building. The sudden destruction terrified the apex cat that was hiding nearby. It yelped in surprise and bolted away from the town.

  40%

  Now it was manageable, Ryan had been hoping for a learned skill but he didn’t really understand what it was he was doing. He moved beyond his sword forms, incorporating all the tools he’d used so far. A shield started condensing in front of him, then a spear, a knife, only to dissipate the moment they seemed to form.

  Ryan wasn’t discouraged, he started laughing.

  Enjoying the feeling of learning a new trick.

  Little lines of light blue appeared from his arms, like a net, it dragged some of the red aura to cover his soulsword. This was his actual aura, the one hidden under the mass that was his Epic.

  He kept laughing, “It’s all going according to plan.”

  His voice boomed for everyone and everything to hear.

  “Watch this and realize how far you all have to go!”

  His soulsword was durable but it only leveled at the same pace as he did, and like him, it couldn’t hold the weight of his condensed aura for too long. Ryan held it there, for as long as he could -

  And slashed.

  A massive crimson crescent flew above both Zedart and Valee’s heads. It soared high above them as they watched the red slash continue for hundreds of feet.

  Until it hit the very hill that Ryan had first walked down from.

  It cut through the top of the hill and continued. An ugly blue bird that had been spying from top of said hill flew out in screeching panic. Both [Swordsman] elf and orc [Rogue] looked at the hill for a second. Then turned back at the source of the attack.

  Ryan’s arm hung limp, gripping a half-shattered soulsword. He himself was gaping at the damage he’d done.

  He snapped out of it and coughed.

  “That was all planned. That bird had it coming.”

  0%

  The [Swordsman] sheathed his blade and nodded at Ryan like what he had done was completely expected. He went up to shake Ryan’s good hand.

  “I will call it my loss here.”

  “Really? Uh, I mean sure, you guys had no chance.”

  Ryan had expected the crazed [Swordsman] to keep fighting and win so he could secure a proper duel.

  Valee put her hands on her hips and shook her head. She looked like she was trying to come to terms with what she’d just witnessed.

  “Yeah, I’m not going to keep sparring while you figure that skill out either.”

  “Fair enough I–”

  That was when the camouflaged Emerald Snake leapt out from underneath the rubble and made a dash for the portal. Valee reacted first, her new skill letting her react before anyone else.

  [Adaptive Terrain: Low Friction]

  Valee’s first instinct was a mistake. The snake ignored the skill and slid faster on the ground. She immediately switched to high friction and the snake–bounced.

  It started skipping on the ground like a stone skipping across the water.

  They were in trouble, the apex creature had been watching and waiting, biding its time as it learned their skills.

  Ryan and Zedart were already on the move. The snake kept an eye on both, it let Ryan’s knife throw hit its side and focused on the [Swordsman] instead.

  It flicked its tail at near supersonic speeds.

  Zedart cleaved through the tough scales but that had turned into an issue. The momentum and angle of the flick meant that the severed tail hit the [Swordsman] in the chest and Zedart was flung backwards.

  It still gave enough time for Ryan to be just behind it as he brought up his broken soulsword.

  The emerald snake suddenly stopped then hissed angrily at Ryan, it turned, trying to use the momentum to bodyslam him. Ryan’s foot thudded into the ground as he spun above the snake.

  [Instant Dodge]

  His body kept spinning as the skill pulled himself lengthwise across the snake.

  His half broken soulsword in his hand as he tried out his new skill.

  [Aura Condensation]

  The broken soulsword was wrapped in a red glow that sliced through the snake’s scales like a hot knife through butter. His momentum pulled himself halfway lengthwise up its torso before the Emerald snake chose to give up as it desperately leapt for the portal.

  It was either going to die or get the portal, there was no other outcome now.

  The snake was so close, even now Ryan wasn’t sure they’d be able to stop it. Zedart was trying to pin one of the flapping halves of the snake and Valee was reaching to tackle the body. Ryan had just reached the head as the snake spun away from his spinning slash, letting more than half of its body rip away from its head.

  It was merely moments away, its tongue slithered out to touch the portal–

  And a massive ugly blue bird dove in front of all four of them. A screeching cry of victory echoing out.

  The dying snake, the unrelenting [Rogue], the desperate [Swordsman] and the adaptive [Rogue] just stared at the portal that changed colors. It turned into a brilliant sparkling sapphire.

  “Oh fuck.”

  Ryan got a notification that his Realm quest had failed. A wave of energy pulsed out from the portal as the pillar rapidly descended from the sky.

  The snake just stared at the portal in shock, no longer struggling. Valee stepped back from hugging the massive snake. She turned to Ryan.

  “Should we run?”

  “That bird was faster than I was. It was a spiteful little shit too.”

  Ryan’s aura was about 30% as large as it was before. He had dispersed the condensed aura then used some of the remainder on the snake. Now he was sorely regretting it. He had no idea how strong this apex creature was before it had evolved.

  All he knew for certain was that it was smart enough to realize his fear effect was just a fear effect. It was battle torn and fast, they had no chance of fleeing it.

  He started wrapping his aura around his soulsword, he wasn’t certain if he could throw another [Aura Slash] with his broken sword. But he had to try, he grabbed it with his good hand and–

  A boom emanated forward as the bird broke out of the portal. The creature that had emerged broke the sound barrier and none of them were able to react in time. A screech of elation echoed across the Emerald Hills as the newly evolved bird made a victory lap around the remains of Lazhen.

  Then it spotted him. Ryan swore it smirked at him.

  It dove, not at the adventurers but on top of the broken hill as it spread its newly repaired wings. Gone were the patchy blue feathers, exposed scarred skin and broken beak. A brilliant bird of dark blue sapphires presented itself in all its glory.

  Ryan narrowed his eyes as the bird postured at them. It was using the very same hill he had cut through. The very same hill he had walked down as he descended on Lazhen.

  “Damned ugly duckling little shit.”

  The bird narrowed its eyes back at him. He swore it did,

  It beat its wings again and shot upwards, another sonic boom followed its wake as it circled high above them. For some reason this felt familiar to Ryan…

  Zedart was wary, he held his sword in two hands.

  “Does it have a ranged attack? Should we seek shelter?”

  Then it hit him, Ryan’s eyes widened. Then he started sprinting away, barely looking behind him.

  “I’ll lure it away, it hates me the most! No need to thank me!”

  Zedart and Valee looked at each other for a moment, then started sprinting after him. Ryan still had his aura and his [Hasten] skill. They couldn’t keep up at all. Those two weren’t what he was concerned about as he heard a boom and the splatter behind him.

  He looked back to see the two strongest third realm adventurers covered in what he could only describe as a torrential amount of bird shit.

  Valee was already on the ground and throwing up. The orc [Rogue] was overloaded by her [Enhanced Senses] skill. Zedart just looked at himself in disgust then looked up at the blue bird flying overhead. Probably making some sort of [Swordsman] oath in his head.

  The blue bird flew high above them. It didn’t act differently despite its evolution. It refused to fly down and seemed satisfied at just screeching out and giving Ryan the stink eye that he’d dodged its payload once again.

  Ryan hesitated, then he shrugged and went for it.

  He took out Felsley’s phone and took a selfie, one that included both him, the two adventurers and a very opportunistic, yet cowardly blue bird flying high in the air.

  “Did you - oh god it’s in my mouth.”

  Valee threw up again.

  “Please delete that.”

  Ryan ran off. Leaving the furious adventurers eating his dust.

  Ryan’s Progress since the third Trial:

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