Chapter 17: Birthday Gift

9th Accorded Annum 

…of the biggest factors that stopped the Realmbreaker Wars for good was travelling. That is it. When people can move freely from one location to another, even if the locations are on other Realms, other worlds normally considered inaccessible, the people in those other Realms stopped being alien enough to be considered faceless enemies.

Of course, this wouldn’t have come about without the great advancements made in traversal magic. Some of foremost researchers with the highest citations and attributions include Pieven K., Erolan R. H., Marionys R., Est-Vo I. L. M., Korial K., Figuro O…

Final Chapter

Realmbreaker Histories: Fifth Edition

Selkiatis N.

Ryland remained patient as Viren stared around. No doubt, there was a good deal of paraphernalia present in this space to gawk at.

“Sir,” Viren said in wonder. “There has to be enough stuff here to make the entire nation of Androvia jealous, if not all of Vyrd.”

He was constantly wrestling with Tallow in his arms as the kitten kept trying to escape his grasp and run off. Ryland kept a close eye on them just in case he needed to cast another defensive spell.

“I’m not sure about that,” he said with some amusement. “Although, I’d suggest against touching anything here.” Just as there were items to stare at, there were also items that stared right back. “I might have put another Aegis spell on you, but that was only to prevent the deleterious effects of rift travel. Not to protect you against everything you might come upon.”

He wasn’t sure how to categorize the levels of danger present here. The golem with the hollowed-out space in its heart where one could live for a decade or two without needing to emerge was slumbering. It would rouse itself in ire if a “foreigner” like Viren got too close.

The same went for the magical turrets strewn about here and there. Their Glyphs burned to life at their peak, ready to shoot out deadly lasers if an infiltrator got close enough.

And those were just the defensive items Ryland probably should have deactivated by now.

Then there was the Realm 48’s Abominable Grimoire with its black tendrils seeking to ensnare anyone unwary, the Garden of the Decadent from Realm 9 Viren almost got entranced by before Ryland drew him away hastily, and a Dreamscape Glyphtech device no one living should even look at for very long, much less actually interact with.

Thankfully, Viren didn’t lose his way too often and definitely didn’t wander off. Not too much, at least.

“I understand it’s your personal inventory, sir,” he said, unable to keep the awe from his voice. “But how does having your own Realm actually work? Where exactly are we?”

Ryland nodded at the more specific and impressively insightful questions. They were walking on polished white stone, and above them, a starry black canvas bordered the space all around.

“I suppose calling it an entire Realm is a bit inaccurate,” Ryland said. “It’s one of my Reality Demesnes.”

Viren blinked several times very rapidly. “I don’t know which is worse, sir. That you’ve got not one but multiple personal artificial worlds, or that my suspicion that this was a Pocket Realm ripped off an actual Realm just got proven wrong.”

Ryland returned a blink. “Why… would either option be worse?”

Viren flushed. “Uh, figure of speech, sir.”

“Hmm.”

Clearly wary of putting more of his foot in his mouth, Viren withheld himself from asking further questions about the reality Ryland had brought him to. That didn’t stop all his questioning, of course.

“Couldn’t you have put those magical fruits here, sir?” Viren asked. He shuddered as he recalled the magical artifacts.

“You mean the Goddess’s Tears?” Ryland asked. Another good question. Ryland appreciated the boy’s analytical mind. It begged the question why he hadn’t asked about everything else, but a bit of thought revealed that he had, just at a steady pace so as not to overwhelm himself with information. “I could have, but I wished to test the bank.”

“Test them? I thought you said it was merely a proof of your identity, sir.”

“It was. But taking their claim to be of great benefit to a client such as myself at face value would be to my eventual detriment. As such, a harmless little test was in order.” Ryland paused. “I suppose it would be a little disappointing if I had to return this five-star card and all its conveniences. But I’d rather be a client of true reliability than false advertisement.”

Viren took that under consideration. “I think I see. What kind of test is it?”

They walked between the rows of shelves until the various items turned into a miniature library. Viren was gawking at the magical armour and weapons, at the strange potted plants, at statuettes and idols that seemed almost alive, but he admirably restrained himself from getting too close to anything. His expression grew puzzled when they entered the library section.

“The fruit decays rapidly when in contact with ambient mana,” Ryland said. “So its state will tell me just how well the bank can protect the treasures it’s given.”

“Oh, okay. That is harmless.”

Ryland looked down reproachfully. “Did you not believe me?”

“Uh…” Viren refused to look at Ryland. “Books!”

Ryland shook his head before looking through the shelves. Hmm, now where was it?

Viren waited patiently. For a little while. “What are we looking for, sir?”

Ryland didn’t fail to note the tiny hint of disappointment in Viren’s voice, much as he had tried to hide it. He couldn’t really blame the boy. After walking through all the magical exhibits, they had ended up at decidedly the most mundane section of the storage space.

“Ah, here it is.” Ryland pulled out a thin book of a familiar make. “This is what we’re looking for.”

Viren took the book, then his mouth fell open. “This is—this is the sequel. I thought—” He couldn’t even get his words out properly, his whole body trembling in excitement. “I thought The Legend of the Last Turnalians didn’t have a sequel? But this thing—The Legacy of the Last Turnalians—this is real! How does this even exist?”

Ryland chuckled, ruffling Viren’s hair. “The version you’re reading is the reprinted, modern version. I assume the publisher who picked it up didn’t acquire the rights to the sequel, for whatever reason, so they’re pretending it doesn’t exist. But regardless, this is a much older story than you might think. I knew I had a copy of it somewhere.”

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“And you’re just giving it to me?”

“Of course. I thought about giving you a Relic or a Catalyst or maybe even a Glyph scroll. But those are all things you’ll get on your own eventually. So, I decided I’d get you something that you might not find by yourself.”

“This is literally perfection, sir.” Viren pinched himself. “And it’s not a dream, it’s real.”

“It certainly is.”

Ryland smiled, feeling his heart lighten a great deal at the sight of Viren already poring over the book’s pages. He had been a little concerned that the boy would still find a book disappointing when there were rare resources that could elevate him a whole rank, armaments that would make him unstoppable in combat, and Glyph scrolls that Archmages would salivate over.

And yet, Viren was enamoured of the simple book Ryland had scoured through his personal library to find.

He didn’t consider himself a big bibliophile. The collection he possessed were either texts, stories, and accounts he found interesting, or were otherwise of note for some reason.

For instance, The Legacy of the Last Turnalians was a rare novel whose all other copies had been lost thanks to a Calamity wreaking havoc on Realm 35, the home of the self-same Turnalians. Ryland possessed perhaps its only other original copy.

Mostly though, he was simply glad Viren was the sort of person who was capable of identifying what was of true, personal value to him.

“Don’t stay up too late reading it in one go,” Ryland said.

“I won’t, sir,” Viren said a little dubiously. “Not too much.”