“Not yet, [Wild Drive]!”

Tier felt that Rushvatte’s claw weapon grabbed him by the shoulder. His body was dragged by the mystic through the snowy field and finally thrown away towards the portal.

The next thing Tier felt was the dry roads of Grandar as his body rolled helplessly among the wandering players. One orc shaman was kind enough to stop his body and heal him.

“Rough landing, dude,” said the shaman. “At least you are safe now.”

“Thanks,” Tier said to the shaman. Yet, he was not able to move much. Apparently, Galung was able to follow him into the portal and licked his cheeks. The jaguar itself drew a lot of attention from the eyes of other players. Tier could hear whispers questioning if the jaguar was properly tamed or not.

Then, it came to him, frolicking footsteps that felt familiar. “Look who’s here to register,” said Steven cackled as he commanded his assistant dragon whelp to scan Tier and Galung.

“Welcome to Clashing Realms,” Steven said happily as he patted Galung.

Tier would be lying if he didn’t feel even the slightest amount of relief with the announcement. After all this ordeal and his own pretension, he was finally there. He could be there with his friends.

The GM then proceeded to type something on his semi transparent keyboard and continued, “However~ due to your last minute registration, most probably you are going to the reserve division that can only participate in city defences. But hey, who knows you might have caught the eyes of some division leaders that are interested in taking you in.”

Somehow, Steven’s words about the division leader made Tier have some flashback to what Manna had done to him this afternoon. Did he finally catch the attention of the girl he liked?

While Steven was busy with the registration, the murmuring around them got a bit louder. Tier wondered for a moment of the cause then he glanced at Galung which turned half ethereal. That big cat was either uncaring of its surroundings or it just loves to show off.

“Hey, man, is that a snow jaguar?” asked an orcish hunter that braved himself to ask even though Steven was still there.

“Yes,” Tier answered. He tried to sit down, but his body was still too weak. Therefore he commanded Galung to lie down and Tier just comfortably lie on its belly. It did feel like lying on a very soft and comfortable giant pillow.

The orcish hunter looked excited, he asked, “Don’t tell me you managed to completely tame it? I heard that just happened from Esferta’s viewer.”

Tier’s brain suddenly connected Sid’s weird behaviour and the word ‘Esferta’s viewer’ to make a sudden realisation that Esferta was some sort of streamer or video content creator.

“I-I think so,” Tier said. “I’ll post how to do it later in the forum, or… wait….”

Tier opened up his item box and commanded, “Use item: Scribe’s Papyrus, Imprint Snow Jaguar Taming. Two copies.”

A roll of papyrus appeared in front of Tier. It started to write down the requirements to tame the Snow Jaguar with magical ink. He gave one of the copies to the orcish hunter and sent the other to the Loremaster’s trainer through a summoned owl.

The murmuring broke into a cheer as Tier finally confirmed how to tame the spirit beast. Most of them joyfully praised Tier for breaking the riddle. While some of them offered him golds as a reward for being such a service to the community.

Of course Tier would gladly accept such gifts. Why wouldn’t he?

And among the loud crowd, there was Steven who was rather calm. Somehow, his voice was so clear to Tier when he said, “So, you actually activated it, huh?”

Tier frown. He realised that Steven had used his GM access to make a private conversation between them without using the whisper function.

“You mean the jaguar?” Tier asked, still leaning to the ever sleep Galung.

“Come on, Tier,” Steven cackled, “You think I didn’t watch your status during the fight? The T.H.R.E.A.T, man.”

Tier frowned at the claim. “What?”

“[Temporary Harmonical Replacement Enhancement Ability Triggered],” Steven grinned. “You definitely triggered that.”

The shaman squatted down and said to him, “You know, each ability has their own data allocation. Problem with [Primal Unleash] was that it’s not actually an ability. It’s just a trigger and limiter with extra animation. So, there’s an empty data space allocation.”

Tier sighed at the explanation, he didn’t hear it clearly but he got the grasp. “Let me guess, that empty slot was the one causing the thing? Are you using me for one of your experiments?”

“Chill out, dude.” Steven nodded affirmatively. “I didn’t exactly plan it. I was just wondering if this empty space interacts with your kind of brain while under synchronisation with other people, would it trigger something? And apparently it did trigger a temporary ability. However, the system would just think you were using a cheat if it’s actually triggered. Therefore I prepared [T.H.R.E.A.T], just in case, as a… you know the general umbrella term for it. And you know what? Such things could be implemented in future expansions. Awesome, eh? Perhaps with coordination between players.”

“Yeah, it's true. So I’m the guinea pig, right?”

Steven ignored Tier’s protest. He kept explaining, “The ability that had been triggered temporarily in your head was an evolution, Tier. The perfect combination of man and machine in processing data.”

“You mean I am a guinea pig, right?!!!”

Tier had protested loudly, but the people around definitely couldn’t hear him. However, his expression and the loud crowd around was definitely drawing another unwanted pair of eyes.

“What happened to you?” asked a rather light yet soft male voice. He was a handsome elven paladin with shoulder length blond hair and green eyes. Above his head was written the name ‘GM Zell’. “And what’s with the commotion here?”

Some people in the crowd pointed and in joy said about Tier’s achievement in taming the snow jaguar. Zell nodded and looked at Tier then opened up a semi-transparent window. The gesture quickly caused Steven’s face to turn pale.

“W-wait, Zell.”

“Steven?” Zell asked, forcing himself inside the private conversation with Tier. “What is this [Primal Unleash], [Synchronise], and [T.H.R.E.A.T]?”

“W-well, umm.”

“Did you get Gary’s approval for it?”

“Of course.”

“Was he drunk?”

“Well….”

Zell sighed. He turned to Tier and explained, “I apologise for this inconvenience, Tier. But we need to further investigate and discuss this ability of yours. In the meantime, I need to disable [Primal…].”

“Don’t” Steven stopped him. “For this kid's sake, not the [Primal Unleash]. Just the [T.H.R.E.A.T] and [Synchronise].”

“Why?”

“Because this kid is a different type from Rosdan, we need the limiter, Zell,” Steven pushed. His visage turned serious.

Zell sighed, he turned to Tier and said, “Alright, at least that one you still can use. For the others, we really need to re-discuss this with Gary.” then turned to Steven and continued, “When he’s sober.”

“Yeah, got it.”

“Pras!”

The awkward situation between the three finally broke when a portal opened and Pras’ friends scattered out from it. Manna was on the front, and she quickly dashed through the gaps between the players.

“Whoa!”

The crowds in Grandar suddenly gasped when they saw Esferta, Grok, and Arkengrad walk out of the portal. Some female players squealed happily when they saw both Zackhs and Flick.

“So it's true! This guy is one of Esferta’s friends!”

Said one of them before the loud cheering started again.

But then again, it abruptly stopped when one elf said while pointing at Manna, “Wait, if that’s Esferta, then this girl is?”

“Oh my, I am Manna,” said Manna simply.

“‘The’ Manna? Crystal Chalice’s Manna? I thought you were a guy!”

“Of course.”

As the crowd gasped again. Tier could somehow understand how people could perceive Manna as a guy when she was still an orc with full armour from head to toe. If she didn’t speak, she could still be seen as an angry midget orc clad in steel.

The fawning of the crowds over her seemed to make Manna uneasy. Without making much noise, she quickly approached Tier. Which caused Galung to jump away and cower in anticipation as if the creature remembered what Manna had done to it.

Unable to stop his body, Tier almost fell flat to the ground if it weren’t for Manna’s quick response. She held Tier, removed her steel gloves, touched Tier’s forehead, and asked, “Are you okay, deskmate?”

Tier had to thank his reduced awareness due to dizziness in this condition. If not, he would be flustered. “It’s okay, just the after effect.”

“My, do not force yourself.”

“I’m not, I’m okay.”

Manna let out a sigh of relief, she was still kind of holding Tier’s body from falling despite Tier being able to use his hands to support his body now. However, Tier realised that the crowds suddenly fell silent and quickly dissipated.

“Apparently, a lot of people don't like being the third wheel,” Esferta chuckled as she approached the two. It quickly made Tier admit that Manna had just used him to avoid the fawing crowd. And apparently it worked too well.

Though he had expected her to really care.

Manna shook her head, still holding Tier, “No, Rina, Pras has always had problems after exerting himself too much to use [Primal Unleash]. I just….”

“See what I told you?!” Steven protested at Zell. “They’re the witnesses, the boy needed those limiters.”

“Okay, fine,” Zell sighed. “But we need to discuss this with Gary and the other devs,” he said as he dragged Steven away. Perhaps he was also uncomfortable with how lovey dovey Tier and Manna seemed to be.

Again, Tier had hoped the lovey dovey part was true.

“You really beat her, eh, mate? She got me real good back then, thunderbolt to death,” Flick said and he and Renma approached Tier. Both of them helped Manna to relocate the hunter to sit and lean on the stone fence near the meat vendor.

“It wasn’t just me,” Tier answered as he leaned on the fence. “Eggi was there.”

“Hey, I brought you here you know,” Rushvatte snorted, “Of course it was my duty to help you finish the registration. It was a bliss that I saved [Wild Drive].”

“And I heard that you gave Pras my devices to force him play, ‘brother’,” Manna snickered as she kept her distance very close to Tier. A tad too close to be honest. And Tier could have sworn he saw Esferta giggle to that as she kept her distance further away from Tier.

“And here I thought you’re actually happy with that, ‘sister’,” Rushvatte snickered back. “What? Can't sleep at night because your devices were being worn by your dear deskmate?”

“I shall throw you off the car next time, brother.”

“I’ll take the train, sister. And tell Aunt Diana.”

“Really, now?”

“Aside from this siblings’ quarrel, you were awesome, bro,” Grok said to Tier, ignoring the ruckus between the childhood friends. “Gotta say you’re lucky, and Rushvatte’s reckless choice was somehow beneficial. But hey, bro, people said that luck is the combination of opportunity and chance.”

“Still, Grok, like he picked an off meta build for real,” Arkengrad sighed in a semi-protest. “He’s lucky that his build apparently works for someone like him, most of the time such builds won't work and just drag the whole team down.”

Tier just chuckled at Arkengrad’s comment and Grok’s compliment. He still felt that he was not ready to accept compliments. Yet at least, for now he tries to learn to receive it without thinking of the giver’s ulterior motives. And in this case, he knew exactly that the two didn’t have such malicious intent.

Then, Zackhs approached Tier. He smiled sullenly yet so bright. The handsome avenger stretched out his fist to Tier. He said, “Hey, buddy, that was beyond awesome. I’m glad I was able to protect you.”

Tier answered the fistbump. “And that ability of yours was insane. You're really dedicated as a tank, huh?”

“It's my cause, buddy.”

“Yeah, sure, better than me in protecting you,” Manna sulked with a very low voice. Only Tier could hear it due to her close proximity and his superior senses as a hunter.

Tier tried to say something to her, but then Nubram interrupted, “Whew, can’t you get more proud or happy of yourself? These veterans are complimenting you, you know?”

There was a swell of warmness that staved off the vortex of crashing emotions that Tier often felt in his heart. He tried to grasp for words, but the only thing he could say in the end was a simple one, “Thank you.”

Zackhs grinned positively, he said, “Don’t mind it, buddy, that’s what friends are for, you guys are one of the bestest buddies I’ve ever had.”

“Is ‘bestest’ even a word?” Renma chuckled.

“I don’t know, buddy.”

“Well, Zackhs, you’re cool anyway, that one last save was insane,” said Renma again. He turned to Tier and said, “And you need to chill down a bit, bro.”

“Yeah, don’t be a hotheaded boar like, Ega,” Macepaw chimed.

“Say that again you freaky shaman!”

“I said you’re a hotheaded boar.”

“Anyway,” Nubram talked again, ignoring the newly formed ruckus. “You know, you don’t need to act like a loner again. Stop trying to shoulder everything single handedly. Isn’t your character designed to excel in a team? That means you need a team, and we are your team.”

“Since when can you talk wise?” Manna snickered at Nubram. “Always trying to act cool.”

“I’m not acting cool, I am cool.”

“Pfft.” Esferta almost burst into laughter due to Nubram’s comment. Half laughing she reminded them, “Anyway, we need to attend the officer’s meeting. Let's go and let this boy rest.”

“B-but, Pras?” Manna turned a bit panicked. She looks at Tier concerningly.

“Hey, you have your duty, I need some sleep anyway.”

“O-okay.”

Manna nodded, she was about to leave with Grok, Esferta, and Nubram. But then she stopped and whispered, “If you are not asleep yet after we are done, m-may I call you tonight?”

Tier, having the side effect of [Primal Unleash] steadily diminished, now blushed and had his heart pumping. However, he felt like it might not be the right time to proceed with everything. He still needed to sort out what he felt about the whole journey and he was afraid the euphoria might have triggered Manna to be reckless.

“I might fall asleep directly after logging out though, but I got a football match I want to watch tonight,” he said sheepishly.

“Oh, my… okay then. Goodnight, Pras.” Manna replied with a smile.

“Goodnight, Mana.”