**It’s Wednesday, so that means only one Chapter Today, 1500 words, yall know how it goes.**

“Dude, you’re a **ing Blacksmith; if you dare tell me you invested all your points into INT and DEX, I will call you the biggest idiot mankind has ever birthed.” With widened eyes filled with disdain, Cynrik harassed Jessup, who only snorted and looked down the portal to see if Geralt and Brance were ready.

“You’re lucky that you can predict ** like people’s stats, brat; otherwise, you would be ** out of luck. Just be sure they stay unconscious when pulling those kids up and out of your Shadow Realm.” Jessup stated while shaking out the slack before grabbing the tendril like a rope and wrapping it around his right wrist several times, causing the inky black tendril to become taught.

“I don’t want to end up dealing with the aftermath of your actions. It’s one thing to save everyone from a life-threatening event, but another entirely to let a bunch of random people know about our ever-growing list of secrets.” Flexing his muscles several times, the old man stepped back a few paces and began pulling the Cube up with all his might.

“Yeah, I know; I’ve already got Geralt on it. By my estimates, everyone hit by his skill should be rendered unconscious for a few more hours. During that time, we need to come up with a plausible excuse as to how and why this batch of scrubs could survive being in close proximity to a Tier-6 battle and make it out of the 22g grav-zone.”

Sliding around Jessup as he pulled the Mana construct like drawing water from a well, Cynrik slid onto the floor and lay beside the portal. Although he had come up with this whole “Docking Procedure” idea, he had no clue if it was even possible.

After all, the Barrier between Realms wasn’t necessarily a physical object. When looking at its slimy appearance, one would believe it was a jelly of some type. However, even with this visage, the Barrier was extraordinarily sturdy and technically stronger than any steel or alloy Cynrik could imagine.

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From the get-go, Cynrik had always been an opportunist, capitalizing on whatever advantages he could obtain and using them to meet his goal. Be it the fights he had against beings significantly above his pay grade or the dangerous stunts he’s used to get stronger, it was like this every time.

Snaking both arms into the portal, Cynrik felt the lackluster pressure of 5.5g pressing down on his arms, but he calmly ignored it and rested his palms on the inner surface of the Barrier between Realms.

‘Blegh, it’s slimy. Whenever I pass through this thing, I always equate it to jumping into a pool of water, but up close and personal with the construct, it has a different feel to it, kind of like super wet molding clay.’

-Stop getting distracted, Cynrik; Jessup is steadily raising the Cube at a speed of 50 meters a minute. It’s roughly 1.2 kilometers to the ground from up here, so if the old man keeps this pace, you only have 25 minutes to work things out.-

Stomping on his back in annoyance, Tobs complained before giving her host some much-needed information.

‘Tsk, 25 minutes, only 25 minutes…it should be doable, hold up, did you say it’s over a kilometer to the ground…Now that I think about it, the area under the Mansion seems to be in a bowl or valley. Ppft, I am sure Brance is **ting bricks right now; you know how bad he is with heights.’ With a **-eating grin plastering his face, Cynrik pulled himself further toward the edge until he dipped his upper body into the Shadow Realm with some adjustment.

Bending at a perfect 90-degree angle and treating the Reality side of the portal like a ledge, Cynrik curled himself until his face rested right against the underside of the Barrier. Once comfortable, he activated his Zoom ocular skill and didn’t miss the chance to tease his brother along the way.

Hey Brancie, you’ve got a nice and slow 25-minute climb to the top of Candy Mountain; just don’t, you know, look down. We don’t need you soiling your drawers with so many witnesses. HAHA! He said while examining the strange jelly-like Barrier.

FUCK YOU, HUFF, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN REMIND ME, YOU BASTARD! Gripping the pauldrons of his armor so tightly the metal groaned from stress, Brance screamed.

When talking about Brance, the young man really only had two actual weaknesses, one was his moral compass, and the other was his fear of heights. However, as odd as it may seem when fighting, that fear seemed to go out the window instantly, something Cynrik never understood because it meant he could ignore it if he wanted.

But in moments like this, where there wasn’t anything to take his mind off the innate fear, Brance would panic. Like just now, when Brance screamed, unlike his usual angry voice, his words came out in a shrill and frantic screech, as if he was going through puberty.

This thought caused Cynrik to chuckle to himself as he zoomed his vision in to examine the intricate framework of the runic inscriptions coating the Barrier.

Now now, little Golden Chicken Boy, you need to overcome this fear of heights at some point. If not, how can you expect to fly freely like the birdbrain you are?

YOU’RE A BIRDBRAIN, YOUR WHOLE FAMILY IS A BIRDBRAIN! Brance replied, only to be met with a bout of laughter from his older brother.

You are only insulting our parents at that point, Brancie; get it out of your system. But do keep it short; the more time you occupy my attention, the higher the probability of me dropping your ass into a free fall when I ** up the docking procedure. Rolling his eyes and pulling his upper body further into the portal, Cynrik retorted.

Upon hearing Cynrik’s mild threat, Brance shut up and was left to suffer in silence, earning him curious glances from Geralt.

With the teasing coming to a close, the minutes ticked by, and after roughly 15 had elapsed, Cynrik grunted and pulled himself out of the portal before sitting crosslegged and falling deep into thought.

The quick study hadn’t been fruitless, and he had even increased his knowledge base on Runic Inscriptions; however, he was still at a loss for how to attach any kind of Mana Construct to the Barrier.

Having completed a couple of quick experiments, the one thing Cynrik took away from his observations was that he could not attach anything to the Barrier, rendering his docking idea moot.

‘Fuck, as the lord of the Shadow Realm, shouldn’t I have some kind of control over the Barrier?’

-Not really; the only thing awarded to you with your skill level is the ability to traverse the Realm unhindered. When it comes to manipulating the veil of the Realm, that is completely out of your hands.-

-Unfortunately, if you start meddling with forces beyond your control, you can easily disrupt the intricate framework establishing the Barrier, inadvertently disconnecting the two realms entirely.-

-If this happens, not only will you cause the collapse of the space containing the Realm, but you will also lose access to the Shadow Realm, trapping anyone left inside for eternity.-

‘Shit… and you are telling me this NOW after I spent the last 15 minutes experimenting on the damn thing? Are you trying to kill us all here, Tobs?’ Feeling a trickle of sweat run down the back of his neck, Cynrik wanted to grab the tiny fairy treating his shoulder like a couch and squeeze her till she popped into confetti.

-Oh, quit your bitching, Cyn; you only have 10 minutes, so if you want to activate plan B, now would be the time to go skydiving.-

Ignoring the violent thoughts in her host’s mind, Tobs jumped off his shoulder and floated out of Cynrik’s reach, just in case he followed through and squished her.

That was the problem with him; over time, Tobs had found it increasingly difficult to differentiate between his threats and jokes; now, she had no idea if he would grab her tiny fairy body and squeeze till she popped, so leaving nothing to chance, she put some distance between them, causing Cynrik to snort at her apparent actions.

‘Sigh, Plan B it is then,’ heaving a tired sigh, Cynrik spun around, put his back toward the portal, and saluted Jessup.’

“Plan A failed, so I gotta do some muscle man **; see you in a few minutes, old man!” Then, ignoring the strange looks Jessup shot him, Cynrik bent backward, similar to a scuba diver going off a boat, and fell through the portal.

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